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‘Flight mode’ in Florence: sex dating apps, endless queues at Uffizi, panino at Antico Vinaio and some tacky souvenirs
Moments & People

‘Flight mode’ in Florence: sex dating apps, endless queues at Uffizi, panino at Antico Vinaio and some tacky souvenirs

23 abril, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

There is always someone at any time of the day pulling a suitcase in Florence. I do not know what they carry inside, but what is rarely missing is a sex dating app in their ‘digital luggage.’ Transit, data roaming, digital nomads and ‘aeroplane mode’ on. Between heaven and hell. It is the social philosopher Zygmunt Bauman‘s immediacy and the disconcerting desire of wanting to live it all. Liquid loves, gaseous encounters and sparkling lives. The profiles named ‘Visiting’ multiply in the flirting apps. Sex express and the odd souvenir, which commonly becomes a shag with a local. Fuck’n’go!…

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Monica Magnani’s Florence
Moments & People

Monica Magnani’s Florence

9 febrero, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS & ENGLISH / SPANISH VERSIONS BELOW

Se qualcuno mi dice ‘Firenze’ la prima cosa che mi viene in mente è fuggire via. Firenze, a volte, io la guardo e mi sembra diventata un luogo comune, un cliché inventato per far contenti i turisti. Firenze per la nave da crociera è il percorso di due ore, per gli amanti clandestini è la città di un fine-settimana, per le famiglie sono i musei delle vacanze di Pasqua, per le gite scolastiche è il capitolo sul Rinascimento, per gli animi malinconici è lo struggimento della sindrome di Stendhal. Io, da questa Firenze, ho continuamente voglia di scappare e forse mi piace proprio perché, poi, quando sono fuggita via dai luoghi comuni, è così bello aver nostalgia di questa città! Firenze, per chi ha voglia di scappare, ha molte vie di fuga: per alcune ci vuole un mezzo di trasporto, per altre, invece, basta un paio di scarpe comode.
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Carla Macis´ Florence
Moments & People

Carla Macis´ Florence

7 febrero, 2024 / By:
PHOTOS, ENGLISH & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Ho due città: una del cuore e una dell’anima. Cagliari è la mia città del cuore, mentre Firenze è quella dell’anima. A Firenze vivo da quando avevo 19 anni, ma non pensavo che mi sarei trattenuta a viverci, ma è successo. Piano piano «ci siamo scelte» ed è diventata l’unica città dove avrei potuto vivere per poter fare il mio lavoro, che mi consente di avere tante relazioni e un buon «know how». Mi piace la sua dimensione internazionale, ma anche la piccola dimensione e l’incanto che provo ogni volta che ancora dopo 33 anni riesce a suscitarmi.…

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History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school
Moments & People

History of art according to Florence or the Renaissance chapter at high school

31 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

History of art was, without a doubt, my favourite subject at high school. By then, Italy was for me a distant and unknown country, it seemed so far as on another planet, and I did not even know what Tuscany meant or where in the map Florence was. At the age of 17, everything seemed so phantasmagorical and unreal … How unusual, the unpredictable ways to which life sometimes leads. Especially to those who try to escape from routine.

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When arriving and departing are just the two sides of the same trip
Moments & People

When arriving and departing are just the two sides of the same trip

30 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

What I enjoy most in life is my extended visits to Florence with no plans, neither a date to leave. When you live among three cities, it is difficult to determine which one becomes your home or which your identity is. There are places that I feel more like my house, even if I don´t reside most of the year there. This is what happens with Florence. «Arriving and departing are just the two sides of the same trip, the train that arrives is the same train that has to leave. The time of the meeting is also of the farewell.» This is what the Brazilian soloist Maria Rita sings in her mythical song «Encontros e despedidas.»

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Anchored to Florence
Moments & People

Anchored to Florence

29 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

It is the time of fear. Fear of what was, fear of what will be, fear of loneliness, and fear of the crowd. Fear of dying and fear of living. Fear to love, fear to be abandoned, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of suffering, fear of ending up hating this city. It is commonly said that fear paralyses, although sometimes it helps one to escape and start from scratch. At a time when fear prevented me from resuming my life in another city, without purposing it, Florence became my shelter. Since then, I live anchored to a suitcase, to drama, and to Florence too. Roaming is my way of life.…

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Via Tornabuoni, between heaven and earth
Moments & People

Via Tornabuoni, between heaven and earth

28 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

Via Tornabuoni is the majestic street of Florence and where most of its luxurious shops converge, even mingling coquettishly with the church of Saints Michele and Gaetano, in piazza degli Antinori, as well as with the Cantinetta Antinori, Florence ́s finest café-bar Procacci, the Palazzo Strozzi … At the opposite end, the street meets the church of Santa Trinità and the Column of Justice in piazza Santa Trinità, next to the Arno River. There, one can also treasure the shaft of the column which was a gift from Pope Pius VI to Cosimo I de’ Medici, as he returned in 1565 from none other than the Baths of Caracalla, Rome. The sight of the sky from this corner of the city is truly rewarding.…

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Berlin vs. Florence: a perfect binomial?
Moments & People

Berlin vs. Florence: a perfect binomial?

27 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

I have always been keen on extremes. I consider myself excessive and I have never been able to recognise the so-called «medium term», so linked in my opinion to mediocrity rather than moderation. I would never describe myself as a restrained person, neither in my actions, nor in my passions, nor in my thoughts or feelings. A bit cyclothymic, too, as I sense everything with absolute bipolar intensity. Although apparently Berlin and Florence do not have much to do with each other, they are two cities of extremes, thus matching each other. In multiple ways, the two cities stand for the avant-garde as well as for Classicism, so it is with contemporary art in Berlin and the Renaissance of Florence. The modernity of the German capital and the Tuscan tradition; the spiritual chaos of Berlin and the delicacy of Florence; Berlin decadence and the Florentine refinement; the debauchery in Berlin and the Florentine composure. To mention just a few aspects …
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Florence: passion and enthusiasm
Moments & People

Florence: passion and enthusiasm

26 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

All passion springs from enthusiasm. Florence rescued me from neglecting feelings, an attitude that (I do not recall exactly when) came from falling lost in Berlin. Florence meant a safe net to avoid the death of the soul and helped me arise from that terrible fall. In the Tuscan capital a revolution took place inside of me. Indeed, a Renaissance. Thus, I now live here with all naturalness, feeling calm and relaxed. In Florence the days do not seem so endless, there is always something to do, even if it’s just a walk among Renaissance treasures, only to come back home later relieved. To enjoy Florence, one must be Epicurean, aesthete and eclectic. To this city, where the vicissitudes of my destiny have brought me, I will definitely elaborate a whole dictionary of affectionate expressions, because I haven´t yet met any Italian who speaks well, and with true love, about their country.
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Touched for the very first time in Florence
Moments & People

Touched for the very first time in Florence

24 julio, 2023 / By:
PHOTOS & SPANISH VERSION BELOW

My first stay in Florence was in piazza del Mercato Nuovo at the end of September 2008. I recall how lost I felt then, trying to find the hotel with a map in my hands. I still do not know the name of the streets and alleys, but today I could certainly move around the city with my eyes closed. I remember one particular night when, disappointed by a date, I drank a whole bottle of limoncello (yes, I’m that kind of person) that I acquired in Pisa. The following morning, I was stroke by terrible news: my friend and artist Cocó Ciëlo had been murdered in Madrid. That was the first time I walked to piazzale di Michelangelo. I had a beer or two there and cried while contemplating this majestic town. Where you led me, Florence, that fateful night? All I could feel was irrational disgust, as the city had become a carrier of bad news to me. But we later reconciled. And, as in the most intense and passionate stories in literature, we have lived since many ruptures and reunions.…

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