«Carlo Cantini. Between realism and imagination,» photo exhibition at Villa Bardini, Florence

«Carlo Cantini. Between realism and imagination,» photo exhibition at Villa Bardini, Florence

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From the artistic to the bucolic; from fashion photography to everyday documentary snapshots, this is the artistic journey of Carlo Cantini, a contemporary Florentine photographer and one of the best Italian photographers of the 20th century. On display until March 17 at Villa Bardini, Carlo Cantini. Between Realism and Imagination exhibits seventy photographs, inspired by Berengo Gardin and Mario Giacomelli, which document some of Florence’s most significant events of the last fifty years of the past century. His photographs document Florentine streets and countryside everyday scenes. Besides that, Cantini´s work is connected to the Pitti fashion shows, theater, contemporary art, enchanted gardens and allegorical nymphs, classical nude paying tribute to sculpture, and architecture. All in all, Cantini´s œuvre is a constant search for equilibrium between realism and imagination.

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«Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo,» retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi

«Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo,» retrospective at Palazzo Strozzi

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The first comprehensive retrospective devoted to Andrea del Verrocchio (1435-1488) will be on display in Florence from March 9 to July 14 at Palazzo Strozzi, with an accompanying presentation at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo brings together masterpieces by Verrocchio from collections around the world, contextualized by works from his forefathers and peers, as well as by the pupils he worked intensively with, including Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli.

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Lyric Dance Company presents the new version of «Caravaggio. Amor Vincit Omnia» at Teatro Puccini

Lyric Dance Company presents the new version of «Caravaggio. Amor Vincit Omnia» at Teatro Puccini

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Following in the footsteps of Callas success, Lyric Dance Company presents a renewed version of Caravaggio. Amor Vincit Omnia by choreographer and artistic director Alberto Canestro on January 25 at Puccini Theatre. Canestro has created an immersive experience connecting the audience with the dancers in a single space. The dancers will be surrounded by Caravaggio paintings, the 17th century master of chiaroscuro. Thus, the most representative works of the painter will be projected on the premises of Teatro Puccini. The choreographer has codified through dance the paintings’ emotional power and strength, bringing three-dimensionality to the pictorial compositions. The music has been composed by Enrico Fabio Cortese, whose style combines symphonic scores with electronic beats.
Caravaggio. Amor Vincit Omnia (Lyric Dance Company) – January 25, 2019, 9p.m. – Teatro Puccini – Via delle Cascine 41 – 50144 Florence

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Maie Escorial´s Florence

Maie Escorial´s Florence

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It is obvious that Florence has a thousand faces, this is something that stands out as soon as you get there. It has so much historical and architectural background that if you wanted to go into detail, it would take hours round a corner. During my autumn escape from daily routine, I was carried away by the streets and wandered around with pleasure, climbing, descending and crossing them. I found out that autumn had not even begun in Florence, therefore it seems like October is the perfect time to visit the city so one can feel the end of summer, take an Aperol spritz while enjoying a relaxed atmosphere surrounded by terraces full of people.…

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«The Cleaner:» Marina Abramović at Palazzo Strozzi

«The Cleaner:» Marina Abramović at Palazzo Strozzi

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Florence is alive and wants to express itself. Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi presents a retrospective of world-wide acclaimed performance artist Marina Abramović. The show opens its doors on September 21, the same day that L’Eredità delle Donne festival begins. During four months, till January 20, 2019, Florence and particularly the Palazzo Strozzi hosts an exhibition that pays tribute to the fifty-year career of one of the heavyweights of Action Art. She is the first woman that has a “solo exhibition” at the Palazzo Strozzi.…

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Primo Conti, exhibition at Villa Bardini in Florence

Primo Conti, exhibition at Villa Bardini in Florence

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The current exhibition at Villa Bardini, «Fanfare e silenzi. Viaggio nella pittura di Primo Conti,» is dedicated to the Florentine painter Umberto Primo Conti. Thirty years after his death, the show wants to illustrate and celebrate the artistic career of Conti, painter, composer and writer who belonged to the Italian avant-garde movement Futurism. In a chronological itinerary through the rooms of Villa Bardini, the display is divided into eight thematic sections, that correspond the different phases of Conti’s artistic career. Besides that, his oeuvre has been contextualized through the dialogue with artworks by other artists — teachers, friends, classmates … — connected with his creations. This relational exhibition responds to Conti’s own attitude, as he wanted to preserve not only his legacy but also the collective memory of an artistic period as extraordinary and flourishing as the Florence prior World War I. Until January 13, 2019.

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Christine De Melo´s Florence

Christine De Melo´s Florence

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My Portuguese parents arrived in the US with nothing but the will to succeed. I fell in love with art, history, and architecture at a young age and longed to see the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, and Botticelli. Being firstborn to poor immigrants meant that I grew up with few prospects—Italy may as well have been the moon.…

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“BANKSY – This is not a photo opportunity,» Banksy at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

“BANKSY – This is not a photo opportunity,» Banksy at Palazzo Medici Riccardi

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There is no doubt that if Banksy had lived during the Renaissance in Florence, the Medici would have been his patrons — they were the Maecenas of most of the art produced in Florence at that time. Any case, supposedly, Banksy artworks do not belong to anyone, but to the cities public space where he intervenes. However, the system devours everything, yet the supposed «anti-system» expressions as the graffiti made by Banksy. A proof of this is the exhibition organized at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, opened until February 24, 2019. Curated by Gianluca Marziani and Stefano S. Antonelli, the show brings together twenty images of Banksy’s most iconic pieces, those that won world fame due to its thematic: capitalism, war, surveillance, or massive migratory movements.…

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«Firenze secondo me:» Matteo Renzi presents his documentary about Florence

«Firenze secondo me:» Matteo Renzi presents his documentary about Florence

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Matteo Renzi, former prime minister of Italy, presents the documentary film Firenze secondo me about his view on Florence, the city where he was born and grew up, and of which he was mayor between 2009 and 2014. The Discovery Italia Nove channel will broadcast four chapters of 90 minutes starting on December 15 at 9:25 p.m.

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Medici villas #2: Poggio a Caiano

Medici villas #2: Poggio a Caiano

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The construction of this medicean villa located between Florence, Prato and Pistoia was the whim of Lorenzo the Magnificent, thus he commissioned it to his favourite architect, Giuliano da Sangallo, at the end of the 15th century. A residence for the pure leisureliness of contemplation by the dynastic power, the villa of Poggio a Caiano recovers elements of the classic architecture such as the fronton and Ionic temple at the main facade. Due to the harmony and symmetry of its proportions, as for representing an ideal of life in the outskirts under Humanism, the site is listed World Heritage by the UNESCO since 2013. Walking the Parco all’inglese and the Giardino all’italiana is as stimulating as visiting its interior. Free entrance.
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