by Penny | 8 Nov, 2015 | Films, Florentine money, Giotto, Medieval Money, News, Social History, The Medici
As Mrs May bravely approached Florence to brag about the great trading relationship between England and Florence since Medieval times I thought it might be pertinent to put out a warning that this could be another dangerous move on her part! I wrote this Blog in 2015...
by Penny | 7 Feb, 2015 | Books, Films, News, poets and poetry, Social History, St Mark's English Church Florence, UK Activity
David Herbert Lawrence -(1885- 1930) On 15th May 1926 D H Lawrence wrote to his friend, the aristocratic socialite and painter Dorothy Brett, from Villa Mirenda in Scandicci to advise her that he and his wife Frieda von Richthofen had taken the top half of the Villa...
by Penny | 30 Nov, 2014 | 1966 Flood, Architecture, Films, Films set in Italy, News, Renaissance Art, Social History
Florence 1966 flood on film Today I had the privilege of joining a large group of Florentine residents and Expatriates who packed the huge Odeon Cinema in the centre of Florence to watch the black and white film shot by Mario Carbone – during and just after the...
by Penny | 8 Oct, 2014 | Architecture, Exhibitions, Feature, Films, Films set in Italy, News, poets and poetry, Sculpture, Social History, Tuscan gardens
The “English” Cemetery in Florence is , despite it’s name , in fact owned by the Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church, which bought land outside the medieval wall of the city in 1827 from Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Their intention was to...
by Penny | 5 May, 2014 | Books, Films, Photography, Renaissance Art, WW2
The Venus Fixers The Venus Fixers was the pejorative term originally applied to the WW2 soldiers who, thanks to George Clooney and his latest film , we now know better as the Monuments Men. According to author Ilaria Dagnini Brey , who wrote the book on which the film...
by Penny | 27 Dec, 2013 | Books, Films, Films set in Italy, Florentine restaurants, Italy and the American Imagination, Opera, Painting, poets and poetry, Religious History, Renaissance Art, Social History, St Mark's English Church Florence, The Art of Writing, theatre, WW2
We are starting off the year 2014 sharing our private impressions of Italy, in Florence during May- with five Thursday evening workshops with Australian Professor Ian Bickerton – I am really looking forward to it! Can you recall your first impression of Italy...
