by Penny | 13 Jul, 2011 | Feature, Newsletter, Renaissance Art, Social History
3.7.11 to 5.7.11 Have you ever been confidently talking about something and then realised that – through your own lack of understanding – you have completely lost your audience. I had such an experience last week when visiting the Uffizi with my Chinese...
by Penny | 6 Jul, 2011 | Lead story, News, Newsletter, Social History
6.7.11 Avante guarde music to celebrate Independence Day and Beyond! Tamsin Waley Cohen was delighted to be appointed Musical Director of this year’s summer season of concerts in Florence and has chosen a relevant theme of Tyranny and Freedom for this series of...
by Penny | 28 Jun, 2011 | Cooking, News, Newsletter
27.6.11 Tuscan cookery class with Lisa Banchieri – held at Amor di Vino Another great class with Lisa teaching us all we need to know about making scrummy individual vegetable flans, soft potato gnocchi with a strong basil and parmigiana + pecorino pesto,...
by Penny | 25 Jun, 2011 | Feature, News, Newsletter, Social History
Notte Bianco – approaching 02.00am – shutters, double glazed windows, original windows and curtains closed and not a snowball in hell’s chance of sleeping! Essentially the design of the Piazza sends sound upwards – the thick walls collect and...
by Penny | 17 Jun, 2011 | Feature, Newsletter, Social History, Tuscan gardens
“Monster” is the first word that springs to my mind when reading about the various goings on of the lugubrious Francesco de Medici, who is seen below looking relatively cheerful in a painting by Angolo Bronzino – the favourite court artist of the...
by Penny | 13 Jun, 2011 | Feature, Italian language, Newsletter, Social History, Tuscan gardens
It all began with Boccaccio! – For the English Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are ground breaking because they are the first stories in England written in the vernacular, (Middle English), at the end of the 14th century when the dominant...
