by Penny | 5 Jun, 2017 | Architecture, Florentine History, Lead story, Medieval History, Medieval Money, News, Religious History, Renaissance Art, Social History, The Art of Writing, Tuscan gardens
Arnolfini family – an unlucky love affair in Lucca Following on from my Blog about Lucchese merchant Niccolo Arnolfini and his wife, Costanza Trenta who died in childbirth – I was saddened to learn this week that future generations of the...
by Penny | 3 May, 2017 | Books, Garden tours, News, Social History, The Art of Writing, Tours, Tuscan gardens, WW2
A day trip to La Foce & DopoLavoro La Foceand Montepuliciano. DopoLavoro La Foce is a restaurant, lodged in a building that formed part of the grounds of Anthony and Iris Origo’s estate in Val D’Orcia. It was originally the place where their farm...
by Penny | 9 Apr, 2017 | Florentine History, Florentine money, Garden tours, Italy and the American Imagination, Michelangelo, News, poets and poetry, Renaissance Art, Sculpture, Social History, Tuscan gardens, WW1
Emilio Santarelli,(1801–1886) was the Florentine artist who sculpted the vigorous and sympathetic sculpture of Michelangelo Buonarotti for one of the most prominent niches in the Uffizi. He was an important Florentine artist,...
by Penny | 5 Jun, 2015 | Advancing Women Artists AWA, News, Social History, Tuscan gardens
Not in Florence but back in London for a couple of weeks – I was very happy on Tuesday 2nd June to attend a charity gig that my friend Melissa Hay invited me to. It was held in the beautiful Warren House in Kingston , where I was delighted to find a home from...
by Penny | 31 May, 2015 | Advancing Women Artists AWA, Italy and the American Imagination, poets and poetry, Social History, Tuscan gardens
Il Palmerino – home of Vernon Lee and Lola Costa This famous image is currently being shown in London at the hugely popular John Singer Sargent exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery, but it is a well travelled picture as it regularly appears in...
by Penny | 16 May, 2015 | Architecture, Fresco painting, Opera, Social History, The Medici, Tuscan gardens
self – portrait of Il Volterrano Baldassare Franceschini (1611 – 6 January 1689) was an Italian late Baroque painter who, between 1637 and 1649, created the second part of the huge fresco cycle of the Medici family in the courtyard of Villa La Petraia just...
