On the trendy Via de’ Tornabuoni, nestled in the courtyard of the luxe Palazzo Tornabuoni, is a new restaurant, Obikà, the latest location in a chain of mozzarella bars that has its birthplace in Rome, and now has siblings in London, New York, Kuwait City,Tokyo, Turin and Milan. Obikà has the look of a stylish […]
The most Anglo American-styled library in Florence, the Harold Acton Library, is owned and operated by the British Institute of Florence. Contained on 2 ½ book-lined floors, the library allows full access to the stacks and provides knowledgeable assistance to the collection and extensive archives. The full catalogue is computerized and is available online. The
Americans and Brits usually find visiting libraries in Italy both frustrating and dissatisfying. The stacks are not open, so no browsing. You usually have to deal with a surly civil servant who will tell you that you do not have the right paperwork, but even if you did have lending privileges, it will take at
In the 16th century Medicean Villa of Castello, is one of the most important of Florence’s many libraries, the Crusca Academy (Accademia della Crusca). The Villa of Castello, located on the northern edge of the city, with its magnificent gardens (open to the public), passed from the Medici dukes to the Lorraine dukes to the King
The Florence American World War II Cemetery is the smaller of two such cemeteries in Italy and thus seems more personal, more approachable, nestled in the classic Tuscan countryside below the hill town of Impruneta. The World War II Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial is more imposing in its sheer vastness, bringing home the horrible
Of all of the Musei del Cibo (Museums of Food) in Italy, there are probably more dedicated to olives and olive oil than any other (except, perhaps, wine). Tuscany has the best olive oil (according to this writer), so it is a decided disappointment that the region has only one measly museum (and perhaps another,
On a cold and rainy day when nothing is going right, Italians don’t have the same craving for Mac ‘n’ Cheese (maccheroni e formaggio) as most of the American baby boomers. During the 50s and 60s across the U.S., moms would make Mac ‘n’ Cheese from scratch with a butter and flour roux and American
SUNDAY (October 25, 2009) Dante was worn out after all of the “A Passo Duomo” celebration around the cathedral. The new mayor of Florence had decreed that the entire piazza surrounding the Duomo would become a pedestrian mall instead of a busy thoroughfare where over 500 buses and thousands of taxis round the Duomo every
As the November 4th anniversary of the 1966 flood that devastated Florence approaches, it’s the perfect time to read Robert Clark’s Dark Water: Art Disaster and Redemption in Florence, which was just released in paperback. As Angela Leeper writes in her concise review in bookpage.com: “History and art criticism, with a dash of memoir thrown in,
“Il privilegio della lentezza” or “the luxury of going slowly” is the creed of the artisans at the Antico Setificio Fiorentino says director Sabine Pretsch. Seemingly untouched by time, workmanship characteristic of the Renaissance is central to this small Florentine silk fabric workshop. Any visitor will linger in this unhurried, magical place tucked deep inside