The Uffizi’s new exhibition, Figures, Memory, Space. Drawings from Fra Angelico to Leonardo, displays over 100 works by Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Mantegna, Michelangelo and Titian. It shows how drawings were used to prepare for major paintings and frescoes and, later in the 15th century, how they became works of art in their own […]
September 2015 — Effective as of June 15, 2015, the Regional Secretary of the former Superintendency of the State Museums of Florence stipulated that Amici degli Uffizi members, holding valid membership and ID cards, are eligible for the free entrance and the priority pass to the Uffizi Gallery only. This severely limits the benefits of the
At the Uffizi Gallery’s free exhibition space, Sala delle Reali Poste, an exciting exhibit has just opened. Called Autoritratte: ‘Artiste di capriccioso e destrissimo ingegno’’ (Women Artists Self-Portraits: “Women artists of wit and great ingenuity”), offers a rare opportunity to view eighty of the museum’s historic collection of self-portraits that range from the 16th century
A couple of days every week a phenomenon overwhelms even the most hardened Florentine. It is know to some as the “boat people” scrooge. It happens on the days when gigantic cruise ships dock at Livorno. Thousands of pastel-clad tourists shod in flip-flops are unloaded and stuffed into dozens of buses, which transport them to
Just over a year ago, the Bardini Museum in Florence opened to the public again after long and accurate restoration work aimed at re-establishing the configuration that its founder, the antiquarian Stefano Bardini, had originally given the exhibition. Bardini trained as a painter and became famous as a restorer and art dealer. He created a
After three days, the reservation line reports all of the spots on the Percorso del Principe tours have been filled. Tuscan Traveler suggests that such popularity calls for more tours on more days… The Vasari Corridor, also known as the Percorso del Principe (Path of the Prince), is open to the general public until July
Enzo Ferrari was the man who said the Mille Miglia is “La corsa piu bella del mondo” – the most beautiful race in the world. This year, a decade after his death, he certainly would have agreed because a Ferrari won the 2009 race with Carlo and Bruno Ferrari in a 1927 Bugatti Type 37.
In the Oltrarno of Florence, upstream from the Ponte alle Grazie, is a small jewel of a museum that is open free to the public. The Museo Casa Siviero is located at the ground floor of the fine 19th century building on the banks of the river Arno, where the sophisticated collector and wartime “James
A Unique Opportunity Visitors to Florence, Italy, know that to miss the paintings of Botticelli and Caravaggio in the Uffizi Gallery, the Ponte Vecchio with its famous gold merchants, and the gaudy splendors of the Pitti Palace is to miss three of Florence’s best-known sites. What many tourists do not know is that along this
The noise, the traffic, the heat, the dust of 600-year-old buildings and the exhaust of motor scooters and Pullman buses; the squadrons of German and Italian tourists dutifully following the high-held umbrella or long stemmed plastic rose; “too much ‘David’,” ditto the Madonnas with Child – so why does anyone venture to Florence, Italy anymore,