Category: Free Tour

Apr 1, 2024

An American in Florence

Walking on the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, perhaps on the left sidewalk in the direction of Ponte alla Carraia, almost up to Piazza Ognissanti on the wall of the current Grand Hotel raising our heads we can see a small plaque on the wall of the aforementioned hotel. The plaque bears the following writing: "In the memory of Leland Stanford Jr. who died in this house on March 13, 1884 and in homage to the university that bears his name the undergraduates of the year 1907 place this memory". But who was Leland Jr? He was the son of the US politician first governor and then Senator of California Leland Stanford.

Mar 31, 2024

Another Buonarroti

Michelangelo collected Etruscan works ... Well yes, Michelangelo Buonarroti collected works from the Etruscan period, but it was not the famous Michelangelo that we all know, but the great -grandson that in the first decades of the seventeenth century, the preparation of the family home began in via Ghibellina in memory of the illustrious ancestor. In addition to making four rooms decorate from the best Florentine artists of the moment such as: Pietro da Cortona, Artemisia Gentileschi, Domenico Passignano, Cristofano Allori

Mar 30, 2024

Il Carroccio in Florence “II part”

Once deliberated to move against the enemy, the Florentine government used to order public prayers, and Martinella was played night and day, which was a bell, also called Bellifera for its connection with the war events, located in the arc of the door Saint Mary. This door, which gives its name to the current via Por Santa Maria, closed the first walls of Florence in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio, and was at the height of the current loggia of the new market (or Porcellino).

Mar 29, 2024

Scoppio del carro in Florence

On the morning of Easter day the magic of the "outbreak of the wagon" is renewed. The "Brindellone", the "fire" chariot escorted by 150 armed, musicians and flag -wavers of the historic procession of the Florentine Republic, moves from the square of the lawn, driven by two pairs of white Bovi Infiorati, and arrives in Piazza del Duomo, where it is placed in the space between the baptistery and the cathedral. Then, at the song of the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo", fire is set to the fuse of the Colombina who, by hissing, goes to fire the mortgages and fireworks expertly arranged on the cart.

Mar 27, 2024

Simonetta Vespucci the beauty of Florence

Simonetta Vespucci Cattaneo, a captivating figure of the Italian Renaissance, was born in 1453 into a prominent Florentine family. Renowned for her […]

Mar 26, 2024

Leonado da Vinci and its secret

he great Leonardo, an absolute genius in many fields, from artistic to the scientific, was a man with great inventiveness, and all the drawings he left us and who, after centuries, are still current and often used, demonstrate it. But Leonardo was not only this: Leonardo loved good cuisine and loved to show off his culinary skills, even if he often did not meet the consent of his diners!

Mar 25, 2024

Geometric illusion on the Cathedral’s Floor

Florence, in Santa Maria del Fiore. This floor is completely flat. The remarkable optical illusion of the seventeenth century of the marble tiles of the Florence Cathedral. View from above, the intricate geometry creates the illusion of a giant abyss in which people could come across. The red, white, black and green marble floor was a colossal task to complete it took 160 years. It was created by the Grand Ducal Laboratories of Florence, led by the Renaissance sculptor Baccio d'Agnolo, and completed in 1660.

Mar 24, 2024

Mariotto Albertinelli the painter chef

Next to Dante's alleged house in the homonymous street, a place with a great story behind him in the square of S.Martino. It is a place founded by a famous painter of the time, Mariotto Albertinelli. Born in Florence on October 13, 1474 from Biagio by Bindo Albertinelli, he began his career before in the shop of the goldsmith's father and subsequently in that of Cosimo Rosselli.

Mar 23, 2024

Via dell Inferno in Florence

In the heart of Florence, narrow in the streets that pulsate with history and secrets, there is via dell' Inferno, " Hell street " an alley that many passers -by cross without noticing, distracted by the surrounding beauty of the city. However, this place hides a forgotten story, a plot that is intertwined with the fate of those who dared to travel it after sunset. It is said that centuries ago, via dell' Inferno was the favorite passage from a mysterious character known as the craftsman of the shadows.

Mar 22, 2024

Zoo in Florence at Boboli Garden

Towards the end of the 1600s, Grand Duke Cosimo III had created in his residence of Palazzo Pitti, an area used as a small zoo, where "very rare animals conducted by the most remote regions were placed ..." as in other European courts, also the family Of the doctors, he wanted to create a mènagerie (in Italian Serraglio, derives from the Latin Serraculum indicating a enclosure or closed part) practically a structure consisting of a series of cages or fences, where animals and birds were held.

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