Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Florence FREE”
We might not be able to travel to Italy right now but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t new travel developments. We expect a Renaissance in Italian culture and travel to Italy post-Covid and here are some things to look forward to when we return. – Elaine Murphy Procida Will Be Italy’s Next Capital of Culture The tiny island of …
Editor’s Note: My friend Toni, an Italian-American expat who lives in Florence, started one of the original food tour companies in Italy with Taste Florence Food Tours. She has used the time at home to find solace in food and to launch the pop-up Corona Podcast. Here is how she sees things these days. — Kathy McCabe As I sit …
Editor’s Note: Chandi Wyant is a beautiful writer. I fell in love with her book Return to Glow, about her transformational hike on the Via Francigena. In fact, we are talking to Chandi during our book club April 29th on Facebook Live. Chandi is a Renaissance art historian and licensed tour guide in Florence. She also has a fantastic blog …
This article originally appeared in the March 2020 issue of Dream of Italy. The Italian government has declared March 25 National Dante Day (Dantedì) to celebrate Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, an epic poem completed in 1320. The new holiday is in anticipation of the 700th anniversary of the poet’s death, which occurred in September 1321 in Ravenna. Dante, a revered poet whose Divine Comedy is …
Editor’s Note: In a world that has gone mad, let’s close our eyes and dream of Italy. No one writes about Italy the way Frances Mayes does. In the midst of the chaos, she has a stunning new book out from National Geographic – Always Italy – along with her fab travel writer extraordinaire co-author Ondine Cohane. We’re offering a …
Florence simply enchants us…and some much of the Florentine experience is where you stay. Host Kathy McCabe has a favorite Florentine hotel and it is the Grand Hotel Minerva. At the hotel’s stunning rooftop pool Kathy sat down with her friend sales and marketing director Andrea Bargigli to talk about what makes the Minerva unique and how to explore …
This article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main What’s New in 2020 article here. As one of the three most highly regarded, yet rival Renaissance artists – along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci – Raphael enjoyed success as a painter during his lifetime and even greater fame after his death. Just as with the 500th anniversary …
This article originally appeared in the November 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Find the main What’s New in 2020 article here. Renaissance-era nun Plautilla Nelli became the only known woman to paint the Last Supper in 1528. Dream of Italy documented the painting’s restoration in the Florence episode of the Dream of Italy TV series on PBS – and now the four-year restoration is …
Florence’s proximity to some of Italy’s most celebrated wine country, combined with the many noble families who resided in the city, has contributed to a charming tidbit of history: Florence’s buchette del vino, or wine windows. Hidden in plain sight, these wine windows look like small, arch-shaped cutouts in the walls of former villas around the city. Since 2015, an …
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of Dream of Italy. Walking around the historic center of Florence, you are sure to notice strange, small cutouts in the walls of the old large family homes. They are called buchette del vino, referred to in English as “wine windows” or “wine doors.” Originally, the Nobile families in town also had …
