Discover Florence from the Inside Blog entries

The Magi Chapel and the 1439 Council of Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:02:35 +0100

Among the treasures of Florence there is certainly the Chapel of the Magi in Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, the big mansion that Michelozzo was building for Cosimo the Elder since 1444.
The chapel is by definition a private, devotional space, that here the Medici family created around 1459.

The scene represents the Cavalcade of the Three Kings that is to say the procession that the Magi did to go to worship Read More...

Wessel Huisman at the Florence Biennale 2011

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:33:46 +0100

I met Wessel Huisman at the hotel reception. I knew he was exposing at the Florence Biennale and so I asked him how it was going.
This way we started a very pleasant and engaging conversation about art in general and contemporary art in particular.
He proposed me to come and see his paintings at the Biennale, and so I went.
What for an experience!
I work at the hotel but I am alsoRead More...

Morgante: dwarf at the Grand Duke of Florence’s court

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:09:45 +0100

Being a dwarf in the Renaissance was certainly not easy. Abused from an early age, they were often sold to circuses to be shown to people as monsters and obliged to do the most degrading performances.
Some of them had a better life when they became members of a court and some even succeeded to become advisers of their Lord.

This is the case of Braccio di Bartolo, who became the favorite court dwarf of CosimoRead More...

One video about Hotel Kursaal & Ausonia

ezucconi@omniagroup.it — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:35:54 +0100

This is a video that one of our guests has done and we would like to share it with you.

Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence - for home a Renaissance palace

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:24:51 +0100

Palazzo Medici is the house that Cosimo the Elder asked Michelozzo to build since 1444.
His business was going very well and so he could afford to build a house for his family, leaving his previous one that belonged to his in-laws and his wife in the Santa Croce district.

He wanted a new building, but the modernRead More...

Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini and the hidden portrait

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 03:47:42 +0100

In the open-air museum that is the Piazza della Signoria, inside the Loggia dei Lanzi, you can admire the beautiful Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini.

The Grand Duke Cosimo I, while modifying the art and culture of Florence, followed Vasari’s advice and asked the famous goldsmith Benvenuto Cellini to make a statue that would celebrate the reaffirmation of the Medici dynasty over theRead More...

Artusi and Florence cuisine

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:46:22 +0100

Do you want to have fun in the kitchen?
Then there is no doubt you must have a copy of "Artusi".
Now the book that Pellegrino Artusi wrote in 1891 is simply called with its author’s surname “Artusi” and no longer with its real title: "The science of cooking and the art of eating well."
At first the book seemed to be destined to be soon forgotten. It had to published at Read More...

Tempera painting

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 06:25:31 +0100

The word "tempera" comes from "stemperare" that in Italian means dissolve the pigments of colour with water.

It was the first technique used by man to express himself already in prehistoric times.
The pigments are powders that are extracted from minerals, plants or animals of different colours.
The tempera technique reached its peak development in Italy between 13th and 15th centuRead More...

Spring: Flowers in the pan!

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 13:47:04 +0100

Finally spring has arrived, bringing with it its many colorful and perfumed flowers.
Recently flowers are not just used to decorate but also to eat!

For sure you have certainly eaten squash blossoms. In Italian cuisine they are eaten in soups, dipped in milk and then in flour to be fried or stewed.
Less common is to have eaten other flowers. But this is the trendRead More...

Mona Lisa in Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Mon, 23 May 2011 05:05:18 +0100

The Mona Lisa is doubtless the most famous painting in the world and it is at the Louvre.
Italians and especially Florentines find hard to accept that it is in France. Why should it?

Leonardo has done the painting during his stay in Florence, while living close to Palazzo Gondi and the woman portrayed, Lisa Gherardini, is Florentine.
SO the most common idea is that the FreRead More...

Ice Cream Festival 2011 - Florence makes your mouth water!

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 14 May 2011 07:37:56 +0100

From May 25 to 29 there is another reason to come to Florence: the second edition of the Ice Cream Festival..

The whole city will celebrate this very typical Italian product, invented for the Medici court in Florence.

The event will have 2 major sites 1. Artisan's Village, set up in Piazza Pitti. Here you can see the ice cream makers creating different ice cream tastes anRead More...

Memory, Space. Drawings by Fra 'Angelico, Leonardo. Florence from March 8 to June 12

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 07 May 2011 12:57:56 +0100

The Gabinetto Stampe e Disegni degli Uffizi and the British Museum's Department of Print and Drawings gave life to this exhibit made with the preparatory drawings of the great Italian artists of 1400.

You have to hurry because this beautiful exhibition is about to end: only 1 month is left.
In the entrance hall of Poste Reali, just across gate #1 of Uffizi Gallery there is this Read More...

William & Kate: honeymoon in Florence?

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 16:02:07 +0100

They got married yesterday and it was a world event.
I really wonder if there was someone who has resisted the temptation to watch at least some images of the royal wedding.

Honestly, I watched it all. I have seen Charles & Diana’s and I could not loose William and Kate’s..
I was especially curious to see the arrival of Kate at Westminster to FINALLY Read More...

Santi Apostoly church and Easter in Flroence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:37:34 +0100

Because of the approaching Easter, I would like to talk, about a very suggestive place of Florence: the small church of Santi Apostoli that is unknown to the majority of the tourists because it is off the beaten paths.

Half-way of Borgo Santi Apostoli, in the heart of the medieval Florence, surrounded by tower-houses and historic buildings there is the Piazzetta del Limbo with the Read More...

The Medici Chapels: The Princes Chapel

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:39:07 +0100

The museum that we now call "The Medici Chapels" consists of three different parts:
the crypt, which is now the museum entrance in Piazza Madonna Aldobrandini, where there are the tombs of the Medici family from of Cosimo I onwards, then the Chapel of the Princes and least but not last the New Sacristy.

The Princes Chapel has got the second-largest dome of Florence. It was built inRead More...

Giotto Crucifix in Ognissanti church in Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:12:53 +0100

In Florence, there are two crucifixes by Giotto. The first one is in the church of Santa Maria Novella, the second one in the Ognissanti church, where the entrance is free.

Since the end of 1800, many masterpieces have been removed from the majority of the churches in order to be put into museums. It is therefore not so easy to see a work that was done and thought fRead More...

25 March 2011: New Year in Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 17:16:03 +0100

It is not a mistake. In Florence the new year began March 25.

Up until 1528, not only in Florence but throughout the Christian world, the year began March 25 that is to say the day of the Annunciation, exactly nine months before the birth of Jesus (Christmas). The moment of the incarnation of Jesus in Mary's womb is on its own a symbol of birth and hope in the future and it also coincides withRead More...

Chiostro dello Scalzo - Andrea del Sarto in Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:18:21 +0100

The Company of the Disciplined of St. John the Baptist, founded in 1376 was located here. The cloister was the lobby leading to the church. Nothing is left of the Company but this little place.

The Company was known as “Scalzo” (barefoot) because the man who carried the cross in processions used to go barefoot as a sign of penitence.
This small cloister iRead More...

March 8th in Florence Women’s Day

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 07:54:40 +0100

The Italian Ministry of Culture on the occasion of Women’s Day, has decided to offer all women free admission in the state museums.

"What would art be without women?" is the slogan of this day and it is meant to emphasize the key role of women in art.
Women as an incomparable source of inspiration to represent beauty.

Let’s go to one of the many museums in Florence then and enRead More...

Lampredotto sandwhich in Florence

eleonorazucconi@gmail.com — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 13:42:45 +0100

In Florence, as in the rest of Italy, food is good. There are many traditional dishes, but there is one that is very special, unique in all Italy: the sandwich better say “panino” with lampredotto.

The name derives from the “lampreda”, a type of fish that once was very abundant in the waters of the Arno river, that lampredotto reminds in its shRead More...