Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Mapplethorpe, Michelangelo & Patti Smith

Visitors to Florence this summer should keep an eye out for special events in special places.

Update (9/11/09):

Patti Smith came back to town this past week for her i. was in Florence tour – a tour limited to the city limits, including unannounced stops to sing on street corners and small piazzas. She spoke to a large group of NYU students at Villa La Pietra and rocked the house in the Salone dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio where, to an invitation-only crowd, she recited Ginzberg’s footnote to HowlHoly, Holy, Holy (a glance at the lyrics makes … Read More

Dove Vai? – The Galleria Ferrari Museum, cars and more cars

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. A vintage Ferrari also came in second with a 1926 Bugatti Type 35A.

Any fine car enthusiast (or someone trying to make a Ferrari fan happy) who happens to be visiting or driving by Modena should take a detour to Maranello and visit the Galleria … Read More

Dove Vai? – Mille Miglia, the most beautiful road race in the world

I still remember the day in Panzano when I almost plowed down Dario Cecchini, the famed butcher, who was standing in the intersection blowing a horn that once graced the side of an ancient automobile – back in the times when the horn had to be sounded to get the horses and carriages out of the way. Dario was garbed in festive red pants, yellow shirt, red vest, and white apron with a red bandana at his neck. He had a glass of red wine in his other hand.

Just as Dario blew two long welcoming notes, three antique … Read More