Tag: Museum

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Expatriate Stories, Frederick Stibbert’s Museum

Coming of age in 1859, Englishman Frederick Stibbert settled in the villa his mother Giulia bought in Florence at the edge of town in the Montughi neighborhood. He was wealthy due to a large inheritance that he was determined and able to increase by means of financial dealings in Italy and in the rest of Europe. His real passion, however, was art – it was the only thing, reportedly, he had been good at in school – not as an artist, but as a collector.

He began to fill his mother’s villa with items he obtained in his travels as … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Cremona, City of Violins

A few weeks ago CBS Sunday Morning presented a story that started in the Italian Alps of the Dolomites where a woodcutter with the name of Fabio Ognibene (Everygood) was seen wandering through a forest of alpine spruce while pointing out which attributes of various trees – ones with long and straight trunks and few branches or knots – were perfect for  making violins.

It seems Italian stringed-instrument craftsmen have been selecting spruce and other varieties of prepared wood from the Fiemme Valley for almost six centuries because the light and elastic mountain timber makes stringed instruments, including pianos, sound … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Picks – La Specola Museum

The Museum of Zoology and Natural History, best known as La Specola (because of the astronomical observatory and a weather station installed in one of the rooftop towers of the palazzo in 1790), is an eclectic natural history museum in Florence, located near to the Pitti Palace on Via Romana. It’s one of Tuscan Traveler’s favorite places to visit, not only for its lack of the crowds that are making popular Florentine museums unbearable, but for its one-of-a-kind collection mostly sourced from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Much of the collection can be traced back to the Medici family … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Picks – New Ferragamo Museum Exhibition

It has been 90 years since Salvatore Ferragamo left the U.S. to return to Italy to find the master craftsmen to realize his unique designs for high quality handmade shoes. His company is marking this milestone with an exhibition at the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, called 1927 – The Return to Italy.

The Ferragamo Museum is one of the most creative in the world. This exhibit, curated by Carlo Sisi and designed by Maurizio Balò, sends visitors inside the Roma, the transatlantic ocean liner sailing from the United States to Italy in the 1920s, which carried Salvatore back to … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Tuscany’s Sword in the Stone, San Galgano

One of the most famous British legends is that of King Arthur and the sword in the stone, first found in Robert de Boron’s Merlin in the late 12th century. According to the various versions of the story, the sword could only be pulled out of the stone by the true king of England.

A similar, much less well-known, story of an earlier date, can be found originating from the Italian region of Tuscany. It has been suggested by some that the Italian tale was inspiration for the British legend. This is the sword in the stone of San Galgano.… Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Pick – The “New” Duomo Museum

Florence’s cathedral museum, known officially as Museo dell’ Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (Museum of the Works of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore), hosts the world’s largest collection of Florentine Medieval and Renaissance sculpture. It reopened to the public on October 29, just in time for Pope Francis’s visit, after an expansion and renovation project lasting two years. The 45 million euro project was funded by the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, and was design by Adolfo Natalini and Guicciardini & Magni Architects.

The museum is the anchor for what is known as Il Grande Museo … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Bellini Museum

Visit Museo Bellini

Getting to view the collection of the Museo Bellini, located along the Arno in Florence, takes a bit of work. To understand its history, having some understanding of Italian helps. But for a new experience, a tour through the Bellini collection is as memorable, as it is fun.

To get in, you start by phoning or ringing the bell. Then make an appointment for a tour and turn up at the appointed time. The fee of 15 euro gets you three visits within a year.

As you walk in to the entry hall a mishmash of … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Picks – Women Artists & the 1966 Florence Flood

In the wake of the tragic 1966 flood of Florence, then-curator of Florentine museums Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti put out a call for Italian and international artists to donate art to replace the masterpieces that had been lost in the flood. As part of this campaign, the City of Florence accepted hundreds of notable works by artists from all over the world.

Thirty-two were by female artists including those whose donations have now been recently restored: Antonietta Raphael Mafai, Amalia Ciardi Duprè, Carla Accardi and Titina Maselli. This restoration project, sponsored by the Advancing Women Artists Foundation (AWA) in collaboration … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – Duomo Façade, a Lesson in Italian Construction Projects

Recently, a photograph from the 1850s in Florence was posted online. It’s one of my favorite photos of the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, and it got me thinking once again about the wedding cake façade of the cathedral because once upon a time it looked like this.

I always tell people that even though the Duomo was finished in the 1400s, the ornate façade wasn’t added until the late 1800s. The way I put it is: In the 1400s they held a competition for the design of the façade and nobody won … and then they ran out of … Read More

Tuscan Traveler’s Tales – More Museum Card News in Florence

Firenze Card vs. Amici degli Uffizi Pass Revisited

Attention:  Effective as of June 15, 2015, the Regional Secretary of the former Superintendency of the State Museums of Florence stipulated that Amici deli 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 card.

Most readers of Tuscan Traveler know that I am a great fan of the Amici degli Uffizi Pass. I like it because:

It is good for one year.

It allows me to return again and … Read More