Blog

100 for Michelangelo's tomb

27 March 2018

The crowdfunding operation launched last September by the Santa Croce Opera allowed the generosity of 100 donors from all over the world to collect 100.000€ for the restoration of Michelangelo's monumental tomb and the altarpiece of the Buonarroti altar.
The tomb was designed by Vasari and composed of sculptures representing the personifications of the arts: the Architecture by Giovanni Bandini, the Sculpture by Valerio Cioli and the Painting by Giovan Battista Lorenzi, also the author of the bust of Michelangelo that overlooks the tomb.
The first phase of the prestigious restoration has... Read all

Summer nights at the Uffizi

28 February 2018

From June 5, 2018 to August 7, 2018 and from August 21, 2018 to September 25, 2018 the Uffizi Gallery will be extraordinarily open every Tuesday from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm.(last booked entrance at 8:00 pm.)

The last entrance without a booking will be at 9:05 pm.

To purchase and book tickets,click here

Hidden masterpieces inside Medici Chapels

08 February 2018

The Museo delle Cappelle Medicee is located in the apsidal part of the important Brunelleschi complex of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence.
In the chapels and in the crypts below are buried many of the most important members of the Medici family, who had made their own parish church. 
To celebrate their great power, they made this place a real mausoleum, the Pantheon of the Medici family. The Brunelleschi project contributed to the celebrity and artistic importance of the complex, as did the intervention of... Read all

Uffizi Gallery on Google Maps

16 January 2018

More and more cultural institutions are opting for the digitization of their artistic heritage.

The Uffizi Gallery of Florence has opted to include not only the works contained in the archives in the digital transformation, but to make the public able to a virtual tour of their rooms using the Google tools.

Thanks to the google maps tool, the street view of the Uffizi allows you to move with the "point and click" system, offering visitors a trace of the building's interior with the intent to stimulate the visitor's curiosity and bring... Read all

Art quotes itself

12 January 2017

The Amorino dormiente by Caravaggio: when a masterpiece becomes a symbol of prestige

Today we are revealing a curious anecdote about the circularity of art, of which Florence offers many evidences. We are going to discuss the relationship between the unusual and famous Amorino dormiente  by Caravaggio and the fresco decoration of one of the most special buildings in the city, Palazzo dell'Antella in Piazza Santa Croce.

In fact, few people know that on its colorful facade, among other decorations painted by Giovanni da San... Read all

The Unknown Medusa and its Famous Double

23 August 2016

When the "Double" is More Famous than the Original One

Perhaps not everyone knows that Caravaggio painted an earlier version of the terrible screaming head of Medusa with darting snakes instead of hair, the famous painting in exhibition at the Uffizi.

The Medusa unknown to most (kept in a private vault in London) is not a copy, but an original work by Michelangelo Merisi from Caravaggio.  Three elements prove that: a signature, the drawing beneath the paint surface, and two poems.  As regards the signature: «He affixed his... Read all

The Challenge of Michelangelo

22 July 2016

One face, many stories

We are closing our in-depth trilogy with two curious stories that bind Michelangelo Buonarroti to Piazza della Signoria.

Not many know that, looking at the facade of Palazzo Vecchio, on the right side towards Via della Ninna (almost around the sculpture of Ercole and Caco by Baccio Bandinelli), down on the edge of the building, there is a stone with the profile of a man's face carved like a graffiti, perhaps with hammer and chise.

Most tourists - and the Florentines... Read all

La curiosa storia del naso del David

23 June 2016

Un fatto realmente accaduto, ma conosciuto da pochi

Continuiamo il nostro “approfondimento”, iniziato con l’ articolo del mese scorso, riportando un curioso aneddoto raccontato da Giuliano Cenci in "Firenze segreta" riguardo un elemento che sicuramente può considerarsi inaspettato, soprattutto se consideriamo il soggetto principale: il naso del David.

I turisti che si recano alla Galleria dell’Accademia per ammirare la scultura originale del David di Michelangelo, non si soffermano certo a osservare con particolare interesse il naso del personaggio biblico raffigurato in questo grande capolavoro. Quegli stessi turisti,... Read all

The meaning of the artworks: the deep transformation in the museums

24 May 2016

Michelangelo's David: from religious and political emblem to a symbol of beauty and perfection.

You will surely agree that the natural place attributed by our imagination to an artwork is the museum. History, however, tells us that in most cases the artworks  were not conceived and designed for a typical setting like the museums' one. So the question arises: what kind of consequences we have when we physically remove the artwork from its original context?

Let’s think about one of the most emblematic works of the Renaissance, a symbol magnificence and... Read all

Games tremble, tremble. The tacks are back!

13 April 2016

One billion units sold in 2015: the plastic "matches", today also for the adults, are the real competitor of video games.

All began in 1969, with the first Quercetti’s  advertisement, strictly black and white, entitled "The Masters": the protagonists were four guys wearing a white coat of those which donate a typical appearance (medical-professorial), all busy with the construction. The message the réclame wanted to convey was not to settle of amateurism, even in playful situations; It was clearly a message from another time. Those... Read all