Friday December 18th 2010 a lot of snow fell down on Firenze, it was just awsome! And some brave guys did snowboarding at Piazzale Michelangelo, woooooow!
Watch this video!

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The first time I saw the snow in Florence was 2005, and then it happened again! I took those few pictures the night of december 20th, when the snow was beginning to fall... it was really amazing, such a magical feeling watching the snow flakes falling over Santa Maria Novella!
The next morning I drove to my parent's house for Christmas, on a snowy and icy highway... end of the magic! :-(

the street where I live... one of the cars is mine :-)

snow on Santa Maria Novella

snow on the christmas trees in Piazza della Stazione

snowy christmas at Santa Maria Novella

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The Loggia del Porcellino, or Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, is located in the heart of Florence, just behind Ponte Vecchio.

The lodge was built around the second half of the XVI century by Giovan Battista del Tasso, and the famous fountain of the Porcellino (Piglet, but it's actually a wild boar!) was made by Pietro Tacca in 1640.

Under the lodge it used to be a silk and fabric market, now the market sells souvenirs, clothing and leather accessories.

Rubbing the piglet's nose brings fortune, so... rub, rub, rub!!! Now the nose is shiny from all this rubbing :-D

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Calcio Fiorentino is an early form of football that originated in 16th century in Florence, Italy. Today Calcio Fiorentino is still played in Florence. The matches used to take place in Piazza Santa Croce, and still do, every third week of June.

In this game are used both feet and hands, it’s a kind of mix between soccer, rugby and Greco-roman wrestling. Goals can be scored by throwing the ball over a designated spot on the perimeter of the field. The playing field is a giant sand pit with a goal running the width of each end.

Four historical neighbourhoods of the city, represented from their main church and a colour (Santa Croce is blue, San Giovanni is green, Santo Spirito is white, and Santa Maria Novella is red), fight against each other to win.
The modern version allows tactics such as head-butting, punching, elbowing, and choking, but forbids sucker-punching and kicks to the head.

It’s a very violent sport but also spectacular, especially because of the pre-game parade with historically accurate Renaissance costumes, and sure, for the fights!!!
If you’re going to visit Florence in late June don’t miss the Calcio Fiorentino Match!

the historical parade before the matches

fights!

the play ground in Piazza Santa Croce

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The garden of Horticulture of Florence first opened in 1862, and it was made by the Horticulture Society of Tuscany to spread the knowledge of plants and “love and taste for horticulture”.
In 1880 the garden hosted the First National Horticulture Expo: to celebrate the happening a big greenhouse was built, a wonderful building made of iron and glass, one of the first buildings of this kind. the architect Giacomo Roster planned this greenhouse, and today is best known as “tepidarium of Roster”.

In 1911 was built also a nice small lodge called “Loggetta Bondi” in neo-renaissance style.

In the last years a weird decoration was added to this garden: a big snake that is dragging on the steps of a stair, all made with pieces of stones, with his large mouth opened and showing his long sharp teeth… it’s quite odd and pretty ugly, seems an ungraceful version of Gaudì’s Salamander in Parc Guell!

The Garden of horticulture is a nice place for spending an afternoon in the sun, having a nap under a tree, taking a walk along the paths and playing a soccer match with friends (yes, we’re in Italy, every place is good to kick a ball!).

I’ve been there last Saturday with my friend Daniela and we shoot some pictures…

the greenhouse of the Garden of Horticulture, Florence

the Loggetta Bondi and some guys playing soccer

the snake drags down the steps in front of a nice view of Florence

the ugly snake... the write on the rock means "grandma is always right" :-D

the head of the ugly snake

the snake is biting me (on the left) and Daniela

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Yesterday I went to Villa Stibbert to enjoy a walk in the park and to visit the museum... I didn't know how nice and interesting it was until my friend Daniela took me there! Thank you Dany :-)

The villa was once Stibbert's home, and has 57 rooms that exhibit all of Stibbert's collections from all around the world. Frederick Stibbert was a rich heir born in 1836 and grown in England, but lately moved to Florence. He had no need to work so he lived his life collecting objects and turned his house into a museum.

Paintings are displayed throughout every room, including still lifes and portraits. There is also collections of valuable furniture, porcelains, Tuscan crucifixes, Etruscan artifacts, and an outfit worn by Napoleon I.

Sure the most interesting exhibition is the Stibbert's Arms and Armour collection: more of 12.000 pieces of arms and armour from the 15th trough the 19th century, from all over the world: European, Oriental, Japanese, Arab pieces.

In the Cavalcade Room you can admire a large collection of medieval knights on horseback and foot-soldiers dressed with original armours and holding their weapons… that’s impressive! In the Samurai Room there are more than 80 armours and hundreds of swords.

Outside the museum, over the walls of the villa, there is a large collection of stone coats of arms from the most important nobile families from all over Europe.
The museum also contains a small cafe and a bookstore.

The garden of the villa is pretty interesting too, it’s a nice English garden full of strange things and historical quotes, as it was very popular and appreciated in the second half of 1800.
Walking around the park you can find a nice small temple in classical style, with a dome covered with coloured pieces of ceramic, some ponds, a lot of wild vegetation, an elegant “limonaia” (typical rural building used to recover citrus plants like lemons), and even an odd small neo-egyptian temple built on an island in the main pond, with sphinxes, pharaoh statues and a small obelisk.
The paths are curvy and quite wild, and are dotted with statues.
It’s a very curious garden, full of odd things that play with history, geography and cultural quotes, a perfect example of the 800esque ideas of Sublime and Beautiful, typical of Picturesque.

the classical small temple in Stibbert Garden, Florence.

a nice classical terrace in front of Stibbert villa
the limonaia of Stibbert Villa with a wonderful lemon tree in a pot

the weird neo-egyptian temple in the Stibbert Garden in Florence

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Here are three movies that I really like: all those films had been shot in Florence, and that’s the only thing that they have in common! Different genres, different years, different styles… but all those movies represent an atmosphere, an aspect of Florence, and put the spotlight on some of the million different sides that this wonderful city can offer to the observer.

Hannibal (2001)
Directed by Ridley Scott
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Giancarlo Giannini, Zeljko Ivanek, Frankie Faison, Francesca Neri.
Music by Hans Zimmer.

A classical thriller, the famous sequel of the silence of the lambs (then followed by Red Dragon), to discover the thrilling side of Florence.

The Stendhal Syndrome (la Sindrome di Stendhal)
1996
Directed by Dario Argento
Starring: Asia Argento, Thomas Kretschmann, Marco Leonardi
Music by Ennio Morricone.

Another thriller, but in a totally different style: that’s Dario Argento with the great Ennio Morricone, that’s suspense and thrills in original Italian Style!

My Friends (Amici Miei)
1975
Directed by Mario Monicelli
Starring Ugo Tognazzi, Gastone Moschin, Philippe Noiret, Duilio Del Prete, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Blier, Milena Vukotic, Silvia Dionisio, Music by Carlo Rustichelli.

A great italian director, Monicelli, with one of the best italian actor of the seventies, Ugo Tognazzi, and one of the best French actor, Philippe Noiret, in a bitter comedy that takes place in Florence, at the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s.
This film is about friendship, and about acting like a child even if you’re adult; four friends who organize together idle pranks (called zingarate, "gypsy shenanigans"). The jokes in this movie entered in the Italian culture and they’re now became a sort of piece of popular history.

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Snowing in Florence is a pretty unusual thing to see, but the morining of December 30th, 2005, I woke up and looked out of my window... there was that wonderful show!!! It was just unforgettable, the dome covered with snow, all the roofs that just last night were red, painted in white...

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This little but precious garden is pretty unknown, but I strnogly recommend the visit for various reasons. First of all, because it is so beautiful; second: because entrance is free; third, because it is perfect to escape from city traffic and have a rest between plants, flowers, sculptures and sounds which stimulate your mind.

The Sound Garden of Florence (Giardino Sonoro) is located in the Limonaia dell' Imperialino, at the end of Viale dei Colli Imperiali, close to Porta Romana and Piazzale Michelangelo. You can reacht it by taking the bus 12 and get to Porta Romana, thenk walk a few meters. This is a green, elegant part of the city, but often overcrowded with cars. Just step into the Sound Garden and relax!

This is not just a simple garden like others, is a complete entity that covers art, sculpture, sound search and architecture. The sound garden is an idea of Lorenzo Bruzzi, sound designer, and Stefano Passerotti, environmental designer. They took advantage also of other collaborators from various fields. That one of the Limonaia dell' Imperialino has been the first Sound Garden, and is permanent, but this team has realized several sound gardens in various cities of the world, like New York or Zurigo. When I visited the gard for the first time the installations were different from the actual ones, this means the garden changes, is periodically renewed and updated.

Visit the garden by foot, with no hurry, and hush! You put your clock away, turn off your cell phone and listen to all the rest! Entering, on the left there is a small building that is the limonaia, here you'll get a sheet which describes and localizes the installations, including the names the authors. Inside the limonaia you can find also a flyers and informative material on the team of the sound garden and their activities. The path is marked from a wooden footbridge that creaks under your steps, a squeeky clear sound that marks the space. Between plants and flowers there are several objects: sculptures, pots, stones… watch them and listen to them, 'cause they speak and they tell sounds and feelings that are only waiting for being recognized. Some elements are absolutely simple and primordial, like stones, others are solid and familiar, as terracotta, others are modern and technological. The sounds you can liston to are of various types: grinding, annoying, harmonious, musical sounds, breaths… and are not only those reproduced by the sculptures, there is also the wind between leaves to listen!

The path through the sound garden let you get shakes of every type: for your eyes, ears nose, and sure for your mind. You'll feel relaxed and recharged after the visit, not only rested but also full of ideas! This is one of my favorite Florence secret corners, recommented to those who loved the historical center of Florence but wants to experience something of new and avantgarde; it will be surely apprciated by lovers of art, environmental design, gardening and sound search. Sure is very suitable for children too… the sound garden is a lot stimulating for kids, with all those sounds, those colors, those strange objects…

The evening show is more evocative because it's enriched with spectacular artistic lightening system, that it interacts with shapes and sounds.

The Sound Garden is open every day from 10,00 to 22,30 and entrance is free.

Giardino Sonoro, Firenze

Here is a very special video taken from Youtube that shows the Sound Garden, and sure gives you the atmosphere!

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