Florence’s Teatro del Maggio opens the 2021 season with a rare Donizetti opera, “Linda di Chamounix” in live streaming on Friday, January 15 at 8 pm. The opera premiered in Vienna at the Karntner theater in May of 1842 and was extremely popular throughout the 19th century. It was first performed Florence in 1843 at the Teatro della Pergola, and returned many times to Florentine theatres (including the Goldoni and the Niccolini) and [...]
Florence will be kicking off the Christmas season a day early this year. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the annual tree lighting ceremony in Piazza del Duomo, which usually takes place on the evening of December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, has been rescheduled for December 7 at 6:30 pm to avoid the crowds as seen in the picture. Despite the slight change of plans, Florentines can still watch the fir [...]
Cinemas, museums and concert halls are all closed this week but culture can still be accessed by live streaming, creating an endless possibility of entertainment provided directly to people’s homes. On November 11, the British Institute of Florence is hosting a talk in English “The Art of Goldsmithing—The Secret of the Early Renaissance” via Zoom starting at 6 pm. Anyone can join in by clicking on the link. On Wednesday, clicking a [...]
Until October 31: BEAUTY BEYOND LIMITS. Forte Belvedere, via San Leonardo 1. Open Tuesday – Sunday from 2 – 7 pm. Free admission. Aerial photography show, Beauty Beyond Limits, by Massimo Sestini takes popular and undiscovered sights in Tuscany to new heights. Sestini’s work transforms the already beautiful landscapes into abstract works of art, bringing a different perspective to some of the region’s most iconic views and destinations. Overlooking the Tuscan capital on [...]
A free vocal concert will take place on July 14 at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale (piazzale Vittorio Gui, 1) at 9 pm. The young artists of the prestigious Academy of the Maggio will perform a selection of some of the best-loved arias of the operatic repertoire in their final performance of the two-year course. The decree for public safety allows for a total of 600 spectators in the theatre hall; non-family [...]
This year, no vibrant parades, historical sport in traditional costume fireworks and music will take place in post-lockdown Florence in honor of the city’s patron saint of St. John the Baptist on his feast day, June 24. The Festa di San Giovanni as the day is called in Italian, is also a legal holiday within city limits, with offices, banks and many shops closed. There is one bright spot, however: the Academy Gallery [...]
One of Florence’s most interesting stories will be told on February 17 at 6 pm (with an Italian text available) at the Sala Martino V of Santa Maria Nuova (piazza Santa Maria Nuova off via Sant’Edigio). Sirpa Salenius will be giving a lecture on the life of Sarah Parker Remond, an African American expatriate in Florence. Remond was the daughter of an immigrant father from Curacao, a Caribbean island then under Dutch [...]
The Cathedral Museum (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) continue to host the free ‘Note al Museo’ concert series through March 20. The concerts will be held in front of the original and newly restored Baptistery doors and the recreated original façade of the Santa Maria del Fiore. The museum hopes that the varied and dynamic music will highlight the artistic setting, creating a “dialogue between works of art and music, in the name of [...]
There are two lectures in English–one on the effects of Brexit and the other on the UNICEF and the agency’s latest report on childhood–scheduled the last week of January 2020 that are open for the community to attend in downtown Florence. CEA Study Center will be hosting “Brexit: An Opportunity or a Failure?” at 6 pm, Tuesday, January 28 at Piazza della Repubblica, 6. Speaker Andrea Orciani will discuss Brexit and its potential [...]
The Tufts Symphony Orchestra will give a free concert at St. James Church (via Rucellai 9) on Saturday, January 11 starting at 7 pm. A stop on their concert tour in central Italy. The orchestra will be conducted by maestro John Page, and the program will include Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor featuring soloist Sarita Uranovsky, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47. The public is welcome. Shostakovich composed [...]
