This article is not about what you might think: its subjects is not the CIA or FBI instead it is about a bizarre set of laws passed in Lucca athe end of the seventeenth century. They esiste right up until the demise of Lucca’s independence at the end of the Read more…
Montelupo Fiorentino, is a town on the immediate outskirts of Florence, between Montalbano and the river Arno. Its location and the presence of waterways helped to develop numerous craft activities, especially ceramics, which reached its greatest splendour in the course of the 15th and 16th centuries. This art is still Read more…
The Orchestra Giovanile Italiana (founded by Riccardo Muti in 1984 and direct by Nicola Paszkowski) performed last month at Florence’s Teatro Comunale as part of the Maggio Musicale Festival, with guest conductor Gianandrea Noseda. The musicians (all between 18 and 27) received hearty bis! and bravi! For their performances of Read more…
The Puccini Museum of Celle is situated in the little village where Iacopo di Antonio Puccini, the great-grandfather of the famous Lucca-born coposer, was born on 26 january 1712. Iacopo was the founding father of the dynasty of musicians that reached the apex of its glory in the figure of Read more…
The Palio di Siena (known locally simply as Il Palio) is a horse race held twice each year on July 2 and August 16 in Siena, Italy, in which ten horses and riders, dressed in the appropriate colours, represent ten of the seventeen Contrade, or city wards. The seventeen Contrade Read more…