Tuscany Charming | PlanningaTour.com

Tuscany – The eyes are the mirror of the soul

tuscan-sculptures — Artist Alessandro Cervizzi

Artist Alessandro Cervizzi express the ancient saying through the eyes of those he sculpts in terracotta. On can imagine him looking deep into the anima of the person, and the person looking back, full of expression and life.
Alessandro’s life-size children’s portrait sculptures in terracotta have the wiede-eyed wonder of youth but they are also deep in the wisdom and expressiveness which children evoke. His small commedia dell’arte masse figures, recalling the tradition of Goldoni are intensely human with their imperfections. They are fully and richly crafted to bring out the character’s individuality. All these sculptures are finely detailed, with lips that seem to breath, warm cheeks, hair and other feauteres that match the personality.
Alessandro works on private commissions, spending long hours in his workshop at Montecarlo, using photographs to help guide his hand as he forms the clay into flesh, but also meditating on the personalità that he wants to emerge from the raw material.
Never rushing, but entering into the spirito f a piece, enjoying communication with the emerging humanity this is his preferred way of working.
The studio is always open by appointment; it’s a beautiful villa location just beyond the mediaval walls of Montecarlo di Lucca.
You are welcome to stop by if you are passing, or even to make the trip, only 15 minutes from Lucca.
See the website www.alessandrocervizzi.it.

Tuscany – Christmas in Florence

If you decide to spend your Christmas in Florence, you can lose in the atmosphere of the city, with squares, avenues, side streets and shop windows are bathed in the special atmosphere of lights, colours and Christmas cheer.
Here tourists and visitors can find useful information on the Christmas period.
For example you might start your visit with the nostalgia of the German Christmas market in Piazza Santa Croce until December 20 or you could choose from the wide choice of markets in the Province of Florence. You can admire traditional, mechanised or live Nativity scenes , fascinating for adults and children, in churches, institutes or in the open air. Who is interested in cultural actvities can find the opening times of museums and churches for Christmas and the first week of the New Year. Can choose guided tours as well as a list of activities to do with children are also available.
For a general calender of variety of events, from gospel choirs to charity fairs, from exhibitions to shows and venues for Saint Silvester Night .
For the first time this year it is possible to celebrate the new Year’s Eve together with Bologna: the two cities are now much closer thank to the high speed train that allows passengers to get from Florence to Bologna and back in only 37 minutes.
In cooperation with the municipality of Bologna and Trenitalia there are concerts and special events with artists performing in both cities .
Lastly, there is a wide selection of proposals for your Christmas and New Year parties and dinners, listing restaurants where you can have dinner, but also cafès, pubs and discos , or villas, castles and palaces in or outside Florence.

You can find all informations on : www.firenzeturismo.it

Tuscany – A Day in feel good land

Let’s start by di spelling that terrible myth about warm and sunny Italy.
There are millions of arthritis-aching Italians to bear fitness to the truth Italy the whole peninsula from Milan to Catania, is daine cold, foggy and damp from November through April. And just like Chicago, New York, London or paris, those balmy sun-filled days don’t return to Italy until May. Rember that film Enchanted April? Balderdash! It was filmed in June at the earliest!
So, what to do as the winter months drag on and we shuffle around the house in our wool socks, leggins, sweaters, shawls and caps dreaming longingly of swaying palm trees on some lovely Caribbean Island? Well, you’ll be pleased to know there is a quick fix just down the road and not nearly so pricey as that hotel on St. Kitts!
The spa and beauty center Grotta Giusti Terme at Monsummano Terme, a few kilometers south of Montecatini Terme is housed in a lovely 19th century stone building set in a tree-shaded park. It was founded in 1854 after some workmen excavating in a nearby lime quarry discovered the cave and under water thermal spring.
Being so nera Montecatini Terme, which was a major destination for “taking the waters”, the owners of the cave, the Nencini-Giusti family, were quick to exploit its commercial value. The spa was planned as a first-class facility and, to this day, both it and its adjoining hotel are just that.

Tuscany – Greve in Chianti

The old name of Greve in Chianti was Greve, in 1972 the town was renamed after the inclusion in a Chianti area.
It is located about 30 km in south of Florence.
Sitting in the Val di Greve, it is named for the small, fast-flowing river that runs through it, is the principal town in the Chianti wine district which stretches south of Florence to just north of Siena. Until recently it has been a quiet, almost bucolic town because it was, and still is, well off the main roads.

Main sights:
– Franciscan monastery
– The triangular main square, where a market has been running more or less continuously for
– Chiesa Santa Croce which was rebuilt in 1325 after being burned to the ground, along with the rest of the town, by the Duke of Lucca, Castruccio Castracani.
– Montefioralle (surrounding) where there is achurch of Santo Stefano, with a late 13th century Madonna with Child and a 15th century Trinity and Saints.
– Castello da Verrazzano (distance 2 km)
– Panzano, is a little town where there is Pieve of San Leolino, known from the 10th century.

Tuscany – Anglo – Italian Club Viareggio

The new programme of the Anglo-Italian Club Viareggio will start in october and end in May 2010 following the academic year with a series of meeting, lectures and performances covering a wide range of topics wich can interest English-speaking people of any age.
The Anglo-Italian Club was fonde in 1959 by the former vice-president of the British Institute of Florence together with a few teachers and other people keen on the english language in Viareggio. Its activities have been going on for 50 years and its present day secretaary and main organizer Lucia Lucchesi was awarded and Honorary MBE by the Queen in 2004 because of her achievements in running the association for about 30 years.
The purpose of the association is to give people the opportunità to listen to and speak english in a social context and is therefore not a school of english but a totally no profit organization.
The lecturers are mostly native speakers of english specialized in a variety of subjects that cover a large range of interests.
All meetings take place on saturday afternoons usually at the Oratorio of San Paolino on the corner of Via XX Settembre and via San’t Andrea (Piazza Piave) right in the centre of Viareggio near the coach and the train stations. People who are interested can enrol during the meetings or during the first social gathering at Cafè Carmencita in Piazza Mazzini on October 3 when members will meet to socialize and have a drink togheter.
The first part of the programme for the period october-december 2009 will be issued in september, and will be featured in the october issue of Grapevine.

For information call +30 0584 962275 or look for the program on the Tourist Board site: APT Versilia

PROGRAMME:

Saturday 4 october, 4.00 pm:
c/o Carmencita Cafe’ – Piazza Mazzini, 29-30, Viareggio.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT 1.

Saturday 11 october 4.15 pm: (Sala delle Colonne – Palazzo Paolina, Via Machiavelli 2, Viareggio)

Ian Edwards and Jennifer Rice:
THE GOLDEN AGE OF POPULAR SONG
The story of Tin Pan Alley 1886-1956
( A Programme of Words & Music)

Saturday 25 october, 4.15 pm: (Oratorio)
Sinclair De Courcy Williams:
SOME IRISH ECCENTRICS

Saturday 8 november,4.15 pm: (Oratorio)
Anthony M. Kirk:
ENGLISH: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Sabato 22 novembre, ore 16,15: (Oratorio)
John Denton: (Università di Firenze)
FROM THE NANNY TO LA TATA. THE ITALIANIZATION OF AN AMERICAN SIT. COM.

Saturday 13 december, 4.00 pm:
c/o Carmencita Cafe’ – Piazza Mazzini, 29-30, Viareggio.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT 2.