Synergistic gardens

Synergistic agriculture in Italy is having a great success. It was developed by Emilia Hazelip, Spanish permaculturist, in France. She tried to adapt Fukuoka's natural farming to the Mediterranean dry climate.

I had the honour and luck to know her, as I was involved in the project of Solaria Centre of alternative/renewable energies and permaculture in Italy. This project unfortunately failed, but she held a workshop there and we laid down a synergistic garden. This vegetable garden provided good food for the small community. And good fruits for later and other new synergistic gardens.
She died in 2003, but still today many people follow her conceipts. The concept of mulch garden is well known in Permaculture, mulching is a very common technique to cover the soil, retain humidity, fertilize the soil. The soil shouldn't be pressed or compacted, not even digged. weeds are removed by hand...
It is possible to visit some synergistic gardens that have been created in the last years in the surroundings of Florence.

Hiking tour with wonderful gardens

If you enjoy walking around the hills and the green side of Florence, a nice tour could start from the city centre and, along the via Crucis and the Rose Garden, we could reach the Large Piazzale Michelangelo, a huge terrace overlooking the city. Copies of Michelangelo 's masterpieces are in the middle of the square since the creation of this area soon dedicated to him. Not fare above is the wonderful romanesque Church of San Miniato, with all its secrets and symbols. The monks still live in the convent. Through nice walled streets, surrounded by olive groves, we can then reach both the Boboli and the Bardini Gardens, wonderful historical gardens with unforgettable views  of the city.

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Famouus all over the world Michelangelo left several works of art in Florence. A full day tour in Florence can include The Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, where Michelangelo, still young apprentice, helped his teacher Domenico Ghirlandaio during the execution of the frescoes in the Tornabuoni Chapel. Then the San Lorenzo Church, Medici Chapels and Medicean Library, where the artist worked as an architect as well, and, of course the Gallery of the Academy, to see the real David, taken here in 1873 from the Piazza della Signoria, and the unfinished "Slaves", replaced by plaster copies in the Grotto of Buontalenti (Boboli Garden) in 1909. In Palazzo Vecchio it is unfortunately impossible to see any traces of his huge unfinished fresco representing the Battle of Càscina, but his statue representing "Il Genio della Vittoria" is there, with his probable self portrait. In the Museum of Opera del Duomo his wonderful Pietà can be admired in a special room, and so the expressive face of Nicodemus, another self portrait of the artist. In the Bargello National Museum some early works are exposed, such as the famous Baccus, the bust of Brutus, the Tondo Pitti and Apollo. In Casa Buonarroti some other early works by him are exposed, like the Battle of the Centaurs, or the Madonna of the staircase.

Michelangelo was buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce, his grave monument was designed by Giorgio Vasari.
In Florence we can follow the different steps of the carreer and like of this outstanding artist.

The culture week!

From April 14th to 22nd in Italy all state museums will be free for everybody. In Florence you might have heard of Uffizi Museum or Gallery of the Academy , but this is a good occasion to get and see the other wonderful museums, such as the Bargello, with the collection of Donatello masterpieces and the original panels casted by Brunelleschi and Ghiberti for the Baptistry...and the Baccus by Michelangelo...

... or the breathtaking rooms of Palazzo Pitti, with the paintings by Titian, Raphael, Caravaggio...just to mention the most famous ones. If the weather is fine don't forget the Gardens: Boboli and Bardini Gardens are open and during these spring days you can get there as well. You can contact us for museum or garden tours. See you in Florence!

olives

Summer has finished. We now have time to enjoy the autumn food...Let's pick the olives to make fresh oil for bruschettas! In the countryside you can see people climbing olive trees or using ladders to reach the highest olives on the tree, letting them fall down on the nets. Here in Tuscany we pick the olives with the hands and soon they get pressed in the olive mill. The oil is ready!

 The Tuscan olive oil is not only very good (one of the best) but also very healthy. This is the right season to tour around in the countryside and visit oil mills and farms to taste the fresh pressed extra vergine olive oil.
Contact us for suggestions or tours.

Florentine mosaics

Only skilled and experienced craftmen are able to transform the rough stone in a "painting". The inlay work is a very difficult technique that need precision, creativity, deep knowledge of the different stones and their nuance, structure, and, above all,  passion.

This is the result of three years' work by Jacopo Lastrucci, from the Lastrucci workshop in Florence: the Sibilla Libica, from the fresco by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. This wonderful panel can be seen in the workshop. It is a nice experience to visit the workshop and see the Lastruccis working and creating new mosaics.
The inlay work, or "commesso in pietre dure", as we call it in Italian, was started in 1588, when Ferdinando I De' Medici founded the Opificio delle Pietre Dure for the decoration of the interior of the Princes' Chapel in San Lorenzo.
The stones were marbles, granites, porphyre, jaspis, lapis lazuli, calcedonium, malachite, quartz.....
The museum of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure displays the stones used, the working tools used to cut them, to glue the pieces, and the evolution of this technique from the end of the 16th century to the modern times.
Also, in occasion of the 150th anniversary of Italy, an interesting exhibition is now going on in the Gallery of Modern Art until next September: when Tuscany became part of the Italian Kingdom the granducal manifacture  (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) started to have a larger public...

Craftsmen festival in Florence

Artigianato a palazzo is a three day exhibition of almost 100 craftsmen who recreate their workshops in the beautiful garden of palazzo Corsini. This festival, held this year from May 13 to 15, is a chance to appreciate florentine artisans while they work, understanding the ability and the hard work they put into their creations. The fair showcases craftsmen that work with glass and silver, to those who restore wood and marble furniture,to confetti makers and much more.

Not to lose is also the historic garden whose lemons are centuries old just like the palace, and the possibility of relaxing , have a drink offered  and some tuscan food prepared for the visitors...