Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, situated just across the main railway station which shares its name. Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city’s principal Dominican church.This church was called Novella (New) because it was built on the site of the 9th-century oratory of Santa Maria delle Vigne. When the site was assigned to Dominican Order in 1221, they decided to build a new church and an adjoining cloister. The church was designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and Fra Ristoro da Campi.

Building began in the mid-13th century (about 1246), and was finished about 1360 under the supervision of Friar Iacopo Talenti with the completion of the Romanesque-Gothic bell tower and sacristy. At that time, only the lower part of the Tuscan gothic facade was finished. The three portals are spanned by round arches, while the rest of the lower part of the facade is spanned by blind arches, separated by pilasters, with below Gothic pointed arches, striped in green and white, capping noblemen’s tombs.
This same design continues in the adjoining wall around the old churchyard. The church was consecrated in 1420.
The vast interior is based on a basilica plan, designed as a Latin cross and is divided into a nave, two aisles with stained-glass windows and a short transept. The large nave is 100 metres long and gives an impression of austerity. There is a trompe l’oeil-effect by which this nave towards the apse seems longer than its actual length. The slender compound piers between the nave and the aisles are ever closer when you go deeper into the nave. The ceiling in the vault consists pointed arches with the four diagonal buttresses in black and white.

The interior also contains corinthian columns that were inspired by the Classical era of Greek and Roman times.The stained-glass windows date from the 14th and 15th century, such as 15th century Madonna and Child and St. John and St. Philip (designed by Filippino Lippi), both in the Filippo Strozzi Chapel. Some stained glass windows have been damaged in the course of centuries and had to be replaced. The one on the facade, a depiction of the Coronation of Mary dates from the 14th century, based on a design of Andrea Bonaiuti.

The pulpit, commissioned by the Rucellai family in 1443, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and executed by his adopted child Andrea Calvalcanti. This pulpit has a particular historical significance, because from this pulpit the first attack came on Galileo Galilei, leading eventually to his indictment.Giorgio Vasari was the architect, commissioned in 1567 by Grand Duke Cosimo I, for the first remodelling of the church, which included removing its original rood screen and loft, and adding six chapels between the columns. An armillary sphere (on the left) and a gnomon (on the right) were added to the end blind arches of the lower façade by Ignazio Danti, astronomer of Cosimo I, in 1572. The second remodelling was designed by Enrico Romoli, and was carried out between 1858 and 1860.

Piazza Santa Maria Novella. The square in front the church was used by Cosimo I for the yearly chariot race (Palio dei Cocchi). This custom existed between 1563 and late in the 19th century. The two obelisks marked the start and the finish of the race. They were set up to imitate an antique Roman circus. The obelisks rest on bronze tortoises, made in 1608 by the sculptor Giambologna.

Do you want to know some more about the history of Florence? come and visit this marvelous city staying in Santa Croce Hotel!

Versione Italiana

Sport lovers, adventurers and “bike addicts”… pay attention please!

Italian Sports fanatics and cycle-tourism lovers, listen up. In order for your passion for a natural outdoor sport to have further satisfaction and reason for happiness, we suggest you to participate at the event organised by Mare & Monti (Sea&Mountain): an association that has organizes cycling events in Sardinia and abroad.

A different way for visiting one of the most beautiful italian regions, is to participate to one bike-marathon organized by M&M association.
Each event is in collaboration with professional touristic structures and this will give to the cyclosportives, the possibility of participating with their owwn families.

In the morning the race, in the afternoon the relax!
M&M association: bike tours organized in some of the most beautiful places of the world! Sardinia, Egypt, Morocco and so on…

What are you waiting for? Visit the web-site, and save the date!

Versione Italiana

Great projects, great displays and great crowds will provide the basic ingredients for the key event par excellence at global level in the home furnishing sector: the Salone Internazionale del Mobile (International furniture exhibition).

An unmissable event: from 22 to 27 April 2009 at Fieramilano in Milan.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile is at its 48th edition. Together with the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and Euroluce, the International Lighting Exhibition, presents a wide range of proposals showing 360° of domestic furnishing solutions both in terms of typology and of style, not to mention the trend setters of tomorrow.

Also the SaloneSatellite will be held again this year, with its line-up of creative young talent at the service of businesses.

Everyone will have the chance to visit the exhibitions on Sunday 26th of April.

Sources: Cosmit and Fieramilano

Yesterday L’Aquila has been at the centre of a 6.3 magnitude shock, firemen and volounteers are still working to save people trapped under collapsed buildings.

L’Aquila is a city in central Italy and is the capital of Abruzzo. It is a lively college town that sits upon a hillside in the middle of a narrow valley.

This has been the Italy’s worst earthquake in 30 years, leaving between 50,000 and 100,000 people homeless as more than 15,000 buildings were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

The earthquake killed about 250 and 1500 people were injuried.

More than 100 persons have been saved.

The Italian menu at home is usually constituted by a first course (a dish of pasta) followed by some meat/fish with vegetables.

The meal ends with a coffe, not cappuccino as many foreigners use to think!

On Sunday, the lunch starts with appetizers (ham, salami, toasts, bruschetta, canapè,…)and ends with a dessert (Tiramisù, Zuppa inglese, Crostata, puffs).

I’ve been abroad many times and I often asked for a CAPPUCCINO… but always with poor results!

So I decided to take the real recipe from wikipedia and to publish it…

Cappuccino is an Italian drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. A cappuccino differs from a caffè latte in that it is prepared with much less steamed or textured milk than the caffè latte, with the total of espresso and milk/foam making up between approximately 150 ml and 180 ml (5 and 6 fluid ounces).

A cappuccino is traditionally served in a porcelain cup, which has far better heat-retention characteristics than glass or paper. The foam on top of the cappuccino acts as an insulator and helps retain the heat of the liquid, allowing it to stay hotter longer.

Besides a shot of espresso, the most important element in preparing a cappuccino is the texture and temperature of the milk. When a barista steams the milk for a cappuccino, microfoam is created by introducing very tiny bubbles of air into the milk, giving the milk a velvety texture and sweetness.

The traditional cappuccino consists of an espresso, on which the barista pours the hot foamed milk, resulting in a 2 cm (¾ inch) thick milk foam on top. Variations of the mixtures are usually called cappuccino chiaro (light cappuccino, also known as a wet cappuccino) with more milk than normal, and cappuccino scuro (dark cappuccino, also known as a dry cappuccino) with less milk than normal.

Attaining the correct ratio of foam requires close attention be paid while steaming the milk, thus making the cappuccino one of the most difficult espresso-based beverages to make properly. Moreover, a skilled barista may obtain artistic shapes while pouring the milk on the top of the espresso coffee.

If you want to watch a rare event, go to Brescia on March 7th…

There will be a meeting of twins… you will feel like you see double!

Moreover, Brescia is a beautiful city to visit!

Italian version.

Cagliari is the capital of the island Sardinia. Its foundation is assigned to the Carthaginians, then it was under the Roman Empire.
Later in the centuries, the region has been conquered by Aragon and had a Spanish domination.

D. H. Lawrence compared Cagliari to a “white Jerusalem”, because of the effect that the sun light has on the  white lime-stone city.

Cagliari has some peculiar gastronomic traditions. Many dishes are based on the wide variety of fish and sea food available, for example, burrida.
Although it is possible to trace influences from Spanish cuisine, Cagliaritanian food has a distinctive and unique character. Very good wines are also part of Cagliaritanians’ dinners: excellent wines are in fact produced in the nearby vineyards of the Campidano plain.

It’s a city that a tourist has to visit: there are too many works of art, landscapes and flavors to miss it!

If you want to accommodate in a central area (near to the sea and to the historic centre) try Hotel Italia.
…let’s set off!

Source: wikipedia.

Italian version.

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work (called an opera) which combines a text (called a libretto) and a musical score.
Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. The word opera means “work” in Italian (it is the plural of Latin opus meaning “work” or “labour”) suggesting that it combines the arts of solo and choral singing, declamation, acting and dancing in a staged spectacle.

Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language.
Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers, including Handel, Gluck and Mozart. Works by native Italian composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini, are amongst the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world.

Dafne by Jacopo Peri was the earliest composition considered opera, as understood today. It was written around 1597, largely under the inspiration of an elite circle of literate Florentine humanists who gathered as the “Camerata de’ Bardi”.

Have you ever watched Opera? Come in Italy and experience it!
If you choose the Capitol, I advice you the accommodation: the Opera street bed and breakfast.
The b&b has thematic rooms (like Tosca room or Traviata room) and overlooks the Opera Theatre of Rome: perfect!

Texts taken from wikipedia.

Italian version.

Don’t know what to buy for your girlfriend?

Easy! A “cheap” Gucci bag heart-shaped, really suitable for Valentine’s Day!

It’s a gloss evening bag with detachable chain strap, front zip clousure, bow charm with engraved gucci script logo and ornaments.

It’s available in dark gold leather or in black leather.

Spend a few odd coins for your other half…

For further info visit Gucci’s website.