Already during the XIV century, Florence was famous for the production of leather, from tanning to selling. Therefore, leather craftsmanship has very ancient origins. Around 1282, the Arte dei Cuoiai o Galigai (curriers and tanners guild) was created. This guild included all those people who were responsible for tanning, working, read more
In order to get to know deep inside the grumpy and polemic Florentines, we must know something about Fiorentina, the city soccer club. Florentines have always argued about everything, but there is only one thing they always agree about: the boundless passion for Fiorentina soccer club. The bond between a read more
In the Florentine vernacular, it is very common to hear the expression “a ufo”. This expression is used in a negative sense when someone does something without paying. Where does this expression come from? It comes from Florence! We must go back to the Latin language used in medieval times. read more
A fun fact about the Renaissance period, transmitted through the centuries: Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli were friends and, for a short period, they owned an inn together. Leonardo and Botticelli met around 1470, they were both pupils of master Verrocchio, a sculptor, painter, goldsmith, mathematician and engineer. They read more
If you walk along the streets of Florence, you will probably see a strange and super colored taxi, driven by a woman just as strange and colored, always with a smile on her face. That taxi is the “Milano 25” taxi of Zia Caterina (Aunt Catherine), who provides an extraordinary read more
“Amici Miei” (“My Friends”, in English) is an Italian cult comedy-drama movie – the first of a trilogy – that was first showed in movie theatres in August 10, 1975. Shot in Florence, the movie tells the adventures of four middle-aged friends who face disappointments and sorrows with jokes and read more
When Catherine ‘de Medici became Queen of France, she brought to her new Country Florentine cooks, just to “feel home”. It is said that she was so superstitious that during a banquet in 1549 she made the cooks prepare a food in a way that everything could be divided into read more
CO.RA. is the acronym for Commissione Radio. Radio CO.RA. was an illegal radio created by the English forces and used by the Florentine Resistenza between January and June 1944. The main purpose of Radio CO.RA. was to exchange crucial information about what the Nazis were doing and where they were read more
Vasco Pratolini is thought to be one of the most important Italian writers of the second half of the 20th century. Some of his writings and novels are the best representation of the realist and, in part, neo-realist currents. Pratolini was born in Florence in 1913, close to Piazza della read more