SUMMER IN FLORENCE

During the summer, Florence became a big open air stage where they are often tourists, visitors to play the part of the protagonists. With its squares, its churches and monuments to admire without getting bored, Firenze is ideal for young couples, families and groups of friends.

First we start with some advice. Florence in the summer is a very hot city, then try to limit your outputs to the cooler hours, preferring perhaps visiting museums and places indoors during the time when the sun is strongest. Of course this advicehas to be applied  to European tourists, because those Americans are certainly more accustomed to high temperatures. Ultimately the climate of Florence is still a Mediterranean climate.

We start from the center. Just a few months ago the entire area around the Piazza del Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore with Giotto‘s frescoes, the famous dome of Brunelleschi and the Baptistery, had been pedestrianized. This is a great scene, one of the marvels of humanity, even more enjoyable now breathing cleaner air and less noise.

From here I awant to create two paths. The first takes you through the Via dei Calzaioli, where are boutiques of fashion: Gucci, Prada, Valentino and so on. A pause in Piazza della Repubblica, sipping a coffee at one of the famous bars, where the artists of the vanguard of primo novecento The second route takes you from the Duomo to Borgo San Lorenzo, where it is to be  visited the Church designed by Michelangelo and the museums of the Medici Chapels. Spread around a small market of leather handicrafts made by Florentine artisans. Bags, shoes, girdles, jackets. Here is a must to visit the Central Market, where you’ll find the authentic flavors of Tuscan cuisine and especially the Florentine. It starts primarily from meat, queen of the tables in the restaurants. The famous Fiorentina Cut, a cut of rib eye steak, cooked on the outside and rare inside.

You eat natural, or with oil and pepper, served with arugula and shavings of Parmesan cheese or perhaps with a beautiful chapel of fresh porcini mushrooms. At Central Market of San Lorenzo, a small restaurant offers some of the best specialty of Florence, at really low prices.

Try the sandwich with Lampredotto, or the one with the Bollito, tripe, Peposa and other dishes prepared daily. Then in the market you will find spices, cheese, bread and cake for all tastes. 

Many special exhibitions are also organized this year in Florence. Four hundred years after his death, Michelangelo Merisi in the Uffizi, along with Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Botticelli. Then the largest collection by many artists of the Reinassance period.

HOTEL MARIO' S
Via Faenza, 89
50123 Firenze
tel +39055216801
fax +39055212039
hotelmarios@hotelmarios.com
www.hotelmarios.com   

How to get to Florence

Florence is well-connected with the rest of Italy and with Europe, and is easy to get to by air or land. In the last few years there has been a significant increase in traffic in and out of Florence's Vespucci Airport, and the infrastructure and facilities are constantly being upgraded.
Florence is also a key node on the Italian railway network. It has good connections with the main cities in the north, while to the south Rome is only about an hour and a half away. Work on the Bologna-Florence stretch of the high-speed railway line (TAV, Treni Alta Velocità) is at an advanced stage, and a new station is due to be built in Florence.
The A1 motorway, the main road artery linking the north and south of the country, runs past Florence, which has four exits. A third lane is currently being built on the Barberino-Incisa stretch of the A1. The A11 motorway and the Florence-Pisa-Livorno (FI-PI-LI) dual carriageway link the city with the west (Tyrrhenian Sea) coast.

HOTEL MARIO'S

Via Faenza, 89

50123 Firenze

Tel. 0039 055 216801

Fax. 0039 055 212039

www.hotelmarios.com

info@hotelmarios.com

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was born in 1313, in either June or July out of wedlock to Boccaccino di Chellino and an unknown woman. In 1319 Boccaccino di Chellino marries and Boccaccio's stepbrother, Francesco is born.

The work he is perhaps most known for is the Decameron (which means "Work of Ten Days") 100 stories told over 10 days by 10 people escaping from the plague. It was one of the final stories The Tale of Griselda which Petrarch read and then translated into Latin. It was composed between 1349 and 1353.

Although he is first exposed to Petrarch's works in 1333, it isn't until 1350 that the two of them first meet face to face, in Rome. By that time Boccaccio was the undisputed leader of Florentine literary culture.

Under Petrarch's influence, he turned increasingly away from vernacular fiction (Italian fiction) in favor of Latin scholary works. He took lessons in Greek, solicited translations from Greek texts, and in 1360 successfully worked to establish at Florence the first chair of Greek in non-Byzantine Europe. In 1373 the citizens of Florence chose him to give the world's first lecturae Dantis, probably the first lecture series ever dedicated to the exposition of a European vernacular text.

The two formed a friendship which lasted their entire lives, so much so that Boccaccio is the recipient of a large number of letters which appear in Petrarch's collections.

There are many unknowns in history, and one of those unknowns when it comes to Petrarch is how much is real. Although Petrarch tells us he was crowned poet lauriet in Rome, there is no other account for this in history, except in the writings of Boccaccio.

Boccaccio died on December 21, 1375. Together Petrarch and Boccaccio could be called the founders of Humanism. Besides the time they lived in and their contributions to the world they also shared many similarieties. They both fed of each other for inspiration and support through the years as both lost many friends during the plague. They both had loves which they lost to the plague as well, Petrarch's Laura de Noves and Boccaccio's Maria d'Aquino. 

TRL Awards 2011: Firenze, 20 aprile 2011

TRL Awards 2011: Firenze, 20 aprile 2011

Anche nel 2011 tornano i TRL Awards, un maxi evento che porterà a Firenze i personaggi più amati dal mondo della musica, del cinema e della televisione per una sfida a colpi di voti che premierà i più amati dal pubblico! 

Preparati alla serata finale dei TRL Awards 2011, un maxi-evento nel cuore di Firenze con tutte le premiazioni dei vincitori nelle varie categorie, tanti ospiti e performance dal vivo. Comincia a segnarti la data: 20 aprile 2011. 

Hotel Mario's

Via Faenza, 89

50123 Firenze

tel. 0039 055 216801

Fax. 0039 055 212039

www.hotelmarios.com

hotelmarios@hotelmarios.com

ART 75° Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell’Artigianato: Fortezza da Basso, Firenze, dal 30 Aprile all' 8 Maggio - ART International Arts and Crafts exhibition: Fortezza da Basso, Florenze, from Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 8, 2011

Dal 30 Aprile all' 8 Maggio 2011 nei suggestivi spazi espositivi della Fortezza da Basso torna l’appuntamento con ART - Mostra Mercato Internazionale dell’Artigianato, giunta alla 75^ edizione.
Nove giorni interi per valorizzare e commercializzare le culture innovative e le produzioni tradizionali a cui si legano i diversi comparti artigiani nell’ottica di un proficuo incontro e scambio fra il made in Italy (con la sua innata creatività e originalità) e la multiculturalità. A Firenze, capitale per antonomasia, dell’arte e della raffinata e secolare esperienza del ‘fatto a mano’.
La mostra sarà aperta al pubblico con il seguente orario: tutti i giorni dalle ore 10,00 alle ore 23,00 (ultimo giorno: chiusura alle ore 20,00).
Una serie di iniziative collaterali, workshop e convegni, promossi ed organizzati in collaborazione con Artex e le principali associazioni di categoria, con la partecipazione di opinion leader e personalità di spicco del comparto artigiano, affiancheranno la kermesse commerciale con il fine di rafforzare il ruolo di ART quale osservatorio annuale permanente di riferimento per il mondo dell’artigianato e test di mercato unico per il prodotto esposto. 

Identico il format delle edizione passate che prevede la suddivisione in sei grandi aree tematiche: TERRITORI - SCENE D’INTERNI - IL GUSTO - SCENARI DAL MONDO - SCENARI DI MODA & PREZIOSI - VISIONI, nelle quali gli espositori potranno presentarsi sulla base delle specifiche caratteristiche merceologiche dei loro prodotti a coprire l’intero mondo artigiano, colto nel suo costante cambiamento ed innovazione.
Un’occasione da non perdere dunque come punto di incontro fra produttori e consumatori: artigiani, piccole e medie aziende, interior designer, arredatori, architetti, titolari di negozi e gallerie specializzate. Questo e altro ancora è ART, lo storico salone internazionale dell’artigianato di Firenze, che da sempre premia la creatività, l’estro e l’abilità manuale di tanti maestri artigiani, suscitando intorno, sempre e comunque, nuove emozioni e desiderio di bellezza.

Art breasts the tape of 75 years of history, a period in which it has been able to develop and to keep pace with change, thus becoming one of the most prestigious shop-window of high quality artistic handicraft, both on a national and international level. Creating is an art. It is not by chance that ART, the International Handicraft Fair, was born and developed in Florence, and it is now housed
at the Fortezza da Basso, in the appealing exhibition areas of FirenzeFiera.
A top level location where to show and enjoy the creativeness and art of artisans from all over the world, who meet Florence’s and Tuscany’s history and tradition.
Artistic handicraft is an important richness of our culture and economy, one of the sectors which made the ingeniousness of “Made in Italy” products known and well-regarded all over the world.
ART 2011 is a unique meeting place for people who love that which is beautiful, for those who regard creativeness as valuable. A shop-window of innovating ideas and projects for professionals working in this field, and for consumers, whose tastes and needs are continuously changing.

The 75th Fair will be characterised by a very peculiar flavour: a look to the past, but mainly to the future, aiming at new shapes, new materials, new colours, taking into account, at the same time, the traditional refinement and taste that are peculiar to products which are never out-of-date.
ART 2011, the International Handicraft Fair, is not only a trade show, with over 700 exhibitors; it is a cultural event as well, which crosses Florence’s and Tuscany’s history.
And it is also the quality of exhibitors, the quality of side exhibitions, meetings and workshops: an irrevocable choice, that is well-regarded by artisans and visitors, both end-consumers and professionals such as architects, interior designers, shop owners and specialised galleries.

HOTEL MARIO'S Via Faenza, 89 50123 Firenze Tel. 0039 055 216801 Fax. 0039 055 212039 www.hotelmarios.com info@hotelmarios.com

ART 2011 - 10TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AIPND: Firenze Fiera Congress & Exhibition Center, April 13th - April 15th 2011

The world art heritage needs constant, accurate and loving care.
Non destructive analysis, in particular, has proved to be the gold standard to achieve more
successful and long-lasting preservation. In order to promote education and competence in this
area, the “art” logo was created over twenty years ago and it still represents, with national and
international meetings, one of the peaks among the numerous projects in this field.
Many non-destructive techniques and evaluation methods applied in the natural sciences offer
advantages to cultural heritage preservation. The synergy between experts will lead to the
continuous development and adjustments of new scientific methods and their application in the
fields of preservation, reconstruction and diagnostics of museum and archeological objects.
The last edition of the “art Conference” was held in Jerusalem and its growing and encouraging
figures have confirmed the interest of the international community: more than 150 papers, coming
from 32 countries, 75 posters and over 300 attendees.
The “art’11 Conference” accepts that challenge, resuming the prestige of a traditional success and
bringing together, in one or the world art capitals, conservation scientists, curators, art historians,
architectural researchers and experts in non-destructive evaluation and material analysis.
Florence will be on our side, with its unrivalled charm and, hopefully, with some warm, Italian
sunshine!

General information
VENUE
The Conference will be held in Florence, at “Palazzo degli Affari” (part of the “Firenze Fiera”
congress/exhibition district of Florence). The “Palazzo” lies within walking distance from the
railway station “Santa Maria Novella”.
Firenze Fiera Congress & Exhibition Center - Piazza Adua, 1 I-50123 Florence, Italy - www.firenzefiera.it
DATES
The meeting will start on Wednesday, April 13th and will close on Friday, April 15th 2011.
WORKING LANGUAGES
The official language of the Conference is English. Italian can be used only for posters and short
presentations. All abstracts, full papers and slides must be in English.

HOTEL MARIO'S

Via Faenza, 89

50123 Firenze

Tel. 0039 055 216801

Fax. 0039 055 212039

www.hotelmarios.com

info@hotelmarios.com

BACI 2011 XX° Balloon Arts Convention International: Fortezza da Basso, March 24, 2011 - March 29, 2011

24 / 25 MARCH 2011 - Large Sculptures Competitions
If you’re not yet ready to be a team captain we can assign you to a team,
a truly unique and invaluable learning experience!
Se non sei ancora pronto per essere un capitano sarai assegnato ad una squadra,
un'esperienza di apprendimento unica e preziosa!

26 MARCH 2011 - Florence BACI Tour
Choose your favorite activities, detailed information will be sent to all delegates:
- tour the city, the museums, the shops and the trattorias
- visit fashion outlets
- participate in special event décor classes
Scegli le attività che preferisci,
- visita la città, i musei, i negozi e le trattorie
- visita gli outlet- partecipa a lezioni ed eventi speciali

27 / 29 MARCH 2011 - Courses
Inauguration March 27th, 16:00.
CBA examination March 27th , 09:00.
Inaugurazione il 27 Marzo alle ore 16:00.
Esami CBA il 27 Marzo alle ore 09:00.

28 MARCH 2011 - Gala Theme Party
Bring or make your best ISLAND theme costume for an unforgettable party!
Prepara il tuo costume (tema l'isola) per una festa indimenticabile!

HOTEL MARIO'S

Via Faenza, 89

50123 Firenze

Tel. 0039 055 216801

Fax. 0039 055 212039

www.hotelmarios.com

info@hotelmarios.com