III CONGRESSO NAZIONALE CONGIUNTO S.I.C. - FISS 7-9 ottobre 2010, FIRENZE

La S.I.C. è una libera Associazione interdisciplinare, apolitica, senza fini di lucro fondata il 16 luglio 2004 a seguito di sollecitazioni e consensi provenienti da più parti, su iniziativa di un folto gruppo di medici e ricercatori.
La S.I.C., presieduta dal Professor Annibale Volpe, ha come obiettivo primario diffondere e stimolare la conoscenza in materia di contraccezione. Essa intende favorire lo sviluppo della ricerca e dell'informazione, nonché di promuovere l'aggiornamento e l'educazione permanente in tema di contraccezione.
All'interno della S.I.C., che è una O.N.L.U.S., opera il gruppo di lavoro SaBeD (Salute Benessere Donna) con lo specifico compito di promuovere la ricerca nella contraccezione, menopausa e fertilità.
L'Associazione, attraverso attività scientifiche e culturali mirate, si rivolge al contesto scientifico Italiano della contraccezione in tutte le sue diverse connotazioni sia applicative che di base, anche attraverso le più ampie aperture verso le Società scientifiche affini, le Associazioni degli utenti ed il mondo della ricerca e della produzione farmaceutica. I suoi associati sono infatti per lo più medici e ricercatori che operano nei settori della medicina e della contraccezione.

ACM Multimedia 2010: 25-29 th October, Florence, Italy

ACM Multimedia 2010 is the worldwide premier multimedia conference and a key event to display scientific achievements and innovative industrial products. ACM Multimedia 2010 offers to scientists and practitioners in the area of Multimedia plenary scientific and technical sessions – with keynote speeches, oral, poster and video presentations, technical demonstrations and exhibits -, opportunities for deepenings – organized as discussion rooms, symposiums and tutorials and panels with worldwide recognized scientists and opinion leaders -, and competitions of research teams on relevant and challenging questions about the industry’s two-five years horizon for multimedia. As a companion event, the Interactive Art program will provide the opportunity of interaction between artists and computer scientists and investigation on the application of multimedia technologies to art and cultural heritage. Workshops associated to ACM Multimedia 2010 will provide in-focus forums of discussion on some of the most relevant and timely scientific topics in the field.

Ecio congress in Florence , July 2010

CIRSE Foundation is organising another meeting dedicated entirely to Interventional Oncology: the second European Conference on Interventional Oncology – ECIO 2010 - will take place on July 21-24, 2010, again in Florence, Italy.
The scientific programme of the conference has been further expanded with respect to 2008, in view of the growing number of novel clinical applications and the many innovative techniques that have been recently introduced. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to choose from several special focus sessions and workshops covering the entire spectrum of oncologic interventions.
ECIO 2010 was postponed to July 21-24 due to the closing down of big parts of Europe’s airspace the week of the congress in April 2010.ECIO 2010 will take place from July 21-24, 2010, in Florence, Italy at the Palazzo dei Congressi. Hotel Mario's is glad to inform you that the Hotel is only 80 metres far from the Palace where the congress will take place and we are ready to take reservations with a fixed price for all the interventionists at ECIO 2010 in Florence. Contact our staff at info@hotelmarios.com or check the dates on the website www.hotelmarios.com
See you in Florence in July!

Cultur week in Italy and in Florence too.Museums free

The settimana della cultura, or the culture week, or the week during which the state- and city-run museums in Florence (and the rest of Italy) offer entrance without admission costs for the year 2010 is...now. In fact is already started 18th of April and will be continued till 26th of April.
Apart from normally open museums being free, several attractions that are normally closed to the public will open their doors during the settimana della cultura. This can be achieved thanks to the help of hundreds of volunteers.Some favorite sites such as the Colosseum, Uffizi Galleries, the archaeological site of Pompei, and the Galleria Borghese are just a few of the many that will be free during this 9 day period. You’ll be out of luck at the Vatican, however, as it is not a state museum and will still enforce the normal entry fee.
For any Context walk that normally includes pre-purchased tickets to a state museum, you will either be receiving a refund shortly if you were already charged for your ticket or, if you will be booking, the price of your ticket will be deducted before it is charged.
In Florence you could visit for free Uffizi, Accademia ( where the David of Michelangelo is ), Medici Chapels, Bargello,Pitti Palace,Boboli garden,Opificio delle pietre dure and many others.

Here a list of special events for your visit in Florence:


Uffizi: from 4/20/2010 to 5/30/2010 on special display is the newly restored Altarpiece of the Novitiate painted by Filippo Lippi for the chapel of the same name in the Church of Santa Croce (read announcement from the Uffizi). The altarpiece was commissioned by Cosimo de’ Medici in 1445. For the first time since its dismantling it will be displayed with its predella, painted by Francesco di Stefano known as Il Pesellino, thanks to a loan from the Louvre.

Boboli Gardens: Saturday 17 April at 15:30: Sbandiatori – historic flag throwers of Florence will perform in costume in the Boboli’s Piazzale della Meridiana.

Cappella Ruccellai and Alberti’s Tempietto: this little jewel of a chapel is only open on this occasion! I’ve seen it during previous culture weeks, it’s an important contribution to understanding Alberti’s architecture.

Conservatorio di S. Maria degli Angiolini: special opening of this dominican convent that has been recently restored! Info here, booking by telephone is obligatory.

At the state archive, an exhibit of documents related to the city of Florence and the Medici family. April 16 to 24

You can check other information on the website http://www.beniculturali.it if you are also interested to others Italian museums. Take a break now, come in Florence and stay at Hotel Mario's, next to the railway station of Santa Maria Novella, in the heart of the city of beautiful Florence. We are here, contact us and require all the information you need ( info@hotelmarios.com ).

Giotto, the father of modern painting

Giotto di Bondone, the father of modern painting and one of the greatest figures in the history of Western art, was born in a small hamlet in the valley of the Mugello, twenty miles north of Florence.
Giotto signed his name to only three of his paintings. His most famous attributed works are the Arena Chapel frescoes (1305-10) in Padua, the Bardi and Peruzzi Chapel frescoes in Santa Croce in Florence, and the magnificent Ognissanti Madonna for the Church of All Saints. The twenty-eight frescoes based on the life of St. Francis and located in the Upper Church of the Franciscans in Assisi are accepted as Giotto's by some art historians and denied him by others. The controversy, which has now raged for a century and a half, fills volumes and has yet to be resolved.
Giotto was a painter during the renaissance period and this influenced his paintings to be mostly based on the bible. During this period a Dante of the devine comedy said "Giotto is regarded as the founder of the central tradition of western painting because his work broke free from the stylizations of Byzantine art, introducing new ideals of naturalism and creating a convincing sense of pictorial space."
At the Uffizi Gallery you could see the "Ognissanti Madonna" , the "The Badia Polyptych" and others. As written by Vasari:
“One day Cimabue was going about his business between Florence and Vespignano, and he came upon Giotto who, while his sheep were grazing, was sketching one of them in a lifelike way with a slightly pointed rock upon a smooth and polished stone without having learned how to draw it from anyone other than Nature. This caused Cimabue to stop in amazement…”
Another very good reason to visit Florence, you cannot imagine how many great masterpieces you are gonna see here. Start your days at Hotel Mario's, we are in the centre of the city, next to the train station Santa Maria Novella, a very nice and typical 3 stars Hotel in an historical palace. Enjoy Hotel Mario's, enjoy Giotto...

Calcio storico Fiorentino ( Historical soccer )

In the historic Greece came commonly carried out ludiche recreations with the ball, organizing contests from the names of "Feninda", "Episciro", and, more known, than "Sferomachia" (that it drew the name just from the sphere in game), in which two groups of equal number of players, rury compete to take the ball, offered a more varied and competitive show that, al same time, comprised the exercize of the race, the jump and the fight.

From the Greeks, this ludo, passed to the Roman which, with the name of Harpastum (torn to force) played it on the sabbiosi lands (for which the name harpastum often he was aggettivato with pulveruleotum) practicing to precise rules to which the two squares, always of equal number of players, had to be adhered.

The sport is a cross between Greco-Roman wrestling, rugby and soccer. Goals are scored by pitching the round red and white leather ball over a four-foot high wooden wall that runs the full width at each end of the field. Quixotically, a tall narrow white tent with red trim and a small red flag on top is positioned in the center of each goal wall. In front, stands the captain of a team and a standard bearer with the team flag. When a team scores, the cannon is fired, the scoring team's standard-bearer runs the length of the field waving his flag with his team running behind, cheering. The other team's standard bearer slinks down the field and the teams change goals.
Although the Calcio Storico of today is based on a memorable game held in 1530, the sport actually may have begun as far back as the 1400s. The original games continued until 1739 in Piazza Santa Croce. After a couple centuries of Calcio Storico hiatus, the Fiorentini brought the sport back as an annual event in 1930.
According to ancient testimonies "the game of soccer" is been born "on the river of Arno" and after centuries it is only trasmigrate on that one of the Tamigi where, changed the name in Foot-Ball (game of the ball to foot) and affinaterules, have achieved that reputation, today, universal recognized. Fiorentino Soccer , said also "soccer in custom" or "soccer in livery", is a game that sinks its roots in remote times, the first Italian dictionary of 1612, of the Academics of the Bran, confirms the thesis supplying the following definition: "... the name of a game, just and ancient is soccer also of the city of Florence, like battles ordered, passed from Greek to Latin. Therefore ancient game "just c" of Florence the whose origins, remotest, go then but tried before from the Greeks and from the Latins.
owadays three matches are played, by teams drawn from Florence's four major neighborhoods, in Piazza Santa Croce, on 16th, 24th, 30th of June on the recurrence of the patron -saint. After the long parade headed by the nobles on horseback, starting in Santa Maria Novella and culminating in Piazza Santa Croce, the game begins to cries of Viva Firenze! It is an hour of continuous struggle, attacks, scuffles, blows and tangling of bodies dressed in fifteenth-century costumes. It is intended to echo the famous match of 1530, in the desire to revive and to record a memorable page of the city's glorious history.After a three year pause the Florentine “Calcio” came back last year with friendly match and what about this June 2010? If you come in that period of the year, stay at Hotel Mario's, we are in the city centre, just few metres far away from Piazza Santa Croce where Soccer is played. It will be a real Florentine experience.
www.hotelmarios.com

The via Francigena

The Via Francigena is a historical itinerary leading to Rome from Canterbury, a major route which in the past was used by thousands of pilgrims on their way to Rome.This route bears witness to the importance of the practice of pilgrimage in medieval times; the pilgrim was to travel mostly on foot (for penitential reasons), covering about 20-25 Km a day,and was driven by a fundamentally devotional reason: the pilgrimage to the Holy Sites of Christianity.The road road is between Rome and Canterbury, passing through England, France, Switzerland and Italy.The Via Francigena was the major medieval pilgrimage route to Rome from the north; even today pilgrims travel this route, but in far fewer numbers than the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago).
The Via Francigena is not just an important pilgrimage route concerning a large area of Italy, but its discovery represents a unique opportunity to get in touch with the places it runs through: an extremely rich heritage of culture, art, history, lovely natural spots and warm hospitality.he Way of Saint James originated and was supported as a defensive bulwark against Islam; the Via Francigena was just one of the many routes leading to Rome or, at most, the converging path of many different trails and during past centuries was never supported by political will. Stretches of the ancient trail have remained intact: in Castellonchio, a few miles before Berceto and nearby the pass of Monte Bardone or in Galleno (Tuscany) or, further South in Capranica, near Viterbo; here you can still walk through age-old hazel groves linked to the memory of Charlemagne and chivalric literature or on the grass-overrun paving stones of the Roman Via Cassia, which is still in perfect conditions in Baccano, near Rome.

IN TUSCANY

Today the Via Francigena enters Tuscany at the Cisa Pass in the area called Lunigiana north of Pontremoli and heads south toward Acquapendente in Latium passing through Lucca and Sienna. It is still possible to follow approximately the ancient road and to find refuge in most of the same villages mentioned by Sigeric. The route passes through four distinct geographical areas where the landscape, the building materials and the gastronomic traditions follow their own local traditions, occasionally still reflecting mediaeval influences.The first of these four areas begins at the Cisa Pass, the crossing point from the Region of Emilia Romagna into the Region of Tuscany, north of Pontremoli in the Appennine mountains, and follows the valley of the Magra river down to Aulla and Sarzana. This area is called Lunigiana, after the Roman port city of Luni.This area is characterised by castles, walled mediaeval villages and isolated monasteries, constructed primarily of the gray limestone found locally.The second area begins at Sarzana and goes past Lucca to Altopascio. The principal characteristic of this sector is that the road hugs the foot of the Appuan alps and stays inland from the sea coast. The main towns one sees are Sarzana, Carrara, Massa and Pietrasanta, all in the marble working area, and Camaiore which is the only village mentioned by Sigeric after Luni.The third sector is the longest segment of the Francigena and runs from Altopascio, down to Fucecchio, and on to Sienna passing through Castelfiorentino, Certaldo, Poggibonsi, San Gimignano and Monteriggioni before it arrives in Sienna. The fourth sector begins in Sienna and goes south to Abbadia San Salvatore.From Sienna south, the Via Francigena closely follows the Via Cassia, another of the old roman roads. Visits to Isola d'Arbia, Buonconvento, Montalcino, the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore and San Quirico d'Orcia are all worthwhile. However the last two stops of Sigeric, Bagno Vignoni and Abbadia San Salvatore, are the most spectacular. Bagno Vignoni is where for centuries people have gone for health cures because the sulphur water baths.
When you walk through Tuscany, why don't stop for some days in Florence? At Hotel Mario's you could enjoy some rest days and visit the city from a spectacular position.
We are waiting for all of you pilgrims and walkers.

Why Hotel Mario's, why Italy?

Hotel Mario's is an old style Hotel in the heart of the city of Florence.Have you ever been in Italy? Italy is called Belpaese, "Beautiful country" because of its art,food and style.We are glad to be part of this nation and in particulary, of this city.
Come to Florence and enjoy Hotel Mario's.

FIRST DAY FOR THIS BLOG

We are born! Hotel Mario's has a new blog and this will be used to communicate with all our guests from all over the world.We don't want to talk only about Hotel Mario's but also about what's going on in Florence and Tuscany.
We hope this could be a new way to keep in touch with all of you.

Greetings from Florence