DAVID by Michelangelo

DAVID by Michelangelo

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by the Italian artist Michelangelo. It is a 5.17 metre (17 foot) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence. Originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, the statue was instead placed in a public square, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. Because of the nature of the hero that it represented, it soon came to symbolise the defence of civil liberties embodied in the Florentine Republic, an independent city-state threatened on all sides by more powerful rival states and by the hegemony of the Medici family. The eyes of David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. The statue was moved to the Accademia Gallery in Florence in 1873, and later replaced at the original location by a replica.

 

Enjoy your trip to Florence and stay at Hotel Mario's.

HOTEL MARIO'S

VIA FAENZA, 89

50123 FLORENCE - ITALY

PHONE NUMBER: 0039 055 216 801

FAX NUMBER: 0039 055 212039

E-MAIL: hotelmarios@hotelmarios.com

INTERNET SITE: www.hotelmarios.com 

Pitti Immagine - Fragranze 8 - From September 10, 2010 To September 12, 2010

Pitti Immagine presents the artistic perfume collections and body and home fragrances. The event highlights the latest and best proposals from the creative perfume world in one of Florence's most enchanting locations. This year the event will be held once again in the halls of the Leopolda Station.
The event concept is "Liquidity pierced, made iridescent and as if distilled by light". The new settings is based on this theme, merging plays on shadows, shapes, light and the actual expo spaces. The event is designed to offer the public direct contact and a fabulous sensorial experience throughout the entire location.
The stars of the event are thus the most exclusive fragrances, personal care products, cosmetic specialties and perfumed beauty accessories.
Pitti Immagine is one of the lead fashion event organizers in the world. Its professional experience includes elegant international expos for the textile-clothing, perfume and gourmet food and wine markets. It intends to create innovative events and projects with high communication impact, relying on partnerships with leaders in modern creative research.

PITTI IMMAGINE UOMO 78: 15th - 18th June 2010

Si chiama Design Watching il tema generale di Pitti
Uomo n. 78. È un’incursione curiosa e indiscreta del mondo
della moda nel mondo del design attraverso le suggestioni e gli
appunti visivi / sonori / verbali raccolti da una pattuglia di
design watchers – buyer, giornalisti, curatori, designer e opinion
leader – individuati nella community internazionale dei Pitti
People. A questi è stato chiesto di individuare i loro nuovi
oggetti di design preferiti - tra spirito artigianale e
contemporaneità - con il coordinamento di Cristina Morozzi.
L’allestimento sarà curato da Patricia Urquiola, che creerà
un’ideale continuità tra layout degli spazi esterni e interni della
manifestazione, assieme anche a una nuova proposta di aree relax
e speciali installazioni dedicate al cibo, firmate con i prodotti di
Taste, la rassegna di Pitti Immagine dedicata alle nicchie di
qualità della gastronomia italiana. Una nuova testimonianza
della vocazione allo stile e al design e della trasversalità delle
manifestazioni Pitti, sempre più contenitori pensati per le nuove
tendenze del lifestyle oggi.

Design Watching will be the theme of this summer edition
of Pitti Uomo: the world of fashion will be making a
curious – and indiscreet – foray into the world of design
through the ideas and visual-acoustic-verbal notes gathered by a
platoon of “design watchers”, the spearhead of Pitti People, the
international community of the Pitti Uomo buyers, journalists
and opinion leaders. They will choose, between tradition and
contemporaneity, their preferred design object and will be
coordinated by Cristina Morozzi. The settings, designed by
Patricia Urquiola will create an ideal continuity between the
outdoor and indoor areas of the fair, and will offer a new concept
for the lounge areas and special refreshment-food points.
It’s just one more and new proof of a clear calling and the
across-the-board nature of Pitti Immagine events that are the
ideal venue for launching new projects and presenting special
previews in the most important areas of contemporary fashion,
lifestyle and design.

Loggia del Porcellino ( the new market of Florence )

The loggia was built around the middle of the 16th century in the heart of the city, just a few steps from the Ponte Vecchio. Initially it was intended for the sale of silk and luxury goods and then for the famous straw hats, but today mainly leather goods and souvenirs are sold.
In the corner niches statues of famous Florentines were intended to be placed, but only three were made during the 18th century: Michele di Lando, Giovanni Villani, and Bernardo Cennini.
The focal point of the loggia is the Fontana del Porcellino, "fountain of the piglet", actually a copy of a bronze wild boar by Pietro Tacca from the sixteenth century; the original can be found at Palazzo Pitti. Popular tradition has it that rubbing the nose brings fortune, so that the statue has acquired over time a certain shine in that spot. Visitors are encouraged to place a coin in the mouth of the boar after rubbing its nose, and superstion implies that the wish will be granted if the offering tumbles through the grate whence the water flows. The slope of the grate is such that most coins do fall through, and are collected by the city.
Another oddity of the place is the so-called pietra dello scandalo, the "stone of the shame", a round spot marked in bicoloured marble at the centre of the loggia, which is only visible when no sales stalls are there. The design reproduces one of the wheels of a medieval Carroccio, symbol of the Florentine republic, on which the city's standard was hoisted daily. The Carroccio was placed on this spot and, around it, Florentine troops met before every battle.
The spot was later chosen for another purpose, whence its alternative name pietra dell'acculata, "the stone of the bum punishment". During the Renaissance, the punishment of insolvent debtors included being chained to a post on this spot and then paddled repeatedly on the naked buttocks.

FIRENZE: PONTE VECCHIO

The bridge spans the Arno at its narrowest point where it is believed that a bridge was first built in Roman times,when the via Cassia crossed the river at this point.The Roman piers were of stone, the superstructure of wood. The bridge first appears in a document of 996. After being destroyed by a flood in 1117 it was reconstructed in stone but swept away again in 1333 save two of its central piers, as noted by Giovanni Villani in his Nuova Cronica.It was rebuilt in 1345, Giorgio Vasari recorded the tradition in his day, that attributed its design to Taddeo Gaddi,besides Giotto one of the few artistic names of the trecento still recalled two hundred years later. Modern historians present Neri di Fioravanti as a possible candidate. Sheltered in a little loggia at the central opening of the bridge is a weathered dedication stone, which once read Nel trentatrè dopo il mille-trecento, il ponte cadde, per diluvio dell' acque: poi dieci anni, come al Comun piacque, rifatto fu con questo adornamento. The Torre dei Mannelli was built at the southeast corner of the bridge to defend it.

The bridge consists of three segmental arches: the main arch has a span of 30 meters (98 ft) the two side arches each span 27 meters (88 ft). The rise of the arches is between 3.5 and 4.4 meters (11½ to 14½ feet), and the span-to-rise ratio 5:1.

It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables before their premises, after authorization of the Bargello (a sort of a lord mayor, a magistrate and a police authority). The back shops (retrobotteghe) that may be seen from upriver, were added in the seventeenth century.

It is said that the economic concept of bankruptcy originated here: when a merchant could not pay his debts, the table on which he sold his wares (the "banco") was physically broken ("rotto") by soldiers, and this practice was called "bancorotto" (broken table; possibly it can come from "banca rotta" which means "broken bank"). Not having a table anymore, the merchant was not able to sell anything.

During World War II, the Ponte Vecchio was not destroyed by Germans during their retreat of August 4, 1944, unlike all other bridges in Florence.This was allegedly because of an express order by Hitler. Access to Ponte Vecchio was, however, obstructed by the destruction of the buildings at both ends, which have since been rebuilt using a combination of original and modern design.

In order to connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, in 1565 Cosimo I de Medici had Giorgio Vasari build the famous Vasari Corridor above it. To enforce the prestige of the bridge, in 1593 the Medici Grand Dukes prohibited butchers from selling there; their place was immediately taken by several gold merchants. The corporative association of butchers had monopolised the shops on the bridge since 1442. A stone with an inscription from Dante (Paradiso xvi. 140-7) records the spot at the entrance to the bridge where Buondelmonte de' Buondelmonti was murdered on behalf of the Amidei, in 1215, initiating the urban fighting of the Guelfs and Ghibellines.