Here is a blog post we can relate to:
"I rented an apartment once in Florence whose only real attraction was a dryer. It was an exciting prospect: no more damp racks of clothes for days on end when it was too cold or rainy or foggy to hang them off the balcony to dry."
There's more, and it is both funny and informative (have you heard of the "drying index"?).
This weekend Italy is taking part in "European Heritage Days" which is part of a European wide event organized in part by the Council Of Europe. What this means: state museums, galleries and monuments are free to visit this Saturday and Sunday. More here, in Italian.
From the UPI:
FLORENCE, Italy, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A new exhibit in Florence, Italy, reveals Sandro Botticelli and Filippino Lippi were the creators of a number of previously anonymous Renaissance sketches.The news agency ANSA reported Italian researcher Lorenza Melli is set to reveal her findings regarding the 47 sketches and preparatory drawings at the Dutch University Institute for Art History.
"I carefully reviewed all these works which had not been properly studied because of the difficulties researchers had in traveling to Dresden (Germany) before the fall of the Berlin Wall," said Melli.
Prior to the exhibit, the artistic works had been kept at Dresden's Kupferstich-Kabinett der Staatliche Kunstsammlungen state museum, but will now by on display along with their new attributions.
ANSA said along with works attributed to Botticelli and Lippi, the exhibit will offer sketches from Luca Signorelli, Benozzo Gozzoli, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Pinturicchio.
(ANSA) - Florence, Sept 13 - A rare collection of sketches and designs, including little known works by Renaissance masters, goes on display in Florence later this week.
Preparatory drawings by Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Lorenzo Costa and Filippino Lippi will be exhibited alongside a host of other names from 15th-century Italy.
The exhibition, which opens on Friday, will showcase some 50 designs that are part of a collection built up by Saxony princes in the 1700s and 1800s.
This year we took the long way home. In the spring we bought round-trip tickets from Paris to Newark on Air India, because the tickets seemed like a bargain and we wanted a stop in Paris anyway. We also bought one way tickets for the whole family, from Pisa to Paris for just over 100 euros one-way. We had a great time in Paris and everything was working out well, we thought.
