January 2007 Archives

The Scuola del Cuoio is right behind (actually it is attached to) the church of Santa Croce. It is both a leather school and shop, offering a variety of courses and hand made leather goods for sale, and has been run by the same family for nearly 60 years. This recent article describes the school in more detail. There is an entrance off of Via San Giuseppe, or you can enter the school directly through the Church. Worth a visit, especially if you are leather shopping.

Scuola del Cuoio: Piazza Santa Croce 16, Florence; 39 (055) 244-533; http://www.leatherschool.com

Also on Friday during my visit to Montespertoli I made a quick stop in the new cantina of Castello Sonnino to buy a couple of bottles of wine. The Montespertoli DOCG is one of the newest in Chianti, and Sonnino is one of the areas largest producers. You can walk to the castello from the old square of Montespertoli in a couple of minutes. Their Castello Sonnino Chianti Montespertoli is €4.20 a bottle at the cantina, and at that price, it is definitely a drinkable wine (I have seen it for €6 and more in shops in Florence). They also have some fancier IGTs, one a 100% Sangiovese, and another using a blend featuring the Uvaggio grape among others. Check out their site and stop in if you are ever in Montespertoli.

Sant'Alessandro a Giogoli is a very interesting looking Romanesque church (12C) on the way from Florence to Montespertoli. It is just off of the SP4 (Strada Provinciale) or Via Volterrana and is surrounded by olive groves. The sign on the front says there is a Ghirlandaio inside, but the church was closed both in the morning and in the afternoon on my way back and forth from Montespertoli to visit a friend. Hopefully I will return soon and try a little harder to get inside.

Taking a look at our referrer log today I noticed a visit from a site called Bytes of Italy - this is an interesting blog not a lot unlike what we do here on Florence Journal, and seems to focus mainly on travel and art. They have a lot of "best of" posts and book and music recommendations which are worth checking out. Plus, they put us in their blogroll - thanks guys!

If you or your group are coming to Florence and want to take some cooking classes we suggest our friends at the Scuola di Arte Culinaria Cordon Bleu of Florence. Gabriella and Cristina have been running their school since 1985, right in the heart of old Florence at Via di Mezzo, 55/r. They have many types of courses and are truly experts in their field, as their credentials and experience show.

This is pretty interesting - while the actual painting in question is historically documented, I guess there really is not a definitive answer as to what state it what is when it was eventually covered over:

FLORENCE: One of the art world's great mysteries may be about to be solved: Did Leonardo Da Vinci paint a masterpiece that was lost in time, and does it still survive today? Italy's culture minister has given his go-ahead to explore behind a wall in Florence's renaissance town hall to see if it is hiding the 500-year-old painting Battle of Anghiari, sometimes known as the 'lost Leonardo'.

More here.