A LIBRARY OF RECORDINGS
Over 100 Art History Encounters are available to watch, at your convenience. In these presentations, Elaine and her esteemed guest speakers explore all things Italy - from art to culture.
Photo credit Amanda Conway
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Unlock the magic of Florence, Italy through the
expertise of one of the city's most sought-after art historians.
We all have impressions of Tuscany in our minds: magnificent art, sunlit hill towns, superb red wines, rustic cuisine, and handsome, vibrant people. Perhaps a single image best defines Tuscany for you: the simple, neat line of cypress trees that crowns hilltops or runs along roadsides like so many exclamation points, or the swirl of color and sophistication of elegant patrons at an outdoor cafe in a historic piazza. However you approach Tuscany, it evokes beauty, perfection, and attention to detail.
Tuscany is the region that gave us Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo, Amerigo Vespucci, Puccini, Gucci, and many more artists, inventors, designers, and geniuses. It is fair to say the world would be immeasurably poorer and less beautiful without their efforts.
Florence, the most important city in Tuscany, is the birthplace of the Renaissance, the city that for hundreds of years nurtured an unceasing succession of great artists and thinkers. No other place in Italy can rival Florence for the quantity and quality of art and architecture. Works by Giotto, Brunelleschi, Donatello, Masaccio, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo are all concentrated and easily accessible within the city’s churches, museums, and piazzas.
Besides the world-class art it contains, Florence itself is one of the loveliest cities in Europe. Nestled in the foothills of the Apennines under an ever-changing sky, it is divided in two by the Arno River. Narrow, dark alleyways spill out into majestic, open piazzas often accented by graceful Renaissance arcades. Massive medieval buildings lining the winding streets reflect the wealth once generated by an unrivaled economy.
Today, Florence is one of Europe's most popular tourist destinations, yet the past is omnipresent. From sections of the medieval city walls, you can still look out over rolling hills of olive groves and vineyards. Explore Florence and step back into the world of the Renaissance.
