When I think about the day I got accepted to study abroad in Florence, I remember the excitement of the unknown in being in a foreign country: to finally have the chance to travel. The idea of going to Italy always seemed like a distant dream, almost out of reach. But when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. From the moment you land and st...

Visitors to one of Florence’s most iconic monuments — the Baptistry of San Giovanni, opposite the city’s Duomo — are getting a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see its ceiling mosaics up close thanks to an innovative approach to a planned restoration effort. Rather than limit the public’s access during the six-year cleaning of the vault, officials buil...

The Florentine neighbourhood of Sant’Ambrogio may only be 10 minutes’ walk east from the landmark Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio, but this part of the Tuscan capital has a distinctive character far removed from the tourist pizza traps and overpriced gelato. It’s a tight-knit community that is still genuinely Florentine but also multi-ethnic. It’s a food...

Stage and film director, producer, set designer, painter, wartime partisan, politician, and gourmet chef Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli was one of the world’s most significant opera and theater directors during the second half of the 20th century. Particularly renowned for his lavish stage sets and film adaptations of Christian biblical stories and l...

The stunning capital of Tuscany, Florence, is one of the most beautiful cities in the entirety of Italy. A bold statement, I know. But, considering that it’s the birthplace of the Renaissance movement, that’s a hard statement to contest.  Home to majestic architecture, lively squares, rich culture, history, and some of the best Italian food – it’s...

We bet you didn’t know that there is such a thing as a clock that goes backward in Florence, did you? Well, we admit it took us by surprise, too. If you want to see it, you just need to visit the town’s duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore – yes, the same one with Giotto’s bell tower and Brunelleschi’s dome. Inside, surrounded by colorful marbles and the g...

Even though you’ve probably never heard of calcio storico, the chances are nearly 100 percent that you’ve played some version of it. The Italian sport created during the Italian Renaissance is the original goal game, where two teams fight on a field to defend their side and invade their opponent’s goal. Soccer, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, and American...

“Inside the Uffizi” rights have been sold to Sky in Italy and Hugo East for China, and an online release planned on streamers via Docodigital scheduled before the end of March on iTunes, Google, Amazon, Rakuten for TVOD and EST in the U.S, Canada, Spain, selected Spanish-language territories in Latin America such as Argentina, and Italy. Directed b...

Dear friends, another year ends and looking back we realize how many things we have done (many), how many things we would have liked to do (too many) and how many things we are planning for the future (so many!) A few days ago, on behalf of all of us at We the Italians, I had the honor of receiving at the American Consulate in Florence the presti...

"I can't rule out that our existence is decided by a few, by the beautiful dreams or whims of a few, by the initiative or the will of a few... Of course, it's an atrocious hypothesis. Even more disconsolate, you wonder how those few: smarter than us, stronger than us, more enlightened than us, more enterprising than us? Or individuals like us, neit...