Florence Wine Event 2010

The 4th edition of the Florence Wine Event will take place in the prestigious setting of Cortile dell’Ammannati Palazzo Pitti on Friday 19th from 16,00 to 21,00, on Saturday 20th from 11,00 to 21,00 and on Sunday 21st from 11,00 to 20,00.

The Florence Wine Event is a fantastic occasion for the enological world as well as an event promoting the Florentine Oltrarno.

There will be over 100 wineries predominantly coming from Tuscany, which means that a visitor will be able to choose among 250 different types of wine.

All the wineries involved represent the excellence in the wine world, so that you will be able to taste Brunello di Montalcino, Nobile di MOntepulciano, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Morellino di Scansano and a wide range of Chiantis both from the Classico and from the Colli Fiorentini and Rufina districts. There will also be many Supertuscans by celebrated wineries as well as many natural and biological wines.

The producers themselves will present their wines and it will be possible to talk with them about the quality and the procedures of their work.

Moreover there will be several estates from the North-East of Italy (Friuli and Veneto) featuring white wines, sparkling wines and other enological products.

Qualified sommeliers will initiate people to Grappa, this made by the participating wineries, a fascinating discovery of another Italian product.

The Florence Wine Event is a great festival where you will be able to taste an extraordinary selection of Italian wines in a unique setting.

To join in the sampling you will only have to buy the 10 euro Sampling Kit at the entrance of Palazzo Pitti.. This includes a glass, a small shoulder bag, the catalogue and a drink card valid for 12 samples.

The Florence Wine Event offers not merely an extraordinary opportunity of tasting. In fact it gives you the chance to experience this charming and still very traditional district of Florence with its tangled narrow streets departing from Palazzo Pitti towards San Frediano and boasting a great variety of restaurants and clubs, craft and antique shops as well as fashionable and vintage clothing boutiques.

There will be also several Extraevents offering selected enogastronomical occasions, all of them taking place in the Oltrarno area, in the neighbourhood of Palazzo Pitti.

All these events will feature a combination of wine and food inspired by Tuscan tradition in which the local hosts will propose special menus matching the wines. Last but not least there will be some handicraft exhibitions emphasizing the skill and work of the Oltrarno artisans. Videos and films about wine in its past and present connections will also accompany the events.

Cortile dell’Ammannati Palazzo Pitti

19, 20 and 21 November 2010

The complete calendar of the events can be seen at www.florencewinevent.com

New Year's Eve in Florence: romantic dinner for two

This is one of the most fancy romantic restaurants in Florence, Italy.

Alle Murate is located in a historic 14th-century palace close to Ponte Vecchio, with roman underground and Dante Alighieri frescoes, italian restaurant Alle Murate.

New Year's Eve in Florence 2011

Dinner of 31st December 2010

• Welcome appetizer
•  Sicilian red prawns tartare ginger, lime and parsley sauce. Crispy celeriac 
• White Zolfini soup with scallops and pistachio powder from Bronte (Sicily)
• Hand made tortelli filled with burrata cheese and cuttlefish ragout turnip sauce and sepia waffle
•  Orange salad with pastry wafer and Nubia red garlic mild sauce 
• Roast beef with white truffle broccoli puree and hand made paprika bread 
• Pears with saffron stuffed with chocolate mousse sweet wine with anise and cinnamon

Coffee and petits fours

180 euro per person
(a spumante bottle included)
make a reservation: silvia@allemurate.it

Frank Doorhof workshop in Florence

Frank invites all levels to join in on the seminar and workshop, as you’ll find yourself walking away with newfound knowledge in the following areas, location work, metering, light shaping, lighting tools, white balance, photoshop retouching and web display. This isn't one of those stuffy seminar/workshops where someone walks in, explains things quickly, without interuption, walks out the door and that's it..

November 13th (max 50 seats) Florence

The theory behind the workshops :

"To see the light is to understand the light, but to understand the light you have to see the light"

This is an intense seminar which will start with the very basics of how light works. Don't be fooled however with this description. In the years I've taught workshops I found out that most photographers are very aware of how to measure lights and setup their preference. However I also found out that very few really understand what they are doing, thus limiting themselves in being really creative with their light.

In this 2 hour seminar we start out simple by explaining the different ways light behaves and you will learn to "read" images and understand what light sources were used to create an image but most of all where they were positioned. But that's just the first 10 minutes. After that the level will increase considerably. There is a lot of attention given to understanding how you can manipulate but most of all measure light to make the scene exactly as you have envisioned it. Meaning you will learn to read and understand your lightmeter. You will learn how to use reflective metering to calculate the perfect white and black background and how to fit the whole scene within the dynamic range of your camera. After that there is a section about understanding color and how to manipulate them. Always wanted to know how to make the skies nice and saturated without using photoshop. Learn how to manipulate those colors on the spot and in camera. Always wanted to know how to make beautiful golden hour light falling through a window, or magenta skies without the use of selections in photoshop. You will learn to understand how it works in this section.

You will also learn how to work with colorcheckers, coloranalyzers and most of all how to calibrate your lightmeter so that it works flawless on your camera. After the theory there will be a part where several images are shown using the techniques learned in the previous part accompanied by explanations about the setups. After the seminar there is room for discussions and a personal touch. The whole seminar is not about tricks, you can learn that everywhere online.This seminar is about understanding how the system works and really knowing how to use it in your own photography. The seminar is not for beginners or pros only, every photographer should find something in here that is more than worth the admittance fee.

November 14th (max 15 students) exotic location in Tuscany

Putting it all into practice "Why fake it when you can create it"

Learn how to make a stunning location look even better or use the studio to the max. In this workshop you will be taught how you can use the theory from the seminar on location and in the studio. Learn how to use just enough flash to make a stunning atmospheric fashion shot as you see in so many magazines. See how to shoot it in camera without having to "paint with light" afterwards.

About Frank Doorhof

Frank Doorhof is an experienced fashion and glamour photographer with a broad experience in both studio and location. His workshops are highly regarded in both the Netherlands as abroad.

His work can be seen in several publications and for example on CD's/DVD's and posters from the world famous pianist Wibi Soerjadi since 2004. 

For info:  info@filippotomasi.com

Best new year party in Florence, Italy

If you are looking for New year's dinners in Florence or where to celebrate New Year 2011 here is the place for you: Palazzo Gaddi! In the heart of Florence, close to Michelangelo's David and Pontevecchio, the coolest party in a historic palace.

• From 8.30 pm, gala dinner served by waiters at the table, in the elegant halls of the historic Florentine building, including candles, well served tables and romance.
•  At midnight: countdown and toast with sparkling wine to celebrate the New Year together.
• After midnight dance all night long with DJ and live music.

Open bar until closing! unlimited drinks. Drink as much as you can...

Art exhibition in Florence

Friday 1 October 2010 opening of "Fragments of silence".

"Fragments of silence" will be music, played by piano by Lorenzo Pinto who has conceived, written and recorded, but will also photograph in the exhibition themes of Francesca Mondani and Marco Mantovani. The event starts at 7.30 pm and there will be a small buffet.

Galleria Civico 69/art cafè
Via Ghibellina 69/r
50122 Firenze

Exhibition reception party

Come and join us for the exhibition reception party this Saturday!
Exhibition reception party: Saturday, September 11th at 5pm

You will not only see Giovanni Mazzi’s works, but also meet the artist in person and spend nice time together, drinking Chianti in the beautiful tuscan landscape in the villa not far from the Center of Florence

Giovannni Mazzi is the respected florentine artist specializing in etching, he uses figurative way of expression. He is interested in philosophy and metaphysics. The main topics of his art are universal condition of human being, individual's position in modern society and endless pursuitness of happiness in life.
Giovanni was born with the affection to art. When he was 7 years old, he copied the greatest masters and later started developing his own style. He attended courses in comics and illustrations at the International School of Comics, studied free nude ( la scuola libera del nudo ) at Academy of Fine Arts and also he graduated graphic art at Academy of Florence.
In 2003 Giovanni founded with musician group called Il caffè degli zeri, where he experimented with different forms of expressions, combining paintings and graphic works with music.
In 2008 the artist founded a group called “le maleerbe” , which did plenty of installations and exhibitions.
Giovanni's mission as an artist is to have a dialog with people and definately he manages to move. The artist impacts viewers by making them forget for the moment about their perspective and contemplate about the relation of good and bad side of man's soul. As the result people ask questions, express their concerns and compare them with Giovanni's and in this way the chain of communication emerges between the artist and the viewers through the Art. And this is Giovanni Mazzi's mission and sense of doing what he is doing.
Stylistically his paintings and graphics are very much affected by the symbolism of ancient and contemporary philosophy, which suit the best in expression of concerns of the artist, which belong to the problems and concerns of the contemporary people.
He says "the art must be inconvenient, the art is ethic" .

Giovanni Mazzi has had many exhibitions in various cities in Italy between 2001 and 2010, among them 'Faust' and 'I fantasmi di Scano Boa' in caffè Giubbe Rosse in 2009 (in colaboration with other italian artists) in Florence. Presently he is working on the organization of the big exposition in New York, willing to show his works also to the global audience. He promises to show there some of his projects that is working on right now. One of them is a creation inspired by the the ancient story of Orfeo and Eurydica.

In Scandicci, there are works presented from last two years of this young and talented artist. It is an opportunity to meet Giovanni Mazzi in person and after seeing his paintings talk to him and ask him questions that he is so happy to get from people, and last but not least spend nice time drinking Chianti in the beautiful tuscan landscape in the villa not far from the Center of Florence.

Adress: Via di Rinaldi 8
50018 Rinaldi Scandicci
(10 km from Florence)

Summer Fair in Lastra a Signa

Summer fair in Lastra a Signa, not far from Florence: 4 days of events and meeting occasions. The places are the old town, the new piazza Garibaldi, the River Park and on the 29th of august the area of "corea" and the stadium with the spectacular musical fireworks.

During these four days Lastra a Signa will present exhibitions, poetical, theatral and musical shows, the ancient tradeworks and the fireworks. The River Park will host for two days the traditional Horses and animals' fair and a new horses' exhibitions, like it used once.
How not mention the pictures' exhibition in the Spedale di Sant'Antonio - which will then be held in Tokyo - of the great photographer Massimo Listri?
This year's program presents two news: on Thursday 26th august the opening of piazza Garibaldi with a live concert of Banda Improvvisa, attended by the major and the authorities; on Friday 27th august "Bread and Theatre": the old town will become a big stage with performances that will have as a leading theme the Popular Tuscan Tradition.
The evening will offer the possibility of dining in the small lanes or in the place at discounted prices, attending the shows or performances taking place.