The start of April this year coincided with Easter holidays, followed by Pasquetta, the adorably-dubbed “little Easter” that refers to the Monday holiday after Easter Sunday making the weekend an even longer one (hallelujah). This meant that Nico and I have taken the week off to visit his family in France  and we are reveling in the slower pace of life that visiting his home means. Walks along the Canal du Midi (240 kilometers from the Garonne to the Mediterranean), eating way too much cheese and generally just catching up with this parents.

I’ve always considered this time of year the sort of official “start” of massive crowds visiting Florence following the school groups that took over the town in March. In fact, friends of mine sent photos of piazza pitti with wall-to-wall people milling around every corner and I have to be honest, it made me happy to be here cocooned in the windy city of Castelnaudary. April also means the arrival of Spring (well, one can hope) and slightly warmer temperatures as this year’s bad weather has lasted for the entirety to March. We all look forward to a bit of relief on that front but be careful what you ask for as last summer was one of the most brutal ones we’ve had in awhile. My recommendation is to plan a few unique activities to make sure you are not exhausting yourself in line at the Uffizi or Accademia, take a sidecar tour (this was amazing), get your gourmet on or visit a few places where food & fashion meet,

Cover photo by: Christine Juette Photography

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgs-vXBnm8w/?taken-by=girlinflorence

This month’s link love from Italy and beyond 

• For those heading to Rome, my girl Natalie has you covered for this month’s best events
• The season of agretti. Two monk’s beard recipes for you by Jul’s Kitchen. 
• This is a hard read by Travels of Adam for those who wish to make it big travel blogging but in my opinion, it offers some very real truths about this industry.
• A lovely story on CNN Travel about a 79 year-old man who lives alone (by choice) on an Italian island.
• Looking for the perfect place to picnic this month? Check out my post on the best gardens in Florence.
• Taking more time to truly enjoy your vacation in Chianti, check out my latest for Italy Magazine offering a new way to discover a very popular destination
• A new contemporary art museum has opened in Florence, the Casamonti collection, and ArtTrav has the scoop on how to visit
• The cupola often crops up visually in different angles around the city and Too Much Tuscany shares her favorite spots to catch Brunelleschi’s wonder.
• This recipe by Turin Mamma for Italy Magazine is for one of my favorite Easter treats, “Pan di Ramerino” a lovely rosemary, raisin sweet bread that makes its home in Florence.

While not exactly in the historical center, Pratolino park is one of the best green spaces in the vicinity of Florence and is well-worth a bus trip. The season opens on April 1st and will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday until October 28th (10am-8pm).  address: Strada Provinciale della Casa Al Vento · Vaglia.  Take ATAF bus #25A from Piazza San Marco.

Keep in mind that April 3rd, Tuesday, is the last day to visit Made in New York: Keith Haring, Paolo Buggiani and co. at Palazzo Medici Ricciardo featuring over 20 original works from a fascinating street art artistic movement that began in New York at the end of the seventies. Featured are artists Paolo Buggiani, a Tuscan artist born in 1933, along with Keith Haring and other artists. 

Looking to meet some interesting new people in Florence? I always personally enjoy the open-mic night at Tasso Hostel (via villiani 15)  held the first Wednesday at every month. The April edition (the 32nd!) will take place on April 4th and is open to anyone who wants to share a song, a story or basically anything they’d like to present! Check out the info here.

Holland in Florence? Apparently so! The city of Scandicci has unveiled a garden of close to 200,000 tulips (around 70 different species) in the Castello dell’Acciaiolo park (via Pantin 63, Scandicci, Florence) which anyone can visit for the month of April. Visitors can wander the park and pic the tulips and it is dog-friendly. I cannot wait to see this in person myself. Open 10am to 7pm, minimum contribution of 3 euro.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhTSypMggdI/?taken-by=sandrapanerai

Enjoy a life drawing session on April 6th together with a unique art aperitivo and a dynamic Burlesque performer in the historical Caffè Giubbe Rosse. Bring your own drawing instruments and paper. Please RSVP by: email: [email protected] or whatsapp : +39 380 388 1234. 20€, aperitivo included. 

For residents of Florence, the first “free” Sunday of the month offering free openings to civic museums has been moved to the 8th of April. Of course people will want to visit the Giardino Bardini (address: Costa S. Giorgio, 2 – open until 6:30pm) with its full bloom of wisteria offering a purple filter of the panorama of Florence.

Market lovers should head to Piazza SS. Annunziata for the fierucola dei legnaioli (open market dedicated to wood-workers) open until sundown (April 7th and 8th).

This Saturday, Storytellers in Florence is back with this month’s theme “escape” and I think it is absolutely brilliant. As per usual it will take place at independent bookshop cafe Todo Modo (Via dei Fossi) starting at 7pm and ending at 9pm. You are more than welcome to just come and watch people share their stories. If you have a story to share based on this theme, be sure to contact Linda on Facebook or by email at [email protected]. 

After a raving success in Milan, Italian supermarket chain Esselunga is unveiling a “SuperMostra” in Florence (open daily 10-7pm until April 21st) to continue celebrating 60 years of Esselunga’s history in one exhibit open to the public at Stazione Leopolda. Halfway between a fairy tale and a trip to an amusement park, visitors will be able to relive 6 years of Italian life in one engaging and extraordinary experience. Keep an eye out for a contest giving away a golden cart worth 25,000 euros and 60 vouchers of 2,000 euros each, with a total prize money of 145,000 euros because who doesn’t need extra money for food?

The Stibbert Museum hardly gets enough love from the visiting public but it remains (at least to me) one of the more interesting museums in Florence with its incredibly vast collection of armor and tapestries collected by one passionate person. To give you even more of a reason to visit, this month they have an exhibit showcasing the “art of the banquet” aimed at showing table decorating over time: from the Renaissance up to the nineteenth century through lively reconstructions of the equipment of the past. More info on museum hours and tariffs here.

One of my favorite film festivals is back “Middle East Now” from April 10th to the 15th and the 2018 edition reveals, through an unusual observation lens, the contemporary Middle East, with its theme this year, #MiddleEast. The festival wants to shift the attention, for the first time, on the storytelling that millions of individuals – from the Palestinian mother to the jihad fighter, from the professionals of the great urban realities to the young people curious about new life experiences and how social media has played into everything. Locations: Cinema la Campagnia and Cinema Stensen. Official hashtags are #WeLoveMiddleEast #MENow9. Below are a list of special events tied to the festival and you can find the full list here.

There will be a March for Science on April 14th, Hosted by Women’s March Florence, Italy and Democrats Abroad Italy from 2:30-5pm to encourage those to hold their elected and appointed officials responsible for enacting equitable evidence-based policies that serve all communities and science for the common good.

A second edition of market fun will be at Piazza Santo Spirito for the fierucola di Pasqua (organic market) open from 9am until sundown (April 15th).

I’m exciting for Shakespeare week held at the British Institute from April 16th to the 20th, where they will celebrate the great William Shakespeare (this year’s theme is Measure for Measure 1603) with a week of cultural events open to all members of the Harold Acton Library, existing and new. Keep in mind that you can join for a 24 hour membership (6€) or sign up for a longer membership, the full details can be found here and here.

Palazzo Strozzi, Florence’s foremost temporary gallery space in the center of the city, is launching its next exhibit “Dawn of a Nation: From Guttuso to Fontana and Schifano” from March 16th until July. From the Strozzi website: “a truly mesmerising exploration of art, politics and society in Italy from the 1950s to the protest years in the late ’60s, with eighty works of art by such masters as Renato Guttuso, Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Emilio Vedova, Piero Manzoni, Mario Schifano, Mario Merz and Michelangelo Pistoletto. The exhibition, curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, is bringing emblematic works of art together for the first time to form a display illustrating the effervescence of Italian culture after World War II, the years of the so-called “economic miracle” that marked a major transformation in Italian society, up until the fateful year of 1968.” Open 10.8pm, late opening until 11pm on Thursdays. 

Don’t miss a visit to Villa Bardini for their latest exhibit showcasing “From Pinocchio to Harry Potter, 155 years of Italian illustration from the Salani Archives since 1862″ until June 3rd. The exhibition collects 300 documents of various kinds (1964-2012) of  the historic Florentine publishing house whose popularity exploded after releasing Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale, the Italian edition of J.K. Rowling’s first book in the Harry Potter series. 

• April 12th and 14th: Our Syria, recipes from home: “two authors met Syrian women in the Middle East and in Europe, spending months cooking with them, learning their recipes, listening to their stories, maintaining a strong culinary identity.” There will be one cooking lesson (Saturday 14 April, Culinary Arts School Cordon Bleu), the presentation of the book (Cinema La Compagnia, Thursday 12 April), and they will be hosting an aperitivo “The dishes of Syrian cuisine at home” (Cinema La Compagnia, Thursday 12 April).

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