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A restored garden and the women who made a 'space of their own' among the green. Join us (in Italian) on Friday, November 21 at Villa La Quiete for a half-day seminar and garden tour: ‘The Happiness of Gardens: The extraordinary lives of women garden designers’ scheduled from 9.30am to 1.30pm. This lecture series, organised by the University of Florence, as part of the ‘Eredità delle Donne’ festival, focuses on several noteworthy women who lived and worked in the 19th and 20t

Resurrecting the Marchesa in an age where women had little public power. Isabella d’Este (1474 – 1539) stands out as a formidable figure. This 6pm 'Wednesday Lecture' at the British Institute of Florence, on December 3, 2025, is sponsored by the Calliope Arts Foundation.   Isabella was born into one of Italy’s most illustrious dynasties and married into another. Her husband, Francesco Gonzaga, was a warrior and a philanderer, but their partnership – she ran the state while he

Artist Francesca Alexander and her parents moved from Boston to Florence in 1853 and became part of the city's thriving international community. At 5.30 pm on November 26, 2025, join us at Il Palmerino Cultural Association, in the Colonica di Villa Il Palmerino, for a lecture by US writer and professor Jacqueline Marie Musacchio, entitled: The Art and Life of Francesca Alexander (1837 - 1917) , after her recently published book by the same name. She was a largely self-taught

Independent curator and archivist Carla Danella speaks to author and art historian Vanessa Nicolson about her works and life. Tuesday, October 7, 2025, 6pm Il Palmerino Cultural Association, Via Il Palmerino 6 Reservations required: associazione@palmerino.it Vanessa Nicolson is an author and journalist, and a former art historian. Her most recent book, Angels of Mud , is a multi-generational novel set in London’s Italian/Irish neighbourhood of Clerkenwell in the aftermath of

Two women artists from the eighteenth century are restored and recognised thanks to the AWA Legacy Fund. The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, in via Orsanmichele 4, in Florence, will open its doors to scholars and the art-loving public, on June 3, for a half-day seminar where conservators, art historians and museum officials will reveal their original findings and share new insight into three newly restored works attributed to Violante Siriès at the Certosa di Firenze monast

Violante Ferroni’s two large-scale ovals in the atrium of the ancient hospital of San Giovanni di Dio were restored by conservators Elizabeth Wicks and Marina Vincenti in 2020. Darkened by centuries of dirt and discoloured varnish, the paintings were created by Ferroni in the mid-1700s. Elizabeth Wicks and Marina Vincenti restoring Ferroni's artwork, ph. F. Cacchiani, 2020 Join us at 10am on May 14, on via Borgo Ognissanti 20 for a tour of the Ancient Hospital of San Giovanni

La Foce manager Katia Lysy  will accompany our guests through the garden of her family’s Tuscan estate, as she shares the ‘living memory’ of her grandmother, writer Iris Origo  whose contributions to the Val d’Orcia endure on page and in the region’s landscape. The visit begins at 11am on April 9 2025. Participants will have the opportunity to enjoy the gardens featured in Katia's newest book 'La Foce: Paradise in Tuscany', a photographic volume that celebrates the Origos’ 'l

Elizabeth Von Arnim, author of  The   Enchanted April pens a green space of her own. Join us on March 11, 2025 , for a lecture in Italian at Il Palmerino Cultural Association. Landscapes and gardens recounted by the novelist will be reimagined through the eyes of noted landscape architect Maria Chiara Pozzana.  Elizabeth Von Arnim (1866 – 1941) published her first book Elizabeth's Gerrman Garden in 1898, and it achieved immediate acclaim. A cousin to Katherine Mansfield, this

Goals like 'Decluttering', 'shaping ambition', 'paying attention to domesticity', 'discarding fatal prettiness', ring like New Year's...

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 at the British Institute of Florence An interview-style 'lecture' with Il Palmerino president Federica...

Four young grant-awardees of German, American, Egyptian and Slovakian descent have completed their paper restoration workshop at the...

Inside Issue 1 of The Curators' Quaderno Three’s a charm! With the advent of the Festival dei Popoli cinema festival in November,...

A New Course starting 18 March 2024: A Century of Women in the Arts (1866-1966) It’s time to discover Florence like never before. Join us...

November 29 2023 at 6pm Lecture by Francesca Baldry (online and on site) British Institute of Florence, Wednesday Lecture Series....

October 18, 2023 at 6pm Lecture by Linda Falcone (online and on site) British Institute of Florence, Wednesday Lecture Series. Lungarno...

This 'Wednesday lecture', at the British Institute of Florence, is sponsored by Calliope Arts, as part of our mission to expand public...

Though virtually unknown today, the epistles of Brigida Baldinotti circulated widely in Florentine manuscript collections during the 15th...

Broadcast now online Scholar Angela Oberer continues the lecture series sponsored by Calliope Arts, at the British Institute of Florence,...

March 1, 2023, now online A Calliope Arts-sponsored lecture at the BIF In 2023, Calliope Arts kicked off its first lecture series at the...

This 2023 lecture series, supported by a Gold Sponsorship from Calliope Arts, at the British Institute, aims to share insight and...