Blog

SEMINAR. The Happiness of Gardens: The extraordinary lives of women garden designers (2025. Nov. 21)

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 20th centuries, creating gardens – either in reality or in literary fiction – that c

LECTURE. Author Sarah Dunant: Resurrecting the Marchesa: the life and exploits of Isabella d’Este (2025. Dec. 3)

This 6pm 'Wednesday Lecture' at the British Institute of Florence, on December 3, 2025, is sponsored by the Calliope Arts Foundation. In an age where women had little public power, Isabella d’Este (1474 – 1539) stands out as a formidable figure. She 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 was away fighting – lasted ove

EXHIBITION. Relative Ties: Mabel Nicholson, Nancy Nicholson, EQ Nicholson and Louisa Creed. The Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge. (2026. March 6 to Sept. 6)

EQ at work on a batik bedspread c.1932, photographed by Kit in their flat in Chelsea Embankment. The palette on the wall belonged to Mabel Pryde, Kit's mother The exhibition 'Relative Ties' will explore the work of three generations of women artists from the illustrious Nicholson family, from the early twentieth century to today. Featuring paintings, wallpaper, fabrics, rugs, stencils and works on paper – many of which have never been on public display. The exhibition will u

EXHIBITION. Girls in the Innocenti Archive: 1900 – 1921, Museo degli Innocenti (2025/26. 14 Nov. – 15 March)

Ph. Guido Cozzi, 2025, courtesy of the Innocenti Institute and Museum ‘Girls in the Innocenti Archive: 1900-1921’ is a project and exhibition conceived and executed by the Istituto degli Innocenti, in collaboration with Calliope Arts Foundation, aimed at protecting and showcasing the identity tokens that belonged to the girls taken in by the foundling hospital during the early decades of the twentieth century, objects that the Nocentine (the institution’s young residents) w

EXHIBITION. MARIELUISE BANTEL. THE LIFE OF FLOWERS (2026. Feb. 18 - March 31)

Begin again, with blooms By Linda Falcone German Botanical artist Marieluise Bantel will be on show from February 18 to March 31 2026 at Cultural Association Il Palmerino with 'THE LIFE OF FLOWERS' , with canvas and paper works, as part of the project 'A FLORENTINE GARDEN: EARLY WOMEN EXPATS AND ARTISTS OF TODAY' organised by Calliope Arts Foundation and Cultural Association Il Palmerino, in collaboration with the British Institute of Florence. The Atelier degli Artigianelli

EXHIBITION. INNER GARDENS. FLAVIA ARLOTTA. (2025. Sept. 13 to Dec. 16)

From 13 September to 16 December 2025, twentieth-century adoptive Florentine artist Flavia Arlotta will be featured in the show 'Inner Gardens: Still-lifes and Landscapes by Flavia Arlotta' at Il Palmerino Cultural Association. An interview with Francesco Colacicchi and Alta Macadam By Linda Falcone This article was first published in Restoration Conversations magazine, Issue 7 - Spring 2025 Walking up the wide but wooded path, to the Colacicchi house on via dell’Osservator

LECTURE: The Art and Life of Francesca Alexander (1837-1917)

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. Francesca Alexander and her parents moved from Boston to Florence in 1853 and became part of the city's thriving international community. She was a largely self-taught artist,

EXHIBITION. THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE, MUSEO SANT' ORSOLA (2025/26. Sept. 5 to Jan. 4)

The exhibition The Rose that Grew from Concrete, which runs from September 5 to January 4, represents the latest stage in Museo Sant'Orsola's cultural reactivation, and it stands as an ideal bridge between the former convent’s past and its future vocation as a museum and contemporary art centre. The future museum will officially open its doors in 2026, following the completion of restructuring and renovation of the entire Sant’Orsola complex, Florence’s San Lorenzo district.

EXHIBITION. KETTY LA ROCCA - 'YOU YOU' (2025 - Sept. 10 to Dec. 21)

From September 10 to December 21, the Estorick Collection in London will present the first UK museum exhibition dedicated to Ketty La Rocca (1938–1976), a trailblazing figure in Italian conceptual and feminist art. Though her career was cut short by her untimely death at the age of 38, La Rocca’s work has left a lasting impact, and this landmark exhibition brings her bold, witty and thought-provoking vision to a wider audience. Ketty La Rocca My Words and You-2, 1971, photogr

LECTURE: In Conversation with Vanessa Nicolson

With independent curator and archivist Carla Danella 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 World War Two and in Florence at the time of the 1966 Flood. Vanessa’s gr