Fwd: 🙏 Keep calm and keep reading The Florentine: March issue out tomorrow

The Florentine Montly Newsletter 03/2020

View in your browser NEWS    EVENTS    ART+CULTURE    FOOD+WINE    LIFESTYLE    TRAVEL Keep calm and keep reading The Florentine This newsletter could go two ways. It could talk about the current Coronavirus outbreak, or it focus on art and culture and the happier things that we love about Italy. In times where the press fight to be first to report and stories burn like wildfire on social media, we all need to regain more than a modicum of perspective. The guidelines from the World Health Organization and the Italian Ministry of Health are clear. The first line of defence against seasonal flu and Coronaviruses remain regular hand washing, covering your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as coughing and sneezing. Please click on the article for links to the official websites and phone numbers to call. Health news aside, this month's issue of The Florentine (out tomorrow) celebrates Dante and food. Born around 1265 and exiled for political reasons in 1302, Florentine Dante Alighieri wrote the greatest literary work in the Italian language, the Divine Comedy, while pining for his beloved hometown. In typically Tuscan fashion, the poet addressed the pain of exile in Paradiso, XVII (55–60), where Cacciaguida, his great-great-grandfather, warns him what to expect: ... Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta più caramente; e questo è quello strale che l'arco de lo essilio pria saetta. Tu proverai sì come sa di sale lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle lo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale ... ...You shall leave everything you love most: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salty it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who goes ascending and descending others' stairs ... The authorities are slowly making up for the Supreme Poet's expulsion: in 2008, the City of Florence passed a decree revoking the sentence of exile and, this year onwards, March 25 will officially become Dante Day (or Dantedì) ahead of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death in 2021. This month, Florence also has a foodie feel as Taste is scheduled to return to the Stazione Leopolda from March 7 to 9 showcasing culinary artisans from all over Italy. Helen Farrell, editor-in-chief SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE The Florentine is a monthly magazine about art and culture, news and events in Florence, Italy. Digital and paper subscriptions available worldwide, starting from 20 euro. Choose your subscription! EVENTS Best events in Florence this March Enter Tutankhamon's tomb, relive your Grunge days with photographs of Kurt Cobain, catch some Korean cinema and focus on food this month in Florence.   Read More DANTE Dante's Inferno as limericks and comics Good Friday, 1300. Dante wakes up in the middle of a dark wood and is found by the Roman poet Virgil, who has been tasked with showing him what happens to the souls who stray. Dante and Virgil enter the gates of hell and pass the Apathetic, who were neither enough for God nor bad enough for the Devil. They then cross the River Acheron to enter the Inferno proper, which descends through nine concentric circles to the centre of the Earth. Harry Cochrane and Leo Cardini get creative with Dante's "Inferno", reworking the magnum opus as limericks and comics. Read More Gluttony in the Divine Comedy by Harry Cochrane Think back to Dante's lifetime (1265–1321) and count the number of foodstuffs that were unknown to him or his Italy: potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate and maize, to name but a few. Yet somehow the Sommo Poeta was never short of alimentary metaphors when writing about an afterworld where no one needs to eat, but where plenty regret overeating in life. His 14,233-line epic, the Divina Commedia, is after all the most famous work of Italian literature, and it would be strange indeed if the most famous work of Italian literature contained no mention of food. Read More CLASSIFIED ADS Seeking but not finding? If English is your first language and Florence is where you live, you might find what you're looking for in our classifieds. Check Now FOOD Angel Roofbar & Dining: restaurant review by Helen Farrell The NYC feeling of endless possibility and excitement struck me on stepping out of the elevator for the first time at Florence newbie Angel Roofbar & Dining. Hit the fifth floor button and soon you'll be on top of Tuscany, one terrace after another surveying the cityscape, up close and personal with Orsanmichele and Palazzo Vecchio as the scent of leather drifts up from the Loggia del Mercato Nuovo.   Read More Poke in Florence: our top three by Vincenzo D'Angelo There's a new way to eat your sashimi: poke bowls. My colleague and I recently invented a new word: Pokedì (take note, Accademia della Crusca!) It's a combination between poke and venerdì (Friday), and the result is that we're ordering this delicious dish almost once a week. Originating with Hawaiian fishermen who seasoned the offcuts from their catch as a snack, it's caught on as a culinary trend and several poke restaurants have opened in Florence. Here's our top three…   Read More BOOKS + SPECIALS The Florentine Press books are the product of a community, your community. Shop Now WELLNESS The spas of southern Tuscany by Helen Farrell A ring-necked pheasant swooped and crowed close to the car on one of the bends on the final approach to Saturnia. Suddenly, sulphur was in the air, cloying at my nostrils as the natural wonders appeared in glorious view. In the valley, bathers were unwinding in the ice-blue travertine pools of Cascate del Mulino carved over thousands of years. Read More