TUSCANY’S HIDDEN JEM
Located on a hill just over 300 meters, Castiglion Fiorentino offers you a relaxing view: from its squares and terraces, the sight of the landscape of ‘Val di Chiana’ disappears toward the horizon. The small village had already evolved during Etruscan times since the VI century B.C., but it was not until the Roman Empire that the area became more prominent.
NEWS
Very soon, before traveling to Italy and Europe in general, you may want to take into consideration upgrading your magnetic-stripe credit cards to a chip-and-PIN card, as less and less merchants have been accepting the swipe and sign credit cards.
WINE, ART & NATURE FESTIVAL
March 15th to June 8th 2014. With the arrival of spring, the villages surrounding the city of Treviso in Veneto are bustling with many events, starting with the famous Primavera Del Prosecco.
EXHIBITION
From March 20th to August 31st, 2014 the Scuderie del Quirinale Palace in Rome will host a major exhibition of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), the undisputed icon of twentieth-century Mexican culture, and forerunner of the feminist movement.
NEWS
Claudio Abbado is one of those many artists Italy is also known for and proud of. This great conductor – perhaps the greatest in Italy after Toscanini – was born in Milan in 1933 from an educated middle class family. The father was a talented violinist who guided his two children to the strict, but at the same time free and playful, study of the seven notes.
PHONES & CELL PHONES INFO
Most likely you can use your current cell phone in Italy. Please ask your carrier for rates and details. Usually phone calls with a US phone cost around $1 per minute and messages 25 to 50 cents each. Otherwise, cellular phones can be rented for the duration of your trip.
ART EXHIBITION
Runs through May 4th 2014
The show will trace the artistic and spiritual evolution of this great visionary and revolutionary artist, from his colorful and figurative works of his art school period up to his most avant-garde pieces. Vasily Vasilievich Kandinsky was born in Moscow December 4, 1866, and four years later he moved with his family to Odessa, Germany. Here, besides attending a classical gymnasium (grammar school), he took drawing lessons as well. “I remember that drawing and a little bit later painting lifted me out of the reality”, he wrote later.
REHEARSAL CONCERTS AT LA SCALA
January 26, February 16, March 30, 2014
This is a unique opportunity to attend the rehearsals of the four concerts on the 2014 agenda of the Orchestra at the Teatro alla Scala, and at the same time it is a beautiful occasion as the ticket revenues will support some non-profit association in the area of Milan.