Student Life in Florence

Sometimes one needs a pausa from home. After making Florence my home for the past six months, my study abroad program hosted by Smith College took us on a week-long tour in Sicily. Life moves more slowly on the island, and it’s much warmer, like the beginning of summer. The streets are full of stray cats and you can smell the mandarins growing on the side of the road.

I am Teng Ai, studying at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) of Florence. I have been living here for three years. Florence, in my heart, is a piece of jewellery, an elegant necklace mounted with colourful gemstones. Wearing some delicate leather shoes toget in touch with its old ways or while wandering around thevarious valleys, it is quite evident, and impressive though. Feeling no urge to think, I’m walking on the same stone pavement, where so many great ideas have once been thought.

On March 9, 2016, in the “Salone dei Cinquecento” (Palazzo Vecchio), an opening ceremony will launch the first Tuscan Anglo-American Festival in Florence in the presence of Dario Nardella (Florence Mayor), Cristina Giachi (Florence Deputy Mayor and City Councillor for School and Univerity Affairs), Abigal Rupp (U.S. Consul General in Florence), Portia Prebys (AACUPI President, that is, the Association of American University and College Programs in Italy), Julia Race (Director, British Institute of Florence), and Andrea Davis (Co-Director, Tuscan American Association). The organizers’ main goal is to highlight the strong link joining local U.S. university programs, Anglophone study centers, and Tuscany, thus promoting an ongoing dialogue that brings together institutions, scholars, teachers, and students from all over the world.

Florence Fish Kiss is the first center in Florence entirely dedicated to the activity of fish pedicure. A relaxing treatment, combined with aesthetic care and adjuvant in the solution of dermal problems of the foot, all employed with Garra Rufa fish. After cleasing your feet, you will be directed to an area in which to soak your feet in a tub populated by these amazing small fish that have a special feature: with their lips (they have no teeth) they remove the epithelial cells from the feet. In exercising this delicate natural action, they carry out numerous micro massages in addition to releasing an enzyme that promotes the restoration of the dermal balance. This technique offers major benefits to each type of user.

Out of its frame and under several spotlights, Leonardo da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi (1481) was waiting for its revival. When admiring works of art in museums, most people do not recognize this part of a painting’s life - its restoration. Since the late nineteenth century, l’Opificio delle Pietre Dure and Laboratori di Restauro in Florence has been restoring works from tapestries and wooden sculptures, to mosaics and drawings. The experience of walking through the temperature controlled labs provided an insight on art restoration as art and career. Among the works in the lab was Vasari’s Last Supper (1546), still being restored from the Florence flood of 1966. Fifty years ago, the goal of restoration was to make art visually appealing. Today, the focus is on preservation – removing unwanted varnishes and maintaining the originality with minimal intervention. Teams of people from art, technical, and scientific backgrounds examine the works before they are even touched. They take into account the history of the works construction and look at methods of restoration from other institutions.