Bargello Treats for 2009

Visitors to Florence's Bargello Museum in early 2009 can look forward to a couple of extra treats on top of the usual world-class permanent sculpture collection. Restoration work has finished on Donatello's bronze David, the first free-standing nude since Roman times when it was completed sometime in the 1440s. It will take centre-stage alongside the sculptor's other Bargello works, and earlier (1401) bronze panels by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, in the Salone del Quattrocento.

Meanwhile, April sees the opening of an important exhibition of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, charting the links between his sculpture and the birth of Baroque portraiture. It follows a major Bernini exhibition at California's Getty Center in 2008.

The Bargello Museum, housed inside a magnificent Gothic fortress on Via del Proconsolo, is worth €4 of your entrance money anytime. It's one Florence stop I recommend highly in the new book, due out in May.

The book wins an award

It was announced this week that the book has been judged Best Guidebook 2008 at the ENIT Travel Writing Awards. Obviously, we're chuffed to bits to have impressed the panel of Italian tourism experts, and to have beaten so many other fantastic new guidebooks. The new goal is for my next book, due out early next year, to win the 2009 prize.

To celebrate, time-permitting, more new material and updates on Tuscany will appear here soon. I promise.

More on the announcement here:

The winning Frommer’s title written by authors Donald Strachan and Stephen Keeling was singled out for the quality of its research, writing and opening up a new area in Italian tourism.

Florentine Genius Festival

If you're planning to be in Florence over the next couple of weeks be sure to check this website for details of over 100 events taking place as part of the city's Genio Fiorentino festival. The festival was attended by almost 400,000 visitors last year.

Genio Fiorentino runs from 15th to 25th May, opening tomorrow with a musical event celebrating Benvenuto Cellini, whose bronze Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa, pictured, graces the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria.

Other artistic highlights include an exhibition of drawings by Leonardo and Raphael inside the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (see the book, p. 56). The exhibition's opening coincides with the festival ending, on 25th May.

The Genio sees the annual opening of the Corridoio Vasariano, a covered passageway that links the Ponte Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti, crossing the Arno inside the Ponte Vecchio. See the book, p. 59, for more details.

Florence's Istituto degli Innocenti is also hosting children's workshops, the Bottega dei Ragazzi, throughout the Genio. Contact them direct for advice on what events best suit your child's spoken Italian skills: local tel. 055 2478386 (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm and 4–7pm),email labottegadeiragazzi@istitutodeglinnocenti.it.

Florence's tourist office, local tel. 055 290832, will be able to direct you towards other events suited to visiting families. For comprehensive visitor information for Florence, see the book, p. 38–47.

Oops – Livorno Relegated

Here's a lesson for guidebook writers: never, ever make predictions about football.

What we wrote in the book, p. 142:

They might not be a household name, but AS Livorno are a team on the up. In 2004 the team returned to Italy's elite Serie A after a 55-year wait...

It was the kiss of death, clearly. Yesterday, the team were relegated after a 1-0 home defeat by Torino. Bah. In what's proving a tricky season for Tuscan teams, Empoli look likely to follow them into Serie B; ironically, the two meet in a local derby next week.

That's not to say you shouldn't pay Livorno's friendly little stadium a visit on matchday – see the book, p. 142. But if you're set on a Serie A game, try nearby Siena instead. They will finish comfortably away from trouble this season (unlike last), with former Middlesborough striker Massimo Maccarone banging in the goals that have ensured another year in the top flight.

So, by way of apology for our sporting prediction gone wrong, here's some help getting to a Siena game, that space dictated we had to cut from the final version:

Since 2003 AC Siena (Via Peruzzi 18. [tel] 0577 281084) has been playing in Italy’s Serie A, the nation’s premier football league. The team plays at the small Stadio Comunale Artemio Franchi (Via Mille 3, [tel] 0577 280937) just across from the bus station, close to the Fortezza parking.
Tickets cost €18-32 for adults, €12-28 for children 12-18 and €5-10 for under 12s. Italian families attend the games, but it’s rare to see children under 8. Siena has a good reputation when it comes to safety, though opposing fans might not be as friendly – it’s worth asking at the tourist office first. Buy tickets under the bus station at the Siena Calcio office (open 8.30am-noon, 3.30-7pm Mon-Fri, 8.30am-noon Sat).

There's plenty more on Siena's more conventional sights, p. 78–87 in the book.

Maremma Cowboy Shows

Equinus (p. 155) have announced the dates of their butteri cowboy shows for 2008. These family equestrian spectaculars, rooted in the history and traditions of the coastal Maremma, last about an hour and a half. Local organic produce is offered for sale after the show.

Confirmed dates for this summer and autumn are:

May 9th, 31st at 17.00
June 18th, 25th at 18.00
July 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th at 18.00
August 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th at 18.00
September 3rd, 10th at 18.00
October 5th at 17.00

The booking line is local tel. 333 9579733. Always call ahead to reserve and check shows are going ahead as planned. Driving directions are here.

Italia Wave 2008 Festival Lineup

The line-up for this year's Italia Wave music festival has been announced. Headlining are The Chemical Brothers and The Verve.

This year the festival is in the port city of Livorno (p. 139–42), between the 16th and 19th July. The main stage is inside the city's delightful football stadium. Up to 100 other acts play in free spaces around town, including the Old Fort.

The festival's promotional and information video is here.