by Dianne Hales | Jun 9, 2020 | art, art history, Books, books on Italy, coronavirus, culture, Italian language, Italy, Language, Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, Renaissance, Travel, Tuscany, Web/Tech, Weblogs, women
Leonardo’s muse, Mona (Madame) Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo, was born 541 years ago on June 15, 1479. Few art works have experienced more adventures—and misadventures—in and out of the frame. The Florentine matron has shed her stately robes and appeared in...
by Dianne Hales | May 26, 2020 | amore, art, art history, Books, books on Italy, coronavirus, history, Italian language, Italy, Language, Leonardo da Vinci, literature, love in Italy, Romance, Sayings and expressions, Social behavior, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs, wine
Cari amici, In a world turned upside down, we know that we can’t return to what was, yet we have no idea what will be. Although much has changed, one thing hasn’t: our love for Italy. Over the past few months, we’ve wept for the lives lost. We’ve worried about friends...
by Dianne Hales | Apr 14, 2020 | art, art history, Books, books on Italy, culture, history, Italy, Language, Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Leonardo da Vinci, the consummate Renaissance man, was born on April 15, 1452 near the town of Vinci. Nothing about this artist and architect, musician and mathematician, scientist and sculptor, engineer and inventor, geologist and botanist was ever ordinary. The...
by DHales | May 1, 2018 | art, Books, culture, Florence, history, Italy, Language, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) The Da Vinci Code transformed his last name into an international phenomenon, but Italians have always referred to the ultimate Renaissance man simply as Leonardo. Next year the world will commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death on...
by DHales | Jun 12, 2017 | art, Books, culture, Florence, history, Italy, Language, Religion, Travel, Web/Tech, Weblogs
Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo June 15, 1479 — July 15, 1542 On a mid-June day in Florence in 1479, a midwife—called a levatrice for her “lifting” (levare) of a baby into the light — gently washed the newborn daughter of Antonmaria and Lucrezia Gherardini...
