Rosati Holiday Rentals

10/08/2024

Ten years ago today, we started renting our apartments, and on August 10, 2014, we welcomed the first family.
In ten years, we hosted hundreds of groups and families. That allowed us to meet and get to know many fantastic people with whom we have shared unforgettable experiences.
Some of these great people are now reading this post.

Cinzia, Riccardo, Roberto, and I thank you all for choosing us and often choosing to come back to us in Florence.

29/06/2024

The Tour is about to start today!

27/06/2024

An hour ago, Piazzale Michelangelo hosted the presentation of the 22 cycling teams that will compete in the Tour de France, starting on Saturday from Florence. Huge crowd and great enthusiasm (apart from those stuck in traffic). Watch the RAI TG3 regional news report in the link below.

Al Piazzale Michelangelo a presentazione delle 22 squadre. Bagno di folla e grande entusiasmo

24/06/2024

Today is June 24th, the feast of San Giovanni, and since the 13th century Florence has celebrated its patron saint every year. From the historical morning procession through the streets and the flag-throwers shows in Piazza Signoria, to the rowing race along the Arno in the afternoon. Finally, at 10pm, fireworks light up the sky for 40 minutes (we call them “fochi” [p**n. 'fahe']).
Let's hope it doesn't rain!

23/06/2024

Today 23 June and tomorrow the second round of elections for the new Mayor of Florence takes place. The first round occurred two weeks ago, with a voter turnout of 64.4%.
Eike Dieter Schmidt, candidate of the right-wing coalition and former director of the Uffizi museum obtained around 33%. Sara Funaro, candidate of the left-wing coalition and councilor for Education, Welfare, and Immigration obtained around 43%.
Tomorrow evening, one of them will be the new Mayor for the next five years. BTW, the current mayor Dario Nardella, after serving two terms, has just been elected to the European parliament.

Tomorrow 24 June will also see the ordination of the new archbishop of Florence, Don Gherardo Gambelli, a 54-year-old Florentine priest, chosen by Pope Francis as successor to Cardinal Giuseppe Betori who led the Tuscan archdiocese for almost sixteen years and is retiring for reaching age limits.

Both temporal and spiritual powers are about to change hands in Florence tomorrow June 24th!

21/06/2024

The summer solstice falls today, June 21st.
At midday the sun reaches its maximum height in the sky: inside the Florence Cathedral, the sun rays activate a wonderful scientific instrument of the Renaissance: a 'gnomon' or, more precisely, the largest gnomon in the world.

Let's see how it works: a bronze ring, placed 90 meters high at the base of the lantern, is exactly centered by our star and projects a ray of its image onto the North Tribune floor. The clear solar image flows for a few minutes along a graduated line, reaching a marble circle with the same circumference at the exact moment of the solstice. When the solar disk and the marble disk overlap it is astronomical noon or, better, Florentine noon... incredible to think that this instrument was built in 1475!

Florence Cathedral’s ray of light marks the longest day of the year. The Duomo opens its doors to the general public to celebrate and appreciate the occasion. | Visit Tuscany

18/06/2024

After a period in which I had to deal with other things, I am starting to update this page again. In this intense month of June, we have already attended the Calcio Storico (Historical Football) matches, and on the 23rd we will return to the polls for the election of the new Mayor. Then, on the 24th we will attend the celebrations of the Patron Saint, and on the 29th we will witness the start of the Tour de France bicycle race from Florence. I'll start with the latter!

Tour de France - Official website

23/08/2023

Yesterday I wrote about the hot air balloons that pass over my house every morning. I added that to find out more I would have had to leave my house before their transit.
This morning at 5:30 I was already out and I quickly discovered that they take off from what we call the 'Terzo Giardino', the small clearing in the bed of the Arno in front of Piazza Poggi, almost opposite the National Library.
Here the balloons inflate, welcome their passengers on board and set off on their exciting panoramic tour of Florence, before passing over my house and disappearing south of the city.
Exciting, isn't it? Maybe I'd like to try it one of these days.

22/08/2023

For the past few days, I wake up every morning to the 'noise' of hot air balloons above my roof. More than a noise it is the frequent puffs of hot air that are produced on board by lighting a flame to make the balloons rise and rise, carrying 4 or 5 passengers and the pilot. I think they leave from the Chianti countryside and fly to the historic center of Florence and back. They were above my house this morning too, so I went out at 6.30am to see them better but they were already leaving Florence and going south. So I walked to Ponte alle Grazie and looked at the sunrise, then and headed towards Piazza Santa Croce where I found the central door open, even though entry was not allowed.

To find out more about these hot air balloons, next time I'll have to leave the house earlier.

20/08/2023

In the summer, Villa Bardini hosts an open-air cinema with one of the most beautiful panoramas in the world. I show you some photos of the cinema that I took from Ponte alle Grazie and Via dei Benci. The entrance to Villa Bardini is at number 2 of Costa San Giorgio.
Furthermore, Villa Bardini can also be reached by crossing the spectacular Bardini Garden, which takes advantage of the slope of the hill with numerous panoramic points over the city of Florence, in particular towards the Santa Croce area. The entrance to the Bardini Garden is Via dei Bardi 1, right in front of our house.

I'm just wondering, what's the point of watching a movie with a view like that?

14/08/2023

The restoration of the sculptural group in the center of the Serristori Garden, a few meters from our house, has just been completed.
The monument of the Russian ambassador Nicola Demidoff, who lived in the facing Palazzo Serristori, had been severely vandalized in 2018. The sculpture, created by Lorenzo Bartolini between 1830 and 1849, on the orders of Demidoff's sons, was completed by Bartolini's pupil Pasquale Romanelli only in 1871 and then donated to the Municipality of Florence.
The Serristori Garden was created around 1870 as part of the urban interventions to adapt the city to its new role as the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. It is well known to the Florentines as it is linked to the film 'Amici Miei'. In fact, the Bar Necchi was located next to the garden, the location for countless scenes from the famous trilogy.
Furthermore, it is where I used to play soccer between 1964 and 1968 with my elementary school friends. They made me realize that even though I was good at school, as a soccer player I left a lot to be desired. By the way, our elementary school in Via San Niccolò was also named after Nicola Demidoff.

09/08/2023

Frankly, Firenze and Pisa have never loved each other very much (to put it mildly). However, today I am pleased to join in the celebration of my 'dear cousins' from Pisa for the 850th anniversary of the start of construction of the Leaning Tower, the world-famous immortal building. On 9 August 1173, the first stone of the bell tower of the Cathedral of Pisa was laid.
As is well known, the 58-meter-high building suffered from repeated subsidence of the ground. Construction stopped at the third floor and resumed over a century later, finishing around the mid-14th century. Since then, the slope of the Tower has been a cause of enormous concern, the object of repeated interventions from the most plausible to the most bizarre, and at the same time the unintended feature that has made the Tower so justifiably famous.
The Tower's 850th birthday celebrations start today and will last a whole year!

Considering that Tower of Pisa is an 850 years old patient with a slope of about five meters, the health condition of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is excellent.

08/08/2023

Today, August 8, marks the 150th anniversary of Michelangelo's David being moved from Piazza Signoria to the Galleria dell'Accademia for conservation in 1873. A wooden and iron castle was designed to move the most famous statue in the world, placed on a cushioned wagon. The loaded wagon weighed 19 tons, and a one-kilometer railroad track was laid out. I found 3 photos and a drawing of the event.

05/08/2023

Evening openings at the Accademia Gallery, Tuesdays until 10pm and Thursdays until 9pm until 31 October 2023. At night, the light in the rooms changes and, thanks to the new LED lighting, the works will appear in another perspective and in complete tranquillity.

01/08/2023

Let me share this message that our mayor Dario Nardella posted on his FB account today Aug 01. It says: "Today the Torre della Zecca in Piazza Piave opens to the public. A place that allows Florentines and non-Florentines to discover the history of the city, its defensive system and to enjoy a breathtaking view of Florence." BTW, Torre della Zecca is a 10-minute walk from our house.

25/07/2023

I imagine many of you know the Tour de France, for a century the most important cycling stage race in the world with the Giro d'Italia. In recent years, the organizers have chosen for these two races to start in a foreign country, and on June 29, 2024, the Tour de France will start from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence!
On the first day, the cyclists will arrive as far as Rimini on the Romagna Riviera of the Adriatic Sea. The second stage will take the Tour to Bologna, and on the third day the athletes will cycle to Turin. Thus, only on the fourth day will they cross the border and enter France to end up in Paris almost a month later. Therefore thousands of cycling enthusiasts and television crews from all over the world will join the traditional Florentine summer tourism.
WATCH THIS PROMO VIDEO OF NEXT YEAR'S EVENT.

21/07/2023

Let me point out this book, written in English and just released in June 2023, which I read and found excellent, complete, and enormously instructive. The amount of details and examples, even very recent ones, is incredible. It is an inexhaustible source of advice, useful links, and amazing statistics.
I learned a lot, especially about aspects I hadn't considered until now (from special menus to PNR and MCT codes, etc.) and from now on I will always take it with me wherever I fly!
The many anecdotes cited in these 230 pages are an added value that illustrates what happens in a variety of circumstances. The writing style is always very clear and without the slightest ambiguity, sometimes ironic but never sarcastic.
The author is a dear German friend of mine who lived on my street as a child. He effectively condensed his long experience (and obviously his passion for the subject) in a guide perfectly organized into chapters with an intuitive structure, footnotes for appropriate insights on the sources cited, and a very useful analytical index.

How to Take the Stress out of Air Travel: Your Guide to an Enjoyable Flight Experience

18/07/2023

Badiani doubles its presence in Florence with a new ice cream parlor in via Tosinghi, between Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza del Duomo. Its "Buontalenti" flavor best represents the artisan culture of ice cream (although overall I have always preferred Vivoli's gelato).
Badiani, founded in 1932 in Florence and so far located only in Viale dei Mille near the soccer stadium, has 15 shops in Europe with over 130 employees and a total production of 250 tons of homemade ice cream.

Historic Florentine gelateria Badiani has opened a parlour in the central via Tosinghi, a short distance from the Duomo

13/07/2023

On 10 July, our mayor Dario Nardella told the press that road works in via Cavour will begin in September: stone paving and 50 orange trees in the stretch from piazza San Marco to via Martelli will mark the redevelopment of via Cavour in homage to the Medici.

The goal is to make this long-forgotten road axis a place of beauty, restoring it to the splendor of its tradition inspired by the history of the Medici (Palazzo Medici is in fact located in via Cavour). A spacious and traffic-free place, capable of mending the stretch of the historic center up to Piazza San Marco.

Cantieri al via da settembre in via Cavour: lastricato in pietra e 50 alberi in omaggio ai Medici

07/07/2023

This morning (Friday, July 7th), Tuscany Governor Giani and Florence Major Nardella 'inspected' the underground route under the Arno that connects the Torre della Zecca near Santa Croce and the Torre di San Niccolò in Piazza Poggi at the foot of Piazzale Michelangelo.
The two towers are connected by an ancient tunnel, which has been in disuse for centuries. From the first studies carried out, the structure was found to be intact and recoverable.

06/07/2023

My third and for now last post on the recently discovered Etruscan bronzes. Here is the link to the excellent 51-minute documentary currently shown on RAI Storia TV channel. Well worth a viewing!

Italia viaggio nella bellezza - Come un fulmine nell'acqua. I bronzi di San Casciano dei Bagni Prima TV per Rai - Il Santuario ritrovato a San Casciano dei Bagni ci ha consegnato il racconto di un passato - solo apparentemente lontano dal nostro presente, in cui la salute e la speranza di un'esisten...

03/07/2023

My previous post attracted some interested reactions, so here's another one dedicated to the recent sensational find of Etruscan bronze statues.

Friends of Florence continues to fund the restoration of and research into the San Casciano bronzes.

01/07/2023

This time I'm not talking about Florence, but about a sensational discovery that took place a few months ago on the border between Tuscany and Lazio, a two-hour drive from Florence. I plan to organize a day trip on the spot. Meanwhile, read this post! More links to come.

More than 20 bronze statues discovered in San Casciano dei Bagni, in southern Tuscany, rewrite Etruscan and Roman history.

23/06/2023

Yesterday I watched this excellent 53-minute documentary on the authoritative Italian History Channel (RAI Storia) about 15th-century Florence and the Medici family. Obviously, it's in Italian, but even if you can't follow the narration, you will enjoy looking at the Medici palaces, the monuments of Florence, and the nearby Medici villas:

Puntata dedicata ai Medici di Firenze. La storia della città è profondamente legata alla famiglia, che ha governato la città per tutto il Quattrocento e per buona parte del Cinquecento. Il protagonista è Lorenzo Il Magnifico, il più illustre signore dell'epoca. Partendo dalla sua vita, si anali...

22/06/2023

We wait to see the text of the law when it is made public.

Florence is taking steps to introduce a regulation that would prohibit the short-term rental of residential real estate for tourism purposes.

12/06/2023

Piazzale Michelangelo 'occupied' for three weeks by a fashion show scheduled on June 14, as part of the 104th edition of Pitti Uomo Fashion Fair.
The setting up of the maxi grandstands that you see in my photo taken from the Ponte alle Grazie began on May 29th, and they will remain until June 21st.
For the twenty-three days of 'occupation' of public land in Piazzale Michelangelo, Palazzo Vecchio will collect 141,000 euros, around 6,130 euros per day.
Too many? Too few?

27/02/2023

Home, sweet home...

22/02/2023

Eleonora di Toledo (1522-1562) literally invented the Medici Court in Florence. Wife of Cosimo I de'Medici and Duchess of Florence, she financed the construction of Palazzo Pitti where, appropriately, the exhibition dedicated to her is held until May 14.

Eleonora di Toledo and the Invention of the Medici Court in Florence. Presented the great exhibition dedicated to the Duchess of Florence immortalized by Agnolo Bronzino

12/02/2023

'Frecce Tricolori', the national acrobatic team has just crossed the city sky to pay homage to Franco Zeffirelli. Born in Florence 100 years ago today, Zeffirelli was an opera, theater, and film director. He died 4 years ago.

16/09/2022

Found in a local supermarket. I was speechless and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Can you catch the pun?