The bronze sculpture, dated from 350 BC, once graced the halls of the Renaissance-era Palazzo Medici Riccardi in central Florence, and has been described as a masterpiece of Greek classical art.

But after it slipped from the grasp of the Medici clan it began to deteriorate as it found its way into the archaeological museum in 1881 where it is now said to be in serious need to restoration.

Researchers at Florence's National Research Council have been investigating problems of conservation and restoration related to such ancient materials as the alloys and gilding used in the bronze horse head.

The work is to be carried out inside the museum and can be viewed by the public during the museum's opening hours until March 8.

After that, it is scheduled to be included in an exhibition titled Power and Pathos at Florence's Palazzo Strozzi, along with other bronzes from the Hellenistic style.

Power and Pathos continues until June 21 before travelling to an exhibition in Los Angeles at the J. Paul Getty Museum and later in the year, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Source: ANSA [February 19, 2015]

An exhilarating novel of romance, art, and food in Florence, featuring the beloved Margot Harrington, who graced Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures. Margot Harrington's memoir about her discovery in Florence of a priceless masterwork of Renaissance erotica - and the misguided love affair it inspired - is now, 25 years later, being made into a movie.

Margot, with the help of her lover, Woody, writes a script that she thinks will validate her life. Of course their script is not used, but never mind - happy endings are the best endings for movies, as Margot eventually comes to see.

At the former convent in Florence where "The Sixteen Pleasures" - now called "The Italian Lover," - is being filmed, Margot enters into a drama she never imagined, where her ideas of home, love, art, and aging collide with the imperatives of commerce and the unknowability of other cultures and other people.

Thanks to Hachette, I have 5 copies of this book to give away, just in time for Valentines Day!

To enter this contest, comment on this posting. To be entered twice, blog about it.
US and Canadian residents only, please. No P.O. Boxes.

Contest ends Friday, February 13th.

The castles are the Tavolese manor near Florence and Sapia castle near Siena. From northern to southern Italy, dozens of private castles are on the market, according to a statement by Lionard Luxury Estate.

Prices range from 1,200 to 8,500 euros per square meter for mansions of great charm and prestige, perfectly maintained, some of which have already been fitted as hotels or farms.

''On our website alone we have 37 castles on sale, but there are over 70 across Italy in the portfolio'', said the CEO of Lionard Luxury Real Estate, Dimitri Corti.

High maintenance costs and growing fiscal pressure on real estate have convinced many owners, in many cases for many generations, to consider selling to foreign buyers, at the moment the only ones interested in investing in this type of property.

The most advantageous properties are currently located in Piedmont: one of the most stunning castles in Monferrato, located in a park with secular trees, a manor of 5,962 square metres in perfect condition, with a 16th century guesthouse, is on sale for 7 million euros, just over 1,000 euro per square meter. Similar occasions can be found in Umbria, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria and Tuscany, one of the most sought after for this type of property.

It is the case of the 19th century Castello di Acquabella, in the splendid natural reserve of Vallombrosa, near the abbey by the same name, which has been perfectly renovated, for a total of 5,000 square meters inside.

On the coast between Livorno and Castiglioncello, a castle dating back to the beginning of the 1900s with splendid sea views is on sale - 700 square metres on four floors with two towers. The park includes palm trees, secular pines and exotic plants.

The castle of Sapia - from the name of Sapia Salviati - near Monteriggioni, just 7 km from Siena, is also on sale. Set in a splendid landscape, the hotel needs a full renovation and is on sale for 2.5 million euros.

More expensive are stunning castles in the Chianti countryside near Siena and Florence, like the imposing Castello di Tavolese, which belonged to the house of Farinata degli Uberti, the family of Petrarca's mother: 7,676 covered square meters and 67 hectares of park, which includes buildings such as a church and farms.

Source: ANSAmed [December 15, 2014]

In the biggest shake-up of arts and culture of modern times, Matteo Renzi, the Prime Minister, has announced that the Government is to run advertisements in the Economist on January 9 to recruit new administrators "because we want to have the best directors in the world".

The leadership changes are part of a dramatic shake-up of the arts spearheaded by Dario Franceschini, the Culture Minister, in an attempt to make the country's galleries, museums and historic sites more profit-driven. Italy boasts nearly 3000 cultural sites that attract 77 million visitors a year.

The Colosseum alone draws 5.5 million of those.

Among the other "super museums" Franceschini wants to develop are the Borghese Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Under a government decree, Franceschini hopes to generate earnings of more than 2 billion ($3.16 billion) in 2017, with further growth in the years to come. Italy's museums, galleries and archeological sites generated only 380 million in revenue in 2013, according to La Repubblica newspaper, and cost 350 million to operate.

The minister's office declined to comment on the new plans. But, according to La Repubblica, Franceschini wants to model Italian museums on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and add more restaurants, gift shops, guides and accessories that will attract more visitors and ultimately more profits.

He also wants to create 18 new regional offices with responsibility for the country's biggest artistic sites and grant more power to individual directors who run them. Italian media also said he was expected to appoint 12 new directors-general within his ministry who would manage specific sectors such as tourism, cinema and live theatre.

Franceschini has openly favoured other measures to increase tourism by "adding value" to the country's heritage and strongly supports corporate sponsorship.

He recently backed a move to bring live cultural events and concerts to ancient monuments such as the Colosseum because he said they needed to be "brought alive" for visitors from around the world.

In June, he launched a $50 million appeal to preserve the vast Domus Aurea palace built by Emperor Nero beside the Colosseum.

The Domus Aurea, loosely translated as the Golden House, is a sprawling complex of interconnecting dining halls, frescoed reception rooms and vaulted hallways on the hill opposite the ancient amphitheatre.

"The state has very limited resources unfortunately," said Franceschini at the time.

"This is an opportunity for a big company to sponsor an extraordinary project, which will capture the world's attention. It would be scandalous if no one comes forward."

Source: The New Zealand Herald [December 26, 2014]

With us today we have Janette Rallison, author of My Fair Godmother and My Unfair Godmother, among many others. She has five children who keep her well supplied with plot ideas, sometimes even making cameo appearances in her novels. She likes to write romantic comedy because there is enough angst in real life, but theres a drastic shortage on both humor and romance.
You can find her online here:
Blog | Goodreads | Twitter | Website Stick around to find out how you can win some Awesome, courtesy of Janette!

~Follow up: where did the idea for the series (and Chrissy) come from?
Authors get asked to write a lot of things for friends and family members. I’ve done my share of school talent show skits, camp skits, etc. My Fair Godmother started out as a half an hour skit for my daughter’s church group. In fact, my daughter was the original Chrysanthemum Everstar. I had imagined the fairy as a no-nonsense, cynical, over-worked person. (Think Florence the sassy maid on the Jeffersons) But my daughter played the part as a dingy shopping diva, and Chrissy has been that way ever since.

~Why fairy tales? What is it that calls to you, personally, as a writer, and why do you think readers connect to them the way they do?
Writing about fairy tales is great for a lot of reasons. We’ve all heard them, so we have a common frame of reference, but also, many of us wanted to be those fairy tale heroines. When I was little and people asked me what I was going to be when I grew up, I told them I wanted to be a princess. Alas, the whole royalty thing didn’t work out, but perhaps that’s for the best. When you think about Cinderella and Snow White, they had to do a whole lot of cleaning and cooking before they got to put on a tiara. I’ll stick with my dishwasher, washing machine, microwave, and hunky electrical engineer.

~What’s your favorite scene you’ve ever written?
That’s hard to choose, because I’ve written a lot of books. My Unfair Godmother is number 17, I have a dragon book that’s coming out this fall, and I have two other books I’m working on right now. The Snow White scene in My Fair Godmother is one of my favorites though. I actually laughed out loud when I wrote it, and that usually doesn’t happen. The trailer scene from Just One Wish is also a favorite. Not only do Steve and Annika square off in a very creative way, but I also get to insult writers in the process.

~Can you tell us about anything you’re working on now?
I have a dragon slayer book coming out in the fall, I’m polishing up a time travel/dystopia book, and I have about fifty pages left to write on a paranormal romance. The climax takes place in Egypt and so I had finally convinced my husband that we needed to go to Egypt for research. Yeah, I guess with all the political strife over there right now, that’s one trip we won’t be making.

Quickfire, Silly and Random stuff:

~Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Did they have pizza in fairy tales? (maybe only the Italian ones...) I’ll go with strawberries. I love them.

~ Using that name, give us a line from your life as a fairy tale:
Strawberry was teased mercilessly as a child. “What sort of stupid name is Strawberry?” The other village children asked.
Strawberry ran off to find a tower to hide in. After all, it had worked out pretty well for Rapunzel.

~Best fairy tale villain and why?
The evil queen from Snow White. She had power, riches, and fame—yet all she cared about was beauty. That’s devotion to an ideal. The cosmetic industry would have loved this woman.

~Favorite tale from childhood? Favorite tale as an adult? Least favorites?
Cinderella has always been my favorite fairy tale. Rags to riches, handsome prince, a ball where you get to wear poofy evening gowns—what’s not to love about that?
Rumpelstiltskin is probably my least favorite fairy tale. What sort of woman trades her firstborn child for a roomful of gold? What sort of King threatens to kill a woman twice if she can’t spin straw into gold and then says, “Hey, I’ll marry you if you can do it a third time”? Is that a match that is going to live happily ever after? I think not.
And why in the world does Rumpelstiltskin ask the queen to guess his name, and then stand around a campfire singing it out loud? Would that ever really happen?
I guess that’s one of the reasons I used Rumpelstiltskin in My Unfair Godmother. It was a challenge to make the fairy tale make sense. I think I did a fair job. (Pun intended)

~If you could be any fairy tale character, or live through any fairy tale "happening," who/what would it be?
I’d choose to be Beauty from Beauty and the Beast. She had cute little magical servants to do the hard work, and all she had to do was fall in love with a hairy guy.

~Would you rather:
- — live under a bridge with a troll, or all alone in a high tower?
A high tower—they have a better view. Besides, it’s hard to write with trolls around.

- — ride everywhere in a pumpkin carriage (messy) or walk everywhere in glass shoes (uncomfortable)?
I can’t walk in high heels, let alone glass heels, so I’ll have to go for the pumpkin.

- — be forced to spin straw into gold for hours on end, or dance every night until your shoes are worn through?
Dance, definitely. That’s my definition of a good night.

Thanks so much for stopping by and being a part of Fairy Tale Fortnight, Janette!

Janette has offered a Prize Pack for 1 lucky winner, consisting of a signed ARC of her latest book, My Unfair Godmother, as well as a signed copy of How To Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend, which starts with the FTF-appropriate line "I bet you Cinderella didn't get along with Prince Charming's friends... ";)

To enter: leave a comment with some love for Janette, and let us know why you want to read these books.
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Ends May 5th! May 8th!

The Best American 2009 series just came out this month, so in honor of that I thought I would say a bit about The Best American Travel Writing 2009 and in contrast The Best Travel Writing 2009. It's getting a bit cold in Iowa so I have travel on the brain right now anyway, although I do like the cold weather.

The Best American Travel Writing 2009
Edited by Simon Winchester

This is one of the better essay collections I have read. The transitions between the essays are quite good, I never felt like anything was out of place. There is a negative said that though, sometimes a few essays seemed like one really long boring essay just because I was disinterested. The best thing about essay collections though: you can pick and choose what you want to read.

My top three favorite pieces from this book were:
1. The Mecca of the Mouse by Seth Stevenson. The narrator traps himself on Disney property for five days and analyzes everything from Disney to American culture to architecture. It is quite funny, especially in regards to animatronics. "I'm sure 'audio-animatronic' creatures were nifty when Disney pioneered them in the 1960s."
2. A Mind Dismembered by Frank Bures. The piece takes place in Africa and is all about penis snatching. For those of you who don't know what that is (I sure didn't before I read this), there is an epidemic in Nigeria and other parts of Africa where men believe that people on the street, witches of some kind, steal their penises, but then when they go to the doctor the penis is still there. It's a really fascinating example of regional illness.
3. Who is America? by Chuck Klosterman. I am probably choosing this one out of bias, but this is generally the type of essay that I like. I am fairly certain that I would like this piece even if I hadn't know it was written by Klosterman (who I saw speak at my campus last year, he is even funnier in person). Klosterman was teaching a seminar on U.S. consumer culture in Germany. To get into the class he required the students to write about the most interesting 20th Century American. I won't give away who was chosen, but if you've read Klosterman before you know exactly how this is essay if functioning. (And if you haven't read him before, I suggest Killing Yourself to Live)

The Best Travel Writing 2009
Eidited by James O'Reilly, Larry Habegger, and Sean O'Reilly

While it is a less popular series I will admit that I enjoyed this essay collection more than The Best American one. These essays are less research essays and more travel narratives which was more enjoyable. If you're only going to read one of these books, I would suggest The Best Travel Writing.

My top three favorite pieces from this book were:
1. The Bamenda Syndrome by David Torrey Peters. This essay is a really fascinating account about psychological syndromes that travelers get. It questions if we can really trust what we see when we are traveling. Two such syndromes are the Florence Syndrome and The Jerusalem Syndrome. To find out more about the three syndromes mentioned in the piece, you should read the piece.
2. Officially a Woman by Stephanie Elizondo Griest. This takes place in Mexico and is a really honest account of quinceaneras, or a sort of coming of age party. My favorite part is when the daughter who is having the party is getting her nails done even though she has to take an exam the next day. "Yet her new nails are so unwieldy, she can barely grasp a pencil. No one seems to fret about this except me. What is an exam compared to womanhood?"
3. A Vast Difference by Deborah Fryer. The subtitle to his essay is, "Summer Camp is the first adventure for many a traveler" which kind of turned me off at first. Believe me, after you read the first paragraph you will not be able to stop. Deborah's summer camp experience is like no other, she is at a Jewish summer camp and her camp counselor has the children perform a pretend burial. If that isn't a hook, I don't know what is.

The Italian agreement

VIA «Google Books will scan the Italian libraries»