YOUR FLORENCE EXPERIENCE

FINE ARTS AND
CULTURE ACADEMY

Street Art in Florence - Stay tuned!

From the Cure underpass, we see another work that we could call Stay Tuned! A snake-king with a crown suddenly emerges from the wall and throws himself at an apparently unsuspecting mouse.   The burning eyes are the signature of the author, Ninjaz, very active in Florence, part of the...

Street Art in Florence - A self-portrait

This fun work from the Cure Underpass seems to be a self-portrait. The pencil brandished nervously and the tongue tightened between the lips, like when one busy doing something that requires precision and attention and tenses up, just like this writer at work drawing. The mural is very large, the...

Street Art in Florence - Open Mind by RAME 13 at the Anconella Park

Festival dei Diritti is an annual event, born in Florence in 2017 and managed by the Municipality of Florence together with social and cultural organizations and associations. It offers a rich program of workshops, films, musical events, sporting moments and debates, all initiatives that must serve to give information and...

Le Cure District from Michelangelo to the Street Art

The history of this district north of the center has always been linked in some way to art. Legend has it that in 1520, when here there was only countryside crossed by the Mugnone stream, the Madonna appeared to two seriously ill patients who were praying in front of one...

Murals from another era: a fresco in Piazza della Calza

We are in Porta Romana, south of Florence, where the fourteenth-century walls are still standing, surviving the urban restructuring by Giuseppe Poggi in 1865. After the monumental door, a small square opens up, called Piazza della Calza. The name derives from the church and the convent that overlook the square....

Street Art in Florence - A misterious collaboration

This time it is difficult to guess the meaning of this work. Against a starry sky and galactic clouds, the composition seems to develop from right to left with three figures. The first is an alien, clearly the owner of the flying saucer from which a strange character with big...

Street Art in Florence - Alien flower and mad dog

Another work from the Cure underpass - one of the main Florentine galleries of creative "vandalization" - caught our attention: signed by Skino, its title is "Alien flower and mad dog". The flower seems to influence the dog with its waves of “alien energy, making him crazy, almost as if...

Street Art in Florence - When graffiti meets Street Art

Street Art also includes graffiti or writing, that is, the signatures that street artists invent with the utmost chromatic and graphic creativity and try to place in as many places as possible. On the walls, on the train sides, on the bridges pillars, etc. A desire or need to be...

Street Art in Florence - Of gazes and wrinkles

Street art is generally characterized by bright colors, but some artists prefer to use black and white, often for works of a more emotional nature. This is the case with these two portraits of elderly men, whose intense gazes convey sadness and a sense of loneliness in the observer.  ...

Street Art in Florence - A mural against incivility

Summer 2019. Antella, an ancient village of 3000 inhabitants a few kilometers from Florence. A middle school named after Francesco Redi (1626 -1697), Tuscan scientist considered the founder of experimental biology. One morning the town wakes up to find the walls of this school vandalized, smeared with vulgar drawings and...

Street Art in Florence - Elephant with fiery eyes

The elephant is a subject that is rarely found in Florence, Florentine writers generally prefer to depict aquatic creatures, monkeys, snakes, insects and hybrids. This is a work that comes form that street art open-air museum that is the Varlungo Viaduct. The skillful play of light and shadow gives three-dimentionality...

Street Art in Florence - Lorenzo Orsetti, Orso, Tekoşer Piling, a Florentine hero

This mural refers to a tragic story of our day. Orso, i.e. Lorenzo Orsetti (1986 - 2019) was a Florentine boy who died on March 18, 2019 in Al-Baghuz Fawqani, in northern Syria (Rojava), where he had gone to fight against ISIS, together with the Kurdish militia Popular Protection Unit...

Street Art in Florence - Angels and gods in Sorgane

We're at a bus stop in a suburb of Florence, very far from the center. But it's not just any neighborhood, it's Sorgane. A large suburb of public housing built between 1962 and 1968 by the most famous Tuscan architects of the twentieth century: Giovanni Michelucci, Leonardo Ricci, Leonardo Savioli...

Street Art in Florence - Two strange companions

A strange pair of companions on the railroad wall in viale Corsica. On the one hand, we have what looks like a strange and menacing walrus, with huge eyebrows, which could also be wings, and a cigarette in his mouth that draws a monster of smoke in the air. On...

Street Art in Florence - a color explosion

Another large-scale work from the Varlungo Viaduct, which occupies an entire pylon of the bridge. The mural would appear to be a writing or an elaborated tag (a signature), a type of work that actually makes up the majority of graffiti and Street Art in general. Made with airbrushing and...

Street Art in Florence - Sturmtruppen

This large artwork, signed The Typers, represents a  strip of the famous Italian satirical comics, Sturmtruppen. Created by Franco Bonvicini (Bonvi) in 1968, the comics was published until 1994, year of the author's death following a car accident: while crossing the street, Bonvi was hit by a car conducted by...

Street Art in Florence - Japanese anime in Florence

Those who were children in the 90s will certainly remember the cartoon series called Dragon Ball, taken from the manga of the same name in 1884, by Akira Toriyama. These imagese painted under the Varlungo Viaduct are inspired by the protagonist of this manga, Son Goku. In the manga, just...

Street Art in Florence - Gramsci by Jorit

This is the second large mural by Jorit in Florence, after the one dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Piazza Leopoldo (see our blog). Ciro Cerullo, aka Jorit, is now known all over the world, with his realistic style and a strong social commitment. He always represents portraits, the most famous...

Street Art in Florence - Faces in Le Cure railway underpass

In Florence, one of the most important places dedicated to Street Art is the underpass of the Florence-Rome railway, which connects the center with Le Cure district. A kind of museum that is in continuous transformation, worth a visit for lovers of murals who come to Florence. Of the vast...

Street Art in Florence - Eusebeia, the respect for others and for ourselves

On 10 December 2020 the Tuscany Region inaugurated the 24th Edition of the Human Rights Meeting, entitled Peace, justice and solid institutions. This date recalls the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Of course this year, given Covid-19, the ceremony...

Street Art in Florence - The blue angel and the red skull

A very long wall along the railway, entirely painted with tags, writers' signatures, many extremely complex and imaginative. Few figures emerge from the chromatic interweaving of the tags, two are particularly interesting.The first is a blue angel. He is represented as a beardless young man with long hair, half naked,...

Street Art in Florence - Skim's fish, a threatening warning

The San Donato Park, on the northern outskirts of the city, also houses a large underground car park. Here, the Municipality of Florence in accord with the District Council 5, decided to have important and well-known writers paint high quality murals on the maintenance and aeration sheds. Two were inaugurated...

Street Art in Florence - Mr Wany, abandoned on the sidewalk

Another work by Andrea Sergio, known as Mr Wany, painted in 2017 on the wall of the Mazzoni Elementary School in via Enrico Mayer, as part of the program of the City Council of Florence to promote Street Art among the very young. Unlike the previous one, The Metal Girl,...

Street Art in Florence - Save the Planet, especially the sea

Here is a large and spectacular “fresco” from the Varlungo Viaduct, measuring at least 10 x 3 meters. The subject is clearly the sea with its creatures, the sea polluted by humans and their waste. Four large figures are presented swimming in their element: an octopus, a shark, a sea...

Street Art in Florence - Dog in pink with horns

This is the first artwork we present of a series from viale Corsica, a street in the northern suburbs of Florence. The road ends at the railway and a very long wall is occupied by Street Art, a kind of open-air art gallery. Part of the area is fenced, it...

Street Art in Florence - Peace, need for harmony and universal spirituality

By the writer Valera 2021, various works on the same subject. Two in Le Cure underpass, another on Ponte Giovanni da Verrazzano. The first of Le Cure represents a handshake between a blue and a yellow-brown hand. A symbol of peace and friendship. The subject of the second is a...

Street Art in Florence - Insectoids, the masterpiece

This insectoid comes from the open air gallery of Viale Corsica. It is very similar to the figures from Piazza Leopoldo, Viale Lavagnini and Ponte Giovanni da Verrazzano and might be by the same author, or group of artists or from the same "bottega", as in the Renaissance. In the...

Street Art in Florence - Other insectoids with multiple eyes

Here we have other insectoids, similar to the ones we have already seen in previously. They could be by the same author, even if this is not supported by the signatures. The new ones are in two different parts of the city, very far from each other: in Piazza Leopoldo...

Street Art in Florence - Green and blue insectoids

These artworks are located in a pedestrian underpass on Viale Lavagnini, a classic place for writers. The walls of underpasses are usually mainly covered with tags, but also with figurative works. This type of Street Art is sometimes defined as "creative vandalization", it is tolerated and some underpasses become museums...

Street Art in Florence - Mickey Mouse goes red

Everyone knows Mickey Mouse, the very famous cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Mickey Mouse and his companions: Minnie Mouse the girlfriend, Morty and Ferdie the grandchildren, Goofy the best friend, Pluto the faithful dog, and then Peg Leg Pete, Chief Seamus O'Hara, Detective Casey,...

Street Art in Florence - The man-kite

This artwork, unfortunately “vandalized”, can be considered a caricature as it represents a human face, exaggerating some physiognomic features and producing a satirical and humorous effect.  Born in the 1700s and immediately used for political purposes, caricature is a form of art akin to portraiture, cartoon, comics and illustration. The...

Street Art in Florence - E.T. and our strange world

Everyone remembers E.T., the extraterrestrial created by the American director Steven Spielberg in 1982. This drawing stuck on the wood of a door seems to us very timely. We can imagine that E.T. is back and wants to find the nice children who saved him and helped him to go...

Street Art from a past not to be forgotten

On the walls of Florence you can often see discolored paintings dating back to a distant era, circles with a black border with writings, arrows and letters in the center. They are the signage for the anti-aircraft protection created during World War II, signaling the population the presence of anti-aircraft...

Street Art in Florence - Two boxers: punching or hugging each other?

A new "authorized" mural of great quality in via Rocca Tedalda on a 6-storey building in the "case minime" of Rovezzano. This mural was commissioned to Basik and Run, two important Street Art artists, by Casa SPA, the company of the municipalities of the Florentine area that manages all the public housing,...

Street Art in Florence - Mr Wany at Primary School

Mr WANY - Street Art in Florence, the city of art, where even the walls become canvases.In October 2016, the City Council of Florence together with the District Councils decided to lift the ban on free Street Art and to promote "regulated" forms of it, recognizing the role of this...

Street Art in Florence -Tana liberi tutti!

The writing on the wall refers to the game of "hide and seek", played by children around the world. The way we play it in Italy is this: a player closes his eyes turned towards the wall - we call this "tana" meaning "lair" - and counts up to a...

Street Art in Florence - Poor pigs

The pig is not one of the animals Florentine street artists prefer, but Lokote (this is the author’s signature) offers us an unhappy blue pig with 4 eyes. Why 4 eyes and so much sadness? 4 eyes to cry twice as much? It might be that Lokote is a vegetarian...

Street Art in Florence - Girls and Ram Skulls

The girl has a goat or ibex skull on her head, her eye makeup unmade (may be she was crying), She holds the end of a thread between her fingers that seems to support the goat's head. It is possible that the drawing, which is done on an adhesive sheet...

Street Art in Florence - Our Monkey Relatives

The animals most loved by street artists in Florence are fish or sea creatures. In second place we certainly find monkeys, playful and festive or threatening and aggressive. But fish, despite the attempts to humanize them, are distant and different beings.The remarkable resemblance of monkeys to men makes them particularly...

Street Art in Florence - Men-fish smoke pipe

Street artists, at least in Florence, love fish and sea creatures. You can find  many, perhaps it comes from the very suggestive idea that they "swim" in concrete. The magical sensation of the liquid world, without sound and gravity. For the Babylonians, men-fish were very important; called Apkallu, they were...

Street Art in Florence - Nelson Mandela

There is also a "legal" street art not ephemeral, but made to last, financed by sponsors and institutions. Also in Florence there are such artwoks, like the mural dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Piazza Leopoldo, created by Jorit Ciro Cerullo, a Neapolitan artist, now  an internationally renowned artist, who started...

Street Art in Florence - Tomorrow will be worse

This work belongs to a particular category of Street Art, close to Sticker Art. The image, certainly made with the help of a computer, is printed on adhesive paper then glued to the wall. The meaning is enigmatic and open to the most varied interpretations, the references, which certainly exist,...

Street Art in Florence - Goofy greets you all

In these dark times of pandemic Goofy, the funniest Walt Disney character, loved by all children and adults, greets us with a large and high quality fresco: Goofy, Mickey Mouse’s faithful friend (actually, he is a dog). Goofy, in Italian Pippo, short for Filippo, is the opposite of the super-rational...

Street Art in Florence - Pandemic in Progress! Here is Covid-19!

Here we see a mural with a strong effect and large dimensions, fresh paint and very current, dated 2020: the Covid-19 represented as a scary slobbering monster, in his hand a can of poison to spread disease and death. You read at the base of the wall: pandemic underway! face...

Street Art in Florence - Lockdown stories: Dante Alighieri caught without a mask

Fantastic this work, certainly dating back to the lockdown in March and unfortunately already in an advanced stage of deterioration. Protagonist Dante Alighieri, acknowledged father of Italian literature and language, author of the “Divine Comedy”, dressed as always in red and crowned with laurel. Arrested as caught without a mask...

Street Art in Florence – S. Vanitas, S. Pecunia, S. Bellum

This striking and apocalyptic picture explicity depicts vanity, lust for money and war. Vices and horrors afflicting humanity, represented as divinities, with a halo, on a sort of altar, the names preceded by an S. indicating Sancta / Sanctum (saint). A triptych of confused symbologies, but of no questionable meaning....

Street Art in Florence - Archer baby-girl riding a spider

This impressive figure of an archer baby-girl riding a giant spider, a very detailed and impacting image, leads us in a revisited mythology, in a fantasy world, perhaps referring to some comic or saga we are not able to identify. Who will be hit by her arrow? Via dei Maccheroni, Florence.

Street Art in Florence - The blue bee

Also this work, like the Dinosaur with a Cap, is located on the external walls of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Florence, along with other important works. The bee, a nice animal and a symbol of industriousness and organization, suggests a positive and constructive message,...

Street Art in Florence - Dinosaur with a cap at the university

This tyrannosaurus is located on an external wall of the University of Florence, Faculty of Literature and Philosophy. What is the message? An obsolete and aggressive culture? But why green? Via degli Alfani, Florence.

Street Art from Tuscany - Picasso behind Trash Dumpsters

It is not in Florence, but it is special and worthy of mention. On the entrance of a Casa del Popolo, bombers dropping bombs were not in the original and have been added to clarify the events, in case of misunderstanding. Picasso was not clear enough. Ortonovo, Massa Carrara.

Street art in Florence - Flowery thoughts

Here we see flowers growing from a little girl's head. The crowd cheers, almost venerates her. Is innocence true creativity? Via Bufalini, Florence.

Street Art in Florence - Hanging on a horse ring

On the ancient palaces of Florence you can still see the iron rings where the horses were attached. Little men could dangle down attached to a ring ... Via de' Pucci, Florence. 

Bansky in Florence

We don't know much about the real identity of the artist whose exibition inaugurated yesterday at Palazzo Medici Riccardi, except that he started his activity as a street artist in Bristol around 1990 and he goes under the name of Bansky. Rings a bell? Someone has speculated he is actually...

Jetzt Anmelden

Verpass keine unserer Neuigkeiten...melde dich für unseren Newsletter an!