Leonardo Da Vinci
By TuscanyVillages at May 31, 2010 | 11:38 am | 0 Comment
1452 – 1519 Artist Florence Born in the small town of Vinci, just west of Florence, as the illegitimate son of a notary and a peasant woman, Leonardo da Vinci would go on to become one of the masters of the High Renaissance, renowned for his exceptional skills as a painter, sculptor, architect, engineer and scientist.
Filippo Brunelleschi
By TuscanyVillages at May 28, 2010 | 5:37 am | 0 Comment
1377 – 1446 Architect Florence Born in Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi began his artistic career as a goldsmith and sculptor. Before long, however, he turned his attention to architecture.
Giorgio Vasari
By TuscanyVillages at May 25, 2010 | 10:31 pm | 0 Comment
1511 – 1574 Painter, Architect and Writer Arezzo The painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, born in Arezzo, is today best known for his book Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. With the publication of this book in 1550, Vasari became the first Italian art historian, and provided one of the most valuable historical resources on the
Ambrogio & Pietro Lorenzetti
By TuscanyVillages at May 25, 2010 | 9:22 pm | 0 Comment
Ambrogio Lorenzetti c. 1285 – c. 1348 Painter Siena Pietro Lorenzetti c. 1280 – c. 1348 Painter Siena The brothers Ambrogio and Pietro Lorenzetti were both influential artists in the Sienese school of painting in the first half of the 14th century.
Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch)
By TuscanyVillages at May 25, 2010 | 9:02 pm | 0 Comment
1304 – 1374 Poet Arezzo Francesco Petrarca, known as Petrarch in English, was one of Italy’s great scholars, poets, and writers of the middle ages. Petrarch was born in Arezzo, but his family moved to Avignon in the south of France when he was young. His father, a lawyer, insisted Petrarch study law, even though his interests were in Latin and literature.
Piero della Francesca
By TuscanyVillages at May 25, 2010 | 8:19 pm | 0 Comment
c. 1416/17 – 1492 Painter Florence Born Piero di Benedetto dei Franceschi in Sansepolcro, which at the time part of the Republic of Florence, Piero della Francesca is today recognized for his important contributions to Italian Renaissance painting. While little is known of his early training in Florence, it is clear he worked as an associate of the Florentine
Carlo Collodi
By TuscanyVillages at April 25, 2010 | 10:37 am | 0 Comment
1826-1890 Writer & Journalist Florence Italian author and journalist Carlo Lorenzini is better known today by his pen name Carlo Collodi, taken from his mother’s native village. Born in Florence, Carlo grew up in Collodi, a small village between Pistoia and Lucca, where both of his parents worked. He started his writing career as a journalist in support
Giacomo Puccini, Composer, Lucca
By TuscanyVillages at April 25, 2010 | 8:25 am | 0 Comment
1858-1924 Composer Lucca Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini, one of Italy’s great opera composers, was born in Lucca. Born into a family with five generations of musical history, Puccini musical beginnings came naturally. His father died when he was only five, and his music training did not begin in earnest until a performance of Giuseppe
