Cinquant’anni fa una terribile alluvione colpì duramente Firenze.

Innumerevoli articoli, fotografie ricordano quei drammatici giorni di angoscia che hanno tenuto con il fiato sospeso tutti gli italiani. Di quel fatidico 4 Novembre del 1966 si è scritto tanto e se ne scriverà ogni anno di più, perché è bene e giusto ricordare e far conoscere, anche alle generazioni future, ciò che accadde quell’anno.

Io oggi voglio celebrare Firenze raccontando la sua bellezza. In USA non mi manca tanto l’Italia perché ce l’ho impressa nel cuore e nella mente. E, se è così, non puoi sentirti lontana dalla tua terra.

In Ohio, a Cleveland, c’è una piccolissima realtà editoriale “La Gazzetta Italiana” che si impegna a tessere, coltivare e mantenere vivi i rapporti tra gli italo-americani e la nostra amata terra.

Io non sono una giornalista e loro non cercano giornalisti ma persone che vivono qui in USA e che amano, raccontano e conoscono l’Italia. Ovviamente, per una testata giornalistica, la scrittura e la comunicazione sono importanti ed io evidentemente ho superato il “test” visto che oggi hanno pubblicato un mio testo. 🙂

Sono molto orgogliosa di questo… Poter esprimere la bellezza di Firenze e dell’Italia mi ha reso enormemente felice. Dopo aver studiato, amato e ammirato per anni questa città mi sono regalata questo piccolo “viaggio” del cuore scrivendo del libro “Inferno” di Dan Brown.

Il link dell’articolo è questo: http://www.lagazzettaitaliana.com/travel/8196-dan-brown-s-inferno-following-langdon-s-footsteps-through-florence

Ma c’è solo la parte introduttiva.

Qui di seguito tutto il mio testo. In inglese. 😀

Dan Brown’s “Inferno”.

Following Langdon’s Footsteps through Florence

In the first weeks of October, Florence, the beautiful city of Tuscany, was the background for the celebration of the Inferno’s world premier, the new Ron Howard movie inspired by the Dan Brown best-seller. The press conference in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio and the beautiful scenic effects on the Arno River are just some of the events that made Florence the new Hollywood for a few days. After the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, the novel Inferno has captivated the audience that follows the mysterious and cryptic vicissitudes of the renowned Harvard professor Robert Langdon, performed again by Tom Hanks.

Florence, Venice and Istanbul are the backdrop to the enigmatic events that occur in a timeless atmosphere, following clues and traces linked to Dante Alighieri. Inferno allows the reader to make a jump back in time by winding through the city. In a race against time, Langdon and his assistant Sienna run across several popular locations and other places less known. Between the pages of the book there is a celebration of the beauties of a Florence that Dan Brown seems to know magnificently. Botticelli, Vasari, Tribolo, Buontalenti are only some of the artists who you will find in the novel. When Langdon starts his escape, you’ll feel like you’re there in the big square near Porta Romana. Belonging to the circle of walls, built at the beginning of 1300, the great door is the most southern of the Florence’s walls and is placed on the way to Siena and Roma from which it takes the name.

It will be like being in the bizarre Grotta di Buontalenti, in the Giardino di Boboli when the two fugitives hide in the first of three rooms that housed the Prigioni of Michelangelo, today at the Museo dell’Accademia and replaced by copies. A masterpiece of the mannerist age, the cave has a sense of perdition and suggestion, it is characterized by spongy concretions similar to stalagmites and stalactites; affreschi and sculptures emphasize the alchemical themes beloved to the Grand Duke Francesco I de’ Medici.

From the garden, a secret door will allow you to enter the stunning Corridoio Vasariano, realized in 1564 by Vasari. The secret hallway which connects Palazzo Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti is nowadays a museum that houses a vast collection of self-portraits. In the sixteenth century, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who ordered the construction, used this secret passageway as a safe passage from his residence to his administrative offices. The Corridoio Vasariano stretchs nearly a full kilometer, crosses the Apartments of Eleonora di Toledo in Uffizi, and allows you to walk on the Ponte Vecchio with a unique perspective. Beyond the bridge, the corridor is no longer visible because it creeps inside old dwellings; in this section there is a window that overlooks the Chiesa di Santa Felicita from where the Medici could follow the liturgy without being seen and disturbed.

Deciphering “CATROVACER” you are catapulted into the magnificent Salone dei Cinquecento built in 1494 and renovated with Cosimo I some years later. The huge room has an incredible and decorated roof, many sculptures and paintings celebrating the greatness of the family. The Studiolo di Francesco I, an alchemic treasure chest where Grand Duke collected his precious gemstones, the private Bianca Cappello’ room and other Palazzo Vecchio’ s secret passages that Langdon will use in his escape and will take you to places without time.

The professor of symbology will lead you to the Casa di Dante, a museum dedicated to the poet and hidden among the narrow streets of Florence, not far from Palazzo Vecchio.  Very close to the House, you will see the Church of Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, also called Church of Dante. Here the poet was married to Gemma Donati, despite his love and his complete devotion to Beatrice Portinari, the muse of the Divina Commedia.

Dante e Virgilio – Museum of Fine Arts of Boston

The Florentine race is going to finish in the Battistero di Firenze. Here you find the brilliant beauty of the Ghiberti‘s Porta del Paradiso and the golden interior mosaics will leave you breathless.

The long history and the rich artistic heritage make Florence one of the most beautiful cities of Italy and of the world. The book mentions at least thirty Florentine places: Badia fiorentina, Piazza Santa Croce, Biblioteca Laurenziana, Loggia dei Lanzi and many others…

Great! All you have to do now is find them… and lose yourself in this gorgeous city! Good luck!