Freya's Florence Tours - Freya Middleton

Casa
Italia
Florence
Freya's Florence Tours - Freya Middleton

We aim to bring the art, history, food, fashion and architecture of Florence to you at home, and to I have always been eurocentric.

I am Australian born, from Sydney, however I am convinced that I have an Italian soul, or at least it was written in the stars that I was going to settle here in Italy. France was my first love, but when I came to Italy nineteen years ago, it was love at first sight. One continues to visit a country, or a place, when there is a love for a bit of everything - maybe the food, the fashion, the pace o

f life, the art, the countryside, the magnificent cities - and I have made Italy my home
because of all of the above and also because of the people. They are what gives everything the pulse, they are crazy, generous, ingenious and unpredictable. They animate the paintings, flavour the food and colour the streets. Their creativity and their arrogance, their magnanimity and devotion to life make the country what it was and what it is today. I studied European, and predominately Italian, art history at the University of Sydney, The Sorbonne and Warwick University and, as a painting speaks a thousand words, this enabled me to enter a world of great men and women, one of power and display and of passion, both religious and profane. I became a licensed tour guide of Florence, as the city is a museum, both historical and contemporary, of the Italian people. Good guides are said to bring the city to life. A great city like Florence doesn't need much help from me, though perhaps a little translation, and
that is what I aim always to do.

08/06/2026

Another gem to hunt out when you visit the Uffizi again is the sleeping Hermaphrodite. The work is a Roman copy made from a Hellenistic original of the 2nd century BC and represents the sleeping son of Hermes and Aphrodite.
The story behind this sculpture, the myth of Hermaphroditus, is told by the Latin poet Ovid in book IV of Metamorphoses. A young man is the protagonist of the myth, who "as soon as he turned fifteen left the mountains of his native land" to discover the world. This boy, whose name is only discovered at the end of the story, was the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods, and Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and love. The young man is defined by Ovid as very beautiful and whose face revealed the unique features of those of his parents.
Arriving in Halicarnassus, the young man found himself near a water pond where the nymph Salmàcide lived. After seeing him, the nymph fell madly in love and, in order not to lose her love, she prayed to the gods: "May the day never come, oh gods, that he detaches from me and I from him!" and so it was that the gods satisfied her.
The bodies of the two merged into one, neither woman nor boy, who does not look like one or the other s*x but has characteristics of both. And it's at this point that Ovid finally reveals the name of the new person, born from the union of the female body with the male one, Hermaphroditus.

08/06/2026

A detail of Filippino Lippi's stunning fresco Resurrection of Drusiana (1500 c.) in the Strozzi chapel of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. It has been suggested that among this group of women and children is Selvaggia Gianfigliazzi, the widow of Filippo Strozzi, and his daughters Alessandra, Lucrezia and Caterina.

08/06/2026

You will probably never hear the bell in the Torre Volognana, beside the Bargello, toll!
It's called “the montanina” by the Florentines and in the past it was rung to call young people to arms, to announce executions, or to warn of insurrections and riots.
However, today it only rings once every hundred years to mark the beginning of a new century. An exception was made when it was rung on November 4th 1966, the day the city suffered its worst ever flood.

08/06/2026

Many thanks to all of you who follow this page... keep the comments coming!

08/06/2026

Always a winner having a weekend away with a dear friend (in Lerici, Liguria) and a glass of Prosecco and a seafood dinner! Salute!

07/06/2026

I've always rather liked the idea of having this crest as my own. You see it all around Florence. However, rather than standing for Freya Middleton, F M stands for Firenze Misericordia... it's on all the ambulances around the city!

07/06/2026

FRUIT IN THE UFFIZI...
It's hard to miss the multi-seeded red fruit that Christ holds in Botticelli’s Madonna of the Pomegranate in the Botticelli Room of the Uffizi! The fruit serves a symbolic function – when broken or bursting open it is a symbol of the fullness of Jesus’ suffering and resurrection. For this reason the pomegranate is often depicted in the hands of baby Jesus.
There is also a pomegranate in the other large tondo (round painting) in the room, the Madonna of the Magnificat.

07/06/2026

All of Italy will be cheering on this handsome young Florentine today...
as 24 year old Flavio Cobolli faces world number 3 Alexander Zverev in the men's singles final at the French Open.
Cobolli is an incredibly talented player, one of the best athletes on tour armed with a destructive forehand and a well-rounded game.

07/06/2026

I'm in Lerici in Liguria this weekend with a very dear friend...
Lerici is part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, 8 kilometres southeast of La Spezia. It's known as the place where the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned.

07/06/2026

First beach day of the season!

Indirizzo

Freya@freyasflorence. Com
Florence

Sito Web

http://www.freyasflorence.com/

Notifiche

Lasciando la tua email puoi essere il primo a sapere quando Freya's Florence Tours - Freya Middleton pubblica notizie e promozioni. Il tuo indirizzo email non verrà utilizzato per nessun altro scopo e potrai annullare l'iscrizione in qualsiasi momento.