Saturday, October 19th Live on Zoom
10am Los Angeles and Phoenix, 1pm NY & Toronto, 6pm London, 7pm Florence
Mark Roberts is the author of a delightful new book, Florence Has Won My Heart: Literary Visitors to the Tuscan Capital, 1750-1950,published in 2024 by Mount Orleans Press. “Florence is everything and all the rest is nothing,” said Sir Edward Burne-Jones on his deathbed. Since the 14th century, travelers from the English-speaking world have been drawn to Florence. In the 18thcentury, it was the English gentry and aristocracy who dominated the scene, wealthy followers of The Grand Tour whose open wallets and healthy appetites endeared them to their Italian hosts. After the hiatus of the Napoleonic wars, a broader range of visitors came, now also from America. Florence became “a sunny place for shady people”—attracted by the climate, the low cost of living, and a level of moral tolerance. Above all, though, was the art: the wealth of Florence, made in banking, had been spent in creating some of the greatest works of art in Western culture. This heritage remained the overriding magnet and influence drawing visitors to Florence. Mark’s book includes writings from more than 100 travelers, including Edward Gibbon, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert and Elizabeth Browning, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Ouida, Janet Ross, Henry James, Oscar Wilde, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence, Evelyn Waugh, and Dylan Thomas.
Mark Roberts studied English Language and Literature at Magdalen College, Oxford. In 1977, he began working at the British Institute of Florence, first as Librarian and then as organizer of the cultural program. Simultaneously he worked as a translator for many Italian publishers with a specialty in Art History. For seven years, from 2001 to 2008, he assembled Harold Acton's papers at Villa La Pietra for New York University. In addition to his new book, he has written books on the street names of Florence and biographies of the popes. Mark lives with his family in Badia a Passignano, near Florence.
To RSVP: Paola50122@gmail.com
Minimum suggested donation: $28
This talk is free for Friends of Paola's Studiolo!
Look forward to seeing you on Zoom!
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