Join us at Il Palmerino (Via Il Palmerino 6) on Thursday, March 13 at 4.30pm for a tour of the Il Palmerino garden, estate and cultural association, as Federica Parretti, opens her home to visitors as part of the project: ‘A Florentine Garden: Early Women Expats and Artists of Today’. Federica is director of Il Palmerino’s namesake association and granddaughter of English-born painter and poet Lola Costa, who made her home there from 1935 to 2004.

Il Palmerino was also once home to English author Vernon Lee, who hosted a cultural salon there every Thursday, with top artists and intellectuals of her day, such as Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Janet Ross, Edith Wharton, Mary Cassatt, Ethel Smyth, as well as the likes of Henry James, Oscar Wilde and John Singer Sargent. In 1935, Il Palmerino became the home of painters Lola Costa and Federigo Angeli, who built themselves a studio and began a painterly dialogue by responding to the same subjects in ways that reflected their individual artistic journeys. Federica and her family now run Il Palmerino as a country estate, artist residency programme and cultural association which hosts exhibitions, music concerts and other events – with a special focus on women’s
creativity and emerging talents.

Admission is free, but reservations are required. Please reserve your place by writing to:: associazione@palmerino.it

This event forms part of a larger 3-year programme: “A Florentine Garden: Early Women Expats and Artists of Today”, organised by Calliope Arts and Il Palmerino Cultural Association, in collaboration with the British Institute of Florence. Guests will experience the views and canvases
captured in A painter’s Florentine Garden: Lola Costa and Il Palmerino, the debut issue of The Curators Quaderno, a new publication created in partnership with Calliope Arts and The
Florentine Press.