Hallowe’en isn’t an Italian holiday. Ognissanti, All Saint’s Day, November 1, is a national holiday. I have explained to a number of people that Hallowe’en is the “serata prima di Ognissanti” as Hallowe’en is a contraction for “all Hallows’ eve”, all Hallows’ is an old fashioned way of saying all saints, all holy or holies. Some of the English speakers did not know this.

This was the end of my second last week of Italian school. Here’s the ceiling of one classroom I haven’t been in.

After school I walked near the Pitti Palace. There’s a small model of the area. On the far left is the road where my apartment is but the model does not capture how steep it is.

Went into Santa Felicità to do a little sketching. The Brunelleschi designed architecture makes this small church worthy of multiple viewings.

I love looking at Pontormo in the Capponi Chapel:

On the last Friday of the month, the National Gallery in London has an online members’ event call “Talk and Draw”. Someone, usually an art historian, talks about one of the Gallery’s paintings and someone else, usually an artist, leads a drawing activity to explore some aspects of the work. This is usually a morning activity for me, but in Florence, it was a Friday evening activity.

This week, the painting was a recent acquisition

The painting is called “Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret”. The painter is unknown but likely from what gets called the Netherlandish area.

Its a bit of a change from Italian Renaissance works although this work is dated around 1500.