Florence blog

They say that carnivals usually bring violence, fighting, too much excess, party without limits and loss. Of course, the long tradition of carnivals have so many stories that it’s impossible to tell them all, good or bad. Carnivals around the world are the precise tim to let go and cheer up to carry on celebrating. Perhaps the most colourful traditional celebrations, the carnival ones, are those that unite everyone in a party of dancing, music and colour.

In the same way, carnivals are a singular moment when all cultures unite and can show the most colourful side of their traditions, all of them represented in light and costumes. Once again, wrapping the body with festive or allegoric costumes make communities discover unusual celebration experiences and, generally, the costumes refer to particular regions, the history of the place and the great character of the party itself.

What costume do you choose in order to be part of the carnival? Perhaps in an Italian carnival, an essential item is the beautiful mask, that you can find in all types, sizes and colours. Then dress with lively colours, whether it’s red, blue, yellow or green and a tunic or a light garment will be the best things you can use to be part of the celebration on those dates. Florence is one of the cities that offers best options when it comes to purchasing an adequate costume, a unique and interesting one. You have to arrive in good time though, if you’re thinking of sorting out your whole costume in Florence itself.

In the same way, an open attitude to adventure can be your best way to get to know new people, explore new options of fun and, who knows, maybe some romance too. A chance like the one where you use a costume and a mask allows you to become someone else, become a different person and modify your personality according to the carnival character that you are. Don’t doubt in experimenting with your personality when you’re dressed up and ready for the party. In Florence, everything in possible. This beautiful city still preserves the charm of its past centuries that has conquered so many travellers from around the world.

Once in Florence, you’re just a step away from one of the most successful and famous carnivals in the whole of Italy, no less than the Carnival of Viareggio, in the town with the same name. It will take you only an hour and a half to arrive there. The carnival is divided in four Sundays and a Saturday. The dates are the 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th of February and Saturday 3rd of March. You can buy the whole packet or simply go on the dates that are best for you from Florence. The train trip is very comfortable, you’ll enjoy beautiful views going towards the fun that awaits in Viareggio. For more information click the following link: http://www.viareggio.ilcarnevale.com/

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Florence and travel to the famous Carnival of Viareggio. Days of light, colour and fun await you in this typical Italian celebration.

Contact Me 

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
Contact Me

Florence is known for its history. Many people know the Renaissance and the monumental amount of classics that emerged from this magnificent city including: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Dante. But Florence also embarks on modernity, and many attractions go beyond the traditional, while offering locals and tourists, many ways to enjoy the nightlife, contemporary art and current band concerts, among others.

Florence is also a city of students from all over the world, which makes its nightlife to be diverse and vibrant. Over the current sounds, clubs and bars are changing transmissions according to the interests of their young and giddy audience. Like other cities in Italy, fashion and style are part of everyday’s life, in this emerging youth scene, which is not afraid of taking risks with the most “hipster” of the moment, and fashionable sounds Pitchfork recommended. Bars, clubs and zones “underground” are at your disposal without exploring with some curiosity and enthusiasm.

You can spend whole nights traveling from cocktail to cocktail and from bar to bar, tasting tapas and food from the most exotic and diverse type. Unlike other European cities, spontaneity is a typical resource in Florence, it is not enough to make a safe plan on how to end the night, a target can lead to another and so unexpected you embark on an intense and colorful festival. Much information is at your disposal in bars and streets, from flyers, fanzines, posters, can be guided by the secret routes and modern Florence.

One of the classic places for concerts in Florence is the Palasport, where some of the most interesting bands of the moment are presented in spectacular concerts. People like Marilyn Manson, Eric Clapton, The Cranberries, The Cure, Bob Dylan, Iron Maiden, have offered concerts at this legendary concert place.

Among the most important clubs you can visit, there is the H202, where techno music is the daily bread. In the H202, you will find a very young community of local and international students who do not lose the opportunity to leave everything on the dance floor until four in the morning. Another inevitable choice of the night in Florence is the Meccano club, with two endless dance floors, ambient lighting and fanciful cocktails, this disco guarantees house music, techno and R & B. During the summer one of its tracks are outdoors, where you have access to a night of dancing fresh and inviting. The non-stop action continues on Tenax, another temple of techno and progressive house. In addition to huge dance floor, Tenax are some of the best alternative concerts in the city.

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Florence and enjoy its young and modern scene. The clubs, bars and nightclubs are the best in Italy: party nights and endless action guaranteed.

Contact Me 

Translated by: Hans
Contact Me

The antiques market is a very broad term. There are many and big companies or, shall we say, small companies who are dedicated to the market of buying and selling items from the past to sell them and re-sell them, thus creating international exchange markets of old, international products, which fit inside the field of art, sculpture, ceramic, jewelry, furniture and everything else which can be saved from past times. Like a treasure chest, the antiques shop preserves, keeps and renews all of these products with the aim of, once more, bringing the beauty out of them and the importance of history which is preserved in an object.

But further from the symbolic meaning of things, what’s really left? The antiques market certainly isn’t for anyone. If you’re a fan of old things, don’t even think about being part of this. It’s not about vintage, don’t be mistaken. Vintage, despite coming from the past, disappeared aesthetics which are back today, even influencing fashion, clothes, the creation of products and art, doesn’t have the necessary impact which is required to fit in the mark of antiques. Antiques however, the ‘true’ antiques, aren’t for a massive public but rather for a niche and specialized one. But behind the antique there might not necessarily be any type of historical value. Sometimes, it depends both on the design or on the number of items of the same design which are available. Regarding paintings, this is an already well known case.

This is the 27th edition of the International Biennial of Antiques in Florence. There’ll be at least 84 antiques shops, 74 from Italy and 10 from foreign countries, and it will take place in the Palazzo Corsini with a mis-en-scène that, also, will be unforgettable. If you visit this biennial bring quite a bit of money so at least you can take something back home. It’s funny to consider that in times of economic recession, there’s a market for all of these items and, above all, consumers for it. Galleries and museums can’t cope and they keep buying for their already immense collections. What happens is that the property in question of the collections, doesn’t just cover the field of purchasing power: whoever possesses a Van Gogh don’t just have an immensely expensive item but also a part of the history of art and, therefore, he acquires some sort of broader political-cultural status. It’s a question of pulling strings and to see who competes against what in the world of collections. The private collectors die in the long run, and have to give everything to the institutions: think that a museum is a large mausoleum with objects of people who don’t exist anymore.

For more information on this biennial, visit this webpage: http://www.biennaleantiquariato.it/

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Florence and enjoy the magic of antiques and discovering people and characters who are involved in this gripping world. Further than the aesthetic experience, in the antiques you’ll find the bases of a prosperous business that can surely interest you. Don’t miss it.

Contact Me 

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
Contact Me

Pop icons usually dissolve quickly. Only some are still standing strong in the height of their career, still thrilling their crowd despite the years, creating sound dreams on the radio, that’s gone, that’s not there anymore, but which brings so much nostalgia. George Michael has known how to maintain himself, despite the years, as an interesting pop figure, with wide silences and distances, which has known how to make of his career an elegant pop trip, without falls or major stumbles. To think of it in another way, for example, when was the last time you heard something about George Michael, positive or negative? Well that’s the distance that places an artist in a unique position, where without recharged compromises he can have the freedom to carry on creating and being fabulous.

If, for example, you have the case of someone like Lady Gaga, it’s a different matter. Lady Gaga is, undoubtedly, talented but it seems that her reign is sustained by thousands of Twitter accounts, Facebook visits and Youtube. Of course, all of these are means in which social networks work efficiently, but little to they have to do with the original artist texture. Lady Gaga is of course the media product of today, a machinery of meanings and connotations that are incredibly post-modern. If Slavoj Zizek used to go out with her, allegedly, go figure. George Michael, however, maintains the charm and the magic that once held him as one of the 80s best singers, because it has to be said that with him, it’s not just a pretty face and elegance but also a particular style in his voice, that whispers, traps and wraps one sensually.

It has to be said that during the start of George Michael’s career, with the band Wham! together with Andrew Ridgeley, George created some of the best hits of the 80s, like ‘Wake me before you go-go’ or ‘Careless Whisper’, a romantic song with a sensual and sexual saxophone tone that, surely, warmed up thousands of love beds around the globe. Wham! only recorded three albums in its short time between 1983 and 1986, but it sold over 20 million copies of their work. George Michael, on the other hand, always captivated the world with that wonderful smile, tender eyes, toned muscles and sexy movements, both men and women. Today, the already mature but not least sexy George Michael is on tour with ‘Symphonica: The Orchestral Tour’, which has been taking him around different points in Europe and the UK. If you want to see George Michael like never before, this is your chance. What better experience than to listen to ‘Careless Whisper’ with a symphonic orchestra in the background. For more information on this tour, as well as tickets for the concert in Florence, visit George Michael’s official webpage: http://www.georgemichael.com/

Alexa Ray

Nothing better than getting apartments in Florence and enjoying this living pop icon in this beautiful city. You can’t miss it.

Contact Me 

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
Contact Me

To have an orgasm is probably one of the greatest feelings in the world, it is almost an inexplicable and unmatched sensation we experience when we have sex. But, this is not always the case for women; sometimes for them it is not that easy to reach an orgasm and in order to overcome this difficulty, there are basic techniques that can be performed.

The exercises presented below are not only for women, not only for those who have difficulty reaching orgasm. These exercises are recommended for everyone, because they may improve sensitivity in the intimate area of the body, while strengthening the muscles to work better.

Likewise, men should do these exercises because they help to better control their ejaculation and achieve a delay of the same, allowing more time for pleasure and enjoyment with their partners.

The key to a better orgasm is to exercise the muscles involved in the sexual act; the pubococcygeus muscles, and Kegel exercises take care of that. It’s not as difficult as it sounds, but with a little practice and training on our pubic area, we will be better prepared for orgasm in an easier and more enjoyable way.

To strengthen this area of the body and strengthen your muscles, you should contract your pelvic musces for a few seconds, two or three, and then relax them. Repeat the same exercise several times a day. To contract our pelvic muscles, we should do as when we are coughing or sneezing, but the contract must be prolonged for some seconds.

If you repeat this exercise every day for a few minutes (10 or 15) you will notice a change in your sexual performance. Also this will avoid future genitourinary problems.

d.b

If you rent apartments in Florence you will be able to enjoy a beautiful city that will inspire you to love and sex. Practice these exercises and you will feel much better in bed with your partner.

Contact Me 

Translated by: Hans
Contact Me

Tantric sex is a mystery to many, but practicing it, is not as difficult as it seems. It is actually quite the opposite, it allows us to enjoy new sensations, get to know ourselves better and discover countless benefits for our bodies (and souls) as well as our partner’s.

If you’re on vacation, perhaps this is the best time to get started in this sexual practice that will make you enjoy as never before. The important thing is that both sides of the couple are predisposed to enjoy sex from another perspective; here the male ejaculation is relegated to the background.

Bearing in mind the above, the sexual game begins and develops with a different intention. It is important that seduction starts long before you reach the bed. You can hug your partner, talking softly, saying nice things, and looking at her with love and passion. That way, the atmosphere warms up and gets ready for what will happen later. Once you are already in bed, concentrate on the parts of your bodies that are different from your genitals. Try exploring new erogenous zones on each other and try to control male ejaculation. This way the man learns to have orgasms without ejaculating, allowing him to enjoy more and have multiple orgasms in one sexual act. The woman also has to reach orgasm, but the most important thing is how to reach it, and not how many could she have.

The best thing about tantric sex is the way to orgasm, the way one looks for it, not the orgasm itself. When you finally reach multiple orgasms, the sensations experienced are much stronger and, both male and female, learn to enjoy sex in a deeper way.

Some tips to get started in tantric sex include: synchronizing your breathing with your partner, moving slowly and gently whenever you feel the orgasm is approaching while focusing on your breathing. Change positions several times during the act, to delay orgasm and to find new pleasure.

A relaxation technique for the man to use when he feels the orgasm is coming, is to put pressure on the perineum, which can be done by himself or his partner. The other is to put pressure on the frenulum of his glans. He can use these techniques to hold his ejaculation and have great orgasms.

d.b

If you want to enjoy good sex with your partner and practice tantric sex for the first time, rent apartments in Florence surely the magic of the city will make you be more receptive to all sensual stimulus.

Contact Me 

Translated by: Hans
Contact Me

Every era has its own social, economic, political and cultural characteristics, which help paint a picture of how life was like in years to come. Fashion, for example is a good indicator of the zeitgeist of any particular period of time. And just like fashion, so too does the concept of love change with the times.

Throughout the history of humanity we can observe how ideals have changed from the romantic to the pragmatic; such as during the 19th century, when marriage was seen as an institution and social duty. There weren’t many alternatives to marriage back then – far less than nowadays. Anybody who chose to remain single was seen as a public shame – men just as much as women.

It was during the 20th century that the idea of marrying for love became more accepted, helped along by literature, cinema and television. Today however, we find ourselves in an era where getting married is not necessary as proof of love, nor of how you feel about your partner – or even as a way of being able to have sex, or secure your social status.

In this day and age, we are marrying much later, once we have already established our adult lives, sometimes after we have even had children with our partner. Monogamy no longer seems to be the most important factor for maintaining a stable marriage. And marriage is no longer seen as “forever.” So – could it be that we are now in a post-romantic era, in which the concept of the relationship no longer universal, but something which is formed according to the individual?

Heloise Battista

Regardless, this era of post-romanticism has its plus side. People can now speak for themselves, decide what kind of relationship they want, and whether marriage is a part of these plans. Make the most of your freedom in one of the most romantic cities in the world – rent one of the apartments in Florence

Contact Me 

Translated by: Poppy
Contact Me

It is wonderful to hear a compliment or praise dedicated to you, right? If your partner says something like “You have given me the most special moments of my life” one can’t help but feel like the most special person in the world for a few precious moments.

But there you are, on top of cloud 9, when suddenly, you realize that not are not the only one to have received this special compliment, and that many other people have also been beneficiaries of those “very special” moments and words. Maybe even not that long ago. Though in theory, you are the only special someone attracting his attention, sometimes it’s not the case. Do you think it’s worth it to be disappointed or is it better to turn the page? Don’t get mad, break things or crawl into bed in a depressed heap. The best thing to do is to analyze the situation.

Sometimes finding out that a partner is being unfaithful is good chance to dodge that bullet, and realize that the person or relationship is not right for you.  As my mother says, you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs.  You might be disappointed to find out that you are not the only special someone, but do not lose your dignity by asking for explanations because honestly, what are you going to do? Not worth it. I recommend that you disconnect a bit to gain some perspective on you life with a quick jaunt to one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in the world. For accommodation, rent apartments in Florence that offer the best environment to enjoy yourself. Travelling  with friends will make you forget these little handicaps that love gives you every day, and do not be surprised if you meet your princess or prince charming … even so only for a weekend.



Currently, the internet is not only a platform for work and play, but also a new way to get intimate. It’s useful and a great way to stay in touch with family members or friends who are far away, and now  it’s also making it easier than ever to fall in love.

In fact, a new study that was conducted in the United States found that those who are connected to social networks from their homes are more likely to have a relationship, and that one of the main reasons to use the internet was the eternal search for love. The experts who conducted the research, who work for Stanford University, revealed that the Internet is very important and is on track to replace real world social connections as the main way Americans initiate contact with a potential new partner.

The study also showed that 82.2% of people who had internet were in a relationship, compared to 62.2% of those who had no connection. Scientists said they realized that online networking was very important, especially for people who wanted to find potential mates in groups where the candidates are few or where they want to identify their tastes (such as  among the gay community and for older heterosexual love-seekers). As revealed after more than two years of participation, 61% of same-sex and 21.5% of heterosexual couples met through the Internet. People also turn to the internet to look for mates if they are looking for a partner of the same religion.  The internet, it seems, has something for everyone, and you might just be lucky in love if you are online. If you have gotten lucky in love and you want to enjoy life, you can rent apartments in Florence and see one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Sex, like virtually all areas of society, evolves over time. This time a group of Canadian scientists have been busy studying behaviours and attitudes of young people about oral sex, and have determined that the times are changing. It was determined that this practice has become a very important part of young people’s sexual repertoire. This study was designed so as to better educate young people about their sexual practices.

Brea Malacad of the University of Alberta led the study and investigated 181 women from 18 to 25 years. One of the most important conclusions she reached was that oral sex is as common as or more common than intercourse among adolescents. In fact, the respondents who had penetrative sex also admitted engaging in oral sex. This ground-breaking discovery is accompanied by a bit of bad news- very few use protection while performing oral sex.

Malacca said that women associated with intercourse and oral sex with positive emotions. It was determined that most carried out these practices because they like it. Some 30% of them said that while performing oral sex they “feel powerful.”

Perhaps it is a practice many times more common than the penetration itself, because 50% of respondents considered oral sex to be a less intimate practice. Moreover 41% believe it is equally intimate and 9% more intimate than penetrative sex.

One of the biggest problems is protection. 82% of respondents performed oral sex without protection. But the penetration was only 7% did not use condoms. This means, according to the experts, that the message about safe sex is clear in relation to intercourse but not in relation to oral sex.

The best thing to do is take a good holiday, rent an apartment in Florence and enjoy the results of this study.