I'm headed to Florence and Venice!

So, two weeks from today I'll be off to Florence and Venice for a two-week trip.  Super fun!  I'll be accompanied by a good friend, and I'll be blogging about our trip along the way.  We have some great things planned.

And, I promise, we won't be reviewing restaurants like this:
If You're Ever in Florence, You Have to Visit this Mediocre Trattoria I Know
By Mark Gimbel

So, I hear somebody's going on a little Italian vacation this spring. You lucky dog, you. Kelly and I were there for our 10th wedding anniversary last June, and we just had a tremendous time. Even though I know you probably have your whole trip planned out already, I want to say that, if you happen to find yourselves in Florence at any point, you absolutely have to set aside a night and visit this really middle-of-the-road little trattoria I know.
Trust me on this one. It's the most uninspired restaurant in all of Florence. If you do nothing else in the entire city, you have to treat yourself to this completely adequate place.

Love The Onion!  :)
Link Love: 

Ben's Bells: Kindness in Tuscon

Grief is hard.  And when a city grieves as Tuscon is now, people find all kinds of ways to express that grief -- often through art.  I listened to this story this morning on the New York Times, and I was inspired.  I hope you are, too.



Link Love:

Is it or is it not a Masterpiece? That is the Question.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
I've written before about the problem of attribution in art.  Is that new painting at the Kimbell by Michelangelo?  What about the painting found in that guy's attic?  And that crucifix?  Museums all over the world stand to lose or gain notoriety and money when a work of art is attributed to a well-known artist -- or reassigned to a lesser-known talent.

It's a complicated process, and I thought this article from The New York Times explains how it happens and why with some striking clarity.  So enjoy!


ARTS
Published: December 20, 2010
In 1973, a 1624 image of Philip IV was found to have been made by Velázquez’s studio, not the artist. A reassessment has reversed that conclusion.