From July 4 to September 27 the Hotel Byron in Forte dei Marmi opens again its doors to the world of culture and contemporary art with an exhibition of sculptures created specifically for these areas by the Californian Neal Barabar.
There are approximately ten pieces placed in the garden and in some rooms with the intention of bringing the public to know better and better a large community of national and international artists working and living around Pietrasanta.
Neal Barabar works in his studio in Pescarella between Pietrasanta and Forte dei Marmi, with other artists working in marble. The study is a short walk from many laboratories in the area. This allows him to have many types of marble from the quarries from both local and those imported from around the world.
The marble used for the works presented has strong, deep, warm and superimposed colours so to make possible to achieve vertical compositions of different forms. In some works as the Marble Mini Ping forms are derived from diamonds superimposed on each other.
Barabar Neal has never used a marble of a single type, for example, the typical white Carrara marble.
He believes that the rich colour that is obtained by mixing colours gives another dimension to the sculpture, it’s almost like painting with the stone. The most used marble are the Turkish leopard, also known as Raggio di Luna, the China ming green marble, similar to jade, the Portuguese pink marble with inserts of large crystals.
A hotel as an area of exposure? Yes, this is an alternative to galleries and museums, provides a different accessibility of the public. The hotel is akind of alternative house. You can live with art, you can play and interact, which in a gallery or a museum would not be possible.
The physical dimensions of the interior of Byron Hotel and the inability to use a forklift created problems in putting large-scale sculptures made all of one piece, so the artist has opted for the solution to link into various components, which were then were assembled on site, thus giving rise to a surprising monumentality in such intimate spaces, especially inside the rooms.
Neal Barabar, after studying at the University of California, Santa Cruz, since 1987 lives and works in Pietrasanta, home to many international artists and sculptors who have created in this corner of Versilia their open studios. Many of his works are in public and private collections in California, Germany, China and Sweden and also in Italy.
Hotel Byron is situated on Lungomare di Forte dei Marmi, a short walk from the famous Capannina. The hotel has been drawn from the union of two liberty villas. These villas have been for many years a meeting point of the nobility associated with the Savoy and later were used as a hotel but retaining its original characteristics.
Byron Hotel
www.hotelbyron.net
Viale A. Morin 46
Forte dei Marmi
0039 0584 787052
info@hotelbyron.net
entrance free from 10.00 to 20.00.

Some good website about Tourism in Florence:

Hotel Sempione Florence

Hotel Sempione is near the train station of Florence, near the main tourist sights and just few hundred meters from the Cappelle Medicee and the Church of San Lorenzo. Hotel Sempione is quite small, with its 30 rooms, and its family atmosphere offer to its guests a good priced hotel accommodation in Florence. Hotel sempione is a good choice for who wants a comfortable starting point to visit Florence and the countryside by train or bus. The hotel have a partner-run garage close to the hotel which offers valet parking.

Hotel Machiavelli Palace Florence

Hotel Machiavelli Palace, is in the centre of Florence, and in the past was a small nuns’ convent of the XVIII century. With its 92 rooms, the hotel, offer quality service for the accommodation in Florence of its guests, like: professional russian translation (on request), partner-run garage close to the hotel which offers valet parking, internet point available to hotel guests, room service and many other.

Florence driven car hire

Blucar Service, based in Florence, Italy, is specialised in the chauffeur driven car hire with cars available 24/7, 365 days a year. Blucar Service offer tours and day-trips in a chauffeur driven luxury car or mini-van for the most famous art cities of Tuscany and Italy; the best way to move around the maze of narrow streets and roads that is typical of Florence and the other cities and countryside of Tuscany. Blucar Service offer tour in the art cities such as Florence, Pisa, Siena, Lucca, Arezzo and Pistoia.

San Luca Palace, in the centre of Lucca near the Station of Lucca has a  strategic position “inside” the walls , in via San Paolino on the corner of  piazzale Verdi, a few steps from the shopping streets and the principle point of the town.
The hotel, studied with rigorous attention to every finishing detail, aims to offer a great comfort always to its Guests with refined ambient and splendid
internal architecture.
The 26 bedrooms/suites have been realised with maximum attention in the furnishings and modern comforts like air conditioning, direct telephone,
internet connection, Wi-Fi, satellite TV with pay per view, safe, work/relax one and courtesy set. The small breakfast, buffet service, rich and tasty of
traditional Tuscan products, with delicious exquisite dishes and cakes, will  ake a cheerful start to the day.
Bar “Puccini”, open from10:00 until 24:00, serves sought-after cocktails and aperitifs  created by our barman; discover the harmony of tastes, colours and
perfumes of Tuscany which represent a new address to attend in the heart of  Lucca.
The Hall, with prestigious furnishings and an elegant atmosphere fused in a  great harmony, is an open door to the town.  For businessmen, the hotel is an
ideal building for meetings, courses and reunions in the “Catalani” room with heating for 30 and the “Boccherini” with seating for 40, fully equipped with
avant-garde equipment for business trips.
Thanks to its position, the San Luca Palace Hotel is ideal as a meeting place  for the industrial and commercial world, as well as a starting point to visit
the beauty of the art towns of the region. Nearby the hotel it is possible to have use of an arranged garage.

Sal Lucca Hotel Lucca Tuscany

The hotel is 200 metres from the sea and in centre but still, its complete absence of noises and its big garden welcomes you in a very peaceful and dreamy environment.

The italian language school “Istituto Linguistico Mediterraneo” organizes all the year round Italian Language and Culture Courses to learn italian in Viareggio.

The school is recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, the Swedish CSN and is member of ASILS, the Association of Schools of Italian as a Second Language that guarantees the quality of the courses.

The schools is not only a place where one can follow entertaining and high quality lessons, but also a place where students can enjoy pleasant moments of socialization. On the first day, after the test, the students are invited to visit the town under the guidance of a teacher. The school also organizes a small party during the first week and, during the summer, some night parties on the beach.

So the students are able to get to know each other and feel part of a group of friends rather than tourists. At our school there is a relaxed and familiar environment thanks to a friendly staff. The secretary is also permanently available to provide information about leisure activities as well as to help with bureaucratic problems.

ILM offers a wide range of different italian language programs from our popular standard language course to individual tuition, cookery course and Wine-tasting course. People from all over the world come here to learn the italian language and to study the italian culture and way of living.

The Courses

On the first day of a course each student is carefully assessed by means of an entry test so as to place him or her in a group that is suited to his/her knowledge of the Italian language.
The groups of students are on average small (6-7 students) with a maximum of 12 students per class.
There are eight levels from absolute beginner to advanced. The lessons take place from Monday to Friday, normally in the morning.
The cost of the course includes: lessons, course entry test and certificate of attendance, teaching materials, booking of accomodation, help with applications for visa and residence permit, some social activities organized by the school, the showing of films.

Istituto Linguistico Mediterraneo
http://www.ilm.it

Via XX Settembre N°39 – Viareggio
Phone +39 333 6460640

Head Office: Via C. Battisti, 3 C.P. 209 – I-56100 Pisa
Phone +39 050 500399
Fax +39 050 48157

mail: info@ilm.it

The Agritourism Fibbiano, is located in the heart of Tuscany and precisely in the Valdera Park, along the “Route of the Wines of Pisa Hills”.

The main building that lodge the Agritourism, is a perfect example of the 17th century Tuscany rural construction and it has been renovated, maintaining all the original characters.

Around the building there is a garden and on the South side the swimming pool 8×15 mt., surrounded by a green gentle slope with olive trees.

The Agritourism is placed on the top of the hill, overlooking the Era valley, in the council of Terricciola classified “Città del Vino”, from which you can reach easily Viareggio and other places like Pisa, Florence, Siena, S. Gimignano, Volterra etc.

Fattoria Fibbiano, could be the ideal place for escaping for a little while, offering you a unique experience, taste and landscape.

In the main building of approx 1000 sq.mt. there are six apartments of various size for the guests, the wine tasting room and the apartments for the family owner that here lives.The agritourism/fattoria cover approx 75 hectare.

Fattoria Fibbiano produce unique grapes that the knowledgeable and careful attention of the oenologist transform in to the different types of wines suitable to any occasion. Merit also of the ideal position of the vineyard an the top of the hill and of the soil characteristics a mix of clay and shells. More over the fattoria is pursuing a programme of reducing fertilizer and chemicals in order to produce and offer a more genuine and healthly product.

Fattoria Fibbiano 
http://www.fattoria-fibbiano.it/
Via Fibbiano, 2
56030 Terricciola (Pisa)
Tel. & Fax +39 0587 635677
Farm holidays in Tuscany

Small map of Versilia

Versilia occupies the north-western part of Tuscany, between the ridge of the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The historic territory of Versilia is divided into the administrative Communes of Pietrasanta, Forte di Marmi, Seravezza and Stazzema.

Nowaday, the term “Versilia” includes also the communes of Massarosa, Camaiore and Viareggio.