Once Upon a Time

Elderly women attend a dance class, reopened for the first time since the pandemic, in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images.

Vertigo

A woman walks through the rainbow-coloured Paseo Bandera in Santiago, Chile, empty of visitors amid the pandemic. Photo: Esteban Félix/AP.

One Day

As a consequence of COVID-19 pandemic, also this year most Liberation Day celebrations in Italy were moved online. Offline people, however, taking advantage of the quasi-yellow Sunday, did not forget to lay flowers at monuments and tombstones in memory of the women and men who fought to free the country from fascism.

Blowin’ in the Wind

And while wondering whether culture will survive the new middle ages of the global “big brotherhood”, a second-hand book stall outside Palazzo Strozzi keeps offering its answers at prices below average variable cost.

Portable 3D Art

In these last hours of freedom, one should think a great deal about the meaning of The Wound (La Ferita), the installation with which French contemporary artist JR covered the façade of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy.

Cat in an Orange Twist

A cat and a dog, a coup de foudre. She is the cat and he is the dog — all the other details are private. As the poet says, “Love, which absolves no one beloved from loving”.

Swan Song

I passed by here around two months ago, when I spotted two ballerinas hidden at the top of a stage behind a shop window. Today things have changed, as one is still on display, while the other has been sold. In a way each one will do its (her) solo variation.

Spring roll

Today, March 21, is the first day of Spring — and luckily, it fell on a sunny Sunday (afternoon).

Guess Who’s Not Coming To Dinner

Two can keep a secret, but it is anyone’s guess who won’t come to dinner tonight.

Not All Heroes Wear Capes

This is exactly the same thing that happened when Jack saved Rose in Titanic.

Off the Clock

Today, there were no stalls around the façades of San Lorenzo street market, but only odds and ends of life, like in Pompeii just before.

Over and Under

At the last underpass before the gate to “home, sweet home”, it’s never too late to leave a donation for underground artists.

Least But Not Last

Happy just walking next to San Marco on way back home. The Last Judgment can wait.

Long Way Home

A peaceful sit-in by Sri Lankan migrant workers in Via de’ Martelli holding a banner that says, “Let’s safeguard the right of Sri Lankan citizens working abroad to return to their homeland!”.

Tic-tac-toe

IBS.it bookstore hopes to draw more customers with aggressive marketing and price cuts, so Garry Kimovich Kasparov is now being sold at 50% of the cover price.

Flying High

If nothing else, anyone who takes pictures of the Duomo may not be said to suffer from Florence syndrome.

Men Without Ties

The tie shop in Via dei Calzaiuoli, tired of waiting for better times, surrendered its lease to a real estate agency.

Love in the Time of Cholera

A shop sells T-shirts printed with words and thoughts of love that can just be glimpsed behind the railings.

One Day at a Time

Hopefully, one day the sustainable intermodal chains will bring public servants back into the office.

Life Behind the Wall

To quote again a verse of a poem of Miguel Hernández (Eterna Sombra | Eternal Darkness): “I’m a prison cell with one window, / looking out on a huge solitude of barks”.