Jean- Michel Folon at the Rose Garden, Piazzale Michelangelo

A short  romantic escape  to Florence before the oncoming winter. You could catch the opportunity to see this magical town in its autumn changing lights. TuscanyHolidayRent offers an interesting opportunity for accommodation in Florence on the west side of Arno River, called ” Oltrarno”.  A 10% reduction on elegantly furnished apartaments , just a few minutes’  walk from Ponte Vecchio, the Uffizi or Piazza della Signoria.
The historical building in Costa SanGiorgio,  consisting of seven apartaments, is the  result of a lovingly careful restauration,  rich in charming details.
Arched ceilings, antique brick walls, wide  terraces enjoying a 360 view of the town or  smaller ones overlooking  Santa Croce Church make these accommodations  unique.
Can you imagine a  better way to say goodbye to the parting day, relaxing in a terrace overlooking Florence roofs, holding in your hand a glass of good Chianti wine?
From the intimacy of the nice accommodation offered by Tuscany Holiday Rent  let’s now move  outside to explore the exceptional artistic heritage of the town : the Uffizi ,  the Bargello, San Marco Museum , the Medici Chapels, the Casa Buonarroti, the  Palazzo Pitti  just to mention some of the worldwide famous icons. In this town, which is an open air museum, even the simple strolling around can become an intriguing adventure.
Tuscany Holiday Rent would  like to suggest  in your wonderings  a special visit to the Rose Garden just under Piazzale Michelangelo, to the recently opened  permanent exhibition by Jean Michel Folon, a worldwide famous  Belgian artist.
His  twelve statues are now standing there throughout the Rose Garden,
perfectly dialoguing with the surrounding environment and with the people
coming here.
“Je me souviens”,  a work of 2003,  features  a male figure sitting on a bench and  looking  like being  ready to communicate with whomever happens to sit next to
him . Folon’s visionary world  just waits to be discovered. You will feel like Alice in
Wonderland . Like her, in your stroll you will be bumping into  a blue statue “
Chat”, shaping a cat peacefully resting on the lawn among the rose bushes .The
dialogue between man and nature, between art and  imagination is here at its
best.  Folon used to say “Toutes mes sculptures regardent le ciel, c’est un facon
de mettre le ciel dans la sculpture”. Actually he meant the sky of Florence, the
town which  has always been a permanent reference point for him up to his last exhibiton at Forte Belvedere, six years ago before his death.
He would have loved – he  used to say- to find a home here with a nice garden where to settle his works which had to outlive him. Such a wish convinced his widow, Paola Ghiringhelli,  to give Florence municipality the twelve statues now  permanently placed in the Rose Park.  As Folon’s last homage  to Florence the sculpture “Partir”(leaving),  at the
entrance of the park. As a traveller of the inner artistic world, he has placed
here, before his final departure,  a visionary  suitcase, in the shape of  a big, rusty
rectangular shape framing down a boat floating on the waves of an unknown
sea. Through it our eye can wonder on Florence skyline,  made up of Palazzo
Vecchio and the dome of Brunelleschi.
This is Folon’s last symbolic goodbye to the world and in particular  to Florence, his
first love since when he  came here hitchhiking,  as a young boy.