People... sleeping on Daddy's Vespa

How cute is this little boy, sleeping on his daddy's Vespa?!
Truly "La Dolce Vita" I would say!

Photo taken in Borgo Santi Apostoli in Florence, Italy, june 2012.

Firenze 4ever Fashion Super Heroes Party

Last sunday I attended the Super Fashion Heroes Party, which was the closing night for the Firenze 4ever event organised by luxury fashion retailer Luisa Via Roma, in Florence, Italy.
I had a small wardrobe anxiety attack preceiding the event... Reason? The über fashionable guestlist and one of the hardest dresscodes I had ever seen.... namely 'Super Fashion Heroes'!

But after a little digging through my closet I came up with an idea... and a hero: Margherita Missoni. I love the way she dresses and what she has done for the famous brand founded by her grandparents Ottavio and Rosita Missoni. So I put on a Missoni scarf and my problem was solved.

Many guests interpreted the dresscode in a very different way, which resulted in a wonderful mix of lots of birds-of-paradise! On the photos shown here, you see among many others Dutch designers Conny Groenewegen (in a knitted white dress) and Ralph Vaessen (with beard and glasses of his own design), Cristina Egger from the Dutch Fashion Foundation (in an orange and black print top) and the lovely Luisa Via Roma employees Inez and Kerima.

For more information about Firenze 4Ever, please visit:
http://www.luisaviaroma.com

People... colourful lady!

Italian women... I love the way they dress!! Mixing bright colours with extravagant prints, vintage pieces and of course the mandatory Louis Vuitton bag!

Photo taken at the Pitti Uomo trade show in Florence, Italy.

Osteria Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy

Osteria Santo Spirito is located in... you guessed that right... Piazza di Santo Spirito, in the Oltrarno area. Less touristy than the city centre, but still very busy! Reservations are a must, especially if you would like to sit outside and dine 'al fresco'.

Osteria Santo Spirito serves all kinds of pasta, in either a small (ridotta) or big portion; soups; big salads; hors d'oevres and entrées. They have local specialties like "crostini di fegatini" (chicken liver canapés), "ribollita" (Tuscan bread and vegetables soup), "trippa alla Fiorentina" (tripe) and beef "tagliata" with rocket salad and Parmesan flakes.

For the vegetarians among us there is plenty to choose from. How about pasta with tomato sauce and ricotta cheese or truffles or walnut sauce? Even fish lovers will leave satisfied after a swordfish carpaccio or "spaghetti alle vongole"!

Enough about the food (which is great). The location is even better. Osteria Santo Spirito is only minutes away from Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens and the Ponte Vecchio. The square is usually the theatre of local artists, foreign students, tourists taking pictures, children walking their dogs... La Dolce Vita!

Osteria Santo Spirito
Piazza di Santo Spirito 16
50125, Florence, Italy
Tel. 0039 055 2382383

For more information, please visit:
http://www.osteriasantospirito.it

Tara's Reading List... Island beneath the Sea

Isabel Allende's "Island beneath the Sea" is a beautiful book about love, lust, war, slavery, anger, aggression, hope and fear.

Along with the mulatta slave Zarité, the reader travels through the 18th century island of Saint-Domingue (current Haiti) to Havana, then all the way to New Orleans.

"Island beneath the Sea" is definitely not for the faint-hearted... many gruesome scenes are described in vivid detail... However, there is reason for hope and even (impossible) love!

I was really captured by this book... could not put it away at night. It taught me a lot about the history of the Caribbean, colonialism and slavery. But it was much more than that...!

To learn more about this book, please visit:

http://isabelallende.com/ia/en/book/island

Have a nice day!

Dear readers,

Just an in-between post to wish you all a very nice day!

Tara

Flowers by Ton Hofman Bloemboutique:

http://www.bloeiendezaak.nl

Hawaii here we come!

This summer Hawaii prints are everywhere. Stella Mc Cartney started the trend and many high street fashion labels soon followed. I love these items by H&M. Some of them actually include another trend: the fifties! Perfect for a day on the beach in Cannes or The Hamptons (or Hawaii of course)!

To read my previous review of the Hawaii trend, please visit:
http://tarasdolcevita.blogspot.nl/2012/01/hawaiian-prints.html

All items shown here are by H&M:
http://www.hm.com

Photos courtesy of H&M.