GIF Library

Waiting for the next ! Claudia Durastanti, author of "La Straniera" (La Nave di Teseo)- shortlisted for Il Premio Strega - will be at Gonzaga in Florence on Wednesday November 13th at 6.30pm, interviewed by Alessandro Raveggi. SAVE THE DATE!
In collaboration with The FLR - The Florentine Literary Review, Premio Gregor von Rezzori - Festival degli Scrittori and Santa Maddalena Foundation

Thank you, Anna Maria Luisa.

Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici: The Last of the Medici "Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici" by Antonio Franchi 1690-1691, Palazzo Pitti Anna Maria Luisa (or Ludovica) was the last living descendant of the Medici governing line, and the powerhouse woman whose Family Pact ensured that the Medici family legacy would remain in Florence f...

You can't go out without that this evening!

Happy Halloween!

A Witch's Toolkit, procured from a professional witch — "a pleasing woman of about forty" — in Naples, Italy in 1897.

The toolkit includes a padlock for securing the action of the charm upon an enchanted person who must obey until it is unlocked; a magnet for carrying on the person and drawing a lover irresistibly; a horse-shoe and a stone whorl to protect against witchcraft, often fastened behind a house door; and an old flint and two steels, purpose unknown but related to fire-making.

These objects came to the Folklore Society via Alfred Cort Haddon. They were donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in 1965.
PRM 1965.3.216b: objects.prm.ox.ac.uk/pages/PRMUID185846.html