The 2009 edition of the Florence Biennale kicks off at the Fortezza da Basso, close to Santa Maria Novella, on December 5th, and runs until the 13th. This year’s highlights include Chinese artist Shu Yong and video artist Marina Abramovic. A short train ride to the west of Florence, Montecatini’s Terme Tamerici is now exhibiting “Il nuovo dopo della Macchia.” The exhibition looks at 80 works by the Macchiaioli and examines their importance in the development of Tuscan realism, and includes works by Lodovico Tommasi and the “father” of the movement, Giovanni Fattori. The show runs until January 18th; entrance is €10.

If you’re new to the Macchiaoli movement, the best place to head remains the exquisitely located Museo Civico Giovanni Fattori in the port city of Livorno.

Lorenzo Maitani, Last Judgement, Orvieto cathedral

A quick update on “Dante’s Inferno“, the XBOX360 game I trailed here last year. There are two new teasers for your viewing pleasure, plus an interview about the development process.

The game is based on book 1 of Dante’s epic and, incredibly, “most of the dialogue and narration you hear in the game does come from the poem”. That’s some serious research. To my eye, the game’s art direction also shares much with the Tuscan tradition of the Last Judgement, a perennial favourite from pre-Renaissance art right through to Michelangelo and beyond. No idea what Dante would have made of all this, but I can well see painters like Taddeo di Bartolo and Luca Signorelli enjoying the gorefest.

The expected release date is unconfirmed, but the game is “at least a year away”.

The Corridoio, which runs from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace in Oltrarno, including a clandestine crossing above the Ponte Vecchio, will be open twice daily for guided visits from Tuesday to Friday. Call 055/2654321 to book. Tickets are €10.50.

Meanwhile, April sees the opening of an important exhibition of works by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, charting the links between his sculpture and the birth of Baroque portraiture. It follows a major Bernini exhibition at California’s Getty Center in 2008.

The Bargello Museum, housed inside a magnificent Gothic fortress on Via del Proconsolo, is worth €4 of your entrance money anytime. It’s one Florence stop I recommend highly in the new book, due out in May.

Genio Fiorentino runs from 15th to 25th May, opening tomorrow with a musical event celebrating Benvenuto Cellini, whose bronze Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa, pictured, graces the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria.

Other artistic highlights include an exhibition of drawings by Leonardo and Raphael inside the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (see the book, p. 56). The exhibition’s opening coincides with the festival ending, on 25th May.

The Genio sees the annual opening of the Corridoio Vasariano, a covered passageway that links the Ponte Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti, crossing the Arno inside the Ponte Vecchio. See the book, p. 59, for more details.

Florence’s Istituto degli Innocenti is also hosting children’s workshops, the Bottega dei Ragazzi, throughout the Genio. Contact them direct for advice on what events best suit your child’s spoken Italian skills: local tel. 055 2478386 (Mon–Sat 9am–1pm and 4–7pm),email labottegadeiragazzi@istitutodeglinnocenti.it.

Florence’s tourist office, local tel. 055 290832, will be able to direct you towards other events suited to visiting families. For comprehensive visitor information for Florence, see the book, p. 38–47.

For €13.50, the new “Percorsi del Rinascimento Senese” ticket gets you into the heart of all that art. It covers the Museo Civico (p. 83), Pinacoteca Nazionale, the former hospital of Santa Maria della Scala (p. 84), the Duomo and Pinturicchio’s frescoed Libreria Piccolomini (p. 83), and the Archivio di Stato with its Museo delle Tavolette di Biccherna. Tickets represent a substantial saving on full-price individual admissions, and are valid through to the end of 2008.

More here.

Various other discount tickets for Siena are listed in the book, p. 85.

If you missed the London exhibition, the excellent catalogue is on sale here for £34.95. There’s also a DVD (£15) about the city and its artistic heritage.

There’s also a contemporary art and sculpture shop on-site. Curator Dr. Piero Giadrossi explains:

Your readers might also be interested to know that in front of the entrance to the Park there is a sculpture gallery, located in an ancient renovated pottery, a fine example of industrial archeology. It is probably the largest in Italy and displays sculptures not to be found elsewhere in Europe.

We haven’t inspected the park yet ourselves, but will be heading there as and when a new edition enters production.

It’s open 10am until sunset April to October; entrance is €7.50, €5 for under 16s. Local tel. 0577 357151.

Driving directions are here.