The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies in Venice is a research centre owned and funded by the Greek state in Venice, Italy, focusing on Byzantine and Post-Byzantine/Modern Greek studies. It is the only Greek research institute abroad.
The institute was founded in 1951, and operates under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with its educational activity coordinated by the Greek Ministry of Education. The Institute owns several buildings associated with the formerly vibrant Greek community of Venice, most notably the church of San Giorgio dei Greci and the Flanginian School. It also operates its own museum and archive, which house a collection of 300 icons and numerous manuscripts, most notably a copy of the Romance of Alexander the Great.
Castello della Manta is a castle at Manta near Saluzzo, Province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, in northern Italy.
The original building, dating from the 12th century, was later enlarged and transformed into a noble residence by the Saluzzo della Manta family, margraves of Saluzzo.
Among the numerous rooms, the Baronial Hall is notable for the fresco cycle decorating its walls, a rare masterpiece of Late Gothic painting in northern Italy. The work is attributed to the anonymous Master of Castello della Manta. The cycle, completed soon after 1420, portrays the Nove Prodi, the Nine Worthies with their Nine Female Heroines. The artist may have used as models members of the House of the Margraves of Saluzzo. The figures are shown wearing precious contemporary clothing. Also depicted is the so-called Fountain of Youth, a theme taken from the tradition of French medieval stories. The scene is inspired by the poem by Marquess Thomas III of Saluzzo, Le Chevalier Errant).
The Sala delle Grottesche was decorated in the Mannerist style of the 16th century, and was commissioned by Marquess Michele Antonio around 1560. It has a finely painted ceiling, decorated with stuccoes, grotesques, ancient ruins and buildings.
Annexed to the castle is the church, whose apse has a series of frescoes about the life of Christ dating from the same time as the Baronial Hall decorations.
The Loggia del Bigallo is a late Gothic building in Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy. It stands at the corner of Piazza San Giovanni and via Calzaioli; tradition holds the site near the Baptistry of Florence was donated by a benefactor.
The Orto Botanico di Firenze , also known as the Giardino dei Semplici, the "Garden of simples", is a botanical garden maintained by the University of Florence. It is located at Via Micheli, 3, Florence, Italy, and open weekday mornings.
The garden was established on December 1, 1545, by Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and is Europe's third oldest, behind the Orto Botanico di Pisa and the Orto Botanico di Padova. It was first laid out by landscape gardener Niccolò Pericoli to a botanical system and plantings chosen by Luca Ghini, and rose to prominence under Cosimo III, with Pier Antonio Micheli as its director. As was typical of early European botanical gardens, its prime interest was in medicinal plants. However, as in 1753 the Società Botanica was formed, the garden's focus turned to "experimental agriculture" and its layout was revised accordingly. The garden grounds opened to the public in the mid-19th century, at about the same time that its glass houses were constructed.
Today the garden contains some 9,000 plant specimens laid out in a roughly square site surrounded by walls, crossed by a grid of walkways, and with a central fountain. Some trees are quite old, including a Taxus baccata and Quercus suber . Other species include:
Civico Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste is a natural history museum in Trieste, northern Italy. It contains several collections, including more than two millions botanical, zoological, mineralogical, geological, and paleontological specimens.
