EXHIBITION: Return Home. Lola Costa at Il Palmerino

Open from June 26 to September 26, 2024, this show featuring Lola Costa's still-life works forms part of 'The Garden Project'

Lola Costa, Quinces and Rolling Pin, 1974, courtesy of the Il Palmerino family collection and archive

Lola Costa was an English ex-pat poet and painter – largely of still-life works, portraiture and landscapes – who lived at Il Palmerino for nearly 70 years, after purchasing the estate following the death of its former owner, British writer Vernon Lee. Lee’s former archive forms part of the British Institute Library collection. She was a key member of the English community in Florence, ‘holding court’ for local and international intellectuals and creatives, many of whom were women, including Janet Ross, Edith Wharton, Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.

The Lola Costa show is backdrop to the debut of a new publication –  a notebook-style magazine called The Curators’ Quaderno, by Calliope Arts with The Florentine Press, whose first issue features insight on Lola’s art and her identification with kindred spirit Vernon Lee.

The “Return Home” exhibition, open until 26 September 2024, is the start of a three-year program organized by Il Palmerino Cultural Association and Calliope Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the British Institute of Florence. Its calendar will include lectures, a residency grant for contemporary artist and additional exhibitions. “The Garden Project" 2024 is part of the “Estate Fiorentina”, an initiative proposed within the City of Florence’s Operational Plan.

Our newest cultural project “The Garden Project 2024” kicks off at 6 pm on June 26, at Cultural Association Il Palmerino, with the exhibition ‘Return Home: Lola Costa at Il Palmerino'.

'Return Home' signage and Federigo Angeli's portrait of Lola Costa, Il Palmerino Collection

An afternoon opening event, small but heartfelt, among family and friends

Vernon Lee, a copy of John Singer Sargent's work, always an inspiration

Lola Costa's still-life works on display at the 'Return Home' exhibition, Il Palmerino, 2024

A visitor enjoy's the start of Lola Costa's exhibition

The Curators' Quaderno, a notebook-style publication, is edited by Linda Falcone and created by the Calliope Arts Foundation in collaboration with The Florentine. It illustrates how Lola Costa's art and poetry of Lola Costa are infused with the spirit of Il Palmerino and its garden. Lola's legacy continues to foster connections between the past and present, and between the English and Italian communities of Florence.

Press the image below, to read The Curators' Quaderno for free, online. No registration necessary.