Made in Florence, Oltrarno Artisans

Originally from Siena, Luca has lived in Florence since college. He studied the history and restoration of monuments at the University of Florence and the restoration of historical gardens and parks in Siena. Luca was also co-author of the "Guide to Villa Demidoff and the Pratolino Park." He has continued to study Florentine traditions and arts and crafts, collaborating with the Agency of Tourism on the initiative "Re-Discovering the craftsmen of the Oltrarno." Over the past five years, Luca has contributed to several projects focused on the relationship between artisan skill and local traditional tastes in Tuscan food specialties.

Lucia grew up in Rome where she graduated in 2001 with a thesis on Roman fresco decoration, after which she took part in an internship at the Louvre. In Florence since 2003, she expanded her passion for drawings thanks to a student's grant at the Longhi Foundation of Art History. She has also continued building on her knowledge of minor arts with a Masters program at the University of Florence, and an additional license in wood restoration. In the last few years, Lucia has been strongly interested in the movement of artworks for temporary exhibitions. She have worked as Chief Curator at the Czech Center Museum in Houston (US) for 9 months, cataloguing the collection and collaborating with all museum's cultural activities and promotions.

Molly holds an MA in Italian literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she completed her PhD coursework and exams with a specialization in Renaissance and Early Modern periods. She spent a year in Venice as an undergraduate while at the University of California-Santa Cruz and afterwards worked in Siena for two years for the University of California Education Abroad Program. She later went to graduate school and, after finishing her studies in Madison, found herself back in Venice once again for another year, this time conducting archival research for her doctoral dissertation. She has remained in Italy ever since, has taught courses in Renaissance history in Florence, and is a licensed tour guide of Florence and its province.