In July of 2020 we initiated a monthly column with the English language publication, The Florentine dedicated to the centering of Afro-Descendent cultures in the Florentine and, more broadly, Italian context, highlighting concerns and celebrating writers that have been actively engaged over the years. The column Chi Beve Nero, Guadagna Colore (Whoever Drinks Black, Earns Color) intends to extend beyond the important gesture of solidarity on behalf of institutions and publications that has emerged with the current protests across the world and establish an ongoing and longstanding commitment on behalf of this publication to under-acknowledged voices perspectives and histories rooted in the city of Florence and across the country of Italy. Each article is accompanied by art works that draw upon a range of works made by Afro-Descendent artists in the context of Italy.
In 2005, The Florentine was launched as a grassroots news magazine for the vast English-speaking community in Florence, Italy. Nita and Tony Tucker, U.S.-born expats, were surprised not to find an English newspaper. They partnered with Italian firm B’Gruppo srl to make, print and distribute the paper. When the Tuckers moved away two years later, the rest of the team remained intact and they continue to publish The Florentine to this day.
Today, The Florentine is published 11 times a year: the magazine is distributed for free from 150+ points in Florence and around. We have a circulation of 10,000 copies per month and more than 800 subscribers (paper and digital) worldwide.
You can view a dialogue with Justin Randolph Thompson hosted by The Florentine here: https://www.theflorentine.net/2020/06/18/tf-together-justin-randolph-thompson/
March: The Segre Commission in Florence
https://www.theflorentine.net/2021/04/08/segre-commission-florence/
February: A Refuge with a Reminder
https://www.theflorentine.net/2021/02/04/review-modern-ancient-brown/
November:On The Traces of Florence's Colonial Past
https://www.theflorentine.net/2020/11/12/italy-florence-colonial-past/
October: Citizenship, Resistance and Limitations to Imagination
https://www.theflorentine.net/2020/10/27/citizenship-resistance-and-limitations-to-imagination/
September: Fischi per Fiaschi and the Roots of anti-Racist Confusion
https://www.theflorentine.net/2020/09/14/fischi-per-fiaschi-and-the-roots-of-anti-racist-confusion/
July: Whoever Drinks Black, Earns Color</strong>
https://www.theflorentine.net/2020/07/21/whoever-drinks-black-earns-color/