The Michelozzo Library at the Museum of San Marco in Florence reopened after undergoing an urgent one-year renovation, including restoration of the floor’s original design and the addition of panels that depict the library’s history.
British Scientist Peter T. Kirstein, a key figure in the creation and internationalization of the internet, received the 2015 Marconi Prize.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its new home in the Meatpacking District between the High Line and the Hudson River with inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See.
New York’s beloved Italian bookstore, formerly situated on 57th Street, plans to re-open in 2015.
Alessandro Michele was named Creative Director of fashion giant Gucci.
Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella visited Manhattan in early March, 2015 to encourage investment in Florence through real estate and tourism ventures.
Alberto MILANI, CEO of Buccellati INC., is the new president of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
Italy’s Carabinieri recovered €50 million worth of stolen national treasures in January 2015.
From May 1 to October 31 2015, Milan hosts a world’s fair with the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”
Tullio Lombardo’s Adam is the only signed piece created to decorate the colossal tomb of Venice’s Doge Andrea Vendramin and one of the few Renaissance masterpieces outside of Italy.
By Veronica Maria WHITE
A remarkable French Baroque artist helps establish a genre
Letizia Airos’ farewell to Massimo Vignelli
Richard Ginori, the historic porcelain maker located in Florence, recently presented their 2014 table collection in collaboration with Gucci.
In Field of Dogs, Lech Majewski views the world on an intimate level, searching the deep and darkest parts of the mind and exposing them to the audience.
Sponsored by renowned Italian fashion powerhouse Bulgari, the show presented the most comprehensive display on the history of Italian fashion to date.
Luca Parmitano made history this summer when he became the youngest astronaut on a long-term assignment to the 2013 Space Station mission.
Two speeches to the United Nations General Assembly on maintaining the health of the planet’s seas
For centuries the Schiava Turca has eluded interpretation and, to date, no proposed identity for Parmigianino’s mysterious woman has been convincing.
On October 14, 2013, Rebirth Rome officially launched with a conference featuring an outstanding panel on the topic of “resiliance”. Rebirth Rome was founded by the renowned proponent of culture (and Italian Journal columnist), Ludovica Rossi Purini. (Photos from this event appear in the Social Journal on page 45). Held in the prestigious Deputy Chamber, […]
Renowned costume and set designer Piero Tosi received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his outstanding design career. He earned five Academy Award nominations for costume design, in the films La Traviata (1983), La Cage aux Folles (1978), The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) and Ludwig (1973) – the latter three in collaboration […]
The Criterion Collection has published a box-set of three of the films directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman. The collection was announced at Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò during a presentation with panelists Antonio Monda, NYU, Kim Hendrickson and Ingrid Rossellini. The three films take place in post-war Italy: Stromboli (1950), Europe ‘51 (1952) […]
Beloved New York restauranteurs Tony May and his daughter Marisa announce the opening of their spacious restaurant for private events. Designed by Massimo Vignelli, the location has three floors and 13,000 square feet of space, including a chic Balcony Room, a wine connoisseurs’ dining area and a grand main dining room. The Executive Chef Matteo […]
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York is showing some rare works of Leonardo da Vinci together with some of his followers and peers. The exhibit, entitled Treasures from the Biblioteca Reale, Turin, displays his extraordinary manuscript The Codex on the Flight of Birds and the Head of a Young Woman, one of his most […]
The Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome have just reopened after years of restoration. The complex is known as “regina catacumbarum” (queen of the catacombs) because of the great number of martyrs buried inside. The restoration was undertaken by the Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology. The Catacombs comprise a series of tunnels under what was an […]
Italian fashion house Fendi is donating 2.12 million euros to the restoration of the iconic Trevi Fountain in Rome. Located in the historic center of the city, the beautiful Baroque fountain is badly in need of repairs.
The widow and daughter of the late Italian pop artist and poet Mimmo Rotella have established an institute in Milan which, together with the Rotella Foundation in Torino, will authenticate the Calabrese artist’s works, organize exhibitions, grant copyrights, and create an updated catalogue.
The fact that 2013 is the Verdi bicentennial makes it all the more fitting that Riccardo Muti won this year’s Premio Giustiniano, Ravenna’s top prize for arts and culture. Muti is arguably the most famous contemporary Italian conductor, and has always considered Verdi a muse and an inspiration, recently releasing a book about him.
World-renowned violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti debuted in Rome this March. The Scottish-born daughter of Italian immigrants started playing at age four, and by the age of eight had auditioned for and made the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. By age nine, she had passed all eight grades of musical examinations. By 16, she had studied under Yehudi Menuhin, won BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and signed with a record label.
by Laura GIACALONE
Considered the Oscar of Italian design, as well as an authoritative barometer of the state of the cultural debate on industrial design itself, the Compasso d’Oro award is the major acknowledgement of Italian design and enjoys a high reputation throughout the world, so much so that London’s prestigious Phaidon Press has selected it among the top 999 design classics of all time.
Many are familiar with the dual aim of the construction of the new MetroNapoli: easing urban transportation woes while providing a small escape from “the real world” through art. Five of the city’s metro stations have been turned into “art stations” showcasing the genius of modern artists all over the world.
photography by Mauro BENEDETTI The City as a landscape, its roughness smoothed out through the photographer’s art–acknowledging the sky (not far) above its myriad ceilings and spires.
photography by Mauro Benedetti
The Capitoline Museum in Rome is a treasure trove of Italian antiquities, including three grand rooms dedicated solely to the preferred form of portraiture in B.C. Rome: sculptural busts.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Bernini’s Trevi Fountain in the heart of Rome became a modern icon with La Dolce Vita. Here captured at night, its eternally-flowing waters and flickering lights inspire thousands to whisper their heart’s desires at its edge. . . Meanwhile in Piazza Navona, a fierce sea creature hovers over tide of the “Four […]
by Mauro BENEDETTI Emerging from the eponymous metro stop, Ancient Rome lies ahead only after passing through 19th century Downtown New York City – it’s Cinecitta. A Parisian alleyway is tucked behind an American street, a a modern warehouse sign appears behind an Egyptian edifice, a Franciscan Church adjacent the final hideaway for Romeo and […]
by Mauro BENEDETTI Dawn’s rays upon the Roman Forum illuminate a collage of the ages, ancient, baroque, Renaissance, and modern.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Astride the verdant slopes near where Saint Francis made his sanctuary, a medieval monastery is transformed for travelers seeking respite, healing. . . and a locally grown, homemade meal.
by Mauro BENEDETTI In the heart of the Byzantine-adorned city; banners of red and green reflect in the melting ice of the after-hours Rialto fish market. And amidst the splendor of the Basilica of San Marco, a wall of marble inlays with the Tetrarchs sculpture at its base forms an ageless backdrop.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Meandering down the ancient cobblestones of Via del Moro, a pasticceria (sweet shop), plump chocolate eggs – and their Signora – preside during the Lenten weeks. Outside a nearby tavern, some men take in the street scene, using a motorino as a stoop.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Tracing Romeo Montecchi’s lovesick footsteps down a small street in Verona, discover the former home of Capuleti, where on a front-facing balcony their beloved Giulietta once waited for her boyfriend. Lovers and dreamers place notes of affection on a nearby wall, and touch the statue of the young Veronese woman.
by Mauro BENEDETTI
by Claudia PALMIRA
Galileo was a great marketer, said the head of the Medici Project Martha Mc-Geary Snider, when we met at the American Academy of Rome.
I could not be more happy to speak about two of the issues we are currently dealing with at the Italian Mission to the United Nations. One of our top concerns in the past year has been Italy’s leadership of the Group of the Eight Most Industrialized Countries, whose work we have tried to correlate more closely with the agenda of the United Nations. The other is the Lisbon Treaty, which enters into force on December 1, and promises to affect the role of the European Union at the United Nations. I promise to be brief.
The swearing in of the new U.S. Ambassador to Rome, David Thorne, 64, marks new era for U.S.-Italian relations. Investor, entrepreneur, author and supporter of the arts, Thorne is the co-founder of Adviser Investments one of the U.S.’s top firms specializing in Vanguard and Fidelity mutual funds and exchange trade funds. He is a former President and current Board member of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and led the design oversight team for its new building in Boston. Additionally, he has participated in a variety of other undertakings including marketing, consulting, and real estate.
The fifth Annual Conference of the Italian Language Inter Cultural Alliance (ILICA) in New York was called: “Saving Venezia & Protecting New Orleans.” The leaders of the M.O.S.E. project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico or Experimental Electromechanical Module) were in New York to demonstrate how the technology designed to save Venice can be applied to New Orleans. Here, Dr. Maria Teresa Brotto explains how this Italian high-tech project will work.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
As consumers, we fight a battle every time we enter a supermarket. Do we buy or do we not buy? Is it healthy or unhealthy? Will it be tasty or disgusting? A burden is placed on us to utilize the wealth of knowledge at our disposal so that we do not make ignorant decisions. Between the internet, books, and magazines about every topic imaginable, we become handicapped by knowledge. We assume we can trust food companies because clearly they would not trick us if it’s so easy for us to research into the truth about their products. The only problem is that this assumption makes us lazy and we do not end up doing our research. We trust that if a product says it is “Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce,” then it must be. Clearly the company would be penalized for lying. Unfortunately, this is not the case and we buy into food counterfeiting scams every day.
Samantha Cristoforetti became Italy’s first woman astronaut this year when a 32-year-old Italian Air Force pilot became the European Space Agency’s first female pick.
by C. BENEDETTI
Galileo Galilei, one of history’s most influential astronomers, may have started from humble beginnings, but by the end of his life he had produced some of science’s most significant discoveries.
by Piergiorgio ODIFREDDI
On January 7, 1610, Galileo wrote a letter to Antonio de’ Medici where he briefly reported on the results of his first observations of the sky through a telescope exactly 400 years ago, late in the summer of 1609. The letter concluded with some news of the day: “Only this evening I have seen Jupiter accompanied by three fixed stars totally invisible because of their smallness.” With understandable and justifiable pride, he also noticed: “We can believe to have been the first in the world to discover something about the heavenly bodies from so nearby and so distinctly.”
by Mario BIAGIOLI
Modern scientists have become increasingly aggressive in protecting their intellectual property by patenting their discoveries and, sometimes, by keeping them secret. Galileo anticipated this trend.
by Matteo VALLIERIANI
The interested reader may have noticed how historians in recent decades have attempted to deconstruct the identity of Galileo Galilei. He is no longer just the great astronomer or even just the founder of the modern experimental method in science. Even the political value of his work and his life, systematically reconsidered in the frame of the debates about the relation between Church and research institutions or between religion and science, is no longer the single relevant perspective for approaching this kind of historical thread. Thanks to the work of historians of science of the last twenty years, readers are now used to very different interpretations. Galileo is now also a heretic, a revolutionary martyr, a mathematician, an Aristotelian natural philosopher, an artist – almost with brush and palette in his hand – and finally a gifted courtier. This, however, is only an apparent process of fragmentation. Historiographically speaking, a process of this kind tends to cancel categories such as “genius” from scientific activities and their histories. Such categories are used to justify the impossibility of explaining historical phenomena. In other terms, the actual history of science requires science and its history to remain rational activities. For this reason, it is relevant to undertake an investigation of Galileo in all of his contexts.
by Paolo PALMIERI
When Galileo Galilei was a student at the University of Pisa in the 1580s, physics was a loose bundle of ideas inherited from the Greeks, mostly from the philosopher Aristotle, via the mediation of the Latin Middle Ages. Projectiles keep going after being released by their projectors because air keeps pushing them for a while, as the most in vogue theory of the time would have it (though there were variations). Theirs is a violent motion. Heavy things fall downwards because the centre of the earth is the natural place for them to achieve their natural state of rest. Theirs is a natural motion. Pendulums are constrained motions. Is the motion of a pendulum violent or natural? Why does it turn back after reaching a summit? Why do violent motions such as those of cannon balls cease? These were the questions a professor of physics would investigate at that time.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
Breakthroughs, progress, solutions, new theories, modern research… all of these words conjure up images of discovery and contribution in the scientific world. Grasping the natural world and understanding what we cannot see provides a sense of satisfaction, even comfort, to most. Science, however, is an example of a field where solutions and progress are actually driven by a certain dissatisfaction with what is already known. It is discomfort with the status quo that has motivated many scientists to push for new answers, alternative options; and to test and ponder persistently until they are satisfied with a new reality. Many scientists throughout history questioned the laws of nature that guide the movement of the stars and planets. It was previously believed that until Galileo, scientists never began to truly speculate on the theories put forth by Aristotle. It did not seem as though anyone had really questioned and researched into creation of the universal systems until Galileo came along. As everyone was frantically searching for an answer they could believe in, Galileo put forth solutions even though his research and his conclusions eventually led to his persecution.
by Laura GIACALONE
The history of arts as we know it today wouldn’t be the same without the support provided by kings, popes and rich aristocratic families to musicians, painters and sculptors. This phenomenon, which is usually referred to as “patronage,” had its maximum development in Italy during Renaissance, when the major masterpieces in the history of art were conceived and came to life, mainly thanks to the influence of the House of Medici in Florence. Among the artists who benefited from their sponsorship were Brunelleschi, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
by Laura GIACALONE
The Medici Granducal Archive (Mediceo del Principato)
For over two centuries, the Medici family ruled Tuscany as sovereign Grand Dukes. Their archival collection – called the Mediceo del Principato – has survived virtually intact in the State Archive in Florence (Archivio di Stato di Firenze). It covers the chronological span of their rule: from the moment Cosimo I became Duke of Florence in 1537 to the death in 1743 of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, sister of Gian Gastone, the last of the Medici Grand Dukes. In other words, it begins with Michelangelo’s work on the Last Judgment and ends with the birth of Thomas Jefferson.
by Laura GIACALONE
A yearly appointment not to be missed by film critics and moviegoers from all around the world, the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival confirms itself as one of the most prestigious events in the film calendar, with a rich and variegated selection of international titles and the ever-present parade of stars and celebrities.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
The California Academy of Sciences, guided by the mastermind architect Renzo Piano, has successfully created a self-sustaining, green structure. Its excellence was acknowledged by the U.S. Green Building Council that awarded it Platinum status. LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the highest rating a building can achieve. The Academy, a design of Renzo Piano’s, is now the greenest museum in the world, and the largest Platinum-rated public building in the world. The science that went into creating the building did nothing to take away from the beauty of its design, which uniquely integrates it into the surrounding Golden Gate Park.
by Genny DI BERT
“The field of physics/mathematics that characterizes the imposing works of Algio Mongelli is transformed by an expressive freedom that confounds any scientific pattern. The unity and sythnesis achieved in his creations, whether large sculptural manifestations in stainless steel or geometric graphic forms, reveal the exceptional quality of this artist among the most successful contemporary artists.”
Thus wrote Nobel prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini in 1994 referring to the Roman artist Algio Mongelli (born 1939). An astute observation on the part of a perceptive scientist who, oblivious to the writings of the most renowned and profound art critics (Mussa, Masi, Strinati, Benincasa, Crispolti, Restany, Berger) arrived at the most defining aspect of the artist’s work: sythesis. It is from this core that his works originate––seemingly simplistic, oddly logical in content, their structure a relationship between space and substance.
Nicknamed “Italy’s national darling,” Federica Pelligrini, has not only just wooed her home country, but has attracted international attention with her record-smashing swimming feats.
by Laura GIACALONE
A man whose mind has gone astray should study mathematics,” said philosopher Francis Bacon, pointing out a strict relationship between mathematical thought and that kind of extraordinary, sometimes borderline, sensitivity that is commonly associated to poetry. That must be the case of Paolo Giordano, a 27-year-old Italian scientist working on a doctorate in particle physics, who has recently won five literary awards – included the prestigious Premio Strega, Italy’s answer to the Man Booker Prize – with his bestselling debut novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Tracing Romeo Montecchi’s lovesick footsteps down a small street in Verona, discover the former home of Capuleti, where on a front-facing balcony their beloved Giulietta once waited for her boyfriend. Lovers and dreamers place notes of affection on a nearby wall, and touch the statue of the young Veronese woman.
by Mauro BENEDETTI In the heart of the Byzantine-adorned city; banners of red and green reflect in the melting ice of the after-hours Rialto fish market. And amidst the splendor of the Basilica of San Marco, a wall of marble inlays with the Tetrarchs sculpture at its base forms an ageless backdrop.
by Claudia Palmira Acunto
The title of our current edition immediately captured the imagination of the designers, curators and economists who wrote and were interviewed for this issue. Though Italy may not need saving, the idea that one concept, one export, might bolster its success, is an attractive one.
Enchanted by the deep shadows and brilliant light of Caravaggio’s timeless work, Bill Viola seeks to retain a similar aura in his own art.
by Ambassador Giulio Terzi
I am delighted to be here with you again today and honored by your invitation, a most welcome sign of your great friendship. The last time I had the pleasure of being with you – as Permanent Representative to the United Nations – I talked about international security issues. Over the last year and a half, I have somehow changed my perspective – but not too much: in Washington, diplomatic work is at once global and bilateral too. Today I would like to address a topic which has both a global scope, as it relates to the world’s monetary system, and a “bilateral” one which refers to relations between the EU and the US: I am referring to the stability of the euro-zone.
by Michael BOTTARI
Some of the biggest names in Italian design and fashion have a new way to enjoy their aesthetic luxury, to become enveloped in its greatness instead of just wearing it. This new phenomenon comes in the form of design or boutique hotels, located in some of the most alluring cities in the world.
by Giampero Bosoni
To uncover the secret of Italian design, if there is one, it is necessary to look from the right perspective, searching not through the discipline’s celebrated recent past but rather in the grand cultural and artistic history of that ancient peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean and at the center of Europe.
by Stefano Giovannoni
The design activities of Italian and American design studios are based on totally different business models. In the American system we find large professional studios, multinational organizations that reach a company size measured in hundreds of employees, while Italian design factories work with designers who usually operate from small professional studios with which the company has a consolidated relationship. Many designers of the older generation – Castiglioni, Magistretti, Sapper, Mari and Zanuso – worked with facilities reduced to the limits!
by Tonino PARIS
Grandi maestri hanno contribuito all’affermazione del Design italiano nel mondo, e hanno grandemente contribuito allo sviluppo industriale, sia con il loro patrimonio di conoscenze e competenze tecniche, sia con le loro straordinarie capacità creative.
by Domitilla DARDI
In 1972 Italy: the new domestic landscape, the exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz, opened at MoMA: it was a momentous event for Italian design, consecrating the industrial production of the glorious decade of the Sixties in the world. The exhibition pointed out the experimental character of Italian design, the courage of a vision of interior design able to fill the industrial and technological gap between Italy and other countries with a stronger training and production background.
by Silvia ANNICHIARICO
A little more than two years have passed since December 2007, when we inaugurated the Triennale di Milano Design Museum. Since that time, the bearing idea for our project—that of giving life to a changing museum that would be capable of periodically renewing itself in terms of contents, of selection criteria, and of modalities of fruition—has been refined and consolidated, becoming even a pilot model for significant foreign experiences.
compiled by Laura GIACALONE
“I believe that, in some respects, the great fortune of Castiglionis’ work, and of Italian design in general, was that we had a very free, disenchanted relationship with technology. Experimenting was quite affordable, which probably helped our research, whereas today it requires the support of large manufacturing companies, and needs huge investments. Luckily there still exist, within large companies, very talented craftsmen with whom it is easy to work, and that surely helps the research a lot.” Achille Castiglioni
by Laura GIACALONE
An unrelenting research on new materials, an unrestrained use of colour, the political dimension of his projects, the handcrafted quality of his creations make Gaetano Pesce one of the greatest and most unconventional artists of Italian contemporary design scene. His career is studded with memorable masterpieces, which blur the distinction between art and design: from “Up” (1969), a series of “feminine” anthropomorphic armchairs which exploit the morphological memory of the polyurethane, returning to their shape and consistency as soon as they are freed from their packaging, to the “Rag Chair” (1972) and the “Sit Down” seat furniture (1975), based on the intriguing idea of having no two pieces alike. Other notable works include the “Dalila” chairs (1980), whose sensuous shape intentionally evokes the soft forms of the female body, the humorous “Umbrella” chair (1995), which folds up like an umbrella and opens out like its namesake, and “Sessantuna” (2010), sixty-one different tables, all of them unique, to celebrate Italy on the 150th anniversary of its unification.
by Laura GIACALONE
Born in 1963, Gabriele Pezzini is one of the most prominent figures in the Italian design’s contemporary scene. His strong artistic background has always driven him into the field of experimentation. Interested in the relations between product and industry, he has dedicated himself to innovative research projects, focusing on the conception and organization of exhibitions that have allowed him to develop his analyses and theories on perception and cross-contamination of everyday objects.
by Michael Bottari
Albino, Aquilano Rimondi, Chicca Lualdi and Marco de Vincenzo. A fashion show at Saks Fifth Avenue in November 2010 introduced these names to New York. Sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission and the Italian Chamber of Fashion, the show featured clothing and furniture by contemporary Italian designers
by Laura GIACALONE
Please don’t retouch my wrinkles” – said the great Italian actress Anna Magnani, a muse for Neorealist maestro Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City, 1945), while instructing her make-up artist not to conceal the lines on her face – “Leave them all there, it took me so long to earn them.” Many years have passed since then, and women’s concerns and ambitions seem to have changed a lot.
by Editorial INTERNS
Appearing on the red carpet at the 2010 International Rome Film Festival alongside renowned director Martin Scorsese and CEO of Gucci Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s Creative Director Frida Giannini has had an impact on the world that reaches far beyond the realm of fashion.
By Barbara ZORZOLI
Since the beginning of the 20th century photography has been an extremely successful means to promote fashion all over the world.
Rome’s MAXXI Museum highlights Italy’s rich fashion design past with the exhibition Bellissima: Italy and High Fashion 1945-1968.
By Barbara ZORZOLI
Creativity, innovation, fantasy, style: keys to success for these six emerging designers
by Barbara ZORZOLI
As the lights go up, the music starts and the models stride into view. Their timing is perfect and the clothes look sensational… but the show begins behind the scenes.
by Barbara ZORZOLI
Elsa Schiaparelli, “Schiap” to friends (born in Rome on September 10, 1890), was an innovative woman and fashion designer and had a lot of “firsts” in the fashion industry. Her first collection in 1927, in fact, consisted of sweaters adorned with surrealist trompe l’oeil images – a theme that was to become Schiaparelli’s trademark (featured in American Vogue).
Collections of 1a Classe Alviero Martini fall 2012, one of Italy’s top manufacturers of leather goods, accessories and women’s clothing are characterized by a “geographic map” motif (called the ‘Geo-Map’), an original design inspired by the era of legendary voyages, explorations and by the Belle Époque.
by Barbara ZORZOLI
When movies first began to be mass-marketed, right after the turn of the century, actors and actresses usually looked to their own closets for contemporary stories. For period pieces, of course, a wardrobe department was necessary, but it was not until 1916 that the first costume designer was credited on film, a certain Frenchman Louis J. Gasnier.
Futurism Fashion Balla and Biagotti: Milan’s fashion week celebrates the centenary of Futurism with a collection of creations that seems to revive Giacomo Balla’s myth of the “Anti-Neutral Clothes” (1914). For her autumn/winter collection, Laura Biagiotti draws on Balla’s Futurist aesthetics, proposing outfits with avant-garde embellishments and agile, dynamic, playful and asymmetric forms. The “Anti-Neutral” […]
Arriverderci, Francesco Talo John Cabot University Student Center Opening Perugia International Film Festival Preview Radicati paintings on display in Rome IAF and ARPA
by Mauro BENEDETTI Dawn’s rays upon the Roman Forum illuminate a collage of the ages, ancient, baroque, Renaissance, and modern.
by Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
Italy, art – the terms are almost inextricable. The historic “greats” come to mind immediately, conjuring images of paintings and sculptures deeply embedded in our collective visual memory. But insert the word “contemporary” between the two, and the references diminish exponentially.
The first woman to be appointed as Italian Consul General in New York, Minister Plenipotentiary Natalia Quintavalle took her seat at the Park Avenue Consulate in September 2011. The prestigious assignment is only the last of a series of important achievements in her diplomatic career, which has seen her actively work in the defense of human rights and in the promotion of Italian culture and interests in the world.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
Italian Contemporary Art: Three words suggesting such a tangle of opposing considerations, cultural and commercial developments and widespread interests that it is quite difficult to have a comprehensive picture of it. For historical reasons and recent twisted events, the Italian art world embodies an anomalous reality, both for its well-acknowledged qualities and its congenital faults. We have a great tradition of art that the world much appreciates – this goes without saying. From Giotto to Mario Schifano, enviable talents and universal geniuses have come one after the other, producing new expressive modes and groundbreaking innovations.
by Amanda Romero
There are 89 Italian Cultural Institutes in the world – and they all participated in “Venice Biennale In The World,” a project led by renowned Italian art critic Vittorio Sgarbi to promote Italian artists internationally. In collaboration with museums, universities, organizations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prominent art critics and scholars served as the judges for the 217 Italian artists nominated to show around the world. These artists’ works were also included in a video documentary presented at the 2012 Venice Biennale.
by Laura GIACALONE
Italian Journal interviews emerging talents.
by Genny DI BERT
Quella che osserviamo è la fotografa di una scena, di un momento d’espressione artistica in cui l’ambiente e l’uomo interagiscono, che viene, durante la realizzazione, con uno “scatto” resa opera d’arte apparentemente bidimensionale. L’immagine riprodotta valorizza l’irripetibilità dell’azione ed ogni scena diventa opera d’arte unica. La rappresentazione, come la realtà osservata e dipinta, viene studiata, immaginata, riprodotta attraverso l’occhio fotografico attento a cogliere l’istante creativo.
by Laura GIACALONE
One of the world’s most important forums for the dissemination and illumination of current developments in international art, La Biennale di Venezia can boast a well-reputed personality at the helm. Appointed Director of the Visual Arts sector for the 54th International Art Exhibition (2011), Bice Curiger (pictured) is an art historian, critic and curator of international exhibitions. Her curatorial activity at Kunsthaus Zurich parallels her important work in the publishing sector. In 1984, she co-founded the prestigious art magazine Parkett, of which she is editor-in-chief. She has been publishing director of London Tate Gallery’s magazine Tate etc since 2004, and is also the author of various publications and catalogues of contemporary art. Her insight into contemporary art surely adds value to an exhibition that, once again, is bound to consolidate its success.
by Veronica Maria WHITE
In 1948, Peggy Guggenheim exhibited her collection of avant garde paintings and sculptures at the Venice Biennale. Among the 73 artists featured were Picasso, Ernst, Kandinsky, Pollock and Rothko. The show was revolutionary in its presentation of Cubist, Surrealist and Abstract works to the general European public, as well as to contemporary Italian artists. Soon after the show, Peggy settled in Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where from 1951 onward her collection opened its doors to visitors. The heiress’ choice of Venice as a home and showcase for her works is significant, for she had already experienced the contemporary art scene in Paris, London and New York. Located in a Renaissance palazzo on the Grand Canal, the Peggy Guggenheim collection in fact highlights Venice’s dual identity as a historic maritime city and a protagonist in artistic innovation.
by Walter SANTAGATA
As in all worlds of art and culture, even in contemporary art there are two conflicting policies at work: conservation and production of new works of art. Whereas conservation means to safeguard the historical heritage of a country, its most immediate expression being the “museum-ization ” of art, i.e. the entrusting of art to the sacredness of a museum, production means to create new works of art. Conservation is a backward- looking policy dealing with the preservation of the past; production is instead a forward-looking policy interested in the future and in the development of new works of art. Conservation relies on legal and institutional instruments, such as regulations and laws, whereas production is a policy consisting of many different steps: selection of artists, creation and production of works of art, distribution, modes of consumption.
by Laura GIACALONE
Besides their worldwide renown for setting the trends of cutting-edge styles, Italian fashion designers have now established themselves as the modern patrons of contemporary art, being the most active supporters of avant-garde art projects and drawing on works of art for inspiration. In the last few years, many initiatives launched by top luxury brands of fashion have contributed to introduce a new generation of Italian artists to the international scene.
by Laura GIACALONE
Reading Twice Born is like taking a journey that, once started, has no turning back. It is something to be experienced, more than just read. It slowly sinks into your heart and, page by page, leaves you completely helpless, defenceless, as after a storm of mixed emotions. It is like being revealed the unspoken truth of human condition, with its eternal carousel of joy and sorrow, and turning it into a personal memory.
by Amanda ROMERO
“I love actresses that change a lot, that search always for something new, and try not to stay caught up in just one kind of character,” said Violante Placido in an interview with British radio The Guardian . The eye-catching Roman-born actress, singer and songwriter has certainly lived up to her own ideal.
by Mauro BENEDETTI In the heart of the Byzantine-adorned city; banners of red and green reflect in the melting ice of the after-hours Rialto fish market. And amidst the splendor of the Basilica of San Marco, a wall of marble inlays with the Tetrarchs sculpture at its base forms an ageless backdrop.
by Claudia Palmira Acunto
The title of our current edition immediately captured the imagination of the designers, curators and economists who wrote and were interviewed for this issue. Though Italy may not need saving, the idea that one concept, one export, might bolster its success, is an attractive one.
Milan-native and expert archeologist Gionata Rizzi is looking to conserve a small part of New York City’s young history.
Enchanted by the deep shadows and brilliant light of Caravaggio’s timeless work, Bill Viola seeks to retain a similar aura in his own art.
by Ambassador Giulio Terzi
I am delighted to be here with you again today and honored by your invitation, a most welcome sign of your great friendship. The last time I had the pleasure of being with you – as Permanent Representative to the United Nations – I talked about international security issues. Over the last year and a half, I have somehow changed my perspective – but not too much: in Washington, diplomatic work is at once global and bilateral too. Today I would like to address a topic which has both a global scope, as it relates to the world’s monetary system, and a “bilateral” one which refers to relations between the EU and the US: I am referring to the stability of the euro-zone.
by Michael BOTTARI
Some of the biggest names in Italian design and fashion have a new way to enjoy their aesthetic luxury, to become enveloped in its greatness instead of just wearing it. This new phenomenon comes in the form of design or boutique hotels, located in some of the most alluring cities in the world.
by Giampero Bosoni
To uncover the secret of Italian design, if there is one, it is necessary to look from the right perspective, searching not through the discipline’s celebrated recent past but rather in the grand cultural and artistic history of that ancient peninsula in the middle of the Mediterranean and at the center of Europe.
by Stefano Giovannoni
The design activities of Italian and American design studios are based on totally different business models. In the American system we find large professional studios, multinational organizations that reach a company size measured in hundreds of employees, while Italian design factories work with designers who usually operate from small professional studios with which the company has a consolidated relationship. Many designers of the older generation – Castiglioni, Magistretti, Sapper, Mari and Zanuso – worked with facilities reduced to the limits!
by Tonino PARIS
Grandi maestri hanno contribuito all’affermazione del Design italiano nel mondo, e hanno grandemente contribuito allo sviluppo industriale, sia con il loro patrimonio di conoscenze e competenze tecniche, sia con le loro straordinarie capacità creative.
by Domitilla DARDI
In 1972 Italy: the new domestic landscape, the exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz, opened at MoMA: it was a momentous event for Italian design, consecrating the industrial production of the glorious decade of the Sixties in the world. The exhibition pointed out the experimental character of Italian design, the courage of a vision of interior design able to fill the industrial and technological gap between Italy and other countries with a stronger training and production background.
by Silvia ANNICHIARICO
A little more than two years have passed since December 2007, when we inaugurated the Triennale di Milano Design Museum. Since that time, the bearing idea for our project—that of giving life to a changing museum that would be capable of periodically renewing itself in terms of contents, of selection criteria, and of modalities of fruition—has been refined and consolidated, becoming even a pilot model for significant foreign experiences.
compiled by Laura GIACALONE
“I believe that, in some respects, the great fortune of Castiglionis’ work, and of Italian design in general, was that we had a very free, disenchanted relationship with technology. Experimenting was quite affordable, which probably helped our research, whereas today it requires the support of large manufacturing companies, and needs huge investments. Luckily there still exist, within large companies, very talented craftsmen with whom it is easy to work, and that surely helps the research a lot.” Achille Castiglioni
by Laura GIACALONE
An unrelenting research on new materials, an unrestrained use of colour, the political dimension of his projects, the handcrafted quality of his creations make Gaetano Pesce one of the greatest and most unconventional artists of Italian contemporary design scene. His career is studded with memorable masterpieces, which blur the distinction between art and design: from “Up” (1969), a series of “feminine” anthropomorphic armchairs which exploit the morphological memory of the polyurethane, returning to their shape and consistency as soon as they are freed from their packaging, to the “Rag Chair” (1972) and the “Sit Down” seat furniture (1975), based on the intriguing idea of having no two pieces alike. Other notable works include the “Dalila” chairs (1980), whose sensuous shape intentionally evokes the soft forms of the female body, the humorous “Umbrella” chair (1995), which folds up like an umbrella and opens out like its namesake, and “Sessantuna” (2010), sixty-one different tables, all of them unique, to celebrate Italy on the 150th anniversary of its unification.
by Laura GIACALONE
Born in 1963, Gabriele Pezzini is one of the most prominent figures in the Italian design’s contemporary scene. His strong artistic background has always driven him into the field of experimentation. Interested in the relations between product and industry, he has dedicated himself to innovative research projects, focusing on the conception and organization of exhibitions that have allowed him to develop his analyses and theories on perception and cross-contamination of everyday objects.
by Michael Bottari
Albino, Aquilano Rimondi, Chicca Lualdi and Marco de Vincenzo. A fashion show at Saks Fifth Avenue in November 2010 introduced these names to New York. Sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission and the Italian Chamber of Fashion, the show featured clothing and furniture by contemporary Italian designers
by Laura GIACALONE
Please don’t retouch my wrinkles” – said the great Italian actress Anna Magnani, a muse for Neorealist maestro Roberto Rossellini (Rome, Open City, 1945), while instructing her make-up artist not to conceal the lines on her face – “Leave them all there, it took me so long to earn them.” Many years have passed since then, and women’s concerns and ambitions seem to have changed a lot.
by Editorial INTERNS
Appearing on the red carpet at the 2010 International Rome Film Festival alongside renowned director Martin Scorsese and CEO of Gucci Patrizio di Marco, Gucci’s Creative Director Frida Giannini has had an impact on the world that reaches far beyond the realm of fashion.
Arriverderci, Francesco Talo John Cabot University Student Center Opening Perugia International Film Festival Preview Radicati paintings on display in Rome IAF and ARPA
by Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
Italy, art – the terms are almost inextricable. The historic “greats” come to mind immediately, conjuring images of paintings and sculptures deeply embedded in our collective visual memory. But insert the word “contemporary” between the two, and the references diminish exponentially.
The first woman to be appointed as Italian Consul General in New York, Minister Plenipotentiary Natalia Quintavalle took her seat at the Park Avenue Consulate in September 2011. The prestigious assignment is only the last of a series of important achievements in her diplomatic career, which has seen her actively work in the defense of human rights and in the promotion of Italian culture and interests in the world.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
Italian Contemporary Art: Three words suggesting such a tangle of opposing considerations, cultural and commercial developments and widespread interests that it is quite difficult to have a comprehensive picture of it. For historical reasons and recent twisted events, the Italian art world embodies an anomalous reality, both for its well-acknowledged qualities and its congenital faults. We have a great tradition of art that the world much appreciates – this goes without saying. From Giotto to Mario Schifano, enviable talents and universal geniuses have come one after the other, producing new expressive modes and groundbreaking innovations.
by Amanda Romero
There are 89 Italian Cultural Institutes in the world – and they all participated in “Venice Biennale In The World,” a project led by renowned Italian art critic Vittorio Sgarbi to promote Italian artists internationally. In collaboration with museums, universities, organizations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prominent art critics and scholars served as the judges for the 217 Italian artists nominated to show around the world. These artists’ works were also included in a video documentary presented at the 2012 Venice Biennale.
by Laura GIACALONE
Italian Journal interviews emerging talents.
by Genny DI BERT
Quella che osserviamo è la fotografa di una scena, di un momento d’espressione artistica in cui l’ambiente e l’uomo interagiscono, che viene, durante la realizzazione, con uno “scatto” resa opera d’arte apparentemente bidimensionale. L’immagine riprodotta valorizza l’irripetibilità dell’azione ed ogni scena diventa opera d’arte unica. La rappresentazione, come la realtà osservata e dipinta, viene studiata, immaginata, riprodotta attraverso l’occhio fotografico attento a cogliere l’istante creativo.
by Laura GIACALONE
One of the world’s most important forums for the dissemination and illumination of current developments in international art, La Biennale di Venezia can boast a well-reputed personality at the helm. Appointed Director of the Visual Arts sector for the 54th International Art Exhibition (2011), Bice Curiger (pictured) is an art historian, critic and curator of international exhibitions. Her curatorial activity at Kunsthaus Zurich parallels her important work in the publishing sector. In 1984, she co-founded the prestigious art magazine Parkett, of which she is editor-in-chief. She has been publishing director of London Tate Gallery’s magazine Tate etc since 2004, and is also the author of various publications and catalogues of contemporary art. Her insight into contemporary art surely adds value to an exhibition that, once again, is bound to consolidate its success.
by Veronica Maria WHITE
In 1948, Peggy Guggenheim exhibited her collection of avant garde paintings and sculptures at the Venice Biennale. Among the 73 artists featured were Picasso, Ernst, Kandinsky, Pollock and Rothko. The show was revolutionary in its presentation of Cubist, Surrealist and Abstract works to the general European public, as well as to contemporary Italian artists. Soon after the show, Peggy settled in Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where from 1951 onward her collection opened its doors to visitors. The heiress’ choice of Venice as a home and showcase for her works is significant, for she had already experienced the contemporary art scene in Paris, London and New York. Located in a Renaissance palazzo on the Grand Canal, the Peggy Guggenheim collection in fact highlights Venice’s dual identity as a historic maritime city and a protagonist in artistic innovation.
by Walter SANTAGATA
As in all worlds of art and culture, even in contemporary art there are two conflicting policies at work: conservation and production of new works of art. Whereas conservation means to safeguard the historical heritage of a country, its most immediate expression being the “museum-ization ” of art, i.e. the entrusting of art to the sacredness of a museum, production means to create new works of art. Conservation is a backward- looking policy dealing with the preservation of the past; production is instead a forward-looking policy interested in the future and in the development of new works of art. Conservation relies on legal and institutional instruments, such as regulations and laws, whereas production is a policy consisting of many different steps: selection of artists, creation and production of works of art, distribution, modes of consumption.
by Laura GIACALONE
Besides their worldwide renown for setting the trends of cutting-edge styles, Italian fashion designers have now established themselves as the modern patrons of contemporary art, being the most active supporters of avant-garde art projects and drawing on works of art for inspiration. In the last few years, many initiatives launched by top luxury brands of fashion have contributed to introduce a new generation of Italian artists to the international scene.
by Laura GIACALONE
Reading Twice Born is like taking a journey that, once started, has no turning back. It is something to be experienced, more than just read. It slowly sinks into your heart and, page by page, leaves you completely helpless, defenceless, as after a storm of mixed emotions. It is like being revealed the unspoken truth of human condition, with its eternal carousel of joy and sorrow, and turning it into a personal memory.
by Claudia PALMIRA
Galileo was a great marketer, said the head of the Medici Project Martha Mc-Geary Snider, when we met at the American Academy of Rome.
I could not be more happy to speak about two of the issues we are currently dealing with at the Italian Mission to the United Nations. One of our top concerns in the past year has been Italy’s leadership of the Group of the Eight Most Industrialized Countries, whose work we have tried to correlate more closely with the agenda of the United Nations. The other is the Lisbon Treaty, which enters into force on December 1, and promises to affect the role of the European Union at the United Nations. I promise to be brief.
The swearing in of the new U.S. Ambassador to Rome, David Thorne, 64, marks new era for U.S.-Italian relations. Investor, entrepreneur, author and supporter of the arts, Thorne is the co-founder of Adviser Investments one of the U.S.’s top firms specializing in Vanguard and Fidelity mutual funds and exchange trade funds. He is a former President and current Board member of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and led the design oversight team for its new building in Boston. Additionally, he has participated in a variety of other undertakings including marketing, consulting, and real estate.
The fifth Annual Conference of the Italian Language Inter Cultural Alliance (ILICA) in New York was called: “Saving Venezia & Protecting New Orleans.” The leaders of the M.O.S.E. project (Modulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico or Experimental Electromechanical Module) were in New York to demonstrate how the technology designed to save Venice can be applied to New Orleans. Here, Dr. Maria Teresa Brotto explains how this Italian high-tech project will work.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
As consumers, we fight a battle every time we enter a supermarket. Do we buy or do we not buy? Is it healthy or unhealthy? Will it be tasty or disgusting? A burden is placed on us to utilize the wealth of knowledge at our disposal so that we do not make ignorant decisions. Between the internet, books, and magazines about every topic imaginable, we become handicapped by knowledge. We assume we can trust food companies because clearly they would not trick us if it’s so easy for us to research into the truth about their products. The only problem is that this assumption makes us lazy and we do not end up doing our research. We trust that if a product says it is “Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce,” then it must be. Clearly the company would be penalized for lying. Unfortunately, this is not the case and we buy into food counterfeiting scams every day.
Samantha Cristoforetti became Italy’s first woman astronaut this year when a 32-year-old Italian Air Force pilot became the European Space Agency’s first female pick.
by C. BENEDETTI
Galileo Galilei, one of history’s most influential astronomers, may have started from humble beginnings, but by the end of his life he had produced some of science’s most significant discoveries.
by Piergiorgio ODIFREDDI
On January 7, 1610, Galileo wrote a letter to Antonio de’ Medici where he briefly reported on the results of his first observations of the sky through a telescope exactly 400 years ago, late in the summer of 1609. The letter concluded with some news of the day: “Only this evening I have seen Jupiter accompanied by three fixed stars totally invisible because of their smallness.” With understandable and justifiable pride, he also noticed: “We can believe to have been the first in the world to discover something about the heavenly bodies from so nearby and so distinctly.”
by Mario BIAGIOLI
Modern scientists have become increasingly aggressive in protecting their intellectual property by patenting their discoveries and, sometimes, by keeping them secret. Galileo anticipated this trend.
by Matteo VALLIERIANI
The interested reader may have noticed how historians in recent decades have attempted to deconstruct the identity of Galileo Galilei. He is no longer just the great astronomer or even just the founder of the modern experimental method in science. Even the political value of his work and his life, systematically reconsidered in the frame of the debates about the relation between Church and research institutions or between religion and science, is no longer the single relevant perspective for approaching this kind of historical thread. Thanks to the work of historians of science of the last twenty years, readers are now used to very different interpretations. Galileo is now also a heretic, a revolutionary martyr, a mathematician, an Aristotelian natural philosopher, an artist – almost with brush and palette in his hand – and finally a gifted courtier. This, however, is only an apparent process of fragmentation. Historiographically speaking, a process of this kind tends to cancel categories such as “genius” from scientific activities and their histories. Such categories are used to justify the impossibility of explaining historical phenomena. In other terms, the actual history of science requires science and its history to remain rational activities. For this reason, it is relevant to undertake an investigation of Galileo in all of his contexts.
by Paolo PALMIERI
When Galileo Galilei was a student at the University of Pisa in the 1580s, physics was a loose bundle of ideas inherited from the Greeks, mostly from the philosopher Aristotle, via the mediation of the Latin Middle Ages. Projectiles keep going after being released by their projectors because air keeps pushing them for a while, as the most in vogue theory of the time would have it (though there were variations). Theirs is a violent motion. Heavy things fall downwards because the centre of the earth is the natural place for them to achieve their natural state of rest. Theirs is a natural motion. Pendulums are constrained motions. Is the motion of a pendulum violent or natural? Why does it turn back after reaching a summit? Why do violent motions such as those of cannon balls cease? These were the questions a professor of physics would investigate at that time.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
Breakthroughs, progress, solutions, new theories, modern research… all of these words conjure up images of discovery and contribution in the scientific world. Grasping the natural world and understanding what we cannot see provides a sense of satisfaction, even comfort, to most. Science, however, is an example of a field where solutions and progress are actually driven by a certain dissatisfaction with what is already known. It is discomfort with the status quo that has motivated many scientists to push for new answers, alternative options; and to test and ponder persistently until they are satisfied with a new reality. Many scientists throughout history questioned the laws of nature that guide the movement of the stars and planets. It was previously believed that until Galileo, scientists never began to truly speculate on the theories put forth by Aristotle. It did not seem as though anyone had really questioned and researched into creation of the universal systems until Galileo came along. As everyone was frantically searching for an answer they could believe in, Galileo put forth solutions even though his research and his conclusions eventually led to his persecution.
by Laura GIACALONE
The history of arts as we know it today wouldn’t be the same without the support provided by kings, popes and rich aristocratic families to musicians, painters and sculptors. This phenomenon, which is usually referred to as “patronage,” had its maximum development in Italy during Renaissance, when the major masterpieces in the history of art were conceived and came to life, mainly thanks to the influence of the House of Medici in Florence. Among the artists who benefited from their sponsorship were Brunelleschi, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
by Laura GIACALONE
The Medici Granducal Archive (Mediceo del Principato)
For over two centuries, the Medici family ruled Tuscany as sovereign Grand Dukes. Their archival collection – called the Mediceo del Principato – has survived virtually intact in the State Archive in Florence (Archivio di Stato di Firenze). It covers the chronological span of their rule: from the moment Cosimo I became Duke of Florence in 1537 to the death in 1743 of Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, sister of Gian Gastone, the last of the Medici Grand Dukes. In other words, it begins with Michelangelo’s work on the Last Judgment and ends with the birth of Thomas Jefferson.
by Laura GIACALONE
A yearly appointment not to be missed by film critics and moviegoers from all around the world, the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival confirms itself as one of the most prestigious events in the film calendar, with a rich and variegated selection of international titles and the ever-present parade of stars and celebrities.
by Efthalia STAIKOS
The California Academy of Sciences, guided by the mastermind architect Renzo Piano, has successfully created a self-sustaining, green structure. Its excellence was acknowledged by the U.S. Green Building Council that awarded it Platinum status. LEED Platinum (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the highest rating a building can achieve. The Academy, a design of Renzo Piano’s, is now the greenest museum in the world, and the largest Platinum-rated public building in the world. The science that went into creating the building did nothing to take away from the beauty of its design, which uniquely integrates it into the surrounding Golden Gate Park.
by Genny DI BERT
“The field of physics/mathematics that characterizes the imposing works of Algio Mongelli is transformed by an expressive freedom that confounds any scientific pattern. The unity and sythnesis achieved in his creations, whether large sculptural manifestations in stainless steel or geometric graphic forms, reveal the exceptional quality of this artist among the most successful contemporary artists.”
Thus wrote Nobel prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini in 1994 referring to the Roman artist Algio Mongelli (born 1939). An astute observation on the part of a perceptive scientist who, oblivious to the writings of the most renowned and profound art critics (Mussa, Masi, Strinati, Benincasa, Crispolti, Restany, Berger) arrived at the most defining aspect of the artist’s work: sythesis. It is from this core that his works originate––seemingly simplistic, oddly logical in content, their structure a relationship between space and substance.
Nicknamed “Italy’s national darling,” Federica Pelligrini, has not only just wooed her home country, but has attracted international attention with her record-smashing swimming feats.
by Laura GIACALONE
A man whose mind has gone astray should study mathematics,” said philosopher Francis Bacon, pointing out a strict relationship between mathematical thought and that kind of extraordinary, sometimes borderline, sensitivity that is commonly associated to poetry. That must be the case of Paolo Giordano, a 27-year-old Italian scientist working on a doctorate in particle physics, who has recently won five literary awards – included the prestigious Premio Strega, Italy’s answer to the Man Booker Prize – with his bestselling debut novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Tracing Romeo Montecchi’s lovesick footsteps down a small street in Verona, discover the former home of Capuleti, where on a front-facing balcony their beloved Giulietta once waited for her boyfriend. Lovers and dreamers place notes of affection on a nearby wall, and touch the statue of the young Veronese woman.
Italian food has come a long way in recent years. To take London as an example, the all-in ‘Italian’ restaurant serving Spaghetti Bolognese (‘Spagbol’ in common parlance), an Anglo-American invention, together with variety of other standard fare regarded as generic to all regions are now on the way out. No doubt helped by the 500,000 […]
Massimiliano Alajmo comes from a long line of successful chefs and restaurateurs. In 1993, Alajmo began to work with his mother, chef Rita Chimetto, at Le Calandre in Veneto, Italy. He was appointed head chef a year later. When the restaurant received its third Michelin star, Alajmo became the youngest chef to obtain the achievement […]
By Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
At a recent talk at Rome’s MAXXI Museum, Ferdinando Scianna recounted being asked if he considered himself an artist. Paraphrasing him, he said, No, I’m not an artist, I’m a photographer.
The Michelozzo Library at the Museum of San Marco in Florence reopened after undergoing an urgent one-year renovation, including restoration of the floor’s original design and the addition of panels that depict the library’s history.
British Scientist Peter T. Kirstein, a key figure in the creation and internationalization of the internet, received the 2015 Marconi Prize.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its new home in the Meatpacking District between the High Line and the Hudson River with inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See.
New York’s beloved Italian bookstore, formerly situated on 57th Street, plans to re-open in 2015.
Alessandro Michele was named Creative Director of fashion giant Gucci.
Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella visited Manhattan in early March, 2015 to encourage investment in Florence through real estate and tourism ventures.
Alberto MILANI, CEO of Buccellati INC., is the new president of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
Italy’s Carabinieri recovered €50 million worth of stolen national treasures in January 2015.
From May 1 to October 31 2015, Milan hosts a world’s fair with the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”
Tullio Lombardo’s Adam is the only signed piece created to decorate the colossal tomb of Venice’s Doge Andrea Vendramin and one of the few Renaissance masterpieces outside of Italy.
By Veronica Maria WHITE
A remarkable French Baroque artist helps establish a genre
By Ludovica ROSSI PURINI
An interview with Mario Peliti
By Gianluca MARZIANI
Italian photography never disappoints: years pass and new names are added to the landscape of talent that is constantly emerging.
By Laura GIACALONE
CHARLES H. TRAUB, DOLCE VIA: ITALY IN THE 1980S. DAMIANI, 2014.
By Barbara ZORZOLI
Since the beginning of the 20th century photography has been an extremely successful means to promote fashion all over the world.
Rome’s MAXXI Museum highlights Italy’s rich fashion design past with the exhibition Bellissima: Italy and High Fashion 1945-1968.
photography by Mauro BENEDETTI The City as a landscape, its roughness smoothed out through the photographer’s art–acknowledging the sky (not far) above its myriad ceilings and spires.
Etcetera Opening at MAXXI Museum, Rome John Cabot University Gala at the Union League Club La Scuola Marconi Gala at Cipriani
Molly Rossi
Some faces suit their era, some faces seem to tran- scend reality for the moment before they are for- gotten, and some faces, regardless of time and age, are simply unforgettable.
Letizia Airos’ farewell to Massimo Vignelli
Richard Ginori, the historic porcelain maker located in Florence, recently presented their 2014 table collection in collaboration with Gucci.
In Field of Dogs, Lech Majewski views the world on an intimate level, searching the deep and darkest parts of the mind and exposing them to the audience.
Sponsored by renowned Italian fashion powerhouse Bulgari, the show presented the most comprehensive display on the history of Italian fashion to date.
Luca Parmitano made history this summer when he became the youngest astronaut on a long-term assignment to the 2013 Space Station mission.
Two speeches to the United Nations General Assembly on maintaining the health of the planet’s seas
For centuries the Schiava Turca has eluded interpretation and, to date, no proposed identity for Parmigianino’s mysterious woman has been convincing.
By Gianluca MARZIANI
A selection of seven contemporary artists out of Italy to note
By Gianluca MARZIANI
Italian photography never disappoints: years pass and new names are added to the landscape of talent that is constantly emerging.
By Gianluca MARZIANI
A selection of seven contemporary artists out of Italy to note
by Gianluca Marziani
We see it, on the wall of a gallery or museum, indoors or outdoors, in or on a monitor screen, hanging, suspended or resting … to us the work of art always appears as a finished project. Ultimately, we see the end result and (almost) never behind the scenes, with executive backstage passes to witness the time between conception and design.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
The question seems simple: who are the most influential Italian artists in the American context? The answer can also be simple, if we limit the list to include only the giants that the world envies Italy for. If instead we want to test the influences on the present (at the moment that the events occur) or their influences beyond their giant status (in a context outside of their irreplaceable names), it is therefore necessary to define a suitable criterion, a measurement of incisiveness that doesn’t stop with history or the market, but touches on the figurative conscience of the work, the background and backstage of the events, the hidden inspirations, and the deepest linguistic intuitions.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
The topic of which I write arrives in the nick of time (perhaps I should say in the “flick” of time in honor of the filmatic subject). What follows is a general exploration of Italian video art, the subject of a fortunate concomitance with the exhibition I have just curated for the Rocco Guglielmo Foundation. Entitled Electronic Body, the show gathers together 16 artists using the video medium exclusively to express a range of issues, approaches and visions.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
Italian Contemporary Art: Three words suggesting such a tangle of opposing considerations, cultural and commercial developments and widespread interests that it is quite difficult to have a comprehensive picture of it. For historical reasons and recent twisted events, the Italian art world embodies an anomalous reality, both for its well-acknowledged qualities and its congenital faults. We have a great tradition of art that the world much appreciates – this goes without saying. From Giotto to Mario Schifano, enviable talents and universal geniuses have come one after the other, producing new expressive modes and groundbreaking innovations.
Venetian Heritage Gala. La Fondazione’s La Notte Gala. The Futurist Imagination at the Pope Center. Aldo Ragone Performs Beethoven at IAF Reception. Just Ancient Loops Screening. Capolavori Productions presents The Red and the Black.
by Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
It is essentially American to assimilate the influences of its myriad foreign-born communities and traditions while nonetheless individuating them. And one could say that Italian culture is “one of a kind” and not readily integrated. Italianità in America has mostly resisted over-adaptation and watered-down versions of itself, creating an almost amorous symbiosis between the two.
Italian fashion house Fendi is donating 2.12 million euros to the restoration of the iconic Trevi Fountain in Rome. Located in the historic center of the city, the beautiful Baroque fountain is badly in need of repairs.
The widow and daughter of the late Italian pop artist and poet Mimmo Rotella have established an institute in Milan which, together with the Rotella Foundation in Torino, will authenticate the Calabrese artist’s works, organize exhibitions, grant copyrights, and create an updated catalogue.
The fact that 2013 is the Verdi bicentennial makes it all the more fitting that Riccardo Muti won this year’s Premio Giustiniano, Ravenna’s top prize for arts and culture. Muti is arguably the most famous contemporary Italian conductor, and has always considered Verdi a muse and an inspiration, recently releasing a book about him.
World-renowned violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti debuted in Rome this March. The Scottish-born daughter of Italian immigrants started playing at age four, and by the age of eight had auditioned for and made the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. By age nine, she had passed all eight grades of musical examinations. By 16, she had studied under Yehudi Menuhin, won BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and signed with a record label.
by Laura GIACALONE
Considered the Oscar of Italian design, as well as an authoritative barometer of the state of the cultural debate on industrial design itself, the Compasso d’Oro award is the major acknowledgement of Italian design and enjoys a high reputation throughout the world, so much so that London’s prestigious Phaidon Press has selected it among the top 999 design classics of all time.
Many are familiar with the dual aim of the construction of the new MetroNapoli: easing urban transportation woes while providing a small escape from “the real world” through art. Five of the city’s metro stations have been turned into “art stations” showcasing the genius of modern artists all over the world.
The Gucci loafer, one of the most iconic shoes to ever be “Made in Italy,” turns 60 this year. In 1953, Gucci transformed the concept of the loafer, or “mocassino” with the release of its own version. This did more than simply make the Gucci brand name famous–the loafer became synonymous with the brand.
compiled by Tegan GEORGE
Nobel Italians Prize Winners Throughout History: A Story Of Achievement
by Laura GIACALONE
Home to many of the world’s largest technology corporations as well as thousands of small startups, Silicon Valley is the place where the future is written. It is no accident that former Google manager and dynamic leader Marco Marinucci has decided to start his new (ad)venture – as he likes to call it – exactly from there.
by Laura GIACALONE
It is generally very difficult to find current data on newly formed companies and their founders. Most official statistics refer to traditional businesses or are generally outdated by the time they are released, which makes it difficult for policymakers and other institutional players to have a better understanding of this phenomenon and address the needs of early-stage business owners.
by Pasquale VERDICCHIO
Given the impressive cultural heritage on constant display along the length and breadth of the peninsula, it seems almost banal to say that Italian culture is highly visual. Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), considered to be the first “modern” intellectual, gives an unprecedented, detailed description of the human eye as an instrument of visualization and encoding in one of his poems that is as “technologically” accurate as any contemporary description of a photo camera might be today.
by Keith Evan GREEN “The house is never finished” – Gio Ponti’s architectural fables An ‘architect-artist’ true to his name, Gio Ponti (1891-1979, Milan) created connections between architecture, culture and industry, both inside and outside Italy. In bridging various expressive tendencies, Ponti assumed a number of roles himself: architect, industrial designer, set designer, painter, editor, […]
by Patrick RUMBLE
Pier Paolo Pasolini is widely recognized as one of Italy’s most important cultural figures since the Second World War, producing a remarkable body of work since the 1940s, as a writer, poet, dramatist, and filmmaker – perhaps best known for such films as Accattone (1960) and Salò (1975), his classic novel A Violent Life (1955), and the remarkable poems found in The Ashes of Gramsci (1957).
by Marguerite WALLER
A film that will now never be made was going to fill in the story of the forty-eight hours during which Federico Fellini went missing in L.A. just before he received the Foreign Film Oscar for Nights of Cabiria in l958. Sadly, Henry Bromell, a New Yorker-turned-television writer (Northern Exposure, Homicide, I’ll Fly Away, Chicago Hope, Brotherhood, Rubicon, Homeland), died suddenly of a heart attack just as he was due to direct his own script, Fellini Black and White, in which Fellini encounters a Black jazz musician with whom he spends those two days exploring the counter cultures of late 50s Los Angeles.
by Ara H. MERJIAN
Painted in Paris and Ferrara in the mid-1910s, several of Giorgio de Chirico’s Metaphysical paintings like The Seer (1914-15) indeed recall the prosthetic bodies that came to populate Europe’s cities in the wake of the Great War. Perched on a stage-like rostrum like a shop window prophet, The Seer epitomizes de Chirico’s Nietzsche-inspired vow “to see everything, even man, in its quality of thing.”
by James JOHNSON
Niccolò Machiavelli’s Prince is perhaps the purest anatomy of power ever written. The book follows its declared intent in stark terms without fear or hesitation: to show rulers how to succeed in the world as it is, not as it should be.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
The question seems simple: who are the most influential Italian artists in the American context? The answer can also be simple, if we limit the list to include only the giants that the world envies Italy for. If instead we want to test the influences on the present (at the moment that the events occur) or their influences beyond their giant status (in a context outside of their irreplaceable names), it is therefore necessary to define a suitable criterion, a measurement of incisiveness that doesn’t stop with history or the market, but touches on the figurative conscience of the work, the background and backstage of the events, the hidden inspirations, and the deepest linguistic intuitions.
by Barbara ZORZOLI
Elsa Schiaparelli, “Schiap” to friends (born in Rome on September 10, 1890), was an innovative woman and fashion designer and had a lot of “firsts” in the fashion industry. Her first collection in 1927, in fact, consisted of sweaters adorned with surrealist trompe l’oeil images – a theme that was to become Schiaparelli’s trademark (featured in American Vogue).
by Ludovica Rossi PURINI
LUDOVICA ROSSI PURINI: In what way can we talk about the contribution of Italian architects to the culture of architecture in the United States?
FRANCO PURINI: Italian architecture has profoundly influenced the development of American architecture, whether it’s in a direct or an indirect way. It’s a testimony of the works of many of the great American architects of the past century. Only one example is really necessary: the strong analogy between the Guggenheim of New York, by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the stairs of the Vatican Museums, by Giuseppe Momo, who the American architect visited in 1939.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Bernini’s Trevi Fountain in the heart of Rome became a modern icon with La Dolce Vita. Here captured at night, its eternally-flowing waters and flickering lights inspire thousands to whisper their heart’s desires at its edge. . . Meanwhile in Piazza Navona, a fierce sea creature hovers over tide of the “Four […]
by Laura GIACALONE
The perception of Italian culture abroad is mostly anchored to the country’s great artistic and literary heritage, to the extent that Italy is more clearly understood and celebrated for what it once was, than what it is now. If we restrict our field of observation to the book market, we can see how the authors translated and distributed abroad actually contribute to shaping the identity and perception of a given culture.
by Tegan GEORGE
Italians who have impacted the world bring to mind either Renaissance masters, ancient statesmen or contemporary entertainers and designers, like Roberto Benigni, Sofia Loren, Giorgio Armani, or Guccio Gucci. We don’t, however, often think of physicists. This changed after December 19, 2012, when Milanese physicist Fabiola Gianotti was named runnerup for Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
Italian food has come a long way in recent years. To take London as an example, the all-in ‘Italian’ restaurant serving Spaghetti Bolognese (‘Spagbol’ in common parlance), an Anglo-American invention, together with variety of other standard fare regarded as generic to all regions are now on the way out. No doubt helped by the 500,000 […]
By Ludovica ROSSI PURINI
An interview with Mario Peliti
by Ludovica ROSSI PURINI
Giorgio Battistelli is an award-winning composer of classical music, opera and musical theater, performed by such greats as Riccardo Muti, Antonio Pappano, Lorin Maazel, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Ádám Fischer and others.
by Ludovica Rossi PURINI
LUDOVICA ROSSI PURINI: In what way can we talk about the contribution of Italian architects to the culture of architecture in the United States?
FRANCO PURINI: Italian architecture has profoundly influenced the development of American architecture, whether it’s in a direct or an indirect way. It’s a testimony of the works of many of the great American architects of the past century. Only one example is really necessary: the strong analogy between the Guggenheim of New York, by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the stairs of the Vatican Museums, by Giuseppe Momo, who the American architect visited in 1939.
Venetian Heritage Gala. La Fondazione’s La Notte Gala. The Futurist Imagination at the Pope Center. Aldo Ragone Performs Beethoven at IAF Reception. Just Ancient Loops Screening. Capolavori Productions presents The Red and the Black.
by Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
It is essentially American to assimilate the influences of its myriad foreign-born communities and traditions while nonetheless individuating them. And one could say that Italian culture is “one of a kind” and not readily integrated. Italianità in America has mostly resisted over-adaptation and watered-down versions of itself, creating an almost amorous symbiosis between the two.
Italian fashion house Fendi is donating 2.12 million euros to the restoration of the iconic Trevi Fountain in Rome. Located in the historic center of the city, the beautiful Baroque fountain is badly in need of repairs.
The widow and daughter of the late Italian pop artist and poet Mimmo Rotella have established an institute in Milan which, together with the Rotella Foundation in Torino, will authenticate the Calabrese artist’s works, organize exhibitions, grant copyrights, and create an updated catalogue.
The fact that 2013 is the Verdi bicentennial makes it all the more fitting that Riccardo Muti won this year’s Premio Giustiniano, Ravenna’s top prize for arts and culture. Muti is arguably the most famous contemporary Italian conductor, and has always considered Verdi a muse and an inspiration, recently releasing a book about him.
World-renowned violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti debuted in Rome this March. The Scottish-born daughter of Italian immigrants started playing at age four, and by the age of eight had auditioned for and made the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. By age nine, she had passed all eight grades of musical examinations. By 16, she had studied under Yehudi Menuhin, won BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and signed with a record label.
by Laura GIACALONE
Considered the Oscar of Italian design, as well as an authoritative barometer of the state of the cultural debate on industrial design itself, the Compasso d’Oro award is the major acknowledgement of Italian design and enjoys a high reputation throughout the world, so much so that London’s prestigious Phaidon Press has selected it among the top 999 design classics of all time.
Many are familiar with the dual aim of the construction of the new MetroNapoli: easing urban transportation woes while providing a small escape from “the real world” through art. Five of the city’s metro stations have been turned into “art stations” showcasing the genius of modern artists all over the world.
The Gucci loafer, one of the most iconic shoes to ever be “Made in Italy,” turns 60 this year. In 1953, Gucci transformed the concept of the loafer, or “mocassino” with the release of its own version. This did more than simply make the Gucci brand name famous–the loafer became synonymous with the brand.
by Laura GIACALONE
Home to many of the world’s largest technology corporations as well as thousands of small startups, Silicon Valley is the place where the future is written. It is no accident that former Google manager and dynamic leader Marco Marinucci has decided to start his new (ad)venture – as he likes to call it – exactly from there.
by Laura GIACALONE
It is generally very difficult to find current data on newly formed companies and their founders. Most official statistics refer to traditional businesses or are generally outdated by the time they are released, which makes it difficult for policymakers and other institutional players to have a better understanding of this phenomenon and address the needs of early-stage business owners.
by Pasquale VERDICCHIO
Given the impressive cultural heritage on constant display along the length and breadth of the peninsula, it seems almost banal to say that Italian culture is highly visual. Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), considered to be the first “modern” intellectual, gives an unprecedented, detailed description of the human eye as an instrument of visualization and encoding in one of his poems that is as “technologically” accurate as any contemporary description of a photo camera might be today.
by Keith Evan GREEN “The house is never finished” – Gio Ponti’s architectural fables An ‘architect-artist’ true to his name, Gio Ponti (1891-1979, Milan) created connections between architecture, culture and industry, both inside and outside Italy. In bridging various expressive tendencies, Ponti assumed a number of roles himself: architect, industrial designer, set designer, painter, editor, […]
by Patrick RUMBLE
Pier Paolo Pasolini is widely recognized as one of Italy’s most important cultural figures since the Second World War, producing a remarkable body of work since the 1940s, as a writer, poet, dramatist, and filmmaker – perhaps best known for such films as Accattone (1960) and Salò (1975), his classic novel A Violent Life (1955), and the remarkable poems found in The Ashes of Gramsci (1957).
by Marguerite WALLER
A film that will now never be made was going to fill in the story of the forty-eight hours during which Federico Fellini went missing in L.A. just before he received the Foreign Film Oscar for Nights of Cabiria in l958. Sadly, Henry Bromell, a New Yorker-turned-television writer (Northern Exposure, Homicide, I’ll Fly Away, Chicago Hope, Brotherhood, Rubicon, Homeland), died suddenly of a heart attack just as he was due to direct his own script, Fellini Black and White, in which Fellini encounters a Black jazz musician with whom he spends those two days exploring the counter cultures of late 50s Los Angeles.
by Ara H. MERJIAN
Painted in Paris and Ferrara in the mid-1910s, several of Giorgio de Chirico’s Metaphysical paintings like The Seer (1914-15) indeed recall the prosthetic bodies that came to populate Europe’s cities in the wake of the Great War. Perched on a stage-like rostrum like a shop window prophet, The Seer epitomizes de Chirico’s Nietzsche-inspired vow “to see everything, even man, in its quality of thing.”
by James JOHNSON
Niccolò Machiavelli’s Prince is perhaps the purest anatomy of power ever written. The book follows its declared intent in stark terms without fear or hesitation: to show rulers how to succeed in the world as it is, not as it should be.
by Gianluca MARZIANI
The question seems simple: who are the most influential Italian artists in the American context? The answer can also be simple, if we limit the list to include only the giants that the world envies Italy for. If instead we want to test the influences on the present (at the moment that the events occur) or their influences beyond their giant status (in a context outside of their irreplaceable names), it is therefore necessary to define a suitable criterion, a measurement of incisiveness that doesn’t stop with history or the market, but touches on the figurative conscience of the work, the background and backstage of the events, the hidden inspirations, and the deepest linguistic intuitions.
by Barbara ZORZOLI
Elsa Schiaparelli, “Schiap” to friends (born in Rome on September 10, 1890), was an innovative woman and fashion designer and had a lot of “firsts” in the fashion industry. Her first collection in 1927, in fact, consisted of sweaters adorned with surrealist trompe l’oeil images – a theme that was to become Schiaparelli’s trademark (featured in American Vogue).
by Ludovica Rossi PURINI
LUDOVICA ROSSI PURINI: In what way can we talk about the contribution of Italian architects to the culture of architecture in the United States?
FRANCO PURINI: Italian architecture has profoundly influenced the development of American architecture, whether it’s in a direct or an indirect way. It’s a testimony of the works of many of the great American architects of the past century. Only one example is really necessary: the strong analogy between the Guggenheim of New York, by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the stairs of the Vatican Museums, by Giuseppe Momo, who the American architect visited in 1939.
by Mauro BENEDETTI Bernini’s Trevi Fountain in the heart of Rome became a modern icon with La Dolce Vita. Here captured at night, its eternally-flowing waters and flickering lights inspire thousands to whisper their heart’s desires at its edge. . . Meanwhile in Piazza Navona, a fierce sea creature hovers over tide of the “Four […]
by Laura GIACALONE
The perception of Italian culture abroad is mostly anchored to the country’s great artistic and literary heritage, to the extent that Italy is more clearly understood and celebrated for what it once was, than what it is now. If we restrict our field of observation to the book market, we can see how the authors translated and distributed abroad actually contribute to shaping the identity and perception of a given culture.
by Tegan GEORGE
Italians who have impacted the world bring to mind either Renaissance masters, ancient statesmen or contemporary entertainers and designers, like Roberto Benigni, Sofia Loren, Giorgio Armani, or Guccio Gucci. We don’t, however, often think of physicists. This changed after December 19, 2012, when Milanese physicist Fabiola Gianotti was named runnerup for Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
No. 13 /Autumn 2014 For this third issue, we will be particularly interested in receiving contributions focusing on the surviving old Italian craftsmanship and the role of handiwork and production in future economies. Suggested topics include: The survival of old craftsmanship today: the thin line between art and crafts. Profiles of fabric makers, leather workers, […]
Number 14 / Winter 2014 The Winter issue is open to contributions focusing on the great Michelangelo in honor of the 450th anniversary of his death.
Number 12 / Summer 2014 The Summer issue is open to contributions focusing on the old and new masters of Italian photography. Suggested topics include: Italy through photographs portraying its landscapes, people, and street life. The greatest masters in the history of Italian photography. International photographers who have chosen Italy as a privileged subject. Italian […]
Number 10. Spring 2014. The New Italians to Note / Recent Successes, Emerging Talents (working title) This number is open to contributions focusing on the best contemporary and recent voices in the Italian literary, artistic and musical scene. Suggested topics include: Literature Best-selling contemporary authors; Rising stars and most promising writers; Challenges and Opportunities for […]
By Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
At a recent talk at Rome’s MAXXI Museum, Ferdinando Scianna recounted being asked if he considered himself an artist. Paraphrasing him, he said, No, I’m not an artist, I’m a photographer.
The Michelozzo Library at the Museum of San Marco in Florence reopened after undergoing an urgent one-year renovation, including restoration of the floor’s original design and the addition of panels that depict the library’s history.
British Scientist Peter T. Kirstein, a key figure in the creation and internationalization of the internet, received the 2015 Marconi Prize.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its new home in the Meatpacking District between the High Line and the Hudson River with inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See.
New York’s beloved Italian bookstore, formerly situated on 57th Street, plans to re-open in 2015.
Alessandro Michele was named Creative Director of fashion giant Gucci.
Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella visited Manhattan in early March, 2015 to encourage investment in Florence through real estate and tourism ventures.
Alberto MILANI, CEO of Buccellati INC., is the new president of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
Italy’s Carabinieri recovered €50 million worth of stolen national treasures in January 2015.
From May 1 to October 31 2015, Milan hosts a world’s fair with the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”
Tullio Lombardo’s Adam is the only signed piece created to decorate the colossal tomb of Venice’s Doge Andrea Vendramin and one of the few Renaissance masterpieces outside of Italy.
By Veronica Maria WHITE
A remarkable French Baroque artist helps establish a genre
By David A. LEWIS
We live in an age saturated by printed photographs, motion pictures, broadcast media, and digital dis- plays. A constant stream of photographic images variously delight, confront, and perplex us.
Mimmo JODICE
“All my work is born out of a moment of emotion, all my photography is the result of a particular encounter that determines my unique state of being. It’s as is the forms, the objects, the landscapes and the light were preparing for me, always awaiting me. Beneath an appearance of normalcy, my works hold and evoke a deep stirring inside of me for all that has occurred or will occur; and reveal memories of times past.”
Franco FONTANA
“Taking photographs is an act of knowledge – it is a taking possession. What we photograph are not images but reproductions of ourselves. Creativity does not illustrate or imitate. It interprets, thus becoming the quest for an ideal truth. Creative photography does not reproduce but interprets by making the invisible visible.”
G. Berengo GARDIIN
“The photographer views the world differently from non-photographers because the photographer wants to – I don’t want to say seal – but appreciate the situation.”
Works from the exhibition “Italia Inside Out” at Palazzo della Ragione Fotografia, Milan through June 21, 2015
Charles H. TRAUB
“Italy looked to me like a dystopia whose inhabitants acted as if they were living in heaven. Not all of them, of course, but many. And those many ended up in my pictures. I thought they might be viewed as typical, you know, not universal types, but common enough to be significant in a representative way.”
Luca CAMPIGOTTO
“As a photographer, my fate is to remain forever hostage to my own gaze, destined to the mission of memory, to the circular motion of nostalgia.”
By Davide BRAMANTE
“My way of photographing is identical to the way I remember, think, dream, hope and imagine. Everything happens through the overlapping of time and space. I use photography in the same way as I use my mind.”
Anders PETERSEN
“In short, people are always my most important source of inspiration, and I love Rome.”
By Marina SPUNTA
Luigi Ghirri (1943-1992) is widely recognized in Italy (and, increasingly, abroad) as a leading photographer who since the 1970s gave a new impetus to Italian photography and a new aesthetic identity to everyday places, while contributing to founding an ‘Italian school of (landscape) photography’.
Maurizio GALIMBERTI
“Photography is an instrument that creates emotions without the barrier of perfection. It is exactly through imperfection that emotions emerge. I started with polaroid, but my search for emotional strength has been going on also in the digital age. To me, photography is a means to devour reality and capture the magic hidden behind it.”
Paola DI BELLO
“The visual expedient is a method to express the overcoming of preconceived visions and to establish a “surprise” visual that produces deeper insight into phenomena. I am interested in showing a second version of reality.
Marzia MIGLIORA
“Photography is an immense, inexhaustible source of ideas, notes, memories – a method to mark time and its passage. It is the sign of the present that leaves traces of itself. In my research, photography is always present as a timely look at the surroundings, thanks to the ability of synthesis in which even a single shot becomes a story.”
Marina Ballo CHARMET
“A sacred subject is the everyday one – the ‘always seen’, ‘the background noise in our minds’. My view is characterized by a perceptual mobility, out of focus and sideways – similar to a childlike vision, which reconstitutes a fluctuating vision, a ‘peripheral awareness’, not centrally related to our preconceptions. A vision opposite to anthropocentrism.”
Frank DITURI
Images of motion express ethereal
Livio MANCINI
“I go back to places I know, but they are changing. I know these places, but they are new to me at the same time. So I realized that the horizon is a mental line that I was starting to visualize in terms of experience, in terms of knowledge, dreams and so on.”
Mauro BENEDETTI
“I love photographing Rome, it is the city I live in and where I experience the daily tension between the ancient backbone and the need to accommodate the contemporary flow.”
A March 2015 conference at the American Academy of Rome addresses the role of Photography in Italian Art History
By Claudia PALMIRA ACUNTO
At a recent talk at Rome’s MAXXI Museum, Ferdinando Scianna recounted being asked if he considered himself an artist. Paraphrasing him, he said, No, I’m not an artist, I’m a photographer.
The Michelozzo Library at the Museum of San Marco in Florence reopened after undergoing an urgent one-year renovation, including restoration of the floor’s original design and the addition of panels that depict the library’s history.
British Scientist Peter T. Kirstein, a key figure in the creation and internationalization of the internet, received the 2015 Marconi Prize.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened its new home in the Meatpacking District between the High Line and the Hudson River with inaugural exhibition America is Hard to See.
New York’s beloved Italian bookstore, formerly situated on 57th Street, plans to re-open in 2015.
Alessandro Michele was named Creative Director of fashion giant Gucci.
Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella visited Manhattan in early March, 2015 to encourage investment in Florence through real estate and tourism ventures.
Alberto MILANI, CEO of Buccellati INC., is the new president of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC).
Italy’s Carabinieri recovered €50 million worth of stolen national treasures in January 2015.
From May 1 to October 31 2015, Milan hosts a world’s fair with the theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”
Tullio Lombardo’s Adam is the only signed piece created to decorate the colossal tomb of Venice’s Doge Andrea Vendramin and one of the few Renaissance masterpieces outside of Italy.
By Veronica Maria WHITE
A remarkable French Baroque artist helps establish a genre
By David A. LEWIS
We live in an age saturated by printed photographs, motion pictures, broadcast media, and digital dis- plays. A constant stream of photographic images variously delight, confront, and perplex us.
Mimmo JODICE
“All my work is born out of a moment of emotion, all my photography is the result of a particular encounter that determines my unique state of being. It’s as is the forms, the objects, the landscapes and the light were preparing for me, always awaiting me. Beneath an appearance of normalcy, my works hold and evoke a deep stirring inside of me for all that has occurred or will occur; and reveal memories of times past.”
Franco FONTANA
“Taking photographs is an act of knowledge – it is a taking possession. What we photograph are not images but reproductions of ourselves. Creativity does not illustrate or imitate. It interprets, thus becoming the quest for an ideal truth. Creative photography does not reproduce but interprets by making the invisible visible.”
G. Berengo GARDIIN
“The photographer views the world differently from non-photographers because the photographer wants to – I don’t want to say seal – but appreciate the situation.”
Works from the exhibition “Italia Inside Out” at Palazzo della Ragione Fotografia, Milan through June 21, 2015
Charles H. TRAUB
“Italy looked to me like a dystopia whose inhabitants acted as if they were living in heaven. Not all of them, of course, but many. And those many ended up in my pictures. I thought they might be viewed as typical, you know, not universal types, but common enough to be significant in a representative way.”
Luca CAMPIGOTTO
“As a photographer, my fate is to remain forever hostage to my own gaze, destined to the mission of memory, to the circular motion of nostalgia.”
By Davide BRAMANTE
“My way of photographing is identical to the way I remember, think, dream, hope and imagine. Everything happens through the overlapping of time and space. I use photography in the same way as I use my mind.”
Anders PETERSEN
“In short, people are always my most important source of inspiration, and I love Rome.”
By Marina SPUNTA
Luigi Ghirri (1943-1992) is widely recognized in Italy (and, increasingly, abroad) as a leading photographer who since the 1970s gave a new impetus to Italian photography and a new aesthetic identity to everyday places, while contributing to founding an ‘Italian school of (landscape) photography’.
Maurizio GALIMBERTI
“Photography is an instrument that creates emotions without the barrier of perfection. It is exactly through imperfection that emotions emerge. I started with polaroid, but my search for emotional strength has been going on also in the digital age. To me, photography is a means to devour reality and capture the magic hidden behind it.”
Paola DI BELLO
“The visual expedient is a method to express the overcoming of preconceived visions and to establish a “surprise” visual that produces deeper insight into phenomena. I am interested in showing a second version of reality.
Marzia MIGLIORA
“Photography is an immense, inexhaustible source of ideas, notes, memories – a method to mark time and its passage. It is the sign of the present that leaves traces of itself. In my research, photography is always present as a timely look at the surroundings, thanks to the ability of synthesis in which even a single shot becomes a story.”
Marina Ballo CHARMET
“A sacred subject is the everyday one – the ‘always seen’, ‘the background noise in our minds’. My view is characterized by a perceptual mobility, out of focus and sideways – similar to a childlike vision, which reconstitutes a fluctuating vision, a ‘peripheral awareness’, not centrally related to our preconceptions. A vision opposite to anthropocentrism.”
Frank DITURI
Images of motion express ethereal
Livio MANCINI
“I go back to places I know, but they are changing. I know these places, but they are new to me at the same time. So I realized that the horizon is a mental line that I was starting to visualize in terms of experience, in terms of knowledge, dreams and so on.”
Mauro BENEDETTI
“I love photographing Rome, it is the city I live in and where I experience the daily tension between the ancient backbone and the need to accommodate the contemporary flow.”
A March 2015 conference at the American Academy of Rome addresses the role of Photography in Italian Art History