Italian Journal / Columns, Social Journal, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Editor's Journal, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Claudia Palmira Acunto /
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 Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Laura Giacalone /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Notable, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Editorial Interns /
compiled by Tegan GEORGE
Nobel Italians Prize Winners Throughout History: A Story Of Achievement
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Laura Giacalone /
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.
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Laura Giacalone /
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.
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Pasquale Verdicchio /
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.
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Keith Evan Green /
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, […]
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Patrick Rumble /
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).
Italian Journal / Columnists and Contributors, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Marguerite Waller /
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.
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Ara H. Merjian /
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.”
Italian Journal / Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / James Johnson /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Contemporary Art, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Gianluca Marziani /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Fashion, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Barbara Zorzoli /
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).
Italian Journal / Columns, Diario Rome-NY, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Ludovica Rossi Purini /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Photography, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Mauro Benedetti /
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 […]
Italian Journal / Columns, Literature, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Laura Giacalone /
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.
Italian Journal / Columns, Face File, Ubiquitous Influences, Volume 20. Number IX. 2013 / Editorial Interns /
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.