Now it’s the end of the first week of November. The trees are finally turned, but the weather is ridiculously warm: it is 20 degrees outside. The summer was long: we were at the beach swimming this year from the first week of May until the last week of September, and I am not one of those people who go into cold water. In fact, I just read that the warmer than usual sea may be one of the causes of the terrible flooding in Tuscany and Liguria’s coastal areas.

These photos were taken in Maremma at the end of October. This week I saw more impressive reds, but off the side of a larger highway, making stopping rather more difficult than off the side roads. Too bad! You’ll have to go see for yourself.

We saw some fun colours and had a lot of fun at one of my favourite farms in Maremma, where we buy vegetables in the summer. In the winter they sell winter vegetables and a lot of flowers. Right now they have zucca (squash or pumpkin) in its various forms. With the beautiful light, the rusty tools and farm doors seemed particularly in tone with the fall colour shoot.

If you got here because you follow the Italy Bloggers Roundtable, you will know that the topic of the September post is “back to school“. This topic had caused me no small amount of grief, because for the first year in my whole life, this Fall I am not attending or teaching school, and I am pretty thrilled about this. However, I could not cop out and just write something about the study abroad process that I experienced or taught. This was not current enough for me, and furthermore, I am here at table with people who will go to any length for a post, including faking the ability to ride a Vespa. So I had to take the theme of “learning” away from my immediate idea of the traditional classroom, but also from the idea that learning starts in September. We learn new things every day (there is a platitude for ya), and can start a conscious course of learning whenever we want, especially if it is something as flexible as taking up a sport. So, I said, why start in September when I can learn something in August? But what can I do while I am on holiday in Maremma? And so here we are.

Windsurfing looks really cool and easy when you watch people who are good at it. My only previous experience with the sport, however, was enough to leave me with a lifetime scar… At a scrawny age ten, sent to a rustic Canadian summer camp in which water sports and living in a tent were meant to strengthen character if not muscles, they attempted to teach me to windsurf. They also attempted to inculcate in me a love of sailing, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and god knows what else, but the only sport I liked was archery, in part because wild strawberries grew in the brush nearby (the mess hall was famous for taco night and Tang instead of water…). On a positive note, I excelled at arts and crafts. Anyway, all I remember about windsurfing is a complete inability to get the sail out of the water. Tug tug tug… And if I was lucky it would come up for a moment, only to tip me backwards and whomp me on the head. 25 years have passed and I have been going to the gym. I am sure I can do better now. Right?

There is a surf school at Riva del Sole, just a ten minute walk down the beach at Castiglione della Pescaia from where we usually park our rear ends. Determined as I was to take up this impressive sport, I sought out a crew of sporty types so we could egg each other on. My husband Tommaso, his brother Gianluca, and my sister in law Laura signed up with me for the six hour beginners’ course. This is usually taught in the morning because the wind always picks up here in the afternoon. However, that slot was taken, leaving us with a 3pm lesson.

My windsurf experience, day by day

The "quattro ragazzi" are ready to learn using "The Simulator" (from left, Gianluca, Laura, Tommaso, and Gherardo the instructor)

Day 1 of windsurfing dawned, windy and wavy. In a fit of cowardice, I phoned to ask if they really intended to send us out in this weather. Sure, they said. We walked over, being blown strongly in the direction of Lampedusa, and I was pretty worried. We started out with 40 minutes of theory explained by the instructor in the blazing sun of mid afternoon, of which I understood about 20%, not being particularly drawn to theories of fluid dynamics and physics (although they were not put to us in this complex language, but to me it was all Greek. If I don’t DO it, I just don’t get it).

On land it is perfectly easy. Why not in water?

Into the water we went. To my surprise I was able to lift the sail out of the water! Okay, it said “kiddie” on it, but never mind. The second step was to stand in a T position and get the wind to take you in one direction, then execute what is called a “virata” to turn around and come back. I am pleased to say that I did stand up and move in essentially the right direction, but getting back was more challenging, resulting in swimming, which I still dread from my camp days. All in all though, I had no big falls and was not particularly sore after this first experience. We booked for the next lesson.

Day 2, morning. The water was a calm turquoise mirror and there was no wind. Perfect to learn, properly now, how to do the basic moves required of any windsurfer! We, known now as “I quattro ragazzi”, were joined by Silvia, a 20-something roman psychologist who became an important element of our group. I pretty much got it. Windsurfing with no wind or waves is fun!

Day 3, afternoon. It is so cold and windy that we manage to cancel the lesson first thing in the morning, and reschedule for the next day, which proved not much better. The wind was blowing from land out to sea, and in these cases you don’t go out, unless it is at sufficient angle to ensure that you can come back without a helicopter. Lucky us, it was at an appropriate angle, so lesson went ahead as planned. We had Luca, the boss, as our instructor, so by the end of class all of us managed to stand up, go out, turn around and come back, the latter being the most difficult part since waves and current united to make our life just suck. For the better part of an hour, I swam, and cursed. At one point a kayak rescued me. But. exhilarated by success achieved only in the last 3 seconds of class, we signed up for more torture.

Day 4 looked a lot like day 3, only I was given a taller sail. I must be really promising! This one is three meters tall and does not say “kiddie” on it. Tommaso is heading towards the pro category, and towards the island of Elba… Silvia is doing quite well. Laura appears skilled, though all of us girls have a defensive tendency to stay hunched, looking way less cool than we should (with butts sticking out), and resulting in sore backs.

Me (green sail) demonstrating how NOT to stand on a windsurf (my butt should not stick out!)

Then, tragedy! Our instructor is stung by a jellyfish, right on his private parts. Jellyfish?! Oh, sheisse! Five were spotted in various zones, and with the drift, waves, and wind, those areas of water were impossible to avoid. Gianluca was the next to succumb, and did not come back out for more surfing. I vowed to stay on the board at all costs so as not to get stung. As a result I took some very impressive wipeouts. Out of complete desperation, I managed to pull off a “strambata“, an advanced move that I shall not attempt to explain but that is the best sounding word in Italian windsurf vocabulary. In the end, Tommaso and I were the only ones not to get stung, he because he is really good at the sport and so stayed on the board, and I out of pure luck. Sore, bruised, and 50% stung, the quattro ragazzi decided to take two days off to recoup and hope the wind changes.

Day 5. Finally the weather decided to cooperate and provide us with pretty ideal wind for our level; unfortunately Laura and Gianluca had to defect as the former had a fever. Today was a kind of turning point for me. I actually never felt frustrated. Luca assigned us a task which we doggedly attempted to execute and I have to say that I did much better. It is all in the position of the body – once you are confident to stand up and lean back, another world opens up!

Tommaso (pink sail) tries to avoid running into me as I float around aimlessly

By Day 6 I was using a decent sized sail and not killing myself to hold it up and stay on my feet. I was having so much fun that I booked a seventh lesson, just Silvia and I, and we moved up to an intermediate board that I liked better, and a 4 meter high sail. We were even pretty unphased by the jellyfish, which we would sail over and shout out “don’t fall!” to each other. I still have a long way to go, but I can say that I’ve gotten the basics of windsurfing in a short period of time, and I have good intentions of continuing this sport.

What I learned

Enzo, my father in law, with his sailboat

The choice of doing an activity of any sort on our holiday, beyond the usual routine of beaching, dipping, and playing beach racquetball, made a decisive change in the whole family’s vacanza. For us “quattro ragazzi”, days revolved around the timing of lessons, and conversation often veered to discussion of winds and practical demonstrations of these theories. But even more interestingly, my father in law, perhaps inspired by our burst of energy, decided to go to the same school for sailing lessons, with the goal of getting his certificate in this.

I learned that starting a challenge like this is best done with loved ones. I learned the hard way that surfboards rub your arms and knees until they turn into a bleeding rash, and that the impact of a body on water can cause bruising. I learned at least ten specialized words in Italian, the vocabulary of windsurfing that will, for me, always be in this language (and so I refused Luca’s offer to tell me the terms in English).

And finally, I learned that what is already pretty great – a family vacation in a place that we all love – can be made even better if we put our minds to it, collaborate, and decide to do something different.

We also got a sage life lesson: “Don’t look at your feet, look out at what’s ahead!” If you think about it, this can be useful advice in a lot of situations.

Where to windsurf in Tuscany

I asked Luca, head of RDS watersports in Castiglione Della Pescaia, to tell me what are the other best places to windsurf in Tuscany. Here are his answers, from south to north along our coast.

• Talamone, in southern Maremma, presents a protected bay with large beach and a good range of winds appropriate for all levels of windsurfers.
• Marina di Grosseto, known for its wind, has an excellent surf school, and is home to Alessandra Sensini, Italian wave champion.
• Just up the coast from there, Fiumara beach is known for kitesurfing.
• San Vincenzo and Vada are also good, though more so known for (wave) surfing, particularly in the winter months.

Italy Blogging Roundtable – September edition

Here are the other posts in the roundtable on the topic of “Back to school”:

• Jessica’s What I’ve Learned from Italy
• Melanie’s On Getting Lost in Italy
• Gloria’s Back to school… or maybe not
• and Rebecca’s Back to School: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

And if you missed them, check out my contributions to the topics of Favourite work of Art, Driving in Italy, and Why I write about Italy, at the bottom of each of which you will find links to the other contributors’ posts. Thanks for reading!

This autumn the BIF is launching a range of short courses of 4 or 5 days on specific themes. As with all our art history course offerings, these are open to all ages and backgrounds, from the interested traveller to the seasoned art buff, local resident, or gap-year student.

First up in September (5th-9th) we have Experiencing the Renaissance Workshop. Through a mix of site visits, lectures and, above all, studio-based hands-on sessions, you can get to grips with the nitty-gritty of an apprentice’s training, learning the main drawing techniques (silver-point, pen and ink, chalk), as well as egg tempera painting with gold leafing, and fresco painting. The great thing is that no previous artistic training is necessary, and actual talent is an optional ! Dr Alan Pascuzzi, art historian and professional artist, has you copy for each technique a Renaissance image, and you get to take your masterpiece home with you. One of the sessions looks at the history of forgeries from antiquity to the Renaissance, and the hands-on class has you putting into practice forgery techniques in drawing and painting. The BIF, naturally, declines any responsibility for what you might do with these skills !

The Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi has gained a reputation for some stunning exhibitions in recent years. The must-see show this autumn – Money and Beauty – Bankers, Botticelli, and the Bonfire of the Vanities – examines the birth of the modern banking system and the relationship between art, power and money in Renaissance Florence. We have created a 4-day course, over a long weekend, which connects with the main themes of this cross-disciplinary exhibition which is already creating such a buzz that we will be running the course twice. Exploring Money and Beauty (29th September-2nd October, and 28th- 31st October ) through tours and lectures will concentrate on the great Florentine banking families and their tastes, collecting and cultural sponsorship. The visit to the exhibition will include an informal talk by Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi Director General, James Bradburne.

For almost 100 years The British Institute of Florence (affectionately known as “the BIF”) is noted above all for its stunning library of some 50,000 volumes housed in the Palazzo Lanfredini overlooking the Arno, its archive of 19th and 20th century Anglo-Italian resident literati, its eclectic cultural programme of lectures and concerts open to all comers on Wednesday evenings, and for its language centre for the teaching of Italian and English. It is perhaps less well-known for its art history department, although this was recently given some airing because it was here that the Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a. Kate Middleton) attended the classic trio of art history courses spanning the Middle Ages to the High Renaissance. The professors are of high caliber and the BIF provides adults with an opportunity to go “back to school”.

Prices: Experiencing the Renaissance Workshop: € 470,00; Exploring Money and Beauty: € 425,00
For further information on these courses, and if you wish to enrol please contact alspollen@britishinstitute.it
For more information on our art history offerings and language courses please see www.britishinstitute.it

Art education and art history train viewers in a vocabulary and critical framework designed to substitute unlearned affinity with capable analysis. In some subjects, it may be possible to replace all emotions and enthusiasm with an analytic approach. After 14 years of study, I succeeded in reaching this level of art historical nirvana and am only now starting to recover as I have stepped away from that field. Some anonymous nighttime sessions have helped to make me feel that it is okay to just like something with my gut and not explain why in terms of art historical relevance, technical expertise, or stylistic or thematic innovation, backed up with abundant footnotes.

Warning: some these books may cloud your vision.

Nonetheless, my recovery program sponsor believes that, in the context of this assignment from the Italy Blogging Roundtable, it would be appropriate to name not one “my favorite work of art in Italy,” which is impossible for someone afflicted as I am, but three, one in each of the above-mentioned categories.

Masaccio, Trinity, SMN

There are works that deserve our admiration for being turning points in art history. These are often the most famous exponents of any given period – Picasso’s Guernica, Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling, Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. For the early Renaissance I have to acknowledge Masaccio’s Trinity, located inside the church of Santa Maria Novella, as a first in the use of perspective and one of the earliest exponents of this period’s fascination with mathematics. The coffered vault over the space in which the crucified Christ is depicted allows the viewer to precisely calculate the volume of that space, a party trick nowadays but a common ability for Florentine merchants who had to be able to determine the value of a barrel of wine (at that time not a standard size) with a single glance. (About this, see the fascinating art history classic Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy by Michael Baxandall, idol of my undergraduate years). My appreciation for Masaccio is an intellectual one, not an emotional one, and perhaps this is appropriate for an artist who had such a scientific approach to the study of nature that he was the first to paint shadows under his people.

There is a geographically limited moment, not a single work or artist, that for me represents the greatest technical advancement in the Italian Renaissance. Perhaps not coincidentally, paintings from the early Venetian Renaissance are also the ones to which I have the strongest emotional reaction, even during the worst throes of my neutrality disease. Giorgione, the Giorgionesque works of Giovanni Bellini, and, although later and somewhat different, certain paintings by Lorenzo Lotto share a characteristic that make me stop in my tracks and exhale. (Some might attempt to add the young Titian to this list but he doesn’t have this effect on me.)

Bellini, Madonna of the Meadow 1505, National Gallery of London

Despite the fact that Giorgione and his closest followers did away with line in favor of hazy sfumatura, there is a calming solidity to the best of these works. In Bellini’s Madonna of the Meadow and Lotto’s Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, this solidity derives from their triangular composition (hence comforting, thanks to its wider base). We see successful experiments with mixing oils into tempera paint, and excellent chromatic choices. But one by one these factors do not logically add up to generate whatever it is that attracted me so strongly to these two works when I saw them in person (for this is an effect that I don’t get from reproductions). I did not choose to specialize in the Venetian Renaissance, and I am glad, for I prefer this sensation to remain a mystery to me.

What we study as the “progress” of art history is made up of a series of visual innovations, in the same way as our life these days is affected by a series of technical innovations, such as the one that permits me to write this post on an iPad on the beach. Some steps in stylistic or thematic change are pretty obvious, like all of a sudden the Impressionists were making fields of blotchy out of focus flowers, Hellenistic sculptors introduced drama to marble, or round arches replaced pointed ones and heralded the Renaissance.

Gentile da Fabriano

But it is the small steps towards these changes that fascinate me more. Of course, we see these things in retrospect. One of my favourite paintings in Florence is Gentile da Fabriano’s Procession of the Magi (the Strozzi Altarpiece) at the Uffizi. What appears to be pure International Gothic style has these really exciting infiltrations of modernity. In the predella below the main scene is what we think might be the first night scene in Renaissance art. Mary and the manger are illuminated in a *consistent manner (*and that’s the relevant part here) by the light that emanates from the baby Jesus. In the main panel, Gentile also experiments with the angles of the heads of figures in the crowd. Meanwhile, this painting also has the tooled gold leaf decorative elements typical of patrons’ wishes, making this altarpiece a transitional one that successfully integrates new and old – no small challenge.

Detail of left predella

I am continuing on my path to recovery and approaching contemporary art because, having not studied it, I judge it by other factors, one of which is “would I put this in my house?” which doesn’t apply well to things like altarpieces, for obvious reasons. Traveling to cultures whose art lacks references to Western history as I know it is also helpful. But no matter what I do or where I go, I will always look at art like an art historian. It is part of who I am.

Italy blogging roundtable

This post is part of a series in which five of us challenge each other to write on the same topic, once a month. If you’ve missed them, read about why I blog about Italy and Driving in Italy. The other posts on the topic of “my favourite work of art in Italy” are:

• Gloria at At Home in Tuscany – Why I Love Tuttomondo, Keith Haring’s Mural in Pisa
• Rebecca at Brigolante – Italy Roundtable: Sliding Doors, What-ifs, and the Cross of San Damiano
• Melanie at Italofile – Five Fabulous Art Works in Rome You May Have Missed
• Jessica at WhyGo Italy – My Favorite Work of Art in Italy

A family interacts with art at the MART in Rovereto. Photo: MART used by permission.

Italy is not known for its contemporary art – at least not lately, and not in Italy itself. Recently a Tripadvisor member posted a question about where to see contemporary art in Tuscany and Italy and I realized that I’d never summarized it all in one post.

There was an interesting article in the New York Times in 2008 about how stalled the Contemporary art scene is here thanks to a lack of a larger organizational structure for it – as well as a lack of funding and in general of interest. While in recent years we’ve seen the openings of more structures for contemporary art, and some move on the part of regional or local governments in the encouragement of the arts (I’ve observed this here in Florence), the overall scene still lacks coordination. One problem is a lack of attention to arts marketing (I blog about that too) even at it’s most basic form like a list or calendar of what’s on.

Leaving reasons aside for the moment, given that nobody else has done it, I want to create a working list of contemporary art museums and large galleries that might be of interest to the common visitor. I’m not going to list every single art gallery but only those that I’d personally feel comfortable entering. To supplement what I could gather on my own, I consulted Luca Melchionna — he works in communications at the MART and is a freelance journalist whose opinions on contemporary art I respect very much.Further additions to this list are welcome in the comments of this blog post!

Contemporary art in Tuscany

"All art has been contemporary" installation on Uffizi Gallery by Maurizio Nannucci , 2010. Photo: Carlo Cantini

Florence - The Strozzina inside Palazzo Strozzi is your best bet for a good contemporary art exhibit in this city. The rotating exhibits are usually related to the theme being explored in the larger space upstairs. Strozzina brings an international touch to the city, often with emerging or established artists from Germany, the USA, and elsewhere. Weekly talks inside the space (in Italian) are part of it’s outreach to the city.

Florence’s EX3 contemporary art center is also worth a mention; they offer exhibits on a rotating basis and are located in a residential area. Their exhibits are of mixed quality though the latest, Suspended Sculptures (until May 8 2011) is visually exciting and of a truly international quality.

Prato - the Centro Pecci opened 15 years ago and has offered good quality temporary rotating exhibits since that time. Now it’s undergoing a massive expansion scheme that will make it THE reference center for contemporary art in Tuscany. The new spaces will permit the exhibition of the permanent collection. The expected date of 2012 has been extended to 2013 and I expect it to be extended again. Parts of this collection have been traveling worldwide, especially to China, as part of an innovative scheme to make Italian contemporary art known abroad.

Pistoia - In this smallish town, Palazzo Fabroni has some pretty innovative exhibits, but it’s hard to find out what’s on since it doesn’t have a dedicated website. As I occasionally receive their press releases, your best bet is to check my list of what’s on in Tuscany.

San Gimignano – this super touristy town has some of the best contemporary art in this part of Italy at Galleria Continua (which also has branches in Beijing and France and is a regular lender to exhibits Italy-wide). Their artist roster includes important international artists like Chen Zhen, Kendell Geers, Anish Kapoor, and Subodh Gupta.

Lucca - The Lu.C.C.a. (Lucca Center for Contemporary Art) offers rotating exhibits of varying quality. The main gallery shows better known artists while the Lounge and basement areas have emerging artists or very small exhibits, with the bonus being that these are usually free. There is also a cafe in this space.

Luca adds: “One curious thing about Tuscany is the concentration of galleries, some of them rather good (Enrico Astuni, Barbara Paci), in Marina di Pietrasanta.” Also the area in and around Carrara – thanks to its marble – hosts a lot of sculptors, especially during its Biennale, which Luca says “under a new director (Fabio Cavallucci), the Biennale opened itself to contemporary sculpture”.

For a list of current exhibitions see Tuscany Arts.

Umbria

Brufa

Arttrav’s guest writer Rebecca in Umbria has written an excellent post about contemporary art in Umbria in which she mentions some of the following locations:

Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary is the permanent space developed out of the Flash art fair in Trevi.

Scultori a Brufa is a series of sculptures installed in the landscape near this tiny hamlet.

The Burri Foundation owns over 250 works by Alberto Burri (Citta di Castello, PG)

The brand-new CIAC Museum in Foligno opened in 2010.

Rome

When you are in Rome, check out the two new spaces MACRO and MAXXI:

MAXXI - Opened May 30th 2010. Controversy still surrounds the design of the building by architect Zaha Hadid, but one thing’s for sure: there is a new, international feeling in and around this building. Personally, I found the architecture tiring and disorienting and the content poor (I think they ran out of money during construction and forgot to buy art.). For my slightly more polite impressions see my review “MAXXI-mum space in Rome” on illywords blog.

The new MACRO is an expansion project with a new building by Odile Decq that just finally opened fully at the start of December 2010 (it’s been in the making since 2001). Part of the city museums of Rome, it usually offers about 5-6 exhibitions at once across its two locations in Rome. NB there is also a branch of the macro at Testaccio.

The Gagosian Gallery is apparently one of the most innovative in Rome (perhaps in Italy?), known for displaying large-scale projects. Their artist roster is impressive and includes some artists of international standing, such as Jannis Kounellis or Cy Twombly, who have lived or do live in Rome. The gallery has branches in New York and Geneva, and just now (Feb 2011) is inaugurating its Hong Kong branch with an exhibition by Damien Hirst.

Luca adds: “The Istituto Svizzero di Roma, thanks to a smart sicilian curator (Salvatore Lacagnina) produces surprisingly good exhibitions.”

And Buzz-in-rome adds (from the comments below): the exhibitions of Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Museo Carlo Bilotti and the private gallery Edieuropa

Milan

My personal knowledge of the Milanese art scene is… zero! So this part relies totally on tips from Luca, who says he’s probably forgetting a lot. But I’d say this is a good place to start.

The new Museo del Novecento (20th century art) just opened in Piazza Duomo [editor's note: Arttrav will be visiting and reporting on that in 2 weeks.]

The Triennale (design museum) has rotating exhibits and a really cool internet section dedicated to art & technology.

Other exhibition spaces include PAC (Padiglione delle arti contemporanee) and Palazzo Reale (current show – until 28/02/2011 – by Iranian artist Shirin Neshat).

The leading galleries in Milan are:

• www.massimodecarlo.it
• www.giomarconi.com
• http://www.liarumma.it/
• http://www.francescaminini.it/
• http://www.galleriatega.it
• http://www.cardiblackbox.com

Emerging Pop artists can be discovered at Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea.

We should also note the non-profit Via Farini which has exhibitions, artists workshops and other programmes to support emerging artists.

Southern Italy

Sign the petition to save MADRE

Naples: Galleria Lia Rumma (A Milan branch opened recently too) has an important roster of international artists including Marina Abramovic.

Naples MADRE - this amazing contemporary museum currently risks closing for lack of funds (click the photo above to sign a petition to save it). This museum has a strong permanent collection with an amazing virtual tour narrated in english, and has hosted temporary exhibits by literally ALL the most important contemporary artists.

Matera: MUSMA - I haven’t seen it myself but a friend of mine (who runs a small museum in the States) says it’s one of the best contemporary sculpture museums she’s seen. Right there in a prehistoric town!

Northern Italy

The real contemporary art scene in Italy takes place north of center where industrial riches have combined with social responsibility.

Bologna: MAMBO – 9500 square meters of exhibition space with a permanent collection and some rotating shows. Particularly useful is the section “Focus on Contemporary Italian Artists” from Arte Povera to now. (www.mambo-bologna.org)

MART – Trentino and Rovereto. The main building of this two-sided contemporary art museum is in the smallish (and boring!) town of Rovereto. It’s building by Mario Botta is an attraction unto itself. Inside, find the permanent collection as well as a few rotating exhibits. One of the few museums in Italy to have a cafeteria and bookshop (american-style!) as well as a good education department.

Luca M. also recommends Museion Bolzano, the museum of modern and contemporary art in Bolzano (which is about as far North as you can get in Italy). They have temporary exhibitions on rotation.

Torino: Fondazione Re Rebaudengo

Biella: Citta dell’Arte – The Foundation established by Michelangelo Pistoletto in Biella just north of Torino is both exhibition space and creative workshop (www.cittadellarte.it)

Fabio Paris Gallery in Brescia is THE place in Italy for the digital art scene.

Torino: Fondazione Re Rebaudengo – Opened in Turin in 1995 by contemporary art collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and with the collaboration of curator/critic Francesco Bonami, the foundation has a strong mission that combines exhibition and education.

Torino: Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art – An ancient medieval castle is the perfect place to house a permanent collection (opened 1984) and exhibitions of contemporary art, no?

Pordenone: the PARCO, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Pordenone, opened in November 2010

Art Fairs

Throughout the course of the year there are high points in Italy’s art scene, fairs that last a few days to a few weeks that demonstrate the country’s ability to innovate on a global level. These are:

• Torino Artissima (November)
• Bologna Arte Fiera (January)
• Biennale di Venezia
• Emiko (on the arttrav facebook page) adds: Lucca Digital Photo Fair

Contemporary Art Day – not a fair but a country-wide day dedicated to the contemporary arts in October, during which access to all contemporary museums and galleries should be free, and some special events are planned.

Ingredients:

• 2 cipolle di certaldo (sweet red onions from Certaldo)
• 4 slices Tuscan bread
• 4 slices cacio or pecorino di Pienza
• 1 tbsp oil, dash  balsamic vinegar, salt, sugar

1) In a saucepan, heat oil, add chopped onions, sautée on medium heat. Add sugar and balsamic vinegar to caramelize.

2) Prepare 2 thin slices of Tuscan bread, salt lightly. Lay slices of cheese on one side. Add cooked onions.

3) In a pre-heated “panino squisher device” as pictured, toast until brown. If you don’t have said cheap Italian appliance, you can grill it or fry it in a pan, but you’ll need butter on the outside of the bread, while this recipe is also dietetic

4) serve with abundant Heinz ketchup.

Voilà, it’s Sunday or holiday food when you are all out of fresh bread and other ingredients!

(photo disclaimer: taken with iphone – written on wordpress mobile)

Now, I don’t drive a motorino (I’m too scared, though I accept rides from my husband) but often it’s the only direct way to reach downtown if one has to go shopping or do business. And reading this news, I felt I had to comment – so here’s my summary, the problems I see, and the solutions that I think should be put in place before making a move like this.

It makes me sad when Renzi, whom I support, makes these moves without thinking them through first, because people, especially Florentines, are quick to criticise. And even I am starting to lose patience. Remember a year ago when the new government made the area around Florence Duomo pedestrian-only? The bus system got messed up but I advised patience; we were promised a system of electric busses that would resolve our needs to reach places between San Marco and the Stazione. Now I work above Piazza San Marco and I can tell you that if I want to go shopping near the Duomo, the only way to get there is to walk. Which is okay for someone fit who wants to stroll, but what of the elderly? The handicapped? The hurried? The simply tired?

It seems to me that this move, like the last, hasn’t been properly planned. Increasing parking fees encourages the use of public transport or bicycles. Which I already do. But neither service is sufficient in Florence. The busses are packed to the gills and there are few bike paths. Shouldn’t they first make these services viable, then tax those that do not choose to use them?

Second, there is a practical problem with making scooters pay for parking and display a paper ticket (other than the expense of installing the new distributors). In force only in one area of Florence so far, one wonders where to put the little paper ticket so that it doesn’t fly away. But more importantly, the sly average Italian is all too likely to steal someone else’s paid parking stub in order to avoid paying for it himself. Doubt me? Recently my husband parked his vespa downtown and found a parking ticket attached to the windsheild soon after. While getting ready to pay, he noticed that it was made out to another license-plate for an infraction he didn’t commit! Someone received a fine and transfered it to the next guy over, hoped he’d not notice and pay their fine. Furbacchioni!!

So, Mr. Renzi, here are three solutions you could implement in the city before encouraging us to take public transportation, some inspired by one of our seemingly least-advanced European neighbours: France.

1) Bus + Bike: An electronic commuter bike system like Vélib‘ in Paris. Between points no more than 300 meters away, users with an electronic pass can take and leave bikes at any station, conveniently and cheaply moving around the city – even between points not served by the bus (yearly subscription: 29 euros, 30 minutes use free). Sure, Florence has commuter bikes, but it’s cumbersome, infrequent, requires human contact, and not open 24/7. Handy, environmental, and you don’t risk getting your own bike stolen (around here, how long does your average bike last? a few months?).

2) Electric automated transport between Duomo and San Marco (like the ones between terminals in airports like Chicago). In Nice, their main shopping street is pedestrian but there is a free shuttle on tracks (a streetcar with rubber wheels, very silent) that goes back and forth every 2 minutes. That’s exactly what we need. When I get off the bus at San Marco, I want a connection waiting for me. That goes directly where I want to go – not around the whole damn city like the infrequent C3.

3) Decent busses, drivers, and schedules. I’ve lived in a lot of places and never have I experienced such a lame bus system (well, maybe Rome, but despite the crowds, it works well)! Remember with ATAF’s reduced summer schedule it took me 1.5 hours to get to work in a distance that took 12 minutes on the Vespa? And that was without traffic, such that speeding buses hit the gigantic potholes with gusto and laid on brakes at intersections such that I swear, one week on two occasions old people were tossed from their seats. I kid not. When the new bus was unveiled, the drivers weren’t given training, such that they didn’t know how to turn on the a/c. And while they bounce less, some joyfully slam on the brakes anyway. Maybe driver training would be wise. And not to speak of the schedule. Why is it that the busses are always packed to the gills? If it’s so full we can barely fit inside, maybe there should be more buses.

Perhaps it’s because it’s 40 degrees outside that I have somewhat lost my patience. I’m writing this post from a bus on which the air-conditioning is broken and dripping on all the seats; yesterday’s bus simply did not have a/c. Of course the bus is full and people have to stand in the aisles, looking longingly at the empty seats that line the right side of the vehicle.

On the whole, the ATAF bus system in the summer is absurd. When schools let out, they cut the schedule in half. Why? There seem to be plenty of people taking the bus, but the schedule cut is an annual tradition based on out-dated social practises as follows:

Myth/tradition #1: While traditionally Italian families move to the beach in July and August — and the typical middle class woman’s job was schoolteacher to accommodate kids’ morning-only school hours and 3 months of summer holiday — more and more women are working in other fields that don’t offer this “benefit”. So they’re here in the city.

Myth/tradition #2: Another tradition is company closure in August. Yes. Whole offices, including production, close for a month. A throwback to the days before air-conditioning that forced employees to the seaside at that time. Business is still slow enough in certain fields to merit this closure: my brother in law in fact gets August off. My office closes for the two central weeks of August, but major international companies (like GE/ Nuovo Pignone with its 3500 employees in Florence) are open all summer long. So are stores.

Myth/tradition #3: Italians have a lot of holiday time. This is in part true – good contracts start at 5 weeks’ holiday plus statutory holidays and “permessi” (hours for going to the doctor, etc.). But anyone with a temporary contract has either NO or very little holiday. And with the economic crisis, families cannot afford to go on holiday (though the term “staycation” has fortunately not been invented in Italian).

Who pays the price?

ATAF Firenze’s bus system runs in the summer on the principle that there are fewer users. But who are the system’s daily users, year-round? The elderly and “workers” (lavoratori). Take any bus at 8:30am and you’ll hear all of us workers complaining because clearly we don’t count for the city, despite being the ones that carry forth the economy.

That’s all, thanks for listening to my RANT – the trip has been long enough to write this post on an iphone because with the summer schedule it takes me 25 minutes longer to get to work, but alas, now my real job calls.

Last night I was at one on the terrace of the Hotel Baglioni, which is one of 13 locations listed below. Food was very posh.

So, if you like checking out great hotel locations without necessarily staying in these four-star accomodations, this is a way to do it (better than sneaking in to use the bathroom). On the other hand, if you’re inclined to stay at Hotel Baglioni or a luxury hotel out near Piazzale Michelangelo, you’ll probably find expedia.co.uk coupons to be useful – they’re available from from VoucherCodes.co.uk, who have generously sponsored this post.

Attending these events is also nice idea if you’re traveling on a budget (you can down as many canapés as possible right at the start, so get there early) and an opportunity to see the city from another angle (i.e. from above!). The aperitivo buffet is always included in the price of the drink, making it quite affordable (I think it will vary slightly between locations). Starting times vary; some locations provide live music, also after dinner drinks.

The locations are:

• ANTICA TORRE DI VIA TORNABUONI 1
• GRAND HOTEL CAVOUR
• GRAND HOTEL MINERVA
• HOTEL BOSCOLO ASTORIA
• HOTEL KRAFT
• HOTEL LAURUS AL DUOMO (Via Cerretani 54r)
• HOTEL SILLA (Via de’ Renai 5)
• HOTEL TORNABUONI BEACCI
• J.K. PLACE FIRENZE (Piazza Santa Maria Novella 7)
• PITTI PALACE AL PONTE VECCHIO (Borgo San Jacopo 3)
• RELAIS CHATEAUX VILLA LA VEDETTA (Viale Michelangiolo, 78 – this one lists “swimming pool”, but who knows if one could USE it?!)
• TERRAZZA STENDHAL c/o GARAGE EUROPA (Borgognissanti 96)

These are some photos of the view at sunset.

For info: Firenze Turismo website

Negative points about living in Italy

1. The average salary is 1000€ per month (net). Our professionals make 50 to 70 percent less than their american counterparts.
2. There are only a dozen channels on tv and there is no Tivo, not that you’d want to watch most of that stuff later, either.
3. Population density is high. Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to hear my neighbours’ tv.
4. A ridiculous amount of burocracy and paperwork for anything official (from marriage to paying a bill at the post office).

Advantages to life in Florence

1. Most of the time the weather 5 day forecast looks a lot better than Toronto’s.
2. The distance from city to city is short in Italy, and Florence is centrally located so it’s easy to get out! Just kidding… What I mean is that there are good options for day trips or longer voyages, and cheap flights from the nearby Pisa airport, too. Not that I take much advantage of that any more due to the next point…
3. Tuscany has everything: Art cities, beaches, mountains for skiing, lakes… Well not really such great lakes…
4. A ridiculous amount of burocracy! If you have a sharp appreciation for irony and absurdity, Italy’s burocracy provides a load of daily laughs – you don’t need to subscribe to those websites full of funny photos of kittens in odd positions, the daily newspaper will do the trick.
5. It’s not all “la bella vita” but hey, a lot of it is. Life, and food, is generally better here. Oh I cheated, I said four points.

As I said this is just a short list (the idea came to me while on the bus the other day). My many expat readers will have much to add in each category I’m sure – right? PS: I decided to stay away from politics here and elsewhere on arttrav, so we’re not mentioning all that under the negative points. That wouldn’t be fair.

So the other day I was in the Santo Spirito area and the need arose to test the facilities, which I happily did just for you, dear reader. Read on to find out the results of this test…

And the results? Clean! Almost homey with a pink toilet seat and marble walls and floor. Furnished with soap and paper; not at all stinky.

The negative part? (1) cost: 60 cents. Not cheap, but less than buying a drink at a bar just to use their dirty can. (2) closes at 7pm, later in summer. It is precisely at night that these services must be made available in order to encourage cleanliness and order in the city.

The city offers a map to find these public toilets (download pdf), which now include prestigious locations such Piazza Santa Maria Novella and Borgo Santa Croce. The fancy cans in Piazza Duomo will run you one euro so you’re better off getting a coffee at a bar wrapped into the price.

Here is photographic proof of the cleanliness of said bathroom.

And here is your souvenir bathroom ticket receipt, perfect for pasting into any travel diary.

Yours truly contributed a short observation in the section called “horrosopes” that offers suggestions and observations on the arts to the city and its administrators. The magazine is in Italian, and part of it can be read online on the FFF website. Below, part of the press release.

Firenze, 16 febbraio 2010 – Le riflessioni dell’astrofisica Margherita Hack, la Firenze dei romanzi di Marco Vichi, cosa vorrebbero le famiglie per la città e il proprio quartiere, i disegni di Gianluca Costantini, maestro del fumetto di realtà. Sono alcuni dei contenuti del nuovo numero di FFF, il semestrale dedicato alle idee e alle visioni di Firenze. Una rivista nata con l’intento di dar voce a quella categoria di visionari che con impegno creativo e grazie al proprio lavoro hanno contribuito a delineare un futuro possibile per la città. Partendo dalla loro testimonianza, dalle proposte e dall’analisi del loro operare, FFF offre una visione globale delle risorse progettuali e delle forme di produzione creativa presenti a Firenze. Con la speranza di favorire una presa di coscienza più consapevole, capace di stimolare iniziative, interventi e azioni volte a migliorare le condizioni di vita della città. Una città meno arroccata, che guarda al futuro e che dunque si mette in gioco.

Dall’introduzione: “Il sangue è quello delle idee, delle risorse progettuali e degli sforzi visionari che si disperdono nella città di Firenze -scrive Marco Brizzi. Quanti progettisti ne hanno speso, con scarso o nullo risultato, nella volontà di tenere viva la città alla quale hanno sovente dedicato il loro più grande impegno? Quanti artisti ne hanno prodotto, come conseguenza di un rapporto intimo con i suoi ambienti e con la sua storia?

“Sangue! Strano, dovrebbe star dentro”, dice Fielding Mellish, controllando una ferita, in Bananas di Woody Allen. Per quanto sia fisiologico che non tutti i progetti, nemmeno i migliori, trovino un tessuto da irrorare e spazio per realizzarsi, è probabile segno di una patologia il loro sistematico sperpero. E a Firenze, dal sangue versato dai progetti, alle idee morte sopite, a quelle uccise per soffocamento, ce ne sarebbe per un museo criminale da aggiungersi ai vari “musei” della tortura e dell’orrore che proliferano nelle sue strade.”

Curata dal grafico Gianni Sinni e dall’architetto Marco Brizzi, FFF è anche uno spazio aperto online per tutti coloro che vogliono lasciare impressioni e suggerimenti ed essere sempre aggiornati sulle iniziative e gli eventi promossi da FFF.

Other activities include: a flower arranging demonstration, a seminar on “how to taste coffee”, an exhibit of prints by artist Barbara Salani, and a mini-conference on the Neapolitan artist Salvator Rosa, (dead) guest star of the entire event, and his relationship to tenor Enrico Caruso (whose villa this was).

See the press release below for the full schedule of events (in Italian).

PRESS RELEASE (italiano only!)

Giardini di Caruso, la mostra mercato di florovivaismo che si tiene annualmente nello splendido parco della cinquecentesca Villa Caruso Bellosguardo di Lastra a Signa (FI), festeggia il tredicesimo compleanno ospitando deGustiBooks, la rassegna sul piacere della lettura e del buon cibo.

I giardini e gli edifici abitati agli inizi del ‘900 dal tenore Enrico Caruso si animeranno per l’occasione di espositori di piante e fiori, accanto ai quali quest’anno ci saranno produttori di tipicità agroalimentari. Una grande libreria, il wine bar e il ristorante renderanno ancora più piace­vole la visita a questo gioiello incastonato nella campagna fiorentina.

L’arrivo della primavera verrà salutato quindi con una festa all’insegna del buon gusto che da sabato 3 a lunedì 5 aprile offrirà ai visitatori la possibilità di ammirare un fiore, scegliere un libro, assaggiare un buon vino.

Tanti saranno gli eventi che animeranno l’appuntamento. Degustazioni guidate, presentazioni di libri, concerti, laboratori tematici dedicati alla cucina napoletana; e un ospite d’onore, Salvator Rosa, figura di spicco della cul­tura seicentesca, pittore, incisore, poeta, raffinato musicista, uomo di grande cultura legato a Enrico Caruso dalla comune matrice parteno­pea, a tal punto che il tenore volle per sé “Il ritratto di filosofo” che impreziosiva una stanza di villa Bellosguardo. Incontri e conferenze approfondiranno il legame che unisce questi due personaggi; inoltre una mostra di incisioni di Barbara Salani, uno spettacolo e una dimostrazione di arte floreale completano fin d’ora il programma della tre giorni che si annuncia ricchissimo di eventi.

Orari: sabato 3 aprile dalle 14.00 alle 19.00; domenica 4 e lunedì 5 aprile dalle 10.00 alle 19.00

INGRESSO: 3,00 euro – Sabato gratuito per i Residenti del Comune di Lastra a Signa

This is my pre-trip post in which I’m compiling some links and information that I’m gathering for myself (I can always access my blog and links while I’m there!), and that I hope can be useful to someone else, too.

Practical information: lodging, weather, wifi internet

The only planning I did really in advance was to book my apartment. I thought apartments and hotels would be really expensive, but I actually found many comfortable options of rental apartments in Venice from Oh-Venice.com within my budget. The other thing I booked in advance was my train ticket from Florence; with 30 days advance booking I got 30% off the Freccia Argento fast train (online booking only). I also wrote my conference paper in advance .

My next concern is the weather in Venice. This winter in Italy we’ve had strange weather with lots of rain, snow in March, and as the world is going to hell in a handbasket I need to know if i’ll have to pack my rubber boots. I’m keeping an eye on the high water predictions, which are unfortunately only for the following 3 days. I can also spy on Piazza San Marco on the webcam.

Finally, the only other really important thing for me is to be always connected. Venice has wifi coverage that is free for residents and inexpensive for visitors (15 euros for 3 days). You can book this online and get discounted prices with 7 days advance booking on Venice-Connected, so I did that after checking the wifi coverage map. My iphone works on the Vodafone Italy cell network data pack; if you’re coming from abroad do whatever unlocking/ roaming negotiation you need to do to make your smart phone available while traveling. Most people would also get a map of Venice. I hope the rental company gives me one and otherwise i’ll use google maps on my iphone.

Vaporetto (transportation) information

We have been receiving very amusing chatty emails from RSA’s president, John Monfasani, who clearly knows his way around Venice very well. I copy here the information about how to take the vaporetto.

To ride a vaporetto, you must have a ticket or a pass. You buy the ticket at the ticket counter where you begin. If you do not already have a pass, you can buy one at the ticket counter. With a pass, you only flash it the first time before the little white gizmo at the entrance to the pontoon float where you wait for the vaporetto. You’ll hear a beep and see a quick green light. Your pass is now activated and is good for the length of the value of the pass. The only thing you have to do henceforth is keep it on your person. Do not try to validate it again. You do not have to show it to anyone unless asked to do so by an official (“controllo”).

From Venice airport to city

If you arrive by plane to Venice Marco Polo airport, you have several choices for proceeding on to your hotel. The most convenient and expensive option is, of course, a form of water taxi.

Another option is the service provided by Alilaguna, for which you can buy a ticket at the airport or online. The great advantage of Alilaguna is that you get on a boat at Marco Polo Airport and can relax until you reach your stop in Venice. The Alilaguna service runs only once an hour, however, and it can take up to an hour and half once on board before you reach your stop. Three Alilaguna lines run from the airport to Venice, so you need to know what stop you want in order to choose the correct line.

A third option, which involves a bit more effort, but is much cheaper and quicker (especially if you already have or plan to buy a vaporetto pass) is to take the public bus that is right in front of the exit of the airport. The buses leave during business hours about every fifteen minutes and take less than fifteen minutes to arrive in Venice proper. You buy your ticket in the airport at a booth immediately to the left of the exit from customs/baggage pickup. Once in Venice, you simply go to the bus depot’s vaporetto stop, i. e., “Piazzale Roma” and proceed exactly as you would if you were exiting the train station, which, incidentally, is one vaporetto stop away in the direction of San Marco.

Blogs about Venice

In order to get some inside information for my trip to Venice, I put out a call for help on twitter. Judy immediately referred me to her friend Nan of Living Venice Blog. I also know that @monicacesarato has a blog about living in Venice (she’s a tutor of Italian language).

Thanks’ to Nan’s blogroll I found Venice News (short news items/ blog including some exhibitions listings). I was also quite convinced that AKNickerson of The Gypsy’s Guide lived in Venice at some point; I can’t find much on her site but there is this useful post “The Gypsy’s Guide to Venice” with many links.

In Italian: Venezia da Vivere, a guide to the contemporary city, makes me think the city is not dead yet. Hooray!

And I must check out Frulalà, described as a design-addicted fresh fruit bar.

Exhibitions in Venice and other things to do

I have seen the major tourist attractions in Venice (everything around San Marco and many churches), although I’ll happily return to some of them. But these days, I’m more interested in special exhibitions.

The city of Venice has an events listing; it’s not a “select” list but rather an “everything dumped in” list. Nan’s Living Venice Blog has a great column of “goings on in citta”, her selections with links directly to the official sites (really good idea, i should copy it ).

Here are some of the things I’m going to try to see:

• March 20 to April 24: Exhibit of contemporary photography “Looking at/ Looking for” at Galleria Contemporaneo. (FREE)
• at The Peggy Guggenheim Museum: THE AVANT-GARDES OF ABSTRACTION until May 30 2010. The PG is the first museum in Italy to develop QR-code interaction inside the museum making it worth a visit no matter what.
• Ca’ Pesaro modern art gallery – I’ve never been. Currently there’s an exhibit on modern sculpture (Rodin and the like).
• Fondazione Querini Stampalia (open T-Sun, 10/19, free guided tour at 11; Castello area): palazzo, library, meeting center, and contemporary art gallery. The two shows on right now are appealing.
• Fondazione Cini on Isola san Giorgio Maggiore (where much of the RSA conference will be held) has the exhibit “Un Tesoro di Libri” opening on April 7 2010; The exhibition opens on Wednesday, 7 April and for conference attendees will stay open late on Thursday, 8 April, from 4:30 to 7PM.

If you’re looking for an enlightening guided experience in Venice, I suggest a tour with Context Travel. I’m particularly interested in their Ecology of Venice tour, not the least because much of the proceeds of which go to a foundation to save the city from its imminent demise.

MORE? Help me!

I’m still missing: un-touristy restaurant recommendations, a good place for an aperitivo with chicheti, and any other suggestion for something unique – a contemporary bookstore, a printmaker, a pretty street… whatever. So Venice lovers, come one come all and comment on this post!

The photography show at Palazzo Pichi Sforza (Via XX settembre 134) opens March 27 2010 and is on until June 27 2010.

Add this exhibit to the Piero della Francesca pilgrimage and compare the contemporary artist’s vision to that of the quattrocento!

bus ticket machine on ATAF Firenze

In case you think this article about “how to take the bus in Florence and not get a fine” is going to involve ways of getting out of paying for a ticket, you’re wrong. Lately there have been a lot of spot ticket controls on ATAF busses as they are cracking down on people who ride without paying; meanwhile every day I see tourists confused at how to buy and validate tickets.

To take the bus in Florence, you must buy a ticket in advance and validate it when you get on the bus. This is not as obvious or easy to do as it seems, so here are some instructions.

How to take the bus in Florence

Tabacchi sell bus tickets, cigarettes, stamps, and lottery.

First, buy a bus ticket.

WHERE? At any Tabacchi store (that has T on a black or blue background as per this photo), at news-stands that display the ATAF symbol, or at bars that display the ATAF symbol on the door. You’ll need to know how to ask for bus tickets: “biglietto autobus”.

WHICH TICKET? There are single trip and multi-trip options to save money. A single trip costs 1.20 euros and you can use the system for 90 minutes. There’s nothing stopping you from taking a bus, getting off, and getting on another bus (even in the return direction) using this single ticket. If you know you will be taking more than one trip, you save money with a 4-trip ticket (ask for “biglietto quattro corse”).

There is an electronic card for 10, 20, or 30 trips called “Carta Agile” that is very convenient. You can use this card even if you are more than one person. For example, a family of four needs to make 4 trips. By the Carta Agile and validate it once for each person, on each trip. See below on how to do that.

For tourists there are also multiple-day tickets. There are no childrens’ tickets, but kids under a meter high ride free when accompanied by an adult.

VALIDATE ON THE BUS: at the front and the back of the bus there is a ticket machine at which you must validate, or stamp, your ticket. There are three zones to the machine. The top is the electronic part for the carta Agile. Touch your card here and it beeps, and the display will show you the number of remaining trips. To validate for more than one person, touch it repeatedly at an interval of a few seconds (wait for the beep, then do it again). The middle zone of the machine is a mystery to us all. The bottom of the machine has the paper ticket stamper. Shove ticket in and wait for it to be properly grabbed and stamped. Check that you can see the stamp or writing on the ticket; if the machine doesn’t print properly and you get checked, you can get in trouble.

bus ticket validation machine in florence ATAF

Plan your public transportation route in Florence

On the ATAF (Florence Bus) website there is a route planner, but it uses a rather old map service and doesn’t work too well. I suggest using Google Maps, which has integrated public transportation information at the street level. Zoom in to the area where you wish to arrive and look for the bus symbol. Click it and you get a list of busses that stop there. Click “directions”, insert your start point, select method “by public transportation” and you should get the best route.

Bus ticket controls in Florence

Ataf ticket campaign by Leader

Since summer 2009, ATAF announced that there would be plenty of ticket controllers on board their busses as part of a crackdown on riders who don’t pay. Previously, checks were few and far between, and they were done by uniformed staff that you could see coming from a mile away. The campaign “No ticket, non parti” (no ticket, you don’t go – the verb is partire) is a play on martini ads with George Clooney that were big here in Italy (no martini, no party). ATAF’s print ads (created by Leader) and press releases announce that the “nonni” – grandparents or retired ATAF staff will be lending a hand by checking tickets in exchange for minimal benefits (a bus pass and access to the company canteen!).

Either they were lying, or the campaign has evolved. Lately I have had my ticket checked every single day at various times including morning rush hour. And it’s not by grandparents wearing purple shirts. It’s by the most unlikely-looking, rasta sporting, friendly young people in normal clothing. They pull out an ATAF ID tag and say “hello, tickets please”, and they say goodbye and thank everyone on the way out. They’re sweet, they look like university students (and probably are) and you’d never suspect them.

The moral of the story? Buy a bus ticket. It’s the right thing to do.

I write to you as an entirely ignorant visitor of the area that I thought was called Alto-Adige but apparently the locals prefer to call it Sudtirol. The difference is discreet: it’s either north Italy, or south Austria. I knew that this was a special “protected” region and I knew that they had two official languages – German and Italian – but I thought that was just an official thing, just highway signs, like in Canada where nobody really speaks French. Well I was wrong.

Sudtirol is a totally different Italy. Different from all the places I have been, and I’ve been to just about every region except Abruzzo and Molise, Piedmonte, and Sardinia. Just four hours drive from Florence I landed in an area in which architecture, worship, language, food, and apparent habits seem to have rather little in common with all that I associate with Italy. I cannot say that I was there for long enough, nor that I read enough about it, to write much from an art-historical standpoint, but I can say that I had a wonderful time and that this remains, for me, an area worth exploring.

First off, my husband and I decided to step back in time (to when we were young and sporty) and attempt snowboarding. We found Plose to be a pleasant little hill just right for intermediate skiers and not too crowded (on a Friday). Rentals were good quality (Burton snowboards and boots) and reasonably priced, though lift tickets were a bit high at 35 euros. We quickly found ourselves to be not very fit, and although I was thrilled to still be able to get down the hill without falling, so we soon retired to the quaintly decorated lodge where we enjoyed streudel and tea (me), and unfiltered beer (him) at totally acceptable prices.

Just a few hours of snowboarding can take a lot out of you so it’s a good thing we had good company and an organized leader who proposed things like a snowshoe walk up the mountain or an evening hike, dinner, and sledding down the mountain (in the dark). If sledding in the dark is not your thing, you can also sled during the day on the 10 kilometers of runs for this purpose.

In the end, we decided against further sports and headed to Bressanone, as it’s known in Italian, or Brixen, its local name. Founded in 901, this is a supremely cute town that looks entirely Germanic to me. We took in the pedestrian area with its coloured houses and lovely open square upon which the cathedral and city hall (rathaus) face. The cathedral has 10th-century origins but its current form dates from 1745 under the patronage of the prince-bishop Kaspar Ignaz von Kunigl, and it’s highly Baroque, yet quite attractive. It has a wonderful organ with 3335 tubes and an important choir (70 members), which would be great to hear perform together – unfortunately there were no concerts planned during our visit. While in Brixen, it’s worth it to go into the Sportler store – a big multi-sport store similar to REI in the USA – and go up to the top floor, where there is a panoramic terrace from which you can see the whole town and the mountains that encircle it.

Even closer to “home”, St. Andrea is the mountain town just before you get to the ski lift, and it has a lovely little country church and graveyard.

Next to the church is a 16th-century chapel dedicated to Mary that is almost as big as the church. This was the only Marian devotion that I noticed in the area. While here in Florence there are tabernacles on street corners, often images of Mary, in this mountain area they seem to be more devoted to Christ, and they mark homes or streets with crucifixes protected by wooden structures that reflect the steep roofs of their own houses.

Perhaps the best part of this relaxing weekend was the agriturismo in which we stayed. The Jocher family were our hosts at Frötscherhof, a recently restored typical farm house (a type of building called “maso”). We arrived by night, so you can imagine my pleasure when I woke up the next morning to find myself surrounded by mountains that I could see from my bed. This is a real working farm with cows for milk, a pony (for kids?), a few goats, rabbits, chickens, cats and dogs, and all. We enjoyed fresh milk, eggs, and yogurt made by the owners, as well as the jam and fruit syrups they produce (which I’d already tasted thanks to De Gustibus).

Many of the elements of this agriturismo seem to be typical of the area. The family “maso” is 100 years old and recently restored to the standards of bio-architecture. If you take a look around the mountain, in fact, you’ll see a lot of solar panels, and there were panels on this home too. Walls are thick and homes are built to keep in the heat, which was plentiful (and it was a few degrees below zero outside). Inside, everything is custom-built using local woods. It’s simple and earthy yet nothing was missing, not even in the well-equipped kitchen (that had a dishwasher!). Under the sink I found a complete recycling bucket system that made sorting our garbage fun: in this area recycling and respect for nature is just their way of life – as it should be everywhere. This place must be paradise in the summer, especially for families with children who are encouraged to participate in farm life. There is a very friendly pony on-site and a few goats that all come running when you head over to their shed for a visit.

On the way back to Florence we stopped in Rovereto to visit the MART museum – but that’s a story for another post!

The setting is the Savoia family’s summer residence. On Saturday night, the current royal couple will preside over the Debutante ball, at which, in a fit of retrograde social activity, 20 young ladies will debut on the arms of military cadets. Plebes may reserve a spot at the ball for 150 euro per couple (black tie for men AND long dress required for the ladies).

At the BIT tourism fair in Milano this weekend I saw a preview of this show with flower arrangements by some of the participating artists, and it was SO beautiful! I really wished I could have taken some home.

EVENT INFO:
location: Citroniaia of Reggia di Venaria (Torino)
when: March 12-15 2010
Cost: 6 euros regular ticket.

As you surely know, Prato is a major producer of cloth, and has an new textile museum. It also has an important Duomo (see photo) that holds the relic of the virgin’s belt, which is brought out in a public ritual five times a year – arttrav was there last summer to record it for you. There’s plenty to see for a day of great shopping and art – read more about prato on arttrav here.

The list is available in this pdf pamphlet or online on the Prato tourism site, click where to shop and select shopping in factory.

Profiles of the bases of columns for the Laurentian Library, British Museum

Michelangelo: Anatomy as Architecture consists of drawings, archival pages, and engravings on loan from the finest collection of Michelangelo drawings and the ancestral home, the Casa Buonarroti in Florence, Italy.  The exhibition explores new research in Michelangelo architectural studies, includes digital reconstructions of buildings never before believed to be influenced by Michelangelo, and lectures by world-renowned scholars on Michelangelo.

The Muscarelle Museum of Art at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg VA will be the only U.S. venue for Michelangelo’s treasured drawings!

From: February 6, 2010 to April 11, 2010.
website

Deaphoto is a local photography association that I met thanks to Barcamp at Le Murate. They specialize in photographic exploration of the changing urban landscape of the city of Florence. Related to this project, in the exhibit “Sguardi Quotidiani”, six artists show personal reactions to civic or private spaces.

Sabrina Ingrassia looks at the Ponte all’Indiano 30 years after its construction (if you’ve never taken this bridge, you almost have to try it – it seems to go on forever). Sara Severini explores the new world of the screen (TV or computer) inside the home that is the newest location of socialization, and I can truly and sadly relate to that. And Pellegrino Bonito contrasts the new pedestrian area near the Duomo, full of tourists and shoppers, with deserted nighttime scenes of Firenze Nova, a not-too-distant suburb (see photo).

This exhibit takes place walking distance from my house in a space I didn’t know existed. It looks really interesting and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a look.

20 Febbraio – 20 Marzo 2010
SITE SPECIFIC a cura di Serena Fanara
EXFILA – Connessioni Metroplitane
Via M. Leto Casini, 11 – FIRENZE / dal Martedì al Sabato ore 21-02
Ingresso Riservato ai Soci Arci – myspace.com/site.specific – www.exfila.it
Opening party: Sabato 20 Febbraio ore 22

I am against the purchase of cookie-cutter, made in china or otherwise imported souvenirs. Please, if you’re going to bring someone a gift from Florence, buy something truly local. This way you support local artisans and economy.

Here’s a list of the top 5 gifts made by Florentine companies and manufactured here or nearby, from cheap to pricey.

2.75 euro: Marvis toothpaste (dentifricio): great retro packaging and tube are a swanky must-have in any hipster’s bathroom – made in via Pisana, available at most supermarkets.

3-4 euro: Chiaverini jam – Many flavours come in their classic packaging: a neat aluminum/ tetrapak  jam jar that is light and resists packing in a suitcase (use a plastic bag just to be sure); some flavours also available in an aluminum tube with a beautiful label or just normal glass jars. Made in Florence since 1928 in via Locatelli (Romito area), available at any supermarket.

8 euro and up: soap and other smelly products from Officina Profumo (Farmacia) Santa Maria Novella, via della Scala. This historic pharmacy has been in continuous operation since the 14th century, annexed to the Dominican convent of the same name. They no longer sell cures, just perfumed items. It’s a strong smelling place that is worth going to see (and smell), as it also has some historic shelving, maiolica, and scientific objects on display. Everything is pricey but the place is so famous, bringing back an 8 euro bar of soap is a great fit – it comes with nice packaging and information about the store, and you can tell the recipient the story of your visit, which is sure to be an experience worth recounting.

Hand-sewn book from Abacus

12 euro or more: handmade leather-bound book from Abacus - they’re a family-run business known for their leather-bound books, as it is run by a couple who mainly does restoration of antique volumes. Their paper items are really authentic and not tourist-priced. Via Ginori 30R. If they’re not in the store, they may be at the bindery next door.

600 euros more or less: Gucci handbag (or anything else) – Gucci’s corporate headquarters are still in Florence, and their leather goods are all designed and hand-made in Italy.

I’m sure I’ve missed a lot here – can you think of other gifts from Florence? (But not from Prato – cantucci – or the rest of Tuscany, just truly Florentine companies!)

Roberto Capucci, Evening Dress 1989 - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma

A Question of Style: From the 14th of January at the Museum of the Roberto Capucci Foundation at Villa Bardini, an exhibit of 23 dresses by the Italian designer. The exhibition explores the relationship between material and design in Roberto Capucci’s research, focussing on the imprint and style that he applies to design. As he also believes strongly in creating a dialogue with young designers, a number of seminars will accompany the exhibit.

The dresses by Capucci tend to be crafted in brightly coloured taffettas and heavy silks, have strong shapes, and be (to my eye) influenced by Japanese kimonos.

Villa Bardini is also worth the visit, as it sits on the hills above Florence (on Costa San Giorgio, a rather wealthy street) and has vistable gardens.

On now – and no end date specified!

Museum of the Roberto Capucci Foundation
Villa Bardini – Costa San Giorgio 2 – Florence.

Info and bookings: 055 20066210
www.fondazionerobertocapucci.com

The Museum:
Opening hours: 10am–4pm from Wednesday to Friday
Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm.
Admission: € 6

Design Library, Milano

Lately I’ve noticed a trend that I like very much: the bookshop/library, contemporary design, cafe/restaurant. I mean really, this combines everything I love best! This week I had the fortune of finding two examples of these polyfunctional spaces, and I expect that more will open soon.

MILANO: Design Library (Via Savona 11)

This is actually a library (not a bookstore), with a 20 euro library card and a reading room with books entirely dedicated to design. There’s an area near the door with couches and magazines that appears to be open to everyone. It’s also a luminous modern cafe’ with a nice lunch menu. It’s sufficiently quiet in the restaurant to have a proper business lunch here. I had the salad bar, which has a good variety of boiled vegetables.

121 Temporary Bookshop

Backed by corporate sponsors and with a branch open in Shanghai since 2007, this place is clearly a success. Open since 2006, its aim is to promote Italian design in the world. They have a serious list of weekly conferences and debates printed on a sleek flyer, featuring designers who will speak of things like sustainability, projecting, communication and the like. Well, this is Milan, so they have enough designers and interested public to pull this off.

In case you get sad cuz you could only read but not buy books, fear not: Just down the street at no. 121 there’s “121 Temporary bookshop” until March 18 2010 by Edizioni Corraini, with a mouth-watering selection of art books and toys.

Florence: Libreria Brac (via dei Vagellai, 18r)

Libreria Brac, Firenze (Florence)

We’re always a few years behind Milan but Libreria Brac is helping Florence catch up on the contemporary scene. Open only 5 months ago, Brac has a more difficult crowd to overcome (think Staid Florentines), but their central-yet-hidden position, their charm and good food will hopefully ensure their survival.

Brac sells contemporary art books and has a very homey cafe’ area divided in two by a pleasant courtyard. They have events and art shows announced on their website. And best of all, the kitchen provides vegetarian OR vegan food!

Not only am I going to officially start hanging out here cuz I like it, but I hope to organize an event that will include an aperitivo here in the Spring, so stay tuned!

Hopefully forthcoming in Florence…

Now for speculation… At Le Murate, the new center for the contemporary (life and arts) in Florence, the local government has put out a call for applications for an association wishing to create a “cafe’ filosofico o letterario” – a literary or philosophical cafe. What might a place like this look like? And what will be its cultural offering? We’ll have to wait until this summer to find out… but I’ll be the first to let you know when it happens.

Con Dante, Per Dante
Conferenze e letture
Il ciclo di conferenze si terrà alle ore 16.30 nella
Sala Francesco Mazzoni del Palagio dell’Arte della Lana (Firenze) con il seguente calendario:

Giovedì 4 febbraio 2010
Domenico Cofano: Dante, “poeta dei teologi, teologo dei poeti”

Giovedì 11 febbraio 2010
Bortolo Martinelli: “Il triunfo che lude” (Pd. XXX, 10). Figuralità e figuratività del Paradiso dantesco

Giovedì 18 febbraio 2010
Gabriele Muresu
Con gli increduli della città di Dite (Inferno X)

Giovedì 25 febbraio 2010
Amedeo Marinotti: Poesia e filosofia nell’ermeneutica dantesca

Giovedì 4 marzo 2010
Massimiliano Chiamenti: “Da mia natura trasmutabile son per tutte guise”: la Divina Commedia e il cinematografo

Giovedì 11 marzo 2010
Umberto Carpi: Un inferno guelfo

Giovedì 18 marzo 2010
Marino Rosso: Dante e la teoria dell’amore

All I can say to this is UGH! Having gotten over my initial disgust I’d like to provide a small rebuttal. Dear Professor Franco, I don’t go around diagnosing corpses with illnesses so why are you diagnosing paintings? The CONTEXT of artistic production is essential to our understanding of works. If we know something of the artist in question, we can evaluate visual diagnosis of pathology.

For example, art historian Jonathan Nelson and a friend of his who is an oncologist (Stark) published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine back in 2000 about the breasts of Michelangelo’s Night whom they observed have all the evidence an advanced case of breast cancer. Nelson knows a little something about Michelangelo and about this period of art history (he teaches High Renaissance at Syracuse University in Florence and has published on Michelangelo, Filippino Lippi, and Botticelli). While the oncologist diagnosed the breast cancer, Nelson was able to back up this diagnosis information with what we know about Michelangelo as an anatomist - that he dissected corpses and could have had access to an old woman with this condition. With this article and also through later works, Nelson has disproved the old criticism that Michelangelo never saw a naked woman (since he was apparently homosexual), a really preposterous comment that has made its way into a lot of art history books.

Back to Dr. Vito now. I’d love to know what evidence allows him to give the poor baby Sleeping Cupid at the Pitti rheumatoid arthritis, although my diagnosis of said Cupid by Caravaggio is worse: he’s dead. I argued this in a paper about 10 years ago – the baby’s bloated with rigor mortis and he’s got a greenish hue. My diagnosis is as ridiculous as Dr. Vito’s except one thing: we know that Caravaggio got in trouble once before by basing a major figure in a painting on a corpse (the Death of the Virgin for Santa Maria della Scala in Rome was refused by its patrons for this reason) . We need art historical precedence before iconodiagnostics.

Piero's Madonna del Parto: do you see a lump on her neck? I don't.

Similarly, consider Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto. A lump on her neck diagnoses her with a thyroid disease. But what of Piero’s creative process? We all know that Piero’s figures are highly idealized and that he uses the same figural and facial types across his works – he was not an anatomist (if you think his people are funny, you should see his horses). The same female figure appears in the chapel of the Holy Cross in Arezzo – is this one model with a thyroid problem or one idealized female and some problems with shading? What might look like a lump to one person – and I don’t see it – could easily be the result of the tragic history of this fresco that has had to be removed from the wall upon which it was originally painted since the building no longer exists; the practise of fresco removal may cause the loss of detail and make close analysis of the painting impossible.

For each of these works of Renaissance art, a medical diagnosis needs to be backed up with a thorough study of the artist’s practise, style, and other social-historical elements.

Cenacolo di San Salvi, Andrea del Sarto

I have been tagged in the “My 3 best kept travel secrets game” that Katie from Tripbase started. Not only am I thrilled to have been chosen to contribute secrets, I’m happy that this has led me to read some more great travel blogs, including eXplorer written by Simon Falvo (@1step2theleft on twitter) who tagged me!

I have taken ages to think of what to share. Arttrav writes about art, so I figure it should be art secrets, and I know Florence best… But are there really secrets left to share about Florence? Maybe not too many, but there are still a few things off the beaten track, and best of all, my three chosen secrets are also free things to do in Florence!

1) Convent of San Salvi and Last Supper by Andrea del Sarto

It’s free to enter this silent, deserted museum in a residential area of Florence, just beyond the hustle and bustle of the ring roads. Inside you’ll have the opportunity to sit still and quietly confront a major masterpiece of Mannerist painting: Andrea del Sarto’s Last Supper. This fresco is in the refectory of the ex-convent which has recently been restored. The adjacent museum displays lesser – but still important – works by artists who were Andrea del Sarto’s contemporaries. Complete your visit with this San Salvi itinerary with map.

2) Bartolini-Salimbeni family Chapel at Church of Santa Trinità

Bartolini Salimbeni chapel

The church of Santa Trinità is already somewhat unknown to tourists, and I highly recommend that you go there. But inside there is a pretty famous chapel that belonged to the Tornabuoni family; it’s painted by Ghirlandaio in the late 15th century and it’s in great condition. So go see that… but then take the time to also see the Bartolini-Salimbeni chapel, at which nobody bothers to look. Why?

This chapel was frescoed by Lorenzo Monaco around 1423 (stories of the Life of the Virgin) and on the altar is an absolutely beautiful Annunciation, the kind that takes your breath away. The curly-cue robes, the gold, the patterning, the people that are bigger than the buildings that contain them… these are all hallmarks of the International Gothic style in art. This chapel is a holdout for this style at the very same moment (ok, a year before) that Masaccio is busy painting the Brancacci chapel across town in an entirely new style: Renaissance. Take a look around the rest of the chapels; they all have important Quattrocento altarpieces.

(I apologize for the photo – it’s not so easy to photograph due to the light, but wikimedia commons has a few decent details).

3) Tabernacles

This is not just one place, but rather something to look out for. There is a popular Italian tradition of placing Madonnas on street corners or on the sides of buildings. Almost each block had one (there are about 1200 on 3000 streets surveyed in Florence); she looked out for its residents. While tabernacles are found in the whole country, Florence’s great devotion to the Virgin Mary makes it particularly rich in this medium. The tradition began in the 13th century though most of the ones you will see come from the 15th or 16th centuries. Some look a little earlier but are only so because they are often a bit stylistically retrograde due to their iconic function.

Tabernacolo delle Fonticine, Della Robbia. Photo: wikimedia commons

One of the most impressive tabernacles of Florence is the huge polychrome maiolica fountain (named “le Fonticine“) on Via Nazionale by the Della Robbia family (1522). It looks a whole lot better in person than in the photo as it has recently been cleaned. Below the colourful Madonna and saints, a row of putti spit out water. The Madonna inside Orsanmichele was initially an outdoor tabernacle resident, but as she worked miracles, she got an upgrade. Most street corners host smaller and less artistically significant icons, ravaged by elements and time. Had they been preserved inside museums they might look quite different now. This is a reminder of the everyday function of religious art in Italy; the condition of these works is a natural part of the process.

My grandfather-in-law gave me an old book that he bought in weekly issues: I tabernacoli di Firenze (part of the Strade di Firenze series – see cover scan below). I see this book occasionally in bookstores in the later bound version that was issued in the 80s; if you’re interested in tabernacles this is the most comprehensive guide ever.

Tag – you’re it

Now it’s my turn to tag up to 5 bloggers who have not yet been tagged in this game. They are not all travel bloggers per se, but I know they have secrets to share:

@tuscanycious (my colleague Oriana of www.tuscanycious.com)

@ilbisbetico Luca from I-Florence

Robert from Neon Poisoning (not on twitter!)

@RobertaK of Thinking Allowed

@Florenceblogs (florence journal)

Students from a local high school that has a fashion program will stun you with their ability to minutely recreate historical fashion from the 13th century to the present. This love of past artisanship and study of history is an important step towards creating a future in fashion; these students look forward to a bright one. Set up in the suggestive new gallery that links two important streets in downtown Florence, this free exhibit will allow you to step momentarily into the romantic past of bell skirts, detachable sleeves, and corsets.

If you thought high school students couldn’t sew, or didn’t make gorgeous mature-looking models, think again. These dresses are absolutely stunning.

In order to resolve this problem and to provide a valuable resource to scholars coming to Florence for research, I have created a public, user-editable map of Libraries in Florence.

View Libraries in Florence – Biblioteche Firenze in a larger map

photo cheerfully cribbed from www.500touringclub.com

As an American, huge cars are almost a birthright. My first cars were a 1950 Mercury 2-door coupe and 1975 Olds Delta 88 convertible. I could have fit several Fiat 500s in the trunk of either one. It’s not to say I don’t like tiny cars, I actually do.

While my long-gone cars would have had no place on the narrows roads of most European cities, the idea of racing around Florence in a lovely bit of Italian automotive styling sounds like great fun.  The 500 Touring Club of Firenze makes just such a thing possible. Their charmingly-named fleet of vintage cars (Adriana, Giacomo, Paola, Sergio, Roberto, Anna) are available for either guided convoys or private hire.  A google search leads to both their official website and a load of positive reviews.

Regional/national law prohibits being chauffeured but this company does offer guided tours in the city from their cars.  I would love to take in the city from the seat of a sweet Fiat.  Since I expect my trip to keep me in soley Florence, I still may stop by the touring club’s office to satisfy my curiosity.

So, I hear somebody’s going on a little Italian vacation this spring. You lucky dog, you. Kelly and I were there for our 10th wedding anniversary last June, and we just had a tremendous time. Even though I know you probably have your whole trip planned out already, I want to say that, if you happen to find yourselves in Florence at any point, you absolutely have to set aside a night and visit this really middle-of-the-road little trattoria I know.

Trust me on this one. It’s the most uninspired restaurant in all of Florence. If you do nothing else in the entire city, you have to treat yourself to this completely adequate place. READ REST on The Onion

Some art has gotten too big

Tuscany, with its soft rolling hills, is a perfect frame for contemporary art. Projects include the Parco di Celle near Pistoia that belongs to the major international collector Giuliano Gori; the Chianti sculpture park (www.chiantisculpturepark.it); a redesigned woods at the “Ragnaia” at San Giovanni d’Asso by Sheppard Craige; and now the Casato Prime Donne’s “Trekking d’Autore”, works placed amongst the Brunello vines in the Crete Senesi.

Maybe one of the first works of this sort in Tuscany is the 1993 installation by sculptor Jean Paul Philippe, who chose the Crete Senesi (between Siena and Asciano) as the location for his work Site Transitoire. The landscape’s natural linearity was thus interruped by a work that both alters it and gives it value, points at its individuality. The work’s seven massive stones dialogue amongst themselves and frame the hills that they inhabit. www.jeanpaulphilippe.eu

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a big metal circle frame the landscape just outside the town of Volterra; this is by Mauro Staccioli and there are other works by him on display nearby. It’d be worth it to go find all the pieces, which are on display until September 2010.

Amongst Donatella Cinelli Colombini’s Brunello di Montalcino vines, the “Trekking d’autore” project invites visitors on a meditative walk punctuated by art. Each site is dedicated to a woman who has won the Premio Casato Prime Donne prize for a major contribution in the field in which she works, including author Frances Mayes, dancer Carla Fracci, human rights celebrant Kerry Kennedy.

Jeff Shapiro installing his speaking stones

American writer Jeff Shapiro makes his viewers ponder, via four “speaking stones”, the following questions:  “See what’s growing… See in order to grow… Do you see?… And are you growing?” – important questions that relate the viewer’s personal growth to the land upon which they are standing. Marco Pignattai refers to this land and its working by cattle with a life-size metal cut-out of the chianina cow who pulls antique farm equipment across the fields (see photo above). At a high point in the landscape, Rossana Mulinari recalls her solo pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostela with the installation of a wooden cross covered with mirrors and held up by six blocks of travertine marble.

Closer to the cantina, or cellar building, the artworks exalt the female nature of this enterprise – the only entirely female-run wine producer in Italy. Eight doves by the sculptor Orlando Orlandini are clearly a symbol of peace, while four photographic portraits by Bruno Bruchi and Giovanni Senatore record four very different but contemporary women including a grandmother who is making pinci, the typical pasta of Montalcino. The Cinelli Colombini estate is open to visitors; the wine cellar (for tasting etc) weekdays 9-13 and 14-18 or weekends upon request. The art trekking area is open to everyone during operating hours, year-round. They’re very happy to welcome you and they speak good English!

Chapel by David Tremlett and Sol LeWitt, photo: www.ceretto.it

The connection between wine and landscape art has inspired some other producers as well. Outside of Tuscany the most stunning example is the integration of modern architecture and natural views at Ceretto (Alba, CN – www.ceretto.it ), whose vineyards host a colourful chapel by David Tremlett and Sol LeWitt, as well as a futuristic glass bubble in which you can taste wine and enjoy cultural events.

Landscape art offers a new venue for self-discovery, as well as for discovery of the landscape itself, which on its own may not always provide sufficient stimulus for reflection or photography.

This article is a the result of a collaboration: I’d like to thank Alessia Bianchi and Violante Gardini of Cinelli Colombini estates for providing the great idea and much of the content.

Robert once left a comment on arttrav, and since then we’ve had a great email correpondence in preparation for his Florence trip later this month. I love his strange blog, Neon Poisoning. He’s on the lookout for… strange things, worldwide. The photo to the left is the kind of thing he usually appreciates – Tinkertown in Sandia Park NM, posted on his flickr. Here are his results for Florence.

The Internet, a modern marvel. From my apartment in Houston, TX, it has provided me with research and contacts for a first-time visit to Florence. It helped me discover the website you’re reading and through a generous offer, an invitation to guest blog about my travels and preparations as a result of conversations with website founder, Alexandra.

The undeniable beauty of Florence is on display in gorgeous photos posted on Flickr and described in assorted blog posts around the Internet.  It’s a piece of cake to find office travel guides and comprehensive reviews online (Fodors, New York Times, Lonely Planet).  Google searches with “My Florence trip” will find visitors raving about personal trips to the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi.  And, for centuries, traveler have visited the Piazza della Signoria and Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, Galleria degli Uffizi, Boboli Garden and Pitti Palace.  

But there is also the weird traveler, one who skews away from the average, who’s fussy inclinations leave them dissatisfied with the straight and narrow and looking of the unusual and odd.  There are resources for myself and those who like their city’s served with a side of the eccentric.  London has Quirky London Tours and the newly published Secret London: An Unusual Guide, collaborative travel site Nothing to See Here is international in scope and everything the fifty state’s have to offer can be found on Roadside America.

There is no Not For Tourist guide to Florence, and since the best sources of such attractions often come from locals, my lack of language skills keeps me from reading any websites other than English ones.  In the hunt for the offbeat, Atlas Obscura is a good starting point for Italy on the whole.  ”A compendium of this age’s wonders, curiosities, and esoterica… with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist.”  Dylan Thuras and Michelle Enemark, of Curious Expeditions also travel the world, “devoted to unearthing and documenting the wondrous, the macabre, and the obscure from around the globe.”  Between the two websites, they have unearthed intriguing Florence destinations like the oldest still-operating pharmacy in the world, Galileo’s middle finger, and  La Specola, “the largest and most famous wax anatomical collection anywhere in the world”

Lastly, I have to add the Casa del Formaggio, a destination with a sense of humor and lacking in some taste.  With even the author of the post unsure of where he found it, the House of Cheese might put me on a wild goose chase through Florence.  And often the best places are the one stumbled upon while trying to arrive somewhere else.

Editor’s note: Robert will be happy to know that there is also a Casa del Prosiutto, which is a simple, cheap restaurant in Vicchio about an hour’s train ride from Florence (but don’t try to get to the restaurant from the train station by foot). A display of prosciutto greets you at the door and you can have your cured meat sliced and slapped onto bread. Sadly his visit is in the winter, and without a vehicle, or else I’d suggest the Niki de St. Phalle Tarot Card park in Maremma, about which I will write this summer.

Readers – can we help Robert by suggesting other weird, odd, obscure things to do in Florence?

Leonardo Last Supper - Wikimedia Commons

It has rained in Florence almost every day since we arrived before Christmas. The weather was so bad we couldn’t make many of the day trips we had been planning, but we decided to go to Milan for the day to meet up with some old family friends. The new high speed train, the Freccia Rossa, gets you from Florence to Milan in just one hour and 47 minutes — a big difference even from the Eurostar, and with a proportionally high price tag. Right now trentialia has a 99 euro special offer for those taking a day trip on the Freccia Rossa. [Editor's note: I wouldn't normally advise people to take a day trip to Milan from Florence, but frankly, with the fast train it is now do-able if you just want to see a few highlights, as Mom did.]

I had seen Da Vinci’s Last Supper (il Cenacolo) with my parents in the 1970s, when it was in really deplorable condition, so I was anxious to see it in its restored state: the restoration took over 20 years and was finally completed in 1999, but tests to confirm that the restoration and new environmental safeguards really worked to protect this extraordinary mural painting were only carried out in 2009. I ordered tickets on line (a necessity even in very low season), luckily giving us time to account for the train’s possible late arrival, which turned out to be very good thinking.

That day the rain reached a new frenzy. It wasn’t just an interminable drizzle but day-long pouring rain. I was feeling like a drowned rat by the time we reached the Metro from the train station (Centrale, green line) and we went directly to the Convento de Santa Maria delle Grazie, even though I knew we’d be at least an hour early for our entry time (exit at Cadorna and walk about 10 minutes to the church). By this time, every part of me was wet and cold. Armed with a strong coffee at a bar across the street from the Last Supper, we walked across the pond that separated us from the church.

Now the Last Supper is in a climate-controlled, sealed room; only 25 visitors are allowed in at a time for 15 minutes, so it is best to do your research before you go. There are wall panels that describe the work’s history and restoration that you can read while you wait in line, but if you wish for something deeper, find out more in advance. Here is what I learned that might help you prepare for a visit (virtual or otherwise).

Visitors might be upset when they realize that this is really not Leonardo’s painting at all but a linking of fragments filled in with available information culled by a team of dedicated experts. The most important source for the mural’s reconstruction is the many preliminary sketches preserved at Windsor Castle.

Despite this, I was surprised by how much I liked the mural painting. I use the term wall painting because this is not a true fresco – as you probably know, Leonardo did not paint it on wet plaster. Always the great experimenter, he sealed the stone wall and painted in oil tempera on that “canvas”. Within a few years after its completion, there are records speaking of its considerable decay. Da Vinci tried this method because it yielded richer tones and colours and gave him much greater control over this complex rendition of what was a very common subject. Really, though, I wonder: wouldn’t Leonardo have known that this would be a disaster? Or did he not care?

History was also very unkind to the wall painting which was used as target practice for Napoleon’s troops; the location was used at various times as a barracks and a prison. In 1943, the building was bombed, part of the wall collapsed and the roof was torn off, leaving the painting out in the open until the end of the war.

The most recent restoration had to erase the many other misguided restorations of the painting, clean all the dirt and pollution from it and scientifically determine the painting’s original form. Many parts were not recoverable so they were repainted (based on what Martin Kemp has identified as preparatory sketches) in watercolour in subdued tones to differentiate them from the original. But the whole is not displeasing and without this controversial restoration, the painting would be completely lost to us.

Now a bit about the painting itself. It was commissioned from Leonardo by Ludovico Sforza called “il Moro”; the painting was carried out 1495-97. I consulted Gary Radke’s textbook on Renaissance art (Art in Renaissance Italy) which confirms what I read elsewhere and observed in person: Leonardo selected the moment just after Christ announced that one of his disciples will betray him, imagining the apostles’ confusion and self-doubt, and portraying their agitated reactions. This is the part before Christ reveals that it will be Judas, so all of them are basically saying “will it be me?” or “gee I hope I don’t do it” (ha ha). You can look at each apostle, identify him using the chart on the wall outside or bring your own, and try to determine what he was saying based on his facial expression. Figures are grouped in threes, which is of course a significant number (the Trinity) but it’s also simply the best, most practical way to set it up and make it legible. This seems so obvious a choice but in fact other aritsts who painted this subject, like Ghirlandaio and Castagno, just lined the apostles up behind the table (and stuck Judas out front, usually).

We didn’t visit much more that day despite my best intentions, as the rain was just relentless. We managed to go to the Hopper exhibit at Palazzo Reale (see separate post), and we saw the Duomo as planned, but not perhaps in depth as one might. I wanted to see this as it is apparently the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and it took 500 years to complete. A friend has told me that, in Italian – or perhaps in Milanese – if something is taking a dog’s age to get done, they say it is an “opera del duomo”. The sky turned a deep blue at dusk as you can see in this rainy photo. Given the rain falling in sheets by this time we also opted to view the Duomo from the nearby café of La Rinascente (department store chain), where I got this great video shot of Duomo through rained-upon windows – to me it looks very Gaudi-esque. We saw a few other sites in passing but mostly just enjoyed keeping dry when possible and catching up with our friends over numerous coffees.

What would YOU do in Milan on a rainy day (other than wear rubber boots)?

Hopper: Morning Sun, Columbus Museum Ohio

At Milan’s Palazzo Reale is the first major retrospective in Italy dedicated to the American artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967), the famous realist painter. This show moves to Rome in February so if you cannot see it in Milan, you have plenty of time to catch it in Rome.

My Mom went there on her day trip to Milan and has brought back some fun pictures taken in the exhibit’s interactive section (see below), in which visitors get the chance to pose in the same position as the woman in the famous painting “Morning Sun” of 1952.

Mom writes: “One hundred and sixty of the artist’s works are on display — mainly sketches, preliminary studies, and the artist’s ledgers. There were some famous works, but curiously missing was the painting Nighthawks, easily Hopper’s most recognizable painting. But I thought the show was well done and certainly taught me a lot about the artist, his life, his themes, his subjects and his artistic methods.”

Here’s what you can do in the interactive section, I got a good laugh out of this:

This show is on in Milan until January 31 2010 and then in Rome Feb 16 until June 13 2010.

From the press release:

The exhibition presents more than 160 works, including famous masterpieces such as Summer Interior (1909), Pennsylvania Coal Town (1947), Morning Sun (1952), Second Story Sunlight (1960), A Woman in the Sun (1961) and various paintings that have never been exhibited, like the stunning Girlie Show (1941). It explores the whole of Hopper’s oeuvre, and all the techniques used by an artist now viewed as one of the classic painters of the twentieth century.

The exhibition will be staged in Palazzo Reale in Milan from 14 October 2009 to 31 January 2010 and is sponsored by Roche Group, the leading health industry company. Immediately after that it will be held in Rome, at the Fondazione Roma Museum, from 16 February to 13 June 2010, and then at the Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne, from 25 June to 17 October.

The artist

Self Portrait, Whitney Museum

Hopper was born and grew up in Nyack, a small town in New York State. He studied illustration for a short period, then painting at New York School of Art under legendary masters William Mer­ritt Chase and Robert Henri. He visited Europe three times (from 1906 to 1907, in 1909 and 1910) and his experiences in Paris, above all, made a lasting mark on him: he remained a lifelong Francophile, even after settling permanently in New York in 1913.
Despite his imposing physical presence – he was six foot two – he was famous for his reserve, and very rarely wrote or spoke about his work. He died at the age of 84 and his work enjoyed the esteem of critics and the public throughout his career, despite the success of the up-and-coming avant-garde movements, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art.
In 1948 the magazine “Look” named him one of America’s greatest artists; in 1950 the Whitney Museum dedicated an important retrospective to him, and in 1956 he appeared on the cover of”Time”. In 1967, the year of his death, he represented the United States at the prestigious Bienal di São Paulo. Since then Hopper’s work has been celebrated in numerous exhibitions and has inspired countless painters, poets and filmmakers. In a 1995 essay the great novelist John Updike paid an eloquent tribute to his “calm, silent, stoic, luminous, classic” works.

The exhibition
Edward Hopper’s career is closely linked to the Whitney Museum of American Art, which hosted various exhibitions of his works from the first in 1920 at the Whitney Studio Club, to the memorable shows held in the museum in 1960, 1964 and 1980. Since 1968, thanks to the bequest of the artist’s widow Josephine, the Whitney has been home to his entire legacy: more than 3,000 works which include paintings, drawings and etchings.
Curated by Carter Foster, the Whitney Museum curator who granted the loan of the largest nucleus of works, the exhibition, realized with the technical coordination of Carol Troyen, also boasts other important loans from the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, the Terra Foundation for American Art in Chicago and the Columbus Museum of Art.
Structured in seven sections according to chronological order and theme, the Italian exhibition covers Hopper’s entire oeuvre, from his education, to his years as a student in Paris, up to his “classic” and best-known period of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, closing with the large, intense images of his later years. The show explores all of the artist’s favourite techniques: oil, watercolour and etching, and devotes special attention to the fascinating relationship between his preparatory drawings and his paintings: a vital aspect of his work that up till now has not been greatly explored in the exhibitions dedicated to him.

The first three sections: “Self Portraits”, “Education and Early Works. Hopper the Illustrator” and “Hopper in Paris”, present a group of promising self portraits, the works from his academic period and the light-filled sketches and works of his Paris period, such as the well-known painting Soir Bleu (1914). The room dedicated to “Defining the Image: Hopper the Etcher”, with masterpieces such as Night Shadows (1921) and Evening Wind (1921), highlights his elegant technique and that “sense of the incredible potential of everyday life” that brought him great success and marked the start of a distinguished career.

The section entitled “Hopper’s Method: from Sketch to Canvas”, which celebrates the artist’s extraordinary talent for drawing, and explores his modus operandi, presents a significant set of preparatory drawings for paintings such as Morning Sun (1952) and the earlier work New York Movie (1939), the sketches for which clearly reveal how his female figure takes shape: starting out almost as a portrait of his wife Jo (his only model), the figure gradually evolves into the pensive usherette with film star looks standing in the movie theatre – one of the artist’s favourite subjects. This section shows how Hopper’s realism is often the result of an amalgamation of several images and situations captured at different times and places, not a simple reproduction from life. The exhibition also exceptionally includes one of his Artist’s Ledger Book, the famous ledgers he and his wife compiled, and which contain sketches of many of his oil paintings.
In the rooms dedicated to “Hopper’s Eroticism” the exhibition gathers some of his most significant images of women absorbed in contemplation, for the most part nude or partially undressed, alone in interiors. Together with the works in the section “Artist’s Essence: Time, Space, Memory” these works are a consummate representation of the artist’s aesthetic, his understated form of realism and above all his ability to reveal beauty in the most common subjects, often with a cinematographic slant that was much appreciated by the critics.

Dawn in Pennsylvania,1942, Terra Foundation

Hopper has long been associated with atmospheric images of urban buildings and the people who inhabit them, but rather than skyscrapers – emblems of the aspirations of the jazz age – he preferred the dilapidated red facades of anonymous shops, and lesser-known bridges. Some of his favourite subjects are images of life in tranquil middle class apartments, often glimpsed through a window from a passing train, and settings like diners and movie theatres; images that have acquired iconic status, as in some of the famous masterpieces presented here: Cape Cod Sunset (1934), Second Story Sun­light (1960) and A Woman in the Sun (1961). Hopper also painted some stunning watercolours during summers spent in Gloucester (Massachusetts), in Maine, and in Truro (Cape Cod) as of 1930. The sea rarely features in these paintings, which show sun-baked sand dunes, lighthouses and humble cottages, enlivened by sensuous contrasts of light and shade; paintings which always hint at a story yet leave the motivations of the protagonists unclear.

The exhibition also features an important photographic, biographical and historical component, tracing American history from the 1920s to the 1960s: the Depression, the Kennedys, the boom years. An opportunity for greater insight into today’s global recession and Barack Obama’s America.
The Edward Hopper exhibition aims to see people as “active subjects” rather than “consumers”, with a view to creating an event that, first and foremost, will be a unique, engaging experience for visitors. With this objective in mind, for the first time in Italy the exhibition exceptionally hosts an interactive and multimedia installation by Gustav Deutsch, the renowned Austrian film maker and video artist (Vienna 1952), who has produced countless films, videos and performances throughout the world. Chosen by Arthemisia, in agreement with Palazzo Reale in Milan, the installation entitled Friday, 29th August 1952, 6 A.M., New York will enable visitors to physically enter Hopper’s world, with a reconstruction of the setting depicted in the painting Morning Sun (1952). In this way visitors will be able to appear in the painting, entering the “set” and moving around at will, like actors in a series of brief plays, filmed by a camera and projected onto a screen.

Educational activities
The exhibition features exclusive, engaging educational activities designed by Francesca Valan for children and young people (aged 5-14) visiting the exhibition. Those who wish to follow the stages in Hopper’s creative process will receive a beautiful sketchpad at the entrance, a scale reproduction of the one that the artist himself used, containing all the indications to venture into his world. Younger visitors (aged 2-5), accompanied by their parents, will be able to take part in a fun treasure hunt, following the instructions printed on a number of special postcards.

all images used with permission

For more info: www.edwardhopper.it

Le Murate was, back in the Quattrocento, a nunnery for nuns under clausura – thus “murate”, something like “walled in”. For about 100 years, starting in 1883, it was the jail of the city of Florence.

When I first came to Florence as a student in 1999, I remember going to a nightclub that was set up in the main square of Le Murate, but the buildings themselves were in disuse. The city of Florence is now unveiling a stunning restoration of this large space. Starchitect Renzo Piano was involved, which is probably why the facade of the residential section that gives onto piazza madonna della neve is so wonderfully varied and full of life.

What’s it going to be? From late Spring onwards, Le Murate is going to be one of the centres for art and contemporary culture in the city. The programme is yet to be decided, but the idea is that there will be at least bi-weekly cultural offerings which might range from literary discussion, music, experimental theatre… whatever.  Furthermore, there are two large spaces dedicated to important projects: The SUC, Spazio Urbano Contemporaneo, is a sort of art gallery that is not an art gallery; the Smart Dissidents 2.0 project, on the other hand, houses political activists and dissident bloggers that are not welcome in their home countries. Thus Le Murate moves from an area of imprisonment to one of Liberty.

On Saturday 16/01/2010, from 6pm to midnight, there will be an evening preview of the cultural events to come, including spontaneous performances, music, and fashion displays. I will be there with H-Art’s Social Media Team. Please stop by the social media space (marked A on the Murate map that you’ll see when you get there) and come send a tweet for Florence. Follow Le Murate on Twitter and tweet, from there or from home, with the hashtag #murate. If you’d like to keep on top of the event via facebook, please become a fan of le murate on facebook.

FOR MORE INFO: The website www.lemurate.comune.fi.it is only in Italian because the event on the 16th is primarily for residents, but the space speaks all languages so please do stop by and take a peek.

BARCAMP: there will also be the second Barcamp for Florence held on Jan 16th at Le Murate from 2pm to 6pm. To sign up for the barcamp sign up on the wiki http://barcamp.org/palazzovecchio and contact Chiara Belli as per the instructions there.

A look back at 2009 through arttrav - how the most significant moments in my year turned into posts.

We started off 2009 with a guided visit of Lucca in early January by new friends Fabio and Laura from FlorenceIN. We have since become close friends, in touch weekly if not daily, while FlorenceIN has become a fixture in our lives. I have a reprise of this visit planned for January 4th 2010 to check out Lucca’s contemporary art scene!

In February, poor arttrav got none of my attention as I was happily teaching art history to undergrads for UGA Cortona and commuting quite a distance to do so.

The Danube

By March I finally got my act together and was able to post the photographs I had taken the month before of the newly restored Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini. This article has had a lot of success thanks to Google and interest driven up by the movie Angels and Demons.

April marked the end of the Spring 2009 term at UGA Cortona. I asked students in my “Women and Art” class to each make a biographical video about a woman artist other than Artemisia Gentileschi, and posted these videos online. My favourite is the video about Lavinia Fontana.
Soon afterwards I found myself with extra time on my hands and plenty of energy; this is when we restyled arttrav with the current wordpress theme and launched into facebook and twitter with great enthusiasm.

In May I saw the presentation of a newly restored painting by Artemisia Gentileschi, about which I wrote a review. I finally met Jane Fortune – from afar – at this event, though it took another 6 months to meet her in person and hear about the rest of her “Invisible Women” project.

June was all about “the cheese video” – how to make pecorino cheese – which has some serious (unrealized) viral potential .

In July I gave a talk at a FlorenceIN meeting on “Mediating Cultural Exchange” that represented a major turning point in my life; I met Costanza from Fondazione Sistema Toscana, which led to my current job as arts editor for the Regione Toscana’s Social Media Team. Thanks to FlorenceIN (soon to be renamed ToscanaIN) I’ve met many active residents in Florence and become one myself.
I also launched the arttrav Italy writing contest this month, and was amazed at how many sponsors were willing to offer prizes.

In August it was hot and I wanted to avoid downtown whenever possible; I explored my own area and wrote about “off the beaten track” Florence: the museum and convent of San Salvi.

My favourite article from September is an interview with artist Stefano Giovacchino who was chosen to install his large paper sculptures in Lucca’s piazza dell’Ampiteatro as part of the anteprima of Cartasia, the biennale of contemporary art dedicated to paper as medium. I am starting to get more interested in contemporary art, and predict that there will be more offerings of this sort in Tuscany in 2010 (all of which will be covered on arttrav, or on the website that I write for work, TuscanyArts).
Also in late September I wrote an article commenting on a local government document called Florence is the Next Florence. I actually came up with this phrase which is now the slogan for arts and culture in the new city administration.

On October 25th, Florence’s mayor made Piazza Duomo pedestrian-only, and arttrav was there. It was a pretty big deal. Read the announcement and read about my experience of the space that day (with photos too).

In November, everybody LOVED Pamela Marasco’s contest-winning article in the Tuscany category about truffles and thermal baths in Tuscany.

In December, some of my best articles were written for publication by others. I was happy to be given an advance copy of Jane Fortune’s Invisible Women for review by and in The Florentine; for work I went to see the show Manipulating Reality at the Strozzina, the review of which was first published on the turismo.intoscana blog.

2009 was a great year; with hopes that 2010 will bring great art and events, and enough time to write about them. Happy New Year to all my regular readers; with many thanks to you for giving me reason to keep writing.

We have a new guideline for accomodation when traveling: stay where you eat. This differs from “eat where you stay” in a clever inversion that fully excludes the dreaded hotel restaurant.

A few months ago we were in Maremma for the weekend at the beach, and wished to find a new restaurant as we’d tired of our old one. After checking out a few small towns we came across Tirli and my husband smelled… Steak! So we followed his nose and ended up at Locanda la Luna, a lovely restaurant that serves upscale Tuscan fare. The owner mentioned that they had rooms; subsequently we have stayed here numerous nights and enjoyed rolling upstairs after large, delicious meals (I am writing this from our iphone in the hotel room).

The Locanda is a concept that exists all over Italy and France and offers excellent food with often reasonable lodging prices. Slow Food Italia sells a guide to them which you can buy at bookstores throughout Italy.

The video is amusing yet accurate, and it’s fun for me to see how this student has perfectly translated the history of the Palazzo Vecchio’s construction as Prof. Hatfield teaches it. The content of that lecture, with my own spin on it, ended up in one of the first posts on arttrav (around November 2005) and a podcast too. Read, or listen to, the history of late medieval Florence and the Palazzo Vecchio here!

I’ve been meaning to go check out this place in the Florentine hills called Dulcamara where you can cook your own meal OR hire a caterer. It’s the same place that Chef Paula Carrier has been using for her British Empire lunches. This guest article submitted by Suzi Jenkins has me convinced that I must do a dinner there soon. But who would want to eat what I cook? And how do you cook for so many people?! Here’s what Suzi has to say.

Simply brilliant. Rent-a-restaurant. The whole kaboodle, lock, stock and barrel, A-Z! Of course the dining rooms and the garden, but the kitchen too, the cutlery, the glasses and plates, the kitchen equipment … and if you need them ever a washer-upper or two. Make a cheese sandwich or a seven course gourmet meal!

Dulcaramara is the name of the “restaurant-with-a-twist” located at Villa Il Mulino, situated on the hills just behind Careggi (literally a 10 minute drive from the hospital area). Uso di Cucina is the name of this devilishly brilliant project run by serial entrepreneur Tommaso Colombini.

It sounded almost too strange to be true, so we tried it out. Being a Brit, my culinary expertise is not so hot, but I have lots of lovely Italian (and other nationality friends) and so we booked an evening. First we put together our guest list (46 people total) and started battling out a menu that would suit all … ha ha ha impossible, so we just decided to cook loads!

We arranged a lovely long shopping list which we sent to Tommaso before the date (agreeing that he would give us the bill to pay, and obviously including copious amounts of wine), and arranged to have Dulcamara from 5pm onwards on a balmy September evening.

And so, we trundled up into the Tuscan hills at the appointed hour to embark on our culinary experiment. Absolute chaos ensued! The kitchen probably happily holds about 10 competent chefs, 20 incompetent chefs, and as big a rabble as you like. We weren’t exactly a disciplined entourage, so all 46 of us all tried to organise each other, with the predictable result that nothing and no-one was remotely coordinated with anything and anyone else. But we did have fun; enormous amounts and bucketloads of fun.

At roughly 8pm we sat down at rather haphazardly laid tables (that wasn’t very organised either…), and the banqueting began. Some really really good dishes, some on-the-spur-of-the-moment total successes, and at least two really awful disasters (the wise amongst us spotted them immediately so avoided ruining our palates)! After a great meal we danced away the excess calories for a couple of hours until about midnight.

Our evening (about 7 hours long in the end) cost us €13 per person for the rental of Dulcamara (plus one washer-upper), plus another €11 per person for food and drink. A really great value evening. Obviously the latter price changes if you decide to have a real chef in cooking for you. The price of the location changes according to season, day of the week, time etc.

It’s an inspirational formula for having a good time. Tommaso will give you as little or as much support as you require, and if you want to be guaranteed a splendid banquet will assist you with sourcing a great catering service to work the kitchen. So, Dulcamara is a marvellous venue for the usual catered events such as weddings, baptisms, birthdays etc, but also amazing for doing something different like cooking with friends (as we did), or even hiring a professional chef and preparing a meal for friends, family, or colleagues – and learning lots while you do it.

In Toscana there is a saying “a tavola non si’invecchia” (you don’t age at the table), and that’s better, and more enjoyable, than Botox injections anytime. So get cooking!

Contact: Tommaso Colombini

(who says “I do speak some English… and I know people who speak really good English”)
Phone: +39 338 607 8874
website in English: www.usodicucina.it
Sometimes Bilingual Blog: usodicucina.webonda.it
Email: info@usodicucina.it

This morning I was driving over to the Virgin Mega-Gym to take a hot shower, since our hot water pipes are frozen, and noticed that “Man upon whom it always rains” [my title] by Belgian sculptor Jean-Michel Folon was also having a cold pipe day. I was not the only person stopped in the middle of the road to photograph this exceptional scene, which made it safe to cross to the middle of this traffic circle! I have been meaning to stop and photograph him for ages as I wanted to share him on arttrav; he is my favourite piece of public sculpture in Florence.

Here’s his answers to my interview questions.

1) How do you define yourself? are you an artist? designer? photographer? artisan/producer?

It’s pretty difficult to define my work. The best word to represent me is definatively “creative”. My work spans object design, photography, graphics, fashion, and video, and I’m open to everything that might stimulate my imagination.

Are you still studying/ where did  you study design?

My vision of the world is certainly closely related to my studies: I have a solid technical base from having studied engineering for a few years before moving over to the arts (facoltà di Lettere) where I am pursuing a degree in “Linguaggi Multimediali e Ricerca Tendenze” that addresses the arts, philosphy, and aesthetics.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I think I’m heading in the right direction; I just want to continue as I have been by continuing to develop my work.

You have three beautiful objects for sale on your website, all of which you made this year Let’s talk a bit about the process of making them – material, process, and production.

The project ZeroZeroDesign began as a challenge to myself to make public works that I created for my own use. Most of the objects I make are in iron and steel, with which I have a strong connection, although I also work in plastic. All the objects are made in my father’s metalworking company, thanks to which I have access to advanced technologies like a laser to cut my objects. Despite this technological aspect, the products that I make as ZeroZeroDesign are limited, artisanal and manual. I think it is interesting, in fact, to be able to meld artisan production with high design.

You mentioned that your father is a metal worker. Did this influence your choice of medium? How big is your factory? what else do you make?

Indeed, the choice to work in metal does depend on my exposure to and strong link with metal thanks to my father, who has a precision mechanics company. For more than 25 years they have produced iron objects. Thus was born my extreme confidence with iron, steel, and aluminium.

When you design something like this – let’s take the “sole” wine rack for example – what factors do you keep in mind?

For me, design is a challenge that involves coming up with and creating something that is both functional and useful, but also that has a complex and stimulating aesthetic and conceptual aspect. Usually a product starts out of need – like making a coat rack – after which I study the best solution that compromises between function and beauty.

I asked jody to send me a photo and this is what he gets when he doesn't answer

One of the most interesting aspects of my work, both with design and photography, is to watch and analyse how people interact with the object. This often leads to new points of view, new needs and ideas.

Jody also has a really cool street style photography blog.

All photos copyright Jody Mattioli except this one which i took from his facebook profile!

Fabulous costume display in loggia

The Biblioteca delle Oblate has it ALL this December! This recently restored public space was already a great place to hang out and study, meet friends or colleagues, and eat lunch or snack. Now, this December, it’s even better. WHY?

1) The Oblate for the month of December is experimenting with being open till Midnight. Yup, all this month it’s open – you can take out books and apply for a library card and have a drink at the bar or surf the net… until midnight. In Florence. And there are special events too. The bigger a success it is, the more likely it is that the city will spend the cash to keep it open in the future, so GO!

Men's costume near the video rentals

2) there is a special exhibit on 18th-century costume that is a really interesting use of spaces within the library complex. The show is entitled “Fashion and Science in Pietro Leopoldo’s Florence”, and its excellent wall text in English and Italian explains the various fashions displayed and the connections between these and some scientific instruments shown in reproduction. The clothing is of course modern reproductions, as they are displayed in areas in which historic cloth would be damaged, but the cool part is that this way there’s art in the open loggie of the building, as well as inside where the books are. Check out the interesting juxtapositions of these figures inside the library.

Bar area (indoor and outdoor)

3) The Oblate has free wifi. Okay, it had it before, but I finally found out how to use it so that i could tell YOU. You need to apply for a library card at the desk, and then for a wifi card and password. It’s easy enough, just bring ID. If you’re not a resident of Florence that’s okay, just bring your passport. Once you get your card you’re golden. You can use the public computers for an hour a day (once you log on, you have one hour to use, you cannot break it up); with your own device you have 3 hours of use per day. The library card also gets you books, cd’s and dvd’s to take home.

4) there are various signs around the library that claim this space as part of the fact that “Florence is the Next Florence” – and you know who loves THAT slogan!

More Photos!

Read my review of Manipulating Reality on the turismo.intoscana.it blog.

Get into every exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi for only 20 euros from now until the end of January 2011 (!!!) with the “Palazzo Ticket” – I got one!

Me with author Jane Fortune at her book launch

Folks! my comprehensive book review of Jane Fortune’s “Invisible Women” is now online and in the paper! Read the article in The Florentine and see below to win your own copy!

Short summary: Invisible Women is an expression of love for the female artists of Florence’s past. Jane Fortune has dug through the archives of the Florentine museums in search of women’s names and their works, which are often in storage and away from the public eye. The book is well written and engaging, and has broad appeal. It makes a great gift for the art-lovers on your holiday list, or really for any woman!

Win a copy of the book!

The prize is one copy of Jane Fortune’s book, generously supplied by The Florentine Press. You must provide arttrav with your snail-mail address upon notification of winning. The book will be shipped in a timely manner by The Florentine Press anywhere worldwide.

From now until Thursday December 17 at midnight European Time, the following actions EACH give you one chance at this random draw (you may do all three).

1) retweet this post (there’s a convenient retweet button at the bottom!). Make sure to include @arttrav in your tweet so I know you tweeted it. You will be contacted by DM if you are the winner.

2) share this post on Facebook (there’s an easy “share” button at the bottom of the post, or just cut and paste the link). Tag @arttrav.com or @Alexandra Korey so that I know you shared it. (If you’re not a fan on facebook, become one! click the heart-shaped fb icon, top right.)

3) Write a comment on this post (preferably after reading the article in The Florentine ) and include your email address in the email field (will not be shown).

Photo: Candida Höfer: “Biblioteca Marucelliana Firenze I 2008″, used by permission.

from 11 December 2009 to 24 January 2010
Open daily 9-19, closed Wednesday
FREE admission!

info: inganni ad arte

Of the works on display by various artists at Galleria Michail, I liked the ceramics best, although there was some impressive marble inlay work and some cut lead crystal. A series of white “holey” vases caught my eye in particular. These works are tradtional containing shapes (vases, containers with lids) rendered useless by being patterned by circular openings that would let out any liquids or objects put inside.

ARTour proposes that you follow the itinerary of four locations. My favourite pieces are those by Paola Staccioli displayed at La Bottega da ‘Ino (Via dei Georgofili, open 11-17 daily). I had the opportunity to meet the artist and talk to her about her delicate ceramic objects. Paola (born in ‘72) is the daughter of Florentine ceramic artist Paolo Staccioli, and their works do have some similarities in their construction and even subject matter. She came to ceramics without specific training in the arts, and learned from her father and on her own.

Paola's hand-made ceramics

Paola’s pieces are particularly fine, light, and fun. I asked Paola about her Tuscan roots and influences, and she struggled to find an aspect of Tuscany that inspires her art in particular, other than light and colour. Indeed, while Tuscan and Marchegian ceramicists often work in traditional shapes and patterns that appeal to the international market, Paola’s pieces are real “art ceramics”. These original objects bear the marks of handiwork – the imperfections, the shapes that are intentionally natural rather than geometric, the slip that reveals a bit of clay beneath. Their fine construction recall contemporary Japanese ceramics, while the patterns themselves vary in their references. Paola generates a metallic finish during the second baking of the maiolica, the results of which are impredictable and unevently distributed on the objects. Some of the flatter pieces have patterning that reminds me of 13th century archaic ware, while the more plastic works’ whimsical animal forms recall Etruscan ware.

On display for the ARTour are small objects – tea cups, bowls, and some of her “impratical tea-pots” – appropriate to the location. They are all for sale and would make a wonderful, original artistic Christmas gift.

Feel free to wander into any of the ARTour Locations – you do not have to eat or buy anything!
INFO: www.artex.firenze.it

More photos on TuscanyArts ’s Flickr page

LOCATIONS in Florence:
Galleria Michail
Via dei Fossi, 44-46 r
Open: 10-13/ 15:30-19
Oggetti della tradizione dell’artigianato artistico toscano

‘Ino
Via dei Georgofili, 3-7 r
Open: 11-17
Le Ceramiche di Paola Staccioli

Ora d’Aria Ristorante
via Ghibellina, 3/c r
Open: 14-24
La Cartapesta di Enrico Paolucci

Il santo Bevitore enoteca gastronomia
Via santo Spirito, 66r
Open: 12:30-14:30/ 19:30-23 (closed Sunday Lunch)
Le Ceramiche di Bruno Gambone.

Notte Bianca summer street party

Via Gioberti also sometimes hosts special events. Last summer there was a “notte bianca” — late-night street party — with musicians and entertainers, and shops open till midnight. The fuzzy photo here shows swing dancers in the street.

Via Gioberti is a “centro commerciale naturale” – an area encouraged as a “natural mall”. It has just about everything from shoe stores to a cartoleria and a number of great jewelry stores. There is Oviesse and Upim (mid-level department stores), Benetton, a good purse store and a few lingerie stores. The internal area called “Le Nove Botteghe” contains an excellent childrens’ toy store called Imaginarium.

Best sweets on the street

When you are ready for a break, Cafe’ Serafini is perfect for a snack at any time of day. It may be one of my favourite Florentine bars because you can sit down without paying extra and the food is good – from sweets to sandwiches, and excellent primi for lunch (personally I like the boiled vegetables). The pasticceria is produzione propria (made on location). Today, after getting some good deals on cashmere at Upim, I sat down and ate a most divine apple pastry.

Via Gioberti internal stores