Francesco spots a shark

Laura’s back with her child-centered articles – this time an itinerary for a winter weekend in Genova with activities and museums for kids, including what (and where) to eat!

Last week we took a long weekend in Genova. For children it’s got a famous acquarium, the “city of children” and the Museo Luzzati (cartoons). But it’s also a really fascinating city for adults with its old and modern corners, the melting-pot at the harbor and the noble palaces in the center. And good food based on fish, herbs, pasta, and vegetables. Here’s what we saw and ate!

We went there by train (Firenze-Pisa then Pisa-Genova – about 130,00€ with a Trenitalia family promotion) and reserved at the confortable Cairoli Hotel (via Cairoli, 14) whose very nice personnel suggested excellent places to eat and visit. A room (with a tiny bathroom) was 90,00€ a night, breakfast included.

Dessert at Douce

We arrived in the afternoon and walked to Piazza De Ferrari (a square with a European feel) and to see the San Lorenzo Dome (with a sad lion, according to Francesco). We enjoyed a break at Douce, in piazza Matteotti, with the maître patisser Michel Paquier identified as “Pasticciere emergente 2012” by the Gambero Rosso guide – see the photo for the excellent dessert. Later we had an aperitivo with fried blue fish and ‘farinata’ (made with chickpeas flour) at Friggitoria Carega in via Sottoripa 120 in front of the harbour.

We bought a specially priced combined ticket to visit the Acquario di Genova and Città dei Bambini e dei Ragazzi (Childrens’ City) in the Porto Antico area (it was half price till the end of January otherwise it costs 20,00€ for adults and 5,00€ for children of 3 years).

Francesco enjoys games at Childrens' City

The Childrens’ City appears to be less busy in the morning than in the afternoon. There are areas for children of any age with labyrinths, educational spaces, water games, strange mirrors and musical instruments, etc. For older boys and girls there are many scientific and technological corners. Have a look at the program as there are interactive readings, special initiatives (space, stars, biodiversity, etc) for children of any ages!

For lunch we opted to check out the newly opened EatItaly, with a view of Genova harbor and a lovely selection of Italian enogastronomic specialties, followed by an ice cream at Grom.

In the afternoon we visited the Acquarium. An infinity of pools full of any sort of fish from Piranhas to Sharks, Dolphins, Penguins, etc… But what do all children like best? Nemo (clownfish) of course.

The acquarium offers an unforgettable event that we weren’t able to participate in, the “Notte con gli squali” (night with sharks) for 7 to 13 years old children who have a sleep over in front of the sharks’ pool.

Genova acquarium with stroller, photo flickr @angelagennaro

To relax you can visit “L’albero delle lettere” (via del Canneto il Lungo 38) a bookshop for children and adults any language speaking with a  rich program of interactive readings (3-5 years), creative ateliers, exhibitions and guided tours.

At night a rich starter with affettati and cheese + a glass of wine at Taggiou (vico Superiore del Ferro, 8 ) and then at Gaia restaurant (with high chair) 20 metres far from the hotel (vico dell’Argento), where we had traditional recipes with innovative ingredients.

The day after we walked cross the Magazzini del Cotone (an example of restored industrial architecture) arriving at the Porto Antico.

Then we went to the Luzzati Museum (Emanuele Luzzati is one of the most famous and poetic Italian illustrators – an artist!) with an exhibition of Mordillo (wonderful!), storyboards of a tales illustrated by Luzzati with videos ongoing and a great bookshop. There are also laboratories to book every Saturday at 15.00 inspired by one of the tales illustrated by Luzzati but they are only for children aged 5 and up (5€ each participants with two adults entering the Museum for free followed by a Tigullio milk break included in the entrance).

Francesco tired after the Luzzati museum

We then walked in a different part of Genova: to the old fashioned buildings and streets near the Embriaci square and tower, Teatro della Tosse and Museo di Sant’Agostino, arriving at piazza delle Erbe where we had our last farinata and cheese focaccia with pesto (yum) sitting at Bar Berto. We also stopped for coffee and to pick up some local products for presents (Amaretti di Volteggio di Cavo and chinotto marmalade) at Bar Pasticceria Marescotti (via di Fossatello 35/37).

Bye bye Genova! See you soon… but not too soon because you’re no good for my diet!

Catch up with Laura De Benedetto on the with and within network for women and moms, and read her other Florence for children posts on this blog!

Francesco and daddy fabio at the port

Vernazza, Cinque Terre, 2004 (it does not look like this any more)

On Presa Diretta the thing that shocked me most was that they demonstrated how people are building again on fault lines and flood plains, and that local administrations are issuing these permits. Do we not learn anything from disasters? They showed how the mountains above Vernazza ceded and a wave of mud came down, a wave that would not have happened had there been healthy trees and no development on the hillside (from what I understand, at least).

The folks at Pubblica Assistenza Riomaggiore have set up a “buy a pixel” donation system on the model of the million dollar page. As donations come in, the picture will change from flooded Vernazza to the way it used to look – in the photo above (which incidentally brings more traffic to this website than any article). I purchased 10 pixels right on the beach at Vernazza on the hopes that some day soon I’ll be able to pitch my total shade umbrella there and enjoy a restored town. I know that it will take a lot more than my 25 euros to reach that goal, which is why crowdfunding is a great thing.

This is just one of the many initiatives out there to collect donations, which are added to actual physical efforts on the territory. Last November, after the floods hit Genova as well, I launched a collection, 2 euros at a time, through my work at The Florentine Press, which we then donated to the Red Cross (CRI). Save Vernazza was created by three American women who have lived in Vernazza for years to, in their own words:

Rebuild, restore and preserve the town of Vernazza by raising funds for immediate reconstruction and long-term cultural and environmental projects for the benefit of Vernazza’s community of residents and visitors.

Meanwhile Cinque Terre.com’s blog, that is very active on twitter, seeks to provide information about the Cinque Terre in general and promote continued tourism to the three towns that were not affected by the disaster. Unquestionably, tourism is a two-sided blade that provides much needed funds to the area, but also encourages wild development that harms the earth, unless tourists themselves rise and demand sustainability.

On the topic of sustainability I’ve already published an interview with one of the American women making a documentary on how corruption and development have ruined the Cinque Terre, in which residents themselves propose solutions. I hope that that post encouraged some donations and that the movie will come out soon so that the English-speaking world can be better informed about the plight of this delicate territory.

As for me, I tend to use words rather than my wallet to instigate change; this is a rare donation on my part! Awareness comes first, action next. Let’s all do what we can to help.

Terraced vineyards in the Cinque Terre

The two independent filmmakers finished gathering material in Italy in September 2010. It was a documentary focused on wine production as sustainable development, though it focused also on sustainable tourism and related environmental themes. Two weeks later, the most interesting people they filmed got arrested. Scandal hit the Cinque Terre. And not too long later, in October 2011, Vernazza and Monterosso were devastated by flooding and mudslides, flooding that also affected Genova, but that might have been avoided – say the newspapers and the carabinieri – had it not been for overbuilding in the environmentally delicate area.

Sharon Boeckle answers some questions from ArtTrav:

AT: What drew you to the Cinque Terre in the first place? Are you sure it wasn’t Rick Steves?

SB: My first visit was over ten years ago, during an organized tour of Italy with a group of Americans. I had wanted to find somewhere “unusual” and “off the beaten path” to discover, and the Cinque Terre was a quick day trip from where we were at that time (in Tuscany.) I fell in love with the area immediately, and almost every year after I returned and over the years I began to know the area a little bit better. It was through those short visits that I began to see some changes… in 2001, 2002, the Cinque Terre was not quite so full with tourists and the park office was fairly new. Over time, the crowds got larger and the organization of the park grew. I shared all of my observations with Krista, and, together, we thought that that this development would be a good subject for a documentary film. Through research we discovered the restoration of the winemaking tradition and it became our first area of focus, but then, with a 2008 research trip, the area of focus grew.

What scandal hit the area that drastically changed the direction of your documentary?

Two individuals interviewed for the film were arrested just two weeks after we got home; one of them was cleared on all charges, the other is Franco Bonanini, who was the president of the Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre at that time. Those arrests took place on September 28, 2010. I am sure you can find objective documentation on what happened and how; I would be prefer to simply state that it was that arrest that changed the scope of our film, but we have no comment on anything else regard to the arrests.

Cinque Terre landscape

Hasn’t Cinque Terre done some things to preserve the environment? I thought I read that they did not allow plastic bottles in the area. Was it just a media ploy?

The ban on plastic bottles and some other restrictions were indeed a few of the many programs implemented by the park to try to sustain the environment of the area.

Name three specific things that you think Cinque Terre must do to pull things together and save the area from itself.

We are not environmental experts or experts on sustainable development or sustainable tourism, and so we hesitate to suggest that anyone outside of the community should comment on what the citizens need to do to “save” the area, if it indeed needs to be “saved.” We care deeply for the residents of these villages, their land, and their traditions, and we wish to allow them to tell THEIR story, to highlight THEIR concerns and struggles, so that they may have a voice in our film, and then to allow the audience members to form their own opinions.

You can support the documentary Vendemmia through the filmmakers’ kickstarter campaign, which ends January 31 2012 and has already reached its 2600$ goal! They set the goal low to be sure to reach it (and 48 people so far have been convinced to help them monetarily) but still need more money for plane tickets and equipment rentals.

Pamela at home (with her outdoor hearth)

Like anyone with a good sense of hospitality, Pamela first offered us cappuccino (made by her artist husband Johnny, and approved by my Italian husband Tommaso) and an olive oil cake made by a particularly talented student at the day before’s cooking class, and we got to talking about many things that were not cookbooks. As with any two expats who meet, one goes over “how we got here.” Pamela moved with her husband and daughter (now 14) when the latter was nearing school age and her many research trips to Italy seemed less practical than just settling down here.

In this big open kitchen made for conviviality, she showed me some of her books. For a woman who has written over a dozen books and runs one of Food & Wine’s top ten culinary workshops in Italy, she’s extremely modest and down to earth. As I flipped through Pamela’s books i found that some aspects that had struck me about Cucina Povera turn out to be present in her earlier books too, especially Italian Food Artisans, though this latest is a real masterpiece.

“Cucina Povera: Tuscan Peasant Cooking” – translated literally as “poor food” – has a printed hard cover, rough edged heavy pages, and warm photography. If you judge a book by its cover, this one’s already a winner. And when I got it, I wondered how I, far from a foodie, would review a cookbook beyond its cover. Yeah, I can cook and bake (I’ve even posted a few recipes on this blog – see Tommaso’s grandma’s crostata for example). But I am not one who can evaluate if one ribollita is more authentic than the next. No problem here; I have been saved by the bell book.

Cucina Povera is a book to have, to read and to look at, even if you have no idea how to make soffritto or skin hazelnuts (the book tells you how to, anyway). It’s not a reference book to use to look up recipes – though you could do that – but rather one that merits a proper read before shelving it in the kitchen or displaying it on the coffee table. The 40-page introduction could be expanded into a whole book, in my opinion, and it’s primarily about this part that I asked Pamela during my visit.

As we sat at the large table that Pamela uses for cooking classes, I asked her my first hard, critical question. Cucina Povera, I said, is this a manifesto? Why should we be eating this way, now? It didn’t seem to me that the book stated that all essential “why”, and as a good scholar I was taught that every essay or book had to do so. “It’s not a manifesto.” responds Pamela. Her own interest in thrifty cooking came from her mother’s Depression-era habits; here in Italy she found a kindred approach in many peoples’ kitchens. Many Tuscan dishes, it turns out, come from humble ingredients and embody a concept of re-use and saving.

Cavolo nero in Pamela's garden

Rather than a manifesto that says we should all eat this way – which I’d suggest would be pretty impractical for your average American, or for anyone who doesn’t have time to cook a soup for three days – the book is a preservation of an important phase in Italian culinary history that will be lost with the passing of the elder generation. Pamela traveled to every part of Tuscany to gather these tales. You get the sense that she probably ate her way through a lot of country kitchens in the process, so it may not have been terribly arduous.

Jokes aside, Pamela sat down with some of the oldest people in Tuscany, the real preservers of tradition, the best cooks in the land, and asked them what they ate in hard times. It’s not a question you can casually pop to anyone who survived Nazi occupation. She drew out a lot of hard stories; almost every person in front of her was in tears at some point. Writing the book, she had to make some difficult choices about length and content, knowing that the cookbook genre requires recipes after a short introduction, but her heart was so involved in telling these peoples’ stories.

Elena Servi, one of Pitigliano's last 3 Jewish residents

These grandmas and grandpas generously share their recipes, which have been adapted to American measurements and ingredients when necessary. Each dish is beautifully photographed, displayed in an impressive array of appropriately rustic tableware and settings. Some recipes show the versions cooked by the interviewees. My favourite photos are those of the old people themselves. They’re in typical Tuscan settings and photographed with wonderful natural light.  Although photographer Andrea Wyner was not with Pamela during the whole process of her research, you get the impression that they traveled together for a year, for both people and food are captured in such a natural way.

Ilvana and Diana, Pietrasanta

There’s no doubt that Pamela’s a good talker and a good listener. We quickly wiled away hours and I started to understand how she got all these stories out of people. What’s her modus operandi? “Taxi drivers and bars,” she says. A small town barman might direct her to a patron, to his mother, to someone who will introduce her to the right person to get the story. It takes time and patience. With all this time spent talking, our stomachs are quite ready for lunch.

Lunch in Monticchiello

We went to Enoteca La Porta in nearby Monticchiello, where owner Daria is a somellier and friend; Pamela often takes groups here for a wine tasting experience. I had the most generously dressed tagliatelle al tartufo ever, while Pamela and Tommaso enjoyed the steak “tagliata” with shaved raw porcini mushrooms on top and perfectly matched wine by the glass.

What I ate

Daria, owner of La Porta

The weather was changing that day so we ate inside, missing out on the restaurant’s gorgeous terrace. When the rain stopped after lunch we explored the very cute town and I took a few photos (see the flickr gallery below).

Book giveaway

The publisher has generously offered a copy of this book to give away to one lucky, hungry reader.

How to win? Just comment on this blog post. Sure, I’d appreciate it if you’d like my facebook page and share this blog with your friends, but I can’t force you.

What should you write? Anything. Tell me why you want this book, tell us your best money saving kitchen tip, recount your best tuscan eating or cooking experience, say what recipe you hope to find in this book, or what you’ve learned from Pamela in the past.

A few rules. Comments close at midnight european time on Halloween, October 31 2011. Contest open worldwide. You must register your comment with a valid email address and respond to the winning notification within 48 hours. Winner will be chosen by random draw.

Hey if you don’t win you can always buy the book here!

Trulli in the valle d'itria + hay bales.

A 4 day weekend is long enough to take a road trip down the boot to Puglia, a land that in my experience is polarized between beauty and blemishes: unfinished “abusive” construction not far from beautiful beaches, polluting industries, amazing trulli, cacioricotta on orecchiette, friendly people, and natural beauty that in some parts would be better without some of the aforementioned elements. This long weekend’s trip to the Valle d’Itria, however, showed me the real beauties of Puglia and we’re already thinking about a return trip to see what we’d missed.

A Baroque church in Locorotondo

Puglia is dang trendy these days. Rapper Caparezza is from Molfetta (province of Bari), which probably has contributed a lot to the region’s image. So has Nichi Vendola, the region’s gay president and national leader hopeful. The Italia Wave music Festival has abandoned Tuscany for Puglia, for some time now touted as “the new Tuscany,” though I wish no such thing upon them. There is no question that this region has a lot to offer, from culinary delights to nature. There is also a significant art historical element, from Taranto’s Magna Grecia and good archaeological museum to the Baroque whiteness of Lecce. But a visit to Puglia in the summertime usually means it’s too hot to realistically visit any of these things: we tend to opt for the beach and anything we can see, or eat, on the way.

We booked a stay in a luxury trullo resort called Il Palmento with Groupon – 2 nights for 179 euros. We had pretty low expectations, having heard terrible things about Groupon (from bad quality on the consumer’s part to the fact that these deals have put many people out of business), so were pleased to find that the place exists at all.

This trullo is ours.

We received no lesser treatment for being “Grouponers”, and were indeed very, very thrilled to stay in a large two-cone trullo. These structures are traditionally thick-walled and a bit dark due to their single opening, designed to be cool year-round except in August when they become unbearable. Our trullo was of the modern type: it had large double-glaze windows and air conditioning! We took advantage of the resort’s swimming pool (a double oval, one for kids) and tennis court (nobody else used it). The place is frequented primarily by families with 2.2 kids who probably liked the convenience of the facilities which also included a restaurant and after-dinner poolside activities that we avoided like the plague.

Bina Ristorante

The nearby towns of Martina Franca and Locorotondo are popular summer dinner destinations for residents of Taranto, who go there to escape the heat of the city and take in a good meal, often dining al fresco. I have to share one of our dinner experiences with you as we found Bina (via Dottor Recchia 44-50) in Locorotondo to be a very special, modern reinterpretation of Pugliese food. First of all, the decor of this tavern space is very much our style – modern, all white, it incorporates traditional elements like ceramics from nearby Grottaglie but uses the most modern versions available. Bina cooks with traditional Pugliese ingredients and recipes, refined with some modern combinations and artistic presentation.

I photographed all my food but spared Tommaso this vice as he appeared quite ready to devour his. I loved the presentation of the antipasti (on the house) – a bowl of olives and another of fried bread balls with mint and cheese inside that are the most delicious thing I have ever tasted.

I moved on to my primo, described on the menu as follows: “spaghetto fatto in casa con fagiolini verdi, pomodorino fresco del pendulo e falde di cacioricotta della Valle d’ Itria.” The combination of green beans and pasta is typically Pugliese, a poor food that hugs long pasta when cooked to the right point.

For secondo I had the cheese plate (note the mini burrata and ricotta) while Tommaso had mixed roast meat that looked as appetizing as possible given its nature.

Service was at a leisurely pace, perfect for a romantic meal or for eating with a group of friends. My only complaint is one that I often hear echoed by American tourists – too much salt. I load tons of salt on my food, and this was even a bit much for me. Prices are slightly above average but we are convinced that anywhere else a restaurant like this could easily charge triple and still be full every night (we spent 58 euros for two, with one glass of wine and no dessert). Easily the best meal of the year 2011. Go Puglia!

A park in Raval

When planning what to see in Barcelona, I made a list of some of the essential museums and monuments, but excluded many others because I wanted to find some things that were off the beaten track. I consulted a friend who did her “Erasmus” studies here and she suggested some hidden Roman ruins and a nice area for dinner. I was loaned the le Cool Weird and Wonderful Guide to Barcelona from my boss, Marco, who is a hipster himself, and although from 2006, it’s so advanced it proved helpful now. We cross-checked references in Time Out Barcelona 2011 and with current reviews on TripAdvisor. This led us to some excellent food as well as to funky things to do. Here’s our favourite six list.

Photograph street art in Raval

Raval used to be gritty and dangerous, or so I understand. People have been bitching about its gentrification thanks to the presence of the new Contemporary art museum (MACBA) and the influx of a few luxury hotels, but it seems to me that this progress means you can safely wander around there (in the daytime) with a big camera and not get robbed. So here’s my hipster tip: go find the coolest street art and photograph it (big zoom lens always good).

Love these little gesso men.

I saw a few works by an artist who is sticking little painted gesso figurines of men on walls and doors. I’m not sure who the artist is (if you know please comment below!), but I like it. Barcelona street artists seem pretty respectful; I get the impression that this is because of a strong enforcement campaign a few years ago (recounted in this post that declares BCN street art dead), but what’s left IMO is the GOOD street art, the graffiti art that is not tagging and just “urban decay”, and it’s done on the metal grated doors that pull down over closed stores, and sometimes on doors, but never on walls. These decorations often are in line with what the store sells – perhaps upon commission of the store owners who figure they’ll get painted anyway? One very nice example of respectful street art is a big intervention of tape art that I’ve photographed for you! Perhaps street art was more alive 5 years ago, but compared to what we have in Florence, even this watered down version is truly superior.

Tape Art Barcelona

Lunch at Bar del Convent

Eat a big salad or a quiche in the cloister of a monatery turned seriously alternative bar/café while reading a childrens’ book in Catalan about “diverse families”. Take a short nap on the couches afterwards. Recommended in the Time Out Guide yet frequented mainly by locals, including groups of young parents who take advantage of the kiddie play area. Catch a concert or performance at night, or run into a community center fair on the weekend. You’re just steps away from the Picasso Museum, yet mentally worlds away. Location: Plaça de l’Acadèmia, area Born.

Alternative family childrens' book

Buy Campers in Spain

What to say: they’re cheaper than in Italy! Campers are cool shoes, they last a long time and they don’t change style too often.

Go to Parc de la Diagonal Mar

Designed in 2002 by husband and wife team Enric Miralles & Benedetta Tagliabue (although none of the signs or books give HER credit!) this is probably Barcelona’s most recently built park and it incorporates sustainable design and architecture features. Visiting this area is interesting as it’s an example of planned development at the northeast end of the city (see this drawing from wiki architecture).

Diagonal Mar

The park is the unifying element in the ex-industrial area that is now home to a few thousand luxury condo dwellers. Say what you will about luxury condos, but I have no issue against them, and would happily live here near this beautiful park that has so many different features. Developed to be like a really big backyard, it has different areas like a duck pond, play area with ping pong tables, and seating areas under the shade of plants that refuse to grow out of gigantic suspended pots decorated with mosaics (one would say Gaudiesque, but I’d hypothesize that it’s possible to be an architect in Barcelona while ignoring this ancestry). Everything is connected by various above- and below-ground irrigation systems, and the lake is fed by rainwater – little lobsters are fed in there, off what I do not know.

Next door, the mall of the same name has some pretty good stores! And if you follow the park to the far end from the subway exit, you hit the beach, populated by locals who insist on lying in the sun even if it’s well hidden behind the fog that seems to rise off the sea.

Hang at the Barcelona Architects’ Association

After a cursory visit to the cathedral just to photograph the geese in the cloister (have you ever seen anything like this before? I haven’t!), go to the architects’ association just across the square. You can’t miss the facade frieze designed by Picasso. Upstairs you may find an interesting temporary exhibition (free) – we saw some really cool models for a semi-utopic housing block. In the basement, the architects’ cooperative bookstore stocks everything from design-geek objects to hardhats and survey tools! Location: Plaça Nova 5, across the street from the Cathedral.

Model at Architects association

Pick up a souvenir at Vinçon

Vincon is a huge designer home store for anyone design-minded or kitchen-supply loving. Hipster parents will like the assortment of buggies with price-ranges similar to that of my car, and the designer wooden bikes and molded plastic hobby horses intended to raise baby to be as much the consumeristic aesthetes that we are. Foodies will love the assortment of silicon bake ware alongside more traditional pieces.

It’s not just what’s IN this store that’s cool, it’s everything about it – the artistic and engaging window displays, the sheer size of the whole, the logo and package design. It’s been around for many decades, but it’s greatest expansion was in the 1980s, while in 1973 La Sala Vincon opened on the first floor, an important gallery space for emerging Barcelona artists in the fecund swinging 70s – many of the artists involved here now have works hanging at the MACBA. The big gallery space is currently being used to show… outdoor furniture. Sit on it (or, when they change exhibits, sit in the furniture section) and rest up before going back out.

This ‘hipster’ couple stayed at Eric Vokel Gran via Suites while in Barcelona, and also visited lots of museums.

MNAC

Wherever I go, I tend to visit a lot of museums. It’s a good thing that Barcelona has a museum discount card called “Articket“ that costs 22 euros and gets you into 7 museums! I absolutely recommend this card to any visitor to Barcelona: if you go to only two or three of these, you will not only save money but time, since having the card allows you to skip the long lines outside the most popular institutions like La Pedrera and Museu Picasso. This is a better deal than the integrated Barcelona Card that bundles transportation and museum discounts, but just a few full museum entrances (and not to those listed below).

Here’s my take on the museums we visited in Barcelona.

MNAC: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya

We started our 5-day trip here because I figured that this museum would give us a good base in Catalan history and art. The Romanesque collection is closed until 2012, but the vast Gothic section and the moderns (meaning 18th century to WWII) was worth visiting.

Mnac gothic collection display

This newly renovated museum gets an A+ in museology! Friendly staff greet you and answer questions in any language; you can store your belongings in lockers with 1 euro that you get back, you get a free map with the highlights indicated on it, and if you’re deaf, there’s even a visual guide in sign language! The airy spaces have been divided to provide good flow and to highlight important works. There are plenty of places to sit down and relax. The collection is just the right size to make it digestible in one visit of a few hours, but you can also divide up your visit as the ticket allows you in twice over a certain period. Best of all, we had the museum almost to ourselves.

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

Start your Gaudi here, not at the much-trodden Sagrada Familia, because in the building’s attic there is an excellent exhibit (renovated in 2006 by the bank Catalunya Caixa) about the modernista architect’s forms and techniques. There are models and well-planned and executed videos that actually made me regret not having taken the audioguide to accompany them. Architecture geeks and engineers will enjoy the references to biomimicry in the juxtaposition of Gaudiesque forms with corn on the cob, sponges, and animal skeletons.

The attic of La Pedrera contains a useful museum about Gaudi

I'd dine in this room!

Oh yeah, the apartment itself is nice too! The flow is remarkably natural and the curation is minimal but clearly well thought out: small details, like a maid’s outfit, suffice to communicate the function of each room without resorting to invasive signage. Having seen the videos in the exhibit upstairs, we found ourselves attuned to the functional and architectural details of the architecture.

Tip: arrive early in the morning to avoid the crowds, and remember that with the Articket you don’t have to wait in line. There is a free exhibition gallery (with access from just down the street) that is currently showing “The Art of Eating” (until July 20 2011), an interesting mix of early modern and contemporary artists’ interpretations of food. Worth stopping in, for free!

Fondació Miró

Miro museum

This museum, located in the green of Monjuic not far from the MNAC, provides an overview of the Catalan artist’s painting, sculpture, textiles, and graphic works. To be honest, I rather prefer the Fondation Maeght near Nice as it better integrates architecture with Miro’s sculptures and the works of his contemporaries. However, you can’t help but love Miro’s adorable figures who seem to speak an alien language…

On the other hand, the temporary exhibits of contemporary art may be fun to visit. We enjoyed “Genius Loci” (until May 29 2011), a series of participatory stage sets accompanied by music that we heard on personal headphones, featuring various artists from the alternative scene in Barcelona.

Museu Picasso

Is it wrong to say I didn’t really love the Picasso Museum? Perhaps it was the crowds, or it was my high expectations: they are very innovative online (they won the Museums on the Web prize for their use of social media in 2010) while at the museum itself there was no wifi and nothing that struck me as terribly innovative. There is an iphone guide that you can download from the website – we didn’t see that before going though. Photos are not permitted (it’s not their fault, copyright legislation), so no photo for this part of this article!

The collection focuses on the development of the artist, with a lot of his early works in which you might search for signs of future genius in scribbles done on cocktail napkins. I particularly enjoyed the 58 paintings in which Picasso deconstructed Velasquez’s Las Meninas, none of which I’ve ever seen before elsewhere. Perhaps this section of the museum is what makes it worth the visit, since nowhere else would you ever get the opportunity to see a complete body of works that really demonstrate the artist’s thought process.

MACBA: Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona

MACBA

Ingredients for a contemporary art museum. A good acronym: check. A big white building by a starchitect: check (Richard Meir). An assortment of prankster material from the 70s? I’m afraid the collection rather let me down, as is often the case in contemporary museums. I do love the Gorilla Girls, whose critiques of the art establishment are right on, and there is a wall dedicated to them, but otherwise I’d say there’s a too-heavy concentration on video art in this museum. We got a good laugh out of the temporary exhibit, co-curated with Rome’s Maxxi, on the Otholit Group, which we really did not understand. Fun gift shop.

Next door is the CCCB - center for contemporary culture – near the faculty of philosphy of the University too. The current exhibit at the Center didn’t appeal to me (an artist from Trieste – we get that at home) but it’s worth checking out what’s on and hopping in if you’re interested. They also do films, performances, and other events.

The whole area around these contemporary museums seems to have blossomed – some would say the Raval is being quickly gentrified and that’s a bad thing, but I saw creativity and youth that couldn’t have been negative. Skateboarders congregate in the wide piazza out front.

Skateboarders outside MACBA

Disseny Hub Barcelona

The skeleton of a fetus, printed in 3d

Across the street from the Picasso museum is Barcelona’s modern design museum. The 5 euro entrance is not included in the Articket but we came out with enough ideas to launch a multi-million euro start-up so it was worth it, even if we never quit our jobs in order to make 3D printed solutions for the Italian market.The current exhibits close soon (May 2011) but I get the feeling that anything here is cool, so go in.

We learned about 3D printing solutions for everything from in-vitro diagnostics to jewelry making, and then proceeded to an exhibit that dug up 100 ideas for sustainable living from the 60s and 70s and put contemporary spins on them. Plenty of ideas here. Downstairs there’s one free exhibit, beautifully curated and oh-so-funky.

While in Barcelona we stayed at Erik Vokel’s Gran via Suites (read my review here) – very comfortable self-catering apartments in a great location near Rocafort Metro station. The following museums listed above are easy walking distance from where we stayed: MNAC, MACBA, CCCB, Fondacio Miro.

8th-floor premium apartment at Eric Vokel Gran via suites

I’m just about ready to call Eric Vokel Gran Via Suites home… it’s only for five days, but we’ve very comfortably moved in and nothing’s missing, so we could stick around pretty much forever!

It’s been a while since we’ve taken a good “European city” trip, so Tommaso and I searched for a good excuse to take a cheap flight to Barcelona and stay in a luxury apartment rental. Our 7 year wedding anniversary is in a few days so that’ll do as an excuse. Barcelona makes a great long-weekend trip from Florence, Italy – there’s a direct flight with Meridiana that costs around 200 euros return – like going to Milan and back twice on the Eurostar – and the flight duration is about the same as taking the ATAF bus downtown and back, once, at rush hour.

From our home in Florence to our adopted home in Barcelona, via flight, airport train and metro, we arrived at Eric’s Gran via Suites in about 3.5 hours. Although this just-renovated apartment-hotel building has reception service until 6pm and then an automatic check-in service (plus security/doorman), manager Marc and reservations manager Florencia stayed late to greet us. We have booked 5 nights at a special “blogger rate” that I negotiated based on the fact that this chain of designer apartments is super social and very attentive to reviews. Being so web 2.0 has paid off for them: their other 2 buildings are ranked #2 and #4 on TripAdvisor… I wanted to check it out for myself and can confirm that everything you read on TA is true: this place is great.

The building and the area

Gran Via Suites is the third building by this Danish designer who likes design furniture and calm spaces in the middle of a bustling city. While the first two buildings are a gaudiesque stones’s throw away from the Sagrada Familia in the chic Eixample Dreta area, Gran Via is on the wide street of the same name in the Eixemple Esquerra – which used to be the left side of the tracks, but is now a bustling upper-class residential neighbourhood (not to mention the heart of the city’s gay area).

The whole area of Eixample was designed as an expansion plan in the 1850s by the social idealist and military engineer Ildefons Cerdà. It’s characteristic form is best seen on maps: each block of apartments is an octogon. Beautiful avant-garde buildings, original to this building plan, alternate with a few more modern ones. Gran Via is a main thoroughfare but traffic is not very heavy, and there is a bike lane and pedestrian path down the center, plus the whole thing is mitigated by decades-old trees that, when seen from above, make the street disappear.

Gran via from above: the top floor of Eric Vokel's building

My first concern was that this was not the best location from which to visit Barcelona, but we saw that there is a Metro station (Rocafort on the red line 1) just 2 doors away, so we figured that with a transport pass we would get anywhere we needed to go. Upon arrival we were pleasantly surprised to find that we’re walking distance to a number of things, including the area of Montjuic (at least the lower part) – it’s only 20 minutes by foot to the Fundacio Miro and other museums in Barcelona!

The second concern was that this area would be loud, as the building is on a big street. I am super sensitive to noise! No problem, again: our apartment touches interior courts on BOTH sides, and we’re on the 7th floor, way above the street. It’s perfectly silent and we slept like logs.

Bed in which we have been sleeping like logs.

vintage elevator!

The building itself, from the turn of the century, has been totally gutted, leaving only the wrought iron entrance door and the antique elevator (truly funky). It opened just one month ago, on April 4th, a few days earlier than planned, and everything is finished and functioning – wifi, tv, phones, etc. I say this with wonder because I feared that they’d not open in time, but Florencia assured me that everything would be ready – and it was. I guess that’s one difference between Spain and Italy!

The apartment

I’m a veteran at staying in tourist apartments or short term rentals: I like to cook for myself most of the time, I usually try to stay a longish period in any city, and I’ve done a few extended stays in my dissertation-research years, so I have a good sense of what is usually missing from these places. Eric and his team have done a great job of providing just about everything you’d want in a home, as well as in a 4 star hotel.

You do get: pots and pans, knives, cutting board, small appliances, a kitchen sponge and soap (rare), a hairdryer, shower gel and soap (but not much else in the bathroom), and hotel-style crisp sheets. You don’t get slippers or bathrobes – if you want that, go to a hotel – nor do you get throw pillows or blankets, or big tea mugs – for those things, I guess I just have to stay at my own home ! My one “design” criticism: there ought to be an extra light over the mirror for make-up and mens’ shaving.

View from my balcony, down to two units that have courtyard-gardens

There are 29 apartments in this building, with different floor plans from the one bedroom that we have to the super duper four-bedroom (whose kitchen/living space I’ve photographed above). Some have terraces; ours has a balcony with a table for two overlooking an inner courtyard, where the sound of children playing rings out during the day. I got to peek into some of the “premium” units which are very nice indeed, though I’m very happy with our basic unit that has the very same finishings. You can tell that the renovation was done to last with good quality tiles, doors and taps, so I think this place will wear well. It’s the first time I’ve stayed in a hotel that has design features I’d actually choose for my own home.

We’re excited about our stay here in Barcelona – a good night’s sleep, a comfortable kitchen, and a great location are, for me, the essential factors upon which the rest of the experience is built. And having started out right, in such a central location, we are enjoying Barcelona a lot.

See more Barcelona on arttrav: my take on Museums in Barcelona & more photos on Flickr & 5 hipster things to do (upcoming).

The famed circular courtyard at Villa Farnese (Caprarola).

You could be forgiven for thinking that outside the main tourist sights, Rome, Viterbo, perhaps Tivoli, there isn’t much to see in Lazio. You’d be wrong. Northern Lazio, in between Rome and Florence, is an area mostly ignored by tourists and yet, for me, it’s one of the most interesting and beautiful regions you could visit. Infused by culture and history, firmly situated in the Etruscan, Roman, medieval, renaissance and modern heartland of Italy, Northern Lazio is more layered and complex than you could imagine. In this article, I’m going to describe a day out in Northern Lazio, taking in two cities, a palazzo, an agriturismo, and possibly a carnival or two.

The small cities of Caprarola and Ronciglione are very close to each other, perched on the edge of Lago di Vico, an ancient volcanic lake surrounded by farming and a nature reserve.

Caprarola & Palazzo Farnese

We’ll start in Caprarola, approximately 32 miles (51km) northwest of Rome (about 137 miles/220km from Florence), a picturesque town clinging onto a rocky outcrop with deep ravines on either side.

Palazzo Farnese (photo: flickr user _pek_)

One of the main tourist sites in Caprarola is the Palazzo Farnese (not to be confused with the French embassy in Rome which has the same name). Villa Farnese, as it is also known, started out as a fortified castle designed for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the future Pope Paul III). However, work on the castle stopped soon after the foundations were built (between 1515 and 1530).  A grandson of Pope Paul III, also known as Alessandro Farnese, decided to turn the fortified foundations into a villa for his family. Palazzo Farnese sits atop Caprarola like a crown, dominating the city. It is built to a pentagonal plan (a consequence of its initial ‘fortress design). The villa is one of the finest examples of late Renaissance architecture, with strong Mannerist tendancies in the less formal areas (gardens, loggie).

The villa’s interiors are arranged over five floors, with each floor designed for a different function. You can reach the gallery and upper floors by five spiral staircases that dot the courtyard. The main rooms are located on the first floor, whereas a large central loggia looks down over the town. [Editor's note: The fresco decorations throughout the villa, by Tempesta and other Mannerist artists, exalt the Farnese dynasty through an iconography planned by Annibale Caro. The iconography of these and of the architecture constitute a few decades' work by the famous art historian Loren Partridge.)

The garden at palazzo Farnese Caprarola

The gardens of Palazzo Farnese are extensive, and well worth a visit in themselves. Near the Palazzo, the gardens are ornate and formal, with box topiary and ornate fountains. [Editor's note: the most famous fountain is the chain of water pictured here. There are seating areas designed to surprise - and wet - visitors.] There is also a small cavern with a pool, hidden away at the back of one of the box topiary mazes. As you progress further away from the Palazzo, the formality gives way to some chestnut woods (great for chestnuts and mushrooms in the fall) and then the giardino segreto, with a large summerhouse. The gardens continue after this with a rose garden and fountains. I didn’t go any further but there seems to be plenty more to see. The palace is open every day, except Mondays, from 8.30 to 18.45. The gardens are closed on Sundays and public holidays. Tickets are € 5.00 (€ 2.50 for 18 to 25 year olds) and entrance is free for under 18 and over 65s.

Other than the palazzo and stunning views, Caprarola also boasts a number of festivals and sagre, with Caprarola famous for its nocciole, or hazelnuts. The main sagra is in the fall, but there are many events throughout the year so do try to find out in advance if there is one there when you want to visit (check out caprarola.com for more information).

Wandering around Palazzo Farnese has the ability to build up an appetite. There are plenty of places to go in Caprarola, but I want to mention an agriturismo slightly off the beaten track, on a little back road connecting Caprarola and her neighbor, Ronciglione. Agriturismo Vazianello is 2.5km down strada vicinale di Vasiano and commands stunning views over the surrounding chestnut-covered landscape. The restaurant is open every weekend (although best to phone ahead to check if there is a wedding on) and provides really excellent food. I can heartily recommend the maialino al forno and the pappardelle al cinghiale.

Ronciglione

Ronciglione

After lunch, it’s time to continue along the back road to our next city, Ronciglione (although calling this small town a city really feels like you’re stretching it).  This is an ancient Farnese town, first mentioned in 1103. Ronciglione is located in the Cimini mountains, over two tufa scarps, on the southeastern slope of Lago di Vico. The town’s economy is based largely on agriculture, with production of nuts, chestnuts and wine a specialty. The medieval part of Ronciglione is built on a hill protected from three sides by a deep gorge. The road from Rome is welcomed into the city through an ancient gate. Next to this, is the pretty Santa Maria della provvidenza bell tower. Another bell tower, from the lost church of Sant’Andrea is considered one of the finest medieval monuments in the town. Ronciglione is dominated by two large buildings; a castle, built by Sixtus IV, and a cathedral, designed by Carolo Rainaldi in 1660. The shape of the dome is similar to those of the twin churches found in Piazza del Popolo in Rome, also designed by Rainaldi.

The carnival of Ronciglione

Naso Rosso

Ronciglione is famous for its Carnival. This is one of the oldest in central Italy and is characterized by a parade of allegoric chariots with masks and costumes and a riderless horse race. The typical mask found in Ronciglione is that of a red nose, with a white shirt (or nightshirt). Hundreds of people wearing these masks run up to passers-by offering them rigatoni pasta with tomato sauce. Whatever you do, don’t turn them down as the custom is for them to then throw the pasta (and tomato sauce) at the passer-by.

As in Siena, Ronciglione hosts a Palio, with the city divided into 9 contrades that compete for the crown. These Palio are slightly different to those in Siena and other Italian towns in that the horses are left to run without riders in what are called “empty races”. The 2011 carnival (or Carnevale) starts on the 17^th February with the first set of ‘empty races’. The first parade will be on the 27^th February and the carnival finishes on Mardi gras (8^th March) with processions and even more ‘empty races’. The full program can be here.

Horses without riders at Ronciglione (photo: www.ronciglione.org)

So there you go. Two small ‘cities’, about 10mins apart. In that space, you can find medieval churches, fortresses, a palace, one of the oldest festivals in Italy, a good Italian meal, and, if that isn’t enough, there’s always the Nature reserve and stunning views around Lago di Vico. Who said there was nothing much to see in Lazio outside the main tourist sights?

About the author, Peter McQuilton: Through a chance meeting with a Roman, his future wife, Pete McQuilton discovered the secret world of North Lazio. His website, lazioexplorer.com details his journey into Lazio, along with hints and travel/culture tips on how to survive off the tourist trail in ‘real’ Italy. In his “non-spare-time”, he works as a computer biologist at the University of Cambridge.

Museo del Novecento - central ramp

The new Museo del Novecento (20th century art) in Milan opened December 6 2010 and admission is free until February 28 2011. The combination free + new museum made me take a trip to Milan to check it out. I brought my most critical eye with the intention of writing a useful review for anyone interested in visiting this museum, or for readers who are curious about the latest museology in Italy.

The Novecento museum must have been a major architectural challenge for Italo Rota and his team, since it involved the restoration and adaptation of existing structures — in Piazza Duomo’s Palazzo dell’Arengario and the Palazzo Reale next door — to house Milan’s civic collections of modern art. As we move through these spaces we see the architecture evolve in connection with its contents, from Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo’s 1898 “Quarto Stato” (in its own niche off the central ramp, see photo) to Michelangelo Pistoletto’s Arte Povera. The museum path (percorso museale) was studied and developed by an impressive scientific committee comprising Massimo Accarisi (Direttore Centrale Cultura), Claudio Salsi (Direttore Settore Musei del Comune di Milano), Marina Pugliese (Direttore del Progetto Museo del Novecento) and advised by professors and museum directors from around Italy and England.

Pellizza da Volpedo's Quarto Stato, one of the collection's masterpieces, is impossible to approach due to crowds.

With the latest studies and technology available to them, you’d think that this star-studded team would take advantage of an opportunity to develop the perfect museum in which users would easily move through the space while experiencing a personal and educational path of growth thanks to discreetly presented information. Rather, the Museo del Novecento is a useful example of things not to do if you’re designing a new museum. This is not to say that it is all bad – I do like the aesthetics of some of the spaces and think that some parts of the collection are very interesting. But certain elements of museum design are very important to me (and probably to most museum-goers, even if they’re not completely conscious of them), and when these are not properly treated, the overall potential of the museum is greatly diminished. Below is my analysis of this museum’s flow, signage, and use of technology.

Crowd control and flow

people looking at art

The Museo del Novecento is experiencing unprecedented interest, in part probably because it is free at the moment. There have been long lines to get in ever since its opening in December. But as this is a city that frequently sees lines of half an hour or more to get into blockbuster exhibits like Miro (just closed), organizers might have predicted these crowds, or at least adapted to them with time.

In its location in what has been called Piazza Duomo’s B-side, the Palazzo dell’Arengario sits between the Duomo itself and the courtyard in front of Palazzo Reale. A line forms that blocks direct access to Palazzo Reale. Surprisingly, Italians have chosen to line up along a strip that is defined by a pattern in the pavement. But as I waited for just over one hour outside the museum (thankfully not in that city’s interminable rain), I had plenty of time to think about how they might have entertained me, educated me, or at least informed me while I waited. It seems minimal to ask that they might put out cords to create a line that loops back upon itself (like at an airport), with signs indicating how long the wait is from that point. But waiting is also a time that could be taken as an opportunity, upon which I shall reflect on my museum marketing blog.

Beware, it is getting late.

We entered the museum already tired and obtuse, picked up a map/pamphlet from an information desk (why not hand those out as we walked in, or while we waited?) and headed in the only possible direction – up the circular ramp. This ramp is very pretty, with greenish blue floors, black barriers, and a white underside, with the path clearly signaled by small white LED lights embedded in the ground. Areas of intersection and the presence of emergency devices are indicated by red or green lights. Larger passages, such as those into individual galleries, are indicated with very bright lights in the doorway that I find more threatening than useful (I wonder if they’re x-raying me). Other passageways are black and indicated with oddly out-of-place clocks. I felt like Alice in Wonderland.

The layout of this museum is complex. And it takes a degree in architecture or engineering to understand the exploded map provided for its navigation. Luckily I had my husband, an engineer, to read it for me and to help us navigate through the spaces to the areas that most interested us. As is, we still almost missed the two sections that we liked best. This is in part because we were put off by the extreme crowds at the two mezzanine levels which comprise monographic rooms dedicated to De Chirico and another artist. An escalator leads you up to each of these rooms; you move through the small room to the other side, expecting a further escalator that will go, once again, UP. Rather, at the other side is the escalator DOWN, so to continue through the museum path, you have to go back through the room. And through the crowd.

Moving through the spaces of this museum is kind of like a treasure hunt, with a competitive crowd-pushing factor inserted. At capacity thanks to the long line outside, the artworks are at risk of damage. There is no bleeping alarm system to stop you from getting close to works, which is nice, but they really ought to be protected from massive crowds by a distancing device such as a soft-angled, unobtusive base.

Signage

Signage in museum display is the topic of extensive studies and reflections. What is the perfect place to put signs? What is the right amount of text? How large should font be? What is the perfect balance between information and invasion? I have something to say both about the signs (indications on walls) and labels (indications relative to single works of art).

Labels at knee height (not only on this sculpture, see wall behind)

Sometimes, one can apply objective values to the signage inside a museum. The labels for single works at the Museo del Novecento are placed too low. Sure, being at knee-height might be useful for wheelchair patrons, children, or the chronically growth-impaired, but the rest of us have to break our backs and squint to read them. As my back had already pretty much seized up during the one-hour wait outside, I was not in the mood to bend down with crowds of other patrons to read these labels. As a result, I have pretty much no idea what I was looking at.

Here is another objective value: Consistency. The information on labels is a kind of code. This is the artist. This is the title. This is the date, and here is some extra information (in some cases provided, in others not… hey you should know how important this work is without other information). There are symbols, such as the number to insert in an audioguide. There are symbols to indicate the provenance from one or another collection. Or wait… are there?

The logo of the Museo del Novecento is a stylized number 900 that, in all print material and online, is a shade of medium grey. So why is the 900 logo reproduced on the museum labels in a range of colours – blue, orange, green… Does this indicate the provenance from one of the multiple locations or donors that make up the collection? Quick, check the map/handout to find out… no information provided. (Later I found someone to ask; she told me it was entirely random (casuale). And another interesting aside – the logo and other choices are explained in a video with Brand Designer Massimo Pitis in which he says that in his vision, the museum is a space that is born with the architecture, that is closed, protected; at the same time it’s also an open space for exhibitions. But to me this is the wrong approach – shouldn’t the museum be first born of the works, not of the container? Isn’t the era of the archistar museum officially over?)

And one more objective value: Font size. Guy Kawasaki suggests that, when preparing a powerpoint talk, you calculate the average age of your audience and never use a font that is less than half that number. So, for an audience of retirees, your presentation should have a 30-35 point font size. For teenagers you can use 10 point arial. The same should apply to museum labels. If a 35-year-old wearing glasses cannot see your signs, they are written TOO SMALL!

Wall text in a doorway blocks flow.

The thematic room descriptions in the Museo del Novecento are placed at the doorway to each room (sometimes in the preceeding room, sometimes in the doorway, sometimes just after it). These are written in Italian, with English text below in italics. Other than the title of the room, the text is one block, undefined by bold or paragraph breaks. The font size is probably 18 point. Whatever it was, I could not read it. You have to get quite close to read this block of text, but if you do so, you are blocking the doorway. Politely standing to one side, you are too far away to read. So once again, I had no idea what I was looking at, nor why. And I suspect that it’s not just me.

Use of technology

The Museo del Novecento, being brand new, could take advantage of all sorts of new and not so new technologies to provide extra information about artworks as well as to encourage passive viewers to become active participants. In fact, it has chosen Bluetooth technology to push information (images and text) to your cell phone. This is a good, low-cost solution that is relatively democratic (much of the population has a bluetooth-enabled cell phone) and that does not require internet connection. Too bad it doesn’t work.

Having read how to use the bluetooth system on their website, in the museum’s first room I activated bluetooth on my smartphone and waited for the permission request from Arengario. I saw 7-8 other devices with personal names (indicating that others were trying to use this service), but Arengario or Museo del Novecento were not present. I figured it would be wise to ask museum staff for help.

In any institution, it is important to train one’s staff about the services offered within. This should be even more the case when you hire brand new staff for a brand new museum. I approached a 40-something female guard and asked her “Excuse me, could you tell me how does the bluetooth technology that I read about on your website work?”. She snarled: “The what? I don’t know.” I suggested that she should probably inform herself about this service offered by the museum, to which her response was “That is not my job.” Harried, I resolved to test 3-5 museum staff members with this and other questions.

Later, I found a smiling young woman guard who was explaining something about an artwork to another museum patron, so I asked her about the bluetooth. She said unfortunately it was not yet working, despite the fact that the place had been open for almost three months. As she seemed well informed, I asked her about another thing that had perplexed me – the colours on the signage mentioned above – and she responded knowledgeably. She probably is a new hire with a phd in art history.

Visitors using (paid) audioguides

For the moment, the museum does not seem to integrate any other kind of information or interaction technology into the visit. Traditional audioguide headsets are available (for a fee), as are guided tours. A section of the website dedicated to “podcasts” are not podcasts but video interviews (only in Italian). Too bad – it would be nice to be able to download a podcast to use in the museum for free. No other easy to produce technology is provided, like an iphone app (sure could be useful to geolocalize myself in that museum, I’d have been less lost) or online/mobile catalogue… nor a mobile website for that matter. Need we not point out that said museum is not present on any social media, so they will probably never read this review. Too bad.

Final thoughts

In conclusion, perhaps had the museum been almost empty I might have been able to better appreciate the discreet way that the architecture leads me through the history of 20th-century Italian art, and I might have taken the time to focus on that tiny text and learn this part that is essentially missing from my art history education. I doubt that this museum will ever be so empty. And even if it were, a large onus would be upon the viewer to find and read about (on an external device using wikipedia?) the works within. A new museum has the opportunity to provide new means by which visitors of all levels can reflect upon art, as well as to target new experiential viewers and young people. There is no denying that a lot of planning and thought has gone into this project, and that it is not easy to open a museum of this scale, but I feel that the Museo del Novecento does not provide these essential tools necessary to fulfill the museum’s stated mission: “To encourage, through work on various levels, an intercultural approach and involve a public that ranges from specialists to children and passing visitors.”

Photos

One good thing about this museum is that it appears permitted to take photos. As I wasn’t sure of this permission, at first my photos are taken “illegally from the hip”, so those from the first rooms are a bit odd. The photo gallery below takes you through the whole space from start to finish. Enjoy!

A presepe in naples - photo flickr @salvatore capuane

If one thinks of the words Christmas, Naples and traditions, the first things that come to mind are likely presepe (manger/crèche scenes)… closely followed by Christmas desserts such as the famous struffoli, roccoco’, mostaccioli, susamielli, sapienze, paste reali, divinamore. All of these traditional delicacies sweeten life in Naples during the holiday season. This article is dedicated more to the eyes than to the stomach: the history and composition of the Neapolitan presepe.

Origins

Via San Gregorio Armeno - photo flickr @martha de jong

Strolling down Via San Gregorio Armeno in Naples’ ancient city center, even during other periods of the year, the artisinal workshops are hard at work. They are worth visiting not only for their lively displays but also to watch the artisans at work on the figurines for the upcoming Christmas season – clearly displaying their “Not Made in China” signs. This detail is their small way of asserting the authenticity of their manual traditions.

One might imagine that the presepe were born of a folk tradition but Neapolitans beg to differ. As the tradition goes, it was “invented” by Saint Francis of Assisi when he reenacted the Nativity using the local people of the town of Greccio (in the Lazio region) – transmitting devotion through emotional engagement. The cross over from this “living” crèche scene to an inanimate one was a short one – churches all over Italy soon started constructing life-sized presepe within dedicated chapels. In Naples, the churches of San Giovanni a Carbonara, San Domenico Maggiore, San’Eligio, Santa Chiara all housed early versions of the art form.

From religious to secular

One of this year's modern political presepi

Thus, originally, the presepe was solely an ecclesiastical tradition, until the beginning of the 18^th century when some die-hard “fans” turned it into an equally secular one. Legend has it that the Austrian viceroy visited the architect Giovan Battista Nauclerio in 1707 to view the spectacular “home version” that the architect constructed in his villa. One of the most significant episodes that contributed to the secularization of the presepe is attributed to King Charles III of Bourbon, the Spanish king who ruled Naples from 1734 to 1759. King Charles was so dedicated to the pastoral figurines that they quickly became a “must have” object for all middle-class Neapolitan families, who loved to mimic the customs of the royal family.

Presepe scenes

Over the years, the traditional Neapolitan presepe began to acquire greater and greater numbers of characters and props, which would then be grouped into individual “scenes.” The different scenes, usually three or four, would be arranged on an anchoring rock.

The traditional Nativity is always the central scene, with the Madonna, Joseph, ox and donkey, usually placed within a grotto. Of secondary importance was the evangelical scene, usually depicted in front of a backdrop of a pagan temple, which symbolically represented continuity from the Roman world, upon whose ruins Christianity was born. Or perhaps this ancient imagery is a reference to the excavations taking place during this era in Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Nativity scene - photo flickr @ginozar

Next to the Nativity is the procession of the Magi, each one representing the three different continents known during Biblical times: Europe, Asia and Africa. Escorting the Three Kings with their gifts is a procession of musicians carrying “exotic” musical instruments and wearing clothing with Middle Eastern connotations. This procession is actually an homage to the Turkish convoy that visited Naples in 1741 and fascinated its inhabitants with its splendor, so much so that it was celebrated in all subsequent presepe scenes.

A shephard in a Naples presepe - flickr @alessandro silippo

Next is the “Announcement to the shepherds” – an angel appears to let the common people know about the miraculous occasion. The last scene, perhaps the most elaborate of the Neapolitan presepe, is the osteria, or tavern, where Mary and Joseph vainly attempted to find shelter earlier that evening. Characters are seated at overflowing tables, hosts and hostesses serving various foodstuffs, card players, musicians, artisans working on their wares. The prespe is populated by “typical” figures, each with a symbolic meaning. There’s the sleeping pastor, Benito, the laundress, to the lactating woman, the “maccheroni-eaters”, who are excitedly eating pasta with their bare hands.

For those interested in seeing historic presepe, there are several places in Naples where they can be found. There’s an entire section of the San Martino Museum devoted to crèche figures and scenes, which is particularly rich and elaborate and where one can see figurines made by important artists like Giuseppe Sammartino, the creator of the “Veiled Christ” in the Cappella Sansevero. Other notable prespe on permanent display are in the cloister of Santa Chiara, in the Palatine Chapel of the Palazzo Reale and in the Reggia of Caserta.

Of the workshops that crowd the neighborhood of  San Gregorio Armeno, one particularly of note is “La Scarabattola” (Via dei Tribunali 50).

A guest post by Maria Laura Chiacchio – native Neapolitan, art historian and Context Naples docent.

Venice Christmas Market

This charming trip report by Rosemary Wilmot will be a help to anyone planning to spend the Holidays in Venice, or temptation for anyone planning to spend it elsewhere. Find info about the Christmas Market, restaurants open over the holidays in Venice, what to eat and do.

My dream has always been to spend Christmas in Venice. This was brought on by reading a travel article about a writer who did just that years ago – it sounded just magical – this year (2007) my dream came true.

I have always had a real passion for Venice, and with my love of photography it’s a totally unique destination. My husband Brian and I spent 12 days in Venice for Christmas and New Year. We left home on the 21^st of December arriving to glorious sunshine that lasted for the whole holiday.

Venice from above - view from the plane

There is nothing more pleasurable than arriving by water taxi, especially with the light streaming onto the palazzi of the Grand Canal, turning them to burnished gold with the light once again reflected back into the canal streaked gold and blue, just divine and the thing of Venice legends… Speeding along towards the grand canal it’s the light that seduces you every time and makes you feel so very alive.

Christmas market in Venice

We stayed in an apartment in Campo San Vidal with a view over the Academia Bridge. The first thing to discover was the wonderful Christmas Fair (Natale in Laguna) in Campo Santo Stefano, just seconds away from our wonderful apartment. What a lovely sight, beautiful Christmas lights, strung around 30 little alpine huts full of all manner of Christmas gifts, wines, and hot mulled wines (we tried this out more than once). The Campiello dei Golosi (Gourmands Square) is where producers from all over Italy sell gastronomic products so this is a great place to try lots of different samples: yummy rolls of porchetta, Sardinian cheeses (we bought a huge slab for the apartment to have with our amaretto), or Refosco wine. There were wooden toys, beautiful pictures and cards to buy, gloves, scarves and things to buy for our girls including lace and soaps.

All of a sudden a father Christmas on huge stilts ran past us ringing a bell; alongside her (Santa Claus was female) was a companion dressed in carnevale dress  – all very exciting, I had never seen a 7 foot Babbo Natale before. Other entertainment included a stage at the end of the campo where there was a group playing all wrapped up in coats and scarves. It was cold!! At night the wonderful Christmas lights were magnificent. If only we had this in the UK.

Purple sunset in Venice

The Christmas market would be worth a trip on its own: it opens every year from the beginning of December. In 2007 it was from 2^nd to the 24^th of December. It was sad to see it dismantled and all taken away on barges just outside of our apartment window. It had brought real festive cheer and warmth to Venice.

I also enjoyed the window shopping around town – wonderful leather goodies, purses, handbags, jewellery, murano glass, shoes, boots, elegant coats – and the fact that just after Christmas the saldi (sales) start as well!

Where to eat

This is one time of year it is particularly important to do some groundwork before traveling because a lot of restaurants are closed between the 23^rd and 26^th of December. I emailed restaurants we were interested in trying and took a list of opening and shutting dates.

A Gondolier navigates through... light.

As we stayed in an apartment rental, we stocked up at one of the nearby supermarkets upon arrival (the usual staples: milk, water, Amaretto, wine, some nice chocolate and a few nibbles).

We decided to buy some nice red wine from Al Bottegon in the Fondamenta Maravegie on the Rio san Trovaso Dosoduro about 5 minutes from our apartment. We love this old wine bar; it has really lovely cichetti [Venetian appetizers] which always tempt us. We say we’re going to have just one but that turns into 4 or 5 each; they are too tasty for words and at only 1.50 each a great nibble to have with your “ombra” (glass of wine). It took at least an hour or so to buy the 2 bottles of red we had come in here for; we chose a “Lamole di Lamole riserva” which we discovered when staying right next to Lamole in Tuscany and a Capo di Stato, which is always a good choice, nice and smooth.

Sgroppino in Quadri's St Marks Sq on New Years Eve

On the way back to the apartment we passed Bar alla Toletta in Corte Toletta this is the very first place I tried tramezzini, the very fat little sandwiches in white bread that are full of very tasty fillings. My favourite Tonno e Cippoline (Tuna and baby onions) is usually my breakfast in Venice… how I miss them when back in the UK!

Now for dinner. The first evening we tried L’Incontro, a Sardinian restaurant close to Campo San Barnaba. The reviews are great it specialises in meat which makes a change for Venice. The food was really tasty and full of flavour, and it was nice to try a different area of Italian cuisine. We started with Culurgiones, a really unusual ravioli stuffed with potato and mint then topped with a lovely tomato sauce. The carta di musica – a thin bread drizzled with olive oil – was tasty. Brian had suckling pig smothered in wild herbs with herb crusted crackling. I had a lovely costine d’agnello, lamb cutlets with rosemary and wild mint.  We had some marvellous after dinner sweets bursting with orange and lemon flavours. For wine we were happy with our choice of Cannonau red (a Grenache).

Venice at Night

Over the next few days we shopped had a fabulous lunch at Antiche Carampane (do not miss), a wonderful dinner at Osteria Vivaldi, walked, shopped, sat, laughed, talked and spent some wonderful quality time together in a fairy tale festive atmosphere.

Santa Claus and his wife distribute goodies

We had read a poster in the local wine bar at the Campo San Giacometto at the Rialto that Babbo Natale (Father Christmas) would arrive by Gondola at 11am on the 23^rd of December to give children “caramelle e dolci”. We arrived early to have a coffee but by about 10.45 the only sign of any life was a fold up table on its own and a really lovely children’s sleigh which was obviously where Babbo Natale was going to distribute the goodies to the bambini. Realizing that on local time 11am could be any time up to noon, we waited patiently until a rather late Santa showed up, providing me with the perfect photo opportunity.

Christmas Eve and Day

On Christmas Eve we went to midnight mass at St. Marks Basilica. I had read that you needed to be there at least an hour before to get a seat. We arrived at 10.50pm and literally grabbed the last 2 seats. But what an experience – you have to do this once in your life! Again I had researched this on the internet so we knew that the service was held in Italian, English, French and German, so at least we could follow the service in the book we had been given on arrival. It was truly beautiful… culminating in the total illumination of the ceiling of St Marks, which is a breathtaking sight, and worth attending to see this shimmering ceiling. There were many people standing at the back of the basilica and down the aisles. There were children sleeping in their parents’ arms, children running up and down the aisles, and it all added to the wonderful atmosphere.

On Christmas Day we awoke to the most sparkling blue sky you could have ever wished for. Far to nice to sit down for a coffee, so we just walked and walked, along the Riva degli Schiavoni where the views were stunning with sun hitting the water and shimmering like a million diamonds – oh how divine is this Venice… On we went until we reached Campo Santa Maria Formosa where luckily one of our favourite neighbourhood bars, Bar all Orologi, was open. It was even warm enough to sit outside.

Cantinone Storico on New Years Eve

Then off to Christmas lunch at the Cantinone Storico in Dorsoduro. This lovely trattoria is very popular with the Venetians so book ahead (although it has extra seats on the canal in the summer). This is where we had our wedding lunch after renewing our vows for our silver wedding; this also is where my daughter Niki had her wedding lunch after she married at the Palazzo Zenobio in Venice 2 years ago. So of course this restaurant has a very special place in our hearts and the owner Alessandro Tridenti has become a friend of ours.

We had the special of the day, which was a lamb dish for two; fuelled by a very nice Chianti and a bottle of Venetian liqueur and sgroppino made with prosecco instead of vodka, followed by a wonderful Venetian Christmas pudding. A long walk along the Zattere taking in the sights – could the canal really be that blue – amazing!

The evening found us grabbing a bite of pasta at Baccaro Jazz and really chilling out to the music – what a prefect Venetian Christmas day.

The rest of the holiday was just as lovely. We visited the Ca Pesaro Museum of modern art, a beautifully restored palace (take a look at the ceilings and floors too!). We also visited the Ca Rezzonico, the palace in which the Brownings once lived, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large collection of art on the top two floors.

This is the place of which dreams are made. You will never forget hearing the Four Seasons played by the Vivaldi Ensemble at the oldest church in Venice. The music was pouring out of the Scuola San Teodora and that tempted us to buy tickets for their Baroque and Opera concerts. This time we chose two music venues that were heated, which proved essential in winter.

Fireworks for New Years Eve in Venice

On New Years Eve Day we shopped, then had lunch at the Cantinone Storico again. We sat outside Quadri’s in the sun – just blissful – what a life!! It was glorious. We’d hoped for fireworks (there were some great ones when we visited in 2006) but instead there was a competition in St Marks Sq for how many people could kiss at once. There was great music but no fireworks (the photo you see here is from the previous year).

The light bouncing off the gondola as we glided past a side canal, the magnificent Frari church and last but by no means least Venice herself and her people who are warm and friendly.  We had the most wonderful time. Go to Venice at Christmas? You bet. Don’t leave it to long – you will have memories to savour that will linger for your lifetime.

Author portrait:

The author and her husband Brian in Venice!

Bagnoregio - photo flickr @Valentina_A

Mary Jane Cryan’s “Etruria – Travel, History, and Itineraries in Central Italy” is written with the deep knowledge of a scholar and the passion of someone who wasn’t born there. Aside from her knowledgeable itineraries in the area of the province of Viterbo, including a good guide to the tombs of Tarquinia, there are elements of this book that are clearly characterized by personal, expat interests: a study of an Irish family (the Denhams), impressions from early Americans who visited the area, and a description of the international residents of the town of Vetralla.

What follows is a few highlights from the book, followed by instructions on how to participate in the book giveaway – the author has offered a copy of her book for readers of this blog!

Let’s start off by saying that as you know I’m a big fan of Maremma, so in some way I’m writing about my neighbour and Tuscany’s “competition”. Before reading this book I never knew that an area called Etruria existed. Actually, I thought I was living in it, because Cosimo I Duke of Tuscany went on at rather great length about being Etruscan and reigning over all of Etruria. This book, however, is about a rather specific part of Etruria mainly centered on the province of Viterbo. In search of a better understanding I checked Cryan’s website Elegant Etruria and found this explanation.

Until recently the Etruria region (aka Tuscia or Viterbese) has been snubbed by visitors in favour of neighbouring Tuscany. If the names Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Tuscania, Viterbo and Vetralla are little known, it is because the area is about 50 years behind the times, touristically speaking, due to their proximity to the overwhelmingly important Rome and Tuscany.

Okay, well that explains in part why I’ve heard of Viterbo and Tarquinia but not much more. Will this book have a strong impact on tourism and cause hoardes to descend on Bolsena (population 4000)? No. I hope not. But if you’re looking for some off-the-beaten-track Italy, this area – and this book – is for you.

Bolsena doesn't look so bad now - photo flickr @air force one

When Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia wrote about their trip moving North from Rome in 1858, they did visit Bolsena, and his description has not been taken up by the local APT’s brochure service for good reason:

We did not look long at the castle, our attention being drawn to the singular aspect of the town itself, which is the very filthiest place, I do believe, that was ever inhabited by man. Defilement was everywhere; in the piazza, in nooks and corners, strewing the miserable lanes from side to side, the refuse of every day, and of accumulated ages.

His wife said of the town’s residents: “I do not think they ever touch water”. This is my favourite chapter of the book, only in part because it provides fascinating evidence for the pestilence of both this flat part of Etruria and of Maremma just up the road; both areas were uninhabitable until after the second world war. One of the Hawthornes’ children contracted malaria there, and she was neither the first nor the last. (Arttrav readers will soon learn of my malaria obsession – this is as good as ever a moment to confess…)

Castle of Bracciano - photo @mary Jane Cryan

Not to worry though. Malaria is no longer a risk should you wish to visit the Etruscan tombs, hot springs, medieval castles, unusual museums, and impressive gardens that Cryan describes and lists with care in her book. The itineraries she offers are more evocative than practical so you’ll need to mark the locations on a map and find out opening hours before venturing out (a choice that surely gives the book a longer life since opening hours change frequently in Italy… if they are respected at all).

One chapter, for example, offers a one-day sampling of the area for cruise-ship passengers disembarking at Civitavecchia (and who choose to eschew Rome’s crowds and shops). An unusual premise, but one that is likely born from Cryan’s experience as a cruise-ship lecturer – she says that about 25% of these tourists do not go in to Rome for the day. Excellent idea to spread them out on the territory. Practical information is provided here about how to procure transportation in order to explore Tarquinia, Tuscania, Viterbo, Vetralla, and maybe Vulci. This seems like a lot for one day, and the material here can surely be used for a more leisurely visit by anyone not about to float back out of Italy.

Villa Lante Bagnaia - photo flickr @valentina_A

I’d certainly like to test out the itinerary of historic gardens of Etruria, with visits to the Sacro Bosco of Bomarzo, the water games of Villa Lante at Bagnaia, Caprarola’s Palazzo Farnese (with frescoed animals paragoned to Dr. Seuss a comparison unknown to Italians), and the “Secret Garden” at Castello Ruspoli in Vignanelllo. These sound like marvelous places that I’m putting on my to-do list.

Etruria – Travel, History, and Itineraries is unquestionably a wonderful gift to Northern Lazio (who will likely reward the author as they have done in the past for her books) and a treat for all of us who think we know Italy well: there’s always somewhere else to be discovered!

Book giveaway

That’s why Arttrav and Elegant Etruria are giving away one copy of the book to a reader of this blog (we know you’re already an Italophile). Here’s how it works.

Each of the following “actions” gets you one entry.

1) Comment on this blog post. Maybe you want to tell us where in Etruria you’d like to visit? Let me know how many of the other things below you have done.

2) Share this post on facebook, tagging the arttrav facebook fan page (you’ll need to become a fan to do so). Tagging allows me to “track” your share. Thanks .

3) Share this post on twitter (there’s a handy “tweet this” button), mentioning @arttrav in your tweet.

4) If you do all three, you get a fourth entry!

Small Print: Contest opens with the publication of this article at 9am Italian time on Tuesday December 7, and closes at midnight Sunday December 12, 2010. Winner will be determined with a random draw on Monday morning using random.org. Prize (book) will be mailed anywhere in the world by the author within one week from assignment. Winner will be contacted by email, facebook, twitter, or any other method provided through the Disqus commenting system before. Failure to acknowledge winning within 48 hours will result in forfeiting; the prize will be assigned to the runner-up.

Magritte: L'avenir des voix

Travellers to the Bel Paese often seem to wander the country in a food-and-art-induced dream-like state — and those who have chosen to live here are soon struck by the surreal bureaucracy — so Perugia’s new Teatro del Sogno: da Chagall a Fellini exhibit at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria seems fitting in its theme of dreams in the work of early 20^th century surreal art and cinema.

This is very much a crowd-pleasing, getting bums in seats sort of show.  Not particularly challenging or innovative, the grouping of more than 100 works from early modern artists including Chagall, Dalì, Magritte, De Chirico, and Man Ray are sure to satisfy the majority of casual art appreciators who had one or more posters of these works adorning their dorm room walls in college.

The exhibition space was retrofitted from the recent Steve McCurry photography exhibit; in that context the layout was irritatingly confusing and unfocused, but in the Theatre of Dreams the wandering, slightly claustrophobic installation just adds to the somnambulant feel. Works depicting scenes from another dimension pop out of the semidarkness around every turn, and the lack of any posted notes or explanations (aside from the spare tags identifying each work and artist) frees visitors to simply focus on the alternatingly beautiful and bizarre paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

Fellini

Fellini’s whimsical sketches are a high point of the show (the small screening space with a constant loop of his films seems anacronistic in this world of Netflix and streaming); the upstairs hall with works by contemporaries, including Hirst and Fabre, a jarring and largely uninspiring end. I suggest simply finishing your visit with the main hall, so you can leave the museum without having completely shaken off your floating, dreamy trance.

Il Teatro del Sogno: da Chagall a Fellini is being held at the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia until 9 January, 2011.

PS: Take the time to visit the fetching main galleries of the museum as well, especial the clock tower room on the top floor.  In the gift shop, alongside the ubiquitous Botticelli printed notebooks and pencils, take a peek at the window displays showcasing wares from some of the best local artists and artisans.

By: Rebecca of Brigolante Guest Apartments in Umbria.

Chagall: La famille Parigi Comité (1975-76) is a dorm room fave.

From the press release:

Canova and Modigliani, two internationally renowned protagonists but with absolutely different personalities, open and close this passionate tale in paintings in which both great names in history and the anonymous extras of a domestic epic appear. Painted and sculptured, of individuals and groups, with or without a setting, celebrative or introspective, these portraits all evoke the changes and restlessness of a society undergoing rapid transformation, interpreting the expectations of a country that was achieving political unity for the very first time. However, above all they also represent decisive changes in style, the artists’ efforts to become more modern, to testify reality in its incessant transformation from a new perspective.

Read more about trenitalia’s canova-modigliani deal.

It’s actually a viral video campaign made for Sicilia Fashion Village. I’m not sure how much of the video is “authentic” and how much they’ve dressed up actors, but it’s pretty effective anyway. If their marketing people are at all clever their analysts will be making quick note of this blog post. Maybe they’ll invite me over for a shopping spree. Yeah. Right.

Say what you will about outlet stores, but an outlet smack dab in the middle of the island of Sicily isn’t a bad thing – at least the inhabitants will have access to nice things at lower prices. It opens November 26 2010 and they’re not telling us what brands will be available yet.

Do you live in Sicily? Are you afraid that this is going to close down your local stores? Do you think this is going to increase tourism or just wreck the neighbourhood?

Description (from the producer LOG607)

iBiennale (la Biennale di Venezia) is a thrilling new way to discover and visit the Venice Biennale. Find out more about the 12th International Architecture Exhibition by accessing the official catalogue along with loads of extra content. iBiennale takes you into the installations using virtual view and new videos and lets you explore texts and images of works and artists in a multidimensional mode, finding analogies and showing you the most interesting details. It also lets you personalise your visit by selecting your tour and saving your favourite works and your notes.

iBiennale is a vast interactive catalog giving you access to the texts, images and videos of the 12th International Architecture Exhibition as well as letting you interact with all its contents. An exciting user-friendly experience: descriptions and images are connected by means of multi-dimensional links that allow you to navigate through the contents using various filters, such as thematic analogy and indexes of places or names. You can choose how to move from one work to the next using a simple proximity menu that guides you in discovering details and increases links between works and artists.

iBiennale gives you close-ups of the installations by means of extra contents like special videos and 360° image rotations. Each work is presented by means of a large gallery of photos, videos and interactive contents that can be accessed with a touch. iBiennale also lets you plan your visit in advance and choose your own personalised tour of the works based on your preferences and notes.

I started with the premise that what I associated with Naples was basically mafia, pizza, and garbage crises (the latter inconveniently rekindled this past week) and that this was thanks to the media, so my impression was likely to coincide with that of most people, unless they had the opportunity to become better informed than I.

NAPLES is a city of great historic wealth, in an area of unparalleled natural beauty. It is also the city with the highest unemployment rate in all of Italy, and the city from which hundreds of thousands of people have emigrated, often to the United States and Canada. These Italo-Americans brought with them the values that helped set up our stereotypes about Italians – in particular, the olive-garden like family brought together through pasta. This is an Italian value that is impractical in the modern age (like the ad below in which a family is reuinited at home for lunch), but still practised whenever possible.

While Barilla pasta is made up north in Parma, in Naples they invented the Margherita Pizza. They also seem to have invented the concept of “casino”, crazy noise, busyness, that we associate with much of Italy.

In 2008 Naples made the news a lot, in a negative sense, and now (in Fall 2010), it’s back. I’ve been trying to reconcile the political, social, and physical reality of this region with the happy stereotypes and the rich history of its past.

Naples in the media

Summer 2008 saw a massive garbage “strike” that caused garbage to pile up in the city and on the streets of the whole region; this was a complex event that was caused, essentially, by the presence of special interest groups controlled mainly by the local mafia, called Camorra, which had dominated the garbage collection business.

A daring young author, Roberto Saviano, published a best selling exposé of the Camorra in which he denounces the violence of the city that he witnessed personally as a police sponsored spy. He’s been under police protection since october 2006 since his book had huge success, he admitted to being a spy, and he received death threats from the mob. The extremely violent movie Gomorrah won the grand prix at Cannes.

The movie’s trailer opens with an arial shot of the dangerous suburb of Scampia, a fascinating testimony to the urban growth and degradation of the 1980s. I have always been interested in housing projects, and in monolithic concrete architectural “solutions” in general; for years I’ve wondered how anyone could ever think this was a good idea. Don’t worry, should you go to Naples as a tourist you will never visit this area. You can’t even wander into those areas by mistake.

So, I got to asking myself: how did Naples end up with areas like this; how did dishonesty and poverty overcome so much of this rich culture? Naples is now an urban sprawl with over one million people, with a current 31% unemployment level according to official sources (some less official ones say 40%). For comparison, Rome has 2,700,000 inhabitants and the Italy-wide unemployment rate is currently 6.2%. The answer, of course, is not straightforward, but the history of Naples and its growth gets me closer to an answer.

Super brief history of Naples and its visual consequences

Naples has Greek origins; conquered by the Romans who were interested in absorbing the Greek culture located there but not in improving the city in practical terms – it was an area for villas, parties, and intellectual discussion, not for average citizens who needed things like ampitheatres. Poor Naples, in the middle ages and renaissance it always ruled by outsiders (byzantine, french, spanish…) who imported artists from their own countries or from parts of Italy that were best known for their art. There’s not much left to see from before the mid-15^th century; rulers had to focus on defensive castles and urban planning more so than churches and art, and many things were destroyed in subsequent battles.

King Alfonso I of Aragon ruled in the mid 15^th century and did much to beautify the city by importing artists like Laurana who he hired to add a famous marble trumphal arch to the existing 13^th century castle. Conquered by the Spanish in 1506, spanish artists started to develop a local style hand in hand with real local artists.

Two visits by Caravaggio in 1606 and 1609 were decisive for neopolitan art, and is when it really came into its own. Caravaggio set up a workshop here that was carried on by his main disciple Caracciolo. The 17^th and 18^th centuries were successful times for Naples, and a time when Baroque art flourished there. There was a succession of Kings from the major European dynasties that attracted all sorts of courtiers and aristrocrats whose money poured into the city’s building projects. In the mid 18^th c they discovered the ruins of Pompeii and this attracted tourism to the area. The city grew to a population of 500,000, one of the largest cities in Europe, with all the consequent social problems of a city that size, but in part under control by the strong local government.

The downfall of Naples seems to start mainly with the unification of Italy in 1860. The capital was Torino, then Florence then Rome, and Naples seemed so far away and south – out of sight out of mind. The large population, which had caused the city to expand haphazardly, suddenly had nothing to do!! No agriculture, no industry… These people were administrators and the whole government body of a kingdom that was no longer. So they finished some building projects that had already started, but suddenly there was a lack of close control as the administrators of the kingdom proved inefficient on a local level. Poverty was rampant and nothing was done to help the poorest members of society; bad hygeine caused outbreaks of disease; there was desperate need for a new port and transportation system to bring Naples into the modern age.

From 1889-1918 there was a controversial project to clean up the city by tearing down old popular areas and building impressive boulevards and buildings. This did not entirely solve the problem, and perhaps caused more problems. Meanwhile, population continued to grow and despite some efforts, degradation continued.

Only in the past 20 years have both central and local governments taken an iron fist approach to crime in Naples and have done so much to improve every aspect of the city. In cleaning up the city they have made it safe and accessible for tourists. The brand new subway system works great. A new museological system has signs and visitor facilities that were not there when I first visited 10 years ago. The unique cultural background of Naples shows through in contemporary art and music that maintains a strong local and traditional base.

Conclusions?

So I have answered my question somewhat: Naples prospered in the past under strong local administration, but has suffered since unification and the presence of a centralized government that did not want to deal with it. Finally it is improving again as these entities are working together and the local government is strong and imposing.

Naples is no longer too dangerous to visit as long as you keep your wits about you as you would in any other city. And although we’re seeing piles of garbage featured on all the news channels, I can’t help but think that it’s exaggerated. I visited during the last garbage crisis; it was also August and so you’d think it would have been hot and stinky. Frankly it wasn’t much worse than Florence; in downtown Naples I did not see piles of burning garbage or feel that my health was threatened. There’s no question that there is a problem there – with garbage and not only – and I don’t know the solution.

For my own visits, first with my family and then with 50+ students, I found it helpful to break down the city’s history in order to get at the reasons behind my own stereotypes. In the process of this research I also found out what to see in the area. Good planning is essential when you’re visiting a city that does have a bit of a dark side, especially if you’re responsible for the safety of others. If you’re intrigued by Naples but not sure you’d go on your own, consider using Context Travel’s Naples tours to get yourself oriented. (PS this is not a paid post!)

What do you think? Have you been to Naples? Was it scary? garbage-filled?

Landscape art in Umbria: Carlo Lorenzetti at Brufa

Rebecca of Brigolante Guest Apartments in Umbria (near Assisi) is on a campaign to convince me that Umbria is cool. On occasion of Contemporary Art Day in Italy (which falls this Saturday October 9, 2010), she’s written this guest post about Contemporary Art in Umbria and suddenly I’m thinking that I may need to take a stroll in the countryside near Torgiano to check out the landscape art!

Certain topics seem inherently polarizing. Country-western music, for example. Home schooling. Mayonnaise on french fries. And, of course, contemporary art.

Which is why I find it surprising that so much contemporary art is found in Umbria, a stodgy – though beautiful – central Italian region known more for its reserved and conservative nature and the fact that it pretty much ran out of iconoclastic steam when native son Saint Francis of Assisi revolutionized the Catholic church in the thirteenth century than for its artistic envelope pushing.

Yet Contemporary Art in Umbria seems to pop out at you from the most surprising places. My first brush was about twenty years ago when I stumbled upon Flash Art. (Contemporary art seems to lend itself to being stumbled upon. I have lunched at many oddly shaped park benches before realizing that I am perched on some conceptual stone torso.)

Palazzo Lucarini

Flash art is an annual show of contemporary artists held in the improbable venue of Trevi, a tiny medieval hilltown otherwise known for its olive oil and black celery. The event was organized by the venerable Flash Art periodical, whose editor is originally from this Umbrian village. Like most collective exhibitions, the works were a mix of the banal (how many more times are we going to be shown rooms bare but for a pile of trash in the center and a sense of angst hovering above?), the thought-provoking, the visionary, and – primarily – the self-referential. But the juxtaposition between the historic stone palazzi and the jarring contemporary installations worked. No longer an annual event, Flash Art has morphed into a permanent exposition space called Palazzo Lucarini Contemporary which has been host to shows of contemporary artists since 1993.

Burri

Then, in 1995, Alberto Burri died. Which means that everyone suddenly fell in love with Alberto Burri, including those who had never heard of him. Including me. Born in the Umbrian town of Città di Castello, Burri is one of the best known contemporary Italian artists outside of Italy. His abstract collages, charred wood, plastic, and burlap works, cracked paintings, and Cellotex creations are included in the collections at New York’s Guggenheim, Paris’ Musée National d’Art Moderne, and London’s Tate, but his most complete collection of works can be found back in his small hometown in northern Umbria. The Burri Foundation owns over 250 works; those from his earlier period are housed in the Renaissance Palazzo Albizzini, while those from 1970 until his death can be found in the Ex Seccatoi del Tabacco, an immense industrial complex used in the mid-1900s to dry tabacco and restored and converted into a exhibition space in 1990.

Mario Pizzoni, sculpture in the landscape at Brufa

Perhaps one of my favorite stumbles occurred in the bucolic vineyard-covered hills near Torgiano. I was toodling along on my bike, minding my own business, when I came around a curve and suddenly found myself facing a monumental stone and steel sculpture surrounded by nothing but fields and pastures. “Huh,” I thought. I continued peddling and about half a kilometer down the road came across a towering stainless steel tree. By the third work of art, I figured there must be a rhyme or reason here, and indeed came to find out that I had unwittingly biked right smack in the middle of one of the best collections of contemporary landscape art around. Scultori a Brufa began in 1987 when this tiny hamlet decided (somewhat mysteriously; no one seems to recall the catalyst) to begin annually installing a work of contemporary outdoor sculpture in the center of town and the outlying hills. The project is meant to ponder the relationship between wine and art, art and nature, and/or artist and local – depending upon whom you ask – but the effect of these spare pieces surrounded by the romantic Umbrian landscape is undeniably fetching, regardless of the message.

[editor's note: This promotional video for Brufa is in Italian but you'll get a good idea of the works in the landscape]

Contemporary Art Museums in Umbria (plus: hotels, restaurants, and galleries)

The art of art

CIAC Foligno

Despite this climate of budget cuts and economic crunching, Umbria has (against all odds) opened two new Contemporary art museums in 2010: the brand-new CIAC Museum in Foligno and the new-to-you refurbished and reorganized Museo Carandente (part of the Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive complex) in Spoleto. If impenetrably sleek websites and chic-ly unhelpful staff is any sign, these are both destined for greatness.

The art of sleeping

Umbria is home to two luxury hotels which combine four star hospitality with four star contemporary art. The Albornoz Palace Hotel in Spoleto and the ArteHotel in Perugia both have frescoes, paintings, sculptures, reliefs and temporary exhibitions throughout their public spaces, private rooms, and outdoor gardens.

The art of eating

L'Officina art restaurant in Perugia

L’Officina Ristorante Culturale in Perugia is part restaurant, part art gallery, all cutting edge. Good food, good art, good times. The new Palazzo Collicola (www.palazzocollicola.it) in Spoleto is opening their museum cafeteria this week in occasion of the National Day of Contemporary Art; the space was designed by Italian installation artist Veronica Montanino.

The art of shopping

For a taste of what contemporary Italian artists – Umbrian and non – have to offer, you can take a look at the friendly and tiny Minigallery (it lives up to its name) in Assisi or the larger but more formal Galleria Artemisia in Perugia.

PS – If you love Rebecca’s writing as much as I do, you’ll want to read her blog about expat life in Umbria.

Mart Rovereto glass topped courtyard. Photo: Franco Bertolani

The MART is one of Italy’s most important contemporary art museums , and last year they were one of only four Italian museums on twitter (now there are 7, wow. See followamuseum). This made me really curious, enough to stop in Rovereto on my way back down to Florence from my Sud-Tirol weekend this past Spring. I was particularly interested in seeing the fabulous structure, with its signature glass topped courtyard, designed by Mario Botta and inaugurated only in 2002.

Now an exhibit, opened last week, focuses precisely on this architecture, and specifically on its Swiss architect. Sounds like an excuse to go to Rovereto!! From 25 September 2010 to 23 January 2011 “Mario Botta. Architecture 1960-2010” is an exhibition curated by the architect himself, with the scientific direction of Gabriella Belli.

From the press release:

Mario Botta, House in Breganzona

The exhibition documents the most significant works by Mario Botta, who was born in Mendrisio in 1943 and graduated from university in Venice, over many years of successful professional activity: from the first detached homes, original expressions of the Ticino school to the large public buildings, libraries, theatres, museums, churches and synagogues constructed throughout the world. Over 90 projects will be on display, all of them built, documented with original sketches and models, unpublished photographs and documents.

The exhibition will be divided into 12 sections: the first is entitled “Meetings” and provides a sort of introductory space comprising the works and memories of artists and works, of cultural and musical figures who have left a profound mark on the man and the architect.

The other sections, called Living, Workplaces, Schools, Libraries and free time, Urban reconnections, Museums, Theatres, Sacred spaces, Interiors, explore the personal developments in design that led Mario Botta to work in every form of construction sector. In particular, it is worth noting the fascinating documents for the Musée Tinguely in Basle, for the MoMA in San Francisco, for the Dürrenmatt Centre in Neuchâtel, for the restoration of La Scala in Milan and, naturally, for the Mart di Rovereto itself.

The last sections are dedicated to Mario Botta’s creations in the field of Layouts, Set Design and Design: from the successful chairs designed in the early 1980s for Alias to the lamps, including the “Shogun” sold by Artemide as of 1985, and to the recent “Table for Cleto Munari”.

Mario Botta’s architectural development has its roots in an interpretation of the Modern Movement and remains faithful to its tenets, taking the form today of “critical reasoning” before the fragility of models and fashions offered by globalisation. In his studio in Lugano, the Ticino-born architect designs buildings that base their raison d’être on an awareness of interpreting the sensitivity of contemporary culture and at the same time of evoking that territory of history and of memory constituting the true heritage of identity of European architecture. “The fabric of memory”, writes Botta in the text of the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, “is a living reality that draws us in like philosophy or the history of art”. Botta’s stance should not be considered a yielding to nostalgia: past and present live together in his figurative language, formed of geometry and materials. He is perfectly aware of the need to tackle the complexity and frenzy of contemporary living:

My objective is to offer a space in which man can feel himself a protagonist in the silence of his own solitude, and at the same time participate in a collective rite. It is within the complexity and rapidity of current transformations that the architect is called upon to elaborate these new project responses.

Botta’s architecture revives a primitive vocation of essential form that models man’s living space and which, reflecting the functions which it should provide, aspires to offer fresh emotions.

If you cannot make it to the MART, the exhibition will then travel to the Centre Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) where it will be from 1 April to 28 August 2011.

Further information:

exhibit dates: 25 September 2010 to 23 January 2011
MartRovereto – Corso Bettini, 43 38068 Rovereto (TN)
http://english.mart.trento.it/
Opening hours: Tues. – Sun. 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. / Fri. 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. / Mondays closed
Tickets 10/7 euro

A breath of fresh air in the modern and contemporary art scene of Italy, in Venice during the Biennale and continuing until January 9, 2011.

Forty large scale, mostly black and white, photographs shot over 20 years by Luca Campigotto (Venezia, 1962), take the viewer on a trip through nature and photography, with historic and cinematic references. The intensity of light and landscape reign in these representations of memory and space, searching for the soul of the land itself, of a world doomed to disappear.

My Wild Places is at Palazzo Fortuny, San Marco 3780, Campo San Beneto, Venezia

Images used by permission Musei Civici Venezia / Courtesy Bugno Art Gallery

The Bay of Naples (Photo: Context Travel)

Context Travel has just announced a useful product: a greeting service, orientation walk, and informational handbook for a safe and seamless visit to Italy’s most misunderstood city: Naples. If you’ve ever considered going to Naples but been put off by its gritty reputation for garbage and mafia (neither of which are liable to attack you during your visit, anyway), this is the service for you. It’s a way to get comfortable with the city, and I think it’s a great idea.

My own appreciation for Naples has grown over the years after a bad first impression; the last decade has seen a lot of improvements. It’s a whole different Italy, and it’s certainly big enough to take on lots of tourists without overload. The result? finally somewhere in Italy that doesn’t seem overrun by tourists!

Press Release

The “Naples Welcome Kit” is the first Context offering of its kind. The “Welcome Kit” is a selection of services aimed at supplying visitors with everything they need in order to have a spectacular stay in the city and to get the most out of its excellent cultural institutions, its delectable food scene and its gregarious hospitality.

“We saw a demand for a more hands-on approach to Naples, a city that unfortunately has a reputation for being unsafe and inaccessible to outsiders,” says Megan McDonnell, who manages Context’s programs in Naples. “Our team of docents in the city are masters at turning visitors on to the true soul of Naples, by offering them their unparalleled insider’s knowledge.”

The Welcome Kit includes a customized printed guide to the city filled with lodging, dining, and cultural recommendations, in addition to some notes regarding safety and suggested walking itineraries. Clients can receive the guide before their trip electronically or in printed version.

As part of the package, clients will be met by a Context docent (one of the scholars who leads Context walks in Naples) upon their arrival. The docent will help them with their hotel transfer and assist them with the check-in process. Following, the docent will lead the clients on a 2-hour orientation walk in the vicinity of their hotel. This orientation walk highlights local points of interest and provides a historical context for further explorations of the city.

Also included in the package are two restaurant reservations and a 15% discount on any bookings of private walking seminars with Context.

“The welcome kit was actually our docents’ idea,” says McDonnell. ‘They asked, “How can we get more people to stay in the city itself and not just use it as a launch point for visiting the Amalfi Coast? How do we get people to stay and, inevitably, fall in love with the city?’ This Welcome Kit provides visitors the tools to do just that.”

The Welcome Kit, available on the Context Naples website, costs 270 euro.

Off a courtyard into a bedroom in one of the Roman houses. That's me looking thin and lovely.

I was searching through some photos from field trips that I led for UGA in 2008 in a bout of nostalgia brought on by an upcoming visit from my friends Roy and Terry who were my colleagues that Fall. At the end of term we took students to the Bay of Naples and there was the optional day trip to Pompeii which, for once, I did not have to lead.

I don’t recall who it was came up with the idea, maybe it was I, but anyway we decided to “skip Pompeii, go to Herculaneum“. We’d all been to Pompeii before and my memories of that archaeological area tend to be associated with heat and dust. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an incredible place that you should go see at some point, but it’s really big and extended, and to find the works of greatest impact and colour, you have to walk for miles. Herculaneum is more compact and more bang for your buck (the same entrance price, by the way) with its numerous intact frescoes, mosaics, and two-storey structures. It is also much less crowded. Roy, Terry, and I had a magical day feeling like we’d discovered the place ourselves.

Excavations of this site began in the mid 18th century and what we now see is only the part of the inhabitation that extends inland from the sea; the forum and other areas are underneath the modern town. Like Pompeii, Herculaneum was destroyed with the eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79. In the 1980s, archaeologists discovered hundreds of skeletons of people who, during the eruptions, attempted to flee the city in boats containing all their precious belongings.

Herculaneum is unique because there are preserved wood, papyrus, and other organic materials; as well, unlike Pompeii, the weight of the ash seems not to have caused all the buildings to collapse, so there are two-story buildings with wooden second floors. If you also read my other blog, Tuscany Arts, you know that the Etruscans, too, built houses with wooden second floors, but Herculaneum gives us a unique opportunity to see this actually preserved.

Image adapted from www.herculaneum.org

Although I’ve read up on everything I can, I’m not an expert on Roman archaeology so I’ll leave you with this photo gallery of our visit to Herculaneum and the links below to help you should you wish to read more about it and plan your own trip to see it in person!

Herculaneum Resources:

There is a wonderful online virtual tour chock full of restoration information at www.herculaneum.org.

This site AD79 Eruption has detailed information about the history of the site and what can be seen now, as well as an impressive annexed blog by what appears to be a large panel of experts.

And this is the official website.

Bollino nero, causa esodo. Source: Panorama

It’s the first weekend in August, which means it’s bollino nero because of the esodo, and if you don’t do a partenza intelligente, you’re screwed. Have no idea what I’m talking about? You need an Italian summer holiday vocabulary refresher!

Esodo: The Exodus. An annual event of Biblical proportions, people leave the city in droves despite the previously mentioned fact that Italians don’t all go for holidays in August any more. But if the total silence of my residential street is any indication, most middle class city dwellers escape at this time. The beaches of Tuscany become crowded with Florentines, but the same goes for every other city and region.

Bollino Nero / Bollino Rosso: Oh no. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of driving on the highway on a day declared to be a Bollino NERO? The black death of traffic predictions, worse than the bollino rosso that characterizes pretty much the entire summer. You’re nuts.

Partenza Intelligente: If you avoid the bollino of any colour by doing a partenza intelligente – smart departure – you may just make it to your destination unfased. The real trick lies in determining what the most intelligent departure time/method is. For sure you’ll want to have your car filled and tuned in advance, not book a hairdressers’ appointment that day, pack the car a week before, and have everyone in your party already at your house/departure point well before the determined hour. Consider driving in the middle of the night – intelligent would certainly be to leave at 2am, you might not find traffic.

Tormentone: each summer, one or more songs are defined as a “tormentone”, a thing that tortures you at least once a day. Often this song comes out of the Festival di Sanremo, but this year it’s definitely “California Girls” by Katy Perry.

Ferragosto: August 15th, a national holiday that is a phenomenon unto itself. I wrote about Ferragosto last year with some tips on what to do

The famous Calippo. Photo: Stolen from somewhere via google images.

on this day of institutionalized rest. At the beach (where everyone already is thanks to the aforementioned esodo), people arrive at 7am in order to be sure they will have a good spot for the day’s, and night’s, activities. Free beaches become free for alls. Any shady areas will be taken by 8am. Tents and temporary shelters set up, solar-powered gigantic coolers, tables and chairs underneath, as people are ready to spend the next 24 hours there drinking beer and eating popsicles (or in Ostia, calippo e bira).

Emergenza Caldo: You’ll want to watch out for this one, a heat emergency. Stock up on calippi (plural of calippo, popsicles, see link above) and stay inside with a/c or a fan, cuz the radios say not to go outside. Or go to the beach and just lie there, taking occasional baths or showers.

Burraco: A bridge-like card game favoured by the Meridionale (southerner), a perfect way to waste those dead hours after your heavy lunch and before you can swim again.

Il grande Rientro/ Controesodo: The saddest part of all, the end of the summer, the “grande rientro”, the big return (to the city, to work). AKA the Controesodo, when everyone comes back from the beach, or goes back up north. Causing similar bollino nero days as the esodo, but without the happy anticipation of the esodo.

I randomly discovered these photos on the Sterpaia website, a creativity farm and communications company based near Pisa in Tuscany. The artistic “Dream Toilet” is designed by Lorenzo Pentassuglia and Cecilia Morassi, students of the faculty of Architecture in Trieste and winners of a world-wide contest that was put out by Sebach and Sterpaia for the perfect chemical toilet. The contest, held in 2007, had a 5000 euro prize. I’m sure that the client paid much more than this to Sterpaia.

The slogan? Well, there isn’t one, but as a creative in advertising myself I suggest “Take a dump in a masterpiece”.

While the “Dream Toilet” got SOME press in Italian blogs, and none in English-language blogs, the related project “Flush the Fashion: Elegance in Toilet Paper” received virtually no mentions despite the creativity of students from the Academia Italiana of Art, Fashion, and Design who created high fashion clothing out of toilet paper. Kinda puts a whole new twist on “toilet papering” a place or person.

An exhibit at the International Design Museum in Munich, Alessi Objects and Projects, looks back over the recent decades of Alessi design: the final phase of the Italian Bel Design (the ’70s), the Postmodern period (the ’80s), the Ludic period (‘90s) and most recently what’s being called the Eclectic Moment (the ’00s).

The Alessi exhibition website is a creation of my colleagues at H-art and is a work of art in itself, not to mention that it contains a ton of useful information written by the important players in Alessi and design Alessandro Mendini, Alberto Alessi and Florian Hufnagl. Alberto Alessi joined the family business in 1970, and designer Mendini has collaborated with him since the late 1970s

A section devoted to “new topical issues” is particularly interesting as it shows objects in production related to themes like simplicity and “recent retro”. We see a nostalgia for handiwork and unexalted materials like wire applied in innovative and attractive ways.

from May 22 to September 9, 2010, Pinakothek der Moderne | Barer Straße 40 | D – 80333 Munich

We were given an incredible opportunity, and we are going to make the best of it. I have never been out of the country, and the idea of traveling to Europe and learning about a different culture, history and society was unthinkable until a few months ago.

Arttrav has always been happy to recommend Context’s high-level walking tours in Italy; I know personally many of the scholar-docents. Context also sponsored last summer’s arttrav Italy travel writing contest; the winner got a walking seminar in the city of her choice.

The two student winners of this year’s travel scholarship will go to Rome, Florence, and Paris with a chaperone. During their time in Europe they will be on a busy schedule of two walking seminars per day, learning about history, art, architecture and society. As part of the project, students will participate in a one-day writing workshop with travel writer Susan Van Allen and also be enrolled in a 12 week Matador U Travel Writing Program. Each student will be expected to keep a blog journal during the trip and prepare a final project, relevant to the trip, that will be presented to the school in August 2010.

The purpose of the scholarship is to give high-achieving high school students from economically challenged inner city neighborhoods the opportunity to travel abroad and work with professors from universities. Kaneisha and Kathleen were selected by a panel of judges comprised of teachers and advisors from Sac High and Context Travel. In preparation for the trip they have been following workshops, taking extra classes on art, history, and mythology, and honing their writing skills.

I think this is a great gift not only to the students involved but to their entire community and to the wider world. Context is giving Kathleen and Kaneisha the chance to see the world and tell their peers about it both in writing and in person after the trip. Travel writing is a way to digest one’s experience and may lead to an interesting career in this field, or “simply” teach the students clear communication skills that can be applied in any job. I really hope that they’ll post great photos (especially in Florence!) and have an unforgettable experience that will set their lives on a better path.

Many of the hand gestures you’ll see if you flip through the book are international signs for simple things like “no” or “wait a moment”. So you might think “well I know all of these”. Reading the introduction, though, I learned that the book has a different historic value alongside the sociological or humorous one.

Back in 1832, Andrea de Jorio published 380 pages of text and 19 pages of hand-drawn line illustrations that intended to catalogue the Neapolitans’ use of hand gestures established by the Ancients (i.e. the Romans). Through the study of Roman texts and vases, he intended to show a direct lineage from the Romans to the Neapolitans, so what we have here is not a dictionary for foreigners (despite its claim) but pure propaganda!

The 60s edition by Munari is furnished with black and white photographs and dry explanations in four languages. This book makes a great gift or souvenir and can be purchased for 12 euros online from Corraini or at any of the bookstores listed as their distributors. Corraini prints unusual art books including charming illustrated childrens’ books.

Here are a couple of photos of pages from the book.

How could Venice’s superintendant of Culture, not to mention the Soprintendenza dei Beni Artistici, let this blatant advertising be displayed around the famous bridge? A similar attempt to place an advertisement for Esselunga’s collection of Sambonet forks on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence last year was met by harsh criticism by Giuliano da Empoli and lasted less than a week before it was taken down amidst protests, though not before Esselunga agreed to continue sponsoring the restoration without the visible advertising. When Gucci paid to restore the facade of Santo Spirito in Florence a few years ago, the scaffolding reproduced the building’s distinctive shape and simply said “Gucci”, rather than being plastered with a photo of a purse. We know that restoration costs a pretty penny but really, Venice, you might have come to a a more discreet agreement with the sponsor; for example, the image of the sky and the lighting could be carried through the space, the wording “Bulgari” could be evident, and only on the grand canal facade might there be an image of the models and product.

Public opinion on the matter seems in line with mine (how could it not be) although I’m surprised that a google blog search really only turned up one critique by blogger Paolo Steffan. I’m curious to know how long the ad has been up and how long it is going to be there. If anyone has any more information for me or would simply like to vent on this topic, please comment below!

The exhibition has a twofold itinerary organised according to theme and collectors, set up in six wooden cases. These are all illustrated printed books, which makes the exhibit special because when you’re actually researching, it can be quite hard to find which edition is illustrated. There are religious texts including a magnificent one printed on vellum (the material usually used for manuscripts, not print) and a miniature hours of Mary. A number of illustrated Aesops Fables are a lot of fun; one hand coloured, another open to a story of a woman making love to a donkey (the donkey worries about not injuring her with his deep claws). Another display is of illustrated travel books, including one aptly of Venice.

Here is a photo gallery of the books. A catalogue will soon be published.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

Karen was in Florence for a few days and also experiencing Lucca and Pisa, so I look forward to her posts about what she saw in those cities. She contacted me via Twitter and we decided to meet. This is one of the most fun parts of being a travel blogger – meeting other interested travelers on your home turf, or on theirs.

So, I took Karen to see the Palazzo Davanzati, one of my favourite spots in town, and she did a little video interview of me outside the Palazzo, during which she asked me to talk about arttrav and provide some tips to travelers. (You will be happy to hear that after seeing myself on film, I got a haircut.)

OK, I admit that I’ve never been to Sardinia

Here’s what our Sardinia expert recommends as a real “off the beaten track” experience in Sardinia’s mining areas.

Most people who go on a holiday want to see as much from the region where they stay as possible. And although this is technically possible while staying in a large multi-storey chain hotel, nothing beats staying in old guest houses or hotels that have a history or something to say for themselves. This article highlights a desolate area on the west side of Sardinia where it still is possible to enjoy history, peace and quiet, and unspoiled nature.

Montevecchio

Discovered by the Romans hundreds of years ago, Montevecchio is a very large mining facility, located in Province of Medio Campidano. The mines of Montevecchio were among the most productive in Europe during the peak days in the 19th century. In the mid 1960s, the demand for zinc (what the mines where mainly used for during that time) decreased, leading to less occupance in the mines. In 1991, the mines of Montevecchio (also known as “Gennas”) closed their doors.

In 1865, over 1100 people worked in the mines, which made it necessary to build hundreds of houses for the workers and their families. The mines and the workers’ village are both part of ‘Parco Geominerario, Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna’, and recognized by UNESCO. This protection made it possible to restore and renovate the old mines, and resulted in the mines opening its doors for the public a few years ago.

For only 6 Euro p.p., you can visit the old village (see their Italian website for more information) to experience life in and around the mines 150 years ago. A tour will take you along the abandoned buildings, including hospitals, a school, a recreation area and a church, which will tell you the stories of hard working people and their families.

Ingurtosu

A few kilometers away from Montevecchio are the mines of Ingurtosu, which got their name from bearded vultures (gurturgiu in Sardinian dialect), who lived in the area. Located in the sandy dunes, these mines were used to find zinc, silver and lead. People started mining in Ingurtosu in 1855, but only about 50 years later, the mine village housed over 5,000 people. The direction office was built in 1870 in the neo-medieval style as a proposed connection to the nearby (and much older) mines of Montevecchio. This arched building is now the -mostly ruined- face of the mines, which closed in 1968.

Just like all other mines in the region, the mines of Ingurtosu are part of ‘Parco Geominerario, Storico e Ambientale della Sardegna’, and UNESCO has declared this region of industrial mines as archaeological monuments and the whole territory “World Heritage”. Where possible, the hospital, church, cemetary and most of the houses of the employees have been restored. A block of houses has even been renovated and turned into a small hotel - Hotel le Dune. [editor's note: this place looks like an amazing, middle-of-nowhere, total relax away from civilization kind of hotel, with a private beach and what appears to be no human for miles around!]

Because Ingurtosu is in a more worse shape than Montevecchio (mainly because it already closed in 1968), this village breathes ‘abandoned mine’ even more than it’s nearby sister. Although it’s not possible to take a tour in Ingurtosu, the mines are still definitely worth a visit. The sound of the nearby sea, the sand of the dunes, and the eery presence of the last bearded vulture make visiting Ingurtosu a unique experience.

As you can see, when you look a little bit further than most standard holiday brochures, it’s possible to have an original, authentic vacation experience anywhere in Italy.

This article was written by Paolo, who works for Charming Sardinia, a Sardinian travel agency. He not only helps his clients to book hotels in Sardinia, but also loves to show them his favorite places on the island.

There’s more to Tuscany than wine. After many years of traveling the wine roads of Chianti on SS222 under the looming gaze of the Black Rooster (Gallo Nero, symbol of the Chianti Wine League) I was ready for a change. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing more thrilling than traveling along the twisting Via Chiantigiana (SS222). Fields of sunflowers and hillsides of vineyards and olive trees pass by and the glow of burnt umber, olive green and red wine color the landscape with breathtaking beauty. You can easily spend a week wandering down the winding roads from this town to the next eating salumi, crostini and wild boar, searching for the perfect ribollito, stopping to sample the classic wines of the region, developing what I refer to as that “Tuscan Glow”. But on this trip I was in search of another Tuscan treasure, the aromatic white truffle (tartufo bianco) found in the woods near the town of San Giovanni d’Asso, south of Siena and along the way pay a visit to a terme, one of the many natural hot springs that can be found in the Tuscan countryside.

The village of San Giovanni d’ Asso is in the heart of the Crete Senesi. The Crete Senesi (pronounced KREH-teh seh-NEH-seh) is a rolling panaroma of wind swept hills and isolated farmhouses south of Siena. It is the parallel universe of Chianti and attracts travelers seeking the elemental Tuscan experience. The rolling hills are dotted with cyclists and the woods that straddle the Crete and the Val d’Orcia are the perfect place to find the legendary tartufo bianco.

On the road less traveled, among the clay hills of the Crete, most travelers would need to think outside the box to visit here. But if they do they know they have arrived at a place that is very special and are then confronted with an age old question, should I or shouldn’t I. Should I or shouldn’t I tell everyone I know about this wondrous, magical place of food and earthy delights, home of the Italian white truffle and a locanda (country inn) with a ristorante whose food is memorable and wine selection impeccable. Well maybe not everyone, but to a select few who will appreciate the unique nature of this small (938 inhabitants) medieval village, tell them and they will sing your praises and forever be in your debt.

Named after the Asso River torrent from which the village rises, S. G. d’Asso is near some of my favorite places in Tuscany as well as those that most Tuscan tourists want to visit. The wines of Montalcino with its famous Brunello and the Vin Nobile of Montepulciano are waiting to be tasted and the towns of Siena, Pienza, Buonconvento and Rapolano Terme are a short distance away. The abbeys of Monte Oliveto Maggiore and Sant’ Antimo are all within driving distance and Florence is 80 km.

But in November in San Giovanni d’Asso, it’s all about the Italian white truffle, tartufo bianco. Italian truffle hunters and their dogs take to the nearby woods in search of the “white diamonds of Italy”, to bring to S. G. d’Asso’s Annual Fall Truffle Festival. Held the 2nd and 3rd weekends in November, you can buy local products, eat local dishes made with truffles and arrange to watch truffle hunters at work. You can also visit the Museo di Tartufo, Italy’s first museum dedicated to the truffle. You will definetly want to visit the unique exhibits that allow you to get up close and personal with the prized fungus. There’s even an “odorama” exhibit that allows visitors to experience the heady aromas of dozens of different kinds of truffles.

The veranda at the locanda

Located in a 13th century castle, the museum is next to La Locanda del Castello, a country inn with an equally powerful effect on your senses. Your sense of taste, touch, smell and vision are all heightened by the atmosphere created by the owner Selvana, her son Massimo and innkeeper, Fiorella who make you stay at the inn very special. You arrive at the locanda piazza where a series of contemporary sculptures are on display then walk through the Castello drawbrige and into the castle courtyard.

The intimate ristorante downstairs from the inn (very convenient) is rustic-Italian chic with a private veranda that overlooks the landscape of the town and valley below. When ordering, I would willingly take the advice of chef Enrico whose Nouveau Tuscan cuisine and artful presentation was fantastici. I ate a delicious pici pasta with cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) one night and another night a wild boar ragu’ that was both delicate and bold. The caprese salad was a favorite and an antipasti of assorted salumi included Lardo di Colonnata, a protected Tuscan delicacy that is particular to the region. My room was decorated with 19th century Italian country furniture combined with touches of French toile fabric to create what I would imagine to be the style of day when traveling from locanda to locanda.

My final day in Tuscany was spent at an Italian terme. Terme is the Italian word for thermal waters. Popes, pilgrims, princes and everyday Italians have traveled to these natural hot springs seeking the beneficial virtures of the waters to regenerate the body and mind since ancient times. On last year’s trip I got “my feet wet” at Bagno Vignoni, a small medieval town south of Siena. The town itself is built around a central thermal pool with a thermal stream you can walk through. The ancient Etruscans and Romans knew about these hot springs and pilgrims traveling the Via Francigena Road on their way to Rome stopped to rest in the waters. Pope Pius II, St. Caterina of Siena and Lorenzo Medici all bathed here. But now it is very casual, with mostly Italians on holiday taking the waters at one of the two thermal centers in town. Not yet ready to take the plunge, I took off my sandals and felt the warm, rich volcanic water run across my tired feet and for a moment knew what it must have been like to be weary pilgrim on their way to Rome.

This year after tasting truffles in San Giovanni d’Asso, I was ready to get my terme on and decided the best place to loss my inhibitions would be at Terme Antica Querciolaia near the town of Rapolano Terme. There are other popular termes in Italy,Montecatini and Saturnia come to mind, that are more tourist oriented, but I like to travel like an Italian so this type of terme appeals to me. It is small, family oriented (yes, Italian children come with their parents) with 3 large pools rich in minerals such as calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. I spent one memorable afternoon in September languishing in the thermal waters of Antica Querciolaia under the Tuscan sun knowing that this was another reason why Italy is the best place on earth.

About the author: Cositutti, a travel and lifestyle resource for All Fine Things Italian, was founded by Pamela Marasco in 2005. Products available through Cositutti MarketPlace.com are based on her experiences eating, shopping, cooking and traveling in Northern Italy, Tuscany and Umbria with her Italian family and friends. Products available are sourced from producers that are committed to preserving the culinary and cultural traditions of Italy. Each product has been carefully selected to represent an authentic experience and sourced over 10 years and 10,000 miles of traveling and taste testing regional Italian food. Some products are unique and made only in the village of origin. Many are handcrafted in the “zona artigianale” of Italy.

With an Undergraduate Degree in the Biological Sciences and a Graduate Degree in Education, Pamela is committed to farming practices and educational programs that ensure the true flavors of Italy are protected and preserved. You can learn more about products available through Cositutti’s on-line store at www.cosituttimarketplace.com and her travels in Italy at www.cositutti.com .

Further reading on arttrav:

• Read the other arttrav writing contest winning essays here.
• Read all the articles about Tuscany.

I’m not sure what i like best about the programme being offered. Perhaps it is the chocolate sculpting contest, to which anyone can apply (sign up now online!).

Or is it the FREE TASTINGS?

Or is it for the map of Perugia that is coloured BROWN?

For more information, see: www.eurochocolate.com

Montecastelli's church and tower

The closest town to Villa Centopino is Montecastelli Pisano, a fraction of Castelnuovo di Val di Cecina (not far from Pomarance) founded in the 12th century (494 meters high and population 400). This is an untouched fortified medieval borgo whose walls hardly betray the series of wars that took place in the 14th and 15th centuries for its control. Montecastelli wished to be independant from Volterra’s bishop but eventually had to submit; it was then submitted to a major seige by Alfonso King of Aragon in 1447 and eventually landed in the hands of the Florentines, along with Volterra and most of that area.

general view of a street in Montecastelli from www.castellitoscani.com

The town is dominated by the fortified Pannocchieschi tower next to the church that looks over its tiny medieval streets that are perfect for photographing. The town’s Romanesque church dates to 1186.

On your way out of town, following signs for Castelnuovo Val Di Cecina you can visit the really stunning ‘Buca delle Fate’, a 6th BC century Etruscan tomb composed of massive stone slabs.

Montecastelli is pleasant for a half day trip perhaps with a stop for lunch or dinner on the panoramic terrace at La Pergola in Radicondoli, a great restaurant whose specialty is crostini al lardo di colonnata.

The rocca sillana

If you’d like to stay in this area, Agriturismo Villa Centopino is available for rent for a relaxing week surrounded by cypress trees and the stillness typical of the Tuscan hills. There’s a big green lawn with swimming pool and an outdoor Jacuzzi for those moments at home; nearby it’s not far to major art cities and also picturesque small towns. The villa is approx 150 years old and has been successfully protected against the earthquakes that sometimes shake the area by an inscription “Christus Nobiscum State” that was put there in its year of construction.

From the lawn, you can see a fortress called the “Rocca Sillana” (photo), opened just this year after a long restoration paid for by the Regione Toscana. Near the villa can also be found animal fossils dating back millions of years ago when this whole area was under the sea.

 

Photo credits: all photos in this article courtesy of Leonardo Agriturismo Toscana Villa Centopino

 

If you liked this article, you might like to read about nearby Certaldo.

Tessuto in seta e velluto con fondo ricamato con fili dorati e argentati Genova, XVI sec. St Petersburg, Hermitage

This weekend I went to the show “Lo Stile delle Zar” – the fashion of the Tsars, on the relationship between art and fashion and between Russia and Italy from the 15th to 18th centuries. Beautifully displayed at Prato’s Museo del Tessuto – fabric museum – the point of encounter between the two cultures is of course fabrics. This is no great surprise, given the city’s history in the production, first artisanal, then industrial, of highly valued cloth.

Unknown Venetian: Madonna con Bambino, Late 15th c. oil on canvas transfered from panel, Hermitage

The show puts paintings and cloth samples in relation to each other. The section I thought was most interesting was the first room on the ground floor, which had the earliest paintings on display (many from the Hermitage, so not things I’d seen before). The curators selected paintings with particularly stunning fabrics and patterning and set them beside pieces of similar historical fabric. In this setting, one is drawn towards noticing this aspect of the paintings that one might not have paid particular attention to in a regular museum. The lighting and otherwise rather text-free cases made for a lovely viewing experience.

The textile museum itself is also interesting, in an ex-industrial space that has recently been recuperated (a second section of it is due to open soon as a library). A permanent exhibit near the entry describes historical textile processes and the whole museum is set up in accordance with the latest curatorial ideas. The gift shop also has a really cute sheep and material-related gifties.

Important Information:

LO STILE DELLO ZAR. ARTE E MODA TRA ITALIA E RUSSIA DAL XIV AL XVIII SECOLO
Prato, Museo del Tessuto
Sept 19 2009 – Jan 10 2010
Open 10-19, tickets 9 euros, various discounts
Website: http://www.lostiledellozar.it

Photo credits: official photographs, Lo Stile dello Zar press area

In this photo you can see the paper diamonds in their urban setting – if you think this is surreal, you should hear about how they were moved into place!

AT: Please tell us a little about yourself!

Stefano Giovacchini: I was born in Lucca in 1975 and studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze from where I graduated in 2001 with a thesis on Color Design. After that I had an internship at the museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, and have studied the application of color also at the University in Milan. I now work as a creative artist and designer in Lucca, painting, doing graphics, and designing with color. Currently I run Di.Segno, a company that does color projects and domestic mural projects: www.disegnodesign.it

AT: What is Cartasia? Can you tell us something about the history of paper in Lucca?

SG: Cartasia (www.cartasia.it) is a Biennale of Contemporary art now in its 5^th year; an event related to the artistic use of paper and its derivatives. First I should clarify why this would be in Lucca – in this province, they make almost all the packing and transport as well as domestic-use paper for all of Italy. Furthermore, there are companies that make paper-marking machinery here in the province of Lucca whose clients are all over the world. So, paper is one of Lucca’s major economic channels. It seems that they were already making paper in the province of Lucca back in the 1200’s when it was just brought to Europe by the ‘mores’.

So, I consider it entirely normal that there be an event that puts into the spotlight Lucca’s role in the paper business, but also one that addresses it from an artistic point of view, one that points out the aesthetic and creative role of this product. Also, as we’re in this economic crisis right now, I’d like to point out how artists can help evolve, distinguish, and promote paper and the paper industry.

diamonds in the rough!

AT: Well put! How did you get the occasion to participate?

SG: I submitted a proposal in the international competition organized by Cartasia – the theme is “paper and creativity as renewable resources”. 170 artists responded, 10 were selected to show their works in July 2010, while I was chosen as the inaugural artist whose work is being shown this September, which is a very important month for Lucca.

AT: I’m really impressed – you have a huge installation in what is probably the most prestigious piazza in the city of Lucca! I read that your work is intended to signify the precious aspects of two renewable resources: paper and creativity. What role did PLACE have in the way in which the final work was constructed and placed?

SG: actually, having my work in that piazza was more than I expected! In fact, for the proposal I had suggested a smaller project for another piazza, the Piazza del Giglio (del teatro). But they liked my idea so much that they asked me to make it larger and think about how to put it in piazza dell’ampiteatro, which Cartasia also considers the most prestigious space. In the past 5 events, an Italian has won this location only twice, so I am really honoured.

The ampitheatre’s shape easily lends itself as backdrop or site for my diamonds – a precious but also popular container, coherent with the language of the material and shape used – a precious object or space made of traditiona, poor, recyclable material.

Just made it out the door

AT: I noticed from the photos on your website that you made the diamonds in a warehouse in Lucca and then transported them one by one in the streets of Lucca. That must have been quite the experience! How far did you walk and what were the reactions of people who saw this process?

SG: The transport was perhaps the most interesting part of the work. Three of us moved each single diamond on a cart, passing by some of the most significant areas of the city, from the ex-tabacco factory, along the urban walls, in front of piazza San Frediano with its mosaic fronted church, along via Fillungo which is the principle road since Lucca’s Roman foundation, all the way to piazza dell’Anfiteatro. This was about 1.5 kilometers.

through the streets of lucca

People we encountered on this road did not fully understand the object being transported. They understood the shape, but not its weight, use, or material. Many were fascinated by the surreal event that happened before their eyes. It is not every day that you see a 3.5 meter diameter diamond made of paper being walked through the city by three people.

Some streets are rather narrow!

AT: That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the photos. I hope you made a video too!! You must have made the works to measure in consideration of getting out the door from the building in which you made it, but did you encounter any really tight squeezes on the road?

SG: Yes, it turns out that the entranceway to the piazza dell’Anfiteatro is narrower than I thought, so we had to go around via an external road and enter through a side door!

AT: the work is of course made of paper, and there is an emphasis on recycling in your description. What happens if it rains? And what happens to the work when the month’s show is over?

SG: The corrugated paper used for this installation had to be treated against the elements with a resin that unfortunately makes it not recyclable in a traditional sense. It can however be re-used: the larger diamonds will be dis-assembled but the smaller ones (2.5 meters) will be re-used by the organizers of Cartasia for future promotions.

Stefano’s piece is on view from September 5^th to October 3d 2009.
In Piazza Felice Orsi-Porcari there is another installation work by Enzo Iorio.

All Photos are by Silvia Vercelli.

Installation in the piazza

William Patterson: Garden Shrine, oil on panel, 52x42 1998

I want to tell you about this opportunity to take a painting class in Italy with a famous painter who just happens to be my friend.

Last year I had the pleasure of having Bill Patterson, contemporary realist painter, as my colleague. Bill’s an amazing painter, a dedicated professor, and more importantly, he is a wonderful person. I think I have never met anyone so genuinely GOOD.

Bill also really loves Italy. Let’s face it, he’s retirement-age, and he’s been coming to Italy for a long time, but he still approaches everything from the scenery to the food to the art in museums with the enthusiasm and appreciation of a first-time (but very informed) visitor. He’s also someone who loves to learn from people he meets, and so was one of my most dedicated listeners when I felt I had to drone on about art history.

Similarly, although he’s been teaching for something like 40 years (yup, just checked, he started in 1968), he prepares every painting class for hours, meticulously providing learning materials, setting up props and still-lifes, and even getting slightly nervous. In some ways I hope that I will be like that 40 years from now; on the other hand, I thought that teaching might become less hard work with time, but watching Bill proves that theory wrong. It could be easy for him, but he makes it difficult because he wants to give the best to his students.

William Patterson, The Basilica of Sant Francis of Assisi, oil on canvas, 66x44, 1998

Bill’s own work amazes me for its meticulousness. In March I sat three hours for a portrait for him, and when I went behind the easel to take a peek I expected to see it just about done, but he’d barely sketched my face. He is still working on it now, because he keeps “fanning down” the oils and taking another shot at my chin. I’ve watched him throw out quick landscape oil sketches that he pooh-poohs as something crappy he made so as not to discourage his students, and think to myself how 99.9% of the world’s population could only dream of producing something that good, even with a lot of effort. I particularly like his still life pieces that employ the technique, and embody some of the feeling, of Dutch Renaissance oils.

Bill’s favourite place in Italy, as I understand it, is Assisi. I guess it is the Saint Francis factor. Since 1992, he has been holding painting workshops in Italy that take place mostly in and around Assisi, with some trips to Rome and Florence. These workshops are an opportunity to learn from a true master of the paintbrush, not only on canvas, but also in museums and churches, where if you follow Bill around you’ll learn to see things in a different way – like a painter sees them. If you don’t paint (but perhaps your spouse does), not to worry – you can come along to photograph, journal, and just experience the place. You can work at any level – one thing Bill offers so generously is personal feedback. The course is co-taught with Bill’s wife Carolyn Patterson, whom I have not met, but already like.

WP, "Pears and Cherries on Box" is for sale (10x12, oil on panel)

 The next workshop will be July 1-12, 2010. For more information please see: www.artworkshopsinitaly.com

 

Works by Bill like this still life of pears on his signature old box are also for sale, read more on: www.williampattersonstudio.com

Palazzo Pretorio

Certaldo is a town in Tuscany best known for two things: they grow wonderfully sweet purple onions (cipolle di Certaldo); and, of no lesser importance, Certaldo is where Giovanni Boccaccio spent the final thirteen years of his life. The suggestion that Giovanni was born in Certaldo in 1313 has been mostly disproved (he was probably born in Florence), but Certaldo is the native city of his father, Boccaccio di Chellino, and the author was indeed familiar with the town early in life. It gets a flattering mention as the setting for the tenth story on the sixth day of The Decameron: “Certaldo, as you may possibly have heard, is a fortified town situated in the Val d’Elsa, in Florentine territory, and although it is small, the people living there were at one time prosperous and well-to-do.”

On a hot late July day I visited Certaldo for the first time upon the invitation of Judy Witts, best known to the blogosphere as Divina Cucina, where she delights us with her mouthwatering culinary photography and adventures. I’d never been to Certaldo, and found it easy to reach by train from Florence (50 minutes, cost about 4 euros). Certaldo is divided into a lower town, where the train station and most stores and services are for residents, and an upper historical town accessible by an inexpensive funnicular that runs every 15 minutes.

Via Boccaccio - the whole town is in this red brick

The town has three museums accessed by one ticket (6 euros for adults), which include a house museum dedicated to Boccaccio (Casa di Boccaccio), a museum of sacred art, and the priors’ palace. All are conveniently located on the main street, which is not surprisingly named Via Boccaccio. Also on this street is the church of SS. Jacopo e Filippo where you can see Boccaccio’s tomb marker in the floor.

The palazzo pretorio, or prior’s palace, was the home of the Alberti lords and later of the governing body of Certaldo. It’s located at the far end of via Boccaccio that you can easily see from its beginning when you come up the funnicular. This is a really interesting space with rooms off a central courtyard. As the prior was responsible for the detainment and punishment of criminals, some of the spaces were used as jail cells. One room in particular shows evidence of this use by the scratched in lines representing days spent in confinement, and by the innovative use of charcoal to write rather poetic lines on the ceiling dating from 1555. The rooms of this palace are often used to display modern and contemporary art which makes a nice contrast and adds a layer of things to look at.

Pinacoteca (painting museum)

The pinacoteca or painting gallery houses a nice little collection that is certainly worth stopping in to see. Of particular interest is a sculpted wooden Petrognano Crucifix, a triumphans type with Christ live on the cross. The date and origin of this work is subject of scholarly debate (but it is from some time in 13^th-century Italy).

Of peculiar note, there is also a separate Museo del Choido – a museum of antique nails, and other bits and bobs of iron and metal tools and building supplies. This costs a euro to get in and should be fun for kids and bigger male kids (ie. men).

The medieval town crest has onions on it

I was excited to be going for lunch in a town known historically (all the way back to the 12^th century for sure) for very fresh onions. The medieval town’s symbol was a shield with a glorified purple onion on a white background. This symbol can still be seen in a fresco on the wall of the Palazzo Pretorio. The town motto is a metaphoric encomium to the onion that can be loosely translated as “by nature I am both strong and sweet, and I please those at work and those at rest”. Amusingly, the lowly onion was removed from the crest in 1633, but reinstated 1867. For lunch at Trattoria La Casalinga (via Roma 44, tel. +39 0571/668198), Judy and I had panzanella (bread salad) with fresh raw statina onions that proved to be perfectly digestible. Judy’s husband Andrea ordered the local specialty, pasta with onion pesto, which I hope to recreate at home.

Certaldo maintains the character of a small medieval town that has not been beseiged by tourists. You can see the towers of San Gimignano on its hill in the nearby countryside, but there are no kitch souvenir stores or tourist trap restaurants here. For a list of where to eat in Certaldo, see this list on Judy’s website.

Look out for the review of Judy’s cookbook, “Secrets from my Tuscan Kitchen” coming in late September 2009.

Further reading

• if you like Certaldo, you might also like Pienza, which is known for pecorino cheese.
• Read Boccaccio’s classic novella – 100 funny short stories written in 1348 and considered very racy. Priests being duped, men being cuckolded, and numerous funny jokes in Boccaccio: The Decameron.

View down via boccaccio from palazzo pretorio

The 2009 edition will be held August 28-29-30, since no locals are around for Ferragosto itself. The entire programme is available in PDF form; here are some of the highlights.

For more about Lastra a Signa, read here from the offficial site of tourism in Tuscany.

Friday August 28: from 9pm to midnight, the whole city will be taken over by a historical reenactment game that is free to all. (see article and press release)

Saturday August 29 from 6pm: food and local product market, a photography show at the ospedale S. Antonio and a show on historic gardens at city hall; street music from 9pm.

Sunday August 30. All day local products market and display of farm animals!!! All day antique market. 9am historic motorcars on display. 9am hiking in nearby hills led by guide. Music in the streets all day. at 16:30, my personal favourite, a “cocomerata” – overdoing it with watermelon (freely distributed by the comune). And at 23:15 for you wild kids, TOMBOLAAAAAA!!! (that’s italian bingo!)

Frescheggiare

A classic Tuscan Sunday excursion is to go “frescheggiare” in the Vallombrosa, but we’d never been. Somehow it came to mind today so we went for the first time for a real “gita fuori porta” – a trip outside the city gates. This is a FREE thing to do and the weather’s great up there! 

The state reserve of Vallombrosa is 1000 meters up and 1270 hectares large. It is located on one side of the “tosco romagnolo” Appenine mountains in the comune of Reggello. It is the biggest and most un-tuscan looking woods I’ve ever seen.

Natural reserves might fall into various categories, so that you have a “stazione sciistica” for skiing… “termica” for thermal baths…. Well this place is just in the woods, so that’s good for hiking, but hard to categorize. So a bunch of guys in the 19th century must have gotten together and said “what should we call it?”, and they came up with “impianto turistico climatico” – climate. Weather. Yup. Vallombrosa has the weather going for it. My husband suggested that I pack a sweater, but as the weather has been a steady 35-42 degrees in Florence all month, I laughed and packed a sun hat and mosquito spray, neither of which I needed – but a sweatshirt would have been useful after all. It was probably about 20 degrees celcius.

The artistic highlight of the park is the Vallombrosian Abbey founded in the 11th century and greatly amplified in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Church can be visited (it has a Baroque ceiling and a Renaissance sacristy). There’s a museum (open in the summertime, but closed for lunch 12-15) that houses an important Madonna and Child with saints by Ghirlandaio (Pala di Vallombrosa). One of the saints pictured is Giovanni Gualberto, founder of the Vallombrosian order. There are a few small “museums”, one with park information, and the other with strange dendrological samples.

The main activity here, other than walking around and taking in the very fresh, cool air, is picnicking. This aspect is taken very seriously, and it became apparent as soon as we parked and unloaded our miniature soft cooler that we were sadly underequipped. Vallombrian picnickers, be they in the woods along the road or on the large lawn area, come with at least a blanket and folding camp chairs. The most common family group also brings a folding table, numerous chairs, hard sided coolers, real dishes, soccer balls, wine, an umbrella or tent, playing cards, and a portable radio. The crowd ranges from lip-locking young people on blankets to pensioners with pasta al forno and bridge cards. I was unable to discreetly photograph many examples but here’s a photo of an elderly group in the woods.

This is a pleasant excursion and the best thing is that it’s free, other than the gas in your car. I also noticed that the SITA bus goes there (pdf timetable) so you can even go if you don’t have a car.

Posted below is an article from my friend at Eliotropica travel, Rosanna, who is a “personal traveler” and expert in sustainable tourism and womens’ travel. She knows the area well and can put together a self-guided package for anyone interested. What could be more sustainable than supporting a region in distress with your tourism dollars?

Abruzzo is a land of unspoiled nature, mountains and ocean art cities and little villages where time seems have never passed by. You can feel its strong traditions visiting the little churches, hermitages, castles and villages. From the powerful visual suggestions of the many villages and castles wedged in the wild landscape of the inner Abruzzo, we arrive sweetly to the sea, changing feelings and flavours.

Abruzzo is a trip through Italian history, beginning from the prehistoric traces of Neanderthal man, well before the conquest of Rome left its imperial impressions on the area. The Middle Ages gives the region its more characteristic aspects: castles, monasteries, the hidden and fascinating rural churches that beyond plain exteriors conserve forgotten masterpieces, such as the cycle of frescoes of Saint Maria of Cryptas or the Oratory of Bominaco.

These beauties are reacheable not only by comfortable routes by car, but also with tailor-made sport routes, on foot, by bicycle, or by horse. The horse-back-riding experiences offer particular opportunities following the traces of the ancient “tratturi”, the long paths starting from the mountain pastures, that shepherds used to follow to reach the sea.

A special mention must be made of Abruzzo’s wine and food tradition with its excellent and strong flavours. The recovery of ancient vines has kept traditional old flavours, making the wines of this area particularly prized. Abruzzo has a rich calendar of festivities and events, from the celebration of ancient cults, like the Festivity of the Serpari in Cocullo, to elegant festivals, like the multimedial Festival of Castelbasso or the Festival of the Old theatre of Gioia Vecchio, organized by Dacia Maraini (an important Italian writer), to the traditional popular festivities.

This is a region with a variety of tours, stories, and atmospheres. You can decide on an artistic or sporty itinerary, a moment for solo traveling and self-reflection, a religious pilgrimage. Eliotropica can help you with that.

“Eternal Love” – an elderly couple head to their umbrella

The term ”Stabilimento Balneare” may be best translated as a beach establishment. You will find these lining many shores in Italy, but nowhere so much as in Versilia. The stabilimento is an invention after my own heart. It’s a clean and orderly approach to going to the beach. On a daily, weekly, or seasonal basis, you can rent an umbrella or even a “tenda” (larger “tent”) and lounge chairs. These are neatly placed on a beach that has been combed just for you. The Stabilimento usually also has changing cabins, clean bathrooms, a bar and restaurant, and perhaps some services and games for children. They are particularly useful for people with small children, or people like me who just like traveling in comfort. This weekend I was in Lido di Camaiore as a guest of friends who rent a “tenda” at the beach by the season in a rather luxurious stabilimento. It was a very stylish place. I was particularly impressed by the geometry of the architecture and the surf-inspired colours. Here are my photographic impressions.

Surf-inspired colours for changing cabins

Cruise inspired colours and shapes

To find a beach establishment in Versilia, see the official website of the tourism board APT Versilia.

Read here for a review of all the Beaches of Tuscany!