Roberta Reports From Italy
April, 2005
Well, Easter came and went and the weather flipped and flopped. We have had
sunny days and we have had rainy days. We have had days in between and the
general consensus seems to be that spring is not with us yet.
Now everyone is back to work. The next holiday will be Sunday April 25, which
is Liberation Day, followed six days later by the May 1 holiday. If these
holidays fall mid-week, the Italians often take some vacations days and make
a ponte, or bridge. This time, I fear, the max. is going to be two long weekends.
by Emma Ciardi |
Not that I could possibly hope to get involved in the real thing, but I would
love to go along to see the 19th-century paintings by Tuscan artists that are
to be auctioned by Farsetti Arte at their showroom in Prato, in Tuscany, in
mid-April. One of the paintings that caught my eye was a scena campestre (country
scene) by Emma Ciardi. I have never heard of her and wasn’t able to
find out much, except that her works are in collections worldwide. For a
preview
of the auction, click here.
One show I missed along the way is the
Ettore Sottsass at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rovereto. Running till
May 22, Sottsass: Progetti 1946-2005 examines
the work of this architect, designer, and artist. Eclectic by definition,
Sottsass' work spans from homes to furniture, jewelry, glass, and ceramics.
The jewelry is definitely worth seeing. Produced from the 1960s to the present,
many of the pieces have never been seen before. Curated by Gabriella Belli
and Milco Carboni, the exhibition is
open Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday, 10am-6pm, Friday 10am-9pm. The catalogue
is by Skira.
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Someone was asking me the other week whether I ever wore skirts and I had to
admit that I did not. Looking around, though, I am no way in the minority.
At least I wasn't until Easter Saturday when I wandered into the center in
Milan and found it was skirts, here there and everywhere! And being worn
by men, to boot. What was going on? Well, the Scots national rugby team was
playing away to Italy in the Six Nations Cup. And the fans
came in their national garb. Kilts and sporrans, and hairy legs, and big boots,
and a grand time was had by all. Milan is the place for fashion-firsts. This
one is hardly a fashion but it added a little something to an otherwise drab
day. Oh and yes, I know you probably know it as the Five Nations' Cup. But,
guess who qualified a few years ago to join
England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and France in the competition?
Speaking of Easter, I know I should wait to tell you this next year but, just
in case I forget, it is worth mentioning now. I really do not remember it
always being like this, but this year the shops closed at lunchtime on Easter
Saturday. So anyone planning to spend the holiday weekend shopping, beware,
because nothing is open on the Sunday or the Monday, which is the national
holiday.
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Opening night for the upcoming Milan
Furniture Fair is Wednesday 13 April. As an alternative to getting myself cloned,
I guess I can swing it by going to the Vitra event at 6:30pm and then on to the
Triennale where their Open Air Design show, organized in association with Interni
magazine, starts at 7:30pm and goes on until 1 am (according to the invitation!).
If I decide I cannot make one or the other, or even both, or if I get a better
offer, I can always catch up daily through till Monday 18. And, worse come to
worst, if I still cannot find the time during this madly hectic period, then
it's all there on the web: click
here for Vitra and click
here for Open Air Design.
If you are interested in Italian at and are going to be in London any time
between now and February 28 2006, you might like to stop in at Tate Modern
to see Beyond Painting: Burri Fontana Manzoni. The exhibition examines this
particularly vibrant period of 1950s' Italian art through radical works by
Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, and Piero Manzoni.
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If on the other hand, you are going to be in Siena, you should
make a beeline for Palazzo Chigi Saracini, which is opening its special collections
to the
public until June 15, 2005. Located between Piazza del Campo and the cathedral,
this handsome building, which has undergone considerable remodeling since
its original construction in the 13th century, houses one of the country's
most important private collections of Italian art. The collection was started
by Galgano Saracini (1752-1824), who opened it to the public in 1806. To
be seen, then as now: some of the most impressive examples of Sienese painting
covering the period from the 14th to the 18th centuries. In Via di Città 89,
open daily 9am-7:30pm (the doors shut at 5:45pm).
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I missed the exhibition of the work of
Renato Guttuso (Bagheria 1912-Rome 1987) at the Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta in
Milan, but am pleased to see that it has now transferred to Rome. Since I have
a visit booked for the first week of May, I will make the time to go see it at
the Chiostro del Bramante in Via Arco della Pace. Curated by Enrico Crispolti,
the exhibition consists of the entire collection held by the Fondazione Francesco
Pellin. This means 77 paintings and 47 drawings executed between 1931 and 1986
and acquired by Mr. Pellin, an industrialist from Varese, who was a personal
friend of the artist's. The exhibition is open daily except Mondays, from 10am
to 8pm, viewing hours being extended to midnight on Saturdays and 9:30pm on Sundays.
For more information (in Italian only), click
here.
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Meanwhile, the focus at the Fondazione Mazzotta in Milan,
until June 19, is on Giuseppe de Nittis (1846-1884). Renowned for being "a southerner
in the south of Italy, French in Paris, and a Londoner in London," he
was indeed born in Barletta, near Bari in Puglia, and died in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
In Italy, his work was close to that of the macchiaioli, while in France,
he was close to the Impressionists. Some 160 oil paintings and 27 drawings
will be on display. The majority come from the Museum in Barletta, which
received a donation of the artist's works from his wife Lontine. Other loans
come from the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (CIMAC) in Milan, the
Galleria d'Arte Moderna at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Museo di Capodimonte
in Naples, the Musei Civici in Pavia, as well as the Musee Carnevalet in
Paris, not to mention private collections in Italy and elsewhere. If you
will not be able to find time to see the show before it ends its Milan run,
you might want to catch it at Palazzo della Marra in Barletta during the
summer. Oh and by the way, the Fondazione Mazzotta is at 50 Foro Buonaparte.
A word about the numbering on this street. Basically, the even numbers are
on the section between Corso Garibaldi and Piazza Cairoli, while the odd
numbers
go from Piazza Cairoli to Piazza Cadorna. No, I don't have a clue, either,
but that's just the way it is.
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Thinking about Corso Garibaldi reminded me that I have a piece of news for
you. I have been asked to work on a chapter on shopping in Milan for a guidebook
to be published later in the year. I wonder whether I will be able to incorporate
some of the shops included in the book entitled I locali storici di Milano (Historic Locations in Milan)? Featuring shops, as well as bars and restaurants,
that have been in operation for at least 50 years (in many cases 100) I
locali storici is published by the Touring Club Italiano. One store worth noting
would surely be Rossignoli, which is currently in Corso Garibaldi. The world-renowned
bicycle maker, strictly family-run, as is still the case in much of Italy,
opened for business in the year 1900 when Giorgio Rossignoli, a great cycling
enthusiast as well as someone who saw the need for his services, moved to
Milan and set up a shop manufacturing bicycles. In due course, his sons,
Ettore, Mario, and Ezio all set up their own stores. After the end of the
Second World War, they all joined forces and moved to Corso Garibaldi. Apart
from a move from number 16 to number 71, they have been there ever since.
Rossignoli bicycles are still in demand, whether for racing or for more leisurely
riding.
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Talking about shopping, buying bread is always an intriguing experience in
Italy. Wherever you go, there are different types, shapes and sizes. A piece
I read the other day gave examples of some of these pani tipici, and where
to buy the very best. The unsalted Tuscan bread is probably one that many
of you know. The panificio (bakery) called Lodovichi in Cortona is, apparently,
the purveyor of an outstanding example. In Emilia Romagna, the author singled
out the coppia ferrarese. Ferrara is clearly where this unusually twisted
bread-roll comes from, although if you want to be real gourmet about it,
you should get yourself to the Panificio Borsetti, at Massa Fiscaglia, which
is about 30 kilometers east of Ferrara on the road to Codigoro. I mention
it just in case you should ever find yourself in that neck of the woods.
Click here for their web site.
I saw that Castelli & Ville, an association of castles
and villas open to the public in Lombardy, is holding special Open Day on Sunday
April 3. That
got me to thinking about a castle that I would love to visit some time. It's
in Puglia and it is Castel del Monte, which you can also see on the back of
the Italian-minted one-cent coin. Located about ten miles from Andria and completed
in about 1240, Castel del Monte, or the Castle on the Mount, was built by Emperor
Frederick II of Swabia, one of many he constructed during his reign in this
area, but surely the most intriguing, also because no one can be sure what
purpose it was intended to serve. Eight trapezoidal rooms on two floors are
built around an octagonal courtyard. The rooms are linked to each other horizontally
by communicating doors and vertically via spiral staircases housed in eight
octagonal towers. These staircases all lead back into the courtyard, which
allows access to the one entrance to the complex. Why did Frederick choose
to construct what is, in effect, an exercise in eight-sided figures on two
stories? Who did Frederick -- who married Isabella, the daughter of King John,
of Magna Carta fame, in 1235 -- intend
to entertain here? As H.V. Morton muses in A
Traveller in Southern Italy (1969), "what
with its high walls, slit windows, one entrance and every room leading to the
next, the building does not sound at all like an ideal weekend retreat".
For the Castelli & Ville web site, click here.
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One place that does sound like a good "weekend retreat" is
Lago di Bolsena, in northern Lazio. I keep reading about it, but I don't know
anyone
who has been there. Driving through the Monti Volsini from Orvieto, you get
used to seeing cornfield after cornfield. Which look different, season by season,
but you know what I am saying. Then, suddenly, here is this huge stretch of
blue water. Huge, yes, no less than 10,000 hectares of water. Which makes the
Lago di Bolsena Italy's fifth largest lake, and the largest lake in Europe
created by a vulcanic eruption. The eruption in question took place 370,000
years ago, so don't fear. Even if, I read in one publication, the lake is subject
to constant earth tremors that, apparently cause the water level to vary. Other
than this somewhat alarming feature, the Lago di Bolsena was also subject to
malaria in times past. This is why many of the
towns are built on the hillside, rather than on the lakeshore. The lake itself
swarms with eels, and this is a local specialty. Yikes. I am not sure whether
I fancy that at all. But since I have never tasted them, I am not sure why
I think I would not like them. Anyway, to get on, places to visit include Bolsena
itself, where many of the houses are built in tufo, or vulcanic rock. For lovers
of good wine, Montefiascone is a must see. According to legend, the German
prelate Johannes Fugger was headed to Rome. Being a lover of good wine, and
not wanting to waste time, he sent a page ahead to mark the doors of the hostelries
where the fruit of the grape was to be recommended, with the Latin word est,
or "here it here!" So taken with the wine of Montefiascone was the
page, that he wrote the magic word three times: est, est, est. Which is where
that particular wine gets its
name. Probably not true, but it's a nice story anyway. For more about this
area, please click here.
I just noticed that April 9-17 is the time to be in Modena, if high-performance
cars are your thing. The event, which is now in its sixth year, is called Terra
di Motori, and consists of exhibitions, races, and other events. All to do
with the famous names that have made motoring history, such as Ferrari and
Maserati, both of which are manufactured just
outside the city. For more information in Italian, click here.
Modena itself is worth seeing for the lovely cathedral, built in Romanesque
style. This, along with the Torre Ghirlandaia and the Piazza Grande on which
they both stand, is one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. The city is also
the home of the national military academy and so you always see lots of handsomely
kitted-out Italian officers walking about. It gives the place a distinctly
19th-century feel.
This just about wraps things up for this month. I promise I will stop talking
about the weather. Just as soon as it decides to be spring properly. My plans
for the next month include a possible trip to Sicily, visiting Siracusa and
Ragusa. There was also talk of a flying visit to Cagliari to see a wine producer.
So I hope to bring you some island news
next time. And I hope you will join me.
By Roberta Kedzierski, Milan
