Auguri Roma: Saints Peter and Paul!!

St. Peter's Basilica by Simona Albanese

The feast of St Peter and Paul, patrons of Rome, is one of the oldest solemntities of the Church introduced into the liturgy long before Christmas. It is celebrated in Rome every year. It seems that it was created to Christianize the pagan festival of Romulus and Remus, the mithological founders of Rome, and underline in this way the Apostoles' central role into the growing-up Church: Peter as first vicar of Christ and Paul, the apostle of the peoples, the Gospel spreader.

On this day the pope nominate new metropolitan archibishops celebrating a long solemn liturgy in St Peter's. 

In the evening this festivity is celebrated with the Girandola at Castel Sant' Angelo. The Girandola is not only a mix of fire-work, but also, as a traveler said in 1579 - it's like if all the stars are falling on the earth - an event that until 1861 has brought to Rome thousands of visitors. 

This Girandola started in 1481 to celebrate Sixtus IV papacy and then it was extended to all papal solemnities. It seems that among the 'masters' designing and projecting the fire works there was also Michelangelo.

La palla di Pomodoro

Palla di Arnaldo Pomodoro in Pesaro

Have you ever been to Pesaro? Pesaro is an interesting town, with a population of around 90,000; the second-largest town, after Ancona in Le Marche region, on the eastern side of central Italy. The town is at the northern end of the region, near the riviera romagnola, where are the most famous city of Rimini and Riccione. 


Like most Italian seaside resorts, the original settlement, dating to the Roman era, is a short distance inland, and so the centro storico is separated from the Mediterranean. But if you go in Pesaro and you give someone an appointment, the best place to meet is "La Palla di Pomodo". Everyone knows this place!!     The bronze sculpture at the end of the main street on the edge of the Adriatic Sea has become a common fixed point for anybody permanently or temporarily passing through the city.

The dramatic "Grande Sfera" or Big Sphere– in a polyester incarnation – first made its appearance at the Montreal Expo in 1967, but in 1971 the artist Arnaldo Pomodoro donated it to Pesaro, where he previously worked in the mid-1950s. When you look at the orange glowing globe in the evening, when it reflects the last rays from the setting sun, you have the impression to see a new world order, where the planet are molded in metal.

A similar example of Pesaro is in Rome.

"Sfera con Sfera" by Arnaldo Pomodoro at the Vatican Museum

The "Sfera con Sfera" is the centerpiece of the Courtyard of the Pinecone at the Vatican Museums.  This bronze sculpture is called Sphere Within Sphere and it measures four meters in diameter.  It was created by artist Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1990 for the Vatican Museums.  Pomodoro's specialty is the casting of gigantic columns and/or globes.  In this magnificent sculpture, the fractured surface of the outer sphere reveals a very complex inner sphere that represents the harsh difficulties that the modern world finds itself in at the end of the second millennium.  

A wonderful achievement for this artist!


Other works from this artist are even in Brisbane, donated for the 1982 International Expo! 

The Grand Tour was a big move? It's time to move again!

Maybe is crazy....maybe is time to move on....been here for less than six months after the flood, back to a normal tranquil life and it's time to move again!!! We have time to organize ourselves, nevertheless is so inconvenient especially for the kids, who deserve some stability!!!

How could the noble elite travel in the past? 

They journey was a life time experience while for us we are so use to move from one country to another, we have no roots....we are vagabondi.

Will I stop somewhere one day?

Travelling to Italy: need some Italian?

The World by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the Vatican Museum by Simona Albanese

So...you like Italy and you have intention to travel very soon...would you like to enjoy the Vatican Museum and other art places, but even the food and the culture?

Maybe you have already purchased your ticket...so what's next?

Can you speak Italian?How are you going to book that restaurant table?Order from the menu?Explain what you want in accommodation?Tell the taxi driver where you want to go?Book a train ticket?Report a stolen wallet?Take a local out to dinner?Describe an emergency and asking for help?

Well I can help you....classes start on a regular base at New Farm State School, but if you prefer I run private tutorials to suit your needs.


Just get in touch!!!

To contact me click HERE


Ci sentiamo presto!!!
Simona

Sant’Andrea della Valle: Domenichino’s Evangelists

Lanfranco and Domenichino's works in Sant'Andrea della Valle

Wandering around Rome? Looking for something different not far from Piazza Navona? On Corso Vittorio Emanuele II there is a big, magnificent Baroque church: Sant’Andrea della Valle. Walk directly towards the apse, there you can see Domenichino’s Evangelists: the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John painted in the pendentives.

Almost in response to Lanfranco’s Assumption of the Virgin, who painted the apse, Domenichino decided to develop colossal figures that were able to contrast with the illusionism of the undefined contours of Lanfranco’s work. The evangelists, the result of his remarkable ability, were a common subject used in many other circumstances by other artists. In fact, during the Byzantine period and the Middle Ages the evangelists were considered the most representative figures of the Catholic faith and of the Church, because they professed the word of Christ on earth. They were represented in the churches decorated by frescoes or mosaics, shown writing the Gospels, sitting at a desk, or standing up with their manuscripts or a roll of parchment, and with their appropriate attributes, such as in the façade of St. Francesco d’Assisi Basilica. Sometime their single attributes were represented instead of the evangelists themselves, symbolizing the Gospels, the foundation of the Catholic faith, as in the mosaic of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna (ca 425-430).

When Domenichino received this commission, he was already known in the Roman environment for his previous commission, the Assumption of the Virgin in Sta. Maria in Trastevere (Rome), commissioned by Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini (1571-1621). The pendentives differ from this previous commission; they are considered a sign of artistic maturity.

Domenichino's Evangelist - Saint Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - Saint Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - St. Andrea della Valle by Simona

Domenichino's Evangelist - St. Andrea della Valle by Simona

In his representation Domenichino decorated the four evangelists all engaged in their own thoughts, except for Luke, who turns his attention outside the frame of his pendentive. They all sit on top of a cloud, surrounded by angels. The work realized by Domenichino, totally opposite to the work offered by Lanfranco, who believed in producing a more explicative work and a faster one, where the result is different and less researched, probably because he wanted to express new ideas.

The Evangelists are vibrant and larger than the normal standard size, filling the entire space. In his work Domenichino has clearly made reference to Michelangelo and especially to the ignudi painted in the Sistine Chapel. He has imposed the figures of the evangelists, who seem coming out of the frame of the pendentives to give a sense of spatiality and perhaps even superiority, in front of Lanfranco.

Enlarging the figures to this colossal scale, the artist demonstrated his competence both as a painter and as an architect, finding the right solution for the intersection between the longitudinal nave and the vertical thrust of the dome.

Going to Rome soon...don't miss out on that!!

Piazza del Popolo: the twin churches

Piazza del Popolo by Simona Albanese

Piazza del Popolo is an oval shaped square and is remarkable because of the twin churches, Santa Maria di Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli designed by Carlo Rainaldi and commissioned by pope Alexander VII in 1658. 

The original project was for two twin churches, but during the construction various necessary modifications were made. The architect, Carlo Rainaldi, finished the construction of Santa Maria di Montesanto in 1675 and began the work on the neighboring Santa Maria dei Miracoli, and the work was completed in 1681. 

In the early 19th century the domes were restored and covered in slate tiles, an unusual technique in Rome. Santa Maria di Montesanto is known as "The church of the artists" because of its proximity to via del Babuino and Via Margutta, a famous artist street, making the church a common venue for the funerals of artists, film directors and letterati.

 

Both churches are rich of decorations, especially for the allegorical stuccoes, produced by Antonio Raggi, a pupil of Gianlorenzo Bernini.

There are three streets departing from the square, referred to us as the Tridente. 

On the left, Via del Babuino, which will take you directly to the Spanish Steps, after you have look around the nice beautiful shops along the road. At the center Via del Corso which runs up to Piazza Venezia, where is the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, and on the right, Via Ripetta, which will take you near the Ara Pacis, on Piazza Augusto Imperatore.

Last, but not less important is an outstanding obelisk at the center of the square to commemorate the conquest of Egypt by Augustus in 10 BC. 

The obelisk was moved from its original place at Circus Maximus by Pope Sixtus V in 1589.

and leaving the churches on your back and looking on the other side...towards Via Flaminia...which important church is there? ....

to the next posting...

Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith & Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi,
Judith & Holofernes

Artemisia Gentileschi was a young active artist in Naples, when she was raped by Agostino Tassi, former family friend, and worker partner of Orazio Gentileschi, father of the artist in question. After months of marriage promises without fact, the case went to court, because the accused didn’t want to keep his promise and so after trials and confrontations Tassi ended in jail for a few months and Artemisia married a painter, brother of the witness who defended her. This experience signed her life and fed her way of painting.

Judith and Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi is the classical representation, the revenge of a woman, who seduced by a man, asks for justice. The seductive and intelligent female painted by Artemisia recall the same subject matter executed by Caravaggio thirteen years before when the latter painted another resolute woman hacking off a bearded male head.

Artemisia’s work is more shocking, more resolute, and close to the scene of a woman’s kitchen, where we know everything can happen! The victim is the “animal” who caused pain and disgrace in her life and so Judith-Artemisia is symbolically decapitating, but also castrating the man, who raped her at the age of fourteen. Caravaggio’s victim, Holofernes, instead, is represented more as a heroic and absurd person in the desperate effort to live.

Museo di Capodimonte

The work by Artemisia has always followed the artist, even when she travelled around Italy in search of commission, until when in 1630 she decided to go to Naples, to stay for a short time and instead remained there until she died. Still today the work is in the National Museum of Capodimonte, where it can be admired by the art lovers!

Look down...what do you see?

Spanish Steps...back in October 2010

Do you want to know a bit more about the Spanish Steps? Have a look to the article I have published yesterday for my friend on ItalianNotebook.com.


To read the article just click down here:
Look down...what do you see?





A presto!!!

I love you Italia! Let's discover Italian art

Imagine....your next holiday.... a trip to Italy!!! Do you want to go and visit some beautiful sites and learn  some art and some history of this wonderful country?

Pantheon in I love you Italia!

I can help you if you want, just come along to my next course starting on July 21st 

at New Farm State School Community Education.

Rome antiquities in I love you Italia!! 

For inquires just get in touch! You can contact me HERE

A presto!

Giro d'Italia: an interesting exhibition in Palazzo Poli

The exhibition Giro d'Italia looks into the origin of the Italian Tourism. The exhibition, organized by the Italian Touring Club, already presented in Venaria(TO) and Milan, will open in Rome at the Palazzo Poli between June 15 and 22. The exhibition has been realized thanks to the valuable documentation and photographic material conserved by the Documentation Centre of the Touring in the last 100 years. 

This exhibition brings together evocative images of the first twenty years (1894-1914) of the Italian Touring Club, very important years for the Italian Tourism and also a good initiative for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy. The common denominator is the bike - half a symbol generator and the adventure of the Italian Cycling Touring Club,  but also the beginnings of the car and the travel photography.

The journey through the history of the Touring continues with the story of the first Tour of Italy, the cycling conferences promoted in every corner of the country, the decisive action of the Touring for what concern the devastated Italian roads, the completion of the first mapping and the first guides who brought "the Italians to know Italy".

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 14:00. Free admission.
For more information, visit www.touringclub.it

I have just stopped there....

Have you seen that fountain there in the middle of the square, between Via dei Condotti and Piazza di Spagna? Have you seen how many people are there!!!??? And it was only morning.....

Barcaccia Fountain and Via dei Condotti

One afternoon during my usual walk around the center of the eternal city I have decided to stop and finally take a picture as everyone does....

At the side of the Barcaccia 

This is an intriguing fountain! It sits not far from the bottom of the Spanish steps .... one of the most visited square of Rome. This fountain called "La Barcaccia" is set very low, almost at street level, in order to function with the low water pressure that arrives here. 

But why a fountain in the shape of a small boat sit there in the middle? A tale said that in 1588 Rome suffered one of its worst flood...and so the Tiber arose over a meter high...and this was devastating and many people lost their homes.

But later, when the water receded, a small flat-bottomed boat was found in the mud...it was probably used to rescue people and move possessions! 

It was this that inspired Pietro Bernini, and his son Gian Lorenzo, to construct this wonderful fountain, commissioned by pope Urban VIII Barberini.

What is amazing is the fact that you can drink the water from the fountain....it is always so fresh!!

So next time stop there and try!!

Buona bevuta!!!

Rome: from A to Z

A.  Allora.  Loose translastion in English is “ok then”, and you hear it all the time in Rome.

B.  Bernini, the most acclaimed architect of the Roman Baroque.

C.  Caravaggio.  The most revolutionary artist of the Baroque. His paintings can be found all over Rome: Santa Maria del Popolo, Sant'Agostino in Via della Scrofa, San Luigi dei Francesi, Galleria Nazionale di Arte Antica, Galleria Corsini, Galleria Borghese and many more..

D. Da Cortona Pietro, the most beautiful ceiling fresco in Rome.

E.  E.U.R. A residential and business district in Rome.

 F.  Fontanella dell'acqua.   

G.  Gianicolo. One of the main spots from where to overlook Rome.

H. No words starting with h.

I. Isola Tiberina




L. Lungotevere - the street along the Tiber 


M. Mario's - my family restaurant 

N.  Non smettero' mai di amare Roma!!! I will never stop to love Rome!


O. Obelischi





P. Pantheon

Q. Quirinale - the residence of the President of Italy.

R. Raphael - in the Vatican Museum

S. Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the most beautiful church in Rome   

T. Trevi Fountain





U. Uscire a fare una passeggiata - to go out for a walk!!! That's what you do when you are in Rome!


V. Vittoriano - the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II



Z. Zebra the pedestrian crossing

Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli

Just across Ponte Garibaldi, entering into Trastevere, you arrive to Piazza Gioacchino Belli where there is the monument dedicated to Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli (March 7, 1791 - December 21, 1863), a great poet of Rome. He is remembered for his vivid popular poetry in the Roman dialect - thousands of satirical sonnets that form an invaluable document of 19th century's papal Rome and the life of its common, humbler people.

Here one of Belli's poetry:


La Bocca della Verita' (italiano)


In d'una chiesa sopra a 'na piazzetta
Un po' ppiù ssù de Piazza Montanara
Pe la strada che pporta a la Salara,
C'è in nell'entrà una cosa benedetta.

Pe ttutta Roma quant'è larga e stretta
Nun poterai trovà cosa ppiù rara.
È una faccia de pietra che tt'impara
Chi ha detta la bucìa, chi nu l'ha detta.

S'io mo a sta faccia, c'ha la bocca uperta,
Je ce metto una mano, e nu la striggne
La verità da me ttiella pe certa.

Ma ssi fficca la mano uno in bucìa,
Èssi sicuro che a tirà né a spiggne
Quella mano che lì nun viè ppiù via.


The mouth of truth (English version)


In a church, in a small square
Shortly after Montanara Square [2] ,
Along the road leading to the salt-works,
As soon as you enter there's something holy.

In all Rome far and wide
You could not find something as rare as that.
It's a face of stone, which tells
Who is a lier and who is not.

If in the mouth of this statue, which is open,
I insert my hand and it does not clasp it,
Consider my truth as most reliable.

But if a lier inserts his hand
Be sure that, push or pull,
That hand won't come out. 

My obsession for Caravaggio...master...precursor of the Baroque....all over the world!!!

How many lecturers? conferences? Talks....but it is not enough...I have a real obsession for Caravaggio,  master painter, equal in skill and influence to artists such as Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist

Caravaggio died 1610, just over 400 years ago. Last year Italy has celebrated this anniversary with  exhibitions across many different cities included Rome, at the Scuderie del Quirinale, and so museums in a number of Italian cities have exhibitions detailing his work, along with newly published books, DVDs, film and video documentaries about his life and legacy.

Caravaggio, Calling of Matthew
San Luigi dei Francesi

And this is not enough!!! About half of these paintings hang in museums in Italy: almost every Italian region has an art museum with one or more Caravaggio paintings on display!!! obviously Rome is an exception!! Just considering San Luigi dei Francesi, Santa Maria del Popolo, the Galleria Corsini, the Galleria Borgheseand so on.....

                       

Many other works may be found throughout Europe, in London, Paris, Saint Petersburg, in Russia and Toledo, in Spain.....Caravaggio’s paintings are also accessible across other continents, such as the United States, where you can see some interesting works such as the Crucifixion of Saint Andrew in the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio

                    

 or Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Connecticut, or the Conversion of the Magdalene at the Art Institute of Detroit in Michigan or the Musician at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and many many more.....

.....if you have a passion for Caravaggio....travel around the world and visit these amazing artworks!!!

A presto!