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

Caravaggio - between Rome and Milan

Last year many exhibitions have been organized all over Italy to celebrate the fourth centenary of Caravaggio's death, including the solo exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale, where majors artworks of Caravaggio were on display.

This year in contemporaneousness, Rome and Milan have something new to display:

Palazzo Venezia in ROME will show the results of the x-ray carried out on the three paintings of the Contarelli Chapel in San Luigi dei Francesi: Martyrdom of St Matthew, Call of St Matthew, and St Matthew and the Angel. 

The results of these exams are extraordinary, they show the techniques used by Caravaggio, his pentimenti and the compositional changes.  

Particular in the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew

The exhibition is in:

Palazzo Venezia, 

Via del Plebiscito 118,

10 March -15 October 2011

MILAN, instead, will  present an exhibition on "Gli occhi di Caravaggio" at the Museo Diocesano curated by Vittorio Sgarbi.

This new exhibition illustrates the birth of the genius Caravaggio. Reconstructing his artistic training, from Simone Peterzano to the Veneto and Lombard masters, this fascinating show examines the precursors and contemporaries of Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), highlighting the works that the artist would actually have seen and what he would have witnessed in the artistic climate that dominated the area from Venice to Milan before he moved to Rome, which according to the most recent studies was likely to have been around 1595-96.

The exhibition gathers around sixty masterpieces by the greatest painters of the day, including Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo da Bassano, Moretto da Brescia, Giovan Battista Moroni, Gerolamo Savoldo, Vincenzo and Antonio Campi, Giovanni Ambrogio Figino, Simone Peterzano, and many more, some of which have never been exhibited before, document the formation of a groundbreaking aesthetic and an innovative conception of the human figure and its relationship with space and light, which was fundamental to the development of the young Merisi.

Naturally Caravaggio himself could not left out, and the exhibition includes some extremely significant works. One of these is the so-called “Murtola Medusa”, the first version of the famous shield in the Uffizi Galleries, which takes its name from the poet who wrote a poem about it in 1600.

This work, which has always belonged to a private collection, was created by Caravaggio in 1596 and can be viewed as emblematic of his formative years, in particular due to the under drawing which was brought to light by recent in depth scientific investigations. The same techniques have been used to date the shield to between 1596 and 1597, the period when Caravaggio moved to Rome. Conceptually speaking, in this way the Murtola Medusa closes the painter’s Lombard period and opens the Roman one, when, as Vittorio Sgarbi recalls: “he suddenly transformed everything, to the point that the shock waves of his revolution reached the whole of Europe, and there was not one great painter who did not come from France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands to see what Caravaggio had done”.

The exhibition is in:

Museo Diocesano from 11 March to 3 July 2011.

SO IF YOU GO TO ITALY, YOU CAN CHOOSE BETWEEN ROME AND MILAN!!

Buon proseguimento!!

Between Love and Passion

This is the week-end for lovers: Valentine's Day is next Monday!!

The ProLoco of Coppito, in the Abruzzi region, in collaboration with the broadcaster TVuno, under the patronage of the Province of L'Aquila, and the cinematographic institute La Lanterna Magica has organized this exhibition: a journey in erotic films and love through some of the most beautiful posters from the '60s onwards.

The exhibition, at no charge, will be open until March 14th. 

This is a good reason to stop and have a look to the surrounding area. Coppito is a really small distance from L'Aquila, which was affected by the earthquake on 6 April 2009.

For more information have a look to:

Coppito 

Vite Italiane - Italian lives

Many Italians have migrated to Western Australia, becoming part of this big Australian community, therefore if you are considering to go on holiday in the next few weeks in Western Australia do not miss the exhibition at the 

State Library of Western Australia on "Vite Italiane":

Migrants disembarking at Fremantle 005096d (SLWA copyright)

Vite Italiane - Italian Lives

21 October 2010 - 30 January 2011

Vite Italiane – Italian Lives, explores the history and legacy of Italian migrants in Western Australia. Italy has been the most prolific source of non-English speaking migrants to Western Australia. Between the turn of the century and the 1970s, around 60,000 Italians came to WA in search of opportunity. Today, while the number of people claiming Italian ancestry in Western Australia grows (100,000 according to the latest census), the Italian-born population is ageing and rapidly diminishing. What Italian presence will remain in Western Australia, if any, beyond the lives of the migrant generation?

The exhibition will contain a rich assortment of artefacts, photographs, and historical documents. The items evoke the complexity of Italian lives in Western Australia and show how Italian migrants have left an indelible impression on the state’s social, cultural and geographic landscapes.

(information provided by SLWA)

Barbie nel mondo

It sounds strange, nevertheless a temporary exhibition of 200 Barbie part of Elisabetta Colzi's collection has been organized for a short period of timein the Science Museum of Camerino , from December 11, 2010 to January 9, 2011.

So if you are around Camerino, in the Macerata area, on December 11, you can download the invitation here:

Invitation to Barbie nel mondo

This is a nice exhibition ...especially for young ones...

Restaura - VI Salone del Restauro dei Beni Culturali (Venice)

Venice (photo from Wikimedia)

Italy has a patrimony to defend with more than 9000 monuments, archaeological sites and museums. With many sites proclaimed World Heritage by UNESCO, Italy recognizes his responsibility in front of the conservation and enhancement of these beauties.

In fact, one of the most important task of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage is to promote the conservation activities of the national artistic heritage, historical memory of our country and the foundation of our civil identity, in order to transmit, the most intact as possible for future generations these sites and monuments.

For this reason and to create awareness between the citizens, creating a cultural exchange with the experts and to ensure a meaningful presence in the local area, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage will participate to this event promoting the meeting between institutions, companies and restoration professionals. 

The event will take place in Venice between December 2nd and December 4th at the Terminal Passeggeri in Venice.

For any information have a look to the web site:

http://www.restauraexpo.it

A Venice Collection in Perth

This is an exhibition to not be missed!!!

Bronzino in Florence

On October 19th I left Rome early in the morning to spend the day in Florence with my dad, where I have enjoyed Bronzino's exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in the afternoon after visiting Caravaggio e i Caravaggeschi's exhibition at the Pitti Palace.

The artworks on display were appropriately chosen, the explanations were exhaustive....in Italian and in English....plus the building the exhibition was in I believe it has its own fashion. I would go back!!

Some exhibitions in Italy

In Florence

In Parma

In Udine

I came here in Bris-Vegas

In conjunction with the Italian Week in Brisbane (26 May-2 June 2010) I am organizing an exhibition in the CBD. A selection of photos by Italian and people with Italian background will be on display.

More information to come in a short time.