Rugby World Cup 2011: Auckland and New Zealand

A Haka in Auckland!

                                                   

Auckland is a wonderful city and a fantastic place to live, there are galleries, museums, shopping and much much more....but this year there is the Rugby World Cup 2011. It started yesterday in Auckland, the opening ceremony was wonderful and obviously the All Black have won the match against Tonga.

Tomorrow the Italian team will play vs Wallabies (Australia) in Albany on the North Shore at 3.30pm, New Zealand time! Many matches will be in Auckland, but others around New Zealand, so wherever you are be a supporter.....

Now for me...which team I should support?

A presto!

Simona

The Macchina di Santa Rosa

The Macchina of Santa Rosa is an annual celebration in the city of Viterbo!!  Santa Rosa is the patron of Viterbo, she lived during the XIII century.


Every year Viterbo celebrates this event with a huge manifestation, called La Macchina di Santa Rosa, where a big tower decorated with lights, tall about 30m, is carried around the city by circa 100 strong men. 

The first Macchina was organized in 1258, when the body of Santa Rosa was transferred from the Church of Santa Maria in Poggio to the Church dedicated to her by order of Pope Alexander IV. Since then every year this event is celebrated to commemorate the day. So September 3rd is a very important day for all the people of Viterbo and for the curious tourists.


If you want to know more and you are in Italy go and have a visit to Viterbo, the Macchina is tonight at 9pm.

More information in Italian from:

http://www.infoviterbo.it/viterbo_la_macchina_di_santa_rosa.htm

Palazzo Davanzati in Florence - a different museum

Florence

Imagine a different day in Florence! You want to escape the crowd and the confusion of the city center, where to go? what to do? i have an idea...go and visit Palazzo Davanzati.

In the past this palace belonged to the Davizzi family, wealthy merchants in the late fourteenth century. They constructed the palace, which later was purchased by the Davanzati family in the late sixteenth century.

This palace brings you back in time, show you the structure of what the modern palaces are going to be, so don't miss this place next time you are in Florence!!!

Palazzo Davanzati
Florence

Palazzo Davanzati


Address:  Via Porta Rossa 13 – Firenze – Tel. 055 2388610

Hours: Weekdays: 8.15 am – 1.50 pm; open second and fourth Monday of the month.

Holidays: 8.15 – 1.50 pm – open first, third and fifth Sunday of the month.

Closed on: the second and fourth Sunday of the month; the first, third and fifth Monday of every month. December 25, January 1, May 1

A presto!!

Simona

Questioning Pietro da Cortona in the Johnston Collection?

The Johnston Collection is a secret place  in the east side of Melbourne.


If you decide to visit this place in order to prevent disturbing the neighborhood, a tour parties come to collect you at a Melbourne hotel and you are transported to the house where the Collection is on show, in a bus that belongs to the Johnston Collection.


The Collection is the work of one man, William Johnston, who died in 1986, leaving everything to a Trust, who delegate professional staff looking after the Collection.

Pietro da Cortona (in the manner)
Presentation of Christ Child , 1635
The Johnston Collection

The Collection is made up of paintings, antiques, curiosities and several different pieces that represent the various passions of this man, who loved beautiful things ad collected them.

   
Between these works there is a painting, subject of my lecture in late May and now an article recently published on The World of Antiques & Art (Issue 81). 


In the past this work was attributed to Pietro da Cortona, but I have my doubts! 
So if you want to know more, get the magazine and go on page 84.


Note: If you like Pietro da Cortona and you want to see some of his most famous ceiling works, go to visit Palazzo Barberini in Rome and Palazzo Pitti in Florence.


Buona lettura!!


A presto!


Simona

Renaissance at the National Gallery of Australia

Giovan Battista Moroni
Bambina della Famiglia Redetti, 1566-70

Next December a new exhibition will be on display at the National Gallery of Australia: "Renaissance: Raphael, Botticelli, Titian, Bellini". 


The works of these artists and other eminent artists executed by Italian artists between the 15th and 16th century will come to Australia for the first time.


These works, now part of the collection of the Accademia Carra, where once own by the merchant and collector Giacomo Carrara, who died in 1796. Until recently the collection was looked after by a Trust, to then pass under the jurisdiction of the city of Bergamo, that amplified the collection, thanks to gifts and donations of other private collectors.


Today in the Collection is possible to count more than 1,800 artworks, including masterworks by Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Botticelli and Raphael.

Titian,
Madonna with Child, 1510

                                                                                     Due to restructuring/maintenance of the Accademia Carrara, around seventy artworks will be borrowed by the National Gallery of Australia and they will be on display for the first time on the Australian sole. 


This occasion will be a wonderful opportunity for art lovers, researchers and public, who will see with their own eyes works that hardly leave Italy due their fragility, value and conservation concern. 


Between the many works, there will also be the "Madonna and Child" by Titian, which will travel so far to come to Australia in December for about 4 months. 


Don't miss this occasion... go and enjoy this event! 



A presto!!
Simona

Another Italian masterpiece at the National Gallery of Victoria

Correggio at the NGV

This year the National Gallery of Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary. What a magnificent present for all the art lovers... another wonderful Italian masterpiece has been added to the collection...that is fantastic!!

I will certainly take the time to go and have a look to this work!

Regarded as one of the prominent artists of the High Renaissance together with Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, Correggio is well re-known for the fresco ceiling he decorated in Parma, such as the Assumption of the Virgin for the Cathedral.

Assumption of the Virgin by Correggio

This work was clearly a catalyst and inspirational example for the sotto in su technique later used by the painters of the Baroque period, such as Lanfranco's Assumption in Santa Andrea della Valle in Rome.

Correggio was a precursor and innovative artist, an example for many other artists, so well done Melbourne!

A presto!

Vicolo del Cedro

In the heart of Trastevere, Rione XIII, not far from Santa Maria in Trastevere.

on Vicolo del Cedro

From Vicolo del Cedro you can easily reach the Janiculum Hill, the steps are a short cut and I like to walk along there with my son, who loves to stop and drink in one of the old Roman public "fontanelle"

Lorenzo in Vicolo del Cedro

So maybe next time you are in Rome, take a short cut and have a look around the back streets of Trastevere!

A presto!