ItalyUpdate

After a two year closure for restructuring, Rome prestigious National Museum of Musical Instruments has now re-opened. The collection is considered to be the finest in Europe, with just under 1000 exhibits on view, dating from the 5^th century BC onwards and includes some very rare and priceless pieces, such as the Guerracino spinet of 1692, one of the first grand pianos (1723), a gravicembalo con il piano e forte, prototype of the instrument we know today, a crystal flute and the lavishly gilded and decorated Barberini Harp.

Absorbed in her delicate task, Maddalena Forenza bends over her workbench in her familys historic studio, touching up a minute detail in the stained-glass panel before her. She explains that the pigments she is mixing have to be carefully gauged in order to create the ideal colour tones that will be enhanced as the lights passes through the window when it is set in its final position. This means she must also study the movement of the sun in situ and the quality of the light exposure. Subsequently, the stained glass may need three or even four firings to get every detail right. Its a fine science, perfected by her forefathers, Francesco Moretti and Ludovico Caselli, who founded the Studio Moretti Caselli in Perugia in 1860.

The final return of the two Riace Bronzes to the Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria was hailed as a magnificent Christmas present for art lovers worldwide. The museum had been closed for restoration since 2006, with the Bronzes, the stars of its collection  housed temporarily in Palazzo Campanella, seat of the regional Calabrian government.

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The exciting now logo for the Italian Pavilion at EXPO 2014 was officially presented to the press this week by EXPO 2015 Commissioner General Ms. Diana Bracco. The design, consisting of a series of superimposed and entwining circles in red, white and green, the colours of the Italian flag, represents a tri-colour flower bud, in tune with the Pavilion theme of a Garden of Ideas, a nursery for new projects and proposals.

Italy Farm Holidays association holds its second annual fair at Milan between the 18-19^th January 2014. It promises to be a fun event, with 300 farms showing off their best home products and their animals, with special programmes for children teaching them the traditional arts of sowing, beekeeping, milking, olive oil grinding, carpentry and bulb planting, in addition to games, dancing and music.

UNIPLI (Unione Nazionale Pro Loco d'Italia Italy small towns tourist departments organization) are promoting regional dialects and local languages on the 17^th January 2014, In every Italian region, from Trentino to Sicily, Ligury to Calabria, the local tourist information and promotional offices in dozens of old borghi and communities where traditions are still proudly upheld, are holding events centred on the preservation of individual linguistic differences.

The Salento area of Puglia renews its traditional appointment with the Focara ritual at Novoli di Lecce on the 16th January 2014 when the gigantic bonfire, measuring 25 m high and 20 m in diameter, is set alight to mark the festival of Sant'Antonio the Abbot.

 

The cave town of Matera (Basilicata), which formed the backdrop for Mel Gibson's film “The Passion of Christ”, has put in its bid to be appointed European Capital of Culture 2019. Matera entered the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites of Humanity in 1993 and boasts the unique setting  of the “Sassi” (Rocks), former dwellings perched on the cliff-side and tunnelled out of the living rock, ancient frescoed rock-hewn churches and a 13^th century romanesque duomo.

 

The splendid setting of the Villa Bardini Museum of Florence will provide the backdrop for the work of Italy's famous fashion photographer Aldo Fallai, whose long collaboration with Giorgio Armani will be documented in over 200 fashion photographs, covering almost thirty years of collaboration with the Armani atelier.

 

The cave town of Matera (Basilicata), which formed the backdrop for Mel Gibson's film “The Passion of Christ”, has put in its bid to be appointed European Capital of Culture 2019. Matera entered the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites of Humanity in 1993 and boasts the unique setting  of the “Sassi” (Rocks), former dwellings perched on the cliff-side and tunnelled out of the living rock, ancient frescoed rock-hewn churches and a 13^th century romanesque duomo.