THE RETURN OF THE “WELCOME BACK” MADONNA
San Lorenzo, the church of the Medici family in Florence, has welcomed back a rare 14th century wooden sculpture of a Madonna and Child, known as La Bentornata after a delicate and laborious seven-year restoration carried out by the expert restorers of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure institute of Florence.
The life-sized statue, carved out of a single piece of wood and considered a masterpiece of Medieval sculpture, is the work of Florentine artist Giovanni Fetti. The strange nickname “La Bentornata” which literally means “Welcome Back” does not refer, however, to the lengthy present work that absented the Madonna for seven years from her usual place in the Basilica, but apparently alludes to an earlier episode when the much loved icon was moved to a new site in the church before being returned to her normal stance near the main altar.
The Opificio delle Pietre Dure, which literally means “Workshop of the Semi-Precious Stones” was set up in 1588 by Ferdinando I dè Medici and specialized in inlaid work and mosaics. It is now the world's leading conservation and restoration institute.
Info: Tel. +0039.055.26511 https://opificiodellepietredure.cultura.gov.it
YEAR OF HONOURS FOR MUSICIAN PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA
Some of the world's most important polyphonic choirs are converging on Palestrina, a small town near Rome, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, considered one of the greatest 16th century Italian musicians and developer of counterpoint.
The celebrations, coordinated by the Pierluigi da Palestrina Foundation and the Italian Ministry of Culture, kicked off on the 11th January 2025 with a performance by the University of Minnesota choir (USA), followed by the leading British vocal ensemble, The Tallis Scholars.
The year's programme also features the Sistine Chapel Choir from Rome, the Westminster Cathedral Choir (UK), the Lex Pacis choir of Tokyo among others.
The Foundation also scored a coup this anniversary year, with the acquisition of a portrait of the musician dated 1566, former property of a private American collector. The portrait, which is also the subject of a commemorative stamp issued by the Italian Post Office, will be hung next to a later portrait hanging in the Museum dedicated to the musician, which is situated in his former home in the historic centre of the town of Palestrina.
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Info: Tel. +39.06.9538083 www.fondazionepierluigipalestrina.it
NAPLES FASCINATING NEW TOURIST CIRCUIT
A few years ago, the Rione Sanità quarter of Naples was considered disreputable. It was an area that visitors usually avoided, despite the fact that it lies in the very heart of the city, next to some of the most important monuments. Over the past few years, however, the 2 sq. km area (estimated 32,000 residents) has undergone a transformation, thanks to the courage and determination of a group of local young people, who got together in 2006 and created a social cooperative that they courageously called “La Paranza”. The name literally refers to the typical local trawling fishing boat but it has also some negative connections that the cooperative founders were decided to transform into a new positive image).
The primary objective was to introduce specialized guided tours to the Rione's many historic churches, works of art, ancient monuments and the fascinating network of catacombs and tunnels that ran in strata under the little piazzas and narrow streets. The initiative obtained the support of the local city council, as well as the enthusiastic response of archeologists, art historians and restorers who collaborated with the project.
La Paranza's initiative has been so successful that regular visits are now conduced to forgotten gems like the ancient Greek cemetery under the Church of Santa Maria della Maddalena dei Cristallini, the historic Catacombs of San Gennaro and San Gaudioso, the church of Santa Maria della Sanità and the studio-museum of contemporary artist Jago (best known for his controversial bust of Pope Benedict XVI “Habemus Hominem”) in the Church of Sant'Aspreno ai Crocigeri.
Rione Sanità is now a regular part of the tourist circuit of the fascinating city of Naples.
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Info: Tel. +39.081.7443714 www.catacombedinapoli.it
MAGIC at TURIN 2025
Turin, known as the City of the Occult or “the Magic City,” will see the world's greatest illusionists perform between the 14th - 19th July 2025 for the annual World Conjurers' Championship.
The event will be held in the Lingotto Congress Centre and over 150 performers from all over the world are expected to participate. Competition will be tough!
Turin is considered to be a particularly suitable venue because of its reputation as a “Magic City”, part of two triangles of the occult: the “White Triangle” that extends to Prague and Lyon, and the “Black Triangle” that connects London and San Francisco.
Legends regarding mysterious forces abound, with the distinctive spire of the Mole Antonelliano credited with mysterious powers capable of attracting supernatural phenomenae. Piazza Statuto is indicated as the centre of the black heart of Turin, with its statue of Lucifer crowning the central monument. In actual fact, this has no connection with devils or demons: it is a commemorative sculpture of an angel, set there in memory of the many workmen who died during the construction of the Frejus Tunnel in the middle of last century.
CARDINAL'S PLEASURE HOUSE REVIVES
The newly restored Loggia del Vino (a domed pavilion set in the Villa Borghese Park in
Rome) has been the setting for a series of contemporary art installations created by a team of international artists. The project has been named “Lavinia” in honour of Lavinia Fontana, a woman artist of the Renaissance, whose works are part of the Borghese Gallery collection.
The Loggia del Vino is a 17th century “folly”, built between 1612-1618 by the architect Flaminio Ponzio for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, Pope Paolo V's nephew. It was connected with the Cardinal's palace by underground passages and was used for convivial evenings of wine and feasting in a cool summer setting for the pleasure of Borghese's guests.
The Loggia had been closed for many years while restoration has proceeded by stages, bringing back to life the charming central fresco of the Banquet of the Gods, by Archita Ricci. Some decorative elements can no longer be recovered, such as the sculptures of sphinxes, acquired in the 19th century by the Ny Glyptotek of Copenhagen.
At the moment, the building is open to the public.
Info; Tel. 060608 www.sovraintendenzaroma
THE BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS PROMOTES RURAL RETREATS
The 17th January, Feast Day of Sant'Antonio Abate (not to be confused with the better known St. Anthony of Padua), sees a different kind of pilgrim flocking to the churches of big and small towns in Italy. Sant'Antonio Abate is the patron saint of animals, the special protector of rural communities, and following a long tradition, farmers and pet owners bring their animals to church for the annual blessing. A popular tradition claims that on the night of the 17th January, the animals acquire the faculty of (human) speech.
For practical reasons, the festival is now held on the nearest Sunday, so the colourful event took place on the 19th January 2025. This year, the Feast has a special significance. The rally in St. Peter's Square was organized by the Coldiretti (the national Italian Farmers' Association) and the Italian Breeders Association (AIA), under the theme “Seeds of Inclusion. The new welfare of the Italian Farm”. The aim was to highlight the vital role animals play in helping people with physical and mental difficulties through techniques like pet therapy, hippo therapy and plant cultivation, but in addition the concept of agriospizio was included. While the Agriasilo which offers day care for preschool children in country settings is now well established, the agriospizio is still limited. It aims to offer acquired an alternative to traditional retirement homes, with elderly guests accommodated in rural settings attached to farms where they could take part in local activities and cultivate their own garden plots.
Tel. +39.06. 4682414 https://caa.coldiretti.it
PESARO REPORTS TRIUMPHANT CULTURE YEAR
As the art town of Pesaro (Marche) passes the baton on to Agrigento (Sicily), elected the new 2025 Italian Capital of Culture, Pesaro administrative council presented a positive balance of the initiatives organized last year, asserting that the initiative had not only stimulated the town to create new cultural attractions, but had boosted tourism.
Pesaro, the birthplace of the father of Italian opera Gioacchino Rossini, has staged a popular annual Rossini Festival since 1980, but its many other attractions were little known to the general public. The Year of Italian Capital of Culture, however, provided a stimulus to include Pesaro on the tourist map and involved the entire surrounding territory with 50 provincial towns participating actively.
The town organized over a thousand events, bringing visitor figures up by 30% in low season and doubling the number of museum visitors, thanks also to a series of stimulating art exhibitions and installations, the promotion of existing but little known treasures, such as Villa Americi, an 18th century architectural jewel and seat of the Rossini conservatory, with the botanical Garden of Santa Maria in Fiori e Pianti and the historic Oliveiano Library, which contains the only known signed drawing by Raphael.
The image chosen to represent the Pesaro Cultural Year was the Ginkgo Biloba tree, which survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing in 1945 and has since become known as the Tree of Peace. In 2021 a Ginkgo seedling obtained from the Green Legacy Hiroshima group was planted as a symbol of peace and hope in the Pesaro Mirafiori public park.
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Info: Tel. 0039.0721387655 www.comune.pesaro.pu.it www.rossinioperafestival.it
SPOTLIGHT ON ABRUZZO'S GRAND TOUR HISTORY
“Mondo Grand Tour”, an exhibition in the State Archives of the Aurum Museum of Pescara gives a fascinating overview of the impressions recorded by foreign explorers who ventured into what was considered the unknown wilds of Abruzzo in the 18th and 19th centuries.
In the years when visitors from Northern Europe and America undertook the Grand Tour of Rome, Tuscany and Venice, Abruzzo was viewed as a potentially wild and dangerous place, full of impenetrable mountains, wolves, bandits and inhospitable villages.
This image, however, captured the imagination of the more adventurous and curious travellers, who ventured into the little known reaches of this 18th century “far west”, leaving records of their impressions and experiences.
The exhibition “Mondo Grand Tour”, curated by writer and historian Antonio Bini, documents the experiences recorded by those early tourists, with a collection of rare documents, first editions, copies of articles from newspapers and magazines of the period, as well as sketches and drawings, and the first guide books and tourist information pamphlets of the region. On view are copies of rare books, such as Edward Lear's “Illustrated Excursions in Italy” (1846) and “The Shepherds of the Abruzzi” by Charles MacFarlane (1833), as well as references to the Scandinavian artists' colony, set up by the Danish Impressionist Kristian Zhartmann in the village of Civita d'Antino in 1883.
The visit can be coordinated with a tour of the Imago Museum, also in Pescara, which contains an important collection of 130 works by the group of Scandinavian artists in Italy who gravitated around Zhartmann, living and working in harmony together until their pleasant dream was shattered by the tragic Marsica earthquake of 1915.
“Mondo Gran Tour” closes on the 15th January 2025 but the Imago Museum collection is on permanent display.
Info: Museo Imago Tel.+39.85.2059056 Museo Aurum Tel, +39.085.454.9508
CITTA DI CASTELLO REVEALS “NEW” SIGNORELLI
Year-long restoration work carried out on an obscure altarpiece at the Umbria town of Città di Castello has revealed that it is an authentic masterpiece by the great Renaissance artist Luca Signorelli, defined as “artist of light and poetry” at the recent exhibition in Cortona celebrating the 500th anniversary of his death.
Stored in the 16th century Palazzo Vitelli alla Canonica at Città di Castello with other art works considered of minor interest, the painting has now been definitely identified as an authentic Signorello, after a routine cleaning and restoration operation, which included peeling off subsequent “improvements” and modifications.
The neglected masterpiece has had a chequered history. Napoleon intended to carry it off to Paris to be part of the Louvre collection, but it was considered too big for transportation. It also escaped being sequestered by Hitler for his planned museum of art in Berlin. After the war, the Altarpiece, dedicated to St. Cecilia, languished among a store of what were considered minor works by studio apprentices.
The painting, which is striking for its use of brilliant colours, joins other works by Signorelli at Città di Castello, including his celebrated masterpiece “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian.”
Info: Tel. +39.07554202 www.cittadicastelloturismo.it
THE PARADE OF THE 100 + BEFANAS!
An Italian expression says: “Epifania tutte le feste le porta via” (Epiphany takes all the parties away) as the Feast of the 6th January officially ends the Italian Christmas holiday season. According to tradition, Italian children received their presents from an old witch (La Befana) at Epiphany. That was before Santa Claus with his red coat and reindeer hit the scene and established a new custom.
La Befana, however, was not supplanted. Instead she has flourished and in some cases she has become a popular tourist attraction. The small town of Urbania in the Marches region (7000 population), organizes a four-day event every year, with the help of an army of local “Befanas” who parade through the streets, carrying a gigantic knitted stocking and distributing sweets to all the children present.
Highlight is the twice daily descent of a Befana from the local belfry, when a more athletic Befana descends down a rope with a sack of goodies over her shoulder.
The spectacle of the Befana's daring descent from a tower is also staged, however, in a few other spots....notably at Ariccia, one of the Roman Castelli towns some 30 kms from the capital. The popular events draws crowds from Rome, who combine the show with a hearty meal of porchetta (whole roast pig), the town's gastronomic speciality, served in local shops and in the many local small eateries, known as the “fraschette”.
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Info: Urbania Tourist Info: Tel. +39.0722.317211 www.visitlazio.com
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