CRAFTMANSHIP Digital travel magazine about villages and slow tourism
LAZIO,
handicraft and human wit
VENETO,
the handicraft excellence
CALABRIA,
the goldsmith art
Issue 09 2019 Free edition
Ala,
the velvet village
Acquaviva Picena,
the weaving history
Frosolone,
the bright forging
Crossborder,
the creative Rising Sun Country
www.e-borghitravel.com
HAPPINESS IS A JOURNEY.
bit.fieramilano.it
9 - 11 FEBBRAIO FEBRUARY 2020 FIERAMILANOCITY | MICO
NATURALE
perché fatto solo con carne di maiale italiano, sale marino e l’aria di San Daniele.
SINCERO
perché non ha segreti, solo un ambiente intatto e magie naturali; terre alte, le Alpi, l’Adriatico e il vento.
…UNICO
perché più che un Prosciutto è una cultura.
Il segreto del San Daniele è San Daniele w w w. p r o s c i u t t o s a n d a n i e l e . i t
DI
ER
SCOV
Click on the “discover” icon when you find it to deepen your reading and find out more details from the e-borghi.com website
Don’t miss any issue of e-borghi travel. Subscribe to the newsletter and you will unlock the download of the magazine!
marino bocelli/Shutterstock.com
® e-borghi travel 09 www.e-borghitravel.com Publisher Giusi Spina direzione@3scomunicazione.com Publishing coordinator Luciana Francesca Rebonato coordinamento@e-borghi.com Art director Ivan Pisoni grafica@e-borghi.com Editorial office Simona Poerio segreteria@e-borghi.com With the collaboration of Antonella Andretta, Alessandra Boiardi, Simona PK Daviddi, Grazia Gioè, Cinzia Meoni, Marino Pagano, Luca Sartori, Nicoletta Toffano, Carola Traverso Saibante, Valentina Schenone Translation Beatrice Lavezzari Draft revision Joni Scarpolini Promotion and Advertising 3S Comunicazione – Milano Cosimo Pareschi pareschi@e-borghi.com Editing 3S Comunicazione Corso Buenos Aires, 92, 20124 Milano info@3scomunicazione.com tel. 0287071950 – fax 0287071968 The use of our website and our on-line magazine is subject to the following terms: all rights reserved. Any section of www.e-borghi.com can’t be reproduced, recorded or broadcasted in any form or by any means, be it electronic or mechanical or through photocopies, recording or other systems without a previous written authorization by 3S Comunicazione. Although a careful check of the information that are contained in this issue has been carried out, 3S Comunicazione won’t be considered responsible for any mistakes or omissions. The opinions being given by contributors are necessarily the same as the ones given by 3S Comunicazione. Unless different directions, the individual copyrights belong to the contributors. All efforts have been made to track down the owners of the photos’ copyright in case they were not taken by our photographers. We’re apologizing in advance for possible omissions and we’re available to enter further clarifications in the next issues. © 2019 e-borghi
ie
Under the patronage of
ne
Band
ra
Paesi ei
iazione d soc
As
Parli italiano? Leggi la versione in italiano
A ra n cio
Marchio di qualità turistico ambientale per l’entroterra del Touring Club Italiano
INAUGURAZIONE TEATRO LA FENICE STAGIONE LIRICA E BALLETTO 2019-2020
24, 27, 30 novembre 3, 7 dicembre 2019
www.teatrolafenice.it
ditorial
eLuciana Francesca Rebonato facebook.com/lfrancesca.rebonato
H
uman wit and creativity. Passion and uniqueness. The tradition that goes hand-in-hand with the innovation while the outlook towards the future looks back at its past and renews itself in the present. This is Italy and its handicraft, the protagonist of this issue of e-borghi travel: there are the old techniques and the manual skills that enable to make unique works that represent the territories they belong to and they are worth a whole holiday. It’s a travel around the most genuine villages of our beautiful country along with a daily dialogue between the creativity and its implementation. We started with Veneto: a tapestry of landscapes that looks like a wonderful fabric of handicraft mastery. Then we moved to Lazio, a region featured by many different facets, wrapped around the majesty of Rome and also spotted with tiny villages that keep the craftsmanship in their dna. Then we went through the very ancient origins of the goldsmith’s art of Calabria: precious jewels that hide symbolic meanings and represent archaic glows. The soft velvet from the village of Ala in Trentino is a tactile charm, it’s an ancient tradition as well as the shiny blades from Frosolone in Molise or the “pajarole” from Acquaviva Picena in the Marche that tell the story of the skilled hands of the weavers who make the straw and willow baskets. It’s not just the charm of imagination, it’s the discovery of real objects that are spread all over the country, including the islands. It’s the incredible “made-in-Italy”, a heritage that is appreciated worldwide. It’s the art of craftsmanship which is passed on from generation to generation, the expression of excellence that inspires our admiration and quite often even our emulation. Since «The mediocre teacher teaches. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires». This is Socrates’ word. Luciana Francesca Rebonato coordinatore editoriale
Summary Ala
Laimburg winery
Veneto
Acquaviva Picena
Frosolone
Lazio
Golden glows of Calabria
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Greedy weekend
Crossborder: Japan
Japonism
Out of place holidays
Legends
Curiosities
Review
On the cover, the master craftsman Ercolino Albinante from Bartolucci (www.bartolucci.com) Sergio Hernan Gonzalez/Shutterstock.com
Malcesine | Lago di Garda | Veneto
Valentina Schenone
facebook.com/valentina.schenone.7
Associazione culturale Vellutai CittĂ di Ala facebook.com/ass.vellutai
Ala,
“the velvet village�
Palazzo Malfatti-Azzolini Gabriele Cavagna
Palazzo Taddei Gabriele Cavagna
T
he village of Ala was awarded with the title of “city� by Joseph II of Habsburg in 1765, a period of great economic and commercial success because of the production and the export of the local velvet to Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and other European countries. In that period the village reached its peak although the tradition of the mulberry-growing and the silk-warm breeding arrived before thanks to the Venetian people. Then Venice lost the Vallagarina in 1509 and Ala came under the control of the House of Austria. The political stability contributed to the
growth of the handcraft activities related to the water powered spinning machines to work the silk-warms and after the great plague of 1630 the most flourishing period for this village in Trentino started. When the archpriest Alfonso Bonacquisto and two fugitives from Genoa met in 1657 things radically changed: Giovanbrunone Taddei was the first to sniff the deal, it put two rooms at the disposal of the two persons from Genoa (Genoa was well-known for the production of velvet) so the first workshop was born, it was made by using the machines coming from Genoa.
Eder/Shutterstock
Development and richness
I
n 1765 the guild of velvet producers was based in Ala. The activity related to the production of velvet was so flourishing that it wasn’t affected by the crisis that hit the rest of Italy and the lack of competitors in this field made Ala stronger and stronger. It got bigger, new districts, new buildings where the workshops were based and the houses for the workers were built. The production of velvet implied the construction of some buildings along the irrigation canal because of the hydraulic power that was needed for the spinning wheels, the dry
Palazzo de’ Pizzini Gabriele Cavagna
cleaning and a “factory” for the leather tanning, the mills, the forges and the fulling mills. The ancient palaces belonging to the merchants like de’ Pizzini Palace and three buildings built between the end of the 17th century and the end of the 18th century mainly the Palazzo Angelini, the Gresta and Taddei palaces were embellished. At the same time other buildings were restored like the ancient premises of the city hall, the parish church of S. Maria Assunta, the church of S. Giovanni, the little church of S. Giovannino and the bridge over the Ala stream.
Piazza San Giovanni Gabriele Cavagna
Gabriele Cavagna
Palazzo Malfatti-Azzolini Gabriele Cavagna
Gabriele Cavagna
Palazzo de’ Pizzini Gabriele Cavagna
Vallagarina D-VISIONS/Shutterstock
Fontana della Gioppa Gabriele Cavagna
lidialongobardi77/Shutterstock
Ala, an orange flag
I
t’s set in the lower Vallagarina, it’s an “Orange Flag”, a tourist-environmental quality brand awarded by the Italian Touring Club to the Italian villages of the hinterland that stand out for their excellent offer of tourist services. Some of the requirements to get this award are related to the quality of the hospitability, the environment, a wide range of events and festivals, the integration of the architectural context with the tourist accomodation as well as the accessibility and the internal mobility thanks to the good quality of
Gabriele Cavagna
transports. One of the main attractions of Ala is with no doubt the history of the silk velvet production whose 17 fountains underline the primary importance of water; they were also a welcoming symbol for the wayfarers in the past and they are still a symbol of the hospitability for the modern tourists. Nowadays you can visit an old loom coming from the Cordani Weaving of Zoagli (Genoa) in an old shop. Besides visiting the village there are many excursions in the Ronchi valley that keeps its natural beauties untouched.
Elena Rastaturina/Shutterstock
Monti Lessini Gabriele Cavagna
Gabriele Cavagna
The velvet and the music are the protagonist in Summer
A
festival has been celebrating Ala as the “city of velvet” since 1998, the historical centre goes back in time to the rich and lavish period of the velvet makers. The visitors are accompanied by hundreds of extras wearing their historical costumes dating back to the 18th century, they belong to the “cultural association of the velvet makers from Ala”, they guide the visitors through the streets and the ancient palaces
where many events are held while you can see the ancient crafts like the blacksmiths, the bakers, the weavers in the courtyards all around and you can also taste the local food and wine like the Marzemino that was also praised by Mozart in his “Don Juan”. The village becomes a big music festival in Summer and the concerts, the workshops and the meetings with big artists are held everywhere.
Palazzo Angelini Gabriele Cavagna
Palazzo Malfatti-Azzolini Gabriele Cavagna
Gabriele Cavagna
Gabriele Cavagna
Palazzo de’ Pizzini Gabriele Cavagna
Tribute to Mozart Gabriele Cavagna
Eder/Shutterstock.com
Palazzo de’ Pizzini Gabriele Cavagna
Mozart and the distinguished guests of Ala
A
mong the distinguished visitors of Ala there were Charles V and Charles VI, Francis I with his wife Maria Theresa of Austria, Napoleon I, the Tsar Nicholas I – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was hosted by Giovanni Battista and Pietro de’ Pizzini brothers three times. The rooms where Mozart used to play is the Antique Piano Museum now, you can admire the musical instruments from that time belonging to Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Chopin.
Some guided tours of the museum are organized between May and October and you can always listen to the historical instrument live concerts. It’s a really exciting experience thanks to the acoustic of the room that comes from the floor and the above wooden balustrade with slightly concave walls. The International Academy of musical interpretation with the antique instruments is also based in de’ Pizzini palace.
Ala
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Natale nei palazzi barocchi Gabriele Cavagna
MUNICIPALITY OF ALA
TRENTO
Trento, Trentino Alto Adige Inhabitants: 8786 Altitude: 180 m s.l.m. Surface: 119,87 km² Patron saint: San Valentino e Santa Maria Assunta 14/02 Borghi Autentici d’Italia
ER
SCOV
DI
Bolzano
The Laimburg winery: searching for the good wine DI
ER
SCOV
Antonella Andretta
I
taly has got infinite facets and there’s a territory where the variety of cultivations and the biodiversity come from different geographic conditions although being gathered in a small area: Alto Adige. We’re talking about a place where the variety of vines and vineyards produce high quality wines: the Laimburg winery. It’s located in Vadena (Bozen), one of the main places along the route of wine of Alto Adige, it’s one of the oldest and the most beautiful of Italy,
it starts in Nalles, it passes by Bolzano and it reaches Salorno, on the border with Trentino. This winery has got a peculiarity: it has belonged to the “Laimburg Test Center” since 1975, it’s a provincial Body that deals with the applied research in the agriculture sector. They cultivate 20 hectares of wines on different types of soils at an altitude between 200 and 750 metres aiming at bringing the features of each local variety into your glasses according to the best traditions of
the Dolomites. Around 95,100thousand bottles of wine are produced every year: White Pinot, white Sauvignon and Gewürztraminer are the main red wines, Lagrein, Black Pinot and Schiava are the main red ones. There are two main production lines: “Vini del Podere” (the farm’s wines) and “Selezione Maniero” (the castle’s selection). The first one produces traditional vintage wines that are aged inside the stainless-steel tanks and in the oak barrels. The second type of
production implies a check of each type of wine that is selected and aged inside little oak barrels in order to develop the best wine ageing potential. All Laimburg’s labels combine different, technologically advanced vinification techniques that are matched with the most traditional ones: the final outcome is the production of high-quality wines that are awarded by the experts. Before you get there, you’ll be able to see amazing landscapes, vineyards, apple orchards, lakes,
mountains, wooden or stones villages and famous tourist places and discover a place where wine is not just something to drink but it’s much more: the traditions are rooted in an ancient culture and the continuous innovation and quality research never stops, this also means pleasure and satisfaction. It’s a pleasure that goes beyond the tastes and it matches the beauty your eyes can meet when you visit this winery which is carved into the rock, a unique example of wine architecture, a 300 square metres wide vaulted
room used as a hall and a meeting room. Next to it there are other rooms that are carved into the rock where the wine is put inside the barrique barrels at a constant temperature, where you can also find the archives of the wines and the labels coming from the main regions in the world. The Laimburg winery can be visited on demand (by sending an e-mail from the website); the shop is open without the need to make an appointment from Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 12.00 a.m. and from 1.30 to 5.00 p.m.
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Veneto,
the handicraft excellence
Luca Sartori
twitter.com/LucaSartoriIT
gab90/Shutterstock.com
Simone Padovani/Shutterstock
V
eneto gathers plenty of landscapes and tastes, culture, history, events, activities and handcrafted products. The lagoon, the hills, the Prealps, the Dolomites, the towns and the villages as well as some excellent products are famous all over the world. The glass from Murano, the laces from Burano, the masks and the gondolas from Venice, the pottery from Bassano del Grappa, the laceworks from Asolo, the goldsmiths from Vicenza, the wood from Belluno, the marble from Valpolicella,
the ironworks from Verona and Sottoguda, the woodworking from Cortina up to the weaving and the woodworking from Feltre and the straw working from Marostica. Veneto looks like a big shop-window that exhibits its handcrafts and its unique products that perfectly match the landscapes and keep attracting the International tourists. If you want to know which are the best products of the art, the culture and the landscapes of this territory you can visit the website www.veneto.eu.
FranciscoMarques/Shutterstock
Goran Jakus/Shutterstock
Venice, masks and gondolas
B
esides being an outdoor museum and the world’s most famous outdoor sitting-room with its narrow streets and little squares, bridges and canals, Venice is also one of the main cities for the production of crafted objects. They produce the glass in the nearby Murano and in the workshops that are spread in the different districts of the town as well as the famous masks and gondolas. The masks made in Venice are famous all over the world and they are considered the treasure of the local handcrafted production. These masks had started to be crafted during
the period of the Serenissima Republic of Venice by the “Maschereri�, since the second half of the 15th century. There are hundreds of shops in the different districts selling them but just a few workshops actually craft them. Venice is particularly charming during Carnival when it is invaded by wonderful masks that stroll around the different districts. The gondolas are an important piece of the rich mosaic of this town. Gondolas are still made and fixed in the old dockyards. In the mid15th century there were 10thousand gondolas in Venice while there are only 500 nowadays.
rita bredeson/Shutterstock
Bruno Mameli/Shutterstock
Deborah Kolb/Shutterstock
Murano, the art of glass-making
M
urano is one of the main destinations of the Venice lagoon. The artistic glass which is produced here is patented and it’s recognized by the European Union Intellectual Property Office based in Alicante. It’s an important local product that developed in the Middle Ages. The artistic production of glass enabled Murano to become more independent than the other Venetian islands. It was acknowledged as an industrial area by the Doge Tiepolo and it became the world most important village for the production of glass in 1291. The Museum of Glass based in Palazzo Giustinian witnesses the history of this precious
Glass Museum chrisdorney/Shutterstock
local production. Murano isn’t only famous for its glass production and its several workshops but it’s also well-known for its architecture; the Church of Santa Maria and San Donato dating back to the 7th century deserves a visit. It’s featured by an apse with a fake portico with columns, a Byzantine floor and a wall mosaic dating back to the 12th century with golden leaves that decorate the choir. Another treasure from Murano is the church of Saint Peter Martyr dating back to the 14th century, it was founded by the Dominican Fathers and it keeps the works by Giuseppe Porta, Giovanni Bellini, Paolo Veronese and Tintoretto.
BalazsSebok/Shutterstock
Basilica of Saints Maria and Donato Bernard Barroso/Shutterstock
BalazsSebok/Shutterstock
Tijana Stanivuk/Shutterstock
ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock
EQRoy/Shutterstock
Beata Bar
Beata Bar/Shutterstock
Burano, lagoon laceworks
B
urano is one of the most picturesque places of the lagoon of Venice and it displays its beauty for the tourists that visit this place every year. It’s featured by its beautiful multi-coloured houses, the fishing tradition and the ancient lacework art as well as its leaning clock-tower. The pastel-coloured houses’ walls are really charming, they used different colours to enable the fishers to see their houses in the fog when they returned from the Winter fishing period. Fishing is still the main activity on this island and the rowboats
steve estvanik/Shutterstock
are still made in the different dockyards. Piazza Baldassarre Galuppi is the core of the island, it’s overlooked by the church where an amazing Crocifissione by the young Tiepolo is kept. The bobbin lace working is the real handcrafted wonder of Burano, some old ladies still make these little masterpieces in the narrow streets and the little squares. The Museum of Laceworks is the perfect celebration of the handcrafted traditions of this island, it exhibits a precious collection of creations belonging to this ancient art.
Yulia Grigoryeva/Shutterstock
Statue of Baldassare Galuppi and Chapel of Santa Barbara, Burano Artorn Thongtukit/Shutterstock
Buffy1982/Shutterstock
Murano trabantos/Shutterstock
Buffy1982/Shutterstock
Valentina Conte, instagram.com/dolomeat
Sottoguda, iron and barns
S
ottoguida is a hamlet of the municipality of Rocca Pietore and it has belonged to the “most beautiful villages of Italy“ organization since 2016. Set in the shadow of the biggest glacier of the Dolomites, the Marmolada, it’s an old village that was already mentioned in 1260 and it’s featured by several “tabièi”, the typical wooden barns of this area that were used by the peasants as a shelter for their cattle and as a warehouse for the hay. Among the historical buildings of the village there is the church dedicated to the
DI
ER
SCOV
Saints Fabiano, Sebastiano and Rocco, consecrated in 1486 and the clock-tower dating back to 1550. You can’t miss a stop at the nearby canyon of Serrai di Sottoguda, it’s a deep canyon that reaches the basin of Malga Ciapèla at the bottom of Marmolada. Sottoguda is also a village where the craftsmanship is a must, it’s famous for its wrought iron works, an activity that goes back to the end of the 18th century when the materials used to be taken from the mines of Furzil and the iron was used to make everyday objects.
The cathedral’s waterfall at the Serrai di Sottoguda
Cortina, wood and majolica
C
ortina is one of the most appreciated tourist resorts of Veneto, it’s considered the sitting-room of the Dolomites. It’s a fine ski resort that belongs to the Dolomiti Superski area, many important events are often held there, the Winter Olympic Games were held in Cortina in 1956 for the first time and it will be the protagonist of the Winter Olympic Games together with Milan in 2026. It’s called the “Queen of the Dolomites”, it’s set in the middle of the Ampezzo basin in the up-
posztos/Shutterstock
per Boite valley between the Cadore, the Pusteria Valley, the Ansiei valley and the upper Agordo valley and it’s also famous for its important crafting traditions that started to develop at the beginning of the 19th century when the first crafts started to be appreciated by the German and the British tourists. The tiled stoves, the artistic wood works for the furnishing field, the carved pieces of furniture and the objects made of iron, copper and glass are the main handcrafted products.
Buffy1982/Shutterstock
Will Thomass/Shutterstock
Cortina d’ampezzo DaLiu/Shutterstock
Gui Fiorese/Shutterstock
CataFratto/Shutterstock
Diego Bonacina/Shutterstock
Bassano del Grappa, pottery and china
P
onte Vecchio, the wooden bridge which is also called the Alpini Bridge is the symbol of Bassano del Grappa. From this bridge over the river Brenta you can enjoy amazing views of the Valsugana valley that connects the town of Trento towards the North and you can see the historical houses overlooking the river towards the South, they still keep the rifle-shots marks from World War I. Bassano del Grappa’s main landmark isn’t only its historical bridge, it’s a place steeped in history, full of museums, a place where you can also stop to sip a good glass of grappa and taste some good local specialities. One of the stops you
can’t miss is the Hemingway museum dedicated to the Great War that is displayed inside villa Ca’ Erizzo, an historical place that was used as a Red Cross station during the period of the resistance in 1918, Ernest Hemingway was one of the volunteers; a room of the museum is dedicated to him and there are many rooms where the Great War is told. Piazza Garibaldi, Piazza Libertà and the Civic Tower are other important features of this city that finds its best creativity in the production of pottery and majolica that are so much loved by the tourists who sometimes stop in Bassano just to buy one of these precious objects.
Bassano del Grappa bridge RnDmS/Shutterstock
Maurizio Sartoretto/Shutterstock
leoks/Shutterstock
leoks/Shutterstock
DI
A
ER
SCOV
Asolo, pottery and laceworks
solo is one of the most beautiful places of this region and it’s also the starting point for many excursions in the surrounding areas. If you want to visit the area of Treviso we suggest you to start with piazza Garibaldi and its fountain decorated with the beautiful Lion of Saint Mark. Among the architectural emergencies the cathedral stands out, it keeps its classic Romanic front side and the “Assunta”, the masterpiece by Lorenzo Lotto, then there’s the Loggia della Ragione, the heart of the past administrative life, Palazzo Polo, the Tabacchi house, the Zen fountain dating back to the 16th
century and Freya, the residence of the Stark family, the queen’s castle, the civic Tower and other villas among which the elegant villa Scotti Pasini, casa Duse and Palazzo Pasquali with a plaque in memory of the stay of Napoleon in 1797. Asolo is a land of wine and taverns as well as a craftsmanship area; the tradition related to the production of the fabrics, the laceworks, the pottery and the restoration works is important. Strolling around the old arcades and the historical centre’s shops is great if you want to see the best handcrafted products.
Villa Rinaldi Barbini, Asolo photolike/Shutterstock
leoks/Shutterstock
Marostica, straw and chess games ria Assunta, the church of Sant’Antonio Abate, the church and the nunnery of San Rocco, the church and the monastery of San Gottardo, the nunnery and the church of the Saints Fabiano and Sebastiano. The history of this village is also related to the working of straw, the straw hats that were made here became very famous and they were sold worldwide. Its strategic position between Vicenza and Bassano contributed to the developing of Marostica as the main production centre of straw
ER
SCOV
DI
M
arostica is famous for the chess game that is held in the main square in even years with the living characters as protagonists. This tradition started in 1923 and it took inspiration from an event dating back to 1454. Marostica is also famous for its cherries, a protected geographical designation product. Set at the foot of the Asiago plateau, Marostica is rich of historical witnesses among which the Lower and the Upper Castle, the ancient walls and the several religious buildings like the parish of Ma-
Gimas/Shutterstock
ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock
CittĂ di Marostica - facebook.com/comunemarostica
Cuchi di Marostica ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock
Marostica, traditional chess game ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock
Feltre, the palio and the wood
F
eltre is located at the foot of the Dolomites, thirty kilometres from Belluno, it’s an historical place that was born even before the Roman empire and it highly developed during the Imperial Age. It was awarded with the silver military value because of the many sacrifices of its people and for its activity during the Second World War with the Partisans. There are many monuments and landmarks that deserve a visit among which the cathedral of Saint Peter the Apostle and the sanctuary of Saints Vittore and Corona, both considered National monuments as well as several bu-
Fabio Caironi/Shutterstock
ildings like the Palazzo della Ragione, where the council house is based, Palazzo Cumano, where Carlo Rizzarda Modern Art Gallery is based, Palazzo Villabruna, where the Civic Museum is based and some military constructions like the Alboino castle, the Lusa Castle and the ancient gates called Porta imperiale and Porta Pusterla. The Palio of the Fifteen golden ducats, the old Festival of San Matteo and the regional Craft Fair are some of the main cultural events of a town where the weaving and the woodworks represent its main handcraft activities.
Boris Stroujko/Shutterstock
Mario Carazzai
Gallery of Modern Art Carlo Rizzarda Lorenzo Kleinschmidt per il Comune di Feltre
Feltre Florian Augustin/Shutterstock
REDMASON/Shutterstock
Villa Arvedi Grezzana Valpantena FEDELE FERRARA/Shutterstock
Valpolicella, wine and red marble
V
alpolicella is a territory surrounding the area of Verona. There are seven municipalities in this part of Western Veneto that has been well-known for its vineyards since the Roman Age mainly thanks to its famous Amarone as well as the mining of the red marble from Verona. It’s a land spotted with the beautiful Venetian Villas as well as the tiny parish churches, it’s an area featured by beautiful fields that offer unexpected charming landscapes in Summer with the grazing animals and some territories that are used for the growing of the olive trees while the
Salvador Maniquiz/Shutterstock
growing of vegetables and fruit trees, especially the cherries and the peaches, feature the plains. Adige is the main river and it’s the widest water source of Veneto. Valpolicella is also featured by a thick network of museums like the paleontological and pre-historical museum of Sant’Anna d’Alfaedo, the ethnographic and archaeological museum of San Giorgio di Valpolicella and the botanical museum of Molina. It’s an area full of history that keeps an important natural heritage, a valuable wine production and crafting traditions like the marble that is mined in this area.
Panorama da Sangiorgio in Vapolicella REDMASON/Shutterstock
ExVoto78/Shutterstock
Vicenza, the golden city
B
esides being the city of the wonderful Palladian villas, Vicenza is also called the capital city of gold. This ancient activity related to the precious metal is still flourishing and more than one thousand businesses are still present so it’s a National and International reference point in this field. The working of gold in the city of the Olympic Theatre has been a profitable activity since the Middle Ages when the craftsmen belonging to the Guild
of Goldsmiths were more than 150. In the Middle Ages the most important workshops were based in the heart of the city and this art reached its climax during the Renaissance thanks to Valerio Belli and his productions, he was related to Raffaello and Michelangelo. This elegant city whose most famous dish is the codfish, is an open air museum full of architectural wonders and it’s also one of the most ancient capitals of handicrafts.
Cris Foto/Shutterstock
ExVoto78/Shutterstock
EnricoAliberti/Shutterstock
Luciano Mortula/Shutterstock
pointbreak/Shutterstock
Verona, wood and wrought iron
I
t’s the city of love and the amphitheatre, it’s a vibrant modern city located in one of the most developed tourist areas in the world and it’s featured by many different facets. It’s an amazing city from the historical and architectural point of view, its squares and its noble palaces witness a glorious past that is still feeding its mythical fame thanks to its beauty. Verona is also the ideal destination for your shopping since it is spread with wonderful crafted products. The entire area, from the mountains to the
Marmi veronesi al Piccadilly Center (Sydney, Australia)
hills and the plains offer a wide range of typical products. Besides the wine, in the city of the amphitheatre and the amazing Castelvecchio area there are plenty of handcrafted products that will catch your attention like the artistic furniture that was once displayed in beautiful shops. The red marble is one of the typical products from Verona, it’s used to decorate the interiors then there is the wrought iron which is worked in different workshops together with the wood.
Fabio Michele Capelli/Shutterstock
Juliet and her balcony, Verona Vladimir Sazonov/Shutterstock
Padua, the museum of handicrafts
P
adua is located in the core of the plain, it’s an important destination because of its university and its culture. The main landmarks of this city are the cathedral, the Abbey of S. Giustina, the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the Palazzo della Ragione, the Loggia dei Carraresi, the Scrovegni Chapel, Prato della Valle, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, Palazzo del Bo as well as many other churches, noble palaces, villas, theatres and several museums. Padua must be visited and sipped
peter jeffreys/Shutterstock
slowly around its elegant restaurants where you can taste many local special dishes, you can sit at the taverns’ tables and sip a good glass of wine or have a cup of coffee in one of the historical cafés like the mythical Caffè Pedrocchi. The lively historical centre hosts many architectural treasures, the culture and a lot of handcrafted workshops like the violin makers, the furniture restorers, the lace workers, the framers and the goldsmiths. They all make the rich mosaic of this city.
Statue of Antonio Canova wjarek/Shutterstock
Lopesiano/Shutterstock
Javen/Shutterstock
Prato della Valle, Padova Vereshchagin Dmitry/Shutterstock
life_in_a_pixel/Shutterstock
leoks/Shutterstock
Belluno, mosaics and whistles
T
he tie between the people and the nature is unique and it’s the main strength of this Northern edge of Veneto. You are surrounded by the Dolomites that belong to the Unesco Heritagein a territory where the nature, the history and the culture make up an amazing scenery. It’s a magic landscape that keeps many treasures and timeless places like the forests, the fields and the mountains. The towns and the territories around
Julia Kuznetsova/Shutterstock
Belluno are featured by unique tastes and the craftsmanship has always had an undisputed role. Felt objects and sundials, wooden sculptures and earthenware whistles are the precious things that are made in this area. Belluno is called the shining city, its surrounding valleys are spread with tiny workshops rich in treasures made by the fond work of people who have been continuing the old traditions and activities.
Valle Imperina mining center Torruzzlo/Shutterstock
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Piazza del Duomo, Belluno Boerescu/Shutterstock
Acquaviva Picena, historical weaving
Alessandra Boiardi
twitter.com/aleboiardi
Andrea Rustichelli/Shutterstock.com
W
alls and ramparts, a massive stronghold, narrow streets and churches. Acquaviva Picena, not far from Ascoli Piceno, gathers all its beauty in a tiny village laid on the hills of Marche. It’s a place full of history and culture that is well-known for its handcrafted products like the typical pajarole, baskets made of straw and willow that tell a lot about its inhabitants’ traditions. Acquaviva Picena is also an interesting archaeological site since it keeps a heritage that goes back to prehistory and witnesses a manufacturing tradition that goes back to the
Stefano Ember/Shutterstock
Paleolithic Age. Some domestic tools were found as well as some tiles and even some crafted flint objects although at a very elementary level. And the pottery from later Ages was also found together with some objects that enable to date the first important settlements in this area back to the sixth century B.C. You can see this heritage at the Archaeological Museum that is based inside the stronghold, it’s the main landmark of Acquaviva, it’s the best starting point to start your journey through the village and go deep into its artistic and historical richness.
pio 3/Shutterstock
A stronghold and its village
M
aybe you don’t know that Acquaviva was the name of the family related to the most important landmark of this place, the stronghold that was built to show their power the 14th century. It was born to protect the village from the external attacks, nowadays you can admire its huge architecture that has been perfectly kept up to now thanks to the restoration works that took place at the end of the 19th century under the supervision of the architect Giuseppe Sacconi from Marche, well-known
pio3 /Shutterstock
mainly for his contribution to the Vittoriale in Rome. The stronghold is the vibrant heart of the village where many events are held throughout the year. From the main tower you can enjoy an amazing view of the surrounding hills, the Gran Sasso and the Maiella’s peaks down to the sea. The stronghold is perched on the top of one of the two facing hills that are connected by the central square which is the gravity centre between the stronghold and the wide Renaissance square, Terra Nova.
Stefano Ember/Shutterstock
Hands that intertwine Andrea Ioannone instagram.com/andrea_m4stro
Female know-how, the “pajarole”
A
cquaviva Picena can be told by the movements of the female skilled hands that continue a handcraft tradition that is called “pajarole”. The straw and willow baskets have been made since the Middle Ages, they were once used to carry heavy loads of grain and legumes standing on the head that were used in many different ways. All the women from this village used to do this activity and the oldest ones used
to wear a lacy shirt, a skirt with flowers and a black apron. They still gather outside their houses in the Summer evenings to patiently work the straw and they take you back in time. The tradition of pajarole teaches how to be patient: you must wait before using the wicker stems (the willow’s branches sprout in the water) and the straw to make these baskets that are shaped as an upside-down cone.
Stefano Ember/Shutterstock
Veronika Kovalenko/Shutterstock.com
Acquaviva Picena craft market Davide Carpani instagram.com/dc_ph.oto
Red as a peach, a rainbow on your dish
I
f you ask for a peach in Acquaviva you won’t get a fruit but a delicious sweet that reminds of it. It’s made of two parts that are linked by some delicious chocolate and they are soaked in the Alchermes liquor. You can’t miss this delicacy, it’s another typical product that you will find on your table together with other delicacies like the spumini that are almonds croutons. If you search for traditions while you are sitting around a table you’ll be brought back in time by tasting
the “frecandò”, a pan of coloured vegetables from the garden to be tasted with the poor tasty meat that is called “spuntature” that are the least noble parts of the pig. In August you can taste them at the local festival that is dedicated to this delicious food. You can’t forget the taste of wine, the Doc from the Piceno area, Acquaviva Picena is one of the areas where they can produce the white wine like the Pecorino, the Passerina, the Red Offida and the Red Piceno.
Fabio D. instagram.com/oibaffo
Davide Carpani instagram.com/dc_ph.oto
Let’s get married
A
real treat of Acquaviva Picena is “Sponsalia”, an historical re-enactment that offers you the possibility to plunge into a real Medieval atmosphere that has been attracting a lot of visitors since 1988. The invitation is for the wedding of Forastéria, the daughter of Rinaldo from Acquaviva, also called “Grosso” and Rinaldo Brunforte, Bonconte’s son and Fidesmino from Brunforte’s nephew, the Lord of Sarnano and Frederik II’s Vicar in the year 1234 A.D. On this occasion, the stronghold welcomes a Me-
dieval festival for three days and many events and shows are held. It’s an involving event mainly for the period costumes that you can see: they are real handcrafted masterpieces of care and knowledge. The climax of the festival is reached on the last day when the real wedding lunch is celebrated since you can taste real Medieval specialities. And besides the stronghold, the whole historical centre is involved in the recalling of the Middle Ages by displaying many street markets, falconers and street artists.
Acquaviva Picena
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Stefano Ember/Shutterstock.com
MUNICIPALITY OF ACQUAVIVA PICENA
Ascoli Piceno
Ascoli Piceno, Marche Inhabitants: 3740 Altitude: 359 m s.l.m. Surface: 21,06 km² Patron saint: San Nicola di Bari 6/12 Paesi Bandiera Arancione
ER
SCOV
DI
ANCONA
f o t o R o l a n d o P. G u e r z o n i
VENERDÌ 11 OTTOBRE I ORE 20 DOMENICA 13 OTTOBRE I ORE 15,30
DOMENICA 15 DICEMBRE I ORE 17
Modena
FUORI ABBONAMENTO
Luciano
Prima esecuzione
Claude Debussy
Alberto Cara
FUORI ABBONAMENTO
Giacomo Puccini
LA BOHÈME Direttore Aldo Sisillo Regia Leo Nucci
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini Allestimento in coproduzione con Opéra de Marseille
NUOVO ALLESTIMENTO
VENERDÌ 25 OTTOBRE I ORE 20 I TURNO A DOMENICA 27 OTTOBRE I ORE 15,30 I TURNO B MARTEDÌ 29 OTTOBRE I ORE 20 FUORI ABBONAMENTO
Giacomo Puccini
TOSCA Direttore Matteo Beltrami
Regia Joseph Franconi Lee da un’idea di Alberto Fassini
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena Allestimento della Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma
LA NOTTE DI NATALE
Favola musicale in un atto su libretto di Stefano Simone Pintor liberamente tratta dall’omonimo racconto di Nikolaj Vasil’evič Gogol’
Direttore Diego Ceretta Regia Stefano Simone Pintor Coproduzione Teatro dell’Opera Giocosa di Savona Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena
NUOVO ALLESTIMENTO
VENERDÌ 14 FEBBRAIO I ORE 20 I TURNO A DOMENICA 16 FEBBRAIO I ORE 15.30 I TURNO B
Giuseppe Verdi
FALSTAFF Direttore Jordi Bernàcer Regia Leonardo Lidi
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena, Fondazione I Teatri di Reggio Emilia
NUOVO ALLESTIMENTO
MERCOLEDÌ 27 NOVEMBRE I ORE 20 I TURNO A VENERDÌ 29 NOVEMBRE I ORE 20 FUORI ABBONAMENTO DOMENICA 1 DICEMBRE I ORE 15.30 I TURNO B
VENERDÌ 13 MARZO I ORE 20 I TURNO A DOMENICA 15 MARZO I ORE 15.30 I TURNO B
RIGOLETTO Direttore David Crescenzi
TURANDOT Direttore Valerio Galli
Giuseppe Verdi
Regia Fabio Sparvoli
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Azienda Teatro del Giglio
NUOVO ALLESTIMENTO
fondatori
VENERDÌ 3 APRILE I ORE 20 I TURNO A DOMENICA 5 APRILE I ORE 15.30 I TURNO B
Giacomo Puccini
Regia Giuseppe Frigeni
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena, Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza Allestimento della Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena
PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE Direttore Marco Angius Regia Renaud Doucet
Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Regio di Parma, Fondazione Teatri di Piacenza, Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena
NUOVO ALLESTIMENTO
VENERDÌ 8 MAGGIO I ORE 20 I TURNO A DOMENICA 10 MAGGIO I ORE 15,30 I TURNO B
Prima assoluta in coproduzione con l’Altro Suono festival 2020 Luigi Cinque (Italia) Valentin Ruckebier (Austria) Jasmina Mitrusic Djeric (Serbia)
CROSSOPERA Otherness, Fear and Discovery
Opera in tre episodi su libretto di Sandro Cappelletto, Valentin Ruckebier e Jasmina Mitrusic Djeric Progetto vincitore del bando di cooperazione internazionale “Europa Creativa”
Direttore Mikica Jevtic Regia Gregor Horres
Ensemble del progetto CrossOpera: Modena, Linz, Novi Sad Cast “giovani interpreti” del progetto CrossOpera: Modena, Linz, Novi Sad Coproduzione Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Modena Landestheater di Linz, Serbian National Theatre di Novi Sad
Gli abbonamenti alla Stagione lirica 2019 - 2020 sono in vendita: da sabato 7 a venerdì 20 settembre per gli abbonati alla Stagione precedente, da martedì 24 settembre anche per i nuovi abbonati. Biglietteria del Teatro Comunale Corso Canalgrande 85 ı Modena ı telefono 059 2033010 ı fax 059 203 3011 biglietteria@teatrocomunalemodena.it ı Acquisto telefonico: 059 2033010 ı Informazioni: www.teatrocomunalemodena.it La direzione si riserva di apportare ai programmi eventuali modifiche che si rendessero necessarie per cause di forza maggiore.
i m m a g i n e c o o rd i n a t a : w w w. a v e n i d a . i t
2019.2020
TEATRO COMUNALE LUCIANO PAVAROTTI
Frosolone, shining blades and ancient stones
Cinzia Meoni
facebook.com/cinzia.meoni
michelecaminati/Shutterstock.com
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Giambattista Lazazzera/Shutterstock
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
B
eechwoods, forests, lakes, farmhouses and strangely shaped rocks of the Morgia Quadra. Frosolone is standing out in this rural landscape in the province of Isernia, it’s a bunch of houses on the highlands of Colle dell’Orso and it’s the home of excellent handcrafted products. Scissors, knives, daggers, sabers and cutting tools of all shapes become artworks thanks to a technique that was passed on from father to son. Frosolone’s history of craftsmanship is celebrated by the monument to the little knife
(penknife) that you can see at the Cutting Tools Museum (Museo dei Ferri Taglienti). Some works dating back to the last centuries are exhibited in the museum and you can also see the craftsmen while they are shaping and working the different types of blades. If you are fond of these types of things there are two unmissable appointments: the forging and the National Trade Fair Exhibition of Scissors and Knives: they are both held in August when the sound of the hammer on the anvil also becomes the rhythm of Summer.
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Cheese makers and folklore from Molise
T
ime sounds still in this tiny village set in one of the most beautiful landscapes of the Central Apennines where the old traditions are melted with the daily life and there’s an entire museum dedicated to the local traditions. These are the places of the cattle driving and the sheep tracks that are celebrated by the “shepherd monument” at the entrance of the village. You just have to look around to see the cows in the co-
lourful fields, especially in Spring. If you get into the “Shepherd’s hut” you can see the working of the pasta filata that is carried out by the master cheese makers and you can also taste the best products of this tradition: the caciocavallo cheese, the ricotta cheese and the manteca. The festivals that are held in Summer tell about the shepherds’ skills and their ability at working the mountain cows’ milk.
Preparazione della ricotta Alextype/Shutterstock
Nicola Lanese
Caciocavallo francesco de marco/Shutterstock
Strolling around the historical palaces and the breathless nature
Y
ou can enter the village through one of the three doors, Santa Maria, Pietro and Sant’Angelo, then you are welcomed by a series of noble palaces, historical shops and religious buildings like the Monastery of Capuchins dating back to 1580 or the church of Saint Mary of Assumption that keeps a cycle of oil paintings by Giacinto Diana, a painter from the 18th century. In the Monastery of Saint Chiara which dates back to the 15th century the City Hall is based nowadays. In Spring and in Summer you can leave from the hermitage of Sant Aegidius and rich
Giambattista Lazazzera/Shutterstock
the farmhouse that belongs to Pasquale Paolucci, a house of wonders where many stones reminding the people, the animals and the daily objects have been collected or you can walk in the beechwoods of Mount Marchetta and Colle D’Orso, searching for the beech-tree of Pedalone, a hundred years old tree. If you like doing sport you can try the challenge of the canyon of Colle d’Orso or you can go climbing or you can go horse-riding in the surroundings and you can even have an exciting experience by going hang gliding on the highlands of Colle dell’Orso.
Giambattista Lazazzera/Shutterstock
Colle dell’Orso michelecaminati/Shutterstock
Giambattista Lazazzera/Shutterstock
Frosolone on your table
F
rosolone is a land of peasants and all its excellent products remind of ancient rural traditions that make this village a unique site. We can mention the “sagne and beans” (sort of lasagne with beans) they are still served in an earthenware pot that once used to be left on the fire by the chimney while the peasants were going to work in the fields. Another typical dish is the “soup of cascigni” that is made of the fields’ herbs that were once picked up for need and that are now used to make one of the main dishes of this village. There are also the broths, the ro-
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
ast meat, the “petacce e fasciuole” (sort of tagliatelle with beans), the “sughi in tiella” (typical sauces) the “fritti della fessora” (fried fish), the “polenta coi cicori” (polenta with chicory) and the “pizza di grandinie”, made with water and corn flour and baked in the fireplace, a poor dish whose tradition is matched to the “fuje” that are the vegetables, the salami and the cheese from the mountains. They are ancient simple tastes that keep their old authenticity, they are brought to a new life in the stone houses that are spread in this village of Molise.
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Parade floats, songs and festivals
T
here are many festivals that are held in Frosolone all year through, they celebrate the local traditions and the local craftsmanship. The dance is started by the celebration of Sant’Antonio Abate (on the 17 of January) with the blessing of the animals in the church in order to remind the ancient rural roots of this village. There are choirs that sing all night long accompanied by the accordions and the organ grinders in exchange for food supplies like the wine, the salami, the cheese and the swe-
Tommaso Labella
ets. In May the cattle driving is celebrated while in August there are many occasions to celebrate starting with the parade of floats that is held on the first day of the month which is followed by the “Festival of peppers and codfish”. The year ends with the “Festival Truffles & Molise” in December, it’s a trade-show that aims at promoting this treasure of the woods and the surrounding territory that is rich of scorzone and bianchetto truffles and above all the very precious Tuber Magnatum.
Carlo Loberto
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Pro Loco Frosolone - facebook.com/pg/prolocofrosolone
Frosolone
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Giambattista Lazazzera/Shuitterstock.com
MUNICIPALITY OF FROSOLONE
CAMPOBASSO
Borghi più belli d’Italia Paesi Bandiera Arancione
ER
SCOV
DI
Isernia
Isernia, Molise Inhabitants: 3099 Altitude: 894 m s.l.m. Area: 49.89 km² Patron saint: Sant’Egidio
VENERDÌ SABATO
Simona PK Daviddi
facebook.com/simona.pk.daviddi
Lazio,
the handicraft inside its DNA
Tarquinia Museum francesco cepolina/Shutterstock
Calcata mekcar/Shutterstock.com
L
azio is a region with thousand facets, it’s surrounded by the Royal beauty of Rome and spotted with amazing tiny villages and vibrant coastline resorts. One for all: Calcata, it pops up on an endless green plain with its perched houses that were the enclave and the buen retiro of the artists and the craftsmen. The common denominator of Lazio is the typical craft production, the hand-working of raw materials, the creation of objects of rare beauty as well as the excellent food and wine and the recipes that have been passed on
along the centuries. The craft traditions have got ancient origins that are lost in the mists of time. You just have to stroll around Rome and read the names of the narrow streets and the little squares to find out the ancient guilds that were based there together with the workshops, the shops where craftspeople used to learn their art: you will find the streets of woodworkers, the crossbowmen, the chairs makers, the blacksmiths just to make a few examples. So let’s start discovering the several excellent craft productions from Lazio.
Tarquinia Claudio Giovanni Colombo/Shutterstock
The goldsmith art for everyone
A
few people know that the handicraft from Lazio has been developing along two different parallel “tracks” along the centuries: there was the “cultured” precious one that developed around the Churches and the noble classes and it was featured by fine valuable artworks and the “provincial” one that was born to meet the primary needs of the less wealthy social classes that little by little improved to meet the needs of the middle-class too. If this was true regarding the working of metals to make decorative artworks or simple pots it was even more
evident regarding the goldsmith’s art: there was a category of craftsmen that used to produce objects that were completely unaffordable for the ordinary people, just think of some silver or golden crosses that were produced in the area of Sabina but there was also a category of craftsmen that improved their art (the jewellery schools from the area of Castelli and Tarquinia were very interesting) that started to produce beautiful objects for the daily life activities like the nurses’ jewels made of gold and coral that belonged to the nurses from Ciociaria.
The coral: between faith and superstition
A
s we have just said, the coral started to be used very long ago mainly in Ciociaria, its use and its working have got very ancient origins that are mixed with the folklore and the popular beliefs that used to give to this wonderful red gold different meanings that were passed on from generation to generation: it’s not by chance that it appears on the traditional costumes. Actually, if the coral was matched to the character of Jesus according to the Christian eschatology, it represented a good luck charm against the evil eye for the women from Ciociaria, it was a symbol of fertility and it could
also heal some illnesses like the leprosy and the wounds. Apart from superstitions, in Ciociaria the women who used to wear a lot of coral belonged to the higher social classes: it was the curĂ glia, the necklace, of different dimensions and the sciuccĂ glie, long earrings that were never missing on the official occasions and both the noblewomen and the peasants used to wear them. Coral jewels were also given to the nurses to thank them for breastfeeding the babies. One last curiosity, men used to wear coral jewels too, especially the earrings and the pendants but they were often bandits.
Isola del Liri, Frosinone Stefano_Valeri/Shutterstock
znatalias/Shutterstock
John_Silver/Shutterstock
Alatri Stefano_Valeri/Shutterstock
Anagni ValerioMei/Shutterstock
Kraft74/Shutterstock
Not gold only
I
f the goldsmith art has reached excellent levels even the working of less noble metals has a long tradition in Lazio that developed once again along two different tracks: the decorations and the jewels on the one hand and the everyday objects on the other hand. In Alatri, Anagni and Fiuggi, for instance, they work copper, they make the “conconi”, the typical water containers that are now used as an adornment while in Frosinone, Sora and Poggio Bustone (in the province of Rieti) the copper carved working is passed on
from the older generations, it sounds it has Etruscan origins and it’s used to make the pots and kitchen tools of rare beauty; the working by using the hammering technique can still be found in Latina where they produce vases and miniaturized objects. Veroli is a little jewel of Ciocaria, it’s laid by a hill and it’s famous for the working of the wrought iron to make beds, lamps and gates and it was also the place were bells have been melted for many centuries together with Tivoli, Latina and Tarquinia.
Cori VLADISLAV GORNYKH/Shutterstock.com
Warm wood
E
ngravers, cabinet makers and cane-workers have been following handicraft working methods for centuries to make high-quality furniture and furnishings. In Sora, in the province of Frosinone, they make wonderful carved furniture, in Ripi and Veroli (both in the province of Frosinone) you can find beautiful wooden carved furniture that remind the choirs of churches and abbeys. The production from Ciocaria and the area of Castles are more “rustic” like the “madie” (cupboards) from Vico (in the province of Viterbo) decorated with the graffiti and concentric semi-circles. We
must also mention Anagni (Frosinone) if we want to continue talking about the peculiar workings since it’s famous for its “tarsie” (carvings): they are wooden tiles of different shapes that are crossed to make a decorative motif. The ancient technique of coopers is used in Carpineto Romano to make wonderful boxed, pipes and umbrellas for the shepherds; an ancient technique is also used to make the straw chairs in Cori (Latina), Turania (Rieti) and Canepina (Viterbo) and in the shipyards of Formia (Latina) the ships are made by using the old master carpenters’ skills.
Formia leoks/Shutterstock.com
Madie Falegnameria Ceccarini
Palestrina guido nardacci/Shutterstock
Embroideries, embroideries, embroideries
W
hen you mention the embroideries, your mind goes straight to the so-called “punto Palestrina”(the Palestrina stitch), that was used to make the delicate embroideries from the city of Palestrina, in the province of Rome. These embroideries were used in the ancient times to decorate the clothes, this technique became so famous that there was even a school during the period of the Imperial Rome. Palestrina is the most important city for the art of embroidery but there are other
excellent activities in the region that are related to the needle and the thread like Alatri, Anagni and Sezze in the province of Frosinone, Spino Saturnia in the province of Latina and Bagnoregio in the province of Viterbo: Bagnoregio is a tiny village featured by narrow streets, it was caught in several movies and it’s a wonder of nature, it’s suspended on the top of a rocky edge and if you stroll around its narrow streets you will be able to meet the weavers at work in the hot sun in the mild seasons.
Bagnoregio Jan Miko/Shutterstock
KinoAlyse/Shutterstock
Design pottery
T
he art of pottery in Lazio is another spearhead: Civita Castellana, in the province of Viterbo, can boast a production that is featured by many different colours and fine details. Ancient findings can be seen in the area of the Tuscia, this precious working can be dated back to the Etruscan period and this art that is protected by the brand “Doc Pottery Tuscia Viterbese” has been passed on from fathers to children. The techniques that are used are still very strict, the clay
Civita di Bagnoregio EniSine/Shutterstock
objects must be cooked at different temperatures then they are worked by hands in the authorized workshops. You’ll get lost around the workshops and the shops where these everyday objects are made since they are real artworks: they are the perfect souvenirs to bring home after visiting Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Bomarzo, Tuscania and Vasanello. Finally, for the enthusiasts of pottery, a visit at the Pottery Museum of Tarquinia to see the delicate precious findings can’t be missed.
Civita Castellana Ivano de Santis/Shutterstock
G-Phone La table di Danilo Cirioni
Parco dei mostri, Bomarzo Luca Lorenzelli/Shutterstock
robertonencini/Shutterstock
Tuscania ValerioMei/Shutterstock
Earthenware: from the ancient times to the future
L
et’s shift our focus from the working aimed at producing everyday objects to the one that aims at producing precious objects as well as common tools: the champions of earthen can be found in Ciociaria and in the Upper Lazio where this type of working can be dated back to the Etruscans while the introduction of colours dates back to the 13th century when the mugs and the plates became green and brown thanks to the use of the copper oxide and the manganese. The statues of the nativity scene (Presepe) of Arpino and the production of Pontecorvo, both near Frosinone, deserve to be mentioned. Here
the earthenware is worked to make the “cannate”, the beautiful pots that are used as precious furnishing objects made of red earth. The area of Viterbo too, that goes without saying considering the “tie” between the pottery and the earthenware, can be considered an excellent place spread with workshops mainly in Acquapendente, a wonderful village overlooked by a charming castle or Bomarzo with its peculiar Park of the Monsters, Tarquinia where the Middle Ages is still in the air, Tuscania, spectacular at sunset when the sun warms up the tiny village and Vasanello, with its massive stronghold.
Arpino Giambattista Lazazzera/Shutterstock
Sorbis/Shutterstock
Farfa ValerioMei/Shutterstock
Subiaco Paoloesse/Shutterstock
Carpets and tapestries
I
t’s true that the art of weaving is one of the most ancient in the world, there are frames and spinning wheels with many different shapes that were found all over the world. But it’s also true that the different people in the world have been using different techniques, materials and workings and they have different types of production that became unique traditions. They crossed the borders and some of them deserve to be rediscovered nowadays. This is true for the weaving traditions of Lazio where
two important places are still active: Farfa (Rieti) in the Sabina area where they make wonderful wool carpets as well as fine linen and carded wool fabrics and Subiaco (Rome) where the tablecloths and the carpets are the protagonists. Besides stocking up the fabrics these two villages deserve to be visited because of some architectural beauties like the Benedictine Abbey of Farfa that hosted Charles the Great and the fortress of Subiaco which was entered in the list of “the most beautiful villages of Italy”.
Civita di Bagnoregio jackbolla/Shutterstock
CONFARTIGIANATO IMPRESE LAZIO
www.confartigianatolazio.it • info@confartigianatolazio.it
CONFARTIGIANATO DI FROSINONE ASSOCIAZIONE PROVINCIALE www.confartigianato.fr.it • infoweb@confartigianato.fr.it
A.S.I.P. - ASSOCIAZIONE SERVIZI ALLE IMPRESE E PERSONE DELLA PROVINCIA DI LATINA segreteria@confartigianatolatina.it
CONFARTIGIANATO DI RIETI UNIONE PROVINCIALE DELLE PICCOLE E MEDIE IMPRESE www.confartigianatorieti.it • info@confartigianatorieti.it ASSOCIAZIONE CONFARTIGIANATO ROMA CITTA’ METROPOLITANA www.confartigianatoroma.it • segreteria@confartigianatoroma.it
ASSOCIAZIONE PROVINCIALE DELL`ARTIGIANATO E DELLA P.M.I. DI VITERBO www.confartigianato.vt.it/cvt/ • info@confartigianato.vt.it
Tivoli ValerioMei/Shutterstock
Monterotondo ValerioMei/Shutterstock
All the travertine’s colours
I
f we had to declare the symbolic stone of Lazio, we’d have a few doubts: we’d all agree about the travertine, this limestone rock that was already used in the first millennium B.C. It’s featured by a high porosity that enables it to absorb different types of oxides and by an endless range of colours from the white to the brown and all the shades of yellow and red. The tradition is so rooted that the best type of travertine is still considered the one coming
Tivoli Ragemax/Shutterstock
from Lazio, it’s appreciated at an International level mainly the one coming from Tivoli but there are some caves in Monterotondo and Palidoro as well in the province of Rome and in Cisterna di Latina. The travertine from Rome was called “lapis tiburtinus” by the Latin people. Besides the mining activities there is also an important handicraft tradition that makes products for the construction sector and it also makes fine ornaments.
The cuisine: endless typical products
T
he excellent products from Lazio, the raw materials that are used to make the worldwide famous iconic dishes are a true joy for your eyes and your mouths. The little delicious delicate strawberries of Nemi and the “porchetta” (roast pork) of Ariccia are just a few examples related to the territory of the Roman Castles, an area that is perfect for a one-day trip outside the capital city to match the nature with the food and the architectural beauties. What can we say about the artichokes? Expertly cooked in
pirtuss/Shutterstock
Artichoke “Jewish style“ andrea federici/Shutterstock
the “Jewish style” or we can mention the prince of the tables, the Dop pecorino cheese whose taste is the outcome of what is given by the flocks that directly descend from their Latin ancestors when the pecorino cheese was on the tables of the Imperial Rome. If you go to Aprilia, in the province of Latina, you’ll taste the local production, they still use the hand-salting technique. Lastly there’s the liquid gold, the extra-virgin oil with two Dop (Protected Designation of Origin) brands, the aromatic Sabinan which is produced in the provinces of Rome and Rieti and the intense fruity Canino which is produced in the area of Viterbo.
DoorZone/Shutterstock
Dmitry Trubitsyn/Shutterstock
Bucatini all’amatriciana Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock
The traditional dishes
C
arbonara, amatriciana, abbacchio, gricia, cacio & pepe, the list is long: there are plenty of local dishes that have become the “greatest hits” of the Italian cuisine, also considering that the food and wine tourisms is nowadays the most popular type of travelling although you can’t say you really know a region without tasting its traditional dishes. The type of cuisine of Lazio doesn’t lean towards the light food but its proposals are compelling: could you decline a dish of “bucatini all’amatriciana”? What about
the crispy bacon of “spaghetti alla carbonara” or the cream made of the pecorino cheese mixed with pepper and the pasta’s boiling water for the “spaghetti cacio & pepe”? The bravest ones must taste the “coda alla vaccinara” (it’s a cow’s stewed tail seasoned with the vegetables), the “abbacchio alla romana” (lamb meat), the “trippa alla trasteverina”, the “saltimbocca alla romana” (an escalope of veal filled with ham and sage) and the “pajata”, rigatoni (a type of maccheroni) seasoned with the calf’s guts.
Coda alla vaccinara Fanfo/Shutterstock
Saltimbocca alla romana AS Food studio/Shutterstock
The soldiers of Bacchus
S
uch a rich variety of food must necessarily be accompanied by a proper glass of wine and the production in Lazio ranges from the light white wines that are perfect with the appetizers to the stronger tasted red wines up to the desserts wines like the Moscato and the Aleatico. It goes without saying that the cultivation of grape has got very ancient origins, even before the rising of the Roman Empire. It’s not by chance that the presence of some old local vines like the white grape called Bellone and the red grape called Cesanese are still important. Their production has been improving in the last years and there are 27 Doc (Controlled Denomination of Origin) wines and three Docg (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed
Bolsena Girodiboa/Shutterstock
Origin) wines in the area of the castles with the Cannellino from Frascati and the Frascati Superiore, both made of the Malvasia grapes from Candia and the Frascati wine that was the first wine in Italy to be awarded with the Docg label. We mustn’t forget the Cesanese del Piglio coming from the area of Frosinone, it’s a red wine made of the grapes that get its name. A proper wine tasting tour must also include a stop in Cerveteri (Rome) and in Tarquinia (Viterbo) both featured by a rich production of red and white wines. The province of Viterbo is the “homeland” of two famous wines: the Est! Est!! Est!!!, the Doc wine from Montefiascone and the Doc Aleatico from Gradoli to be sipped especially in their “passito” version.
barmalini/Shutterstock
Pixeljoy/Shutterstock
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Marzia Giacobbe/Shutterstock
Tony Coke/Shutterstock
Giacomo R. Bartocci/Shutterstock
Porta Portese: the handicraft world on a market place
W
e can’t finish our raid in the world of the local craftsmanship without mentioning a place that gathers all the traditions and the most excellent products by offering a view of the whole handicraft production and the popular noise of Rome: we are talking about the outdoor market of Porta Portese, celebrated by the movies and by the songs, who has never hummed at least once “Porta Portese” by Claudio Baglioni or has never recognized the stalls in the movie “Ladri di Biciclette” (Bicycle thieves) and “Sciuscià” (shoeshine) two movies that describe the city after the Second World War and the market as the main place where the black market used to be held in Campo de’
Marzia Giacobbe/Shutterstock
Fiori. Porta Portese is a gathering point where the handicraft products are exchanged, the used products are sold and you can find some objects you could never find on the traditional markets. If you fancy waking up early on a Sunday morning, the market opens at 6.00 a.m. and closes at 2.00 p.m., you’ll be able to stroll around the stalls belonging to the several second-hand dealers and you’ll have the possibility to bring home some real “treasures” from the present and the past local traditions. The wide range of things you can find there contributed to the spreading of this famous saying about the Trastevere market “You can find everything at Porta Portese, from pills to a Jumbo Jet”.
Tivoli Vladimir Sazonov/Shutterstock
OPERA
BALLET
GIUSEPPE VERDI
PËTR IL’IČ ČAJKOVSKIJ
CONDUCTOR DANIELE GATTI DIRECTOR VALENTINA CARRASCO
VINCENZO BELLINI
I CAPULETI E I MONTECCHI CONDUCTOR DANIELE GATTI DIRECTOR DENIS KRIEF
PËTR IL’IČ ČAJKOVSKIJ
EVGENIJ ONEGIN CONDUCTOR JAMES CONLON DIRECTOR ROBERT CARSEN
SWAN LAKE
CONDUCTOR NIR KABARETTI / CARLO DONADIO CHOREOGRAPHER BENJAMIN PECH
SERATA JEROME ROBBINS CONDUCTOR CARLO DONADIO CHOREOGRAPHER JEROME ROBBINS
IL CORSARO CONDUCTOR ALEXEI BAKLAN CHOREOGRAPHER JOSÉ CARLOS MARTÍNEZ
GIACOMO PUCCINI
SUITE EN BLANC / SERENADE / BOLERO
CONDUCTOR ALEJO PÉREZ DIRECTOR AI WEIWEI
CONDUCTOR FAÇAL KAROUI CHOREOGRAPHY SERGE LIFAR, GEORGE BALANCHINE, KRZYSZTOF PASTOR
LEOŠ JANÁČEK
MAURICE JARRE
TURANDOT
KÁŤA KABANOVÁ CONDUCTOR DAVID ROBERTSON DIRECTOR RICHARD JONES
GIUSEPPE VERDI
LUISA MILLER CONDUCTOR ROBERTO ABBADO DIRECTOR DAMIANO MICHIELETTO
GEORGES BIZET
CARMEN
CONDUCTOR BERTRAND DE BILLY DIRECTOR EMILIO SAGI
IGOR’ STRAVINSKIJ
THE RAKE’S PROGRESS
CONDUCTOR DANIELE GATTI DIRECTOR GRAHAM VICK
GIACOMO PUCCINI
TOSCA
CONDUCTOR PIER GIORGIO MORANDI DIRECTOR ALESSANDRO TALEVI
GIUSEPPE VERDI
LA TRAVIATA CONDUCTOR PAOLO ARRIVABENI DIRECTOR SOFIA COPPOLA
OLTRE L’OPERA
Roma Opera aperta
SEASON 2019-20
NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS
CONDUCTOR LOUIS LOHRASEB CHOREOGRAPHER ROLAND PETIT
CARACALLA 2020 GIUSEPPE VERDI
AIDA
CONDUCTOR JORDI BERNÀCER DIRECTOR DENIS KRIEF
GIOACHINO ROSSINI
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
CONDUCTOR STEFANO MONTANARI DIRECTOR LORENZO MARIANI
FRANZ LEHÁR
Ettore Festa, HaunagDesign - Illustration by Gianluigi Toccafondo
LES VÊPRES SICILIENNES
THE MERRY WIDOW CONDUCTOR STEFANO MONTANARI DIRECTOR DAMIANO MICHIELETTO
STRICTLY GERSHWIN CONDUCTOR GARETH VALENTINE CHOREOGRAPHER DEREK DEANE
GIUSEPPE VERDI
MESSA DA REQUIEM CONDUCTOR MYUNG-WHUN CHUNG
IGOR’ STRAVINSKIJ
OEDIPUS REX
CONDUCTOR DANIELE GATTI
operaroma.it
FOUNDERS
PRIVATE SHAREHOLDERS
PATRONS
Golden glows of Calabria
Grazia Gioè
linkedin.com/in/grazia-gioè
Federico Cimino/Shutterstock.com
A
mong the different types of handcrafts from Calabria, the art of making jewels is very important and it’s rated among the most noble art forms from this region. In Calabria the gold handcrafting is a very ancient art and it’s a smooth balance between the different historical ages that have been featuring this art field since the most remote time. There are plenty of jewels and precious objects that perfectly describe this region’s gold crafting skills, some of them even date back to the Neolithic Age when the coral and the mother of pearl were already used
although only because of their apotropaic function. This is a function that has been adding more symbols and virtual values along the centuries: historical, archaeological, cultural, religious, social values that have been featuring all the following dominations. They are the precious jewels made by the great Masters from Calabria among which Spadafora, Affidato, Sacco, just to make a few examples. They are well-known all over the world and they have been always been inspired by the traditions of Magna Grecia, the Roman and the Byzantine ones.
The goldsmith tradition of Calabria
A
mong the different production techniques that are used, the one that takes inspiration from Magna Grecia is with no doubt the most precious thanks to the working of gold “filigree”. This technique can perpetuate the myth of immortality by taking inspiration from the jewels’ shapes that used to decorate the traditional costumes and the sacred images of Magna Grecia. The jewels from Calabria are appreciated also at an International level mainly for their creations dedicated to the sacred art. The Masters’ skills combine the tech-
Tropea DPVUE Images/Shutterstock.com
niques from Magna Grecia and the other stylistic elements that have been featuring the history and the archaeology of this region as well as the other elements coming from the Eastern and Arabic countries, the Byzantine and Baroque culture by making fine objects. They create their elegant jewels that are the symbols of the Made in Italy in their elegant workshops spread in the cities and in the villages like Crotone, Longobucco, San Giovanni in Fiore and Tropea, these jewels are featured by an incomparable unique style.
The style first, then the shape
T
he goldsmith tradition also offers its best expression with the production of precious, classical, modern, popular and design objects. The jewels makers enrich their products with the ancient shapes, the modern details and their creativity. They use different working techniques for the design and the production of their jewels; the wax casting, the engraving and the stones setting. The skilled hands of these masters can shape the jewels according to the traditional
styles or they can shape modern objects that are made of different materials by keeping the features of this ancient land. The jewels that recall the peasant art are made by using the traditional materials like the coral, the silver, the mother of pearl, the onyx, the cornelian, the amethyst, the glaze and the glass paste. Then it’s the shape’s turn: with a little bump, shaped like a fish, like a button, a mermaid, a key, with flower designs and so on.
The golden symbols of Calabria
P
earls and mother of pearl as a symbol of fertility, red coral against the bad luck, onyx for the deep thoughts, garnet as a symbol of fidelity and many other meanings can be found in the stones that are used to make the jewels like the earrings, the necklaces, the rings and the brooches. The earrings made of gold leaves are very famous, they take inspiration from the late Roman Age and the Middle Ages, the ones that are decorated with the little beads recall the Renaissance and the Baro-
que tradition. The necklaces are made of gold, pearls and corals; the brooches are always pendants; the pendants have got the shape of a ribbon with flowers decorations and they sometimes have the shape of an animal. All the jewels feature a ritual reference, a symbol for the human souls or an apotropaic meaning mainly the rings with a romantic symbology. The aim is trying to represent the inner contradictions of people from Calabria, their wisdom, their hopes and their myths.
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Capo Colonna LianeM/Shutterstock.com
craiweb.it craiweb.it
Carola Traverso Saibante
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Jiri Hera/Shutterstock.com
A craftswoman in the kitchen Sagne Karissaa/Shutterstock.com
Roviano Paola Leone/Shutterstock.com
the eggs to make the ‘cuzzi’. They are worked by using the rolling pin, their size and shape is similar to the “strozzapreti” from Emilia. Seasoned with garlic, oil, pepper, tomatoes, pecorino cheese or the local cheese they are served on wooden plates. The ‘sagne ncannulate’ that means “twisted” are typical from Salento where the home-made pasta is pure craftsmanship and art. They are long lasagna curls that are rolled and they are decorated with the sauce and the strong taste of ricotta.
A craftswoman in the kitchen
S
tones, chisels, cookies, cactus thorns, dolphins, little sausages and paintbrushes… crafts and food are “mixed” in the labs of our country kitchens. Italy is thrilling under the co-ordination of the master chefs who are hidden everywhere. Even the name of the different types of pasta sound moulded by the hands dusted with flour of many ageless housekeepers. So, let’s start with pasta. Roviano is a tiny village where the hard and the soft flour are mixed with the maize flour and
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Salami from land and sea J
ust like the chef can find the perfect cooking moment for the pasta, the perfect fisherman from Liguria exactly knows when the fish filet has reached its perfect maturation in the sun. That’s how the ‘musciàmme’ was born, it’s a particular type of dried fish meat to be cut into thin slices like a truffle. Nowadays the tuna is used but the dolphins were used in the past until it was permitted by the law. From the panoramic village of Coreglia Antelminelli, in the Tuscan Apennines, let’s taste the salami. The art of pork butchery is excellent and it gives the peo-
ple the “porcino mushroom’s bite”, a tasty little sausage made of the goat’s gut, the ham meat and the dried crumbled mushrooms. Pennapiedimonte, meaning pin at the foot of the Mount, is a village set on a limy rocky edge of Eastern Majella where the craftsmen work what is given by the land: the white stone. The sausage that has the same name is flavoured with the local herbs like the thyme, the juniper, the rosemary, the bay, the chives, the spicy pepper, the fennel and the sage. It’s a recipe that has been passed on from the older generation of butchers.
Nitr/Shutterstock.com
Alberto Masnovo/Shutterstock.com
Coreglia Antelminelli Claudio Giovanni Colombo/Shutterstock.com
alb_photo/Shutterstock.com
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Pennapiedimonte robypangy/Shutterstock.com
A craftswoman in the kitchen Mila Muzyka/Shutterstock.com
Pasture flowers and thornless liquors E
lsewhere there’s a flowered balcony called Costiera Amalfitana: the baskets’ reed and the sandals’ straw are weaved here, the fences are made of iron, the floors are covered in fine pottery and the portals are made of stones. Then there’s the Nanassino, a delicious liquor that is home-made by using the prickly pears. Stones also lead us to Latronico, a “hidden place” in the mountains of Basilicata although it is so near the sea. The alabaster is the main stone here and the typical salt biscuits from this area have
got the same colour. They have the shape of the number eight, it’s a mix of Carosella flour, an old type of soft wheat that is still produced in the Pollino Park. Some good cheese is the perfect match for this type of biscuits. At the bottom of Monte Rosa they make the Macagn, it belongs to the Slow Food Organization, it’s made of the caws’ whole milk and it’s made after each milking that is twice a day: that’s why the scent of pastures and flowers come to your nose from this dough of milk.
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Monte Rosa sbellott/Shutterstock.com
CatchaSnap/Shutterstock.com
A craftswoman in the kitchen
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
StockImageFactory/Shutterstock.com
FMilano_Photography/Shutterstock.com
Fake fruit and noble butter B
y association let’s talk about butter. Did you know there’s an Italian ‘ghee’? It’s a clarified butter produced in the Aosta Valley that is called ‘beuro colò’. «It’s soured-cream butter and we make it by using the traditional method. In my grandmother’s days it was the only way to preserve the butter inside an earthenware pot in the cellar until the following year. You put it on the fire and you remove the froth like the broth until you can see the bottom of the pot», Luisa La Croix tells us, she makes the butter
and the cheese. The working’s outcome is some pure fat, a noble healthy butter with a warm taste. We need some sweets now, or some fruit. The Martorana fruit comes from the monastery of Agrigento, it’s considered an Italian handcrafted product and it’s famous all over the world. The marzipan is shaped to become a fig, a tomato, an orange and even the garlic, it’s perfectly painted and the final outcome is a little gourmet masterpiece. It’s an amazing way to finish our journey through the typical Italian food.
A craftswoman in the kitchen
Chiesa di Santo Spirito, Agrigento Serjio74/Shutterstock.com CatchaSnap/Shutterstock.com
d n e k e e yw
d e e Gr
Luca Sartori
twitter.com/LucaSartoriIT
Etruscan moods
Mark Zhu/Shutterstock.com
T
he territory between the Cimini and the Sabini Mountains is an area of strong tastes and old traditions. Some important places that are famous for their food and wine products are set between Viterbo and the wide province of Rome. In Winter they celebrate their best products, the treasure of their territories. The oil and the wine are the protagonists of the Italian tables and here, one hour far from the centre of Rome, two important festivals are held at the week-ends of November. Our tour is starting in Vignanello. It was an ancient domain of the Papal State, this village is set at 400 metres of altitude and it’s featured by a beautiful historical centre. The original settlement developed on
Vignanello Grifone97/Shutterstock.com
a hill surrounded by two valleys crossed by two rivers on the border with the village of Vallerano that we’ll reach after a short walk. Then we’ll have dinner at the restaurant Al Poggio, we’ll start with an appetizer, the chestnuts (marroni) with bacon, the fennel and the honey from the chestnut trees, we’ll continue with a dish of chestnuts gnocchi with the boar’s sauce and an arista with the chestnuts. Everything will be accompanied by some good Doc red wine from Vignatello which is featured by a dry, warm and balanced taste. We’ll spend the night in Vignanello, at the B&B Casa delle Meraviglie, a beautiful house surrounded by many green chestnut trees.
Arista ai marroni lericettedei5mondi.blogspot.com
Alba Rostislav Glinsky/Shutterstock.com
Cimini Mountains Lucky Team Studio/Shutterstock.com
Vignanello ValerioMei/Shutterstock.com
Saturday from Vignanello to Civita Castellana T
he festival of the New Wine will warm us up along the routes of tastes and the old crafts, the parades and the music will keep us company. This important Fall appointment in the area of Tuscia near Viterbo will give us the chance to stop at the typical wine cellars or at the oil mills to taste and buy a bottle of wine or oil. This festival is a great opportunity to visit the best corners of this village accompanied by the local expert guides. We’ll visit the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Presentazione, built between 1710 and 1723 by the will of the prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli, the feudal lord of Vignanello and the bishop Galeazzo Mare-
scotti, we’ll also visit the Connutti, the underground tunnels, the Ruspoli castle and its beautiful Renaissance garden which is considered one the most beautiful gardens of Europe. Then we’ll reach Civita Castellana, half an hour by car passing by the centre of Fabbrica di Roma. Perched on a rocky spur that is stretched between two deep canyons that are created by the tributaries of the river Treja, Civita Castellana was the capital city of the Falisci, the name with which the Romans called the ancient people from the Southern borders. We’ll spend our afternoon strolling around the historical village of Civita Castellana and we’ll also buy some good local
products. Civita Castellana is one of the main places for the production of pottery thanks to the nearby fireclay and China clay caves. If you love the vases, the painted tiles and the jewels you must stop at the Mastro Cencio’s artistic pottery shop, a workshop that produces high quality pottery objects. For the gourmet people the sweets shop La Pastarella can’t be missed, it’s a craft lab where you can taste the typical sweets. The sweets shop Natili is another interesting place where you can buy some good cookies, the cakes and the pastries. You can buy the mushrooms, the cheese and the salami at the Norcineria Artigiani dei Sapori and many other delicious products from the local tradition are at your disposal at the store Le Ghiottonerie of via Roma. After our stop at the histo-
Sliced beef with herbs mentaecioccolato.com
rical shops we’ll visit the stronghold of Borgia, also called Sangallo stronghold, it’s an interesting example of the Renaissance architecture, it was built by order of Alexander VI Borgia, the archaeological museum of the Agro Falisco is based there, it exhibits a collection of findings of the area of Lazio between lake Vico, the Tiber banks and Mount Soratte, a wide space is dedicated to the pottery findings too. We’ll have dinner at the restaurant Erminio alla Ghiacciaia, the temple of the cuisine from this area where we’ll taste a dish of pappardelle with the boar sauce and we’ll sip the red wine from Tuscia mainly the red Colli Etruschi Viterbesi Grechetto. We’ll spend the night at the elegant Palace Hotel Relais Falisco, an ancient palace dating back to the 17th century in the historical centre.
Forte Sangallo, Civita Castellana maudanros/Shutterstock.com
Sunday from Civita Castellana to Montelibretti S
unday morning is perfect to visit the architectural landmarks of the village. We’ll reach the Medieval Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore by strolling around the narrow streets of the historical centre. It’s featured by a front side with a twelve-rays rose window and a porch that was a typical element of the Medieval architecture. The Fountain of Dragons (Fontana dei Draghi) stands out in the middle of Giacomo Matteotti square, its main features date back to the period between the 14th and the 19th centuries, it was built under the papacy of Gregory the XIII in 1585 to decorate the square and increase the water supply. The fountain is surrounded by four
dragons and the water that fills the fountain comes out of the dragons’ mouths on each corner. The Museum of Pottery Casimiro Marcantoni also deserves to be visited, it’s located inside the ex-church of Saint George that has been celebrating the history of this place in Lazio since the end of the ‘700 up to the second part of ‘900. When we leave the village we’ll get along the Flaminia Road and we’ll see the oldest church of Civita Castellana, Santa Maria dell’Arco or del Carmine, it’s run by the cloistered nuns nowadays. We’ll stop at the restaurant La Giaretta for lunch where we’ll taste another typical dish from this area, the soup of beans and porcini
Cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore, Civita Castellana maudanros/Shutterstock.com
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Bean and porcini soup ilcuoreinpentola.it
Palombara Sabina ValerioMei/Shutterstock.com
mushrooms then we’ll reach our last stop, the village of Montelibretti. After leaving the most Sothern foothills of the Viterbo area we’ll move towards the tiny village in the surroundings of Rome, the capital city. Less than an hour across the countryside to reach the slopes of Mounts Sabini and stop in Montelibretti where they will be celebrating the festival of “bread, oil and …”, it’s an opportunity to taste the typical local product, the extra virgin olive oil and visit the oil mills of this area. Not just the oil but the bread as well which is another appreciated product from this area together with other typical products like the “frittello con broccolo” and the “salsiccia con pitarta”, flavoured with the coriander. Perched on a rocky spur between the valley of Tiber and the valley of Fosso Carolano, Montelibretti is a tiny village surrounded by the forests and by the orchards where the olives, the cherries, the peaches, the
figs, the apricots and the plums are cultivated. The historical centre is featured by the charming Barberini Palace dating back to the 17th century and the Parish Church of Saint Nicholas of Bari, built in 1535 and restyled in 1773, it keeps the paintings “Madonna in trono con Bambino” (Madonna on the throne with child) and “Santi Domenico e Caterina” (Saints Dominicus and Catherine) dating back to 1600 while in Colle del Forno some findings from an Etruscan necropolis have been found, some of them are kept in the National Museum of Copenaghen. Our weekend will end at the Tenuta La Salvia in the nearby of Palombara Sabina, another characteristic place of this area, it’s a farmhouse a few kilometres far from Montelibretti where we’ll celebrate our unforgettable week and in the Etruscan lands of Lazio by tasting a good barbecue of meat and some good local red wine.
Japan proofing
Lake Kawaguchiko and Mount Fuji Guitar photographer/Shutterstock.com
Oltreconfine: Crossborder:Francia Japan
Nicoletta Toffano
facebook.com/nicoletta.toffano
dach_chan/Shutterstock.com
Nipponbashi Den Den, Osaka beeboys/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
Abhijeet Khedgikar/Shutterstock.com
I
n Japanese kotoshohi literally means “consuming or gaining experience”. So there are many places in the country of the rising sun where the offer of peculiar activities dedicated to the tourists aiming at spreading the local culture has been increasing steadily. The source of inspiration for this kind of experiences are very often world-famous objects that sound typical from this country but they actually represent the outcome of a secular experience that can turn many human expressions into art and philosophy. Tè, sushi, bonsai, kimono, manga are ordi-
nary words used by the Western people but they have a much deeper meaning for the Japanese people since they are related to ways of thinking that are very different from ours: they are theories that become real and every action that is made to turn these theories into real things are based on specific rites and sacred meanings. So let’s leave on a journey to discover these experiences from the North to the South to better understand the essence of the handcrafted objects and the charming stories that come with them.
Kokeshi LELACHANOK/Shutterstock.com
The Kokeshi and the Matsushima
T
he kokeshi are the wooden dolls from the North of Japan, they are made in the province of Sendai and Miyagi in the Tohoku region, famous for its thermal facilities, the so-called onsen. Each doll is unique and it’s manually made by a craftsman who works the pieces of wood to get the final shape, then the delicate painting of the face and the kimono is carried out. The kokeshi dolls appeared in Japan in the 17th century and it is believed that they were first used as massage tools
for the thermal facilities’ guests. They also have a spiritual meaning which is related to the hope of having a healthy child. The Japan Kokeshi Museum is in Osaki and it exhibits 5.000 dolls. The Matsushima is not far from there, it’s considered one of the most beautiful places of Japan: it’s a group of 260 islands covered in pinewoods where you can see amazing tiny villages and sacred temples surrounded by a landscape that is different on each island and changes according to the season.
Crossborder: Japan
Matsushima mTaira/Shutterstock.com
Antonina Polushkina/Shutterstock.com
A temple in Matsushima Omjai Chalard/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
The gold of Kanazawa
K
anazawa, by the Sea of Japan belongs to the network of “Unesco Creative Cities�. The economic development of this city started in the 16th century and it continued for three centuries during the reign of Maeda: the castle and the Kenrokuen garden are the main landmarks of this enlightened age where the most famous master craftsmen used to work. The most precious art is the working of gold which is nowadays carried out by the Master Ken-Ichi Matsumura: he explains that it takes around two weeks to make one gold leaf, it takes time to work
Kenrokuen Garden, Kanzawa Miaoulab/Shutterstock.com
it by using the hammer until you get a thickness of 0,2 micron. These works are mainly used to decorate the temples but also to finish the handcrafted products. Gold is also used for the kintsugi, a technique that is used to fix the pieces of broken pottery that become bright and precious again after this work. This particular art is a metaphor of life and it enables to see the crack not just from a negative point of view but as an opportunity to change and improve. So from the imperfections and hurt a new aesthetical and inner perfection can come out.
Crossborder: Japan
Kintsugi Lia_t/Shutterstock.com
Castello di Kanzawa Rainer_81/Shutterstock.com
Golden Pavilion of Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto cowardlion/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
Takayama Suchart Boonyavech/Shutterstock.com
Takayama, bowls decorated with the shunkei technique Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
The little worlds of Hida Takayama and Ogimachi
J
apan also means slow pace, far from the busy cities, a country where the people take their time, slowly, they cultivate the rice and raise the traditional values. The best example of this ancient world is Hida Takayama (midway between Tokyo and Kyoto), a village that keeps the wooden houses belonging to the Edo age (1600-1868), where you can stroll around the markets and visit the sake distilleries and the workshops of paintworks. The history of the Japanese paintworks goes back to 5.500 years ago and the shunkei technique is still
Ogimachi Pakpoom Phummee/Shutterstock.com
used in Takayama. The transparent paintwork is still used since it protects the beauty of the wood grains that enable to keep the pots and the trays untouched. About an hour from the city you can reach an amazing mountain region called do Shirakawa-go and the village of Ogimachi, protected as a national Heritage because of its 110 wooden houses (partially still occupied and partially turned into museums), they are built in the gassho-zukuri style that means “folded hands� an expression that reminds the pitched straw roof.
Ogimachi Pakpoom Phummee/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
Vit Kovalcik/Shutterstock.com
Anneka/Shutterstock.com
Crossborder: Japan
Shirasagi Castle Pius Lee/Shutterstock.com
The Katana and the Samurai of Himeji-jo
A
ccording to the legend, the goddess Amaterasu gave a necklace, a mirror and a sword to her offspring as a gift. In this context, the samurai’s katana is considered a kami, that is the spirit of death but also the spirit that protects the lives. The Japanese swords were first moulded by the Tendai Buddhist monks, the alchemists, the poets, the scholars, the fighters and by the master blacksmiths whose heirs are still surviving somewhere in the old smithies that are considered a National Heritage. One of these smithies can be found in the Southern island of Kyushu, in the city of Arao and it’s run by the Master blacksmith
Matsunaga Genrokurou who tells about his workshop, he explains the production steps of the mythical sword that is still used in some martial arts. The katana is sacred for the samurai and they never part: if you want to know the true story of these proud, noble and educated warriors you must visit Shirasagi, the most amazing feudal castle in Japan overlooking the city of Himeij-jo in the region of Kansai. It’s a huge wooden construction, finely decorated made in 1601 by the samurai Ikeda Terumasa. It represents the climax of the Japanese concept of harmony among human beings and with nature.
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Crossborder: Japan
Samurai Museum, Shinjuku Vassamon Anansukkasem/Shutterstock.com
Alessandra Boiardi
twitter.com/aleboiardi
“Japonism”, the Eastern Winds in the European art. 1860-1915”
A
n unusual map of trends of “Japonism” in Europe between the 19th and the 20th century. This is the slant that Francesco Parisi, the exhibition’s curator chose for this display. Eastern Winds in the European art, 1860-1915”, it can be visited at Palazzo Roverella in Rovigo until the 26 of January 2020. This peculiar exhibition was promoted by the Savings Bank Foundation of Padua and Rovigo in cooperation with the Municipality and the Concordi Art Gallery, it exhibits a time and geographic journey to discover the phenomenon called “Japonism”, from Germany to Holland, Belgium, France, Austria, Bohemia and Italy. Besides the masterpieces by Gauguin, Toulouse Lautrec, Van Gogh, Klimt,
Kolo Moser, James Ensor and Alphonse Mucha you can see the Japonism trend in the works by the English Albert Moore, Sir John Lavery and Christopher Dresser; the Italian Giuseppe De Nittis, Galileo Chini, Plinio Nomellini, Giacomo Balla, Antonio Mancini, Antonio Fontanesi and Francesco Paolo Michetti with his masterpiece “The Pumpkin Harvest” as well as the French Pierre Bonnard, Paul Ranson, Maurice Denis and Emile Gallé and the Belgian Fernand Khnopff and Henry Van De Velde.
Giovanni Battista Amendola, Il kimono (A moment’s rest) argento, collezione privata
Emil Orlik, Landscape with Mount Fuji 1908, Courtesy Daxer & Marschall Gallery, Monaco Félix Buhot, two swallows flying over the sea bezel - gouache on canvas mounted on cardboard, Galerie Berès, Paris
Anselmo Bucci, The Japanese (the Kimono) 1919, oil on canvas, Courtesy Matteo Mapelli / Galleria Antologia Monza
DI
ER
SCOV
Japonism in Europe
A
t the end of the 19th century the discovery of the Japanese decorative art shook the whole Europe. In the Old Continent mainly in France the pottery, the engraving and the garden’s furniture coming from Japan that in 1853 was opening itself to the world, started to spread all around. This trend started to involve the International upper middle class at first the it involved two generations of artists, scholars, musicians and architects who found their strength in the development of the rising Liberty culture that was becoming more and more interested in the decorative and
Galileo Chini, Globular vase with fish 1919, polychrome ceramic, private collection
Pierre Bonnard, Young mother and son 1982, watercolor and lead mine, Galerie Berès, Paris
strict values of the Japanese art. The trading of vases and pottery brought the spreading of the first woodcuts that were used to wrap objects, they were precious sheets that often portrayed the famous manga by Hokusai or other beautiful engravings by Utamaro and Hiroshige who deeply influenced the Impressionist painters, the Nabis up to the secessions of Munich and finally they get to their end with the bursting of World War I when they were turned into a more general cult of the Eastern world during the 1920s and the 1930s.
Paul Signac, Herblay 1890, oil on canvas
The exhibition path
I
n the four wide sections of the exhibition there are original works and derived ones that came from Japan and became the subject of many studies in Europe as well as the findings that influenced them. Painting, graphics and all the rest: the architecture, the applied arts, the drawings, the posters, the furniture. Four sections that remind the four big World Fairs that gave an important contribution to the Emil Orlik, The painter 1901. Engraving Gallery, Brescia
Kolo Moser, flowering tree 1911, oil on canvas, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna
spreading of the Japanese art, something new that was coming from distant, mysterious, magic places. The “products” coming from the “Rising Sun” debuted at the London Exhibition of 1862, they were followed by the exhibitions of Paris in ’67 and ’78 that became the main attractions until the exhibition of the fifty years of the Unification of Italy in 1911 that had a wide influence on many artists of the new generations.
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Paolo Trubetzkoy, ElinTrubeztkoy in Japanese costume 1906-1907, patinated plaster, Verbania, Landscape Museum
Francesco Paolo Michetti, Pumpkin harvest 1873, oil on canvas, Naples, private collection
Achille Laugé, Apple tree branches in bloom c.c. 1905-1910, oil on canvas, Paris, private collection Paul Gauguin, Fête Gloanec 1888. Orléans, Musée des Beaux-Arts. Photo © François Lauginie
Un intinerario tra le cittĂ murate del Veneto vi farĂ toccare con mano la storia, i miti e l'arte di questo territorio, scrigno di tesori medievali e rinascimentali, da scoprire passeggiando tra castelli, roccaforti e imponenti baluardi difensivi.
Montagnana | Padova | Veneto
Antonella Andretta
facebook.com/antonella.andretta
e c a l p out of
S Y A D I HOL The village and the artists
W
hat’s the difference between craftsmanship and art? Although a clear dividing line doesn’t exist, there are many crafted products that are used in our daily life while the artists make unique artworks without any precise aim to convey feelings and emotions.
Diamante Lucamato/Shutterstock.com
Cretto di Burri DbDo/Shutterstock.com
The village and the artists
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
I
n this issue dedicated to the craftsmanship we intended to describe some experiences that are not related to the functionality of a carved chair, a leather sandal or a wrought iron desk lamp but we intended to highlight the fact that these products can enrich our life, make it more intense and less plain. Let’s start with Sicily to talk about a place full of meanings: the Great Cretto, best known as the Cretto di Burri, made by the great artist of Gibellina (Trapani), a Sicilian village that was destroyed by the earthquake of 1968. The Cretto represents the essence of the village, its tragic destiny. It’s a memorial made by using
Roberto La Rosa/Shutterstock.com
the village’s rubble that was afterwards covered in concrete. The Cretto took its name from Burri’s paintings (monochrome surfaces dried in the sun that were cracked and cut) it’s a place where you can silently walk and feel the deep emotional impact which is also related to its dimensions: the concrete blocks are 1.60 metres high, the cuts that remind the old streets are two metres wide and the whole surface is 80thousand square metres. The Cretto is one of the most impressing land art works in the world, it’s the right destination of a careful and aware tourism. Let’s stay in the South but back to “the continent” to reach Dia-
The village and the artists
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
mante, a village in the province of Cosenza, appreciated for its coastline and its sea. Diamante it’s a place where the street art can express itself: if you stroll around the narrow streets you can see more than two hundred works painted on the walls that have been made by the Italian and the International artists since the 1980s who started to decorate the houses’ walls upon the painter Nani Razzetti’s invitation. It’s an operation that never ends since new graffiti are added each year, they show many different subjects, they deal with the social issues, with religion or they portray daily life actions. If you love this kind of
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
On the road with all your senses
Orgosolo Elisa Locci/Shutterstock.com
artistic expression you can’t miss the painted villages of Sardinia which is consider the most important Italian region in this field: Orgosolo (Nuoro) can be your first stop, the first graffiti date back to 1969 but also Villamar (Southern Sardinia) and San Sperate (Cagliari) deserve a visit since you can see Pinuccio Sciola’s Sound Garden and many graffiti. If you move towards the North you can reach Dozza (Bologna), Valloria (Imperia), Arcumeggia (Varese), Cibiana in Cadore (Belluno): there are many villages in Italy that are featured by the street art (not to mention the cities that are not included in our journey).
On the road with all your senses
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
Dozza ermess/Shutterstock.com
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
The village and the artists
Cervara di Roma Stefano_Valeri/Shutterstock.com
Cervara di Roma ValerioMei /Shutterstock.com
From the painting to the sculpture we can now stop in Lazio, in Cervara of Rome, a charming village surrounded by the natural Park of the Simbruini Mountains that has been welcoming many artists since the 19th century. Here in the 1980s the students of the School of Fine Arts of Florence sculpted shapes and faces on the limestone rocks and they set a sort of open-air museum. The whole village is spread with sculptures, paintings and poems carved in the rocks, far from the crowd of tourists wearing their flip-flops and getting off from packed tourist coaches. Let’s mention the museum-houses too, you can revive the
literary moods, the music and the art. They are generally set in the villages and they are sometimes very big and important like the amazing Vittoriale degli italiani (The Shrine of Italian Victories), the home of Gabriele D’Annunzio in Gardone Riviera (Brescia), or Giovanni Pascoli’s museum house in Forlì-Cesena whose rooms are recalled in his poems or Leopardi’s house in Recanati (Macerata) where you’ll be breathless before the huge library amongst the “sudate carte” (the sweat sheets). They were poets, not visual artists. But, who’s to say for sure that a sonnet is less moving than a painting or a marble sculpture?
The village and the artists
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
Vittoriale degli iItaliani Roberto Evangelisti/Shutterstock.com
The village and the artists
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
OUT OF PLACE HOLIDAYS
The village and the artists
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Piazza Leopardi Dionisio iemma/Shutterstock.com
René Magritte, L’impero della luce, 1953–54. Collezione Peggy Guggenheim, Venezia © René Magritte, by SIAE 2019
1949: quando l’arte moderna trovò casa a Venezia
La mostra è resa possibile grazie a
Dorsoduro 701, 30123 Venezia guggenheim-venice.it
Con il sostegno di
I programmi educativi sono realizzati con il sostegno di
Ivan Pisoni
facebook.com/pisoni.ivan.7
Legends of craftsmen lost in the myths
Noska Photo/Shutterstock.com
Legends of craftsmen lost in the myths
The legend of the first “terrible” Moor’s head T
he Moors’ heads are coloured ceramic vases that are spread in the Sicilian culture mainly in Caltagirone. You can see them on the balconies and their origins are related to a difficult love. The story goes that around the year 1000 a wonderful girl lived in the Arabic district of Palermo (called Kalsa nowadays), she used to spend her days in a lonely peacefulness and she took care of her balcony’s plants. This beautiful girl was once seen by a Moor who suddenly fell in love with her. It didn’t take long: the man disclosed his courtship. They were happy but the Moor’s soul was in troubles. He couldn’t keep his secret and he had to tell her he had a wife and children who were waiting for him in his
steve estvanik/Shutterstock.com
homeland. The girl was desperate for this very bad news, she got furious and she killed him by cutting his head in his sleep. Betrayed by her love, she didn’t want to give up loving him and taking care of him so she shaped his face and she made a ceramic vase, she put some basil’s seeds inside it and she put the vase on her balcony where she could take care of it together with the other plants. The basil was flourishing in that vase and it started to attract the curiosity of the passers-by who started to ask for the same kinds of vases with the Moors’ heads. Is it likely to be a warning? Be careful and true when you declare your love to a Sicilian girl, you could be… planted, meaning left in Italian.
steve estvanik/Shutterstock.com
N
icolò used to live in the beautiful colourful island in the Venetian lagoon, he was a fisherman of a rare beauty. He was good, noble and he was desired by the girls who lived in that place but he just had eyes for Maria, her betrothed. He used to sail every day to go fishing but one day he heard a sweet and bewitching song while he was in the middle of the see and his ship was suddenly surrounded by some wonderful girls. They were the mermaids who were trying to charm the handsome fisherman by singing their songs. But Ni-
colò was a strong boy and he deeply loved her betrothed so he didn’t fall into the trap. They couldn’t believe his refusal so they decided to reward Nicolò by giving him an amazing lacework made by using the sea’s foam. When he came back to Burano, the fisherman gave the lace to his sweetheart who then sewed it on her wedding dress. The women from the island were astonished and jealous of this lace so they started to make it too thus they created the amazing laceworks from Burano that we still know nowadays.
of craftsmen lost in the myths
The legend of the mermaids and the laceworks from Burano
of craftsmen lost in the myths Wead/Shutterstock.com
The story of Hephaestus... the god of fire, ugly but immensely good P
oor Hephaestus, fathered by Era as a revenge because of Zeus’ several betrayals, he was thrown down from the Mount Olympus because of his ugliness. He was saved by Teti and Eurynome, two sea nymphs who raised the little god in a cave. Although he was ugly and crooked, Hephaestus started to show his amazing gifts at shaping metals when he was a child. So he started to make priceless
wonderful jewels for the nymphs who were looking after him. Era was informed about his skills and she approached her son in a disguised way and she asked him to make a golden throne. The Gods’ blacksmith didn’t fall in the trap but he didn’t let on. It was a great chance to revenge his mother’s cruelty. He shaped a throne that was entirely made of gold, it was immensely beautiful but it was cursed. If the
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Goddess sat on it she would never stand up again. So, Era was trapped on her throne and she could stand up just after promising to accept Hephaestus back to Mount Olympus and let him marry the beautiful Aphrodite. She never allowed him to lie with her and she kept betraying him. He was
tired of the mockery of his fellows either for his physical features or for his wife’s betrayals so he left the Olympus and he found a shelter in the deepest caves of the Etna volcano where he spent all his time moulding and he became the undisputed god of craftsmanship.
of craftsmen lost in the myths
Gilmanshin/Shutterstock.com
Ivan Pisoni
facebook.com/pisoni.ivan.7
Did you know that...
colacat/Shutterstock.com
Did you know that... artisan curiosities
S
aint Biagio is the patron of wool-makers and weavers. We are in Taranta Peligna (Chieti) where the cult of Saint Biagio, the patron of wool-makers and weavers was started. Actually it seems that this Saint was martyred by using a flax-teasing machine. So the master weavers are the best promotors of the celebrations dedicated to this Saint.
ivanoel/Shutterstock.com
Y
ou can give a new life to objects thanks to the DIY by using the recycled materials. It has become a famous hobby thanks to the several online tutorials that enable us to give a second life to our objects that otherwise would be “thrown away”. It has also become a true job for many people. So, in order to save our planet, to relieve ourselves and express our inner creativity I’m inviting everyone to try and turn a can into… something else. You’ll be surprised by the final outcome.
Akhmad Dody Firmansyah/Shutterstock.com
4
quotes to help us understand the difference between art and handcraft... “He who works with his hands is a labourer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” Saint Francis of Assisi “After all you can’t make an artwork by using your ideas but by using your hands.” Pablo Picasso “Tradition is not the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire” Gustav Mahler “Beauty has as many meanings as man has moods. Beauty is the symbols of symbols. Beauty can reveal everything because it expresses nothing.” Oscar Wilde Jack Frog/Shutterstock.com
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
I
f the little horn (cornetto) from Naples isn’t handcrafted it won’t be a lucky charm! Don’t trust the imitations. The famous little horn from Naples, one of the most ancient charms and the symbol of the local handcraft tradition is a good lucky charm but it must be red and handcrafted so that its positive energy can be directly transmitted to your hands.
easy asa/Shutterstock.com
W
Bragapictures/Shutterstock.com
DI
ER
SCOV
I
t’s never been easier to find the little antiques and handcrafts markets in the villages! If you visit the website e-borghi.com and you surf the page dedicated to the different events, you can select “marketplaces” from the research page and you’ll find a very wide choice of marketplaces spread all over Italy. You can narrow your search according to the areas or the periods of the year and find the marketplaces that better suit your needs. The best ones are waiting for you, don’t keep them waiting.
Buffy1982/Shutterstock.com
Did you know that... artisan curiosities
hen the handcraft meets the draughts... We are in Cison di Valmarino (Treviso) where the traditional event called “Living handcraft” is held each year. You can see many handcrafted works and you can taste many local tastes but there’s also something more. The cultural Club “El Mazarol” offers the possibility to play draughts and they generally put three tables at the disposal of visitors to approach the young people first and to offer a relaxing break as well. This initiative was warmly welcomed this year, more than expected.
Review
Novelle artigiane by Vincenzo Moretti
C
raftsmen and workers from disappeared worlds. Patience at work. Since “it’s worth doing things well”. All that (and much more) in “Novelle artigiane”, a book whose title says it all and it perfectly matches this issue of our magazine. The author is the sociologist and writer Vincenzo Moretti, a life being spent for his job and the trade unions and a happy story writer now. Novella is a Middle Age word. These pages recall a mythical past, they are issued by lavorobenfatto. They are light, thoughtful pages, they gently tell about the people who used to make things in their daily simplicity, equipped with some kind of
unknown heroic spirit. Maybe we know what was all about: it was our ancestors’ life, it was a life of work, of passion and love that used to dream about freedom and didn’t give up life as a whole along the years that used to go by along with many aims to fulfil. They sound ordinary stories that meet the work. The old crafts are considered a real thing that simply represent what we used to be and what we are. Crafts that are manually made, they tell about ourselves, it’s the ancient craft that recalls charming real memories: our creativity and our life can be found in our work. The crafts that are recalled in these pages represent the balance between the heart and the wit, a sort of symbiotic synergy. It’s a book you can read like a tender touch and a mature awareness. In a word, the work and its problems. It’s the writer’s background: literature, work, life. Like the best critical Italian tradition of the first part of the 20th century, imagination and reality come together and they tell about
BACK TO THE SUMMARY
Marino Pagano
facebook.com/marino.pagano.3
existence. Three short stories that come from life and go back to life through a beautiful writing. Then there are the masters, nowhere to be found nowadays: they are the great protagonists of these stories. “Listening and waiting are the
Review
Galdrific/Shutterstock.com
keys to understand. This book aims at letting us understands all the different shades of work and it enables us to plunge into a world where the good work is a journey within ourselves�. This is the way this inspired writer is.