QMagazine Summer 2015 - English Edition

N IO IT ED SH LI G EN

1nd Biannual 2015 - Issue n° 13 -Travel & Lifestyle € 4,50

For him, for her, for you

People KIESZA Imago PIERRE ET GILLES Fashion SICILY: MILLENNIAL BEAUTY Culture THE UNTOLD HISTORY Wellness AQUAFLOR IN THE HEART OF FLORENCE Fashion and trends TECHNOLOGY AND FRIVOLITY Books ROUTE 66 Books & Identity MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN Gay Culture LOVE STORIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

1nd Biannual 2015 - Issue n° 13 -Travel & Lifestyle € 4,50

For him, for her, for you

People KIESZA Imago PIERRE ET GILLES Fashion SICILY: MILLENNIAL BEAUTY Culture THE UNTOLD HISTORY Wellness AQUAFLOR IN THE HEART OF FLORENCE Fashion and trends TECHNOLOGY AND FRIVOLITY Books ROUTE 66 Books & Identity MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN Gay Culture LOVE STORIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

SeeTorontoNow.it

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C O V E R S TORY Kiesza

For him, for her, for you

For him, for her, for you

EN EGNL GI S H LI S HE D EIDT I O IT N IO

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1nd Biannual 2015 - Issue n° 13 -Travel & Lifestyle € 4,50

SUMMARY

1nd Biannual 2015 - Issue n° 13 -Travel & Lifestyle € 4,50

1nd Biannual 2015 - Issue n° 13 -Travel & Lifestyle € 4,50

For him, for her, for you

People KIESZA Imago PIERRE ET GILLES Fashion SICILY: MILLENNIAL BEAUTY Culture THE UNTOLD HISTORY Wellness AQUAFLOR IN THE HEART OF FLORENCE

People KIESZA Imago PIERRE ET GILLES Fashion SICILY: MILLENNIAL BEAUTY People KIESZA Imago PIERRE ET GILLES LLES Fashion SICILY: MILLENNIAL MILLENNIA AL BEAUTY B BEA EAU UTY UT TYCulture Fashion and trendsWellness TECHNOLOGY ANDINFRIVOLITY Books 66 THE UNTOLD HISTORY AQUAFLOR THE HEART OF ROUTE FLORENCE BooksFashion & Identity OF HADRIAN GayFRIVOLITY Culture LOVE STORIES andMEMOIRS trends TECHNOLOGY AND Books ROUTE IN 66 ANCIENT EGYPT Books Culture THE UNTOLD HISTORY Wellness ss AQUAFLOR IN THE HEART OF OF FLOREN FLOREN FL N & Identity MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN Gay Culture LOVE STORIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT Fashion and trends TECHNOLOGY OGY AND FRIVOLITY Books ROUTE ROU UTE TE 66 66 ANC NC N CIENT Books & Identity MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN Gay Culture LOVE STORIES IN A ANCIENT

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FA S HI ON A N D TR E N DS Technology and frivolity

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FASHION SHOOTING SICILY Sicily: Millennial Beauty

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IM A G O Pierre et Gilles Argentum

Tanti contenuti enuti multimediali l d l aggiuntivi disponibili nella versione ione digitale per ogni device device.

CO LO PHO N

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T R AV E L L I N G W OR D S Route 66

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B O OK S & I D E N TI TY Memoirs of Hadrian

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C ULTU R E The Untold History

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WE L L N E S S Aquaflor

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E VE N TS Spring-Summer 2015

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GAY CU LTU R E Love Stories in Ancient Egypt

EDITOR IN CHIEF: Alessio Virgili ASSIGNMENT EDITOR: Letizia Strambi SALES MANAGER: Andrea Cosimi a.cosimi@sondersandbeach.com GRAPHICS AND LAYOUT: Monica Sotgiu STYLING & ART DIRECTION: Alessio Virgili e Andrea Cosimi EDITORIAL STAFF: Valerio Agate, Teresa Dalessandri COWORKERS TO THIS NUMBER: Alessandro Cecchi Paone, Pino Gagliardi, Calogero Pirrera, Alberto Vita TRANSLATOR: Costanza Maddamma PUBLISHER: Sonders and Beach Italy s.r.l.

Sede di Milano - Via San Gregorio, 27 - 20124 ADVERTISING: M.U.S. S.r.l. - info@mus-marketing.com Tel. 06.45595887 - 02.78622530 www.mus-marketing.com

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P E O P L E

Kiesza A COMPLETE ARTIST

by Pino Gagliardi

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t was hit last summer’s, Hideaway was played on radios all over the world, its music video has now over 140 million views; an incredible feat for an emerging artist. In her second video Giant in My Heart, a clerk harassed and tired of his workplace sends his employer to hell and disguises himself with his friends.

Singer, musician, dancer, painter, designer, marine and more, Kiesza, alias Kiesa Rae Ellestad, Canadian of Italian descent born in 1989, is truly a rising star and we met her during a break in her promotional tour.

Tell us about the video for Hideaway...

I think part of its success is due to the fact that there were many flaws. We had a very limited budget and the video was made with the participation of friends, we had no time to perfect but we all had a great time doing it, without expecting anything, therefore we were not at all tense. There was no nervousness during filming because we were doing what we wanted.

Why so much success?

I think the viewer notices everything: that we were all in tune with each other and we were really enjoying it. People watching the video can jump in and be part of it. And this is one of my favourite things about this work. There are many videos in which people dance, beautiful to look at, but it’s like being in another world, you cannot join in. Ours is spontaneous: it was shot all in one take, without repeating the sce-

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nes. You cannot predict how some things immediately become viral.

You know you’re very popular with gays?

The gay community is my first love, even before the success of Hideway. I was supported as an emerging artist. I always felt loved and of course gays have a special place in my heart.

Was all this your dream?

When I was a child I really wanted to become a ballerina, at 15 I hurt my knee, so I left ballet and I started working for the Navy.

What did that experience leave you?

The Canadian Navy taught me mainly to really understand what my limits were. I believe that we have only an idea of what our limits are, but when you’re in the field the military will push much more out of you than you can imagine.

Many limits are only mental. This helped me a lot in my career because the music industry is a very difficult environment and at times it feels as if you are not going anywhere. The Navy has given me the strength to go on no matter what.

How did you start your musical journey?

I didn’t do anything, it happened quite unexpectedly. I was chosen to participate in a contest. I had the opportunity and I decided to go for it. I went for 10 days to Montreal and took part in the competition. But I had not planned it.

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Can you play any instruments?

Being a marine and sailing a tall ship, I started to play guitar on the ship, because some of my friends were playing and the first day I started I wrote a song. From that moment I fell in love with music composition, I immediately felt I was able to communicate with people through my music. I felt that this was what I wanted to do and have never looked back.

Will your new album make us dance?

The album has ten songs in it, not all are dance tracks. You will find various different types of music: slow ballads, R & B and dance pieces but nonetheless it’s all very homogenous.

I think of it as a classic album, with a slight nineties vibe, where you can just press play and listen to everything because each song has a specific purpose. I put a lot of attention on each track and I am very excited and proud of the final result.

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Singer, dancer, but also a designer?

My line is called “SteamPop”. I do not know if you have ever heard of “Steampunk”. It’s an underground gothic-type trend that combines Victorian clothing of the nineteenth century with factory technology. I’ve never worn “Steampunk” clothes, but I always liked the idea that people would combine two styles and then create a new one. I really like contamination and I always look for it with music. I wanted to do it with my line, not so underground and more accessible to everyone. I like the flashiness, particularly in jewellery and SteamPop is just an expression of my sense of fashion.

Are you a fashion victim?

Fashion for me is another artistic expression.

Creating new clothes is just another way of expressing myself.

Are looks and beauty important in the career of a singer?

I think what matters more is personality but it depends on what kind of artist you are, but I think it’s character that really drive your career.

You’re many things, but have you ever thought about being an actress?

Yes, definitely I would love acting.

Your biggest ambition?

What I thought I would be doing now five years

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ago is totally different from what I thought a year ago. I have many goals in the arts. I paint abstract paintings and I’d like to organize exhibitions of my work. I would also like to properly launch my clothing line. Music will always remain the most important thing but in addition to music I want to develop my other artistic talents.

What do you expect from the Italian audience?

I’ve never been to Italy, but I know that I very much agree with Italians. I have a grandfather who is a great person, and who is Italian, so I have a bit of Italian in me. People are very kind, funny, have a great sense of humour and I love the language. It’s one of the most beautiful languages, and it’s great to hear Italians speak.

Are you romantically involved?

Not yet unfortunately, but one day in the future, I hope to be. I am hopelessly romantic, so I like the thrills and spills but at the time I’m too busy to have a boyfriend. But I remain romantic, and I love being in love.

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Technology and frivolity

Bow Tie Polo

Giorgio Armani

A pop and creative man during a summer made of fantasy and elegance.

BY Alberto Vita

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F A S H I O N

A N D

T R E N D S

Philipp Plein

Gallo

Ermanno Scervino

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unisex summer for the return of elegance to the man who more and more presents himself as preppy. Who prefers matching colours, blue, powder blue or white. Because an all-white outfit always leaves a mark, reminiscent of the beaches of the Riviera - both Romagnola or Azzurra, it doesn’t matter - and is a perfect image of summer.

With linen pants sagging, but not too much, and as short as possible at the ankle, worn with polo shirts with a perfect cut. As the Bow Tie Polo by U.S. Polo Assn. made of micro pique stretch, with neck and side vents doubled in Oxford, fabric buttons and, upon completion, a papillon fantasy (of course detachable).

A whole other story instead for jackets and trousers in classic grey and cut fine.

But if the classic is not enough there will be the return of camouflage, thanks, especially, to the collections of Philipp Plein or of a superstar like Valentino. Scervino, however, is making jeans that are more and more

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Valentino

Dsquared2

Dsquared2

fashionable, worn with elegant blazers and shirts and shoes also in Denim.

But if you are looking for frivolities, the two terrible twins of fashion, Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared, will not disappoint you, presenting for the spring/summer collection outfits of colourful graffiti-inspired drawings by Basquiat and Keith Haring. Everything is pop, lit with neon hues, although sometimes balanced with white inserts, contaminating the proposal of mackintosh, jackets, open shoes and shorter and shorter trousers. The Neapolitan label Gallo launches its new collection of socks, The Reef, inspired by the coral reef and part of an awareness campaign on the conservation of the seas. Finally, for those who cannot stand long trousers during hot summer days here you may find many proposals for shorts, compulsorily knees length, from designers and fashion labels such as Zara, Fred Perry or Guess.

S I C I LY MILLENNIAL BEAUTY

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Photos: Roberto Chiovitti Style: Andrea Cosimi Production: Alessio Virgili per Qmagazine Italia Location Sicily: Scopello Zingaro Nature Reserve, San Vito Lo Capo, Erice, Segesta, Saline nature Reserve of Trapani and Paceco Clothes: Antony Morato, Converse e ES Collection Model: Alessandro Misceo Special Thanks to: scopellovillas.com

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www.thinkisrael.com

e b i v e h t e d Ri v i v A l e T of

Vibrant, exciting, beautiful, entertaining‌Tel Aviv...

If you’ve never experienced this incredible city you are in for an unforgettable time.

And to the regulars, there is always something new to offer and it never fails to impress.

Take a break on the long stretch of white sandy beaches, world class restaurants and luxurious hotels all in the land of our heritage.

Think Israel

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Mariage pour tous, Pierre et Gilles 2012

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I M A G O

Narcisse, Matthieu Charneau 2012

Pierre et Gilles

Exclusive interview with the artists that will remain in history thanks to their irreverent and original crossover which marked the end of the last century and continues to be talked about.

by Letizia Strambi

I M A G O

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ne is a photographer, the other a painter, but since the day they met they have become one unique artist: Pierre et Gilles.

They talk, live and create in unison.

Their works are photographs touched up with paint. For the world they are an extreme continuation of Pop Art in its Kitsch drift then defined its Camp aesthetics. For them it is simple “rubbish”, stuff for critics, as evidenced in this interview. As for the icons of modern pop (Madonna, Jean Paul Gaultier, Nina Hagen) that have been proud models for them, “they also happen to be our friends”. People who could not care less, but nonetheless say what they think; a great act of courage that elevates them to symbols of all minorities without voice.

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La mode est eternelle, Jean Paul Gaultier 2014

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I M A G O

Join the Navy , Staiv Gentis 2010 For ever, Stromae 2014

Efrit, Tony Ward 2013

What is art?

Being children. Art allows us to escape from reality. We need to dream through images, film, music…

Gradually we found our way. Pierre photography, Gilles painting. Our meeting was the spark and our passion has become the engine of our lives.

What’s bad in man? What is the shadow, the dark side that is absent in your works?

There is always something dark or evil in the depth of all of us. Life is made up of light and shadow. We love the harmony between the two.

This is the reason why Pierre and Gilles represent a good balance! Through pictures you can show everything, and how you do it is extremely important.

I M A G O

Barbe bleue, Arthur Gillet 2014

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Jardin extraordinaire, Ganoux 2010

Italy has always made us dream... The Mediterranean, the sun, the sea ... The cinema, the epic films of our childhood, spaghetti westerns and the great masters like Visconti, Pasolini, Antonioni... Beautiful actresses like Sophia Loren and Virna Lisi ... The music, songs and, of course, paintings.

Funny balls, Marc Jacobs 2012

Does pop still mean “popular” or has pop art evolved into an exclusive niche for those who understand its concept?

Pop art, for us, is the Sixties. Now part of the history of art. Times are different and art has changed and is always evolving and renewing itself.

How do you choose your model-icons?

The models are often our friends, people we meet. We do not have any well-defined criteria.

It’s their own originality, strength personality that leads us to choose them.

What do you think of Italy? Do you have a place, a model, a story which you are interested in? What do you like about our culture?

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Will Camp art remain in time? Will it last like baroque art? Is it somehow eternal?

The Camp belongs to another era in our opinion, and perhaps nobody ever really knew what it was.

Our inspiration comes from a set of different things: from classical to popular. Our work looks like us, and is driven not by definition but by a taste for freedom.

Is Jean Paul Gautier a Ulysses in your opinion? He is an artist like you, but at the same time an icon of your world.

Where does this lead?

We met Jean Paul at the time of his first collections. Maybe we are alike... We are of the same generation, and we have a similar sensitivity and common inspirations. We understand each other well and we laugh a lot together.

Photo- Courtesy of Galerie Daniel Templon - Paris

I M A G O

La nouvelle Eve, Zahia Dehar 2011

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Cassandra and Clytemnestra

The Beauty of Form

Argentum 50

I M A G O

Aoide

Coventina

Portrait Guido

D Bodies like liquid statues, iridescent and metallic. This is a work of great emotional impact by the photographer Guido Argentini in which the artist manages to capture the perfect combination between solidity and the living energy of dance.

I M A G O

ancers and trapeze artists, gymnasts and athletes: polished bodies, dressed only in silver that illuminates shapes and contours, emphasizing harmony, beauty and elegance. Exceptional model portraits since 1995, and transformed by the ‘silver body make-up’ in perfect metal statues.

By managing to evoke the shiny surfaces of the Romanian sculptor Brancusi and the verve of the dancers sketched by Edgar Degas, ARGENTUM is born. A project of pictures and films by the Italian pho-

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Zeus

tographer Guido Argentini, which completes the series ‘Silver Photographs’ began in 1995. The result of a personal quest that combines the love for sculpture and the one for dance, in ‘ARGENTUM’ Guido Argentini isolates human figures from their context, placing them in contrast to the archetypal forms of geometry, placing them between the solidity of the sculpture and the living energy of dance without any retouching in post-production. “The first shooting where I painted a model’s body silver was produced in Miami in 1995”. “So I started to shoot in studio - says the photographer - with a single light and only a white wall behind the model. Painting the whole body silver, removing the skin, was the most extreme act of abstraction”.

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Guido Argentini, Italian from Florence, works and lives in Los Angeles. His work has been published by some of the most important magazines worldwide among which Vogue, Marie Claire, GQ, Playboy, Amica. The root of his new Argentum experimentations can be noticed for the first time in his 2002 volume SILVEREYE, in which the passion of the artist for sculpture and dance can be noticed.

HIS WEBSITE: www.guidoargentini.com The Films OFFICIAL TRAILER: http://vimeo.com/69417913 THE MUSIC A documentary with original music, in itself a work of art that amplifies the aesthetical experience. The author is Alessio Nanni, composer of the White Noise Factory in London.

I M A G O

Visit Zürich.

Discover the gay metropolis of Switzerland.

Book yo Weeken ur Zurich nd in ow! q uiiky.com /zurich

White Party May 8 – 10, 2015 Zurich Pride June 19 – 20, 2015 Street Parade August 29, 2015 zuerich.com/lgbt | #VisitZurich

ROUTE 66 The book by Joe Sonderman is not a guide but a collection of stories on the most famous road in the world.

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t is not known how many books, films, stories and poems have been dedicated to Route 66. It is not a road leading to some destination, it has become a destination in itself.

This river of asphalt is the most comprehensive way to learn about the United States, not only geographically but on American culture and its transformations mile after mile, the differences between landscape and people, but also the common traits.

This guide entitled simply "Route 66" written by Joe Sonderman, is a book to read before or during the journey to be conscious of the sacredness of this trail that runs from Chicago to Los Angeles. In this book, conceived by Anniversary Books along with one of the most important American collectors of Route 66 memorabilia, you can review in the years of its heyday the road called America's Mother Road by John Steinbeck.

Between the Fifties and Sixties, before being replaced by modern interstate highways, this was the main artery that connected east and

“They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes «Awww!»”

On the Road

by Jack Kerouac

west; it ran deep in the heart of the land - including Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizonamarking, with its passage, the architectural development, economic evolution and helping establish another American myth, the motel, that coloured its borders with colourful neon signs and fanciful shapes. This book is a tribute to one of the symbols of America's twentieth century, celebrated by Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan, offering constant references to the suggestions of literature, music and film that much owe to this road.

“People don't take trips, trips take people”.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

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T R A V E L L I N G

W O R D S

QUEEN CITY OF THE ROCKIES Denver, GLBT center of west, with many restaurants and hotels is also capital of beer in the usa! www.visitdenver.com/it

MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN

by Letizia Strambi

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razia Frick was the love of Marguerite Yourcenar and she was to give her the impetus to write the book considered the ABC of gay philosophy, the classic: "Memoirs of Adrian". Enjoying life and culture was one of the traits that Yourcenar believed to have in common with the Emperor Hadrian. It was the experience to anim animate her masterpiece on the emper emperor who celebrates his love for po poetry, for literature and for the yo young Antonius.

We fall fa in love immediately with Hadr Hadrian when he recounts his child childhood and youth. "I have sou sought freedom more than pow power, and the latter only becau cause, in part, it seconded fre freedom". Born in Italica, a Roman settlement on the Ib Iberian Peninsula, in episstolary form his life tells sstories of emotions of the hunt, rides on horseback, swimming, the pleasure of food and wine, w the enthusiasm for art, philosophy and the strength in fasting.

He speaks of his wife Vibia Sabina, niece of the Emperor Trajan, as an example of female superficiality. His real love is reserved for Antonius.

"Of all the human games, love is the only one that constantly threatens to upset our soul, and it is also the only one in which the player must abandon himself to the ecstasy of the body... nailed to a beloved body like a slave on the cross."

Their love lasted five years. Then, driven by envy, someone killed Antonius. The agony and pain of Hadrian became the torment of all the loves of the world. The emperor decided to build in his honour the city of Antinopolis burying him as a pharaoh. But with time Antonius became synonymous with beauty, love: a style, a Hellenism.

He became a gay icon of love par excellence. A cult that permeates the world today.

"I imposed his image to the world: today there are more pictures of this young man than of any

B O O K S

&

Antinoo

“When the gods were gone, and Christ was yet to come, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, there was a unique moment in which only man existed, alone”.

Flaubert illustrious man, of any queen. At first it was important to my heart that his beauty was recorded on the statues, but in time art became a kind of magic that managed to evoke his lost face in a continuous, mutating evolution.

The colossal images seemed a means of expressing the true proportions of what love gives to humans, I wanted these pictures to be huge as a face seen up-close, high and solemn as the vision of nightmares, heavy as the memory that haunts me." As also said by Pessoa, the death of Antonius is the death of all love. Statues, vases, paintings, noses and eyebrows that emerge from the excavations, pools and tombs dedicated represent pure love, young, unconditional of the most powerful emperor of the greatest empire that ever existed in Western history.

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THE UNTOLD HISTORY Michelangelo, Leonardo, Caravaggio: the history that is not told during tours that we can ďŹ nally listen to with our heads high.

by Letizia Strambi

Michelangelo - The Final Judgement

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Leonardo - The Last Supper

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raveling to Italy is, for many people, a way of finding one’s roots.

Opening a book by Virgilio, the yearning to discover the stories of Homer along the coasts of the South, to find in Florence the saving love of Dante, the atmosphere of Tintoretto in the sunsets of Venice.

Many foreigners, book in hand, come to see what they already know, and often are surprised to read in the their guide-books that Michelangelo “was married to his art”, or “tormented by the love for a woman who would not repay it “attributed by imaginative biographies transposed, also, on the big screen.

But what hurts cultured people, voted to the opening of the mind, are the documentaries: enjoyable, perfect, with glaring omissions about the love of Michelangelo or Leonardo for men. No one mentions the model and pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, Gian Giacomo Caprotti known as Salai,

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while everyone makes assumptions about alleged links between Leonardo and the “woman” portrayed as the Mona Lisa, or the apostle –Magdalene.

Instead the homosexuality of great artists should be a new point of view for study and further critical analysis. Millions of gay men, and people who are not content with a distorted version of history, have appeared in churches and museums to see “their” history, the real one, to find clues of cultural freedom. According to Quiiky- the first Italian gay-friendly tour operator- it is time to come out of this segregation to a pluralistic opening, and not only literate. “The Untold History” - the name of this Quiiky tourmarks the change. No longer will such an important aspect of these artists’ lives be omitted.

Someone, finally, has the courage to say out loud that Michelangelo was gay, and it’s not a matter of prudery or injury to the

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obvious. Michelangelo loved men as evidenced by his passionate poems. We can notice that his women portrayed in the Sistine Chapel are massive and sculptural, with male bodies. For this a mighty Christ involves the vortex of salvation as a pair of men kiss in Paradise.

And before Michelangelo it is not that gays didn’t exist in art. We took refuge in search of the San Sebastiano of art, icon of boyish beauty. A style that we can find in portraiture by Leonardo. The conception of beauty is expressed by Da Vinci in the androgynous features, almost feminine, of Salai, that we see in the portrait of John the Baptist, and St. John, who sits at the right hand of Christ in the Upper Room.

Humanism’s favourite son, Leonardo, sees homosexuality as a relationship between philosopher and pupil, protector and scholar. Caravaggio, bisexual, by contrast, took prostitutes and made them into Madonnas with filthy feet; he took his “boys” from brothels to make young San Giovanni out of them, beefy and beardless.

The genius beloved by gay boys is Michelangelo, for his inner torments of spirit and body that are characteristic of youth. The

Guido Reni - San Sebastiano

Caravaggio - Young Sick Bacchus

Leonardo - Salaì portrayed as John the Baptist

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C U L T U R E

Apollo Belvedere

The Emperor Adriano

Michelangelo - Self Portrait

same that the artist transferred to the bodies he depicted in his paintings. Sculptural paintings, flesh as stone touched by divine love. The same love that Michelangelo felt for Tommaso dei Cavalieri, a young Roman nobleman for whom he wrote many wonderful poems.

The same homosexuality that put artists in a synthesis of male and female, heaven and earth, flesh and spirit, and what for others was darkness and for them was elective light. And in some cases, someone like Michelangelo, with a pope like Julius II, knew that he could finally afford to “dare” to come forward, even in the Sistine Chapel. This is because at the dawn of the 1500, Julius II did not care about Michelangelo’s homosexuality: for he was a genius. And it should be the same for us.

We should not try to create fictitious heterosexual love stories for him: he was gay, and proud of it, and the Pope did not have any trouble with it. The Pope had that open mind that in Milan, in other respects, we can find with the Sforza family. And today?

It seems incredible that even when the Pope embraces a transsexual person and says “who am I to judge?” five hundred years later, there is someone who is ready to pass judgment.

LEONARDO3 by Francesco Cutello For the whole duration of the Expo, until the 31st October 2015, there will be time to assemble and disassemble the machines of Leonardo, discover his secrets and studies, peer closely at the details of the Atlantic Codex, observe his boldest gadgets. Leonardo 3, in Piazza della Scala, just a few metres away from the Duomo, is enjoying great success, which is the reason why the city has decided to extend the exhibition for the duration of the Expo (entrance from 10:00a.m to 11:00p.m including holidays). A unique way to better understand the genius of this incredible Tuscan, the

complexity of his studies and the profound knowledge of mechanics that led Leonardo to design submarines, cars and instruments of war centuries before they were built. Thanks to the analysis of lab L3 you can interact with these inventions, testing your skills and trying to assemble 3D plastics, such as the ‘Bridge-standing’, thanks to the special touch-screen monitor that challenges your intuition through interactive games, as well as providing interesting facts about the history of the machines themselves, bringing to you the details contained in the Codex Atlanticus.

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Aquaflor

In the heart of Florence a workshop of yesteryear where to tailor-make the perfect scent.

Sileno Cheloni © ph. Stefano Gruppo

H

e met his spiritual master in Cyprus.

There he realized that perfume, which had always been the protagonist of his life, is a link between the human and the divine. Sileno Cheloni has travelled and worked all over the world before the creation of this milestone, and now the whole world is to find him in his workshop in Florence.

Here you can buy candles, creams, waxes, essences and oils but also get to create your own custommade scent, or put together the olfactory logo of your company .

An out-of-this-world, multi-sensory experience.

The customer is received in the magnificent Antinori palace, in Borgo Santa Croce, where the cellars can turn into a dining hall to accommodate guests for lunch and dinner. Here, in fact, more than customers you will find people who describe their lives to Sileno Cheloni, who will then sample essences corresponding to one’s memories and personality. Essences that will then make up the personalized perfume. “I have more than 1500 materials that surround us.” The scent is then shipped in a special packaging: an exclusive bottle, personalized by the initials of the client’s

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name. Sometimes customers come back and change fragrance, because their life has changed.

Upon entering we find in the shop window a few precious perfumes (between 1400 and 1800 euros). “It depends on the rarity of the raw materials: here I used Bulgarian rose, ambergris and certain types of moss.” And then the processing, which may take up to a year, in some cases. Like wine they mutate telling different stories. Creams made out of tomato leaves that tell of summer afternoons in vegetable gardens, sprays who speak of winter Sundays at home with apple pies with cinnamon, citrus scents that send us straight to the enchanting Amalfi Coast. Truly a place to get lost in or to find oneself... according to the balance achieved. Every note, in every scent, is guaranteed

by Aquaflor.

AQUAFLOR www.florenceparfum.it Via Borgo Santa Croce 6, Florence

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EVENTS Spring-Summer 2015

Cinema & Theatre

Music

MAY 2015 ROME, May 5th – May 17th: Grease at the ‘Teatro Brancaccio’

MAY 2015 VIENNA May 19th – May 23rd: Eurovision Song Contest

JULY 2015 ZURICH July 16th – August 16th: Summer Orange Cinema VERONA July 4th/10th/17th/30th: Don Giovanni at the Verona Arena VERONA July 22nd: Roberto Bolle and Friends at the Verona Arena

JUNE 2015 MILAN June 4th: Meghan Trainor JULY 2015 MILAN July: Hozier ROME July 12th: Elton John PERUGIA July 15th: Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

AUGUST 2015 VERONA August 8th/2st: Romeo & Juliet at the Verona Arena

AUGUST 2015 ZURICH August 29th: Street Parade

SEPTEMBER 2015 MILAN September 18th – October 17th: L’Elisir d’Amore at the Teatro alla Scala

SEPTEMBER 2015 TURIN September 4th/5th: U2

Sport MAY 2015 BRUSSELS May 21st – May 24th: Bruxelles Union Cup JUNE 2015 BERLIN June 6th: UEFA Champions League Final MIAMI June 12th – June 14th: Judo Grand Prix SEPTEMBER 2015 ZURICH September 3rd: Track and Field Championship BELGIUM September 26th – October 4th: 2015 Volleyball European Championship OCTOBER 2015 SOFIA – MILAN – TURIN October 9th – October 18th: Men’s Volleyball European Championship

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E V E N T I

Gay Events JUNE 2015 ZURICH June 19th – June 20th: Zurich Gay Pride TEL AVIV June 7th – June 14th: Tel Aviv Gay Pride SITGES June 18th – June 22nd: Gay Pride TORONTO June 19th – June 28th: Toronto Gay Pride SAN FRANCISCO June 27th – June 28th: San Francisco Pride NEW YORK June 27th – June 28th: New York Pride DENVER June 20th – June 21st: Denver Pride MILAN June 22nd – June 28th: Milan Pride JULY 2015 MADRID July 1st – July 5th: Madrid Gay Pride PROVINCETOWN July 11th – July 19th: Bear Week AMSTERDAM July 19th: Milkshake Festival

AUGUST 2015 ROME August 14th – August 24th: Atlantis Gay Cruise Rome - Istanbul REYKJAVÍK August 4th – August 9th: Gay Pride SEPTEMBER 2015 LAS VEGAS September 8th – September 14th: Gay Days Las Vegas DALLAS September 20th: Dallas Gay Pride OCTOBER 2015 MASPALOMAS October 12th – October 18th: Maspalomas Fetish Week LOS ANGELES October 31st: Gay Halloween Streetparty

Exhibitions & Events MAY 2015 MILAN May 1st – October 31st: EXPO 2015 ROME March 5th – June 21st: ‘Matisse.

Arabesque’ at the Scuderie del Quirinale AUGUST 2015 ZURICH August 22nd: Holi Festival Of Colours ZURICH August 29th: Flash Party

Fashion JUNE 2015 FLORENCE June 16th – June 19th: Pitti Uomo JULY 2015 NEW YORK July 13th – July 16th: New York Men’s Fashion Week SEPTEMBER 2015 LONDON September 18th – September 22nd: London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2016 MILAN September 23rd – September 29th: Milan Fashion Week Spring Summer 2016

E V E N T I

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IN ANCIENT EGYPT The relationship between Horus and Seth: when homosexuality was a power-play

by Alessio Virgili

T

he idea of homosexuality in ancient Greece should not astonish anyone, but few know that it was spread to other civilizations, both contemporary and even previous. Homosexuality in ancient Egypt, for example, was widely practiced, but as for the Romans, only the man who adopted the active role was considered virile and manly, while the one who had the passive role was regarded with contempt and dishonour.

We have testimony of this in a passage of the book of the dead in which we find a condemnation of homosexual acts and a praise of those who, although fellow soldiers and bedfellows, did not entertain any type of sexual relations with each other.

A further discovery we owe to a homosexual Egyptologist who discovered the first traces of a papyrus dating back to 1800 BC. in which one man woos another declaring “neferwi - pehwi - ki” that is “what a nice ass you have.” Other proof of the acceptance of homosexuality, in ancient Egypt, has arrived to us through art -un’ostraka dating from the Ramesses period seems to portray a homosexual relationship - and literature, as told by the myth of the dispute between Horus and Seth.

But even in the Hebrew Scriptures we find different clues. For example in Leviticus 18,3 Moses when speaking of homosexuality, which was banned, says: “the practice of the land of Egypt”.

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Horus and Seth

STORIES OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN ANCIENT EGYPT The story goes that after the death of Osiris, father of Horus and killed by Seth, a successor to the throne had to be found.

Seth (God depicted with the head of a dog or jackal) tries to seduce his nephew Horus who does not accept his sexual advances, because he had been warned by his mother Isis. By thus refusing he avoids the humiliation before the other Gods. The story ends with a final battle between the two with Seth harming Horus at the eye. But in the end the prince rips off his uncles genitals, making him a eunuch.

Traces of god Seth’s homosexuality we also find in other parts of the story, where, for example, we find him commenting with satisfaction on the physical and graceful shape and desirable backside of his teenage grandson.

A version of the same story that dates back to the New Kingdom in 1200 BC. shows an even more explicit Seth, having sexual intercourse with his grandson during a party at his house. This will provoke the anger of the mother of Horus, Isis, who will attempt to purify her

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Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep

son, contaminated by the secretions of Seth, in the waters of the sacred river Nile.

Revenge will be inflicted by Isis. The goddess will cover Horus’s food with Seth’s semen, which he will eat, therefore becoming the contaminated one this time. It has to be kept in mind that in ancient times, and in almost all Middle Eastern religions, sperm was considered an element of fertility, creativity and tremendous power .

In the case of Horus, legend has it that the nephew managed to impregnate his uncle managing to lower him to the role of women. This was cause for mockery by all the gods of the Egyptian pantheon. In this way Horus proves to be much smarter and therefore suitable to inherit the throne of Egypt, while Seth has to hide in shame in the desert .

This myth confirms, without a shadow of a doubt, that even in ancient Egypt homosexual acts in themselves were not socially reprehensible, but only the passive sexual role assumed by one of two men: the active partner was not condemned. In fact he was admired, while the passive one was banned and labelled negatively as he was “down at the same level of a woman”.

From the Middle Kingdom comes to us another very intriguing story, entitled The Plaintiff of Memphis, the affair between Pharaoh Neferkare and General Sanset.

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It tells of the nights in which the pharaoh, in secret, went to find his subordinate, sneaking into his bed and “making him do everything he wanted”, meaning euphemistically sexual intercourse. It is thought today that this was a reference to the real pharaoh Pepi II, who was widely regarded as very sensitive to male charm. The practice among soldiers was still widespread in Egypt and in other cultures, to reinforce the intimacy, to bind and build loyalty .

To round off we cannot but speak of what is considered the first homosexual male couple documented in history : Khnumhotep , which means “The God Khnum is satisfied”, and Niankhkhnum, which means “The God Khnum has life.”

They lived in the period of the mastaba of Niuserra and Menkauhor during the fifth Dynasty of Egypt in 2400 to BC, and they were confidants of Pharaoh Niuserra and the title that they both shared was “Supervisors to the manicures in the royal palace” and were also priests in the solar temple Abu Gorab.

Their tomb was discovered by Egyptologist Ahmed Moussa in 1964, in the necropolis of Saqqara. It is the only tomb of the necropolis in which two men are depicted holding each other and hand in hand. Furthermore, the hieroglyphics of their two names are combined, resulting in a game of words that could be a reference to their relationship. In fact, the Egyptian word HNM is not only used in the name of the god Khnum, but it is also a verb that means “to unite”, and therefore the phrase formed by the union of the two names can be translated as “united in life and united in peace”. Inside, among many others, an affresco can be found depicting the two embracing in the most intimate pose permitted canonically in Egyptian art.

Another reason that suggests they had a homosexual love affair is the way in which they were buried, placed close together in the same tomb, in the same way that was reserved only for married couples. We do not know the way same-sex couples were considered in ancient Egypt, but all these stories and especially the latter, suggest at least a relative acceptance of love relationships between men, when they had been mutually consensual and especially compared to the active role in the pair.

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