Monthly Archives: April 2004

Italy’s Art Vandal Strikes Again

Posted on by
Reply

posted Wed. April 28 12:13 pm zoomata staff

Piero Cannata, who broke a toe of Michelangelo’s David, scribbled on a Jackson Pollock painting and took a black marker to a Filippo Lippi fresco, has struck again.

The only consolation is that this time Cannata, a failed artist, did not pick anything particularly valuable but he did try to make a political statement. Cannata took brown spray paint to a monument for WWII heroes in Prato, Tuscany.

Prato, 10 miles north-west of Florence, is the hometown of Maurizio Agliana, one of three Italian hostages in Iraq.

“For me a monument to fallen soldiers represents a suicide,” Cannata told newspapers. “It’s like artwork where Isaac is about to be sacrificed by his father Abraham, it consecrates death and war.”

Cannata probably thought his gesture would get him into the spotlight at a moment when the city is crowded with reporters following the hostage crisis, but his marking up of the marble angel statue failed to get him any attention from passersby. Cannata waited, then turned himself in only to find the police didn’t take him seriously.

He was eventually fined for defacing public property and released.
Why can’t Cannata be stopped? His gesture is bound to fuel more discussion about a bill reforming a 1978 law on psychiatric care in Italy, currently being debated in parliament. The Basaglia law abolished state-run mental hospitals in favor of short-term hospitalization in small general hospitals.

Cannata, who said he had given up defacing art for studying grammar and reproductive rights’ laws, was hospitalized following his other exploits and subsequently released. 1999-2004 zoomata.com

This is an original news story, please play nice.

Under the Tuscan Budget Crisis: Florence’s Churches at Risk

Posted on by
Reply

updated Thu. April 15 10:07 am
by Nicole Martinelli

Down the street from Michelangelo’s David but just far enough out of the public eye to be neglected, one of Italy’s most beautiful Renaissance churches, Santissima Annunziata, is being heavily damaged by a leaky roof, art historian James Beck denounced.

Italian media reported that it is ‘raining’ inside the church, but city council member Simone Siliani said there is no money for repairs. The city government is responsible for 12 churches; repairing the damage to this church would eat up 25% of the 2004 maintenance budget.

This is the latest alarm over the cost of keeping up the art-laden capital of Tuscany, though the cash crunch for maintaining art is felt by cities throughout Italy. In 2003, Monsignor Timothy Verdon, who works in the main Cathedral, denounced lack of upkeep as the “suicide” of Florence; in 2002 a bureaucratic snafu over an unpaid electricity bill threatened to turn lights off on works by Michelangelo, Botticelli and Leonardo in the Uffizi Gallery.

Architect Dario Notari, who visited the church to eye the damage, said the key can be found in the all-too-ordinary proportions of leaky patches visible in a chapel.

“What’s visible right now is not that serious,” Notari told zoomata. “That’s exactly the problem: we’re talking about damage that may be considerably more serious but not in a place that a sponsor is going to get much satisfaction from financing it.” Florence’s most recent restoration project, announced March 17, will be a one-of-a-kind fresco fixed up with Italian state lottery funds.

Beck has long protested over both methods and the media circus surrounding restorations in Italy. His website, ArtWatch International, shows photos of heavy water damage in Santissima Annunziata dated 2002. In an article titled ‘Where are the Friends of Florence Now?” Beck maintains that timely maintenance would have kept costs down and prevented further damage.

Built by architect Michelozzo in 1444, the church is not one of the city’s most famous but contains art treasures spanning the Renaissance including murals by Pontormo and Andrea del Sarto and paintings by Perugino and Andrea dal Castagno.

The church of Santissima Annunziata (Holy Annunciation) is especially important to Florentines. It is home to celebrations of the Annunciation, a church festival in commemoration of the announcement of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary, that also marks the beginning of the local New Year. Florentines celebrated March 25 as the beginning of the year until 1749 and revived it as an historic commemoration in 2000. This year’s celebration, which featured a concert in the church and an art exhibit in the cloister, was a bittersweet one. @text/photos 1999-2007 zoomata.com

This is an original news story. Play nice. Use contact form for reuse/reprint info.

Related resources:
Florence: a Delicate Case

artwatchinternational.org

Birds Return to Venice Lagoon

Posted on by
Reply

posted Wed. April 14 16:35 pm zoomata staff

Aquatic birds in Italian lagoon of Venice have more than doubled in ten years, a conservation group announced.

Nearly 200,000 birds — largely ducks but also cormorants, swans, herons, spoonbills and gulls — were recorded in the latest census, a victory for wildlife in the Serenissima, historically under threat from industrial mainland neighbor Marghera. With at least at least 17 abandoned dumps holding nearly five million cubic yards of waste, the lagoon had been called an eco-graveyard.

“There has been a major increase, in part because birds are more protected and in part because the area is healthier,” said Giuseppe Cherubini, biologist and head of the local hunting and fishing office.

This is the latest in a series of efforts to protect wildlife in a country better known for man-made beauty. As part of a package of reforms, the Italian constitution would safeguard animals along with the historical and artistic heritage of the nation. The reforms, expected to pass, would make Italy the second country in Europe (following Germany’s lead) to protect animals in this way.

Venice the city, in all its striking and improbable beauty, has been under protection from UNESCO since the 1960s. To keep the Laguna Veneta from swallowing up the city, a project to build 79 moveable floodgates called Moses was approved in 2003.

Locals now hope to have the Venetian Lagoon protected under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty which provides a framework for national action and international cooperation for conservation and use of wetlands. At 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres), the Venetian wetlands are the second largest in Europe. ?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.

Related resources:
www.salve.it/uk/index.html
More on Moses and the Venetian Lagoon…

Italian Onion is ‘Poor Man’s Viagra’

Posted on by
1

posted Tue. April 13 18:25 pm zoomata staff

Men in Southern Italy have long claimed the red Tropea onion makes lovemaking easy, a scientist has now proved it is a natural form of Viagra.

Pasquale Potenza, who emigrated to Argentina as a youth, may have remembered whispered tales about the amorous side effects of the sweet onion of his native Calabria. After years of research, the biochemist at the University of Buenos Aires discovered that the Tropea onion contains nitric oxide, the active ingredient used in the little blue pill to regulate blood vessels and sustain erections.

“I’m not exactly sure what the implications may be,” said the researcher, whose last name happens to mean “potency” in Italian. “It will take complex studies to see whether it could be used on a pharmaceutical level — the connection is there though.”

Brought to Italy over two thousand years ago most likely by the Phoenicians, this type of onion has long been known to have excellent medicinal qualities. Pliny the Elder famously sung its praises — claiming these onions could cure vision, induce sleep, heal mouth sores, dog bites, toothaches and rheumatism.
Modern Italians are more likely to use a small amount to flavor an omelet or soup, but they have convinced the EU the Tropea onion is worthy of Protected Geographical Indication (I.G.P.) food status.
If Potenza’s research turns out to be commercially viable, they may find all sorts of new uses for it. @1999-2009 zoomata.com Related resoures:
Cucina Di Calabria: Treasured Recipes and Family Traditions from Southern Italy

James Stunell (Vico Equense, Sorrento Peninsula)

Posted on by
1

First Person: Real Life In Italy

Each month we introduce you to someone who has made the dream of picking up and moving to the Bel Paese a reality.
In their own words they share the good parts, the bad parts and the just plain absurd moments of day-to-day life in Italy.

Looking to move to Italy? Try the reader-recommended Survivor Package
If you live in Italy, we would love to hear your story–Contact form

ID Card: James Stunell. Director of Studies, teacher, translator and mountain guide.
Age: 33

Currently living in: Vico Equense — Sorrento Peninsula

By way of: Born in Oxford, England, grew up in the Cotswolds, university in Leicester, England, then moved to Koblenz, Germany.

How (or why) did you get here from there?
Well, I was (and am) a total Germanophile. I absolutely adore Germany and all things German but feared that I was becoming somewhat narrow-minded. Italy is about as far away as you can get from the Teutonic mindset, so I thought that would be a good place to start. I was also a big fan of Italian cuisine and was very much in love with Cecilia Bartoli, the Roman mezzo-soprano, and I quite fancied coming down here to chance my arm at finding my own Cecilia. I didn’t find a Cecilia, but I found a Giovanna; same raven hair, same eyes you could drown in. She can’t sing for toffee, but she cooks like a dream and, personally, I find that a fair swap.

What role did language skills play in your experience?
Oh, they were central, and a major motivation for coming here. I was lucky that I already spoke fluent German and had more than a smattering of French, so I was able to pick up Italian fairly quickly. I had no Italian at all when I stepped off the plane, which made it all rather fun!

Your biggest challenge:
Not to be driven insane by the mindless, nit-picking bureaucracy that accompanies the simplest of transactions, from opening a bank account to buying a mobile phone.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
I have yet to understand the Italian obsession with the motor car. Not only will they spend hour after hour in traffic just to avoid walking 200 metres, but they will actually drive around all evening simply as a way of spending time! It’s got to the stage now where I avoid telling people where or when I?m planning to travel. You can bet that they will know someone who knows someone else who?s going there too, and then it will take all my powers of diplomacy to get out of being given a lift, without causing offense. You see, Italians are as baffled by my attitude to cars as I am by theirs. And I still have to get used to the way in which they classify people of different ages. In England, I would be considered as fast approaching middle-age. Here, I am “un giovane.” If I were to commit a crime and my physog ended up in the local paper, I would no doubt be referred to as “il ragazzo” throughout the accompanying article. And anyone under the age of 18 is a “ragazzino.”

Compare an aspect of your town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town:
How can you compare the Cotswolds, the Rhineland and the Neapolitan Riviera? They are about as different as it?s possible to be! I suppose one thing that the Cotswolds and the Neapolitan Riviera have in common is that they are both staggeringly beautiful areas that are taken far too much for granted by the people who live there. The Germans are much better at appreciating what they have got than are the Brits or the Italians.

Latest pursuits: www.sorrentowalks.it – My latest project involves taking tourists for mountain walks in the Monti Lattari on the Sorrento Peninsula. We all end up going for lunch in a trattoria somewhere and have a really super day out.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is not true:
O.K. Let?s be fair. One positive and one negative. For one thing, it’s not true that Italian public transport is a disaster. It’s actually very good indeed. I know I speak as a citizen of the country with the worst public transport system in the Western world, but even so. On the other hand, Italians have the reputation of being a musical people. They are not. Although I live close to Naples and, therefore have a sneaking admiration for Neapolitan singer/songwriter Pino Daniele (His strummings do add a certain je ne sais quoi to a diner-?-deux on a terrace overlooking the Med), there isn’t anything on the Italian musical landscape that isn’t bland, cloying, self-indulgent codswallop. And it’s everywhere! Supermarkets, lifts, weddings, christenings. I haven’t yet had the misfortune to have to go to an Italian funeral, but I’m sure it’s there too! How did the people who gave us Rossini, Bellini, Puccini and Verdi reduce themselves to this level of musical incompetence? Gosh, what an outburst!

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is true:
Again, a plus and a minus. The families are very close-knit. I love that.
There?s always a special occasion to go to and you cannot beat the simple pleasures of an Italian family meal. Their whole attitude to good food in good company is absolutely spot-on ? something we have unfortunately lost in the north. And, of course, it means that there is always a butcher, a baker and a candlestick-maker in the family to give you the sort of service that you won’t find in Italy without connections. The minus? It’s absolutely true that organisation is not one of the Italians’ strengths.

Your response to the following question: “I really want to live here, but I don’t speak Italian or have a job. What do you think?”
Go ahead and do it. People aren’t intrepid enough these days. Once upon a time (and it wasn’t that long ago) people would just hop on a plane and hope for the best. Now they want everything organised beforehand, right down to the colour of the wallpaper in their flat. But two words of advice: make sure that you’re in love with the reality of Italy and not the dream. Being on holiday is not the same as living here. And when you get here, make an effort to learn the language. I get so tired of people who come out here and complain that it’s difficult to make friends with Italians. Well of course it is if you’re expecting them to communicate in a foreign language in their free time!


How would you sum up your Italian experience in a word (and why)?
“Surprising”. After all, if you?d asked me 15 years ago what I would be doing in 2002, I’d have replied “Cycling around Munich in the sunshine, stopping occasionally for a beer and a bratwurst”. That would have been nice too,but I have no regrets.

Italy’s best-kept secret?
You?ll laugh at this, but it has to be the barber’s shop. Not one of those poncey new salons, but a real, traditional barber’s shop with white walls, cut-throat razors and neon fly-zapper. What could be more relaxing than being shaved while listening to the lulling tones of crusty locals discussing sex, football, philosophy, religion, more sex, more football? In fact, sometimes I’ll grow a beard just for the pleasure of having it shaved off again by Giacomo, my local barber!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Reply

Poet Lost His Head, Italian Scientists Say

Posted on by
Reply

posted Mon. April 5 14:13 pm zoomata staff
Poets may have a better connection between head and heart than most, but 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch may have been separated forever from his skull.
Scientists, who dug him up in November 2003 in hopes of learning more about one of the most prolific bards of the Italian Renaissance, discovered after DNA testing that the skull found in his tomb most likely belongs to a woman.

The skull switcheroo is sending shock waves through the Italian scientific community where dramatic celebrity exhumations have become frequent. Over the last decade or so, figures like painter Giotto and Dante’s ‘Cannibal Count’ Ugolino della Gherardesca have made headlines and become the object of exhibits, books and documentaries following DNA testing.

Petrarch’s exhumation was timed in order that he might ‘star’ in celebrations for the 700th anniversary of his birth in November 2004. Scientists wanted to reconstruct his face and determine his age, diet and general health. There was no immediate comment from officials about how the fete might carry on if the poet’s body remains headless.

“I hope that whoever may have the skull will give it back,” said scientist Vito Terribile Wiel Marin. “We’re 100% percent sure it’s not his, but we can’t date the skull with certainty yet.” Getting back Petrarch’s head may not be a simple matter — the tomb, in Arqua Petrarca near Padova had been opened once in the 1600s and in more recent times, when someone made off with an arm and fractured the skull.

Romantics are already speculating that the woman buried with Petrarch might be his mystery love Laura, to whom he dedicated the lines, “I feed on sadness, laughing weep:death and life displease me equally:and I am in this state, lady, because of you.” ?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.