Italian Genius Leonardo Da Vinci Invented Plastic?

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by Nicole Martinelli posted:Thu Oct. 2/2003 15:12 pm

Chalk up another one for Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci — he just may have invented plastic. A couple hundred years before Alexander Parkes debuted with man-made plastic at the 1862 Great International Exhibition, Leonardo had already developed a material similar to bakelite.

In addition to painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer and scientist, Leonardo may well be remembered as a jewelry maker and kitchenware designer. Professor Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the Museo Ideale in Vinci (Tuscany), has recreated some of the objects described in Leonardo’s copious notes — and they look strikingly like modern craft-fair baubles.

Leonardo, however, was working with intestines, cauliflower leaves, paper and plant dyes. His studies to create ‘a glass that doesn’t break when it hits the floor’ led him to discover materials he thought might suit for knife handles, chessboards, salt shakers, lanterns, pendants and necklaces.

Called ‘the man who wanted to know everything,’ Leonardo is credited with inventing the helicopter, parachute, a flying machine, machine guns and a tank. The plastic experiments, found by combing the Arundel, Forster and Atlantic codes, are likely just some of the lesser-known discoveries in the 5,000 surviving pages of Leonardo’s notes. ©1999-2008 zoomata.com

*images courtesy Museo Ideale of Vinci

Related resources:
www.museoleonardo.it

The Da Vinci Code

Italy by Numbers: Blackout Brouhaha

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1 nationwide blackout that ‘could never happen’
18 hours, before power restored completely
17% (circa) imported energy, Italy
2% European average
(infinite) bickering
1 cultural/technological shift: cell phones over church bells

Italy’s recent blackout, for which anyone in a position of responsibility is sticking to the ‘it’s not my fault’ alibi, has a few interesting cultural implications.
Italians learned they can count on their mobile phones in an emergency — and no longer on church bells — to face blackouts expected to plague the country for all of 2004.

Italy’s Chief of Civil Protection service, Guido Bertolaso, used text messages to update Italians stuck in the dark. Mobile phones users received information about what to expect and were advised not to go to train stations, use elevators or drive unless necessary.
The service was a lifeline for many Italians. Households with fiber optic Internet setups (about 300,00, among the highest number in Europe) lost use of fixed line phones along with power. However, cell phones won’t replace low-tech standbys like battery-run radios in an extended blackout. Cellular transmitter stations run on battery backup power, but batteries may not last more than a few hours.
The technology revolution has silenced one of the oldest forms of warning and emergency information — church bells. Although ringing from bell towers once regulated Italian daily life, bells throughout the Bel Paese were silenced or muted during the blackout. On Sunday sacristans, now used to pushing a button to program or amplify bells, found themselves struggling with ropes to ring bells the manual way. ?1999-2003 zoomata.com

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

Italians Lose Tuscan Island Auction Battle

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zoomata.com staff posted:Thu Oct. 2 15:12 pmItalian environmental groups stopped the impending auction of a Tuscan island — only to have a new isle put up for sale instead. Days after Giannutri, one of three islands up for grabs in November, had its ‘for sale’ sign taken down after protests by Legambiente, government officials put Cerboli on the list of 322 properties for sale in Tuscany.

In 2002, the Italian government announced it was selling off state-owned property to balance the budget. Critics wondered if someone would turn the Coliseum into a shopping mall or make Romeo and Juliet’s balcony into a drive-thru — and they weren’t too far off.
Of the historical properties conservationists raised the alarm against selling, buyers have already snapped up Palazzo Correr in Venice (on the block twice, sold with a 25% discount), Palazzo Artelli in Trieste and Villa Manzoni in Rome.

What else is for sale in bella toscana? The former prison colony of Pianosa Island has a price tag of slightly more than 8 million euro, comes with its own police station and is home to a national park with strict limits on tourist numbers. Considerably more secluded is Gorgona, the smallest island of the Tuscan archipelago, 18 miles off the coast of Livorno. Not looking for isolation? The spiaggia dell’ottone (brass beach) in Portoferraio, fully equipped with umbrellas and other beach paraphernalia, is priced at 4,970 euro. The lighthouses of Formiche di Grosseto, Capraia, Fenaio al Giglio are also up for grabs but prices haven’t been announced.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingual journalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire. Related resources:
www.gazzettaufficiale.it
Weekly official government publication where auctions are announced. Italian only.

Buying a Property: Italy
Practical guide for the negotiating the real-estate maze of the Bel Paese…

Italy Crowns Coolest Granny

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zoomata.com staff posted:Fri Sept.19 10:24 am Carpina Zuccarina was crowned Italy’s favorite granny, after a summer-long contest that saw almost 200 wisecracking women over 65 compete for the title.
Her winning moves? She beat the competition by dancing a tarantella barefoot.

Zuccarina, 72, took the cardboard crown of TV show "Velone" dry-eyed, no doubt already thinking of how she might divvy up the 250,000 euro prize among her 11 children and 21 grandchildren. Show creator Antonio Ricci called the prize money ‘a violent boost to the average pension.’
This is likely the case for Zuccarina, who at age 10 moved from province of Avellino (Campania) to Tuscany to work in the fields and never had time to learn to read or write.

The money was certainly compensation for having to twirl around the stage in a public piazza to last year’s disco hits while a graphic displayed name, age, height and weight to the nation. "Velone" was low-budget summer TV fare at best: a 20-minute pseudo-talent contest for women over 65 that kicked off with a recycled theme song from last years’ version — a contest for young go-go dancers for popular satirical show "Strip the News." It was an immediate hit, causing the competition on state television RAI to be canceled early and beating an evening of the youthful beauties in the stale Miss Italia contest.

"It was the most fun I’ve had in my whole life," Zuccarina, recently widowed, told news agency ANSA. "After giving gifts to all of my kin, I’d really like to visit Florence and Siena, I’ve never been." Zuccarina, short gray hair, bright blue eyes framed by black brows, didn’t let the emotion of the moment overtake her. Dressed in black and white, she waved to the audience in Milan with only the briefest of smiles.

No hard feelings for the runners-up – -Domenica Moncini, 84, Fedora De Pra’ Girardi, 91, and Tommasina Communara, 70, they split a consolation prize of 50,000 euro.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

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

Italy’s Mini Baby Boom

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by Nicole Martinelli
posted Thu 11 Sept. 8:24 am

Northern Italy’s hospitals are overflowing with a bumper crop of newborn bambini after decades of low birth rates. Milan alone counted a record 2,000 stork visits in July and August, an 8% jump over 2002. After similar reports came in from the provinces of Venice and Piedmont, officials started scrambling to plan for this unexpected mini-boom in births.

“It’s an exciting piece of news,” said Dr. Guido Moro of Macedonio Melloni hospital in Milan. “The media bombarded us all summer long with the tragic news of elderly death rates caused by the heat — but there are hospitals very, very busy giving life.”

It’s a step in what may be a small turnaround in Italy’s dismal birth rates. The last data available, 2001, also showed a slight uptick — for the first time in almost a decade, the number of births were higher than deaths in the Bel Paese. The profile of less traditional mamma also factors in — officials said more mothers today are closer to age 40 than 30 and many are having children with a second partner, while foreign-born mothers account for 20% of the total.

Hard to say whether economic aid or the more or less constant pleas from the Vatican are having a significant effect on increasing Italian offspring. Towns throughout the country now offer ‘social subsidies’ that grow with the family. A typical program offers cash for the first five years of a child’s life, doubling for every sibling added to the family.

Some of the more whimsical initiatives honoring precious newborns are bound to cause trouble if the trend keeps up, especially if it doubles as predicted by 2013. Towns like Moretta, where the main square lights up for each new citizen could become a disco-strobe disaster. Or perhaps there’s a full-time job for a bard in Monza, where each family is sent a personalized poem marking the event.

The mayor of Venice is taking a more pragmatic approach to the first flood of babies La Serenissima has seen in decades. In a special conference, Paolo Costa congratulated local officials for holding up ‘under emergency’ but that it was time to plan for this new and rapidly growing population.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

Related resources:

Bilingual Baby: Italian

www.auguri.com/nascita.htm
Italian e-cards for new babies….

Italian Co. Seeks Ideal Breast — for Champagne Glass

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An Italian sparkling wine company has set out to find the perfect breast — to serve as a mold for a new champagne glass.

Family-run winery Pittaro is running a contest with twelve finalists demurely covered in semi-strategic grape leaves to promote a spumante. The one voted as having the ‘ideal breast’ will see her curves immortalized in Murano glass for these mammary-inspired limited edition goblets.

Fearing backlash for pushing taste boundaries in ergonomic design, family member Patrizia Pittaro was quick to declare her support for the contest, one that she feels women won’t find degrading. In a country where leading news magazines compete using naked women to illustrate cover stories, the publicity stunt has failed to raise much dust so far.

"Not really what you’d call good taste, OK, but offensive, not really" Irene Galviani, a 43-year-old teacher and self-defined ‘neo-feminist,’ told zoomata. "There’s nothing offensive to me about the shape of women’s breasts, it’s just a marketing ploy."

The contest is the brainchild of photographer Gianfranco Angelico Benvenuto, whose other noteworthy projects include a calendar of naked housewives. Benvenuto said the selection of the finalists was tough work — the rules imposed a strict silicone ban.

Over the centuries, legends tell of champagne cups molded on famous breasts — namely Marie Antoine, Madame du Pompadour, Madame du Barry and the Empress Josephine. All false — the basic champagne glass predates the famous Frenchwomen, so an Italian may be the first to actually become a mold.©1999-2003 zoomata.com

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

Mary Jane Cryan (Vetralla)

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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:
Mary Jane Cryan, 50+, a tri-national,having been born in the US of Irish parents and gained Italian citizenship through marriage. An author and contributing writer for many well-known guidebooks. International education and tourism consultant, see her website , www.elegantetruria.com/book/book.htm. You can email her at: macryan@libero.it
Currently living in: Currently living in Vetralla, an ancient town near Viterbo, 68 kms north of Rome. (For more info:www.comune.vetralla.vt.it )

By way of: a native of Massachusetts, studied in Buffalo, NY then in Dublin, Ireland. Since 1965 in Italy, mostly in Rome, a year in Genoa, 3 years in Moscow.

How (or why) did you get here from there?
I was offered a position as a teacher in one of Rome?s international schools fresh out of college. I had met my future husband while studying in Dublin during junior year.

What role did language skills play in your experience?
Knowing I wanted to go to Rome , I took Italian classes during my last year of college and continued studying the language while teaching and eventually got my Laurea degree from an Italian university. Even after all these years I still speak with an accent . At home we often speak a mixed language-Itanglish-starting the sentence in one language and switching to the other half way through. In Moscow it was worse: ?Mamma, posso avere a glass of malako? is a a typical phrase-using the three languages we spoke Italian, English and Russian for the names of local things like milk, ice cream, etc.

Your biggest challenge: Restoring this old palazzo (there , I?m doing it again) and coping with the Italian and local bureaucracy : When my husband died suddenly I had to figure out all the intricate details by myself. It was a nightmare.

What did you do to feel at home or adapt here?
Living abroad and in international environments from a young age one learns how to make friends and adapt quickly to new places. Since I write guidebooks and ?how to? books about Italy I?ve had a double reason for learning about all phases of Italian life. For newcomers , remember its up to you to make the first move, invite people , introduce yourself, make yourself known in your new town.

What do you still have to get used to/learn?
I must still get used to Italian politics and calcio which I find completely incomprehensible. The way the school system is run is also a mystery?as soon as I think I?ve figured it out, they change the rules.

Compare an aspect of your home town (or other place you’ve lived) to current town.
Living in a small town like Vetralla is so much easier than life in Rome and other metropolitan centers . Its perfect for someone my age and with my profession. I am in touch with the entire world and am able to write, publish , keep contacts with the entire world thanks to Internet. The lifestyle is more relaxed and its also much cheaper to live here.

Latest pursuits:
In Rome I was just one of many English-language writers, teachers. Here I am unique and have found my niche promoting the area known as Etruria through my books, website and travel consultancy.

A preconceived notion about Italians/Italy that is or is not true:
I believe that city-dwelling Italians, as I was for about 30 years, work harder and usually have a very stressful day due to traffic and crowded living conditions. The people here, only forty minutes north of Rome , have a more relaxed attitude towards life, as if they are living in a time warp, like Italy was 50 years ago. The family, local traditions and festivities are more important and people have more time to enjoy themselves.

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?”
My answer, Come for 2 weeks or 2 months each year and enjoy the good life. If you are set on coming to live here, buy a house here, etc. read as many books possible before making the decision.
Recently an Englishman who speaks very little Italian and is struggling with a house restoration project in my area said, ?If I had only found your book last May-how many headaches I would have saved myself!? Talk to many people before making decisions, everyone has had different experiences. And above all, learn the language .

How would you sum up your Italian experience in a word (and why)?
I wouldn?t trade my 30+ years here with anyone else?s life.

Italy’s best kept secret (music, culture, food, way to get round things)
The small towns in the Viterbese-Etruria area are still to be discovered by Romans and foreigners. They offer genuine Italian lifestyle, the province?s lowest real estate prices and are connected by train to Rome.

Italian Ghost Town Kept Alive by Retirees

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Ceregate is a tiny town in Italy’s Val Staffara, suspended between the borders of Lombardy, Liguria and Piedmont, with five stone houses surrounded by wild cherry trees and a small church.
It has no residents, no electricity or running water. A symbol of innumerable ghost towns in the area, where industrialization has led young people away for work, it stays alive thanks to efforts of elderly residents in the surrounding areas.

Ceregate, part of the hamlet of Cegni (a whopping 75 inhabitants) hit its all-time population density with 25 residents.

“The last one died in 1996,” said Giuseppe Zanocco, 90, prior of the Ceregate sanctuary. “His name was Carlo Buscaglia. He sold coal, lived by candlelight and got by using water from the river. Once a week he went to Cegni for groceries, an hour on foot and a quick chat with the people he met along the road.”

So the residents of Cegni, most of whom get by with the minimum state pension and wood-burning stoves for heat, took it upon themselves to keep the town “alive.” Twice a year they repopulate the sanctuary, Easter Monday and the first Sunday in September. The recently-restored church opens doors for Mass, a picnic is held and an auction of local foodstuffs provides maintenance for the sanctuary—this year’s raised about $1,500.

The parish priest, who looks after a total of 500 souls in four towns, commented: "This isn’t a ghost town, but a town that’s slumbering in history. We’re happy and proud to wake it up every once in awhile."

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

La Fenice Opera House to Reopen — Finally

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The Fenice opera house of Venice, one of Italy’s most important venues, will finally reopen in December 2003 for a series of concerts.
In February of this year, it seemed that Italian officials were trying to convince themselves as much as everyone else about the never-ending restoration by putting up a website documenting the reconstruction.

The Italian opera house, razed by fire in 1996, was first promised to be rebuilt by 1998. A series of snafus have delayed the "Phoenix" (La Fenice in Italian) from rising out of its ashes. A three-year investigation into the causes of the fire, which lead to arson convictions for two electricians working on the wiring, dragged things out. And then in 2000 the discovery of Roman ruins and subsequent cataloging of them also caused notable delays. Work was halted in Spring 2001, when Mayor Paolo Costa decided the work was taking to long and should be given to another construction company.

Although opera won’t ring through the rebuilt halls until fall of 2004, the week of December 14-21 2003 will find music once again in the Fenice with maestro Riccardo Muti leading a homecoming for the house orchestra and chorus.

The theater,site of many memorable performances, was responsible for commissioning works like "La Traviata" and "Rigoletto" from Giuseppe Verdi.?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.ricostruzionefenice.it/foto/home.asp
Take a look at the work & where its going.

www.teatrolafenice.it
For the concerts or productions at the the temporary PalaFenice (Teatro Maliban); online booking available.

A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance

Italians Fight Flood of English Words

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Students of Italian may have an easier time using Italian newspapers to improve their understanding of the language thanks to the latest flood of neologisms from English. Italian journalists have coined 5,000 new words over the last five years, many of them come from English, according to a new book from the National Research Center (CNR).

Should an Italian casually offer, “Andiamo a drinkare una cosa al bar?” Chances are an English speaker with a minimal grasp of Italian will understand that a few cocktails are in the offing. And a pompous acquaintance going on about “glocalismo” or how he just bought shares in a “public utility” will be relatively easy to follow, as perhaps a friend who mentions a favorite “quizzone” or game show.

There is, however, a flip side to this trend — some of the new terms not based on English are incomprehensible to those outside Italy. A few examples? Describing that new coworker as a “cococo” isn’t a put-down, but just shorthand for the much-debated continuous collaboration contract. And what about celebrity labeled” attapirato?” Nothing tragic — they’ve been given the golden tapir award for some kind of dubious behavior from the country’s most-watched satirical show “Strip the News” (Striscia la notizia).

Not all Italians are enthusiastic about this hybrid language. Protests over the mix of Ital-English don’t come from the Accademia della Crusca, Europe’s oldest linguistic watchdog which has been notably silent about the growing number of foreign words in everyday Italian, but a group of Italian politicians and, yes, notable journalists who don’t like the way things are going. In a petition sent to Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, signers take umbrage with the transformation of the labor ministry (“ministero del lavoro”) now known as “ministero del Welfare” and the names of state TV Rai’s channels (Rai Educational, Rai News, etc.)

This is the first sign of resistance in an Anglophile country just getting around to protecting its national identity. According to statistics, Italian is one of the most studied languages on the planet, but for the first time this spring Italians inaugurated a national exhibit on their native tongue.
The exhibit at the Uffizi Gallery’s Reali Poste in Florence — which explores the roots of modern Italian as well as its intersections with foreign languages — is precisely the kind of horn-tooting celebration Italians strenuously avoid. It took 10 years to find enough interest and funds to put it together and may form the cornerstone of the first museum on the history of the Italian language. Slated to close in the end of September, the unexpected success of the exhibit prompted organizers to hold it over until Dec. 31 2003. Tutto OK, then. ?1999-2004 zoomata.com