Peter Greenaway’s “Last Supper” — Held Over, Again

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Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” in Milan got a multimedia makeover thanks to British director Peter Greenaway. You can still catch it in Milan until September 6 when it’ll be packed up for an international tour promoting Italy’s Furniture Fair.

Visitors see the ravaged Renaissance masterpiece in a new way with lights, voices, sounds and images layering over the work, centering around the moment when Christ announces the betrayal of one of the apostles.

Greenaway’s film was intended to run on top of Leonardo’s original fresco, but although the project has been hyped for months, the Italian government woke up a few days before the launch and forbade any such artistic happening given the extreme fragility of the work.

Instead, the film projects over a life-size copy of the fresco at the Sala dei Cariatidi, normally closed to the public, in Palazzo Reale near the Duomo. I elbowed my way into the press preview, where the video is projected over a convincing replica of the fresco — thanks to an extremely high-res digital photo — while the room is divided by a long white table with white plates, cups and bread similar to the one in the artwork.

Viewers are sandwiched between the fresco and a back wall where up-close fragments of the fragile painting and portraits play across a screen — leading to a tennis-game effect since it’s impossible to know where to be look during the 15 or so minutes of the piece. (My friend and I both missed the final moment before the writing comes up on the wall because we were looking in the wrong direction. If you know how it ends, please email me.)

Though the experience would improve dramatically following a glass or two of Chianti, it is worth a gander, especially for the dramatic use of back lighting which seems to make the painting move towards viewers.

This is the latest in a trio of Greenaway’s projects in Italy — he “peopled” a newly-restored palace, the Venaria Reale, with 200 HDTV short films and used the same multimedia approach to enliven Milan’s recently inaugurated Design Museum.

If you go: Palazzo Reale
April 16–Sept. 6
Opening hours have been extended, too:
Mon., Tues., Weds., Sunday 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Thurs., Fri., Sat., 2:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Admission every 20 minutes, tickets €5.
From the Duomo, walk all the way through the courtyard and up the huge stone staircase on the left. You’ll have to walk through part of the Canova exhibit to get there, there are combined tickets if you want to see both.

YouTube Hits Turin Book Fair

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Strisca La Notizia Exhibit, at Triennale MuseumHeading to Turin’s International Book Fair tomorrow for the launch of a tome on the history of YouTube (“YouTube: La Storia”), with the author Glauco Benigni, ace entertainment journalist Alessandra Comazzi of daily La Stampa, RAI multimedia guru Renato Parancandolo and, uh, me (nervous, anyone? Just a leeetle).
Where & When: May 8, noon, Palco RAI. Come up and say hi if you attend.
The inaugural day looks like it’ll be charged with drama (this is Italy after all) with President Napolitano expected to give an opening speech affirming special guest country Israel’s right to exist that has critics lining up.

How Big is Your “Salve” Circle?

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Foreigners who learn Italian often want to get up to speed on vitriolic cuss words or smooth sweet nothings. Swearing like a Turk (as they say) came easy to me, but greetings were tough to get right.
In the morning, you say “buon giorno,” but in Florence, where I learned Italian, they start kicking in with good afternoon/evening at around noon. And although saying “sera” to someone at 1 p.m. will get you raised eyebrows in most other parts of Italy, the habit has stuck with me.
Then there’s the age and status component: just who can you toss a very casual “ciao” at and who not? It’s a salutation minefield, and when you can’t get the first words out with any finesse, the conversation goes downhill faster than a Fiat with faulty brakes.
And so when I moved to Milan, it was with great pleasure that “salve” came into my life. It’s the closest thing Italian has to a generic, all-purpose “hello,” you can pretty much say it to any one, any time of day and in any situation.
Pronounced “sal-vay,” the word also means “safe” as in “safe and sound” (sano e salvo) and that’s how it made me feel: secure. It’s not a personal greeting, you wouldn’t want to use it to someone you really know and chat with, so it’s perfect for nodding acquaintances. Like all-black outfits, it’s much more frequently found in Northern Italy, but works well in the rest of the peninsula.
Just how small my “salve” circle was became apparent one recent rainy morning when a corner of my kitchen started to look like a Rorschach test from a persistent leak. The landlord said I needed to the key to a lock for the roof before we could make an appointment to get it fixed.
I didn’t have it and the two downstairs neighbors I’m friendly with didn’t either. So who to ask? Not the recycling fascist, for sure. I couldn’t stand another lecture on removing the plastic windows from paper envelopes. There’s a woman known as “wife-of-the-restaurant-owner” (why don’t I know her name?), sometimes encountered around the bike rack, but wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I’d get if I knocked on her door.
The rest of the palazzo residents I wasn’t sure I’d recognize if I saw them at the supermarket around the corner. Stuck in etiquette limbo, I sat on the project (and interpreted the changing pattern of the stain) for about a week. Then I checked out the lock and found someone had forgot to close it, so the immediate problem was solved.
But it got me thinking: just how many people do I see frequently (at the robo-cop gym, the supermarket, the park) that I might say hello to? Without being creepy or practicing some sort of massive group come-on? And how many more might I chat to, if I had a go?
Thought I’m not exactly a shrinking violet — and grew up with a dad who has never met anyone at a flea market, Mexican restaurant or church social that he didn’t like — speaking a foreign language learned as an adult has made me shy and tentative.
Because if you open up your mouth to a stranger and the weather comment is grammatically faulty or imperfectly accented, people look at you funny. And tend to follow up with an unfriendly, “Where are YOU from?” that often sounds more like, “Hark! Who goes there?”
So you either shut up (previous strategy) or not care if it doesn’t come out right (new strategy).
Predictably, the experiment got me into a few cringe-worthy scrapes. Confident I remembered the name of a woman in yoga class, I kept repeating her wrong name in conversation, only to realize later, when the instructor corrected her by name, that all women of a certain age with slightly bouffy wheat-colored short hair look alike to me. Or the supermarket checkout girl, thrown the offhand (but sincere) compliment on her poker-straight, black hair only to respond with an eye roll, “When have you ever seen my hair differently? I mean, do I know you?” Ouch.
The security guard outside the bank that I walk past every day on my way to the newsstand still watches silently with suspicion and crossed arms, refusing to exchange my greetings, but the elderly doorman at the palazzo next to the bank now gives me a real smile and a “salve” every single morning, which feels like an accomplishment. Another neighbor invited me for dinner and Italian X-factor (addictive!), and it turned out his wife had invited an old friend of mine over, too. (Note to self: Milan is a lot smaller than it looks. Behave accordingly).
As a bonus, there’s been lots of good information (Benetton is the go-to place for cute, inexpensive bikinis, AC Milan has had better seasons, RyanAir is having a one-euro sale if you book now) and while the results are unpredictable, you can triple-fold your circle of acquaintances in about six weeks, even in a big city, if you start your local equivalent of “salvay-ing” today.
If you try it, let me know what happens.

Padania Vs. Tibet Soccer Match

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Tibet vs. PadaniaThought this poster advertising a friendly soccer match in Milan between Tibet and Padania (supporters of Italy’s thuggish Northern League party) was some sort of Sambuca-induced hallucination.

But authoritative Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports the game is the real deal.

Billed as an event where “for two peoples seeking freedom” compete, it’s not clear whether there’s an actual soccer team from Tibet (though there were some fellow exiles when the Dalai Lama spoke here in December, it’s hard to imagine where they’d come up with 11 good men for sport), it’s an interesting publicity move for the Padanians, who are in an entirely different kind of struggle to get recognized as a land.

The political party just won a nice chunk of support in recent elections, but it’s predicted they’ll have to tone down the usual rants against foreigners and secession from Rome to fit in. It’s not the first extra-political event they’ve created, after all they did invent the Miss Secessionist beauty pageant, currently in its 10th year.

Info:
No entrance fee but door donations go to Tibetan Children’s Villages, an organization founded by the Dalai Lama’s sister.
Wednesday, May 7, 8:45 p.m.
Civic Arena, Parco Sempione
Milan

Italians Get Some Satisfaction

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happy Italian tourists in FlorenceIf Italians are trying hard to get what they need, economy-wise, at least they’re having good sex.

Italians are among the top orgasmers worldwide, tied for first place with Spain and Mexico, enjoying the big wow 66 percent of the time they have sex, according to the Durex Sexual Wellbeing survey. The global average? A measly 48%.

It may be a question of slow sex — a little like the slow food concept — that
helps Italians do it better.

Italians who declare themselves fully satisfied with the intensity of their orgasms spend nearly twice as much (an average of seven minutes) on foreplay compared to under 4 minutes, globally.

Some 44% of Italians who reach orgasm regularly said they’d like to spend more quality time with partners, as opposed to a 38% global average.

The condom company’s yearly poll, which asks 26,000 people in 26 countries about life between the sheets, also found, however that Italy’s Casanovas are still not quite satisfied, with only 64% stating they’re fulfilled by their sex lives.

The survey also confirmed that home-bound Italian mamma’s boys and girls still favor Fiat sex (not surprising if you have followed the “Love Park” saga), 82% have had sex in the car.

Milan Restaurant Counts Calories

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Ristorante Romani, Milan Not to be outdone by New York, a restaurant in Italy’s fashion capital has opted to equip the menu with calorie counts.

The American initiative, already weighed down by an appeal, would only cover restaurant chains. But the Ristorante Romani, which voluntarily decided to list just how many calories the risotto alla milanese packs is an upscale, family-run venue in the city’s historic center.

“It’s a question of transparency and propriety,” owner Maria Ciaramella told newspapers. “It’s also the best way to meet the needs of our customers — both men and women — who will soon have to face the dreaded swimsuit test.”

To do it right, the restaurant brought in Italian dietitian to the stars Nicola Sorrentino. His outside expertise means there will be no flubbing on exactly how much the tortelloni with scampi, figs served with a “cascade of flowers” (edible? do those count as carbs or protein?) may bulge from your bikini.

Other items under scrutiny include linguini with lobster and cherry tomatoes, risotto alla pescatora and Chateaubriand with potatoes. It’s hard to imagine the truly diet-conscious even glancing at dessert items such as tiramisu, torta della nonna and the house specialty, a killer Neopolitan ricotta cake (pastiera alla napoletana).

With prices hovering around 45 euro a head ($70) sans vino, I haven’t been there since the dot-com boomlet allowed me to entertain clients on the company tab, but have heard that last year’s slight makeover has made the place even more comfortably old-school than it was.
Image courtesy Ristorante Romani.

To Catch A Thief, Italian Police Go Online

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Damiani ringMilan police have put the glittering booty from a million-dollar jewelry heist online in hopes of catching the thieves. February 24, masked bandits busted into Damiani jewelers as employees were getting ready for a VIP bling fest.

Platinum rings with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires are among the 50 stolen pieces from the store in central Corso Magenta after masked thieves dug a hole in the brick wall of the neighboring palazzo to get at the goods.

So yeah, if someone just gave you an unexpected (and unexpectedly large) token of appreciation, this would be the time to raise an eyebrow and contact Milan police at squadramobile.mi@poliziadistato.it , or just ogle the hot merchandise here.

Italians Pray for New Religious Design

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Baptismal Font -- VigolenoAn international design competition aimed at religious objects has extended the deadline until April 4 in hopes of getting more entries.

Called “deisign” (God-sign), promoted by the diocese of Cuneo and part of Torino’s year-long stint as World Design Capital, the competition aims to enhance and promote all spiritual, cultural, historical and emotional expressions of holy Catholic symbols.

The Torino Design Capital site says winning entries will demonstrate “a careful eye on the past for the forms of religious art over the centuries converses with the future and with other cultures through the present, involving contemporary expression.”

So nudge yourself beyond the bad English on the official site (“similarly a papery or cd-rom or dvd-rom will be predisposed for every elaborate”) and get cracking with those chalices, baptismal fonts, robes and crucifixes.

Prizes are mentioned — but sans details — as is a public show. Of course, eternal rewards are a given.

Italian Museum Puts Feces on Show

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Trento Museum Exhbits ShitPossibly the only thing more off-putting than an exhibit dedicated to shit is an interactive exhibit dedicated to shit.

Excrement is at the center of a show at the Museum of Natural History in Trento called “La Cacca, History of the Unmentionable” on until March 28.

“We’re using shit from the animal world to teach kids about ecology,” said museum director Michele Lanzinger. “Our intent was to and to teach about their digestive processes, looking into the differences in species, lifestyle and diet and possible alternative uses for organic waste.”

A part of the exhibit, curated by zoologist Osvaldo Negra, features animal feces with signs encouraging visitors to guess from which beast it came from.

Kids aged 4-12 get guided tours geared to their age level, visits also feature a “shit treasure hunt” and snack featuring chocolate goodies.

Milan’s mercurial culture councilor Vittorio Sgarbi had threatened to put on a shit show — instead we’ve got some nude photo exhibits to stir up controversy – interesting that Trento had to courage to it.

Swoon-Worthy Canova on Show in Milan

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Canova statue

A young Italian woman swooned over a replica of Antonio Canova’s “Venus and Adonis” statue on display at a tourism fair.

Francesca Fraticelli burst into tears, then fainted after admiring the adoring glance of Venus and the gelid grace of the plaster copy — though hard to compare to the original 1795 work in marble — brought out to attract visitors to the Canova museum. (The finished version is housed in Geneva).

Fraticelli, who has a degree in art history, works as cultural attaché for the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region. Luca Zaia, president of the Canova Foundation, helped her get back on her feet and escorted away from the statue. The next day, revived and perky looking with red-framed glasses, she nonetheless told Italian television news that she would avoid testing her mettle by looking at the statue again.

Symptoms including dizziness, palpitations and shaking normally associated with Stendhal Syndrome — first studied by Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini — are often reserved for foreigners unused to seeing so many beautiful treasures crowded together possibly also suffering from heat and the after-effects of a gelato high.

Like to test whether Italian art can produce a good fainting spell? Milan’s Palazzo Reale hosts a Canova exhibit with statues on loan from the Hermitage (including the much-awaited “The Three Graces“) until June 2.

More quick pics here.

Has art ever made you lose your head? Let me know in the comments…