Sarzana ’s historic Fortezza Firmafede will host the exhibition Giorgio de Chirico
Organized by theAssociazione Metamorfosi in collaboration with the Municipality of Sarzana and Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico
the exhibition offers the public an immersion in the great master’s neo-metaphysical phase
presenting fifty works including paintings
all from Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico in Rome.This exhibition is meant to be an opportunity to explore the work of the last ten years of the artist’s life
a period of intense creativity in which de Chirico reinterpreted his youthful production
mixing it with influences from the 1920s and 1930s
in which the artist reworks his metaphysical universe with an innovative and conscious approach
The exhibition focuses in particular on the lithographs born from the collaboration between de Chirico and the printer Alberto Caprini
This association resulted in a graphic corpus of extraordinary refinement
in which the painter freely explores the transition from drawing to print
his most celebrated iconography evolves into a perfect synthesis of past and present: classical elements are interwoven with expressive distortions typical of his Parisian works of the 1920s
resulting in a production rich in juxtapositions and stylistic variations
One of the most iconic subjects of his production
the “Troubadour,” returns in several lithographs in the exhibition
including The Tro ubadour (1969) and The Troubadour with the Sword (1975)
belonging to the “dummies” theme
is reinterpreted with new nuances and settings
Another recurring element is the Vaticinator
evoked in The Metaphysical Architect (1970)
while The Rest of Ariadne (1969) takes up the mythological figure of abandonment
a subject that de Chirico represented several times throughout his career
Another section of the exhibition is devoted to solar symbolism in the artist’s works
Sun Off and Crescent Moon and Sun on the Temple
in which the theme of the “black sun” is linked to an ancient melancholy already present in his paintings since the 1930s
the exhibition includes some of the most significant paintings from the 1960s and 1970s
such as The Astrologer (1970) and The Contemplator (1976)
The exhibition is completed with an important selection of sculptures
evidence of de Chirico’s interest in plastic art
statues played a central role in his metaphysical works
lending an enigmatic and suspended aura to the compositions
leading him to the creation of actual bronze sculptures
including The Archaeologists (Orestes and Pylades) (1966) and The Disquieting Muses (1968)
“We are also grateful to all those who contribute to keeping de Chirico’s legacy alive
pointing out his profound contemporaneity,” comments Pietro Folena
which today expresses a formidable force of attraction
MetaMorfosi’s is an invitation to immerse oneself in the colors and forms of a Master who knew how to give pictorial and artistic expression to the metaphysics of art and life.”
“Sarzana has always been a city capable of uniting the depth of its own history with the vibrancy of contemporaneity,” says Sarzana Mayor Cristina Ponzanelli
uniting an exhibition of national importance by a great master of art such as Giorgio De Chirico with important local artists such as Vitale Lazzoni and Alessandra Gasparini
enhancing our Firmafede Fortress as an exhibition space
Our city continues to consolidate its cultural vocation
creating spaces where the past and the future meet and dialogue."
The exhibition will follow two different schedules depending on the season
Spring (March 22-June 20): Tuesday - Friday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m
Summer (June 21-July 21) : Tuesday - Sunday: 10 a.m.-12 p.m
Tickets: Full: €14.00; Reduced: €8.00 (youth 6-25 years old
MIC and Sarzana City Council staff); Family kit (3 people): €24.00; Family kit (4 people): €32.00; Free: children under 6
For all information, you can visit the official website of the Firmafede Fortress
SARZANA: Corona, Illuzzi, Rubio, Ortiz, De Rinaldis, Borsi, Manrique, Mattugini, Tognacca. All. Party.
FORTE DEI MARMI: Gnata, Ambrosio F., Ipinazar F., Ipinazar P., Torner, Borgo, Rossi, Cacciaguerra, Giovannelli, Ciupi. All. De Gerone.
Goalscorers: 20'08“, 19'43“ and 18'01“ Ambrosio F., 17'10“ Ipinazar P., 2'58“ Torner; 22'50 Ambrosio F., 16'50“ Torner, 16“ Illuzzi.
And the sports director Antonio Agostini is also very happy. "A success signed by Mirko De Gerone - he specifies -, which launches us into another semifinal, as has been the case since 2011. We are proud of the team". Saturday the appointment is at the Forte for game 1 against Lodi, winner against Valdagno, of Gigio Bresciani.
It is no longer a mystery that pizza can simultaneously step into the shoes of a first course
if there is one thought you will take home with you after a dinner at Officine del Cibo
it will be exactly this: harmony does not come through the usual “topping in trend”
but -on the contrary- through the ability to go beyond the “already seen and already eaten”
This is Giacomo Devoto and Gian Marco Ferrandi 's (the sign's chef-patron and master pizzaiolo
respectively) answer to those who believe that the “pizzeria” palimpsest is now saturated with content: imagine the scarpetta al sugo converted into an appetizer
All small agreements between typicality and new school methods capable of forging an authentic lab of leavened goods just outside the historic center of Sarzana
today the treasury of awards sums up -just to name a few- Three Spicchi from Gambero Rosso and a solid placement among the 100 best addresses in Italy in the 50 Top Pizza ranking
a tenacious cook and a plan to turn the “mass disc” into a pedestal for experimentation: Giacomo Devoto starts Officine del Cibo probing the potential of the Neapolitan tonda in Ligurian land
to entice an audience hungry for novelty; rather
aided and abetted by the teamwork that has nurtured his restaurant idea since its inception (we saw this in the in-depth look at Locanda de Banchieri)
the imprinting-far from being a cold move studied at the table-starts from the warm “memories of the South” of the Sarzano chef
since his great-grandmother (who later settled in Lunigiana) for a time lived precisely in the lively area of the Quartieri Spagnoli
Devoto's curriculum also counts a formative parenthesis at Da Attiilio alla Pignasecca
the picture is recomposed with the entry of Gian Marco Ferrandi
a complementary young ace who insists on the diversification of doughs and the recovery of evocative recipes
ready to extend the common notion of gastronomic slice
pizza also appears steamed and pan-fried (subject to the classic Neapolitan according to the dictates of theAVPN
with which the restaurant is associated); the Italian-style pan offers a gentle crunchy rather than abrasive
with the fine body properly supporting the ingredient; the gluten-free variant gives
the same satisfaction as the result obtained with standard flours
The result is a continuous flow of shared insights; a chef-living double track on which the future of the pizzeria experience wizzes
the journey starts from home: instead of supplì and crocchette
the welcome includes native spezzafame such as Panizza and stoccafisso
toasted bread and whipped butter or-why not- Impepata di muscoli (the renowned La Spezia mussels)
in addition to a thoughtful selection of beers and wines
the difference on the beverage front is made by the dedicated drink list for mixing
put together by the talented cellar and dining manager Simone Bellè
To him is owed an added share of thoughtfulness and empathy that you are unlikely to encounter in similar contexts
as well as-precisely-the ability to think of the individual cocktail (or mocktail) in relation to each course
gradually cushioning the escalation of baked goods from the fried to the epilogue
composed of Vermentino from the surrounding hills
Persichetto (a liqueur made from fresh infused peach leaves)
It is Simone again who introduces us to the “blind” routes
three alternative routes to the wide range of options on the menu
Itineraries calibrated both in prices (“Ti raccontiamo la nostra pizza,” €25; Pizza Lab contemporanea and Degustazione Verace
both €30) and in the number of runs and nutritional balance
as we were able to see at the end of the tasting
It starts with a gesture that acquires the autonomy of a dish in its own right: the Scarpetta
materialized for the occasion in a bite of bread baked in a wood-fired oven with its crumb soaked in juicy ragu
confirming the transversality of the cereal
while you still have the echo of tomato in your head for the “Sunday lunch” revival
“This is a pizza that is very common along our coasts,“ explains Gian Marco
”which we replicate through a dry biga dough pre-dough using whole wheat flour"
to enter into a sprightly dialogue with the traditional garnish-"a mix of olives
‘left to pull’ to the maximum degree of concentration to extract the vigorous scents of the material
a green comma that dampens the rush of iodine on the run
The pizzaiolo's work on “gluten-free” is interesting
well summed up by the ethereal steamed slice “Che cavolo di pizza,” to which the specific cooking method gives extra thickness and extrasoft texture
which I wanted to reinterpret thanks to a blend of three flours including that of Riso Buono Artemide." The crumb takes on
a particular purple hue that pendents with the ragu of black cabbage and the sprouts of the vegetable lying on top
the sulfurous notes are at times mitigated by the buffalo mozzarella
at times pushed discreetly by the smoked Parmigiano
making an objectively complex combo to manage enjoyable
The Sarzana-Naples section is anticipated by the service of the cornicione only
“We reflected on the tendency of guests to advance it often
since it represents the backbone of our pizza," confesses chef Giacomo Devoto
the ends return to the center with the help of a double inner and outer topping: “Soft potato cream
We call it 'The Best Part of Pizza.'" Never was the name more apt
given the unanimous feedback from diners: mission accomplished
It comes to change the register with the open Montanara
with its slightly golden wrapper and fresh heart of burrata and prescinseua that cushions the blow of fried food in the middle of the menu
chlorophyll drops and yellow Piennolo tomatoes; the geographical element returns
with the “fishy” persistence of smoked eel
Small digestive pause and the yeast thins out in the Marinara Spezzina
garlic oil and muscles first steamed and then beaten together with herbs
Noteworthy here is the unprecedented fusion of the Neapolitan “veg recipe” with Ligurian peach booty
plus the “Italian-style” baking pan on the northern model
An enjoyable equation that reunites pizza culture on the North-South axis
leaving behind the memory of a coast-to-coast delicacy
We tasted it at Quattro Formaggi (fior di latte
blue) with some unexpected inserts to contrast the “milky way” of the dressing
Let's talk first of all about the coffee powder
with a pungent aroma that gives depth to the whole; following that
lemon zest and marinated fennel wash away the residual fattiness
Banish the glycemic-soaring ultra-filled creams: Giacomo and Gian Marco dust off the Italian-style slice
offered with tomato jam-in which an elegant undertone of vanilla is caught- lemon ricotta mousse and white chocolate
No compunction in closing on sweetness: when pizza has something to say
Via Brigata Partigiana Ugo Muccini, 181, 19038 Sarzana SP
Phone: 393 958 4694
Website
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FEZZANESE: (Subs: Agolli, Medusei, Carli, S. Corrado). Coach: Gatti.
GHIVIBORGO: Bonifacio; Barbera (69' Signorini), Bura, Lopez Petruzzi, Campani, Nottoli (79' Noccioli), Giannini, Conti, Fischer, Vari (89' Larhib), Gori (82' Bifini). (Subsidized: Gambassi, Simonetta, Bassano, Coppola, Bonafede). Coach Bellazzini.
Referee: Chirnoaga of Tivoli (assistants: Cirillo of Rome 1 and Manfredini of Biella).
networks: 12' Fischer, 22' Mariotti, 35' L. Fiori, 49' Gori, 59' Cantatore, 83' Signorini.
Footnotes: in the 86th minute Pucci saves a penalty from Vari.
At 49' Gori made it 2-2 from close range, on a cross from Fischer. At 57' and 59' Cantatore first tested Bonifacio with a clever lob and then scored the 3-2 home team with a tap-in, recovering a save from the goalkeeper, on a previous shot from Mariotti. At 62' and 81' Lunghi and Gori wasted two great chances with the goal almost at bay.
In the 83rd minute, the new arrival Signorini scores the 3-3 with a slide. In the 86th minute, Ghiviborgo has a great chance to win the match, but misses it with Vari who sees his penalty blocked by the excellent Pucci (the home goalkeeper himself had committed a foul in the area on Noccioli). In the 95th minute Pucci saves the result again, blocking the sure shot, again by Noccioli.
Cardelli & Fontana Gallery in Sarzana is hosting Classica
the fifth solo gallery exhibition by Fabrizio Prevedello (Padua
The artist presents a new cycle of works that explore the boundary between sculpture and performance
inaugurating a new creative dimension.Classica was born from a simple yet extraordinary gesture: a dance
Prevedello embraced a large sculpture-compass
furrowing bitumen surfaces with steps that left white traces on a black background
This physical dialogue between artist and work resulted in abstract
fragile yet powerful signs that expand the sculptural language toward a form of performance painting
The title of the exhibition refers precisely to this fusion of disciplines: the movement of the body and the construction of form meet
while remaining faithful to Prevedello’s poetics
introduce a component of action and immediacy
The gallery is developed in two distinct environments
the visitor is confronted with the traces of Prevedello’s creative “dance”: signs and sculpture-drawings that arise from a direct and physical relationship with the material
The initial room houses a large sculpture-compass
the starting point and symbolic focus of the exhibition
made of raw and refined materials together
embodies Prevedello’s approach: a balance between instinct and control
features works closer to the artist’s traditional language: wall sculptures that evoke the landscape of Versilia
natural materials such as stones are mixed with industrial fragments
masterfully transformed into forms that manage to surprise with their delicacy
Central to Prevedello’s reflection is the idea of trace: the compass-sculpture
not only supports the structure but also becomes a creative tool
in a play of rotations that tells of a romantic and at the same time carnal relationship between artist and work
This performative practice marks a new stage in Prevedello’s journey
holding firm to his focus on material but opening it up to a more direct interaction with gesture
“The works are animated by density and lightness
darkness and light,” writes curator Saverio Verini
respectively inspired by Marcel Duchamp and Jean Arp
had coined the terms mobiles and stabiles to describe the two types of sculptures with which he indelibly marked the history of contemporary sculpture: the first marked by a kinetic tension
the ability to hover and be ’an extension,’ to paraphrase Arturo Martini; the second firmly planted on the ground
still conditioned by the memory of statuary and the idea of monument
wanted to give mobility to a sculpture that is entirely stable; that he wanted to animate it
recording the consequences of this action that makes us perceive
The Classica exhibition is on view at the Cardelli & Fontana gallery. Opening hours are Monday from 5 to 7:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday from 12:30 p.m. and 5 to 7:30 p.m. For more information, you can visit www.cardelliefontana.com or write to galleria@cardelliefontana.com
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Sito ufficiale Ambasciata d'Italia a Washington
The Embassy of Italy in Washington DC hosted the final event of the two-year twinning project between the Italian Istituto Parentucelli-Arzelà of Sarzana
and Annapolis High School of Anne Arundel County
which involved more than 300 Italian and American students
and the Casa Italiana Language School of Washington
“The project confirmed the value of partnerships between Italian and American schools as tools for the promotion of the Italian language in the United States and vice versa,” highlighted the Embassy’s Consular Coordinator
the students of Sarzana and Annapolis worked together on topical issues from personal data protection to the Bilingual Guide to the City of Washington DC created with the contribution of Serena Riglietti
the well-known illustrator of the Italian version of the Harry Potter books
and finally the Italian translation of the brochure of the Italian American Museum of Washington The Legacy Brought by Italians to Washington DC – Thirty Places to Discover created by the students of the liceo scientifico (scientific lyceum) of Sarzana
The meetings between the students of the two countries were attended — in presence or remotely — by prestigious guests
such as the commanding officer of the Amerigo Vespucci
who talked about the numerology in the works of Dante
Armaments and Planning Director of the European Defence Agency
who explained the Italian Armed Forces’ organization and their integration into the transatlantic defense system
The experience will be replicated in the next two years with two other Italian and two American schools to build new bridges and create further links between Italy and the United States on behalf of young people and intercultural enrichment
“Le D.I.V.E.” (Donne Italiane che Vivono all’Estero = Italian women living abroad) is a non-profit..
The Ambassador of Italy to the United States
Organized by the Embassy of Italy in Washington in collaboration with Netflix
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
On the 25th anniversary of the opening of its current location
2024 – Italian Ambassador to the United States
Today marks the conclusion of an intense week of work at the Embassy of Italy..
yesterday opened the event “Partnerships..
Tel:+1 (202) 612-4400
E-mail: washington.ambasciata@esteri.it
PEC: amb.washington@cert.esteri.it
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FORTE DEI MARMI: Gnata, Ipinazar F., Torner, Ambrosio F., Ipinazar P., Borgo, Rossi, Chereches, Ambrosio F., Ciupi. All. De Gerone.
SARZANA: Corona, Borsi, Ortiz, De Rinaldis, Illuzzi, Manrique, Mattugini, Tognacca, Angeletti. Coach: Festa. Referees: Galoppi-Giangregorio.
Goalscorers: 21'07“ pt Ambrosio F., 18'01“ Ipinazar P., 11'22“ and 6'46“ Torner; 22'39“ st Borgo, 16'40“ Ambrosio F., 11'20“ Borgo.
Sarzana ’s Firmafede Fortress is preparing to host the XXXVI edition of the City of Sarzana National Antiques Exhibition
a prestigious event to be held from August 9 to 18
Organized by the Sarzana Antique Dealers Association and curated by Elisabetta Sacconi
the exhibition enjoys the patronage of the City of Sarzana and the support of Confcommercio La Spezia
in collaboration with the Liguria Regional Museums Department.After the success of the previous edition in 2023
which saw more than 2,000 visitors and consolidated the Exhibition as an important annual event
this year’s edition promises to confirm and exceed expectations
saw the birth of the National Antiques Exhibition in 1978
becoming a landmark on the national scene for art and antiques enthusiasts
a jewel of Florentine Renaissance architecture
will be the stage that will host exhibitors from all over Italy
The evocative spaces of the Fortress will host objects of great refinement and historical value
the result of careful research and an authentic passion for antiques
Authenticity is the fundamental criterion in the selection of the exhibitors
who will present a wide range of unique pieces: furniture
furnishings from the high period up to the 20th century
antique carpets from different cultural traditions (Anatolian
designer glassware and works by world-renowned designers
some pieces of exceptional historical and artistic value stand out: a Still Life of Flowers and Fruit by Maximilian Pfeiler
apainting on wood panel by Ludovico Tommasi from 1898
apink porcelain and gilt bronze clock from 1820 (presented by Sine Tempore Studio (Milan)
confiscated from the Rothschild family by theEinsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg following the Nazi occupation of France in May 1940 and returned to its rightful owners in July 1945
with the imposing dimensions of 287x513 cm
anoil on canvas by Stefano Maria Legnani known as Legnanino
exhibited by Fabio Di Ruggiero Dipinti Antichi (Cuneo)
teaching them to discover and appreciate art and antiques
The event also aims to bring a wide audience closer to the knowledge and appreciation of works of art
offering an exciting journey through different eras and styles
The Exhibition will be open to the public daily from 6 p.m
So beware of lowering your attention, is the company warning, but with this group you can be sure of it. "Despite the objective difficulties - the sports director recognizes - everyone has shown the utmost professionalism, as well as great respect for the red and blue colors. For this reason we reiterate the invitation to the Forte dei Marmi public to follow the boys, starting from the next home game".
Home game that, in case of passing the round and simultaneous success of Lodi, could see a head to head (this time best of 5 games) with the Forte dei Marmi player Gigio Bresciani. "It would be nice - concludes Agostini - because Gigio is one of us, but in the meantime we overcome Sarzana".
After having recharged the batteries from the accumulated tiredness, the Canniccia Motor Club throws itself back into its natural habitat. That of the Playoffs Scudetto. The derby against Cgc Viareggio was avoided, at PalaForte tonight at 20.45pm the Sarzana for another sort of derby, given the short distance that separates the Ligurian city from the Forte. A match that is anything but simple and valid for the quarter-finals.
In short, it is not an easy match and it will be important to keep your nerves, considering that it will be played at least on a double clash (game 2 will be scheduled for Sunday in Sarzana, while the possible game 3 would be played, again at Forte, on Wednesday 7 May). Forte dei Marmi will be able to count on a full squad.
"They are all available - he assures Mirko De Gerone - and this is the most important thing, because from now on the matches will also be won on the details and being able to rotate the guys will be a decisive aspect. We are facing a very dangerous team, who has shown during the season that they know how to put us in difficulty. A team that has found the right balance in the second half of the season. We start as favorites, yes, but it will certainly be anything but easy".
For the occasion, the rossoblù club has also launched a season ticket campaign for the playoffs. This Forte deserves a full PalaForte.
HOCKEY SARZANA: Corona, Rubio, De Rinaldis, Borsi, Ortiz, Mattugini, Illuzzi, Manrique, Tognacca. All. Party.
CGC VIAREGGIO: Gomez, Lombardi, Rosi, Cinquini, Muglia, D'Anna, Mura, Raffaelli. All. Cupists.
Markers: 7' pt Manrique; 13'49'' st Illuzzi, 11'42'' and 10'43'' Muglia.
CGC VIAREGGIO: Gomez, Cinquini, Rosi, Mura, Lombardi, Muglia, D'Anna, Raffaelli. Cupisti Coach.
SARZANA: Corona, De Rinaldis, Xavi Rubio, Borsi, Ortiz, Mattugini, Illuzzi, Manrique, Tognacca. Party Coach.
Scorers: 16'44“ pt De Rinaldis, 12'54“ pt Muglia, 2'59“ pt Ortiz; 24'54“ and 19'51“ st Lombardi, 14'56“ st Tognacca.
The start of the second half is sparkling and in black and white. Just 6" and Lombardi scores the 2-2 from his own half of the pitch. After a poisonous diagonal from Muglia, Lombardi is once again the firecracker to excite the PalaBarsacchi with another shot, again from his own half of the pitch, which is worth the overtaking of Viareggio. Gomez bravely blocks Ortiz, but he can do nothing about the young Tognacca who takes advantage of a defensive lapse by Cgc.
There are 10 minutes left, but after so many emotions the pace slows down. Cgc tries but Gomez saves the result on Ortiz with 4' and 51" to go. It ends in a draw and Sarzana will only need to draw to reach the quarter-finals, against Canniccia Motor Club Forte. For this Cgc, however, the feat does not seem impossible at all. "Great performance by the boys, everything is still open", is the hot comment of ds Nicola Palagi.
CGC VIAREGGIO: Gomez, Lombardi, Rosi, Cinquini, Muglia, D'Anna, Mura, Raffaelli. Cupisti Coach.
Goalscorers: 7' pt Manrique; 13'49'' st Illuzzi, 11'42'' and 10'43'' Muglia.
CGC VIAREGGIO: Gomez, Cinquini, Rosi, Mura, Lombardi, Muglia, D'Anna, Raffaelli. Cupisti Coach.
SARZANA: Corona, De Rinaldis, Xavi Rubio, Borsi, Ortiz, Mattugini, Illuzzi, Manrique, Tognacca. Party Coach.
Art and music come together at Sarzana ’s Cardelli & Fontana Gallery with the new solo exhibition of Piedmontese artist Mirco Marchelli (Novi Ligure
presents his latest works in the exhibition entitled Buoni offici
2024.The exhibition revolves around Marchelli’s original sound composition of the same name
for solo violin and percussion instruments (violin is played by Luca Santariello
which originated from fragments of Widmung
The music emanates from a large workshop cabinet
placed in front of the entrance; on the walls a new series of works
a combination of poor materials and golden ornaments
The inspiration is somehow related to the very city hosting the exhibition
Sarzana is in fact the city of three popes: St
Sergius IV (1009-1012) and Nicholas V (1447-1455)
Marchelli decides to deal with papal intercession and workshop industriousness
and dedication(widmung) doubling the meaning of the exhibition’s title
with the irony that has always distinguished his work
we find in the plastic application of the polymaterials
a reference to the themes inherent in the ecclesiastical world
the world of the work is musically evoked by the clear rhythmicity and cadence of the use of percussive organ
The exhibition catalog, with a text by Daniela Ferretti, will go to press in January 2024. The exhibition opens Monday through Saturday from 10 to 12:30 a.m. and 5 to 7:30 p.m. For all info: www.cardelliefontana.com
galleria@cardelliefontana.com, telephone 0187.626374 and 339.607927272
The city of Sarzana is dedicating an exhibition to Pablo Picasso (Malaga
1973) on the 50th anniversary of his death: the City of Sarzana with the organization of Paloma
and in collaboration with the Museo Casa Natal Picasso de Málaga
is in fact setting up the exhibition Pablo Picasso
is one of the few cultural projects organized in Italy in the anniversary year
it gathers more than 100 including lithographs
ceramics and a painting Tête de femme
an oil painting from a private collection inspired by one of Picasso’s muses
Dora Maar.Picasso’s printmaking activity is one of the most important of his career
With the series of the Barcelona Suite and the Suite des Saltimbanques
visitors will get close to Picasso’s early creative years
the melancholy blue period or the much sweeter pink period
He will walk among portraits of young women
and be confronted with the figure of Harlequin
Bullfighting was a place for him linked both to his childhood
when the artist went to the bullring with his father in Malaga
and to his nostalgia for his home country of Spain
In the first of these series Picasso also pays homage to Francisco de Goya
a painter who had illustrated the fate of Pepe Hillo a few centuries earlier
Another series featured in the exhibition is Dans l’Atelier
a set of lithographs and lithographic reproductions published in 1957 in La Californie
the studio house he bought in 1955 seduced by its isolation and splendid view of the Bay of Cannes and which he shared with Jacqueline Roque
Here art and life intersected: at La Californie Picasso studied
In Dans l’Atelier various themes compete and dialogue with each other; this is the case with still lifes
the most important genre in Picasso’s painting after the representation of the figure
The exhibition also features a selection of nine photographs taken by Robert Capa of the Picasso family on vacation in Golfe Juan
who had met Françoise Gilot years earlier in Paris
captures the artist’s more intimate side with his beloved and their son Claude
They play on the beach in front of the calm waters of the Côte d’Azur
in snapshots that transport us to Picasso’s most personal moments
outside his studio and his creative universe
a selection of nine photographs of Pablo Picasso from the Gyenes bequest of the Museo Casa Natal Picasso in Malaga
a Hungarian-born photographer who is considered a master of light
Selected snapshots in this exhibition correspond to three encounters between Picasso and Gyenes
“Picasso’s family was Ligurian and so this is an exhibition that also acquires an even deeper meaning because of that
it is a return to his origins,” explains exhibition curator Lola Durán Úcar
“If there is anything that can go so far as to explain Picasso’s complex personality
his immense eagerness to know and experiment
Picasso uses a marked and unmistakable pictorial language
that revolutionized the 20th century and made him a myth.”
appears in the inscription we see immediately below the titulus crucis
the cartouche bearing the reason for the condemnation that was customary to affix to crosses
and which in the case of Jesus also took on cynically sarcastic tones: we see this clearly in the Sarzana Cross
because the author has written the titulus in full(Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum
Although the epigraph attests that it was made by an unspecified “William” (here is the text: Anno milleno centeno ter quoque deno octavo pinxit Guillielmus et hec metra finxit
“in 1138 William painted the work and wrote these verses,” i.e.
those in the epigraph but also those in the panels below with the Passion stories
we actually have no other documents concerning the author
and obviously this is the only certain work of his that we know of
By virtue of the fact that this Guglielmo (or “mastro Guglielmo,” as he often happens to be named) knew Latin to the point of composing the inscription and captions in hexameter
and at the same time had a good familiarity with the paintbrush
and since a number of miniatures have been attributed to him (on a stylistic basis)
art historian Marco Ciatti in a recent study contained in the volume La pittura su tavola del secolo XII
has judged likely the possibility that the author of the Sarzana Cross was “a religious industrious in a kind of monastic workshop particularly active in that period
both in the field of paintings on wooden support
in miniatures.” Let us not forget that a thorough knowledge of Latin to the point of writing verse belonged
coming almost exclusively from ecclesiastical circles
Critics have long established that our Guglielmo must have been an author from the Lucca area
Not only because there is in Lucca a large group of later painted crosses (such as the one in San Michele in Foro or the one preserved in the National Museum of Villa Guinigi
originally at the church of Santa Maria dei Servi) that share forms and style with the one in Sarzana
but also because as early as 1953 the American scholar Edward Garrison had related Guglielmo’s Cross to the so-called Passionary P+ in the Capitular Library of Lucca: this is a manuscript containing the Gospel passages narrating the Passion of Jesus
which shares several stylistic solutions with the Cross (the connotations of the face
the way the characters’ robes are depicted
is the comparison between a telamon that appears in the Passionary
and the figure of the right-hand henchman in the Flagellation scene that appears next to the legs of Jesus in the Sarzanian Cross: the charged faces of the two characters appear quite similar
The Sarzana Cross has long been thought to be the first painted cross in history
While it is true that it is the first of which we know the date
it should nevertheless be emphasized in the meantime that it cannot be the first work on wood panel produced in Italy (since
as the scholar Ciro Castelli also pointed out in the above-mentioned book
“the manner in which it is made shows that the craft tradition behind it is
and then that there have been art historians inclined to identify in other painted crosses
the dating of which we do not know for sure
earlier experiences than Guglielmo’s work
one of the greatest scholars of medieval art in recent years
according to whom a work such as the Rosano Cross (a painted cross found in the monastery of the locality near Fiesole and also dating from the 12th century) could be older than the Sarzana cross because of the fact that
although we are talking about two distinct geographical areas (Florentine area and Lucca area)
our Guglielmo would seem to be a more evolved artist than the one who produced the Florentine area cross
some of the details of the Passion stories that we find in the panels next to the legs of Jesus (such as the way the characters arrange themselves around Christ in the panel with the Kiss of Judas and the greater realism in the Deposition scene) would be indicative that the Sarzana Cross may have been produced with greater awareness
due to an increased demand for works of this type
conducted between 1991 and 1998 by theOpificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence
confirmed that it is a complete repainting dating from a period that the latest hypotheses place fifty years after the date of 1138 attested by the epigraph
the restorers deemed it appropriate to avoid removal
although the result of this decision consists in a perception of the work that is different from the one that could be had before the Cross as soon as it left the workshop in which it was made
in one of the last contributions on the Cross
has given an account of how the figure of Jesus must have looked originally: "it is possible to recompose
at least the original situation of the face
through an X-ray that gives us back a more pronounced frontality of the head
the terribleness of the large wide-open eyes
the ’camused’ structure of the nose
which were not touched in the later intervention
great differences from how it was originally
believes that the repainting had become necessary not so much for reasons of iconographic modernization
but to “repair some small faults suffered.” However
an update conducted on the basis of an execution “more sensitive to chromatic subtleties and plastic softnesses” would have been sufficient
“to make the figure of Christ closer to the humanity of the Christian faithful.” The recent restoration that led to all these reflections is but the latest chapter in a story spanning nine centuries: it is worth retracing its main stages
The most recent reconstruction of the documentary history of the Cross of William is the merit of Piero Donati
who dates the first secure document concerning the work to 1602
It dates to June 25 of that year an agreement between the Chapter of Sarzana Cathedral and the Cattani family
one of the most prominent in the Ligurian town: this agreement provided for the Cross to be transferred from what was then its location
the wall above the door of the sacristy of Santa Maria
who were moreover allowed to adorn the chapel
The document reports that the terms of the agreement were agreed upon with the then bishop of Luni and Sarzana
who headed the diocese for a full forty-two years
after the Cross was transferred to the chapel of St
the work became the object of heartfelt popular devotion
so much so that the bishop was prompted to issue rules to regulate the flow of offerings left in the cathedral: among the administrators appointed by the bishop to deal with the economic management of the alms was Canon Ippolito Landinelli (1568 - 1629)
Dell’origine della città di Luni e di Sarzana
Landinelli reported the rumor that the Cross was originally in the ancient city of Luni and was brought to Sarzana later
The historian also attests that in Sarzana the work first found hospitality in the church of Sant’Andrea
it found a worthy location in the Cathedral
in the exact spot where documents attest its presence in 1602
Landinelli did not show much conviction of the hypothesis of a Lunense provenance (“whether said miraculous crucifix came out of Luni
[it was] apeso per cintinaia d’anni a una longa trave
che divideva il Choro dell’antica Parochia nostra di Santo Andrea”)
more recent criticism (beginning with Donati himself) considers it more plausible that the work was made precisely for Sarzana
a city whose cathedral was in 1138 “in full decay,” as Donati points out
was to be suitably adorned with a beautiful crucifix
John the Baptist was transferred to the powerful Sarzana cardinal Lorenzo Casoni (the Cattani family obtained in exchange the juspatronage of the third chapel in the left aisle): the latter
initiated renovations that gave the chapel its present appearance
commissioned one of the most prominent painters of the time
the city where the prelate had been apostolic nuncio from 1690 to 1702
to paint a canvas “to which was entrusted the task of protecting
the Cross of Guglielmo.” in the painting
who appears along with Saints Philip Neri and Lawrence
inside which onlookers could observe the face of William’s Christ (the rest of the cross was concealed by the painting)
The separation of the canvas from the Cross
a time to which the first restoration of the canvas also dates
conducted by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure: this is the last chapter in the history of the Cross
one of the most important works in our art history
Flower Riviera
Palms Riviera
Genoa and surroundings
Portofino and the Tigullio
The Cinque Terre
Gulf of Poets
The beautiful story of Sarzana’s typical dessert
steeped in great tradition and perfect for Christmas
There are things that welcome you when you arrive in a place or sound like a warm “goodbye” when you leave. Even Liguria, despite its gruff reputation, has several of these. One, undoubtedly, is the Spungata of Sarzana
If you’re travelling on the A12 heading south towards Tuscany or
if you travel north and are entering Liguria
stop by Sarzana; you won’t regret it
is a fantastic hybrid that seems to have sprung from the genius of some writer: no longer Tuscany but not yet Liguria
It is turreted and elegant like Tuscan cities but is closer to Genoa and the Riviere
is also a strange hybrid: no longer a Sienese panforte model
but not a frugal Genoese sweetbread either
but it also contains products from the deep hinterland
a historic pastry shop on the central Via Mazzini
right where Via Aurelia and Via Francigena intersect
daughter of the historic pastry chef Silvano Gemmi
who was an absolute reference for Spungata for over sixty years
showing one in the lively coming and going of her pastry shop
a true museum of Spungata – is a very ancient dessert
definitely medieval but with roots in Latin culture and the late empire
Its name derives from Latin “spongia,” the sponge
It is typical of Sarzana and other locations
The one we produce here follows the recipe transcribed by the Robbi family
who opened this pastry shop before the Unification of Italy
Spungata is made like a large dumpling of fine puff pastry containing a compote of apples and pears
hand-mixed with other ingredients such as toasted almonds and Pisa pine nuts
grated wild orange peel that gives a slightly bitter touch
which not only imparts a good fragrance but also helps preserve the product longer
but a skilled pastry chef is also a good magician: we follow Gemmi’s pastry chef
he has hidden his secret to maximize the taste of his Spungata
it is carefully distributed on an ancient beechwood mold and covered with pastry
which is then trimmed with an ancient compass
Spungata should be served warm to release all its mix of flavours and aromas
It doesn’t suffer anything except the cold
it’s still delicious: just put it in the oven and heat it slightly so that the aromas return perfectly
Sarzana’s Christmas is Spungata and Sciacchetrà
Stai già fantasticando su un viaggio in Liguria?Trasforma la tua fantasia in realtà e pianifica la tua prossima vacanza
Are you already fantasising about a trip to Liguria?Turn your dream into reality and plan your next holiday
Are you already fantasising about a trip to Liguria
Turn your dream into reality and plan your next holiday
Stai già fantasticando su un viaggio in Liguria
Trasforma la tua fantasia in realtà e pianifica la tua prossima vacanza
Dichiarazione di accessibilità
Accessibility statement
Amministrazione trasparente fino al 28.02.2025
Transparent administration until 28.02.2025
Amministrazione trasparente dal 01.03.2025
Transparent administration from 01.03.2025
PagoPA
One of the earliest Italian photo-books and a landmark example in the history of photo-texts
a writer and intellectual among the main theorists of Italian Neorealism
made famous by his artistic association with Vittorio De Sica
an internationally renowned American photographer
a non-stereotypical restitution of life and places on which the spotlight is not normally shone
the time was ripe for a collaboration that would come to fruition in 1952
had long been pursuing the idea of a story in pictures along the lines of Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology
On the other Zavattini had recently launched the idea of Italia mia
an unsuccessful film project converted for Einaudi into a photobook publishing project or as they called them “films on paper”: a choral work by photographers
designed to illustrate postwar Italy through the voices and faces of its inhabitants
Each issue was to focus on a different place
Zavattini decided to dedicate his own to Luzzara
Paul Strand moved there for six months with his wife Hazel Kingsbury Strand
Of the history of the book and its design Laura Gasparini writes with Alberto Ferraboschi in Un paese
released on the occasion of the exhibition held in 2017 in Fotografia Europea
not a mere didactic accompaniment to Strand’s photos but a poetic-descriptive collection of villagers’ confidences
first among experiments of its kind in terms of idea
opening up new and unprecedented research in literature and cinema
Despite the fame of the two and the major announcement of the initiative
The Italia mia project was soon discontinued
it was republished in 1997 by Fratelli Alinari IDEA with Aperture Foundation
which holds archive and rights to the Strand couple’s works
the long history of artistic pilgrimages to a mythologized Luzzara
The first to return to the village was Gianni Berengo Gardin
who organized his sixth Photography Workshop there
Marco Baldassari and Marco Signorini (now established authors) participated
among others; in 1996 Olivo Barbieri; in 2004 Marcello Grassi and Fabrizio Orsi; in 2007 Vittore Fossati; between 2014 and 2017 David Maialetti; and in 2021 Kai-Uwe Schulte-Bunert
The exhibition itinerary opens with photographs by Hazel Kingsbury (1907 - 1982)
Together they moved to Europe in 1951 and carried out photographic reconnaissance
and in turn making very personal reportages
The rediscovery of the works on display occurred in the 1980s thanks to the work of Luigi Ghirri and Paolo Costantini
who in 1989 published with CLUP the book Strand
reconstruct and contextualize the figure of Hazel Kingsbury Strand
The found photographs seem to underline the thesis of the construction of a work carried out on the basis of a rough script
the drafting of a project for which Ghirri uses the term “sinopia.”
After the experience of Zavattini and Strand
the first to return to Luzzara are Gianni Berengo Gardin (Santa Margherita Ligure
for different reasons and in different ways but close at least in terms of interest and sensitivity
The former is challenged by Zavattini himself to tell that same country in his own way
the latter because of that tension that always recalls him to the province
the “place par excellence.” It was 1976 when the volume Un paese vent’anni dopo by Berengo Gardin was published by Einaudi: the Ligurian photographer was already collaborating with Zavattini and was his friend
for him “the image of Luzzara that came out of it did not correspond to reality
Strand had daot a highly poetic reading of it
Berengo Gardin decided to photographically census all the inhabitants of Luzzara
researching in particular the people photographed by Strand
“playing to the differences,” with the 1950s
all in a reportage style: there is the entry into modernity
and in Luzzara as elsewhere the characters of the society of the 1970s emerge
The project was to make a work of social documentation
This is the only work after Un paese to involve Zavattini (for the preface)
Luzzara is an easy and obligatory stop: from 1973 is a photo of the Caffè Zavattini
from the first series for the author linked to a commission
and then the return with Paolo Costantini for the rediscovery of the photos of Hazel Kingsbury Strand
the opportunity to make the stage official: in the 1990s
Ghirri was supposed to hold the workshop promoted by Linea di Confine on Luzzara
What remains are photographs that are daughters of a precise poetics
The exhibition continues precisely with the Linea di Confine Workshop: due to Ghirri’s untimely death
an author to whom the new Italian landscape photographers referred since the 1980s
especially in order to break out of post-neorealist stereotypes
His approach was opposite to Berengo Gardin’s: in fact
the artist did not want to document changes in landscapes and people
“those kinds of people and houses and landscapes still exist in virtually the same form,” only “side by side in today’s world.” Of life in Luzzara
of traditional elements: this is what his work focuses on
the exhibition displays some prints produced in the same workshop by Luca Andreoni
invited by the weekly magazine Specchio for the fortieth anniversary of Un paese: Barbieri publishes his photos in an article entitled Quarant’anni ma sembra ieri
an overt homage to the work of Strand and Zavattini
to seek out the people portrayed by his predecessors
but in different forms: in diptychs that capture movement by breaking the convention of the unrepeatable moment
Among the people portrayed is Angela Secchi
who was portrayed as a child by Paul Strand and later appeared in several other projects
it is the turn of Marcello Grassi (Reggio Emilia
is the same: to follow in the footsteps of the masters
Orsi is a portraitist: they capture architecture
Luzzara remains an emblem of being a village
of changing while remaining true to itself and its own peculiar characters
2007 is the year of Vittore Fossati (Alessandria
rediscovering the presence of men even when they are out of sight
Fossati comes to Luzzara precisely at the invitation of Fondazione Un Paese
in an initiative prpromoted in collaboration with Fotografia Europea
Throughout Fossati’s work there is that tension toward the place to be found as a space that is not claustrophobic
Last in order of appearance is David Maialetti (1967)
photographer for The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper
initially sent to Luzzara for a reportage in 2014
The occasion is provided by an anthological exhibition on Paul Strand by the Philadelphia Museum of Art
and in the same days there are plans to bring Paul Strand to Italy
in an exhibition as part of the Fotografia Europea festival in Reggio Emilia in 2017
Maialetti works on Luzzara: his project will later become a book entitled Luzzara
Maialetti’s new look shows a narrative construction capable of making use of the speed of reportage
The exhibition closes with Kai-Uwe Schulte-Bunert (Aschersleben
An appendix to An Idea of a Village is the Archivio project
These are photographs intended to contribute to the construction of an “idea of a village,” a collection of vernacular photography made for Archivio Bellosguardo (2019) and Archivio Atena (2021)
conceived by Alessandro Imbriaco and coordinated with Alessandro Coco
arise from a strong rootedness in the territory: in both cases
it was chosen to work in a village in the Cilento National Park
where young authors were invited to conduct their visual research over the course of a few days
a collection of vernacular photography was activated in the same villages
which the inhabitants made available to create a digital archive of family photographs
The two strands of activity thus led to the creation of a reservoir of images highly articulated in terms of eras
The young authors have moved not only within the more established tradition of Italian landscape photography but have investigated the multiple possibilities of the medium: a technological device for shooting
a tool for narrative invention and documentation of gestures
expressions almost with an anthropological attitude
Photography was used for its ability to ask questions
to enter into dialogue with a curious and willing local community that not only posed
but also told its story through its oral histories
The exhibition itinerary is developed by favoring retinal stimuli to better account for multiple languages rather than a chronological or narrative strand
The exhibition crumbles the projects of each author
precisely because of its inherent qualities
is intended to contribute to the proposal of a country idea
The Cardelli & Fontana gallery in Sarzana is hosting
the solo show Oltre (Beyond ) by Mirko Baricchi
who thus returns to exhibit at the Ligurian gallery
with a review for which a title rich in implications was chosen
“Beyond” suggests in fact a passage
which plays with the title of the previous solo show at Cardelli & Fontana
where the first “selve” of the La Spezia artist’s production were exhibited."Beyond," writes critic Giuseppe Frangi in the text accompanying the exhibition
"is a title that also tells of a constant in Baricchi’s painting
it tells of his determination to settle on the one-dimensionality of the surface of the canvas
as the surface has an absorbing energy and encompasses
The surface is like a fabric that in its weaves holds a whole
The series of recent works that we might rename ’open-air’ also suggest another hypothesis for reading Baricchi’s painting
In these canvases an upward movement is grasped
which from the clumps of color juxtaposed at the base pushes in the direction of chromatically brighter and rarer areas
Exchanges of chromatic reflections then occur between the two areas of the canvas
giving a very lyrical unity to the composition
Baricchi’s painting proposes this continuous ambiguity between vertical and horizontal
we can ask ourselves: with the works of the Selva cycle are we dealing with a recreation on canvas of the forest surface as if it were a freehand frottage
or is Baricchi working in section and what we see is actually a stratigraphy
Is Baricchi more on the side of Monet’s expansive painting or Cézanne’s tectonic painting
overthrust faults of the earth’s crust?"
“always lets these slippages happen in his paintings
They are slippages consequent to a precise starting condition: his painting does not contemplate that the landscape
Landscape is thus something that must happen on the canvas
something consubstantial to the painting itself: in this approach one senses the mark of Courbet’s great lesson
which is grafted onto the enamored persistence of a Venetian imprinting
For painting to take place Baricchi must necessarily undergo a kind of executive asceticism
It is no accident that he speaks of ’an obsession with an objective mode.’ That is why in so many cases we see his painting act by subtraction; it is scratched
or it dematerializes into liquid conglomerates
This is why Baricchi always squeezes the space into close-ups that exclude vanishing points
ascetically forcing himself to a tenacious concentration on single patches of land (or even air): the landscape for him is not a view
it is the visual matter that reveals itself before his eyes every morning when he lifts the shutter of his studio
It is at that point that the alchemy is activated: the canvas functions as an incubator and new landscape takes root on its surface each time.”
The exhibition opens Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Mondays from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., closed Sundays. Free admission. For information: www.cardelliefontana.com, galleria@cardelliefontana.com
In that thin strip of plain on the border between Tuscany and Liguria
squeezed between the hills on one side and the sea on the other
the traveler driving along the Aurelia moving toward Sarzana will notice at a certain point
warehouses and cultivated fields that dot this industrious area
an anonymous-looking nineteenth-century church
and preceded by three linden trees that almost seem to guard it
a hamlet of Sarzana: a handful of cottages
and warehouses in the middle of the countryside
watched in full view by the Colline del Sole
where vineyards and olive trees vie for the gentle slopes that slope down to the Magra plain.Here stood the ancient hospital
of which all that remains today is a ruin on the Aurelia
a few hundred meters south of the church: mentioned since the 12th century
it offered shelter to wayfarers and pilgrims on their way to Rome
along the route of the Via Romea (or the “Via Francigena,” to use the terms of contemporary tourist categorizations) that descended from Lunigiana
passed the Apuan Riviera and continued in the direction of Versilia
there was once nothing: just a hospital surrounded by scrubland
which was transformed so that its facilities were put to agricultural use: the story of the ancient wayfarers ended
And the convent chapel had an heir: in 1842 the parish of St
Lazarus was established and the decision was made to build the new church
which was begun the following year and consecrated in 1880
the little chapel began to be emptied: local historian Achille Neri had complained about the deterioration of the lazaretto
wishing for a more worthy location for its riches
one of the most fascinating paintings of seventeenth-century Liguria: the Saint Lazarus Pleading with the Virgin for the City of Sarzana
The great artist from Sarzana had executed the work in 1616
upon his return from a ten-year long formative stay in Rome: evidently Fiasella must have sensed from a very young age that he had exceptional talent
since he manifested very early on his intention to travel to the capital of the Papal States to observe at close quarters what neither his hometown nor Genoa
where he had moved shortly before to study under Giovanni Battista Paggi
could give him: the chance to learn the craft from the greatest
Fiasella had the opportunity to observe the paintings of Caravaggio and the Caravaggeschi
as well as the most distinguished exponents of the manner
we find many of the cues that Domenico Fiasella knew how to draw from observation of the most up-to-date artists of his time
It is an easy-to-read work: a characteristic that will be typical of almost all Fiasella’s production
who appears to him seated on a throne of clouds
but they could not be farther apart: the rough
folkish profile of Saint Lazarus is the exact opposite of the candor and purity of this adolescent Virgin
who looks at him compassionately as she holds in her hands the Child
But there is no contrast: the encounter between naturalism and classicism is balanced
And it will become one of the distinctive elements of Domenico Fiasella’s great art
accompanied by one of the dogs that lick his sores in the Gospel parable
is invoking protection for the city of Sarzana: we see its skyline below
amid clouds heralding gloomy thunderstorms
with the Porta del Mare no longer standing
the bell tower of the Cathedral and that of the church of Sant’Andrea silhouetted against the buildings around it
and in the middle the mighty outline of the Sarzanello Fortress
which actually dominates the city from the top of a hill
but the painter painted it as if it were in the center
The painting had been commissioned on March 4
from Domenico Fiasella by the Protectors of the Opera di Santa Maria
The young painter did not disappoint expectations: he had delivered “a work of great commitment,” wrote Piero Donati
wanted to show his fellow citizens that he had well spent the long years he had spent in Rome.” What we see before our eyes in the church of San Lazzaro is thus a masterpiece of “tempered naturalism or revisited Caravaggism,” to use Donati’s expression again: “one can see here
a convinced participation of Fiasella in the experiments on the natural conducted by the followers of Caravaggio
and in particular by Baburen and Jusepe de Ribera.” Fiasella had long observed the works of the Dutchman and the Spaniard in the collection of Vincenzo Giustiniani
whom the painter had met in 1611: the Genoese nobleman
since in the inventories of his collection compiled shortly after his death four works by Domenico Fiasella are mentioned
Caravaggio’s naturalism is thus the beacon under which the sarzanese artist models the body of Saint Lazarus
a body that is alive and present: the light brings out the muscles of the arm
the olive coloring of the beggar’s skin is accentuated by the whiteness of the rags knotted haphazardly around his waist and realistically soiled by the artist’s brush (right down to the passage of the bloody bandage that wraps around Saint Lazarus’ leg)
reminiscent of the art of the Carraccis or Giovanni Lanfranco
exactly like the Madonna of the Sarzana Altarpiece by Andrea del Sarto
a masterpiece that later ended up in Germany and was destroyed in the fire of the Friedrichshain Flakturm
The Florentine’s work had been one of the founding texts of Domenico Fiasella’s training: Raffaele Soprani
returns the image of a Fiasella who observed
carefully studied and drew over and over again the panel of Andrea del Sarto
who “so well taught him in the true rule of good drawing
and beautiful practice of coloring with sweetness
that he succeeded in making himself conspicuous among all those who in our day have with exquisite brushwork colored canvases.” It is nice to think that Fiasella wanted to pay homage to his ideal master: the band that holds the Virgin’s hair in place
decidedly démodé at the beginning of the seventeenth century
is identical to what could be seen in Andrea del Sarto’s altarpiece
And it is interesting to think that the altarpiece was meant to save Sarzana from dangers that might have threatened it
Dangers referred to by the allegorical storm that looms over the town menacingly obscuring the buildings and the few human presences glimpsed there
since Lazarus was revered as the protector of lepers: disease
we relied on the saints: and so that masterpiece by Domenico Fiasella is no longer just an extraordinary work of art
a living testimony that reminds us of how we were and makes us think about how we are
the Cardelli & Fontana gallery in Sarzana opens the exhibition Esposizione di Luca Lupi (Pontedera
which thus returns for the third time to the premises of the Ligurian gallery
because it is about new photographic works executed by the artist during the lockdown in April 2020
They are images that are part of the typical research of the Tuscan artist on the infinite (such as the photographs dedicated to the sea) or on the finite embraced by the gaze (for example
surfaces and simple shapes produced by light eroding the pigments of colored papers in the time of exposure
Lupi felt the need to devote himself to this new series at a time when it was not possible to go out
and the photographer therefore could not go to the seas and coasts that are the most typical objects of his research.“Luca Lupi,” writes critic Ilaria Mariotti in the exhibition’s introductory text
“seems here to experience all the work with light but shifting the plane of research to a sphere that I would define as parallel
the image is formed by light captured by more or less sophisticated devices
this is the title for all the works in the new series
rectangles that sometimes suddenly expand)
or definable as surfaces that camp on the plane
[...] [Luca Lupi] began exposing the colored sheets to sunlight experimenting with tightness and effects
A process of experimentation that starts from simple
He began constructing increasingly elaborate masks
vertical to the surface: screens with which to hide portions of the paper alsole
studying the way light penetrates the cracks
a month and even two sometimes to get a significant result: and it’s not always the same for all colors because yellows
The Cardelli & Fontana gallery is open within the limits set by the anti-Covid decrees with hours 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 4:30-7:30 p.m., excluding Sundays and by appointment. For info you can visit Cardelli & Fontana’s website
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is present in photography and around photography and it captures an identity reason extended from the medium to the author and then forcefully returns to the instrument
able of exploding an almost infinite search term
which we can now be gladly interpreted as an “event”
it is clear how much its nature is suspended
halfway between the subject-object and its representation
we welcome with satisfaction the Luca Lupi exhibition Esposizione at the Cardelli & Fontana gallery in Sarzana
Lupi’s evolution certainly depends on its relation with the landscape
or rather by “difference”: the usual fruition ceases
the year of almost all the works on display
so the Tuscan photographer has taken his research to an extreme minimalism
full of all the visual sublimation in favor of a procedural observation
and it cannot be represented in its temporal dimension
Lupi’s formal passage from a recognizable though absolutist photograph [3] to a media analysis with multiple semantic results
is symptomatic of an informal European path
from the avant-garde to the current historical moment
never deprived of a sentimental and transcendent spark
fact well exposed by Rosenblum in his theoretical assumption interpreter of a romantic continuity between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Europe [4]
both when it manifests an icastic eloquence and when it reflects a philological purity
has never been immune to spiritual reading
rather it has been a collective consciousness’ trigger on the image timelessness and existential proof of Matière et Mémoire [5] through light
The romantic significance of current artists is evident
they are the most effective in bringing aesthetics to a post-media level and involving the user
participates in the final rendering of the work
departing from the individualism of classical Romantic painter
in our age we can speak about Relational Romanticism
The work of Luca Lupi is relevant; the temporal transience of the landscape
already present in works categorized by the author as Spazi (2010-2012)
which the curator Mariotti punctually summarizes the exhibition in a hinted and delicate narrative proposal
resists in the chromatic geometries of his very recent Esibizione (2020) which
by virtue of the physical erosion of light on the paper support
return a nostalgic distance (romantic matrix) to the viewer
active in a gnoseological response filled with image and memory [6]
Interesting and further explaining is the same attitude to graphism both past and present romantics artists
also persistent throughout Lupi’s work
“skeleton”: the perfect image of the suspension
halfway between substance (object) and thought (representation)
This reduction is due to the strong temporal presence of Lupi’s work; here time is the “difference”
it is Michelangelo’s “levare” [7] capable of making photography like sculpture
Valtorta’s words (translate by the reviewer): «Thus
photography takes on the meaning of an experience with regard to the outside world
with a stronger conviction and a more conscious intentionality also on the part of photographers
and no longer just artists (the distinction between “artists who use photography “and” artist photographers “lasted a long time and perhaps in part still lasts
the process of interpenetration between the media has progressively corroded this historic distinction
«In cerca di luoghi (non si trattava solo di paesaggio)»
Luogo e identità nella fotografia italiana contemporanea
[3] Lupi own is a reading of the surrounding with a sober but powerful look
able to deforming the slightest identifiable references in supporting apparatus for the vacuum
The visual chromatic research has evolved into an empirical process on colors and light
returning suprematist geometries in total harmony with the previous work: if as a photographer the authorial presence was canceled by a geophysical distance
in Esposizioni the author’s intervention is also reduced in its physicality
entrusting the process to natural elements
despite the association between Friedrich and Rothko has become a critical icon: from Giorgio Agnisola to Ilaria Mariotti herself
there are many voices that welcome this pictorial “Alpha and Omega” as well as a mystical reflection of the contemporary
Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition: Friedrich to Rothko
[5] The reference to Bergson’s essay is purely intentional
said (translate by the reviewer): «That hic et nunc that had never left a trace before photography is formalized in the frame by means of it
thus gaining access to visibility and memory
the unrepeatable is what by definition has no place in the series
the photographic eye always fixes an absence
and the story it contemplates is a story of voids and cracks
the only true story that can be built up through photography can only be the story of its own look.» Cf
[7] A question well suggested by Mariotti in the critical text of the exhibition
to which it is worth adding the reflection by László Moholy-Nagy on the potential inherent in the medium itself
well reported in the publication by Clément Chéroux
petite histoire de l’erreur photographique
probably the most acute written on photography and perhaps by the French semiologist himself
installation view at CARDELLI & FONTANA artecontemporanea
courtesy CARDELLI & FONTANA artecontemporanea
he lives in Prato working in the Florentine metropolitan plain (Pistoia-Prato-Florence)
He has curated exhibitions in private galleries
international fairs and public installations
including a review in historic buildings of Pistoia and the scenography of a musical show at the Textile Museum of Prato
He writes for various magazines both in print and online
His critical research starting from the art graphics
expanding the study to the time synchronization between past and present
and cultivating curatorial practice as an artistic medium
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Juliet art magazine è pubblicata a cura dell’Associazione Juliet - direttore responsabile Alessio Curto autorizzazione del Tribunale di Trieste
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“represent visual glimpses of the landscape that Hélène discovered during her walks
bringing back to the canvas a nature transformed into an almost abstract and dreamy impression with mythological connotations.” The exhibition was also made possible thanks to the collaboration of sculptor Walter Tacchini
who inherited Hélène’s house as well as several of her works
including those that make up the nucleus exhibited in Sarzana