Urbino - Ducal Palace and Marche National Gallery - from April 4th to July 12, 2009

The painter Raffaello Sanzio (Rafael in English) was born in 1483  in the city of Urbino, where he began his artistic career in the shop of his father Giovanni Santi,  painter of  the Duke and literate.

The Ducal Palace in Urbino is one of the most important monuments in Italy and is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. The construction of the Ducal Palace was begun by Duke Federico da Montefeltro who lived there with his wife Battista Sforza. The best architects and artists of XV century participated to the construction project of the Palace, among them: Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Luciano Laurana, Piero della Francesca, Paolo Uccello and especially Rafael.

Taking inspiration from the context of Urbino at the end of the seventies of XV century, the exhibition, dedicated by his home town to Rafael, aims at recreating the artistic and cultural framework in which the young artist started his career.

The exhibition, taking place in the Salone del Trono and the private apartment of the Duchess of the Urbino Ducal Palace (normally hosting the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche), displays masterpieces of young artist Rafael compared with paintings of his father (Giovanni Santi) and other contemporary artists.

In 1505, Rafael left Urbino and moved to Florence and Perugia where he stayed for a short period of time. Afterwards, Rafael was invited to Rome by Pope Julius II who had been informed about this young talented artist by Bramante. During his stay in Rome, in 1511 Rafael painted the breathtaking Vatican Rooms, historical-artistic evidence of incomparable value.

The exhibition is dedicating its final section to the very close relationship between Rafael and the most important art handicraft of Urbino: majolica. In this section it is possible to admire old majolica with representations and images based original models of Rafael.

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Rome - Capitoline Museums - from April 8th to July 5th, 2009

Beato Angelico was born at the end of the XIV century in Tuscany where he started his artistic career.

His passion and his artistic ability immediately appeared since the first works related to the art of miniature. His subjects have mainly a religious nature and are treated in a gentle and delicate manner, typical of the international gothic style. In Florence during the years of his artistic development, the intellectual life was very bouncy and in constant evolution. The new humanistic movement was gaining ground inside the important rich families and nobles of the time and the detachment from religion was more and more evident. Beato Angelico also belonged to the Observant Dominican Order and that’s the reason why he pursued the religious cause, trying to use his works as a way to reconcile the faithful Christians to the word of God.

In 1955, in the Vatican City was held an important exhibition dedicated to Frà Angelico. Today, the city of Rome is presenting another must-see exhibition of the Tuscan artist. The exhibition, staged inside the Capitoline Museums, includes the most famous paintings made by Beato Angelico, many of which have never been shown to the public. The most renowned Italian and foreign museums have borrowed their works to the supervisors of the roman exhibition whose aim is to document all the stages of the Angelico’s career: starting from his youth, rich in gothic influences, up to his maturity, mirror of the humanist lesson that during the years 40-50 of the XV century was gaining ground.

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Rome - The Colosseum - from March 27th 2009 till January 10th 2010

The city of Ancient Rome, the imperial one, still exists today under the eyes of all visitors. Very often from the underground of the city the ancient magnificence of the Roman Empire reappears with evident traces of the great power and fabulous prosperity of the lords who ruled it.

Vespasianus was the founder of the Gens Flavia and a man of a great importance during the years of his empire (69–79 AD). He was considerably open minded in relation to social policies: for example in terms of town planning, he returned to roman citizens some public urban areas, dispossessed during the reign of Nero. So, Vespasianus is to be considered as the promoter of the economic and social restoration of the whole empire which under his reign experienced a proverbial period of serenity. As a consequence of that, he was one of the most loved emperor of the roman history.

The exhibition, staged inside the Colosseum, is divided in six parts and takes also place in other areas of the eternal city including some monuments generally closed to public: the Curia, in the Foro Romano, where the main subject of the exhibition is the “imperial cult”; the Criptoportico neroniano, on the Palatino Hill, where remains of the imperial palace are displayed.

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Rome - Victorian Complex - from March 6th to June 28th - extended to July 26th

Due to its great success, the duration of the exhibition has been extended till July 26th.

After more than sixty years from the last exhibition dedicated to Giotto di Bondone, best known with the name of Giotto,  Italy is now paying a long due tribute to the character who marked the passage between classic and modern art.

The exhibition displays 150 works of art, out of which twenty have been signed by the master, while the others belong to the so called “giotteschi” and to all other artists who have  learnt the art of painting following his lesson.

The Victorian Complex of the city of Rome, from March the 6th to June the 28th, houses an impressive exhibition consecrated to Giotto, the most symbolic artist of the entire Middle Ages. The show aims at tracing Giotto’s figurative path through critical modern tools, sketching out in the meantime the cultural characteristics from which it developed.

The purpose of the exhibition is to show the Italian artistic situation between the last ten years of the XIII century and the first half of the XIV century by following the route of Giotto’s travels all over the Italian Peninsula and analyzing his innovative figurative solutions.

The innovation of the exhibition consists in the will to document with several high quality works of art the crucial point of the XIV century art, including a great part of the Italian territory that has been artistically influenced by the Giotto’s stylistic school.

Giotto inspired the artists of his times and those of the following generations with his stylistic ideas about function and nature of figurative arts, outlining new routes whose effects will be the basis of the Renaissance Great Masters’ works: three-dimensional representation of the space, naturalism of the imagine and human figure, introduction of an emotional dimension of painting.

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DISCOVER YOUR ITALY will be in New York City from May 5th to May 8th 2009 for UMBRIA-GREAT EVENTS OF SUMMER 2009, a special event organised by ENIT (Italian Tourism Board) of New York City and Umbria Region for launching the new editions of UMBRIA JAZZ PERUGIA and FESTIVAL DEI DUE MONDI SPOLETO. (more…)

Florence – Palazzo Strozzi – from March 13 to August 30, 2009

Galileo Galilei, born in 1564 in Pisa, is universally recognized as one of the main representatives of the Italian Genius. He symbolized the Italian creativity, not only on the artistic fields, but also in the sciences and technology.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His contribution and his support in favor of heliocentrism has changed the modern view of the world.

Man has speculated on the shape and structure of the universe since the dawn of history. In 1609 Galileo Galilei, using the revolutionary telescope he invented, would be able to demonstrate the earth is rotating around the sun. (more…)