Spring is in the air … the plants in flower perfume the air, the weather is mild and sunny … and it is nicer and nicer to travel in Italy, to discover its territory and culture. To make this travel experience really unforgettable, you cannot miss the local traditional events that in this period of the year cheer daily life in Italy!

In this section we will present the major local events that will take place in Umbria during the month of June.

Cantine Aperte Long Edition - Montefalco, May 30 to June 01

“Cantine Aperte ” (Open Wineries)  is the most important wine celebration in Italy. Every year, during the “Cantine Aperte” week-end more than 1000 wineries all over Italy are open to the general public and tourists visits, and offer a variety of entertainment activities. This event is organized by the “Wine Tourism Movement”,  whose aim is promoting wine tourism and improving the wine areas’ image and prestige, as well as their economic development. In Umbria the main area involved is Montefalco, known for its Sagrantino wine.

The official website of Movimento Turistico del Vino

Giostra della Quintana - Foligno, 12 and 13 June

Foligno is a small town  in the heart of Umbria and Italy. The  Quintana is a jousting tournament which in June and September renews the challenge among the knights of its ten wards, since centuries. It is an exciting challenge where each knight, riding his horse, has to catch a series of rings (which gradually become smaller and smaller) hanging from a wooden statue called “Quintana”. It is a great feast of people, colors and passions, but also an accurate historical and scenic  reconstruction of the Italian Baroque, that reaches its highest expression during the historical parade, the night before the tournament.

The official website of La Giostra della Quintana

Le Infiorate - Spello, 13 and 14 June

This event takes place during the Christian Celebrations for Corpus Domini. As the Italian name indicates, the “infiorate” are flower carpets that represent beautiful drawings. For days before the event, the local artists prepare the drawings and the local people search for the fresh flower petals in the countryside. Then,  during just one night (one long night when the whole village stays awake) the “infioratori” decorate the village streets. The result is an incredible carpet woven with fresh flower petals in beautiful colors and decorations that covers the streets of the village, where the “Corpus Domini” Procession will take place, the morning after.

The official website of Le Infiorate di Spello

Il Mercato delle Gaite - Bevagna, from 19 to 28 June

This events  is a strict historical re-production of the village life in the Middle Age. Visiting Bevagna during this 2 weeks is like travelling with the “time machine”! The whole village will be transformed in a typical Umbrian village during the  1200s. You will encounter local people dressed with typical medieval costumes;  traditional workshops perfectly working are opened to the public in these days;  special “open air restaurants” will prepare local food according to the old recipes. Activities and entertainments during the whole period will make this event unforgettable!

The Official website of Il Mercato delle Gaite

La Fioritura di Castelluccio - Castelluccio di Norcia,  from 21 to 28 June

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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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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…)