Articles by: From italy

  • Life & People

    Fellini's Drawings of Dreams on Show


    The Fellini Foundation, which acquired the book two years ago, says the drawings ''show the erotic and playful side'' that ran through Fellini's screen work.


    Fellini, a former cartoonist whose visually striking masterpieces typically combine memory, dream and fantasy, recorded his dreams every morning on the advice of a psychoanalyst.


    Some of the 400 sketches - said to be ''brightly coloured, fully formed and quite explicit'' - found their way onto the screen. When they were exhibited for the first time at last year's Rome Film Festival, Fellini buffs were delighted to see they showed many of the germs of the great film-maker's creations.


    Fellini, the maker of classics like La Dolce Vita, Eight and a Half and Amarcord, started drawing his dreams after meeting a Junghian psychoanalyst in 1960.


    He kept up the habit until 1990, three years before his death.


    In 1984, Fellini said: ''Talking about dreams is like talking about movies, since the cinema uses the language of dreams; years can pass in a second and you can hop from one place to another''.


    ''It's a language made of images. And in the real cinema, every object and every light means something, as in a dream''.


    Compared to the exhibit seen in Rome, the Rimini show has been beefed up with archive photos and film footage supplied by ANSA, Bologna's Cineteca and the Reporters Associati photo agency.


    The Book of Dreams is on display at Rimini's Castel Sismondo until March 16.

     

    (ANSA NEWS)

     

    Fondazione Federico Fellini via Oberdan, 1, Rimini - tel. 0541.50303; fax. 0541 57378

    [email protected]
    www.federicofellini.it

  • Facts & Stories

    Premier Romano Prodi Quits


    Rome, January 24.  Prodi's administration, which has had a wafer-thin majority in the 315-seat upper house ever since it came to power, lost the crucial test by five votes.


    As expected, key centrists in his eight-party coalition voted against the government, finally pulling the plug on an alliance which was deeply divided on a wide range of issues.


    The announcement of the results of the vote - 161 against, 155 in favour - led rapidly to raucous celebrations on one side of the Senate, where some members broke open bottles of champagne.


    Former premier Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party is the biggest on the centre right, immediately called on President Giorgio Napolitano to dissolve parliament and set a date for elections.


    Buoyed by polls indicating that the centre right would win handsomely, the 70-year-old businessman-turned politician promised to tell voters quickly what they could expect from a new centre-right government.


    ''We'll say what we intend to do in our first 100 days. We want a big majority in the House and the Senate,'' he said.


    Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, head of the Democratic Party, the senior partner in the centre-left coalition, said he was against sending Italians to the polls this spring.


    ''Elections would push the country into a dramatic crisis,'' said Veltroni, who is a likely candidate to lead the centre left in the event of elections.


    Prodi, who left the Senate shortly before the result was announced, made no immediate statement.


    Speaking in parliament earlier, the premier said the country could ill afford to face the uncertainty of a political crisis in the current economic climate.


    The government called confidence votes in the House and Senate after the small Udeur party withdrew its support. That move followed the resignation of the party's leader, Clemente Mastella, as justice minister when he and his wife were placed under investigation for corruption.


    Prodi won the vote in the House on Wednesday but never seemed likely to muster support in the Senate, where he was also abandoned by another centrist ally, former premier Lamberto Dini.


    PRESIDENT TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS.


    The premier, who was obliged to quit after losing a confidence vote, went immediately to the Quirinal Palace to hand in his resignation to President Napolitano.


    Napolitano will now meet with parliamentary speakers, party whips and leaders and former heads of state, to hear their views before deciding how to proceed.


    He has voiced reluctance to call elections before a new electoral law is in place, fearing that a vote would only produce a government as unstable as Prodi's. The current electoral law, which uses proportional representation to allocate seats, is seen as a key factor in the chronic instability that has plagued the Prodi administration.


    The law was pushed through parliament in 2005, at the end of the Berlusconi government's five years in power.


    Forced to form an alliance ranging from Communists to Christian Democrats, and holding only a tiny majority in the Senate, the premier always struggled to hammer out policies and get laws through parliament.


    Napolitano could try to get a new government installed, giving it the job of overhauling the current electoral law so that the country could then go to the polls under a new system.


    Such an interim government, which could be led by an institutional figure, a politician, or even Prodi himself, would then have to go before parliament to show it had a majority.


    It is far from certain a new administration would be able to muster a majority because several parties, including some of Prodi's allies, say they are ready to face elections under the current system.


    According to a survey carried out for RAI state television, some 50% of Italians are against snap elections while 45% are in favour.


    Of those against a return to the polls, 21% would choose an institutional government tasked with approving an electoral reform and 17% would prefer a new Prodi-led government given a set amount of time to do the same thing.


    The possibility of a 'technical' government, led by an authoritative institutional figure and containing several non-political ministers, was favoured by 12%.


    Prodi made two speeches to the Senate on Thursday, urging MPs to vote in favour of his government so it could continue economic reforms and cut taxes.


    Listing what he saw as its key achievements to date, Prodi said it had ''rescued public finances and cut spending'' as well as restoring the primary surplus and starting a steady decline in the national debt.

     

    ANSA NEWS

  • Art & Culture

    'Cybertourists' Walking Around Flaminia Antica


    Roman history buffs can pass the time of day with the Emperor Augustus and wander around the imperial residence of his wife, Livia, thanks to a groundbreaking new virtual archaeological museum that opened to the public in Rome.


    The museum at the Baths of Diocletian uses avatars - or onscreen characters - and interactive computer game technology to allow visitors to explore reconstructed Roman sites along the ancient Via Flaminia, the road built in the 3rd century BC to connect the capital to modern-day Rimini on the Adriatic coast.


    Four visitors at a time can sit at computer consoles in a darkened room and use joysticks to move their avatars through the virtual Roman world, switching between buildings as they were in their imperial heyday and the ruins seen today at the click of a button.


    The adventures of the avatars - Marta, Katrina, Mike and Omar - are simultaneously displayed on a large screen for an audience of up to 12 other visitors who can watch wearing special 3D glasses.



    ''It's the first multi-user virtual archaeological museum in Europe in which the visitor is a real protagonist in cyberspace,'' said project head Maurizio Forte of the National Research Council. Forte's team of 20 art historians, archaeologists, architects and computer experts spent two years developing the project using satellite navigation mapping technology, archaeological surveys of ruins and literary sources to recreate over 3,000 square metres of Roman landscape and buildings.


    The Milvian Bridge across the River Tiber and a necropolis at Grottarossa are among the stops on the initial section of the Via Flaminia that have been reconstructed with three-dimensional computer graphics.


    But the highlight of the virtual museum is the first-century BC Villa of Livia, whose grey, uninspiring ruins in the northern outskirts of Rome are brought back to life as a grand imperial residence surrounded by rolling grassy hills.


    Visitors can use their avatars to nose around at will, wandering through courtyards and beautiful frescoed corridors and interacting with Roman characters they bump into along the way.


    Livia shares the secrets of her famously elaborate hair-do with avatars taking a sneak peak at her bedroom and explains her passion for plants in a stunning garden filled with lemon, orange and fig trees. A painter, a gardener and a soldier are happy to stop work for a chat, and avatars may also meet a gruff Emperor Augustus.




    ''Visiting Roman ruins and reading about the Empire can never give you a sense of the scale of the architecture,'' said one of the first visitors to try out the virtual experience on Saturday. ''But actually walking around the house with an avatar you understand how the rooms and corridors relate to each other, and you get a much closer idea of how people lived''. ''The interactive element really sucks you into the Roman world, and I admit I was quite scared when I ran into Livia or Augustus in case they were cross with me for intruding,'' he added.


    In their roles as cybertourists the avatars can only walk at a leisurely pace, and for the moment all dialogue is in Italian.


    The National Research Council plans to add the Villa of Livia to online virtual reality community Second Life in the next few weeks, giving web users worldwide a chance to explore the museum in cyberspace.

     
     
    BY ANSA NEWS
     
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    The interactive experience, unveiled on 9 January, will be a permanent feature of the museum.

    Terme di Diocleziano, Via Enrico de Nicola 79, tel. 0639967700. 09.00-19.45. Closed Mon. Entrance €7.

     

  • Art & Culture

    "Art and Homosexuality". A Controversial Exhibition Opens in Florence

    Following objections from Catholic politicians and the right-wing Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, an international gay art exhibition now opens in the more left-leaning city of Florence - uncensored, albeit without the official blessing of the city council.

    'Art and Homosexuality - From Von Gloeden to Pierre et Gilles' will run at the Palazzina Reale in Florence until 6 January 2008.

    150 artists from all over the world are on display with works tracing connections between art and homosexuality over the past 100 years.

    The original Milan location (Palazzo della Ragione) was abandoned by the organizers after Ms Moratti insisted in drawing up a blacklist of works that had to be removed on the ground that they could be offensive for Catholics and unsuitable for children.

    Among the works exhibited are a sadomasochistic portrait of a man in a gimp mask by controversial American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, drawings of heavily muscled men engaged in graphic sexual acts by fetish artist Tom of Finland, and a picture of two men kissing under a crucifix by British painter John Kirby.

    The Italian newswire service ANSA reports the exhibition's curator Eugenio Viola as saying: ''The public finally has the opportunity to judge for themselves what is perhaps the most contested exhibition of recent years. It's good news for freedom of expression and thought, and a happy epilogue to a difficult affair''. Viola based his selection of works on a common theme of expression rather than on the sexuality of the artists, who are both gay and straight. ''On the basis of that logic some works have an openly homoerotic content, while in others this expresses itself in a less obvious way through codes, symbols, allegories and metaphors,'' he explained.

    The largest show of its kind ever held in Italy, this Florence exhibition will feature, among others, black-and-white photography by German artist Wilhelm von Gloeden from 1900, balletic nudes by Bruce of Los Angeles from the 1950s, portraits of famous male torsos by American fashion photographer Herb Ritts from the 1980s, and a video installation by bald German couple Eva and Adele, self-proclaimed 'hermaphrodite twins', from the 1990s.

    Other famous names include David Hockney, Keith Haring and Bruce Weber as well as the British royal family's favourite snapper Mario Testino.

    Self-taught Italian artist Carol Rama is among the 20 women artists with works on display.

    As the ANSA press release notes, the most likely crowd-pullers are two sculptures by young Italian artists that topped Moratti's blacklist in Milan: Paolo Schmidlin's Miss Kitty (2006) - the life-size replica of an ageing, semi-naked transvestite in a wig, white underpants and stockings bearing a strong resemblance to Pope Benedict XVI; and Paolo Cassara's Pieta' (2007), which portrays a latex-clad Virgin Mary cradling a blow-up doll in place of the baby Jesus.

  • Art & Culture

    Between Arts and Politics: The "Cultural" Background of the Trevi Fountain Attack in Rome


    The Italian police arrested the man who allegedly turned the Trevi Fountain red last Friday. Graziano Cecchini, 54, active member of the extreme-right Roman political community. Mr Cecchini denies all charges and states that he was arrested and his house was searched for a mere similarity to the man recorded by security cameras pouring red paint into the baroque fountain.


    The act was perpetrated by a movement – never heard of before – called "FTM Futurist Action 2007". This group and their colorful protest recalls explicitly the early 20 th century Futurist Movement. "Futurism" was an avant-garde artistic movement officially born on February 20th 1909 thanks to a manifesto published by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti on the famous French newspaper "Le Figaro". The movement was born as a mainly Italian artistic phenomenon carried out by Italian artists living in Paris. Its influence spread throughout Europe, reaching Russia before the bolshevik Revolution of 1917, where Vladimir Mayakovsky founded the Russian Futurist Movement.


    Futurism thrived in Italy during the first half of the 20th Century. Its followers were against the static contemplation of the art of the past. Excited by technological progress, in particular by the invention of the automobile, they exalted what they called "the wheel", speed, progress.


    The movement had a very tumultuous relation with Fascism. On the one hand, futurist exaltation of revolution, nationalism, and even militarism and war – considered by its founder Marinetti "the only hygiene of the world" – made it a cultural pillar of the Fascist movement. On the other hand, however, the lack of a consistent ideological framework made its relations with Mussolini rather unstable.


    Clearly, the "attack" against the Trevi Fountain is something in perfect Futurist style: an attack against a symbol of the past that creates instantaneous amusement. It makes breaking news and forces people to notice. In this case, it seems that those who planned the attack intended to protest against Rome's Festa del Cinema, although the relation with the Trevi Fountain remains ambiguous... something that is, again, very "Futuristic".


    To know more about Italian Futurism, see the following links:

     

     

     

  • Facts & Stories

    Italian Bloggers Under Fire: Who's Afraid of a Free Net?


    The famous Italian blog created by comedian Beppe Grillo warned the world against a law proposal that will be discussed at the Italian Parliament on Wednesday. It seems that, should the proposed law be approved by both houses of Parliament, all blogs and websites in the country would have to register, pay a national tax and work under the supervision of a professional journalist working as its executive editor. Such law requirements would simply destroy 99.9% of free blogs and information websites currently online.



    As soon as the news became public (thanks to the blog www.civile.it) Grillo's blog dubbed the proposal as the latest move by the Prodi government to try to get rid of the rising popular opposition to his Government. Much of this opposition is indeed self-organized and web-based, with a number of free blogs – including the one operated by Mr. Grillo – opposing Mr. Prodi's political choices.



    Yesterday, however, Communications Minister Paolo Gentiloni declared that all this fuzz is the result of an error in the phrasing of the proposed law, which according to Mr. Gentiloni "is not clear and leaves room to absurd interpretations".


    So it seems now that it all was a big misunderstanding. The Italian Government is not trying to get rid of freedom of speech in the Internet after all. Only a bump in the road of technological progress.


    On a more general plan, however, many commentators note that Italy's politics is ruled by two "castes", both of whom have very good reasons to fear bloggers and grass-roots journalism: on the one hand, the politicians, and on the other hand, the "professional journalists".


    Everybody knows (and criticizes) the privileges of Italian politicians; but few know that Italian journalists are organized as an "order" (Ordine dei giornalisti) that is entitled by the State to decide - on the basis of annual written and oral examinations - who can work as a "professional" journalist, getting higher salaries, pension rights, and social presige.


    Mr. Grillo aside, Italian bloggers and citizen journalists are now raising their voices and the two castes are scared they might lose their life-long political monopoly over information...

     

     

     

     

  • Facts & Stories

    The Scarlet Fountain


    On Friday, October 19, a number of tourists wondering around the Eternal City witnessed a strange crime with great surprise: a man threw paint into the waters of Rome 's famous Trevi Fountain, that within minutes turned blood red. The act seems to be inspired by the Futurists of the early 1900's...


    The act was recorded by security cameras in the area and broadcast by national Television. The fountain almost instantly started spurting red water, a strange and unique spectacle for tourists and Romans as well. It seems that regardless of early worries the precious marble of the fountain was not damaged by the protest act. The declared goal of the protester's group is to turn our "grey bourgeois society into a triumph of colour", while fighting against "everything and everyone with a spirit of healthy violence".



    Vittorio Sgarbi, well-known artistic critic and politician, stated today that the act was very interesting, in perfect futurist style. Meanwhile people around Rome thought the Fountain had turned red as part of the celebrations for the Rome Cinema Festival: ironic assumption, since this manifestation is one of those these futurist protesters are openly fighting against!

  • Life & People

    Napolitano Accepts Society Medal


    The Gold Medal of the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit - - headquartered in New York and comprised of all those decorated by Italy and resident in the U.S. - - has been presented to H.E. Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy. By virtue of office, the President is Head of all Italian state Orders of Knighthood.

    The Society’s Gold Medal, its highest accord, is reserved for heads of state and personages of similar exalted status. In 2006, it was awarded to President George W. Bush of the United States.

    With arrangements concluded by Cav. di Gran Croce H.E. F. Paolo Fulci, the Society’s Special Representative in Rome, Ambassador Fulci accompanied a delegation headed by Society President Cav. di Gran Croce Hon. Dominic R. Massaro that was received at the Quirinale Palace in Rome. Also attending were: Gr. Uff. Baroness Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimo, Society secretary general; Comm. RoseMarie Gallina-Santangelo, president emerita of the Society and its chief of protocol; Cav. Joseph V. Del Raso, Esq., chairman of the board of the American University of Rome; Cav. John Leopoldo Fiorilla, Esq., Society counsel on the United Nations; and Cav. Michael L. Santangelo, Esq.

    The medal, which is a full size medallion, depicts the Great Seal of the United States, indicative of the American quality of the Society, with the Society’s name in the round. The reverse, inscribed in a four-line legend, reads “Presented to/His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano/President of the Republic of Italy/19 September 2007.” Suspended by a ribbon suitable for neck collar wear, it features both the Italian and American colors, symbolic of the shared values and traditional bonds between the two nations.

    Massaro, a New York Supreme Court justice, took the occasion to report to President Napolitano on the Society’s efforts in the diplomatic arena on behalf of Italy at the U.N. and in Washington, D.C., as well as noting its increasing levels of charitable beneficence. Discussed was the current monitoring of adherence to the United States-Italy Accord prohibiting the importation and acquisition of illicitly excavated Italian antiquities, and ongoing negotiations seeking the return of such artifacts being held by American museums such as the Fine Arts Museum in Boston, the Metropolitan in New York and the Getty in Los Angeles. He likewise spoke to the Society’s support for La Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi in New York City, the Italian Government accredited school for North America.

    During the 40-minute session, President Napolitano expressed “continuing

    appreciation” by the Italian state for the Society’s “long-standing efforts” toward strengthening the friendship between Italy and the United States. He urged it “to

    pursue the best interests of both countries,” praising “those on whom high honors have been bestowed.”

    Photo. At the Quirinale Palace in Rome (from left) Cav. Joseph V. Del Raso, Esq.; Cav. Michael L. Santangelo, Esq.; Gr. Uff. Baroness Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimo; Cav. di Gran Croce Ambassador F. Paolo Fulci; Cav. di Gran Croce Justice Dominic R. Massaro, President of the Society; His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Republic of Italy and Head of all Italian Orders of Chivalry; Comm RoseMarie Gallina-Santangelo and Cav. John Leopoldo Fiorilla, Esq.