Simple Italy

Image credit: Commune di Firenze

Back when I lived in Florence, I experienced the spectacle of Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart) one fine Easter morning. This centuries-old tradition of is said to have its origins in the Crusades. Thousands now cram Piazza del Duomo for the event.

As the bells peal in Giotto’s bell tower, a rocket in the form of a mechanical colomba (dove), lit by the Archbishop, flies down a wire from the high altar of Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) to the 30-foot-tall 500-year-old cart outside, setting off the fireworks between the main door of the Duomo and the Baptistery.

Because it’s daylight, there’s far more smoke than sparkling lights. I just remember being thankful that
no one caught on fire. Spectators crush up really close to the cart to capture images.

Image credit: mytuscanjournal.com

The part I liked most were the chalk-white Chianina oxen with crowns of spring blooms, who pulled the cart through the city streets. Sadly, I don’t have any photos from my viewing so I googled to find some.

I discovered a photo of the Chianina, a perfect crystallization of my recollection of these gentle giants, that led me to an Easter post on My Tuscan Journal, written by Lisa Brancatisano, an Italo-Australian who now lives in Tuscany. Along with a sweet personal report of her father visiting from Melbourne, she shares the tradition of the Scoppio del Carro in words and photos.

Grazie Lisa, e Buona Pasqua a te.

Treasures of Florence fly to Bucks County on the wings of angels.

Imagine possessing so many gems that there’s no more room in your jewelry case for a flawless gold and radiant-cut diamond necklace. You’re forced to stow it in a box in the attic.

No space, either, for the marquise-cut ruby bracelet. Upstairs it goes.

Those pear-shaped sapphire ear drops set in silver filigree? No spot for them in the case. A shame they’re out of sight.

More Offering of the Angels

Sandro Botticelli, (Florence 1445-1510), Madonna with Child (Madonna della loggia), circa 1466-1467, oil on panel, Collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.

By Walter Sanders

So how, you might ask, did the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, PA manage to snag “Offering of the Angels,”one of the most prestigious exhibitions of the new millennium?

The triumph involves the Association of Museums Conference, an empty bus seat, and a fortuitous question.

Bruce Katsiff, the Director/CEO of the Michener related at the media launch event, at the Italian Consulate in Philadelphia, how a chance meeting with a representative of Florence, Italy-based Contemporanea Progetti led to this exciting exhibit coming to Bucks County.

“There was one empty seat left on a bus going to a special event at the Getty Museum in LA three years ago,” said Katsiff. “I introduced myself to the woman next to me and we talked a little. I eventually learned that she was seeking four U.S. museums to host a spectacular exhibition of Italian art from the Uffizi in Florence. She told me that she had already booked three of the museums.”

“Does the exhibit include a Botticelli?” Katsiff asked.

“Yes,” she replied.

Katsiff jumped at the opportunity and the brilliant result is the Michener hosting the exhibit which will run from April 21 through August 10, 2012. This will be the only venue in the northeastern United States. (Look for a future post about the works in the exhibit after SimpleItaly attends the preview.)

From left, Bruce Katsiff, Director/CEO of the James A. Michener Art Museum, Dottore Luigi Scotto, Italian Consul General, Philadlephia, and Jerry Lepping, Executive Director of Visit Bucks County, announce the "Offering of the Angels" exhibit.

Renaissance Italian art lovers, rejoice! An incredible exhibit and value priced at $15 per ticket which includes the exhibit, an audio tour and parking.

One in an occasional series of conversations with those who try to “live Italian” wherever they are.

"La Principessa" in Perugia

Linda Dini Jenkins is a freelance travel writer and photographer and the author of Up at the Villa: Travels with my Husband (more later on how to win a free copy!). She also blogs regularly about travel and travel writing at Travel the Write Way and teaches creative writing and journaling. She enjoys taking small groups of friends, to explore what Italy has to offer beyond the Florence-Venice-Rome triumvirate, and she can pack her suitcase in 15 minutes.

◊ ◊ ◊

Q: Living “Italian”. . . Is it a great way to live or the greatest way to live?
A: Well, I think it’s the greatest way to live. When you take into account the slower pace of life (outside the big cities!), the immersion in history and art, the fantastic cuisine, the love of design and music, the respect for taking time out to enjoy the simple things . . . whether it’s Italian or Mediterranean or European, it’s how I want to live.

Q: Why?
A: Are you kidding? Start with the food, the design sensibilities, the language, the arts, the vino, the pausa, the passeggiata . . . need I go on?

Q: When did you discover your Inner Italian? What is your Inner Italian named?
A: I always knew about my Inner Italian but, like other children of first-generation Italian-Americans who desperately wanted to assimilate, “being Italian” was something that just happened and was never really encouraged. In fact, I’d heard stories growing up of how hard it was for my father to be Italian in a New York suburb in the 1930s and ‘40s; even being Italian in my first job in New York in the 1970s was something of a liability. And I was always a little ashamed after that of being part Italian (my mother’s side of the family was English/Irish/German) until I met my husband and he took me to Italy in 2000. Since then, I have been a proud and vocal Italian-American. If my Inner Italian has a name and it needs to be something other than Linda, I suppose it’s Principessa . . .

Q: What does “living Italian” mean to you?
A: My grandparents came over from Italy in the late 1890s and they were anything but rich. So for me, living Italian has to do with cooking and eating together, always having crusty bread and wrinkled olives and green olive oil on the flowered oilcloth-covered table. It means not being afraid to be emotional—even if that involves fists and things flying when you’re angry. It means loving music and feeling the arts very deeply. It means trying to have a sense of style—of la bella figura—even if the clothes or table settings come from Target. And it means being a storyteller and a traveler and something of an adventurer.

Legge piu qui

More than 150 countries exhibited at The New York Times Travel Show this past weekend—trying to drum up business for their homelands. According to data from program sponsor American Express, U.S. consumers are planning to spend 11 percent more on vacations in 2012 than last year.

Not to dash the hopes of all those vendors but we Inner Italians know that there is only one true destination. To get some tips on how you can better plan your 2012 Italian Adventure, Walter and I attended a Sunday afternoon seminar “Make Your Italian Vacation Dreams Come True,” hosted by author Susan Van Allen.

Sharon (left), Dream of Italy's Kathy McCabe and Walter at The New York Times Travel Show

Planning Your Italian Vacation

“Plan your dream itinerary. Put in everything you want and then cut it in half,” says panelist Kathy McCabe, publisher of the “Dream of Italy” newsletter. (Full disclosure: Sharon contributes articles to DOI.)

“If it’s your first trip and you long to see the art cities of Rome, Florence and Venice, allot at least three nights in each. Remember you’ll spend half a day on the train between destinations,” says McCabe. She even recommends cutting out one city to add a place where you can indulge a special interest. Perhaps the Amalfi Coast from which you can visit the archeological treasures of Pompeii and Naples. Ocean enthusiasts can go scuba diving off of Portofino. Architecture buffs may tour the Palladian villas in the Veneto.

Panelist Gina Ruggiero of Villa Vita International echoed the ‘three night’ dictum. “The longer you’re there, the more you like it.”

I related to the relaxed approach expressed by panelist Yannis Moati of Europe at Cost, “You can’t miss. Every region offers beauty. Get lost and you’ll love it.”

Susan Van Allen advises tacking a visit to the country—the Castelli Romani outside of Rome or the hill town of Fiesole above Florence—even if the city is your primary destination.

legge piu qui