ItalyUpdate

THE ROOMS OF THE LAST DUCHESS

Palazzo Pitti (Florence) has now opened, for the first time, the sumptuous apartment that once belonged to the last owner, the Duchess Anne of France, widow of Duke Amedeo d'Aosta.

The palace was first purchased in the 16^th century from the wealthy merchant Luca Pitti by Cosimo 1 de'Medici who transformed it into a royal residence for Maria de'Medici, his niece and future Queen of France. Subsequently it was reserved as the private residence of various members of the Medici and Hapsburg-Lorraine families until the arrival of the Savoy dynasty, the Unification of Italy and the end of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Subsequently, the palace was the residence of the Italian royal family until 1911, when it was known as “the Apartment of His Majesty the King”. The present décor and furnishings of the 14 lavish rooms have remained those created by the last inhabitant, the Duchess Anne.

From November 2024 regular guided tours are available for groups of max 10, with entrance from the Modern Art Gallery, 2^nd Floor.

Info: www.uffizi.it www.palazzopittibigliettitickets.com

NATURE RING WALK TO ENCLOSE POMPEII

A proposal to surround the archaeological site of the buried city of Pompeii with a protective “green belt” is under serious consideration on the part pf the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Pompeii Archaeological Directive. The proposed masterplan put forward by the Bellesi Giuntoli Studio of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design of Florence recently received a thumbs up from ASLA, the prestigious American Society of Landscape Architects, which awarded the project in their 2024 Professional Awards list as “capably of enhancing the link between the excavation area and the surrounding natural and agricultural landscape.

The plan involves reviving a 4 km walk around the ancient perimeter, as well as the creation of a cycling track, rest and leisure areas, special tracks for disabled visitors, plus bird-watching observation points and bee hive havens. Green spaces already reclaimed include the great orchard of the Insula Occidentals,and the Via dei Sepolchre above the Villa of Cicero, the new avenue of cypresses between the Amphitheatre and the Porta Nola visitor entrance.

The park area outside the perimeter walls will have free access to the general public and the citizens of the modern town of Pompeii.

M. STENHOUSE

Info; Tel: +39.081.1865.8177/081.8575347 www.pompeiisites.org pompei.info@cultura.gov.it

MATERA'S FOSSILZED MONSTER WHALE

“Giuliana”, the largest fossilized whale found in the Mediterranean area, continues to be a major attraction at the National Archaeological Museum Domenico Ridola of Matera (Basilicata) where it was put on exhibit this summer.

The fossil dates from around a million years ago during the Pleistocene era. It's immense size sets it above the average dinosaur, which is calculated to have weighed some 100 tons. The 26 meter-long monster whale instead weighed between 130 and 150 tons. It isn't known whether Giuliana was male or female, but “she” has been named after the Lake Giuliana reservoir where “she” was discovered a few kilometers from the city of Matera in 2006.

Research on the whale's skeleton involved teams of international scientists from the Universities of Pisa, Catania, and Brussels who worked incessantly recovering and analysing the fossil fragments before they could be pieced together and put on exhibit.

Examining the rock formations and sediment layers underneath the whale, scientists made a revolutionary discovery. In the remote past, when “Giuliana” inhabited the seas, the surrounding rocky area, now known as the Murgia National Park, covering part of Basilicata and spreading out over Apulia, was in fact an archipelagos in the middle of an ocean that connected the present Ionian Sea with the Adriatic. This explains how the whale managed to be found as if stranded on land that is now quite distant from the sea.

Giuliana the Whale is now on permanent display at the Domenico Ridola museum of the celebrated cave city of Matera

Info: Museo Nazionale di Matera Domenico Ridola Te; +30.0835.310058

www.museonaziomaledimatera.it mp.my@cultura.gov.iy

ELBA'S UNIQUE MAGNETIC ATTRACTIONS

The island of Elba, celebrated for its memories of Napoleon's first, brief exile, is launching new, unusual itineraries, centred around the rich mining activities of its past. The Etruscans extracted iron ore from the earth three thousand years ago, and a flourishing mining activity continued right up until 1981, when the introduction of new technologies and market demands made Elba's mines no longer profitable.

The three old mines, Capoliveri, Ginevro and Vallone, now offer fascinating tours , including the Old Workshop Museum, (located inside the Vallone mine,) that documents the life and work of the miners, with original machinery and material and a reconstructed infirmary and offices The Vallone mine possesses the largest deposits of magnetite in Europe, with a concentration in the Capoliveri peninsula containing Elba's unique Monte Calamita (Magnetic Mountain), that local fishermen and yachtsmen affirm sends out rays powerful enough to alter compass readings.

Elba's rich deposits of stone and metal are not confined to iron ore or magnetite. Walkers around the area can easily pick up pieces of semi-precious stone like tourmaline, beryl, quartz, haematite, limonite, pyrite and others.

Guided tours of the mines are available: For information:

Tel. +39.0565.935492 www.visitelba,com info@minieredicalamita.it

ITALIAN RADIO and TV CELEBRATE CENTENARY

The Italian TV and Radio (RAI: Radiotelevisione Italiana) celebrates a hundred years of the launch of state radio, together with the 70^th anniversary of the first state TV news broadcast with the installation of a dedicated art work set up at the entrance of RAI headquarters in Rome.

The installation entitled “U/O (Unum/Omnia” by noted artist Guido Iannuzzi, celebrated for his controversial works such as “Bauhaus Think-Tank” exhibited 2000-2001 at the museum MART Rovereto, as well as “Dafne in Back”, denouncing violence against women, shown at Rome's Villa Borghese Park in 2022, takes the form of a black aluminium cube and a shining stainless steel star representing a transmitting antenna and symbolizing the plurality of information with regard to the many facets of reality. The work has been donated to the RAI by the artist.

Info: www.rai.it

LAST VISITS TO MYSTICAL LAKE ISLAND

The Byzantine Island on Lake Bolsena (Lazio), the fifth biggest volcanic lake in Europe, will be open to visitors until the 9^th November this year (2024). The island, which is privately owned, became accessible to the public only two years ago, after a long period when it was inaccessible. Present owners are the Rovati Family, owners of a noted pharmaceutical company, who have embarked on a long-neglected restoration project of the island's monuments.

This magical little island, which is ringed by a three-kilometer pathway through woodlands and rocky outcrops, was considered sacred by the Etruscans, who believed it was the entrance to the mythical underground kingdom of Agarthi. The name has nothing to do with the ancient name of Constatinople, but derives from “Visentum”, a Bromze Age village which stood on a rock on the shoreline opposite. It now contains the remains of a Franciscan monastery, a botanical garden and seven chapels, dating from the 15^th century (at present under restoration), as well as the domed Church of St. James and St. Christopher, built by the then owners, the powerful Farnese family, as their family tomb.

Access to the island costs 25 euro, plus ticket for the ferry, which leave regularly from the towns of Capodimonte and Bolsena on the lake shore. Prior booking is necessary online at the island's official website:

info@isolabisentina.org

Info: Tel. +39.347.348.3267 www.isolabisantina.org

ROME'S EXCLUSIVE SAX MUSEUM SPECIAL EVENTS

What better way to start off the autumn than two special events at the unique Saxophone Museum at Maccarese, near the fishing port of Fiumicino and a short distance from Rome's major airport Leonardo da Vinci at Fiumicino?

The Museum has an impressive collection of over 600 musical instruments played by giants of the jazz world, such as Adolphe Sax, Sonny Rollins, Rudy Wiedoeft, Adrian Rollin and Marcel Mule, put together by musician and enthusiastic connoisseur Attilio Berni. On exhibit are rarities, such as the minute soprillo, measuring a mere 32 cm and the gigantic sub controbasso J'Elle Stainer, as well as collections of documents, vintage photos, musical toys and other memorabilia.

The two major events, on the 6^th and 13^th October 2024 comprise guided tours of the museum collection, followed by live concerts on the premises. Prior booking is essential.

Info: Tel. +39.06.6189 7862 + WhatsApp: 2,24,18.81.dmg www.agronline.it/cultura/maccarese

Our sincere apologies for the delay in reopening after the Summer Break,

due to some technical problems.

We shall be with you again shortly!

to all our readers and followers 

VILLA AUREA AGRIGENTO: an English Captain's Dream

Agrigento (Sicily) celebrates its election as Italian Capital of Culture 2025 with a grand exhibition in one of its lesser known treasures – the Villa Aurea (Golden Villa) in the Valley of the Temples, set between two of the most iconic monuments - the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of Hercules.

The early 20^th century villa is now the Park of theValley of the Temples headquarters, purchased by the Italian State from the owner, Sir Alexander Hardcastle, a wealthy English nobleman and a passionate archaeologist.

Thanks largely to Hardcastle, the neglected Valley, strewn with fallen columns and fragments of sculptured architectural elements, was reborn. He spent much of his personal fortune on new excavations and the recovery of the abandoned monuments and ended up tragically - penniless in the Agrigento mental asylum, where he died.

The exhibition “I Tesori d'Italia – I Grandi Capolavori dell'Arte” (the Treasures of Italy – the Great Masterpieces of Art) has the ambitious aim of representing all the Italian regions with works by artists native to these areas, some famous, others lesser known, thus giving an overall view of the widespread creative talent that has existed for over seven centuries in the Italian peninsula. It also gives an opportunity to visit Hardcastle's splendid mediterranean garden which was opened to the public in 2019.

“I Tesori d'Italia – I Grandi Capolavori dell'Arte” runs until December in Villa Aurea.

Info: Tel. WhatsApp: +39.331.5280088 www.mostreinsicilia.it www.Balarm.it