Vincenzo Scamozzi’s final touch for the Olimpico was an amazingly detailed, three-dimensional stage set behind the scaenae, depicting the ancient city of Thebes Andrea Palladio channelled the great Roman architect and writer Vitruvius, studied Roman ruins, and added his own Renaissance ideas. With his Quattro Libri dell’Architettura (Four Books on Architecture), he dominated grand-building design […]
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the biggest names in movie-making history. Famed for his Godfather trilogy, which was based largely in Sicily as well as America, his family harks from Basilicata. In this issue of Italia! James Miller visits his palazzo in the region and gets to speak with the man himself… Throughout history […]
What few examples have been found reflect a wealthy and sophisticated culture with refined tastes This fascinating civilization is often overshadowed by its more ‘famous’ fellow Ancients, the Greeks and the Romans; however, the Etruscans stand on their own for their cultural development, artistic production and commercial prowess. They were contemporaneous with the Ancient Greeks; […]
May in Italy is the month of the rose – and the Italians do like their roses. Gardens up and down the country, public and private, are now coming alight with their odours and blooms… While we in the United Kingdom have to wait until at least June to enjoy our roses – “When summer’s […]
Italia! uncovers the story of Santa Rosalia, patron saint of Palermo, travelling through the mists of time to a Sicily under threat from an indiscriminate killer – bubonic plague In 1159 Santa Rosalia or La Santuzza, the little saint, cast off the worldly trappings and moved into this bijou home from home – or cave […]
In the first of our new six-part series, Jon Palmer crosses the Alps into Piedmont to follow the trail of that uniquely 18th-century phenomenon, the Grand Tour The foundations of the Grand Tour can be traced back to the begin of the 17th century and a young squire called Thomas Coryat, whose travel journal was […]
Italia! investigates a very different view of this renowned Italian lakeside town, with a visit to a dizzying sculpture in Piazza Camerlata, in Como What do you envisage when you think of the Italian Lakes? It probably isn’t a design movement called Italian Rationalism, but the town of Como, on the lake of the same […]
Italy has too many glorious mosaics to mention. Rich in artistry, history and beauty they truly are a labour of love. 1. Emperor Justinian Ravenna Ravenna was once the capital of the Western Roman Empire, and the town where Dante wrote much of the Divine Comedy. This is a town with a vast cultural heritage […]
Artists’ inspiration and magnificent feat of engineering, but the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on Venice’s Grand Canal was originally built to stave off the plague The year is 1629 and a great plague has hit Venice, turning it into a watery tomb. Prayers and processions to Venetian churches fail to stem the tide […]
A country with a wealth of artistic wealth of artistic treasures picking the best of Italy’s galleries is no easy task. This month, we highlight some of the peninsula’s unmissable art archives. 1. Gli uffizi Florence Had Florence’s biggest and busiest gallery failed to top the list of Italy’s best galleries, it would have looked […]