Tag Archives | Festivals and Events

Cortili Aperti – Italy’s Open Courtyards

By Melanie on May 1, 2011 in Festivals and Events, Things To Do

For 17 years, ADSI, the Historic Home Association of Italy, has been working in conjunction with the owners of the country’s estates and villas to bring a program called Cortili Aperti, or “Open Courtyards,” to the public. The 2011 edition of Cortili Aperti, taking place the last weekend of May, will see historic properties in more than a dozen cities, including Rome, Bologna, Florence, Lecce, Milan, and Palermo, open their courtyards, gardens, and, in some cases, their living rooms, to the general public. This is a fantastic opportunity to take a peek behind the gates and doors of Italy’s very private palazzi. Visit the Cortili Aperti website for more information on this year’s program and participating cities. You may also want to check on Facebook, as a number of cities have set up Cortili Aperti event pages that you can follow for more information.

Photo © redbeetle

World’s Biggest Christmas Tree

By Melanie on December 4, 2009 in Destinations, Festivals and Events, Things To Do, Umbria

Rockefeller Center has nothing on this tree. The largest Christmas tree in the world is, in fact, in Gubbio, Umbria. But this is not any tree. No, this is not a tree at all. Gubbio’s Albero di Natale is a dazzling neon feat – and Guinness Book of World Records holder – that has been lighting up the hills of Umbria since 1981.

In order to get the tree ready for its annual December 7 lighting, local volunteers work for three months stringing lights and electrical equipment up the slope of Mount Ingino. (Yes, that is the same mountain that Eugubini scale each May for the celebration of the Corsa dei Ceri.) And, the numbers are astounding:

The surface area of the star is 1,000 square meters
The length of the connecting cables is 8,500 meters
The tree has more than 700 lights each of which requires 35 kilowatts of power to light
The tree has a height of 650 meters.

If you’re in some parts of Umbria, such as Perugia or Umbertide, from December 7 until approximately January 10, you should be able to see the bright lights from Gubbio’s Christmas tree. If you want to get a better look, head to Gubbio. For more information on Gubbio, visit the Comune of Gubbio website.

Photo © Agriturismo San Vittorino, Gubbio

Italy Exhibits Guide Fall 2009

By Melanie on August 20, 2009 in Arts and Culture, Event Roundup, Museums and Exhibits, News

Here is a sampling of exhibits beginning or ending this fall in Italy. For a longer list, check out Ansa, the Italian news service, or visit our tourism boards page and click on the area you are interested in.

BOLZANO – Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige: Iceman joined by more than 60 mummies from Ancient Egypt, Asia, South America and Oceania; until October 25.

FLORENCE

-Medici Chapels: show on life and times of Ferdinand I de’ Medici, powerful third grand duke of Tuscany (1549-1609), marking 400th anniversary of his death; until November 1.

-Palazzo Strozzi: Galileo show marking 400th anniversary of his first observations of the night sky; 250 exhibits including the middle finger from Galileo’s right hand; until August 30.

MARSALA – Convento del Carmine: Monochrome; 70 works from post-war Italy to the 1970s by artists including Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana and Mimmo Rotella; until October 18.

MILAN

Palazzo Reale: 250 paintings from influential 19th-century Scapigliatura movement; until November 22.

- same venue: Robert Wilson’s ‘Voom Portraits’, celebrities like Mikhail Baryshnikov, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey, Salma Hayek, Isabelle Huppert, Jeanne Moreau, Brad Pitt and Princess Caroline of Monaco; but also ordinary people and animals; until October 4.

- same venue: 20 Monet water lily works from Musee’ Marmottan in Paris; until September 27.

- same venue: 36 years of cartoons by political satirist Giorgio Forattini; until September 27.

ROME

- Palazzo Venezia: The Mind of Leonardo, The Universal Genius at Work; acclaimed exhibit already seen at Uffizi and in Tokyo; until August 30. HURRY!

- Palazzo delle Esposizioni: Bulgari, Between Eternity and History, 1884-2009; 125 Years of Italian Jewels; the first retrospective in the brand’s history, featuring 400 pieces; until September 13. HURRY!

VENICE – Biennale: 53th and biggest-ever edition of world’s oldest arts festival; 90 artists at 77 national pavilions, including Joan Jonas, Lygia Pape, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Xu Tan, Thomas Saraceno, Nikhil Chopra and Anawana Haloba; until November 22.

Photo from the Venice Biennale website