European Heritage Days 2009. A Fully Cultural Weekend !

No plans for the weekend?

Well, if your answer is “no”, then we’ll suggest you something unique to do.

This weekend in fact, on Saturday 26^th and Sunday 27^th September 2009, there will be a fully cultural event: as usual, also this year all the European countries will celebrate the European Heritage Days, which were conceived in 1991 by the European Council in order to encourage and promote the cultural dialogue and exchange between European countries.

As every year, MiBAC participates in the event with the slogan “Italy, the treasure of Europe” and organizes throughout Italy several initiatives intended to increase the value of Italian culture and heritage, with the aim to share all this great richness with other European countries.

In fact, throughout the country, many events and activities will take place in order to increase the national heritage value: over 1000 sites will be open to the public with free entrance, extraordinary openings, art exhibitions, concerts, shows and (more…)

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On August 16th, the famous Horse-Race in Siena: “Palio dell’Assunta”

The renowned Palio dell’Assunta will come back in Siena on August 16^th, and as usual, it will take place in the picturesque and stunning Piazza del Campo.

It’s a very ancient competition between the city wards, which dates back to Middle Ages and from time immemorial draws the attention of tourists from all over the world.

The feast lasts 4 days, during which visitors will have the chance to watch the meticulous preparation of the race. The morning of August 13^th for example, is a symbolic date during which the so-called “Tratta” takes place, that is the assigning of the horses to each contrada. (more…)

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Ready, Steady…Go!!! Palio di Siena Starts Again

The countdown is finally over: in Siena, everything is ready for the famous Palio di Provenzano, the yearly horse-race which will be held in Piazza del Campo on Thursday 2^nd July.

But we remind you that from today on, preparations have started in order to offer a lot of initiatives and events which will take place in the days preceding the race.

In fact this morning, horses will be drawn in order to assign one of them to each of the seventeen contrades of the city, which on next Thursday will challenge in Piazza del Campo.

Three laps around the picturesque square in a well-groomed and marked race course which reveals (more…)

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An Exhibition in Siena for the Rediscovery of the Forgotten Crucifix of Benedetto da Maiano

Until 21^st June San Gimignano, placed in the province of the wonderful city of Siena, will be the protagonist of a very particular exhibition entitled “Benedetto da Maiano in San Gimignano, the rediscovery of a forgotten crucifix”.

On the occasion of this event, the beautiful wooden polychrome crucifix will be publicly put on display, a work attributed to the Florentine artist Benedetto da Maiano, sculptor belonging to the Renaissance who has always showed his interest in the human body’s shapes and proportions. And this beautiful crucifix is the proof.

It is not only a religious symbol, (more…)

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“Museums at Night” on Saturday 16th May

“Museums at Night” is a really interesting initiative funded by the Ministry of Cultural Activities and Heritage, which will take place on Saturday 16^th May and will allow a late night opening of all national museums.

Museums at Night is an event expressly created for anyone who doesn’t have the chance to dedicate time to cultural interests and to visit the amazing exhibitions in the Italian museums during the ordinary opening hours. So, as culture belongs to everyone, the Ministry of Cultural Activities and Heritage decided to support this initiative to allow all the people who for reasons relating to work or economy, don’t have the chance to visit the extraordinary heritage hosted by our museums.

In fact, the night of Saturday 16^th May, all the national museums which will support the initiative, will stay open until 2.00 AM for free (entry allowed until 1.00 AM).

Together with the museums’ visits, there will be also a long series of other events, to encourage citizens to take part to this event.

Actually, this original initiative has its roots in 2005, in (more…)

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A Week in the pursuit of Culture

As every year, the extraordinary initiative organized by the Department of Cultural Heritage is come back for promoting the Italian culture: the 11^th Week of Culture.

In fact, in all the Italian cities from April 18^th to 26^th, museums, archaeological excavations, churches and monuments will open their doors to visitors, so that for a whole week the spaces of culture will have no metes and bounds.

Tourists, schools children and simple citizens who can’t wait to enjoy a couple of days in the interests of culture, will be the protagonists of this project, and the most important and beautiful places of our country’s culture will be invaded.

In fact, the slogan (more…)

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Genius and Madness create the real Artwork

An exhibition entirely dedicated to the greatest protagonists of the international scenery of modern and contemporary art will start on 31^st January. The exhibition, entitled “Art, Genius and Madness. Artist’s Day and Night” will be housed at Santa Maria della Scala Museum Complex, in the wonderful city of Siena.

This event, just for its title, promises a really special exhibition path, with no doubt absolutely different from the others until now proposed in Italy. The heart of the exhibition will be represented by 300 beautiful works among sculptures and paintings, carefully chosen for their emotional intensity of colours and shapes. These artworks will have the duty to tell us about the suspected relationship, documented from time immemorial, between genius and madness, between inimitable artistic talent and mental uneasiness.

Divided into 8 sections, the exhibition intends to research and inquire into the artwork and the relationship with its creator from different points of view: artistic, scientific, anthropological or psychiatric. 300 artworks of (more…)

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From Psychoanalysis to Art. Artworks on Display in Siena

Still a month before the closure of one of the most interesting and particular exhibitions open in 2008, “La Lente di Freud. Una Galleria dell’inconscio” (“The Lens of Freud. A Gallery of Unconscious“).

The event, on display in the amazing halls of Museum Complex Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, suggests an artistic itinerary in a class by itself, analyzing an accurate selection of about 200 artworks (among watercolors, India ink drawings, woodcuts and etchings), in the psychoanalytic movement introduced by Freud.

The exhibition suggests a new way to look at the artwork and to the artist through the Lens of Freud. The artworks speak, explain on their own the cultural and anthropological content that produced them, and invite the exhibition’s visitors to a new interpretation.

Freud, the philosopher universally recognized as the father of Psychoanalysis, was in fact the first to (more…)

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The Befana is in the gloom with her ugly broken shoes: Long Live the Befana!

Well it’ s true, indeed she’ s not so beautiful, she’ s an ugly and old woman, but the Befana is so nice and kind, and everyone loves to celebrate her! Epiphany in fact, in our country is the funniest moment during Christmas holidays.

Traditions concerning Epiphany are many, and they are different from region to region and from city to city: some of those are really unique and particular. In some Italian cities celebrations have very ancient origins and represent a real event.

In Siena (exactly in Bettolle) for example, the “XXIV Mostra dei Presepi” (”14th Nativity Scene’s Exhibition”) will take place, where each of the 5 quarters of the village sets up its own Presepe in a corner of the old town center, and on 6th January, as every year, the city awards the most beautiful creations.

Still in Tuscany, you can’t absolutely miss the “Cavalcata dei Magi” (”The Magi Ride”) in Florence, the traditional manifestation which every year on the 6th of January goes across the “Paradiso”, that is the area between the Dome and the Baptistery. During this very peculiar event, obviously relative to religious traditions but rich of folkloristic elements, the “Magi” overstep the manifestation’s place riding a horse and bringing gifts, anticipated by a procession of hundreds people among representatives of Calcio Storico, Sbandieratori, Gonfaloni etc.

On the other hand, “Viva la Befana” (”Long live the Befana”) boasts of more than 20 years of traditions. This is a manifestation started in 1986 in Rome, and every 6th of January (more…)

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“Tuscany Feast” 2008

On Sunday 30^th November, the whole Tuscany celebrates the anniversary of death penalty’s abolition.

“Tuscany Feast” is a typical and usual appointment which joins the participation of all citizens and the Region of Tuscany institutions.

The origins of this feast date back to a legislative bill, to be more precise, the Penal Reform promulgated on 30^th November 1786 by Grand Duke Peter Leopold of Lorraine. With this reform, Tuscany put an end to the capital punishment, and marked an important moment of civility which would have changed its history forever.

Tuscany in fact, thanks to Leopoldina Reform, was the first sovereign state to (more…)

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