For only few days will still be possible to enjoy the wonderful and legendary creations of one of the best Venetian master of glass art.
The exhibition “Luciano Gaspari and the Glass”, began in May, will be open until November 29th, in the Glass Museum of Murano, a fascinating little island of the Venetian lagoon, a sort of “homeland” of this material.

Luciano Gaspari (1913-2007), born in Venice into a family of decorators, entered the world of glass production during the 30s. It was a crucial moment for the glass department: traditional craftsmen were seeking to respond to changing times and tastes, renewing their way of working and focusing on design. Soon, they began to produce true masterpieces, and the idea that of glassworks as “individual works of art” began to make headway.

Gaspari was one of the protagonists of this evolution. He was able to combine his great technical skills in working glass, which gave him the possibility to exploit the potentialities of the material in the best way, and a prodigious fantasy, applied on forms and colours. Results are impressive:

For the first time, the work of Edward Hopper (1882-1967), one of the most appreciated and successfull American artists of the 19th century, is  on view in Italy!
From 14th October 2009 to 31st January 2010, the Royal Palace in Milan dedicates a very interesting exhibition to him: 160 works on display, from his best-known paintings (such as Pennsylvania Coal Town, A Woman in the Sun e Second Story Sunlight – chosen for the official poster), to never exhibited ones, as Girlie Show.

Special attention is also dedicated to his preparatory drawings, each one shown near the corresponding final painting; a strategy for catching audience’s attention on artist’s way of working, in which preliminary sketches were a key stage. Visitors will also have the opportunity to marvel at one of his ledgers, also known as Artist’s ledger Books,

Comics and its fans will be the protagonists of the Autumnal season in Lucca and Milan, with two important events dedicated to the world of comics.

 

In fact, from October 29^th to November 1^st, inside the walls and in the picturesque squares of the stunning city of the Versilia area, the internationally renowned Lucca Comics & Games starts again. For more than 40 years, such an appointment gathers fans and people involved in the work (last year the presences were 130,000), attracted by the exhibition market and most of all by the several collateral events and projects.

 

So much that this year the organizers decided to give it the official name of “International Festival of Comics, Games and Illustrations” and to celebrate such a transformation with the title “The Evolution of the Species”.

 

Actually, the event’s programme schedules several initiatives, as well as the festival dates and locations are noticeably increasing. On October 17^th, the real exhibition will start in the historical location of the Doge’s Palace.

 

The historical centre, with many new stages, also this year will be the events’ fulcrum. Here you will find the Self Area, dedicated to the self-made comics, a space in the interests of free creativity and invention. The Music & Comics will draw the attention of visitors with all-involving happenings, with a competition in partnership with Mediaset (where winners will produce the theme song of a television cartoon), and most of all with the crucial moment of the Festival, Cosplay, where the fans take part to a funny parade in their favorite comics heroes’ clothing and walk the runaway on Music & Comics’ stage.

 

In addition, the Japan Area , conceived in order to host the more and more beloved Nippon comics, which this year has been turned into the Japan Palace (in the halls of the Real Collegio), where the culture of the Far East will be celebrated with Japanese language courses, courses of writing and traditional handicraft, and with many exhibitions according to the subject.

 

And also international guests, street writing, a pavilion dedicated to the kids television and another one dedicated to the games and their increasingly global diffusion, from the tables of the fans to the movies and videogames from all over the world.

 

So…It’s impossible to get bored here!

 

But in the case it is not enough for you, on November 14^th and 15^th you will have the chance to go to Milan for the special event called Fumettopoli, the other fantastic international exhibition market which takes place many times a year and that this year is at its 33^rd edition.

 

Here the location is more limited but the programme is as much rich. In the halls of the Ata Hotel Executive (in front of the Garibaldi station) many brand new and historical comics will be shared and sold, but also records, cds, dvds, household and gift items and various other things.

 

For comics’ lovers or just for all curious people, this will be an Autumn rich of appointments!

 

For further information about this and other events in Lucca and Milan, please visit our websites http://www.aboutversilia.com/ and http://www.aboutmilan.com/

At Fortezza da Basso in Florence, creativity comes back from October 15^th to 18^th 2009. The fourth edition of the Festival of Creativity is entirely dedicated to the city, the place where creativity becomes innovation, production and development.

In fact, the theme of the edition 2009 will be “The City of the Future“, closely bound to innovation, technology and the development of an ecologically sustainable society.

In the 4 days at Fortezza in fact, several architects, photographers and designers will compare each other by talking about the urban metamorphosis which are taking place in the most important capitals in the world, like Brasilia, Dubai, Berlin or Tokyo.

The programme 2009, in order to be at the same level of the previous successful three editions, also this year suggests four days full of meetings, talks, exhibitions, workshops and performances with international artists, scientists, philosophers and intellectuals coming from every corner of the world

On the calendar you can find more than 240 events: concerts,

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

For the first time, an exhibition entirely organized by the Louvre Museum and made up of several artworks coming from its own collections will take place in Florence.

The exhibition, supported by the Ministry of Cultural Activities and Heritage and by the City of Florence will take place at the Museum of Casa Buonarroti until September 14^th.

Tourists will have the opportunity to marvel at an extraordinary exhibition of the highest level, with more than 90 pieces never shown before which were donated by the rich Edmond de Rothschild to the Louvre Museum in the thirties, among which the Dèpartement des Arts Graphiques selected many works belonging to the Italian Renaissance.

But what makes this event even more significant is the original collocation of the works in the halls. In the opening hall in fact, visitors will find International Gothic drawings of stunning elegance which will enchant spectators because they will all be visible from both sides.

The most important area in the Museum is with no doubt the one dedicated to the drawings which date back to the 15^th and 16^th centuries, works created by such masters as Pisanello, Leonardo and Raphael.

Don’t miss the chance to marvel at the works belonging to one of the most famous museums in the world, now in the wonderful city of Florence.

Visit the Buonarroti Museum, you won’t regret it!

For further information about the city of Florence, please visit our website www.aboutflorence.com

Don’t miss the chance to go to Genoa and visit the historical dwelling of the Spinola family from another point of view!

Until September 13^th in fact, the picturesque palace will host an event entitled “Spinola Contemporanea” (“Contemporary Spinola”) which is not just a simple exhibition, but it represents a real itinerary inside the building located in Genoa old town, on which 35 Italian and foreign contemporary artists have been working for a year, working hard in order to search a subjective and personal way for interpreting its characteristics.

This itinerary (in a class by itself) was conceived just on the occasion of the 50^th anniversary of the palace opening as a National Gallery, after the last two descendants of the Spinola family, Franco and Paolo, gave as

Forma, the International Center for Photography in Milan, will host until 6^th September a very original exhibition entitled “Nippon Kōbō”, which means “Japanese Laboratory”.

In other words, we are dealing with a homage to the Japanese world and to its particular photographic art.

The exhibition’s aim is to show the evolution of the Japanese photography by highlighting the variety of themes, the wide range of languages and most of all one of the most characteristic features of the Japanese culture: the relationship with the surrounding environment poised between ecstatic contemplation and irretrievable pain.

On this occasion, the notable Milan’s center for photography has selected 130

A new expression is rising in the art world, especially among young artists from all over the world, and every year Venice pays homage to its artworks.

We are talking about Fiber Art, in other words, artworks created with textile fibers and materials of animal or vegetable origins. The exhibition is held once again at Palazzo Mocenigo in Venice, this year with a really particular title: “Matrix Natura” and it will be open to the public until August, 31^st.

54 mini textiles (this is the name of Fiber Art works) will be put on view on the first floor of the museum, created by the genius of artists coming from 51 different countries of the world.

Often the works are made up of real

In the world there are a lot of exhibitions dedicated to the ancient Egypt and just last week we told you about an expected exhibition presented in Milan but which will take place in Trento.

But among the several events organized to pay homage to the ancient and mysterious Egyptian world, there’s a really special one: “Abu Simbel – Il salvataggio dei templi” (“Abu Simbel – The rescue of Temples”) is the great photography exhibition dedicated to