Rome show commemorates Palma Bucarelli

Rome's National Gallery of Modern Art (GNAM) is celebrating the 20th-century Italian art critic Palma Bucarelli. Bucarelli, who was GNAM superintendent for 34 years, turned the museum into an international attraction and helped popularize contemporary trends in Italy and abroad. The exhibition commemorates the centenary of her birth with over 150 display items.

The main attractions will be Italian 20th-century painting and sculpture masterpieces but the exhibition will also feature everyday mementos of Bucarelli's life, including photographs, music and evening dresses. Mariastella Margozzi, the exhibit's curator, highlighted her support for Italian art. ''She managed to select the best Italian art of the post-war period and bring it to public attention abroad, through collective exhibitions supported by the Foreign Ministry around the world,'' said Margozzi. But as well as taking Italian art abroad, she also promoted an interest in foreign art in Italy. ''She introduced the Italian public to the new, abstract informal art by highly prestigious European and American artists,'' said Margozzi. The curator cited exhibitions on Pablo Picasso (1953), Piet Mondrian (1956) and Jackson Pollock (1958) as particularly popular events organized by Bucarelli.

Bucarelli - who was once described as being ''as famous as a movie star and as talked about as a politician'' - was renowned for her love of controversy.

One move that created particular outrage was her decision to showcase some of the 90 tin cans in a 1961 series by Piero Manzoni, 'Artist's Shit'.

The cans, which purportedly contained Manzoni's excrement, even triggered a debate in the Italian parliament at the time - but the fact that can number 19 recently sold for 80,000 dollars are a sign of Bucarelli's accurate instinct.

Bucarelli acquired a number of now priceless works for the GNAM, including masterpieces by Gustav Klimt and Vincent Van Gogh.

Bucarelli also built up one of the best collections of Italian modern classics in the world, largely due to her networking skills and lasting friendships, which brought donations of works by names such as Lucio Fontana and Alberto Burri. GNAM Director Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli said one of Bucarelli's most lasting achievements had been positioning the GNAM within an international network of museums that recognized the important of modernity. ''She had a museum-centric vision of the contemporary art system, a view that placed the museum at the core of art,'' she said. Palma Bucarelli: Il Museo Come Avanguardia (Palma Bucarelli: The Museum as Avant-Garde) runs at the GNAM until November 1.

ANSA photo: Bucarelli with sculptor Giacomo Manzu

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Sheen Natural History Museum

Sheen Natural History Museum

Capucci "Fabric Sculpture" Exhibit at Odescalchi Castle

Roberto Capucci's legendary 'fabric sculptures', exploring the fashion maestro's creations in his 60-year career, will soon grace the halls of the lakeside Odescalchi Castle at Bracciano, a day trip from Rome in region of Lazio. The 15th century castle, which was location of the Tom Cruise wedding to Katie Holmes in 2006, is owned by one of Capucci's most loyal clients, Princess Maria Pace Odescalchi, from one of Italy's most ancient noble families.

The show, entitled 'Royal Elegance: Roberto Capucci at Castello Odescalchi at Bracciano', begins next month, September 17th, and will run through December 13. Fall travelers to Italy this is a great day trip from Rome.

The 66 outfits and 25 costume designs will be displayed in the castle's public halls, amid medieval armour and tapestries, in a ballroom-like scenario, the princess said at the event's presentation recently. All the creations, including seven bridal gowns and an outfit worn by Nobel medicine laureate Rita Levi Montalcini at the 1986 award ceremony, were personally chosen by the 79-year-old designer.

CAPUCCI'S CREATIONS HAVE APPEARED IN MANY MUSEUMS.

Many of the 66 outfits featured have appeared in galleries around the world.

The stylist's personal collection of 600 creations, 300 colour illustrations and 22,000 sketches are permanently housed in a new museum devoted entirely to his work in Florence, where his work first came to international notice at a fashion show in 1951.

Housed in the 17th-century complex of Villa Bardini, overlooking the Ponte Vecchio in the heart of Florence, the museum showcases the vast archive collected by the Roberto Capucci Foundation over more than half a century.

The Florence museum and itinerant shows, including at Moscow's prestigious Pushkin Museum, tell the story of the designer who elevated fashion into art.

In fact, from the time of his earliest creations, Capucci's origami-like designs have been closer to elaborate works of sculpture than clothing.

He has dressed film stars, first ladies and royalty over the decades but the wearers have usually showcased his creations rather than the other way round. Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy, Gloria Swanson and scores of noblewomen have all worn his outfits.

Capucci has cheerfully admitted that his works are not intended as everyday contributions to women's wardrobes.

''Frankly, I have never let myself be influenced by the idea of 'but when will I wear this, where will I go?','' he once remarked.

''There would be no history of fashion if people had thought like that in past centuries''.

Capucci was considered something of a wunderkind in the fashion world in the 1950s, breaking onto the international scene at the age of just 21 in 1951.

He had already opened an atelier on Rome's Via Sistina the previous year, in 1950, when his work was spotted by fashion entrepreneur Giovan Battista Giorgini, who invited him to display five outfits at a Florence show.

The other designers in the show demanded Capucci's elaborate creations be withdrawn, fearing their own work would be upstaged.

But when the press found out, they called for a separate showing of Capucci's designs, which were greeted with instant acclaim.

Since then, Capucci's work has appeared in galleries in Munich, London, Vienna, New York and various Italian cities.

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Venice Webcam Weddings from Rialto Bridge

Venice Webcam Weddings from Rialto Bridge coming soon so newlywed's friends and family worldwide may join couples tying the knot in Venice.

The municipal council has organized a system that allows civil ceremonies taking place in Venice city hall a few steps from the Rialto Bridge to be broadcast online at an extra charge. The service costs between 120 and 144 euros, depending on whether it is arranged in advance or on the day.

Venice is one of several Italian sites that has traditionally attracted couples from around the world. The general consensus among Italy wedding agencies and couples taking the plunge in Italy is that it is the nation's enduring romantic image which makes it such a popular destination.

Brimming over with fairytale villas and castles, a wedding in Italy or honeymoon in Italy offers couples lots of romantic destinations.

Italy wedding destination attracts about 6000 couples per year, placing Italy wedding destination third behind Hawaii and Australia on the global list of most popular wedding getaway destinations.

The Venice council initiative comes not long after Verona, home to literature's most famous lovers Romeo and Juliet, launched a scheme aimed at cashing in on the city's Shakespearean ties. Couples are now able to say their vows on the balcony of the house where Juliet is thought to have called to Romeo. The residence is believed to have once housed Juliet because it was the family home of the Cappello family, who, according to legend, were the Capulets of Shakespeare's play.

Verona Tourism Councillor Daniele Polato said the city wants to be a ''wedding capital to rival the world's other popular wedding spots.

''We'll be offering tourist packages, the whole shebang, just like Las Vegas does,'' he told local dailies.

''It's a way of using the city's artistic heritage to boost tourism''.

The privilege of getting hitched where Juliet was famously wooed by Romeo in Shakespeare's play will not come cheap, however.

The 'Wed Me In Verona' marriage license alone will cost Verona residents 600 euros, people living within the city catchment area 700, European Union citizens 800 and non-EU couples 1,000 euros.

This compares to the 50 euros required for a civil marriage certificate in Italy.

But Mayor Flavio Tosi stressed that there was no anti-foreigner bias at play.

''It costs extra because the administrative costs are higher,'' he explained.

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Ancient Coins from Roman Empire Identified

The largest haul of ancient coins ever found has revealed new secrets thanks to the painstaking work of a team of Italian experts.

Specialists at the Italian National Research Council (CNR) have just concluded a two-year project involving the analysis and restoration of the cache of Roman coins, which was discovered by accident in Libya nearly 30 years ago. ''As well as the number of coins, this haul is exceptional as it sheds new light on so many areas,'' said Salvatore Garraffo of the CNR's Cultural Applied Technology Institute.

''It provides information about the history of the economy, about the circulation of currency in the area during the first half of the 4th century AD, about metallurgy and about monetary production at the time''.

The cache, which was unearthed during agricultural work outside the city of Misurata, Libya comprises 108,000 coins dating to between 294 and 333 AD.

The coins were found inside large amphorae and pitchers that had been buried near the remains of two buildings. Archaeologists believe these were probably part of a staging point and horse-changing complex used by the state-run courier and transportation service of the Roman Empire, the cursus publicus. Alternatively, the buildings may have been used by officials traveling on Empire business.

The coins were nummi, a collective name for different denominations of copper-alloy coins introduced by the emperor Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century AD. The studies by the CNR have revealed that the coins were generally made of a copper-tin-lead alloy. Some also contained a small quantity of silver, a fine layer of which was used to coat the surface of the coin. The tests have sought to identify the precise percentage of silver in the coins, as well as revealing the manufacturing methods used. This information can be used by archaeologists to reconstruct inflation levels and help them calculate periods of financial uncertainty or times in which there were currency crises. Diocletian's era is described as a time when the currency lost most of its value, as Diocletian introduced programs to preserve the Roman Empire, which was already in full collapse by the time he took rule. His programs eliminated personal freedoms and rendered the Roman citizens serfs.

The CNR has involved Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics in the testing process, using radioactive analysis to prevent the coins from being damaged by any invasive procedures. In addition to the testing and restoration, the coins have also been digitally cataloged to allow archaeologists in all parts of the world to continue learning from the cache.

In these days when economists are having a religious battle over hard money and fiat money, this research is even more interesting, as Italy's history from the Roman Republic, to Florence in the Renaissance and Venice's Maritime Republic, coinage and currency value and inflation is an integral part of a region's rise and eventual fall. Currency devaluation, inflation, and government treating its citizens like serfs certainly led to the fall of the Roman Empire. The Empire began after the Roman Republic in 44 B.C. By 250 AD the coinage was printed with a ratio of silver that was noticeably less than the prior 300 years manifesting a debasement and decline in the Empire due to it hitting a financial wall.

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Ducat Replaces Euro in Puglia

Celenza Valforte, Puglia celebrated today The Ducat, Europe's common currency for close to one thousand years up until World War I.

The euro is being temporarily shelved for one day, with stalls, bars and restaurants accepting only the ducat as Celenza Valforte residents celebrate their past. Visitors to the town will be able to exchange their euros to ducats at one of the town's five medieval gates, three of which have been specially reconstructed for the event.

The initiative is part of a daylong event exploring the history of the town that aims to transport residents and visitors into a different world. Although people have lived in the area since prehistoric times, the town's current layout dates back to the Middle Ages. The celebrations encompass the many changes it has gone through since then: its years under Spanish domination in the 1500s, as part of the Austrian Empire in the 1700s and later under French rule towards the end of the 18th century, and eventually under the Bourbons in the 1800s. The monuments and architecture of the various eras are spotlighted in tours of the town and the coins are part of a broader initiative to recreate life as it was.

All the shops are closed for the day and the electric lighting around the town switched off, with the historic centre illuminated by burning torches when evening arrives. Over 100 of the town's residents have been officially tasked with helping recreate a historic atmosphere kitted out as knights, ladies, soldiers, brigands and traders, while medieval guards welcome new arrivals at the gates. From early evening, street artists, jugglers, fire-eaters, troubadours and jongleurs will wander the streets, while Medieval and Renaissance songs and music will be performed in different parts of the town.

The streets of Celenza Valfortore have been decked out in banners and heraldic signs of its various rulers from past centuries. The ducat, which was issued in both gold and silver, was Europe's common trade currency for centuries until World War I.

It is thought to have been minted for the first time in 1140 under Roger II of Sicily and soon spread across Europe, particularly after receiving official sanction in the mid-1500s.

The Celenza Valforte celebrations, Vivi Il Borgo! (Long Live The Town!), are an annual event but this is the first year the ducat has been used as currency.

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