Works and artists

Ruins as warning and memory: the Platonic Oath and the Acropolis of Athens

In 1945, theArchitectural Press in London published a book of a few pages entitled Bombed Churches as War Memorial. The pamphlet argued that ruined churches damaged by the bombs of war should remain as such so that they could be transformed into visu...
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The resurfaced fleet. History of the extraordinary discovery of the ancient ships of Pisa

Pompey the Great 's maxim "navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse," with which he urged his sailors to put out to sea even though the sea was raging, is still well known. Over time it has been reused countless times as the motto of the Hanseati...
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Tommaso Buldini, the surreal painting of an artist with a prolific subconscious

"Anything can happen" in the worlds of Tommaso Buldini (Bologna, 1979), to quote his own words borrowed from the last scene of Fanny and Alexander borrowed, in turn, from Strindberg. "Everything is possible and probable", even that devils coexist wit...
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When the San Rossore Park in Pisa was full of dromedaries.

In Gabriele d'Annunzio'sAlcyone , the dromedaries of San Rossore Park become, more simply, the "camels." An unusual presence in the Tuscan landscape, a gift from ancient times, animals that once populated the pine forests between Pisa and the sea. "T...
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The art of Leonor Fini, sorceress and female icon

Sorceress, shaman, female icon, Leonor Fini (Buenos Aires, 1907 - Paris, 1996), with her seductive and disturbing works, has "frightened" respecters of all ages, reopening questions that remain unresolved even today. An unclassifiable woman and artis...
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Niccolo Puccini, an early 19th century patron: "the rich are the stewards of the poor"

In the heart of Pistoia's historic center, in Piazzetta Spirito Santo, just a stone's throw from the Cathedral, stands a 19th-century monument dedicated to Niccolò Forteguerri, a Pistoiese cardinal who lived in the 15th century and was known f...
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The Palazzo della Carovana in Pisa: from seat of the Order of St. Stephen to Scuola Normale

"Perhaps the most beautiful spot in the city is the Piazza dei Cavalieri, with the Vasarian palace and Ugolino's tower that now houses the grand library of the Scuola Normale. Here, far from the hasty tourists who only want to take away the image of ...
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Andrea Fontanari, the poetry of the everyday

From the window of Andrea Fontanari's studio, one can see the gentle ridges that separate the Valsugana from the Adige Valley. In summer, the mountains of Trent are clothed in an emerald green that competes in intensity with the more ringing green of...
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Edoardo Persico and the land of misunderstandings

We anticipate the essay by Maurizio Cecchetti that appears in the catalog of the exhibition conceived by Vittorio Sgarbi Art and Fascism currently running at the Mart in Rovereto, curated by Beatrice Avanzi and Daniela Ferrari, until September 1. The...
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Flavio Orlando, an out-of-the-box artist who makes you smile and think

Flavio Orlando (Rome, 1991) is an out-of-the-box artist. Although his research focuses on seemingly simple and familiar themes, such as everyday life experiences, memories and bonds, what he manages to reproduce on canvas tells us about a pictorial i...
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When Giotto and Cimabue were in Pisa. The church of San Francesco

In 2015 ago the church of St. Francis in Pisa, the second largest in the Tuscan city after the monumental cathedral, was closed due to a partial roof collapse that compromised the safety of the holy place. Then, in the last months of 2023, the Superi...
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The church of Santa Maria in Castello in Tarquinia, the Romanesque that never stopped

"Lt. Mario d'Orazio, on Sept. 13, 1935 - XIII E.F. with a happy group visited, contemplated, and invoked mercy this now no longer sacred place." The inscription is inscribed on the marble of the ambo of Santa Maria in Castello, once covered with vari...
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Defending the faith and protecting the Mediterranean: history of the Knights of St. Stephen

On March 15, 1562, theOrder of the Knights of St. Stephen was officially born: on that day, Archbishop Giorgio Cornaro, nuncio to Tuscany on behalf of Pope Pius IV, dressed Cosimo I dei Medici, then duke of Florence and Siena, in the robes of Grand M...
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Jacopo della Quercia's Madonna in Anghiari: a sculpture...versatile.

A marvelous Renaissance wooden sculpture has been enriching the state heritage since 1977: it is the Madonna and Child by Jacopo della Quercia (Siena, c. 1374 - 1438), purchased that year by the Superintendency of Arezzo and now the most important wo...
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The Prison of the Mind. Mona Hatoum's art at the Bruges Triennial.

Theswing has always been among the freest and happiest games a child knows: it is a safe, public and impersonal nonplace where one pretends to fly while the air dishevels one's hair with irreverence and escape, dreams, seem to be a few inches closer ...
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The Botanical Garden of Pisa, one of the first university botanical gardens in the world

In the center of Pisa, just a few meters from the famous Tower and along Via Santa Maria, a monumental road axis dotted with ancient churches, medieval tower-houses and aristocratic palaces built between the 16th and 18th centuries, hidden from the e...
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