cities and trips – Page 2

Vinci, Leonardo and Italian excellence

Let’s go to Vinci for a trip, it’s winter, it’s cold, but when the sun shines the need to go somewhere green becomes a must: Vinci is the winner city of this daytrip, a small town located on the Montalbano hills – and we’re obviously talking about the birthplace of Leonardo ‘da Vinci’. Vinci landscapes and Leonardo will be the protagonists of the following pics:

The Vitruvian man - Vinci view — The Vitruvian man – Vinci view

here you can visit a sort of dislocated museum, in the sense that there are several units which are part of the ‘Museum of Leonardo’ in the city of Vinci.

The first visit to do is the Castle of the Guidi Counts in the city center: here you can have a taste of the exhibitions:

rotable crane - first model used to build the Florence' s Dom — rotable crane – first model used to build the Florence’ s Dome

here you are the wooden series: instrumental tools and shapes, a tank model, Leonardo’s wheels studies applied to a bicycle

Mechanical wing model by Leonardo da Vinci

Wooden structure representing the tool and crane used to build the top of the Dome of Florence

Shades and lights reflecting the Vitruvian Man

Then the series of work of arts dedicated to the painting and the study of perspective:

Reflection and perspective with Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

The study of wheels - wooden machines by Leonardo — The study of wheels – wooden machines by Leonardo

Here is the Leonardo’s painting in which he was able to introduce the power of linear perspective to go towards naturalism in painting. You can see the deepth of the landscape and natural pose of the characters by looking at it moving to the right, from Mary’s point of view: if you do so, you can enjoy the very point of view and right perspective:

Leonardo's Annunciation — Leonardo’s Annunciation

Trip to Anchiano, birthplace of Leonardo

Books and videos about Leonardo history by Archivio Luce

#NoteOfTheDay by Rag’n’Bone Human

F-lights; Projections and videomapping at Ponte Vecchio, rembering the disastrous flood in Florence

It happened by chance to be near Ponte Vecchio some days ago: it happened by chance to enjoy the projections dedicated to the Florence’s flood of 60s and stare at those symbols who were introducing the level of the Arno river during that disaster…

Ruler projections to mesure the flood' level

Arno's level at Santa Croce during the flood

Some of the projections were part of the popular Locchi’s archive (an old and professional photographer of Florence):

Here you are the last videomapping images:

Florence flood projections at Ponte Vecchio

Milestone: 1565: the Vasarian Corridor was built..

Milestone – 1593: Ferdinando I ordered to all the goldsmiths of the city to move on the bridge:

#OneNoteADay ‘Rivers of Babylon‘ by Boney M. 🌊

Colors attack with 3d anaglyphic glasses: virtual reality and mail art by Prof. Bad Trip

Firstly said, colors and lines are going to be the protagonists since they are the special guests of the paintings we’re going to see. They drew my attention since some years ago, when I firstly heard about Professor Bad Trip by looking at some cover books by an Italian write – Niccolò Ammaniti – and still are the very core of his saucerful work of arts I was lucky to see:

Prof. Bad Trip, lesson n.2 exhibit in Rome

The paintings and multiple installations tell the story of his life: you can see his capability to experiment with several supports and materials, as well as using combination of colors which livens up his works and make them even more psychedelic than they could be: Indian ink drawings, comics, illustrations and collages, they always present the same icons as eyes, skulls, semi-human robots, hallucinogenic views, rich and popular people, mutant organisms, meteors and alien creatures…

Bad Eye by Prof. Bad Trip — Prof. Bad Trip

The entrance of Palazzo Velli Expo:

Then, his experimental works with several types of support as screen prints, sculptures, ink on paper and drawings:

Robot II by Prof Bad Trip — Robota II by Prof Bad Trip

Then the series dedicated to #flowerpower 🌺🌻🌸..where the colour contrasts empower the illustrations and pictorial works:

Gianluca Lerici – the actual name of Prof. Bad Trip – was – and still is – also one of the representative of Mail art, that kind of art communication which was popular in the early 60s when the ‘mail’ channel was considered a prominent way to promote arts and social values to spread one own’s work of art by challenging the regular channels – that is to say, the art the was able to propagate despite the fact that an artist was able to find a good gallery or available spaces to exhibit their arts:

The state of Chaos by Prof. Bad Trip — collage by Prof. Bad Trip

Series of works of art by Prof. Bad Trip

A commemorative stamp for Prof. Bad Trip

Triptych - first painting — Triptych – first painting

Triptych - second painting — Triptych – second painting

Triptych - third painting — Triptych – third painting

‘Trittico Space‘ – These are one of his most important work: the triptych, the bas space, which ends the exhibit. You can choose to stare at it or live it thanks to the virtual reality app that has been developed in order to engage the audience and let them fell free to swim in it, surf it, catch all the meteors or just enjoy the trip offered by the Professor..

If you want to enjoy more of his works, Teké Gallery did a complete study and tries to introduce Prof. Bad Trip as his actual nature of avant-garde punk artist. Here you can find a digital catalogue, you can leaf through the pages of this book…

#NoteOfTheDay Basic Instinct by The Acid

Ducati firstly produced radio tools, then motor and motorbikes

Do you know that the most popular brand of Italian motorbikes Ducati was firstly a Radio Company?! 😳

Its name was Società Radio Brevetti Ducati, based in Bologna (which is not Borgo Panigale, but in the very heart of the city) and founded by the 3 Ducati brothers. One of them, infact, was a physicist and he firstly discovered how to connect an Italian radio station with an American one: thanks to a condenser that improved the radio transmissions, Ducati business was boosted all over the world, and they became one of the leader company for radio tools and freequencies.

Radio Brevetti Ducati, 20s' Bologna — Radio Brevetti Ducati, 20s’ Bologna

Then our history told us about the Second World War, and in that period, Ducati was asked to produce useful products for the Army: in that moment it started to develop specific bikes, or better, motorbikes as Cucciolo, the very first one:

Regina d'Africa motorbike for Dakar, Museo Ducati, Borgo Panigale — Regina d’Africa motorbike for Dakar, Museo Ducati, Borgo Panigale

Scrambler, the adventurer motorbike by Ducati

The visit to the museum ended up after a tour of the industry where you can have a look to the production lines and process but it was absolutely forbidden to take pics 🙄

To finish, here you are some pics of the surrounding buildings

Ducati at Borgo Panigale, the surrounding

Renaissance, Medici and Bargello: the #Florencetoenjoy

Are you wondering where to go if you’re in relax, in Florence, in a sunny day, reading that museums are free because it’s the last Sunday of the month?

…This is the solution number 1

Here you are a sort of Bargello-pictures-show with some details about its artists and scultures. Take it as a sort of tour, for those who still not have the chance to go.

Entrance/view from the top:

Then there is the Majolicas and pottery room:

Ceramics and majolicas pottery room in Bargello

Here you are the beauty accessories: the oldest bags made of pottery, ivory mirrors, jewels, chess and unbelievable staff and ornaments 😵

Ivory works of art used to cover a little mirror

Then you arrive in the Islamic room with its completely covered walls, dark atmosphere and detailed ornaments:

…and the last biggest, brilliant and crowded room is the main central one with both the David statues:

Main room at Bargello, with Davids — Main room at Bargello, with ‘Davids’

Marble David by Donatello, Bargello, Florence

and the heraldic lion which is located in the middle of the room, Marzocco:

Marzocco by Donatello，the heraldic lion of Florence

After some hours, you can also enjoy the solution number 2…

Medici chapels

Here you are the Chapel of Princes where the Medici are buried:

The Chapel of Princes, dome designed by Buontalenti

#NoteOfTheDay ‘Renaissance‘ by Paolo Buonvino & Skin

Long gone day, the song says

Long gone day.. is the title of a great song that came to my mind after I decided to have a long long walk. This walk had to be in a naturalistic place, with not many people, towards the top of the city – which basically is a place for tourists, but luckily, they’re not so mad like me to choose the warmest hours of the day. I generally love to explore these areas with long random walking moments which last almost 2 hours, maybe more…

And I generally take at least 1 picture a step 🙌 – these were the last 10 steps, the hardest ones:

Florence from the top - San Miniato — Florence from the top – San Miniato

Go walking, sightseeing and relaxing while listening to your favourite music thanks to the playlist you’ve just created exactly to enjoy your walk-state-of-mind. Well, you can also think about your life, but I suggest not to do it too much 😜💁

#NoteOfTheDay Long gone day by Mad Season

Magna Greece, arts and projections of a show in Basilicata

Magna Grecia, Senise — Magna Greece, Senise

Among the variety of things you can choose to spend it’s a good choice to spend some hours doing something you always think could be a little boring: I’m talking about spending some hours at the theatre, instead of the ordinary daily routine. It has been a mix of historical narrative about Magna Greece myths totally surrounded by a modern scenery full of projections, lights, colours and fountains.

I’m talking about a theatrical pièce which takes place in a new amphitheater built in Senise, a little town of Basilicata, in the South of Italy. It’s the first epic about Greek domination in this territory that then became Magna Greece:

Magna Grecia - myths of the origins — Magna Greece – myths of the origins

Claudio Santamaria, main actor - Magna Grecia - myths of the origins — Claudio Santamaria, main actor – Magna Greece – myths of the origins, together with Giancarlo Giannini, one of the most popular Italian actor

…the story is told towards the extraordinary special effects of water and projections, and it’s about Alexios, the protagonist, who wants to travel the world and this journey will make him widen Magna Greece kingdom:

#NoteOfTheDay Inception soundtrack: Projections

Say Hanbok – the traditional Korean dress

Korean festival in Florence – Hanbok, the traditional Korean dress

Korean mood has always been so cute and interesting, maybe because of their hilarious way of being, colorful dresses, colorful faces, colorful dishes, smiles and quiteness. It happened some days ago, while walking down the street, that two super colorful Korean girls were inviting people to enjoy their festival… and so it was.

Here we go, let’s have a taste of their culture. The first thing to do was to choose a Korean name – kkoch was mine, which means flower – and then enjoy a tour in their arts, discovering their writing style, paintings and origamis. Needless to say, the hanboks were the top, the traditional Korean clothing often made by silk and original fantasy, flowers, flags or abstracts design.

Korean writing and arts at Korean Festival in Florence

arts at Korean Festival in Florence – Korean flagship

Korean guys - paintful life — Say kkoch! Flower in Korean – paintful life

It’s a lovely and funny people, hope to know more about them 🍥🍙🍡

#NoteOfTheDay by R.E.M. Shiny happy people

Rare red rampant roofs of Florence

Exclusive chances that sometimes happen. A long unforgettable moment that you would love to live for much longer, but it lasts enough to take loads of pictures and remember it forever…

Here you are the details of the panorama:

1 – On the red roofs of Florence: a drone is in the air!

Florence Dome at sunset — 1 – On the red roofs of Florence: a drone is in the air!

Florence view: towards the Dome from the drone

#NoteOfTheDay Viva la vida by Coldplay

Monalisa and Berta, 2 women stuck in Florence

It was a funny discovery, it happened some days ago while I was searching for something to do in Florence – hopefully for free

So I ended up reading a city blog and, 5 minutes after, I was walking towards Palazzo Pitti, here you are what I found out:

It’s in Via Sguazza, the street were Lisa Gherardini – better known as Monalisa, La Gioconda, the wonderful lover of Leonardo Da Vinci was born. And she’s still there in her house waiting for being admired by the people of the world.

Just in front of her there’s a new version of Monalisa, a contemporary picture created by Blub, a street artist in Florence whose paintings and creations are always totally submerged in the water:

Monalisa street art version by Blub #Lartesanuotare

After taking some pictures, I head ed towards the second lady of Florence, the less popular one, but it is worth it to tell her story too.

I’m talking about ‘La Berta‘ whose legend tells she was stuck in the wall by magic while she was screaming at a sentenced magician to not give any water to help him. While it was happening, the magician replied that she won’t be able anymore to move her head from that wall of the tower, and there she is:

La Berta, via Cerretani, Santa Maria Maggiore - Florence — La Berta, via Cerretani, Santa Maria Maggiore – Florence

You just have to look towards the highest part of the wall of Santa Maria Maggiore to see her stuck in between of the two highest windows:

If you fancy walking up and down the city, enjoy its uniqueness and discover these little pieces of ancient arts.

#NoteOfTheDay ‘Piece of my heart‘ by Janis Joplin