The handover marked the latest case of U.S. authorities helping Italy and other countries reclaim what they see as cultural patrimony.

"For decades, two significant pieces of Italian heritage have been on the run," FBI Assistant Director Diego Rodriguez said as he and Manhattan Deputy U.S. Attorney Richard Zabel gave the artworks to Warrant Officer Angelo Ragusa of the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale, an art-crimes police force.

The painting, called "The Holy Trinity Appearing to Saint Clement," is attributed to the renowned artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also called Giambattista Tiepolo. It was taken from a house in Turin in 1982, prosecutors said.

The Etruscan bronze statuette of the Greek mythological hero Herakles - also known as Heracles or, to the Romans, Hercules - dates to the sixth or fifth century B.C. It vanished from the Oliveriano Archaeological Museum in Pesaro in 1964.

The works eventually ended up with an art dealer and an art-investment firm, which consigned them for sale in recent years. They relinquished the items after learning of the thefts and aren't accused of involvement.

Italy has campaigned in the last decade to get back cultural items including ancient Roman, Greek and Etruscan artifacts the government says were looted or stolen.

New York prosecutors have been involved in the effort before. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan announced in 2011 that a Renaissance painting and a Roman sculpture from about the first century were being returned to Italy after popping up at New York auction houses.

And the Manhattan district attorney's office prosecuted a prominent coin collector who pleaded guilty in 2012 to trying to sell what he believed were ancient coins found in Italy after 1909, when it became illegal to remove antiquities from the country. Some of the coins proved to be forgeries, but five authentic coins from his collection were returned to the Greek government this summer.

Other countries also have taken action in recent years to reclaim antiquities, sometimes with help from U.S. authorities. In one example, fossilized remains of more than 18 dinosaurs were turned over to Mongolia's government last year after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents discovered that mislabeled dinosaur bones were illegally being shipped into the U.S.

Author: Jennifer Peliz | Source: Associated Press [February 28, 2015]

Police estimated the value of the 5,361 vases, kraters, bronze statues and frescoes at about 50 million euros ($58 million). The works, from the 8th century B.C. to the 3rd century, were laid out Wednesday at the National Roman Museum and may go on public display.

Carabineri Gen. Mariano Mossa says it was "by a long shot the biggest recovery in history in terms of the quantity and quality of archaeological treasures."

They were found during an investigation into Basel-based art dealer Gianfranco Becchina, accused by prosecutors of being part of a huge trafficking network.

Source: Associated Press [January 21, 2015]

In the biggest shake-up of arts and culture of modern times, Matteo Renzi, the Prime Minister, has announced that the Government is to run advertisements in the Economist on January 9 to recruit new administrators "because we want to have the best directors in the world".

The leadership changes are part of a dramatic shake-up of the arts spearheaded by Dario Franceschini, the Culture Minister, in an attempt to make the country's galleries, museums and historic sites more profit-driven. Italy boasts nearly 3000 cultural sites that attract 77 million visitors a year.

The Colosseum alone draws 5.5 million of those.

Among the other "super museums" Franceschini wants to develop are the Borghese Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Under a government decree, Franceschini hopes to generate earnings of more than 2 billion ($3.16 billion) in 2017, with further growth in the years to come. Italy's museums, galleries and archeological sites generated only 380 million in revenue in 2013, according to La Repubblica newspaper, and cost 350 million to operate.

The minister's office declined to comment on the new plans. But, according to La Repubblica, Franceschini wants to model Italian museums on the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and add more restaurants, gift shops, guides and accessories that will attract more visitors and ultimately more profits.

He also wants to create 18 new regional offices with responsibility for the country's biggest artistic sites and grant more power to individual directors who run them. Italian media also said he was expected to appoint 12 new directors-general within his ministry who would manage specific sectors such as tourism, cinema and live theatre.

Franceschini has openly favoured other measures to increase tourism by "adding value" to the country's heritage and strongly supports corporate sponsorship.

He recently backed a move to bring live cultural events and concerts to ancient monuments such as the Colosseum because he said they needed to be "brought alive" for visitors from around the world.

In June, he launched a $50 million appeal to preserve the vast Domus Aurea palace built by Emperor Nero beside the Colosseum.

The Domus Aurea, loosely translated as the Golden House, is a sprawling complex of interconnecting dining halls, frescoed reception rooms and vaulted hallways on the hill opposite the ancient amphitheatre.

"The state has very limited resources unfortunately," said Franceschini at the time.

"This is an opportunity for a big company to sponsor an extraordinary project, which will capture the world's attention. It would be scandalous if no one comes forward."

Source: The New Zealand Herald [December 26, 2014]

Jan Morris' Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere

is a travelog of the city Trieste. Trieste is a place for those who are exiled and Morris is fascinated by the "nowhereness" of the place. It has had many famous inhabitants, including James Joyce, Sigmund Freud, and Richard Burton. It is on the far northeast side of Italy, and as Morris points out, very few people in Italy actually know Trieste is there. The travelog weaves between Morris' own experience and Trieste and the ancient history of the city, as well as stories from the famous people who have lived there.

I was set up to dislike Trieste for two reasons, the first is that I hate Italy, the second is that I hate travel writing that moves away from the narrator's experience. I didn't hate Trieste, but I wouldn't say it is my favorite book I have read. Some parts are beautiful. Morris has been to Trieste several times and has a keen eye for small parts of life. She is also willing to admit she messed up when she judges something wrong, while some authors wouldn't include it she does and I admire her for that. What I didn't like about this book is that on page it will be present day and the next page it will be 1382. Perhaps I wasn't reading carefully enough, but I really struggled with the movement back and forth.

It's a quick read if you're interested in Italy or travel writing in general. It is the first travelog I have read that talked more about how everything is different within the city rather than how everything is different from where they came from. Demographically, Trieste is very unique because it is so close to Slovenia. The population is made up of Italians, Croations, Slovenes, Romanians, and people that have fled their country. It truly does have a fascinating history so read the book if you can keep up with the constant changes in time.

Pub. Date: August 2002
Publisher: Da Capo
Format: Paperback, 212pp

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The Italian agreement

VIA «Google Books will scan the Italian libraries»

The wall in the Garden of Severus suffered a partial collapse after days of rainfall in southern Italy, Pompeii’s superintendency said on Wednesday.

The area was sealed off to visitors at the time and the discovery was made by staff at the ancient site.

The Garden of Severus is already part of the Great Pompeii Project, a multi-million euro fund from the EU and Italian government to protect the area.

An agreement is also being set up with the fire service to intervene in inaccessible parts of Pompeii which are at risk, the superintendency said.

The incident at the Garden of Severus is just the latest in a series of collapses at Pompeii, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79AD.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini last March promised to unblock €2 million in restoration funds, after the Temple of Venus and Pompeii walls were damaged by rainfall.

Despite the site winning funding to the tune of €105 million, the Italian authorities have been criticized for being woefully slow in implementing restoration plans.

UNESCO has also weighed into the debate, threatening in 2013 to scrap Pompeii from its prestigious World Heritage list if measures were not taken to save the ancient site.

Source: The Local [February 05, 2015]

The castles are the Tavolese manor near Florence and Sapia castle near Siena. From northern to southern Italy, dozens of private castles are on the market, according to a statement by Lionard Luxury Estate.

Prices range from 1,200 to 8,500 euros per square meter for mansions of great charm and prestige, perfectly maintained, some of which have already been fitted as hotels or farms.

''On our website alone we have 37 castles on sale, but there are over 70 across Italy in the portfolio'', said the CEO of Lionard Luxury Real Estate, Dimitri Corti.

High maintenance costs and growing fiscal pressure on real estate have convinced many owners, in many cases for many generations, to consider selling to foreign buyers, at the moment the only ones interested in investing in this type of property.

The most advantageous properties are currently located in Piedmont: one of the most stunning castles in Monferrato, located in a park with secular trees, a manor of 5,962 square metres in perfect condition, with a 16th century guesthouse, is on sale for 7 million euros, just over 1,000 euro per square meter. Similar occasions can be found in Umbria, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Liguria and Tuscany, one of the most sought after for this type of property.

It is the case of the 19th century Castello di Acquabella, in the splendid natural reserve of Vallombrosa, near the abbey by the same name, which has been perfectly renovated, for a total of 5,000 square meters inside.

On the coast between Livorno and Castiglioncello, a castle dating back to the beginning of the 1900s with splendid sea views is on sale - 700 square metres on four floors with two towers. The park includes palm trees, secular pines and exotic plants.

The castle of Sapia - from the name of Sapia Salviati - near Monteriggioni, just 7 km from Siena, is also on sale. Set in a splendid landscape, the hotel needs a full renovation and is on sale for 2.5 million euros.

More expensive are stunning castles in the Chianti countryside near Siena and Florence, like the imposing Castello di Tavolese, which belonged to the house of Farinata degli Uberti, the family of Petrarca's mother: 7,676 covered square meters and 67 hectares of park, which includes buildings such as a church and farms.

Source: ANSAmed [December 15, 2014]

The Parthenon Marbles, a group of sculptures, statues, inscriptions and architectural elements depicting scenes from Greek mythology, were once part of the Parthenon. Built in 5th century BC to honor Athena, the temple has become one of the most recognized symbols of Western Civilization and is regarded as the highest architectural achievement of the Ancient Greeks.

About half of the marbles were torn from the temple between 1801 and 1802 by the Earl of Elgin while Athens was under Ottoman occupation. According to most historians, Elgin received an official decree (firman) to remove sculptures. While the document no longer exists, a translation from an Italian copy suggests that Elgin was permitted to take “some stones”—not half of the carvings on the Parthenon. Some historians argue that Elgin never actually received the requisite permission for removal, as there is no documentary evidence that the firman existed. What is known is that the removal of the objects damaged the Parthenon, even if that was not Elgin’s intention. Then in 1816, the British Parliament purchased the marbles and presented them to the British Museum.

Lord Elgin’s actions have been disputed from the start

From the start, the legality and morality of Elgin’s actions have been disputed. Lord Byron was one of the most vocal critics of Lord Elgin, referring to him as a “plunderer.” Greece gained its independence in 1832, and in 1837, the Greek Archaeology Society was founded. At its first meeting, the president called for the marbles’ return. The Greek people regard the carvings as a symbol of their culture, heritage and past. In the same vein, art historians and archaeologists argue that the sculptures are integral to the ancient temple structures still standing in Athens. There is a call for the marbles to be unified as they were intended to be viewed. On the other hand, the British Museum asserts that the objects should be seen in a larger framework, presenting Greek art in a chronological narrative. The British Museum argues that the Parthenon sculptures are “integral to the Museum’s purpose as a world museum telling the story of human cultural achievement.” And after being housed in the museum for nearly two centuries, the carvings are a significant feature of British cultural identity. But, some view the sculptures’ placement in London as a sad reminder of British imperialism—an attempt to transform London into the “New Athens” in the way that Napoleon tried to convert Paris into the “New Rome.”

The British Museum opened in 1759, a few years before the Hermitage. They are two of the first great museums of the Enlightenment, established for the public benefit, educating and exposing the masses to art. These encyclopedic museums aim to present visitors to a variety of cultures and exhibit art in a broader context, providing a sense of a shared human cultural heritage. However, is this the best context for art? Is it proper to remove a work from its original cultural setting, losing its context? While millions of people visit the British Museum each year, it is still disheartening to view the marbles in London after learning that their removal damaged one of mankind’s crowning achievements.

Moral solution is to return the marbles

The British Museum claims that the removal of the objects saved them from destruction, as they were not being protected at the time. However, times have charged; if the marbles are returned to Greece, they will be in a museum. (Interestingly, the marbles were damaged while under the custodianship of the British Museum where conservators used harsh cleaning agents on them.) Greece has built the New Acropolis Museum featuring state-of-the-art design and technology which ensures protection of its collection. What’s more, the New Acropolis Museum is a mere 300 meters from the Acropolis, allowing the marbles to be seen as intended—basking in the Greek sunlight. To fully appreciate the artistic and historical significance of the friezes, they should be viewed in their context of the Acropolis mount, a hillside covered with art venerating the gods watching over Athens.

As an attorney, my position is troubling: Greece does not have a strong legal argument for restitution. If Lord Elgin did not receive the proper permit for the marbles’ removal, then the British Museum could not have purchased legitimate title. However, there are time limitations for bringing suit. The Greek government has been aware of the removal for nearly two centuries now, and they never filed suit against Elgin or the British Museum. The statute of limitations may stop any lawsuit from moving forward. Still, while the legal answer may not support restitution, the moral solution is to return the marbles. The carvings are a symbol of the Greek people—their violent removal distanced the objects from their legitimate home.

The British Museum has undercut its own argument with its own actions

In 2013, UNESCO requested that the British government enter mediation, and the deadline for a response is in March. In the meantime, the British Museum loaned one of the statues to the Hermitage. For years, the museum argued that it would not move the Parthenon Marbles because of their delicate nature, the risk being too great. The British Museum alleged that the carvings were safest in London. That argument has been undercut by the museum’s own actions. But what is most surprising is the recipient—especially amidst rising tensions between Russia and the U.S. and Europe. Russia has a poor reputation for handling plundered art. Russian officials are uncooperative in returning Nazi-looted art to rightful owners, claiming that objects seized during World War II are reparations for lost lives. It is ironic that the Hermitage should be the first to benefit from a loan involving the most hotly contested cultural heritage objects. The museum long accused of holding on to stolen Greek art is now loaning its inventory to a country that refuses to restitute stolen art. The Greek outrage is understandable.

The British Museum has unequivocally stated that it will not return the marbles to Greece but, maybe the country has some options. Just as Italy leveraged its vast collections and archaeologically-rich resources against American museums, perhaps Greece could do the same. Over the past decade, museums across the U.S. returned looted objects to Italy after Italian officials threatened to withhold all Italian loans. The fear of losing access to Italian objects pressured museums to comply with Italy’s demands. As Greece has a rich archaeological trove, bargaining may be successful. International fervor is rising over the dig at Amapholis, an elaborate burial site in Northern Greece that may contain the remains of a relative of Alexander the Great. Prohibiting British archaeologists to access the site and barring any finds from going to British institutions may be one way to apply pressure for the return of some of the Parthenon Marbles. This type of action is necessary. The Parthenon is not just cultural heritage, but a symbol of Greece and the glory of Athens.

Author: Leila Amineddoleh | Source: Forbes [December 23, 2014]

“A sort of ‘blue helmets of culture’ are needed, as there are blue helmets that intervene to protect in situations of war,” said Dario Franceschini told the Guardian, referring to the signature uniforms of UN peacekeeping troops.

“There should be an international rapid response force to defend monuments and archaeological sites in conflict zones,” he said.

Franceschini was speaking following the partial destruction of Iraq’s Hatra, an ancient fortress city that the Roman empire repeatedly failed to conquer. Local residents on 7 March reported hearing a large explosion, as Isis militants went on a destructive rampage through the city.

Such attacks were described by Unesco as “a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq,” coming just two days after the Islamist groups bulldozed their way through the 13th-century BC city of Nimrud.

Isis militants have also decimated collections at Mosul museum, which housed artefacts dating back 3,000 years, and set about razing the ancient city walls of nearby Dur-Sharrukin.

As the extremists continue their wanton destruction of Iraq’s prized heritage, Italy’s culture minister urged the international community to wake up to a new form of warfare.

“At one time great monuments were hit accidentally in wars, during bombing. Now they’re hit precisely because they are symbols of culture, symbols of a religion,” he said. Building a force specifically to protect heritage in crisis situations could not be left to an individual state, Franceschini said, and must be initiated by the international community.

The UN security council agreed measures last month to combat the trafficking of antiquities plundered from Iraq and Syria, but safeguarding culture has yet to be written into the mandate of peacekeeping operations.

As historians mourn the loss of Iraq’s cultural heritage, fears have been raised that the same destruction could be wrought on Libya. Amid growing instability, Isis has been gaining ground in Libya, where five sites have been awarded Unesco world heritage status.

Author: Rosie Scammell | Source: The Guardian [March 20, 2015]

The singer had jetted into Paris for the event having been in Milan in Italy earlier in the day.
As she left the event the singer let loose wearing her bright red locks in cherub curls which tumbled around her shoulders and down her back.
Earlier in the day, and in a different country in Milan, she was seen sporting a fishtail plait, a look fast becoming one of her favourites, as she spent time with her friend Roberta Armani.
The singer kept things causal in a blue striped shirt and a pair of cream trousers wearing a pair of gold aviators as she met up with her pal.
All white: Rihanna was dressed in a white tiered dress with crocheted detail at the beauty brand's event and wore her hair in cherub curls around her shoulders
Rihanna had taken to the stage the day before for the skincare company and performed her current single California King Bed in another angelic white frock.
The singer is on a jetting setting tour of Europe and after spending less than 16 hour in Milan followed by a brief trip to Paris and Rihanna flew into London for a show last night.
Quick break: Earlier in the day in Italy Rihanna had managed to squeeze some time in with her friend Roberta Armani before heading to Pairs
Why thank you! As the pair parted Roberta gave the singer an Armani Prive box
But it was just a quick trip to Britain’s capital and she was back on her plane heading to Paris again this morning.
Last night she tweeted: ‘Just did a private show in London, abt to eat a steak, and get back on my plane #G5jettin’
White dress code: On Thursday Rihanna had rocked the stage at a Nivea celebration in another demure white dress
Her white and demure outfits seen in the past few days are in stark contrast to her look worn at the star-studded Met Ball on Monday night.
source: dailymail

VIA Rihanna looks picture perfect in Paris as she stops off in France

"The UNESCO inspectors' words are the rightful recognition of an effort that has been intense, scrupulous and methodical," Franceschini said of the project launched by the government in 2013 with joint Italian and European Union funding to shore up the crumbling remains of the ancient Roman town buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. The EU had earmarked a total of 105 million euros for Pompeii.

Since then, UNESCO has repeatedly expressed concern about conditions at the World Heritage site, threatening to remove it from the list if certain improvements were not made. Now in a report the UNESCO inspectors reported "tangible and significant improvements in the state of conservation" of the archaeological area.

"Italy is making a considerable effort to adopt the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee," the inspectors continued, recommending the extension of the Great Pompeii Project to the end of 2016.

Source: ANSA [March 05, 2015]

Italian bank Unicredit and the nonprofit foundation CariVerona signed a deal Wednesday with Verona's mayor to restore the Arena at a cost of 14 million euros ($17.5 million).

The project aims to secure the open-air Arena, the third-largest Roman-era amphitheater to survive antiquity, against infiltration from rain, which has damaged the seating areas, and upgrade its stairs and infrastructure like the electrical system.

The deal falls under the government's Art Bonus initiative adopted this year that gives donors a 65 percent tax credit.

With state funding to culture shrinking amid Italy's recession, Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi praised the Art Bonus program, saying that public resources "would never be sufficient to maintain treasures like ours."

The Arena is one of Verona's biggest tourist attractions and the venue for its famed summer opera festival. Some 1.5 million people enter the monument each year.

Tosi said the restoration work is expected take three years.

The mayor has another, more controversial project, in his sights: adding a roof to the 1st -century building. Tosi said he was awaiting approval from the culture ministry to solicit proposals.

Source: The Associated Press [December 19, 2014]

The restoration was funded by the Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Naples and Pompeii (SANP) and was conducted in lots so that parts of the Villa were still open to the public throughout the restoration process.

The Villa was first discovered in excavations in 1909 and was exceptionally well-preserved despite the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which covered it in a layer of over 30 feet of volcanic ash.

The recent restoration work, which involved 70 rooms of the Villa, corrected some of the damage inflicted by previous restoration techniques that were found to be harmful to the Villa's frescoes over the years.

In work done during the 1930s, wax was applied to preserve the frescoes, but ultimately faded the colors, something that was corrected using techniques to first identify the nature of the chromatic alterations and other damage over time and then perform restorations.

In addition to work done to restore the Villa's frescoes, the most famous of which is the Dionysiac frieze​ portraying the mysteries of the Cult of Dionysus from which the Villa takes its name, work was also done to clean the intricate mosaic floor decorations.

Source: ANSA [March 13, 2015]

In October, a Canadian woman made headlines around the world when she personally returned to hand back a 2,000-year old fragment she had stolen from Pompeii on her honeymoon 50 years ago.

The woman from Montreal, who is in her 70s, said the theft of the first century AD terracotta roof decoration had weighed on her conscience for decades.

Now Massimo Osanna, superintendent of the World Heritage-listed site, said that was not an isolated case and hundreds of archeological artefacts had been sent back to the museum in recent years, often with letters of apology written in different languages.

"We have been receiving hundreds of packages with hundreds of fragments now for years," Mr Osanna told the Italian daily, Il Messaggero.

"People write expressing regret, having realised they have made a terrible mistake and that they would never do it again and for this reason they are sending the stolen pieces back.

"But the most curious thing, from an anthropological point of view, are the letters that accompany the stolen fragments which reveal a cross-section of people worth studying."

Mr Osanna said that one particular fresco fragment that had been returned was crucial in the restoration of the Casa del Frutteto, or house of the orchard keeper, which collapsed in the 1980s.

He said the property was restored but after work was completed experts realised a piece of wall plaster was missing. He said it was returned to officials in March and would now be added.

Mr Osanna could not be contacted on Tuesday but said he would like to stage an exhibition to showcase the precious objects that had been returned.

Alessandro Pintucci, president of the Italian Confederation of Archeologists, welcomed the return of artefacts but warned more security was needed to protect valuable cultural sites and to prevent thefts where there were often too few controls.

Pompeii was buried by a sudden volcanic eruption of nearby Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD. The preserved remains of the town attract around 2.5 million tourists every year.

Theft is a problem at ancient sites like Pompeii and the Colosseum in Rome, with tourists regularly trying to take "souvenirs" of their visits.

Last September a pair of American tourists were caught at Fiumicino airport in Rome with a stone artefact they had taken from Pompeii.

Author: Josephine McKenna | Source: Telegraph [December 24, 2014]

When I originally made the goal to send ten postcards via Postcrossing I figured I would spread it out a little bit. Maybe send one postcard a month or something like that. Let me tell you, Postcrossing is addictive. Once you've sent one postcard you just cannot wait to send the next one, and the next one, and the next one. And since Postcrossing lets you send up to five postcards at a time you're pretty much always all maxed out.

The great thing about Postcrossing is that you send something out there into the world and then you get surprised by a postcard in the mail every once in awhile. So far I've sent ten postcards and received five, but four of my postcards are still traveling to their destinations. I've received postcards from England, Italy, Finland, Poland, and the United States. I've sent postcards even farther, to places like Taiwan and Russia.

Somehow Postcrossing is able to match you to people with like interests. On my profile I talk about liking books, music, and comics. I've had a few people with extremely similar interests to me, even a French girl studying English literature in England.

The way Postcrossing works is you send out a postcard, someone receives that postcard and registers it online, then your name gets sent into the pool for a postcard, someone randomly receives your information and sends you a postcard, which you then register and the cycle repeats.

4% complete, 972 days to go!

Have any of you used Postcrossing?

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Since I forgot about doing a What I'm Reading Monday post yesterday I figured I'd make up for it today.

Finished
Lady Audley's Secret

is a Victorian sensation novel. I posted a review yesterday which you can read here.

Still Reading
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

is a Quirk Classic edition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. I should finish it in the next couple days.

Started
Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere

by Jan Morris is a travel novel about the city of Trieste. Trieste is in Italy, but it has the cultures of many countries in it because it has kind of been passed between surrounding countries. Morris mostly discusses the "nowhereness" of the place.

A Little Princess (Unabridged Classics)

by Frances Hodgson Burnett is my first read for Shelf Discovery.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie is a mystery I'm reading for Barnes and Noble's Literature By Women Book Club.

The bronze sculpture, dated from 350 BC, once graced the halls of the Renaissance-era Palazzo Medici Riccardi in central Florence, and has been described as a masterpiece of Greek classical art.

But after it slipped from the grasp of the Medici clan it began to deteriorate as it found its way into the archaeological museum in 1881 where it is now said to be in serious need to restoration.

Researchers at Florence's National Research Council have been investigating problems of conservation and restoration related to such ancient materials as the alloys and gilding used in the bronze horse head.

The work is to be carried out inside the museum and can be viewed by the public during the museum's opening hours until March 8.

After that, it is scheduled to be included in an exhibition titled Power and Pathos at Florence's Palazzo Strozzi, along with other bronzes from the Hellenistic style.

Power and Pathos continues until June 21 before travelling to an exhibition in Los Angeles at the J. Paul Getty Museum and later in the year, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

Source: ANSA [February 19, 2015]

Copyright by Eva & Bernard
IN TOWN, LOOKING LIKE YOU’RE ON VACATION EVA&BERNARD S/S 2012
In their new Spring/Summer 2012 collection Berlin based fashion label Eva & Bernard meant to focus on the ›easy‹ side of ›Easy Tailoring‹, their coined motto; to employ a less severe approach in the design process and to choose cheerful, lighthearted colors. the styles were designed to express cool effortlessness and show generous volume. the designers have been looking at images of old rural Spanish houses and architecture, and their modern renditions in places like Santa Monica in LA. the arch shape employed in them and the beautiful pastel colors of pink, light blue and ecru attracted Eva’s and Bernard’s attention, and they wanted to translate all these moods into the new collection for S/S 2012.
Silk plays a lead role in the collection, which offers as well a great variety of fine cotton, viscose, jersey, cupro, linen, ramie and knitted cashmere. All fabrics were sourced in Switzerland and Italy, where the collection is produced. the blue color, which was missing from previous collections, is at the core of the new one, with texture and tone variations. Around the blue the designers gathered up such colors as peach, pink, orange, bronze, grey black and white. This season the brand offers leather accessories for the first time!
EVA & BERNARD

VIA Eva & Bernard Spring/Summer 2012 Women’s Collection

It's 1498 in Venice, Italy. Luciano is a homeless street beggar. He survives by pickpocketing and stealing food from street merchants. Until one day he is literally dragged from the streets by the Ferro, the top chef to the Doge. Luciano is brought into the Doge's palace as an apprentice to Ferro. He goes from begging for his meals to three hot meals a day and a warm, dry place to sleep.

Luciano witnesses a murder and immediately reports it to the Chef. The Chef doesn't seem to be very surprised. There has been discussion about a mysterious book of knowledge, a book that, among many things, reportedly has a spell for everlasting life. The doge, suffering from syphilis, becomes obsessed with finding the location of this book. The Catholic Church wants to obtain it because it's said to contain the missing books of the Bible, and if these land in the wrong hands, the Church will lose it's strength over the populace. And finally, Luciano himself is interested in the "love potion" the book purportedly contains, for he has fallen in love with Francesca, a young nun.

Luciano soon learns that book everyone is searching for is not some spell book, but one that is right under their noses.

The Book of Unholy Mischief

is a very descriptive and engaging story. It is evident that Newmark did her research, for the descriptions of Venice and of Rome are detailed and accurate. The descriptions of food are so vivid, I swear I could taste and smell the lavish meals.

Critiques of this book mentioned its similarities to The DaVinci Code. I don't believe this to be a fair comparison, for The Book of Unholy Mischief

has much more depth. The characters are more compelling and developed. It's not only a story about the hunt for a mysterious book, but also deals with the lives of the two main characters and how fate seemed to have brought them together.

Bottom line, this is a book I waited far to long to discover!

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book for me to review!

In general I'm a big fan of The Best American Series and the new one's for 2010 just came out. I bought The Best American Essays

and The Best American Travel Writing

since they are my two favorite collections. I flipped through the table of contents, skimming for essayists I know and love, and new ones I'm interested to read, when I saw that The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Essays both have an essay by David Sedaris in them. It's the same essay! Guy Walks into a Bar Car, which originally appeared in The New Yorker and can be read online. David Sedaris is known for being funny, so if you're looking for some giggles this is a great essay.

I wasn't vastly impressed by this piece but I think it's worth mentioning since it was chosen by Bill Buford and Christopher Hitchens this year. The essay is about Sedaris' trip on a train. In the bar car he meets a man who he is possibly attracted to, and he gets to talking and drinking with him. The guy is a total wreck, an alcoholic, screwed up family, and unemployed. Later in the essay he talks about a Lebanese man he met on a train some years before (he was 24), he felt an instant connection with this man, and the man invites him to come stay at his college with him, but Sedaris refuses. He later regrets this decision because, well, I think we've all been in that situation before. The essay looks at the train and travel as a kind of hopeful, romantic, new beginning, but then acknowledges that this is often not the case. And even when it is the case, we are often afraid of being truly romantic.

I love the way the essays starts: "In the golden age of American travel, the platforms of train stations were knee-deep in what looked like fog. You see it all the time in black-and-white movies, these low-lying eddies of silver. I always thought it was steams from the engines, but now I wonder if it didn't from cigarettes." This is a great set up for the rest of the essay. Sedaris gives us a well known image, beautiful, foggy, romantic train platforms that are full of mystery and elegance, but then he turns around and says something he has always though as beautiful and enticing might actually just be something gross or unimportant. And this is something I think happens a lot in travel. You dream up a place to be exactly what you want, but once you arrive it isn't anything like you expected. I experienced this when I went to Rome. I thought it would be this beautiful, romantic place, and I ended up thinking it was kind of disgusting.

He further ties this into age. He meets the Lebanese man at 24, but he meets the drunk more recently as an older man. "When you're young, it's easy to believe that such an opportunity will come again, maybe even a better one. Instead of a Lebanese guy in Italy, it might be a Nigerian one in Belgium, or maybe a Pole in Turkey. You tell yourself that if you traveled alone to Europe this summer you could surely do the same thing next year and the year after that. Of course, you don't, though, and the next thing you know you're an aging, unemployed elf, so desperate for love that you spend your evening mooning over a straight alcoholic." So in some ways life is a lot like travel. We enter with expectations, but as time goes on we realize they might not be exactly what we thought.

You can read this essay at The New Yorker, and if you do please come back to tell me what you thought of it!

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