Sicily remains as confounding and amazing as I found it during my first visit fifteen years ago. Each annual return brings surprises and experiences beyond imagination — none so more so than the discovery of a painting by a Dutch artist, Vrancke van der Stockt in, of all places, the Basilica of San Giorgio, the [...]
With a birthplace like Milan and a lifespan converging with Leonardo da Vinci, it seems unlikely the two artists did not meet; however, Bramantino’s shows no influence by the well-known Leonardo. Numerous art historians dispute Bartolomelo Suardi’s family background and early years due to lack of verifiable documentation and substantial evidence to provide a reasonably [...]
He was born in the small Tuscan village of Borgo San Sepolcro, Town of the Tomb. Tomb? Upon their return from the Holy Land, two monks, Arcanus and Giles, placed a stone they pilfered from the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, giving rise to both a monastery and the town’s name. Piero’s early training focused on [...]
His contemporaries called him Fra Giovanni; after his death, angels joined his name. Guido di Pietro was born in a small village in the Mugello area of Tuscany. As an adult, he joined a confraternity associated with the Carmine order where assumed the name of Fra Giovanni, Brother John. He lived a devout an inconspicuous [...]
As the first born child of Jacopo Robusti, one of the late Renaissance’s most prolific and unpredictable artists, Marietta Robusti was destined to learn from her immensely talented father. Jacopo was called Il Furioso, and equally Tintoretto (his father was a fabric dyer, “tintore”); thus she became known as La Tintoretta, a diminutive of her [...]
An accomplished culinary teacher and writer, Pat Gambarelli s private Italian cooking classes became an instant hit with women who wanted to learn both classic cooking techniques and modern preparations. Before long, bachelors living on their own, young executives, and men from all walks of life and professions attended the classes. Pasta for Men Only [...]
It was in 1950 that then director of NBC’s opera programming, Peter Herman Adler, commissioned composer Gian-Carlo Menotti (1911 – 2007)to compose the first ever opera for the American television audience. This was no easy task and it is one of the many credits due to the exceptional talent of Menotti that he made the […] [...]
Marina Calamai Logo On a recent visit to Florence, I had a the good fortune to meet and spend some time with Marina Calamai, an artist in the truest sense of the Renaissance artist. She is a creator, a dreamer, someone who places follows her inspiration in numerous directions, always creating art in as many [...]
Many years ago, as a kid living in Italy, I remember seeing copies of Holiday magazine on my parent's coffee table. The colorful covers enticed me to enjoy the photos and dream. It was those magazines, the evocation of exotic places to visit, that started this never satisfied yearning and desire to travel; to feel [...]
