Lights, camera, art!

We talk to David Bickerstaff, filmmaker for Exhibition on Screen about the genius of Michelangelo and the challenges of telling his life story on film. The mission of Exhibition on Screen is to bring exhibition-based art to our cinema screens, working with notable galleries and museums like the National Gallery, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh […]

The Brownings: poets abroad in Florence

Joe Gartman pays a visit to the home of the Brownings and reminds us of their path to love and fame…  The courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning may be the most thoroughly documented in history, because it was conducted almost entirely by letter. And Robert was certainly a very impetuous wooer; in his very […]

48 hours in: Catania

The Sicilian city of Catania had always been unknown to Lorenza Bacino, so when the opportunity arose to visit with a local, she jumped at the chance… With open hearts, Sicilian journalist Francesca Marchese’s family welcomed me into their home in the Catania hinterland and I felt like a prodigal daughter returning after a long […]

The Laocoön group

This statue in the Vatican‘s Pio Clementino Museum may be the most influential of them all… Michelangelo admired it, as did Donatello before him, and Pliny the Elder long before them; this latter attributed it to three sculptors from Rhodes, but we don’t know who commissioned it, nor when it was sculpted, nor whether there […]

Gazetta Italia: a tale of two sports

Italian football legend Paolo Maldini recently joined an exclusive group of athletes who have competed in more than one sport. Tom Alberto Bull reflects on these multidisciplinary heroes… Una storia di due sport Essendo cresciuto con una madre italiana e un padre fanatico di calcio, era inevitabile che avrei seguito la squadra azzurra sin da […]

Insider’s Rome: The Colosseum

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you won’t see it all in a lifetime, but our new series will guide you through what you mustn’t miss… Perhaps the most iconic of all the tourist destinations in Rome, the Colosseum looms large at the heart of what was once the city centre. There will be […]

Michelangelo’s nephew

On the trail of Lionardo Buonarroti, and the family palace he renovated in Florence. Lionardo, I have received thy letter and with it the three shirts. I am very much surprised that ye should have sent them … they are so coarse that there is not a farm labourer here who would not be ashamed […]

A family trip to Cefalù

Spring is an ideal time for visiting Sicily. The town of Cefalù on the northern coast is particularly charming before the temperature soars and the hoards descend. Lorenza Bacino and her family enjoyed the April sunshine exploring this delightful town and the nearby Madonie Regional Park. A few hardy northern European visitors braved the calm, […]

Gazetta Italia: Winds of change

An Italian court has ruled that some managerial appointments involving foreign directors should never have occurred. Tom Alberto Bull on the new controversy facing Italian museums… Venti di cambiamento Nonostante il fatto che i musei italiani possiedano alcuni reperti tra i più preziosi del mondo, spesso non sono all’altezza delle aspettative a causa della cattiva […]

Santa Teresa Gallura

We take a look at the beautiful home of Gallura Buskers Festival, the International Festival of Street Artists and Contemporary Circus which featured amazing entertainment and fantasy in the magical nights of Santa Teresa Gallura. The 5th edition of the Gallura Buskers Festival was held from 17th to 23rd July and was a long anticipated event of […]