In Mantua, looking for Romeo.

We are going to give a special tour for a group from the “Bryn Mawr Alumnae Association”. This visit will be a part of an extensive tour provided by International Seminar Design INC, focusing on Shakespeare’s Italy. The group will be led by Katherine Rowe, (Ph.D., Harvard), Professor of English, Director of the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center and Director of Digital Research and Teaching. As the tour program says, Renaissance Italy looms in the imagination of Shakespeare and his contemporaries: nearly a third of Shakespeare’s plays and poems mention specific sites and events in the country, or adapt Italian sources and literary models. During the past, Italy offered to English writers a cultural model to admire, imitate, and seek to surpass. Modern Italy has returned the passion, making fictional Shakespearean settings into real pilgrimage sites. 

Mantua has been chosen as a step of this tour for three main circumstances:

• Mantua and the Forest of Mantua are specified settings in two Shakespeare plays: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Act IV, scene 1 and Act V, scene 3), and Romeo and Juliet (Act V, scene 1).
• Giulio Romano, the architect and painter who designed, built and decorated Palazzo Te, has the distinction of being the only modern artist mentioned by Shakespeare: the Bard called him “that rare Italian Master” (The Winter’s Tale, V.2.96-8).
• Mantua has been used as a splendid movie set for the upcoming film adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The tragedy has been adapted by the Oscar-winning director and writer Julian Fellowes, and the movie, directed by Carlo Carlei, is going to be a traditional version similar to Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of the tragedy. The cast includes hot stars-in-the-making such as Douglas Booth (Romeo), Hailee Steinfeld (Juliet) and Ed Westwick (Tybalt).The movie is going to be on the screens on the day of St. Valentine (14th February 2013).

Music at the Ducal Palace, to save the Ducal Palace.

This weekend – 29th and 30th September, we celebrate the "European Heritage Days".

On this occasion the Mantua Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Carlo Fabiano, is going to offer some concerts to the Ducal Palace, affected by the recent earthquakes. The Orchestra is going to perform music by Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Debussy and Verdi, in some of the most enchanting rooms of the Palace.

The admission for the Palace, and for the concerts as well, will be free of charge.

Although the concerts are free, we’d love to emphasize the difference between "offered by the artists" and "no paid" ... these events are organized to help the restorations, so: Be generous!

The "Society for the Ducal Palace in Mantua" will collect via web (also using PayPal) any donation in favor of the restoration needed to reopen the Castle of San Giorgio, the Bridal Chamber by Mantegna and the New Court. Thanks for any help that you give the support of the restoration of the Ducal Palace in Mantua.

Earthquake: partial reopening of the Ducal Palace

A third of the Ducal Palace – the part who has been affected by minor damages during the earthquake – is now reopened.

The visitor’s route includes:

The Duchesses' Staircase; Domenico Morone's "Battle between the Gonzagas and the Bonacolsis"; The medieval Captain’s Palace; Pisanello's Arthurian frescoes; The New Gallery; The Room of the Archers (with Rubens' "The Gonzaga family adoring the Holy Trinity"); Gallery of the Mirrors (ballroom); Vincenzo Gonzaga's apartment;  the Hall of the Rivers facing Hanging Garden; Tapestries by Raphael; Neoclassical Apartment “Of the Empress”; the private Rooms of Isabella d’Este.

The most valuable part of the Palace is still closed , awaiting for restoration (and funds).

The closed areas are:

The Castle of St. George; the Bridal Chamber ("Camera Picta" aka "Camera degli Sposi") frescoed by Mantegna; The Room of Manto; The New Court; The Room of the Horses; the Room of the Heads; the Room of Troy by Giulio Romano; The Gallery of the Marbles, The Gallery of the Exhibition facing the Cortile della Cavallerizza (Horses Courtyard), the Apartment of the Metamorphosis facing the Botanic Garden.

The Zodiac Room and the Chamber of the Popes (in the Old Court) are occupied by scaffolds: you can pass through them, but you won’t be able to see the frescoes.

 

The restoration is going to take a long time – maybe years. And mostly, the Ducal Palace needs and deserves help in the fundraising.
If you wish to give this help, please feel free to donate.
All donations will be collected by the “Società per il Palazzo Ducale” as a contribution for the restoration and the recovery of the artistic heritage damaged by the earthquakes.
You can donate – also using PayPal – through the website of the Society.

The Society will assure the correct use of the funds, which will be spent under the control of the Direction of the Ducal Palace.

Thank you for every kind of your help you will provide with, saving the Ducal Palace of Mantua.

 

Festivaletteratura: the main cultural festival in Mantua

Festivaletteratura is a literary fair, held in Mantua, Italy, since 1997. It is the main cultural festival of the city: five days of small-sized lectures by authors from all over the world. The lectures - about two hundred events - are usually hosted in historical venues like palaces, cloisters and squares. The event is run mostly by volunteers, numbering around 700 in total.

The low-profile style has in time attracted many big names of literature, along with Nobel Prize winners.

One of the most important guest of this edition will be Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum. He is going to give a speech on Sept 8^th, at the Bibiena Theatre (event n.139).

Discover more: http://www.festivaletteratura.it/index.php.

The attendance to the events roughly matches the population of the city, so it would be better to book tickets and accommodation in advance.

SAVE THE DUCAL PALACE

On May 20th and May 29th 2012 two strong earthquakes shook Mantua. The Ducal Palace had some severe damage: many cracks in walls, ceilings and floors. Frescoes, stuccoes, painted plasters and some sculptures have been affected.
The Palace – which is the home of great masterpieces such as frescoes by Mantegna, Pisanello, Giulio Romano, paintings by Rubens and tapestries by Raphael – is now almost completely closed, waiting for restoration.
The Ducal Palace needs and deserves help.
If you wish to give this help, please feel free to donate.
VisitMantua will not earn any money involved in this fundraising, we simply want to represent a further vehicle to encourage people to donate. All donations will be collected by the “Società per il Palazzo Ducale” as a contribution for the restoration and the recovery of the artistic heritage damaged by the earthquakes.
The Society will assure the correct use of the funds, which will be spent under the control of the Direction of the Ducal Palace.
The names of all the Donors will be included in the “Gold Book” of the Society.
Thank you for your help in saving the Ducal Palace of Mantua.

 

 

 

A third of the Ducal Palace is now reopened: discover more reading this post.

Saving Santa Barbara

On May 29th 2012, after a strong earthquake, the lantern of the bell-tower of the St. Barbara’s Church collapsed down. In a month time, a special crew of firemen saved the dome of the bell-tower, making it safe. It has been an extraordinary work of engineering. At a height of 56 meters (156 feet).

The church of Santa Barbara, which had the role of Palace chapel ("Basilica Palatina") for the Gonzagas, was built in 1562-1572 by Giovanni Battista Bertani, commissioned by Duke Guglielmo.

It has been dedicated to Saint Barbara, in memory of Barbara of Brandenburg (i.e. the Marchioness of Mantua, portrayed by Mantegna in the “Bridal Chamber”), the great-great grandmother of Duke Guglielmo.

Saint Barbara is also the patron saint of firemen. For this reason we want to publish some pictures regarding  the great job the firemen did to save the dome of the bell-tower Church. 

The Ducal Palace is still quite completely closed. The restoration works have already started, but they will take a long time. And they require money. The portrait of the Marchioness Barbara, frescoed by Mantegna along with the other members of her family, awaits – and deserves – help.

VisitMantua is now working with a great friend of us, La Mode Diplomatique, to plan some actions in  supporting the fundraising and the restorations. 

Follow us to be updated on this topic: Mantegna and the Ducal Palace need your help!   

A third of the Ducal Palace is now reopened: discover more reading this post.

Mantegna’s frescoes have been creaked by an earthquake. 

Let the world know:

Send Tweet #perMantegna, and share the SOS

After-earthquakes re-openings in Mantua

Palazzo Te is now pretty completely open. The only room still closed is the “Room of the Sun and the Moon”.

The Ducal Palace, where the restorers are now working, will be closed for an indefinite period of time. Anyway some spaces of the Palace have been reopened on June 16th:

• The Private Rooms of Isabella d’Este (“Scalcheria”, “Studiolo”, “Grotta” and “Secret Garden”) – entrance from Piazza Sordello.
• The Botanic Garden (“Giardino dei Semplici”) and the “Rustica” (“Chamber of the Fishes”, “Cabinet of Orpheus”, “Chamber of Jupiter”, “Chamber of the Four Pillars”, “Chamber of Bacchus”, “Chamber of the Fruits” and the “Chamber of the two Columns”, with an exhibition of Ancient Greeks Marbles within  ) – entrance from Piazza Paccagnini.

A third of the Ducal Palace is now reopened: discover more reading this post.