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By Elena Minella
8 March 2017

Grotta Gigante di Sgonico

When you visit it, you can see the bigger natural room of a grotto, someone told that it can contain the entire St. Peter's Basilica!

This huge grotto (about 328 feet height, 557 lenght, 262 width) was discovered at the end of XIX age from Anton Federico Lindner.

It is magnificent not just for the room dimensions, but also for the size of its calcareous formation like Colonna Ruggero, its bigger stalagmite, 40 feet tall.

You can visit it all the year in Carso Triestino, North Italy.

By Alessandra Stefani
27 February 2017

The "Mosè di Michelangelo"

"Mosè di Michelangelo" came back to the light, and is not just a way of saying.

This fascinating sculpture of Michelangelo, situated on the tomb of Giulio II in Rome, after the refurbishment is back to shine.

The artist have done it using a particular technique, he have used lead to polish only the part of the statue that will be kissed by the sun and have made opaque the parts that need to move to the background.

With this technique the statue is like a painting, the left arm reflects the light in an mazing way.

History of the Carnival in Venice: the Bauta and Moretta, the traditional Carnival masks

"Buongiorno Siora maschera!" ( Good morning, Lady mask ): This was the greeting along the streets and canals of the city during Carnival: nothing in those days was more important, neither gender, neither social class, let alone the person's identity.
The Craftsmen who produced masks were called "maschereri", they belonged to the class of painters and they had their own statutes dating back to 1436. The manufacture of masks was not limited to the carnival period, because they were worn throughout the year even in official banquets or parties of the Republic.

By Silvia Pellizzon
13 January 2017

Subterranean Naples

La Galleria Borbonica, the Bourbon Tunnel, a dusty passage full of lost items, the carcasses of cars and motorbikes, the remains of old electrical equipment and of statues, is the tunnel located under a hill called, ironically, God’s Mountain, Monte di Dio.

It is a segment barely longer than 500 meters/1,600 feet and was dedicated in 1855 to the Bourbon King Ferdinand II.

"Pirola Parola"

In the Venetian tradition, the Epiphany which occurs on January 6th, is celebrated with ornate fireworks and a huge bonfire created to “burn the witch” (brusare a vecia).  Our ancestors used this bonfire as a way of presaging the weather for the coming year, not unlike Groundhog Day in the United States.

This tradition has different names depending which part of the Veneto you are in.  In the countryside it may be called "Pirola Parola”; around Treviso it is called "Pan e Vin”; in the eastern Veneto, “Casera”; or any number of other strange names.

By Chiara “Chiaretta” Domenin
15 December 2016

New Museo degli Innocenti in Florence

The Istituto degli Innocenti [Institute of the Innocents] in Florence has been in continuous operation, helping children and families, for over six centuries.  Founded at the beginning of the 15th century, it was the first secular institution dedicated to taking in orphaned children.  The institute is located in Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, in the old hospital designed by Filippo Brunelleschi and enriched over time with works of art by many other famous artists.

Ravenna

During our last trip to Ravenna, where we had participated in a symposium on the history of Jews in Italy, among other very interesting topics, we took the opportunity to take a pleasurable walk through the historic center of Ravenna.

What is really great about the pedestrian-friendly historic center is that you can walk around without any problem, and these days, with its holiday decorations, it is even more beautiful.