Leonardo in Atlanta

The High Museum in Atlanta will kick off an exhibit next week that focuses on sketches by Leonardo da Vinci.

The exhibit, called "Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius" seeks to understand Leonardo's impact on Renaissance art, and will feature 50 works of art, including sketches and studies by Leonardo, some of which will be on view in the U.S. for the first time.

The drawings are ones Leonardo created for sculptural projects, most of which were never realized.

As the High says on its Web site, the exhibit will explore "his interactions with other Renaissance sculptors," including Andrea del Verrocchio, whose work you can see above.

The exhibit seeks to "shed new light on Leonardo's seminal role in the development of Renaissance sculpture and the work of artists who followed him."

There's a free preview day for the general public on Monday.

For more information, go here:

http://www.high.org

Berlusconi meets Michelle Obama

(Credit: Jim Young, Reuters, via Paris Match)

BEST PHOTO EVER!!!

O ragazzi dai! Ma non e' possibile!

Foto scattate al supermercato

Chi scatta foto al supermercato?

Chiaramente io!

Quando vedo talmente tante belle bottiglie di vino italiano, devo fare qualcosa.


Poi fai conto, non si tratta di un supermercato tutto snob con prezzi da far paura.

E' un supermercato qualsiasi americano che poco a poco comincia a capire cosa vuol dire mangiare e bere bene (informazione che da voi sembra che ci sia dalla nascita).

Forse un giorno ci andro' li' a trovare il caffe Quarta in vendita! MAGARI!


Guardate un po' la scelta. Primitivo, nero d'avola, prosecco, Chianti.

Vi posso dire che ho provato alcuni vini che si vedono nelle foto, compresi il prosecco (Rustico), il nero d'avola (che ultimamente sta diventando molto populare qui in USA) e la Costera Isola dei Nuraghi.

Tutti buoni!

Il Corpo Delle Donne

Corriere della Sera columnist Maria Laura Rodota' opened the floodgates last week with an open letter to Italian women about the current state of sexism in Italy.

You can find the article in the original Italian here:

http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2009/settembre/15/Veline_escort_maschilismo_Lettera_aperta_co_8_090915041.shtml

The letter and the thunderous response from Italian women spurred the English newspaper, The Guardian to write the following piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/20/berlusconi-italian-women-backlash

Oh it's about time!

Part of the stir stems from a new documentary called "Il Corpo Delle Donne" ("Women's Bodies") that shows how women are depicted on Italian television.

You can see on it YouTube -- though I warn you, it's like pornograghy. It's disgusting.

Here's part one:

Che fine ha fatto Ciambellina?

Ciao ragazzi,
Inserisco pochi argomenti in questi giorni perché devo confessare: scrivo un'altro blog che ha a che fare con attualità e politica in Atlanta.

(Si, si vi tradisco!)

Nel caso che siete curiosi, o perlomeno, se volete practicare un po' in inglese, vi rilascio l'indirizzo elettronico:

http://atlantaunsheltered.com

Fra poco qui in Atlanta dobbiamo scegliere un nuovo sindaco quindi ultimamente sono impegnata a scrivere sopra questo argomento.

La città ha grossi problemi, soprattutto per quanto riguarda i mezzi trasporti pubblici, ma non so se c'è un candidato in grado di affrontare questi problemi.

Comunque so che prima o poi ricomincio a scrivere qui perché io e Il Nostro Inviato non smettiamo di vivere un po' all'italiana. Infatti fra poco al museo principale d'Atlanta ci sarà una mostra di quadri di Leonardo da Vinci.

Chiaramente io ci sto!

Girasole

L'ho comprato al mercato sabato in anticipo del rientro del Nostro Inviato da Messico (lui c'era rimasto un'altra settimana per lavorare).

Un girasole sapeva dargli il benvenuto!

Fioravanti è libero

Non so, forse perché preparavo per il viaggio in Messico, non avevo letto che Valerio Fioravanti ora è totalmente libero.

Ho letto "A Mano Armata" due volte quando vivevo a Firenze, e la vicenda dei latitanti e la strage del 2 agosto mi hanno sempre affascinato.

Lui, comunque, si ritiene innocente, ed infatti vuole indagare un po' per conto suo sui fatti della strage di Bologna.

Incredibile. E' libero.

http://www.corriere.it/cronache/09_agosto_03/fioravanti_spazi_per_lavorare_sul_processo_61b27502-8037-11de-bb07-00144f02aabc.shtml

Viognier

Sometimes a backlog builds up at Ciambellina. This is one of those instances.

We drank the bottle you see above quite a while ago, after Il Nostro Inviato was in Milan and visited a wine shop that sold vino sfuso.

Vino sfuso is bulk wine that has not been pasteurized so it does not participate in Italy's wine certification system (DOC and DOCG, for example).

This is not quite what you'd find in your everyday wine shop! And I highly recommend it!

We quite like after dinner drinks, as you may have surmised from my tales of drinking carafes of vin santo in Siena.

But generally what I want is something that's like wine, not a shot of Jagermeister! This bottle of Viognier really hit the spot.

The wine shop in Milan where he bought the vino sfuso -- La Vineria -- is on Via Casale in the Navigli section of Milan, which is a cool, gentrifying area of the city that's centered around an old canal.

The wine shop, which vigorously defends bulk wine and calls pasteurization and other standard wine processes unsafe, has received attention from lots of magazines in Italy. You can visit the shop's Web site here http://www.la-vineria.it

You won't need to buy bulk wine to try Viognier. For example, the Viognier grape shows up in traditional bottled wines in the Northern Rhone region of France.

So get out there and try it!

NYT on Ignazio Silone

There's a book review in today's New York Times of a biography of Italian author Ignazio Silone, who wrote some of my absolute favorite Italian books and some of the top Italian novels of the 20th century, including "Fontamara" and "Vino e Pane."

You may not be interested in reading all of Silone's biography, but I think you'll want to read some of his books when you read a bit about his life.

Read on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/books/review/Wheatcroft-t.html

Appena tornata da Messico....

Ciao ragazzi!

Sono appena tornata da Messico e ora con il rientro, ho un sacco di cose da fare ecco perché inserisco pochi argomenti questo mese.

Però brevemente vi vorrei far vedere la foto quassu'.

Almeno nella città dove stavo io (che si chiama Queretaro), i Messicani vanno pazzi per la cucina italiana!

A Queretaro oltre a tacos, potete facilmente trovare la pasta, la pizza e il gelato (si vede una gelateria nella foto).

Io non vi posso dire se ci riescono o meno -- ho mangiato solamente la cucina messicana!

Ma mi ha fatto piacere vedere che la cucina italiana è tanto populare in Messico quanto in USA.

Mierda! Oops I mean merda!

Buongiorno, buongiorno!

Does this ever happen to you? You're reading an article or a book in English and you find an Italian typo? You know, either the word is used incorrectly or there is a misspelling.

Happens to me all the time!

Latest example: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," by Barbara Kingsolver.

The book is about eating foods that are grown close to home, and in one chapter, she recounts a visit to Italy.

She says that in the small towns she visited there, many restaurant owners would offer her samples of the town's native olive oil, and would say that the olive oil from nearby towns was "Mierda."

Except that, it's "merda" (shit) in Italian.

(Did they really say that? I would guess more often than not they probably used the phrase "fa schifo," a slightly more gentile way of expressing the same thought).

Admittedly, Kingsolver makes a point of saying she got by in Italy by speaking a mix of French, Spanish and Italian words.

But didn't her publisher, Harper Perennial, think she should get the word right for the book?!

Barbara, next time, just ask me! I will keep you from making that mistake on page 246.

Vespa-with-sidecar Watch

Troppo ganzo!!!

The owner of this tricky scooter lives in my neighborhood, I am proud to say.

Vespa Watch -- Sesto Fiorentino (FI)

A photo of my friend Fabrizio on a Vespa at his home in Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence.

Classic!

Ringrazio Ilaria per avermi mandato la foto. Mi ha fatto davvero sorridere!

Divertitevi in Puglia! Quanto sarebbe bello esserci con voi.

Regalino -- note cards

Guarda qui!

Ciambellina, I guess, was a very good girl because she received the above note cards as a gift and it's not even her birthday!

Can you beat Vespa note cards that say "Ciao Bella!" -? No!

What's great is, I almost bought these cards a few weeks back, but decided I should save my money!

You like them? Il Nostro Inviato bought the cards at Barnes and Noble bookstore (you can also find Cavallini brand cards online).

Lavazza from Amazon.com

I bought Lavazza from Amazon.com for the first time this month, and it seems to work pretty well.

I usually buy Italian coffee from Whole Foods when Il Nostro Inviato has not been to Italy for a while.

Each package cost $5, and as you can see, it comes in a four-pack. $5, even for Crema e Gusto which is usually cheaper here, is a very good price. My Whole Foods does not stock this variety so I cannot compare prices.

Anyway, this is certainly one way to skin a cat.

Gelato @ Village Pizza in Cabbagetown

For my Atlanta readers, I want to mention another place you can enjoy Italian ice cream in the city.

Village Pizza in Cabbagetown now has a little gelato case on the right just as you enter the pizzeria.

Il Nostro Inviato and I decided to indulge one evening on our way back from 97 Estoria, a bar that's not far from Village Pizza.

And as we walked down the street, eating our gelato, people turned their heads to look at our treat.

Sounds unbelievable, I know, but we ran into friends at the Carroll Street Cafe about half a block away and they were oohing and ahhing over our gelato, and craning their necks to see where they could buy it.

Then we passed Agave and the valet guy called out across the parking lot to say, "Hey did you get that from Village Pizza? Is it still open?"

Uh, gelato clearly gets people's attention.

I, of course, had hazelnut -- nocciola -- because that IS gelato for me. But they do have fruit flavors as well, including pomegranate and mango, which I thought unusual.

I wouldn't say it's the best spot in town for gelato, but who doesn't enjoy strolling on a summer evening with a gelato in hand?

Godi!

Tifosi per AC Milan vivono ad Atlanta!

Va bene, AC Milan non ha vinto la partita contro Club America (una squadra messicana, la quale ha vinto 2-1) che ebbe luogo in Atlanta ieri ma tuttavia era una serata molto divertente e movimentata.

Eravamo in 12 nel nostro comitato e ero veramente incuriosita dal numero di tifosi ad Atlanta. Cioe, la gente che indossava maglie di AC Milan (c'era una ragazza, chiamiamola Ciambellina, che indossava una maglia della Fiorentina, ma lasciamo perdere).

C'erano anche persone che indossavano maglie di altre squadre, tipo la Juventus e Inter. Non credevo che gli americani seguissero calcio in modo di poter conoscere le squadre, e persino con risultato che volevano comprare le maglie! E poi 50,000 persone sono venute a vedere la partita. Cavoli!

Ora ti faccio vedere le altre foto che ho scattato:


Forza Milan!


Chiaramente Ronaldinho e' molto amato persino ad Atlanta! Qui i suoi tifosi bevono una birra ad un locale accanto al stadio.


Spero che AC Milan o un'altra squadra italiana venga l'anno prossimo a giocare qui in Atlanta. Per una serata, era come andare allo stadio -- in Italia. Bello!

Going to see "Il Divo" tonight at Landmark Cinema

The Italian movie "Il Divo" has finally arrived in Atlanta and I'm going to see it tonight with an Italian Meetup group.

The film is about career politician Giulio Andreotti who like a cockroach survived everything that came his way, including an extensive trial accusing him of collusion with the Mafia.

Here's a link to the New York Times review (permalink not working):

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/movies/24divo.html?scp=3&sq=Il%20Divo&st=cse

Toni Servillo landed the title role of Andreotti, and it will be the second time in a year that I see Servillo in a key role. What a treat! (He was in "Gomorrah," the film about the Naples' mafia.)

I will report back to Ciambellina on my impressions. But whether I like it or not, I'm just happy to have the opportunity to see two Italian films in one year at a movie theater near me!

AC Milan lost!

Club America beat AC Milan in the match last night in Atlanta.

Menaggia!

Photos to follow!

AC Milan stasera in Atlanta!

_MG_0940-35.jpg
Inserito originariamente da JMaloney

Io e Il Nostro Inviato andiamo a vedere una partita tra AC Milan e Club America stasera ad Atlanta.

Anche se molto probabilmente sarei tifosa per la Fiorentina, AC Milan gioca stasera e allora dico Forza Milan!