when it rains

as a kid, i had this book, called che cosa fare quando piove, by richard scarry. the original title, in english, is best rainy day book ever. you've probably already heard of it, or at least i hope so, cause it's such a great childrens book. if you have not, it is a collection of ideas on what to do on rainy days.

i cannot emulate mister scarry, but here it has been raining for days, so i had some time to make my personal list about that. i hope you like it, and want to share some of what you like to do when it rains {stay in bed all day: not accepted!}.

indoor picnic i am still a kid, i know. i should go back to richard scarry. but it's so fun! you know i love picnics, and i have to wait months (months!) before i get an outdoor one. go outside for a walk i'm aware this is not the "when the sun is shining" post, keep reading.  the only problem we have, while walking in the rain, is that we don't want to get wet {because we're going to do things like work}. but, if we expect that, and we're okay with it because we are keeping in mind the hot shower we'll take back home, it will be lovely. bring an umbrella, some colorful rain boots, make sure you're warm enough. enjoy the drops on the trees, the sound(s) and the reflections, jump on a puddle. if you're lucky, you can catch the best moment: when the rain stops and the sun comes out. isn't that light amazing? it's raining outside, so we're camping inside do you know that photo by tim walker? since i saw it for the first time, i have been fascinated. coziness plus camping! i had to try it, and that was the perfect opportunity. try something new it could be a recipe you've never tried yet. or the start of a new tradition.  marco and i made some canederli for dinner, a typical trentino dish, made of old bread, flour, eggs and salami.  plus, the idea of starting a bookclub with some girl friends is growing!   ice skating date a field trip to the closest (indoor) ice rink. this is the one point of the list i have not done yet.  visit a museum/exhibition we chose an amazing illustration exhibition, called Illustri, held in Vicenza. it featured eleven talented italian illustrators: shout, emiliano ponzi, olimpia zagnoli, bomboland, ale giorgini, mauro gatti, riccardo guasco, francesco poroli, umberto mischi, jacopo rosati, rubens cantuni. we loved it and a piece of it, a fine print by riccardo guasco, is now at home with us, a reminder of that heavy rain day.

le immagini della fantasia, Sàrmede. October, Monday 28th

once upon a time, a funny man armed with crayons and watercolors left Prague, wandered around Europe for a while, then came to live in a hilly village of the Veneto countryside, bringing colors, creativity, talking animals, imagination,  butterflies and childlike joy with him. 

the most beautiful Zavřel's book, un sogno a venezia

the village is called Sàrmede, and now, even if the funny man is gone and living just in his colorful artworks, the place is known as il paese delle fiabe: the fairytales town.  i'm talking about the illustrator Štěpán Zavřel, born in Prague in 1932, who lived in Rugolo di Sàrmede from 1968 until the day he passed away in 1999. he has been one of the most important illustrators of the european arena in the last thirty years. 

Gabriel Pacheco's illustration that is the poster of le immagini della fantasia 31

when i said he brought colors to Sàrmede i ment it literally: he has painted frescoes on some houses walls that still adorn the streets of the town. then, in 1983, Zavřel co-created the exhibition of children's illustrations called le immagini della fantasia {the images of fantasy}, which now, after 31 years, is an international event. so colors, creativity, and imaginations are still coming to Sàrmede, with many artists from all over the world.

one of the Sàrmede's frescoes. and me.

it opened on october 26th, and we paid a visit the next monday. it's a date, a personal rainbow: marco and i love to visit le immagini della fantasia every year, and my inner child can't have enough fairytales. 

illustrated book

Cristina Pieropan (Italia)

Camilla Engman (Sweden)

the exhibition is divided into three sections. the first one, panorama 2013, showcases 30 illustrators  from all over the world, offering an overview on the finest recently published books. 

then, there is the guest of honor's section, dedicate to the mexican artist Gabriel Pacheco. his works are poems without words. soft and intense.

silence enfolds us like an imperceptible chord. the moon basks in admiration, like a lovely story. it beams down upon us. we play at making out shapes in its markings, just like you do with clouds: a crab, a drum, a rabbit. a child reads quietly, surrounded by the subtle nuance that silence brings: he is wholly captivated by the book. he reads about the god Quetzalcoatl, in the mexican legend about the rabbit and the moon. the tales arouse and recall memories. reading takes us into the oneiric dimension of the imagination. above us an entire sky: a band of aged musicians whose expression is profound. or perhaps it is the nocturnal sky that has taken on the appearance of the musicians; they play sweet music, whilst a child imagines them.

illustrated book by Gabriel Pacheco

the third section hosts  the theme of the year (i still remember the cat's year with love!), and 2013 is dedicated to tales, legends, symbols from Mexico.

remarkable indigenous figures of Mexico's ancient people are still alive in their tales: mother earth, talking animals who discovered precious corn, the mythical feathered serpent and its duality of sky and earth, princes and princesses held back from their love, the great grandmother of light and her mischievous grandchildren… highly evocative manifold cultural elements that also interweave with later cultures betterknown to us. 
bright red walls explained meaning and sense of tigrada, catrina, nahual, quetzacoatl, alebrije.. twelve symbols were chosen to create an illustrated mosaic, designed to make us feel the mexican voices, flavours,charm, traditions. 

mexican symbols

Frida Kahlo, a book by Maria Baranda illustrated by Gabriel Pacheco

le immagini della fantasia, since the first editions, has never been just a show of drawings for children, but it has presented itself as a place for knowledge, culture and beauty, an international observatory on the world of Illustration.

for example, Sàrmede also hosts the international school of illustration, founded by Štěpán Zavřel. courses provide training sessions for various levels: from artistic specialisation for those at advanced level to foundation courses for anyone interested in discovering this world.

if any of you is interested, i'd be glad to welcome and host you for the class period ♥

info

Sàrmede, le immagini della fantasia 31

27.10.2013 > 19.01.2014

via Marconi, 2 - 31026 Sàrmede TV

monday to friday 9.00-17.00

saturday and sunday 10.00-21.30

{26.12.2013 > 03.01.2014 14.30-19.00}

candles, lanterns and moon light in Possagno

imagine a road in the hills. the air is chilly because is sunset and you're running across the woods. at some point, nestled between the hills like a white stone, without any connection with the surrounding landscape, a neoclassical temple.
it's the Possagno church, designed for his hometown by the artist Antonio Canova, one of the most brilliant italian sculptors, epitome of neoclassical style.

from the temple, at the end of the street you can see the entrance to the Canova Plaster Cast Gallery and Museum {Museo e Gipsoteca Canoviana}, in my opinion the most beautiful museum in Treviso province.
Marco and i had been there before, but this time it was a special occasion.

Montelvini winery choose the Gipsoteca Canoviana as the location for a dinner and wine tasting, to launch their elegant passito wine, which has the evocative name of Luna Storta, twisted moon.

the Canova Museum is located in the artist's former family house. entering the front door, you walk in a beautiful garden, where maybe Canova used to welcome and entertain his guests, too. it was all set to recreate the atmosphere. in his birthplace, he often found himself the right environment to rest from the work he was doing in Rome. when he came back from his travels in Vienna, Paris and Rome, the Possagno inhabitants used to welcome him with parties and fairy lights. nowadays, hundreds of plaster casts are kept in the museum: witness of the artist's hard work. Canova didn't sculpted marble directly. artworks came from a methodical work of drawing, modeling clay, then plaster and finally marble. so, the plaster casts here are the original models of his most famous artworks that you can see in the best museums, like Musée du Louvre, the Ermitage of S. Petersburg, the Victoria and Albert Museum of London etc. 

i said i had seen the plaster cast gallery before, and i already thought it was an incredible place, but this time it was, well, another kind of experience. usually, the first impression you have, walking into the museum, is to be dazzled by a bright white. this time, we were embraced by a velvet darkness.

do you know how Canova used to show the plaster cast collection to his friends? he used the lanterns dim light. i don't know if it was just a practical issue {no electricity in the nineteenth century}, but i think he was well aware of the magical, soft effect that candle light has on the sculptures.

seen like that, the Gispoteca visit is a moving experience. the Museum organizes this kind of evening from time to time, or for groups, so if you are planning to visit check their website or contact them, it is totally worth it.

photo © Canova Museum

after the visit, we tasted the Luna Storta under the moonlight, with some moon-shaped butter cookies, chattering and enjoying that perfect summer night. 

invasioni digitali. co-creation of cultural value

i want to talk to you about a super cool project, called digital invasions {invasioni digitali}.
the idea involves the organization of several mini-events (invasions) at museums or art venues outside the mainstream, in italy during the week from 20 to 28 of april.

it's aimed to bloggers, instagramers, photography lovers and anyone active on social media who wants to be ambassador of the local cultural heritage.
the goal is to spread the culture, the local beauty and history, using the power of internet and social media.

i thought it fits me, so i organized a digital invasion, too!
we are going to invade the Tipoteca Museum, a 2,000 square meters space dedicated to letterpress and book art, in a small town called Cornuda (Treviso), near Montello, on april, saturday 27th.

photo source tipoteca.it

Tipoteca houses not only an extraordinary collection of metal and hand-cut wood typefaces, but also maintains an archive, a printing museum, a functioning print studio, and an extensive library—all in one efficiently designed, multipurpose building.

it will be a combination of two kinds of communication, old and new. a contamination between digital culture and local heritage, between the web and the place where we live in.

for one day, this little corner of treviso province will become a place for storytelling, where virtual and real are interwined. 

see you on saturday 27th!

info and registration:

invasioni-digitali-tipoteca.eventbrite.it

http://www.invasionidigitali.it

http://tipoteca.it