Aielli & Benevento

Here are two reviews on recent biographies on Italy’s two most famous fashion designers…

> Being Armani

From www.popmatters.com:

“Renata Molho’s Being Armani, the authorized biography of the man behind Italy’s most successful fashion brand, tries to minimize any negative impressions of Giorgio’s domineering personality by celebrating his work ethic, and it consequently often reads more like a defense than a life story. Sadly, this defense does include any anecdotes as amusing as Dickinson’s, although the characterization of Armani is often the same. “Armani walks a fine line between democracy and tyranny,” Molho warns, yet she presents little evidence of his democratic moments. “He demands absolute loyalty, turning his back on anyone who leaves his orbit.” This is unsurprising behavior from a man the press once com monly called “King Giorgio,” and who admits that the best compliment he’ll give an employee is “I really taught you well.”Armani’s childhood and career trajectory are dutifully recounted in the book’s first two chapters. He entered the world of fashion via the world of retail, as a consultant and window dresser for a large Italian department store, and this background, according to Molho, was crucial in shaping his instinct for creating clothing that the public wants, rather than fanciful designs that are conceived without the thought of consumers’ needs. It was not until 1975, at the age of 39, that Armani created the eponymous empire he’s known for today after an eight year stint designing menswear for another label.

>House of Versace: The Untold Story of Genius, Murder, and Survival by Deborah Ball

From Amazon reader…

“A WSJ biz writer who lived in Europe for 15 years wrote this full scale business bio of the Versace tragedy, and it’s agreat read in all its pathos. She received full cooperation from everyone except Allegra Versace, daughter of Donatella and heiress to the house of Versace because her late uncle willed it all to her when she was just 12. Donatella’s drug use is not spared here, but she received even-handed treatment as we see exactly what she faced when Gianni Versace was murdered in Miami and left her to replace him as the designing genius. She wasn’t up to the task, but she muddled through. The story ends recently, but the tale of Versace is still unfolding. The main flaw is the relative lack of good photos. We get several generic shots of Casa Casuarina, the Ocean Drive mansion where Versace was shot. But there are none of the Milan atelier where all the clothes are designed and where a lot of this tale takes place.

Walking down via Margutta one stumbles upon that rare, unique little shop (boutique is too fancy a word to describe this ‘hole-in-the-wall’)

A holdover from an earlier era is La Bottega del Marmoraro (No. 53B; 39-06-320-7660), a tiny shop overflowing with small marble plaques, art fit for Barbie’s Ancient Roman Dream House. For 15 euros, Enrico Fiorentini, the boisterous owner, will chisel any words you want into a piece of marble. Once the work is done, Mr. Fiorentini has a charming habit of serving a bowl of warm pasta to his customers while regaling them with stories about the street’s glory days.

For many, a visit to Florence isn’t a visit without seeing the famous Uffizi Gallery ( aka Galleria degli Uffizi” in Italiano). There’s nowhere else on earth that you can sit in the center of a room full of gigantic Botticelli paintings and just drift off into a world of colorful myths and legends.

For Aielli & Benevento clients, seeking this sumptuous art experience, we offer three special touches: 1. No waiting (Our escorted private tour ensures you never wait in line; 2. A Private art master as your guide (A&B retains as our personal art historian the very best licensed guide in Florence.); and 3. ‘After hours’ Insider Peak (We offer a special tour of the ultra exclusive, Vassari Corridor , the hidden passageway that built by the Medicis, to connect the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti.)

> To learn more about the very best of the best in private touring , email: info@aielli-benevento.it .

Here are a few of the many world-famous pieces in the Uffizi collection:

• “Madonna of the Goldfinch” by Raphael
• “Bacchus” by Caravaggio
• “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” by Sandro Botticelli
• “The Annunciation” by Leonardo da Vinci
• “Doni Tondo” by Michelangelo
• “Madonna with Child and Two Angels” by Fra Filippo Lippi
• “Duke Federico da Montefeltro” by Piero della Francesca
• “Venus of Urbino” by Titian

Actress, singer Jennifer Lopez performed at the 2010 Sanremo Festival Saturday.  The photo here shows 40-year-old looked stunning as she performed her latest single, What Is Love?, at Italy’s most famous music Festival.   As background note, the Ariston Theater hosts the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a very popular song contest held in the city since 1951. This festival inspired the Eurovision Song Contest, which started in 1956, and for years the Sanremo festival selected the Italian entry. The internationally notable song “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu”, also known as “Volare”, was performed at this festival for the first time by Domenico Modugno in 1958. The festival is so popular amongst Italians that it is often referred to simply as “Il Festival” (The Festival).

This is Cher’s famous Italian Renaissance-Style Malibu Estate.

Set on 1.72 acres on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the 14,000 square foot villa has 6 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a theatre, a gym and multiples verandas. There is also a suspended tennis court with stunning views of the Malibu bay, an infinity pool and a guest house. According to real estate broker, due to new Coastal Commission restrictions, such an extraordinary property could not be built today. Price: $Offered at $41,000,000.

Realtor contact: Robert Kass, (310) 858-5409Living Area: 13,126 Square Ft.; Lot Size: 74,918 Square Ft

Described as “The most beautiful city of mortals” by the Greek poet Pindar in the 5th century BC, Agrigento was one of the most important cities in Greece’s Golden Age. Today, the Valley of the Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with some of the bestpreserved ancient Greek buildings outside Greece itself. The most outstanding is a Doric temple built in the 5th century BC and attributed to the goddess Concordia, which is similar in design to the Parthenon. The archaeological museum in modern Agrigento has several fascinating finds, and the town itself has some attractive medieval piazzas.

Leave to the NY times to ask one its political reporters to write a travel piece about “after hours” private tours of the Vatican Museum.  Below is Nagourney’s story… Had the NYT asked, Aielli & Benevento would have pointed out that  ”after hours” tours are  fairly standard these days.  What is special are those are tours of the private Vatican grounds, the Instituto di Mosaico and even the Pope’s Vatican apartment if one wishes.  Just email Aielli & Benevento if youre interested!

IT was just after 8 p.m., by now dark outside the walls of Vatican City, and a small group of us were following a guide through the maze that is the Vatican Museums. We had wandered for 40 minutes through galleries crammed with 15th- and 16th-century Italian paintings, courtyards displaying Greek and Roman sculpture, and seemingly endless hallways lined with ancient maps and musty tapestries, before passing through a small doorway I had not noticed on my previous visits here. I glanced up and realized we had arrived in the Sistine Chapel.

And just us: the nine members of a tour group, one guide and a Vatican guard. Our guide, who had hustled us along with a chattering narrative through the rest of the museums, went theatrically silent as our group stopped, startled by the slow recognition of where we were. We walked the length and breadth of the chapel, heads tilted back and mouths open, enjoying each discovery of a new perspective from which to appreciate the frescoes that arched above us and covered the walls. Only our footsteps broke the silence. We had the place to ourselves.

As anyone knows who has endured a visit to the Sistine Chapel during the day — the shoulder-to-shoulder scrum of tour groups, the guards barking “no pictures, no pictures,” the fight for seats, the pressure to move on to make way for the crush behind you — this was an indulgence of the highest order. With little fanfare, a few tour operators have in recent years arranged for after-hours group tours of the Vatican Museums, culminating with the Sistine Chapel.

Not surprisingly, the private tour we took comes at a heart-stopping cost: 275 euros (about $388 at $1.40 to the euro) per person in a group limited to 15 people, though it may be possible to negotiate a lower per-person rate if there are several people in your own group. (Regular admission to the museums starts at about 15 euros.)

Is it worth it?  I had toured the chapel twice before on trips to Rome, and my lasting memory of those visits was less the “Creation of Adam” and more the clatter of tourists — and this was before the restoration of Michelangelo’s ceiling drew more people through its doors.  This place where popes are elected had all the intimacy and spirituality of Grand Central Terminal at rush hour. In my mind, at least, it made the Sistine Chapel a check-the-box, been-there, done-that tourist stop; impressive, yes, but impossible to absorb or really appreciate, with little reason to return. But my friend and colleague at The Times Ian Fisher, who had done a tour as the paper’s Rome bureau chief, informed me that there was really only one way to see the Sistine Chapel, and put us in touch with Ms. X   who arranges one of the smaller (and thus pricier) tours that are floating around the Internet.  From the moment I made contact with Ms. X  , the whole experience had a kind of vaguely illicit aura to it; reminiscent less of visiting one of the great museums of the world and more of gaining admittance to an after-hours club in New York.  Ms. X  told us — my partner, Ben, and me — to show up at 6:30 p.m. at the offices of her tour agency on Via Vespasiano, a short walk from the entrance to the Vatican Museums. We arrived to find the front door locked, seeming to confirm my fear that this was not for real. But suddenly, Ms. X  burst from a storefront next door, offering a platter of bruschetta and glasses of wine as we joined the rest of our gathering group. The tour would begin at 7.It was short walk from Via Vespasiano to the Vatican. The sky was purple, the street in front of the museum was deserted, and the soaring doors that lead inside were sealed. It was most assuredly closed. But at precisely 7 p.m., as promised, we heard the jangle of keys from inside and one of the doors swung open slowly, spilling light onto the empty street. Without saying a word, a guard whisked us in — we passed an exiting stream of museum staff members heading home for the night — and swiftly the door shut behind us, lest a less-entitled passer-by inquire just what was going on here.

The quiet was almost spooky. Like most major European cities these days, Rome has become overrun with tourists. Passing through the doors of the Pantheon at dusk a few evenings later was like trying to navigate Seventh Avenue outside Madison Square Garden a half-hour before a Springsteen concert. Inside the museum, there were only us and a skeletal night staff.

First things first: this is not a tour for those who crave predictability or order. As our guide, made clear from the outset, we were at the mercy of the Vatican guards and whatever personal relationship they have with the guides. The guard can decide — in advance or just on a moment’s whim — which rooms to open, where we can stand and for how long. Keys in hand, they walked ahead to open galleries, and we could hear them lock the doors behind us as we left. “It’s an absolute monarchy,” Mr. Good, an expatriate from the United States, said. “We have certain guards who are better than others. It depends on what they feel like doing.” The one promise, Mr. Good said, is that visitors will see the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael rooms.

The tour lasts precisely two hours, and it was obvious from the guard who kept an eye on his watch — and flashed an impatient look at Mr. Good as the half-hour mark arrived in the Sistine Chapel, which is a long walk from the entryway — that this is one firm deadline. That had logistical implications as well; at various points, the tour felt something like a sprint. (It is simply impossible to see the museums in two hours.)

Mr. Good said that, depending on the desires of the guards and his own interests (he often leads three Vatican tours in a day), he chooses different rooms and galleries along the way to the Sistine Chapel. Like the Gallery of Tapestries. “This doesn’t look anything like it looks during the day,” Mr. Good said. “There are normally 150 people here.”

This gave us not only the space and silence to view the artwork, but also to smell it: musty, pungent and aromatic, a sensory experience that I suspect would have been difficult to appreciate in a room packed with tourists. In the octagonal courtyard in the Pius-Clementine museum, we stopped to inspect the striking white marble sculpture of Laocoön and his sons struggling with sea serpents, attributed to three Rhodian sculptors working in the first or second century B.C.

If I had had any complaint, I wish there had been more time for our guide to discuss the work of Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli that surrounded us during our half-hour in the chapel. As it was, the return walk felt like a footrace, Mr. Good gently pulling us along as he walked briskly backward.

Yet that is a quibble. Our group of nine could sit anywhere, walk anywhere and even (shhhh) take photographs (no flashes. please). This is the kind of privilege that previously had been afforded mainly to prominent political leaders and celebrities. “I don’t know how celebrities get in there, but I know it sure seems to be easy for them,” said Ms. X, who said she spent years negotiating with Vatican officials to arrange these tours. (Until recently, the tours took place about once a week; now they are more episodic.)

Our tour ended just as furtively as it began. The guards opened the door, ushered us quickly out, and closed it just as quickly. Ms. X was waiting outside to take us back to her office and send us off for a late supper.

The capital of Sicily, Palermo is a lively, fascinating city with a history that stretches back 3,000 years.

A day trip here will give guests an insight into its considerable artisticand architectural heritage, but you could easily spend a week here, exploring its churches, palaces, restaurants and nightlife. The sights are too numerous to list in full, but highlights include the exquisite Palatine Chapel in the Royal Palace, the Teatro Massimo opera house (which appeared in The Godfather III), the Byzantine mosaics of the Church of St. Maria dell’Ammiraglio, the bustling Il Capo street market and the Piazza Marina district, the city’s old Arabic quarter which contains several palaces, restaurants and squares. The old town is best explored on foot, but you can also hire a horse and carriage or take an open-top bus tour. For shopping, the best area is between Teatro Massimo and Piazza Politeama, while for restaurants, try the area around Piazza Olivella.

Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro

Near Castellammare del Golfo and San Vito lo Capo, across a myriad of small, rugged bays, is the Zingaro nature reserve, created in 1981. Small cliff paths guide visitors from the coast to the summit of the mountain, and allow you to discover the flora and fauna of one of the most well-preserved areas of the Mediterranean. The reserve is used as a nesting ground for dozens of species of birds, including the Peregrine falcon and rare Bonelli eagle, and can also be explored by swimming and scuba diving safaris. The symbol of the reserve is the dwarf palm, a tree that grows on every slope.

San Vito lo Capo

A seaside town between the two nature reserves of Zingaro and Monte Cofano, renowned for its kilometre-long stretch of white sand. Its Arabic ancestry can be seen in the white houses and small streets lined with bougainvillea. Every September, the town hosts the annual Cous Cous Festival, in which chefs from different countries compete by cooking the dish according to their own culinary tradition.

Scala dei Turchi

The sugar-white Scala dei Turchi is a remarkable natural feature made of limestone and gypsum, overlooking the sea along the coast of Realmonte near Porto Empedocle. It means ‘Turkish Staircase’, as according to legend it was built by Turkish invaders.

Here are a fews gems on the Sicilian isle…often overlooked by the touristi…

Bagheria

Set on a gentle slope amid green fields of orange, lemon and olive trees, facing the sea and Mount Catalfano, Bagheria is renowned for its 18th-century palaces and sumptuous buildings such as Villa Palagonia.

Caltabellotta

Inland from Sciacca, this historic hill-town offers panoramic views across to Agrigento and Mount Etna. The famous peace treaty of 1302 was signed here, ending the War of the Vespers. Architectural points of interest include the small Church of St. Maria della Pieta, partly built into the rock face, and the Church of St. Augustine, built in 1335. Other sites include the former Church of St. Lorenzo (now only visible in part) with its imposing Gothic portal, and the Church of St. Pellegrino with the nearby Convent of the Middle Ages.

Castellammare del Golfo

A harbour-front resort town that was the main port of Segesta and Erice in the pre- Hellenic age. The main points of interest are the remains of a medieval castle near the harbour and the sandy beaches, the best of which is at Alcamo Marina.

Cave di Cusa

If you wish to explore the ancient history of the area further, stop off at the Cave of Cusa, about 10km to the east of Selinunte. This is the quarry from which the acropolis and temples at Selinunte were carved, and has been left more or less as it was when its stone masons had to flee, almost two and half thousand years ago.

Cefalù

An hour’s drive east of Palermo is the small town of Cefalù, facing onto sandy beaches with an imposing cliff face behind. This is one of the most popular places to visit in Sicily, asit encapsulates the island very well. There is a beautiful Cathedral filled with precious mosaics, several notable churches, excellent restaurants serving fresh fish, breathtaking views from the cliff (or La Rocca as it is known) and medieval streets filled with shops. Nearby is the Madonie National Park, with villages and towns and excellent countryside walking routes.

Erice

Situated on top of Mount Erice, Erice is a charming medieval town that should be visited in order to walk to the Castello di Venere, built on the site of the Temple of Venus. Its origins are ancient, mysterious and shrouded in legend. From here you can enjoy an extraordinary view over the entire Trapani region. Don’t miss the chance to try the local sweet almond paste, which is made according to ancient recipes.

Mazara del Vallo

One of the most popular tourist destinations in western Sicily, Mazara del Vallo is home to the Dancing Satyr. This large bronze statue, which probably dates to the 3rd century BC, was discovered 500 metres underwater in the Strait of Sicily in 1998 and now resides in the Museo del Satiro in Sant’Egidio Church. The town was founded by the Phoenicians and, like many other towns on Sicily, has a history featuring Greek, Roman, Arab and Norman conquests. It was an important port in antiquity and is still a major fishing town – though you can also take to the waters here for wind-surfing, kite-surfing and scuba diving. The surrounding countryside is ideal for horse and bike-riding excursions, as well as bird watching.

Monreale

Twenty minutes from the centre of Palermo, the hill town of Monreale is known for its remarkable Duomo, built by William II in the 12th century. The building itself is a classic piece of architecture, combining elements of Islamic, Byzantine and Romanesque design; inside is a thrilling array of mosaics depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. One that stands out in particular is the imposing figure of Christ Pantocrater, located in the nave. The Cloister, attached to the cathedral, is a beautiful piece of work. Other
notable monuments are the Archbishopric and the Church of Monte.

Just in from Rome ANSA … Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei’s corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again, a Florence museum said Friday.

Paolo Galluzzi, director of the Museum of the History of Science, said three fingers, a vertebra and a tooth were removed by enthusiastic admirers from the astronomer’s body in 1737, 95 years after his death, while his corpse was being moved from a storage place to a monumental tomb, opposite the tomb of Michelangelo, in Santa Croce Basilica in Florence. One of the fingers was recovered soon after, and is now part of the museum’s collection, and the vertebra has been kept at the University of Padua, where Galileo had taught for years, according to the museum. But the tooth and two of the fingers — the thumb and middle finger — from the scientist’s right hand, were kept by one of the admirers, an Italian marquis, and later kept in a container which was passed on from generation to generation in the same family, Galluzzi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.  “But with time, the generations lost knowledge of what was actually inside the container,” and the family sold the container, Galluzzi said. By 1905, all traces of the relics had disappeared, “leading scholars to hypothesize that these singular specimens had been definitely lost,” the museum said in a statement. But the container recently turned up at auction and was purchased by a private collector, intrigued by the contents but not sure they were Galileo’s relics. The buyer eventually contacted Galluzzi and other Florence culture officials, who used detailed historical documents, as well as documentation from the family which had long owned it, to conclude they were Galileo’s fingers and tooth, the museum director said. The relics were inside an 18th-century blown-glass vase, which in turn was inside a wooden case topped with a wooden bust of Galileo, the museum said.  Galileo, who died in 1642, was condemned by the Vatican for saying the Earth revolved around the Sun. Church teaching at the time held that the Earth was the center of the universe. In the early 1990s, Pope John Paul II rehabilitated him, saying the church had erred.

The museum will put the fingers and tooth on public display next spring.