Spotlight: shining a light on Italy Cultural supremo Italy has this year been celebrating one of its most brilliant innovators
Milan, Italy
T
ime after time, Italy has been the birthplace of cultural breakthroughs. In particular, the Renaissance era - from the 14th to the 18th century - is often considered
the pinnacle of artistic accomplishment. After the Middle Ages, there was a seismic shift in cultural
attitudes in Italy. People began to question everything - including the norms set out by the Catholic church. Personal development and individual achievement became values to pursue, and there's one historical figure in particular who embodies these ideals. Painter of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, inventor
of the world's first flying machine, the parachute and the machine gun, the wheels of Leonardo da Vinci's brilliant brain did not stop turning. As Sigmund Freud once said: "He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep." This year marks 500 years since da Vinci's death - and what
better way to celebrate the mastermind than by experiencing his masterpieces up close? Florence's Uffizi Gallery is a good place to start. Reopened
in 2017 after a renovation, the world-famous art museum displays da Vinci's first drawings and his first commissioned paintings - including Annuciazione - which proved his talent as a painter.
16 December 2019
Milan was an important place for da Vinci. While he lived
there, he developed as a mechanical inventor as well as a painter and sought ways to automate traditional processes. At the time, the textile industry was flourishing in Milan, and if you stop by the National Museum of Science and Technology, you can see a weaving loom he created. Milan is also where you can see the iconic The Last Supper, lovingly preserved inside the Dominican Church and Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In other cultural news for Italy this year, the city of Matera
has revelled in being the twin Capital of Culture in 2019 (along with Plovdiv, Bulgaria). Located one hour's drive from Bari in southern Italy, Matera lies in a canyon (hence its nickname, 'the underground city'). Celebrated for its cave hotels, its delicious vegetable dishes and its sunset views, Matera this year had the chance to showcase its uniqueness to the world. With the theme of "Open Future", a year-long programme of cultural events were engineered to boost social and cultural inclusion within the city. Highlights have included "Ars Excavandi", a contemporary take on the history of underground architecture, and "Re- reading Renaissance", which explored the artistic heritage of the Basilicata (the region Matera belongs to) and nearby Apulia.
weareconnections.com
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