THE STUNNING HOSPITAL OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA - SIENA - A STORY OF CHARITY & ASSISTANCE FOR ORPHANS AND THE SICK

As an individual recently recruited in to the "old age" segment of the British population I find it depressing in these times of Brexit and austerity that we are continually being told on TV that our health service in Britain is failing and no longer fit for purpose due to lack of proper funding. It's a sad thought and I can't help feeling that it's the elderly - ie people like me - that will suffer in future as services are rationed. I've found myself becoming interested in looking at the way artists have treated sensitive subjects like care of the elderly and poor, the displaced and of course those that are ill and diseased. I recently discovered a fine example here in Tuscany which we visited on our last trip to Italy and it's timely to share the experience here.

Asked to conjure up an image of a typical hospital, one of the principal institutions that treat the sick and you would probably think of busy modern, functional  buildings with interior wards furnished with adjustable beds, high tech monitoring equipment, nurses  and doctors in practical scrubs and of course patients being cared for and treated in a myriad of different ways. What you probably would not be imagining is a medieval building with a hospital ward which also functioned as an art gallery. Well that was the situation that prevailed in the hospital I'm going to describe today. It's in Siena and was founded in the 11th century. Surprisingly it only reluctantly gave up its role in the care and treatment of the city's sick a few decades ago. Today the building is home to several important museums, but here I'm limiting my attention to the history of the hospital and the rich legacy it's left behind.

THE HOSPITAL COMPLEX OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA - SIENA
THE FRONT FACADE OF THE DUOMO CAN BE SEEN IN THE BACKGROUND

I've been to Siena several times in the last couple of years, once before at Christmas, but somehow I've never chosen to visit the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala housed in an important building right opposite the front door of the Duomo. I've sat on the stone bench attached to its front wall many times to admire the cathedral's spectacular facade without having to crane my neck too much, but never imagined I was sitting on a structure which dated from a special commission of 1378 made for officers of the hospital to sit and watch cathedral ceremonials taking place in the square. I wonder how many important dignitary bottoms had graced the position I'd sat in? - thousands probably! The front facade of the hospital visible in the photograph dates from the 12th century with the oldest part in the middle opposite the steps of the Duomo, The palace of the Rector on the right with its double gothic lancet windows is on the right. The arched doorway on the left is the main entrance to the hospital. I found it hard to imagine that in the 13th century this front facade was frescoed with scenes from the  life of the Virgin Mary and though these survived for 300 years no traces of them can be seen now. The entrances at this level gives access to the piano nobile - the most important floor, but over time the hospital expanded and developed down the hillside on which it was built to provide hundreds of rooms and accommodation on several floors all accessed by staircases from the Duomo Square level.. I was looking forward to eventually seeing the cavernous covered street on the lowest level which provided access to the hospital's accommodation from the streets outside. That has now been fully restored and the rooms off it accommodate some of the museum exhibits mentioned.

Legend has it that the hospital was founded in the 9th century by a cobbler turned monk called Beatro Sorore who worked amongst the poor and with orphans - the gettateli - literally "the little throwaways". The character is almost certainly mythical and the earliest trace of a hospital relates to a document of 1090 so it was probably founded by cathedral canons in the 11th century. In the early days its business related to the nearby Via Francigena, an important medieval road which went all the way from Canterbury to Rome and passed underneath the walls of the city of Siena. There were many "ospedali" - places of refuge and succour - along the route and 40 in Tuscany. Santa Maria della Scala was the most important in the region. Gradually the ospedali's functions increased to include helping the poor, treating the sick and taking care of orphaned children from Siena. In times of siege, famine and plague during the medieval period the hospital became a food kitchen for the whole community. Many centuries later - in the 18th century and following a decree by Peter Leopold of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine, the hospital ceased being a pilgrims' hostel and concentrated entirely on treating the sick. In the 19th century it became the city's University Hospital  and it wasn't until 1975 that wards began to be transferred to a new purpose built hospital outside the city walls - much to the regret and disappointment of many Sienese residents.

Though the hospital had religious origins, responsibility for it passed from the cathedral canons firstly to to the hospital monks and then in 1404 to the city council who became responsible for its administration through a chosen rector and governing body. The foundation became rich through bequests and gifts to the extent some of the money was put in to its expansion, but a surplus budget was also allowed for decoration and art work. I've already mentioned the commissioning of art work for the external facade. In 1359 the hospital paid an exorbitant sum of money for a set of relics from Constantinople which purportedly included a nail and a piece of wood from the true cross - these are now displayed in the labyrinthine brick lined rooms which provided accommodation for pilgrims on one of the lower levels. But it was the interior art work commissioned by the rector and the governing body which I'd specially come to see and it didn't disappoint.

THE MAIN FACADE OF SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA
The main entrance door is on the left, the Rector's Palace on the right. Note also the 14th century bench.

After we'd bought our tickets and walked through the gift shop I ensured we made a beeline for the highlight of the hospital on this piano nobile level - the Sala dei Pellegrinaio - The Pilgrim's Hall - always the heart of the hospital. I discovered from looking at the plan that it actually lies behind the outside door opposite the Duomo which gave access to the main entrance hall, but the sheer volume of tourists who come here in summer make it impractical to allow visitors to use this route now.

THE MAJESTIC HALL OF THE PILGRIMS IN SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA - SIENA

The room was commissioned by the Cistercian friars as a grand, long hall like space with vaulted ceiling in 1380. Using money from the art fund the rector and governers of the hosipital, over a period of time from 1440, commisioned the artists Domenico di Bartolo and Lorenzo di Pietro known as Vecchietta to fresco the room with scenes from the hospital's history and with the aim of promoting the idea of charity towards the sick and orphaned as well as the hospital's prestige. As Jon and I saw that sunny morning, the results are a stunning and wonderfully preserved set of frescoes in semi-circular panels which show largely secular themes (rare at this point in time before the High Renaissance when humanist values promoted such ideas) with insights into daily Sienese life. What was also noteworthy was that we had the place to ourselves there being few visitors at this time of year. There are 8 main panels in all and all are worthy of detailed attention but I've chosen a few of them to reveal the highlights here.

As I walked in to the magnificent room I felt my eyes being drawn to the glorious ceiling, every rib and enclosed triangular space painted with vivid frescoe colours and ornamented to provide an impression of a jewelled heaven with figures looking down. The first above eye level panel painting I knew to focus on was on my immediate left and entitled THE DREAM OF THE BLESSED SORORE'S MOTHER - which tells the story of the legendary founder of the hospital's mother having a dream the night before his birth. This tells of children climbing a ladder up in to the open arms of the Virgin and Paradise. She interprets the dream as a vision or calling to service for her soon to be born son. The story is told in visual form in the frescoe and I'm charmed by the little naked infants climbing the ladder in the centre of the composition. As I  concentrated on the detail of the busy scene I could see Sorore twice in the painting - firstly in the mid ground kneeling at the foot of the child-filled ladder and also on the right where, with upraised hand, he receives the hospital's first foundling orphan. From studying the outside facade I already knew the symbol of the hospital has for centuries been a ladder surmounted by a cross and I also reflected on the translation in to english of the name of the hospital - "The Blessed Mary of the Stairs". It was all beginning to make sense.

THE DREAM OF THE BLESSED SONORE'S MOTHER - IL VECCHIETA 1441

The third panel in the sequence is entitled THE BISHOP GIVING ALMS AND THE EXPANSION OF THE HOSPITAL. I saw this as another busy composition with lots goiing on. I found my eyes drawn to the figure on horseback recognizing it as a bishop giving alms for the building of the hospital and symbolic of the church's early role in providing money for its development. His horse is almost knocking over a stone mason bent over a drawing with dividers in his right hand and further to the right a pile of bricks to be used in the construction. I wondered why none of the buildings in the background resembled anything actually built, but once again the ladder on the far right seemed symbolic of the hospital's name.

THE BISHOP GIVING ALMS FOR THE EXPANSION OF THE HOSPITAL
Domenico di Bartolo 1442-3

Half way down the hall I couldn't resist taking a detailed look at the panel on the right hand wall - one of the most famous of all the ones in the room - THE CARE OF THE SICK. Looking at it I could see straight away that it was all about the daily work of the hospital in the early 15th century - a medieval ER or A & E as we could call it in Britain. In the centre, right at the front, a young man with a deep gash to his left leg is being cleaned and washed before being tended to by a surgeon who approaches in his red hat and carries instruments to treat him. On the far left I noticed a man being brought in on a stretcher as a doctor examines a glass with urine in it and shows it to a student. Over on the right a portly friar is listening to a confession of a bed ridden patient before he goes for surgery. To the rear, behind a gate, I caught a glimpse of patients' meals being prepared. The whole scene I found to be fascinating, for it certainly gives a good impression of the complex treatments and care being delivered to patients by the different types of hospital staff.

CARING FOR THE SICK
Domenico di Bartolo 1440-41

The final scene I wanted to give detailed attention to was on the same wall closer to the entrance hall. Entitled THE REARING AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND THE MARRIAGE OF A "DAUGHTER" OF THE HOSPITAL. Again I found this to be a moving scene dealing with all aspects of the care and welfare of the foundlings from cradle to adulthood. On the left I there are wet nurses breastfeeding whilst other women play and teach children to read and write. To the right, underneath the portico, the rector marries one of the orphaned children, now a young woman, to a suitable young man - presenting  her with a small dowry in a tiny bag in his right hand. The hospital clearly cared for its orphans from cradle to adulthood.

THE REARING AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND
THE MARRIAGE OF A DAUGHTER OF THE HOSPITAL
Domenic di Bartolo 1441 - 2

During the whole time Jon and I spent in this special place only one other family came in to the room. It was a near perfect viewing experience and extremely moving. I was also fascinated to discover that this hall was being used as a ward of the hospital right up to 1975 - a large black and white photograph showed patients in bed with the frescoes above their heads. I wonder what is was like having these scenes to contemplate every day?? Below are some photographs of the hospital in action in the 20th century.

THE PILGRIMS' HALL BEING USED AS A HOSPITAL WARD IN THE 20TH CENTURY

CARING FOR ORPHANED CHILDREN IN THE MODERN PERIOD AT
SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA

My final verdict on this as a place to visit - well I would have to say 10/10. I found it interesting - no fascinating, on such a variety of levels for it satisfied both my intellectual curiosity as well as providing a warm feeling of well-being. Seeing the results of charitable work and caring in action over an 800 year period is - well - such a positive thing. Walk through those halls and rooms and you can't help but imbibe the history of the place and think about the generations who've been treated in this place. I can understand the citizens of Siena having mixed emotions about moving the hospita to a new site in the city. There's also lots more to see than I've described here and if you  are going to do it justice you need to reserve at least a couple of hours just for this one visit. The entrance charge is 9 euros though we received a seniors discount making it 14 euros for two people It's also possible to purchase tickets which combine with the Duomo and the Duomo's museum - but you would need a whole day for all of that!!

FAREWELL FROM THE PILGRIMS' HALL
SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA

HAPPY NEW YEAR WHEN IT COMES

IAN x

PS PLEASE SHARE THIS POSTING & MY BLOG ADDRESS IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO YOU THINK MIGHT ENJOY READING IT. THANKS. IAN

PANETONNE - ITALY'S SIGNATURE CHRISTMAS TREAT

Christmas is a time for epicurean treats and back home in England I've always enjoyed a piece of iced and marzipanned rich, fruity Christmas cake over the holiday period. Preparations for it would begin in the autumn with my Mum and her friend buying in all the ingredients. Then there would be the big mixing and baking day following an age old family recipe they'd used for years which was written out on a yellowing curled up bit of paper which only saw the light of day once a year. This would be followed by lots of occasions when rum or brandy would be added to the cake's base through holes made with one of gran's knitting needles! I never enquired whether it had been washed first. Nearer to Christmas there would be an event with lots of fun rolling out the marzipan, one of my absolute favourites at Christmas time and this would then be followed by another day involving the application of whiter than white royal icing and the addition of a little plastic Santa Claus and perhaps a "Merry Christmas" greeting made from silver paper. The days of preparation always culminated with everyone eating a slice of cake at Christmas Day teatime when my mum and Peggy would enquire - is it alright? - is it as good as last year's cake?? No one dared mention the one that had a burnt taste to it a few years previously! I've brought a small artisan made one with me to Italy this year and its sitting on the sideboard still in its brown paper wrapping waiting for the big day next Monday. It was necessary to bring one because here in Italy they don't eat the rich Christmas cake I've just described for another delicious Christmas delicacy prevails - panetonne!

I first came across panetonne back in 1998 when I moved down to London from Scotland to take up a new position at Christie's Education. There, in the build up to my first Christmas in my new job, my colleague and friend Pietro Raffo, who hailed from Lucca in Tuscany, presented me with a beautiful boxed and ribboned panetonne he'd bought in the posh Fortnum and Masons in London. I took it home to Yorkshire and on Christmas Day my family and friends partook of this most Italian of treats. Along with the Christmas cake it was savoured by everyone and only the box was left by the time tea time had ended. But what exactly is panetonne and where did it hail from??

PANETONNE IS A MUCH LOVED CHRISTMAS TREAT HERE IN ITALY

Essentially a panetonne is a sweet, citrus and raisin flavoured loaf cake cylindrical in shape and with a domed top. It's always taller than its wide and its light, airy interior contrasts with the darker colour of the outside crust. Just like the English Christmas cake the recipe involves a lengthy process and in the case of panetonne the proving of the dough to produce the light, fluffy texture, can last several days.

A TRADITIONAL ITALIAN PANETONNE

There are arguments about its origins but most sources believe it originated in northern Italy, most likely in Milan, during the medieval period. This idea is supported by a surviving 15th century manuscript by Georgio Valagussa, who was a tutor to members of the noble Sforza family, where the sweet loaf cake is mentioned. It seems quite likely it was made from a yeast based wheat bread recipe which was enhanced with the peel, zest and raisins, to make it in to something special for the Christmas celebrations. When doing the research for this posting however I came across several stories associated with the origins of panetonne which are worth sharing here.

The first of these legends supports the notion that panetonne had its origins in Milan. In the late 15th century Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, was holding a court dinner for Christmas. Unfortunately his chef, having masterly prepared all the main course dishes, burnt the dolce (dessert). When it came time for the dessert to be served the distressed man called on his staff for ideas of what could be done. A lowly pan washer and general dogsbody called Toni, offered the chef a sweet loaf he'd made earlier that day from leftovers which he'd intended to eat himself at bedtime. The chef sliced it and served it to the Duke and his guests and awaited the outcome. The chef was eventually sent for and the Duke specifically wanted to complement the chef on the dessert course - it was a huge success. The "bread of Toni" thus gave birth to this popular sweet bread - PANETONNE.

LUDOVICO SFORZA, DUKE OF MILAN
DID HE EAT THE FIRST PANETONNE?

A second story attributes the origin of panetonne to a nun - Sister Ughetta, who at Christmas time fashioned the sweet cake as a treat for her convent sisters who normally ate very frugally throughout the year. She added fruit and peel to the mix and before baking used a knife to make a crucifix shape in the top of the cake.

It's the third legend that appeals to my own imagination however. A nobleman falconer Ughetto falls in love with a girl from a lowly background for she's a baker's daughter and her father's business has come across hard times. Ughetto's family are apalled at his choice of future wife and forbid the courtship and any marriage between the two lovers. Towards Christmas Ughetto sells some of his beloved falcons to help out his lover's father. He purchases butter and sugar and then sneaks in to the bakehouse and adds the ingredients along with peel and raisins to the usual bread mix and a new type of loaf is baked. It soon turns out to be a runaway success with customers and business booms making his girlfriend's father a rich man. Impressed with the changed fortunes of the family Ughetto's parents allow their son to marry the baker's daughter and they all lived happily ever after!!

Whatever the origins of the sweet loaf - it was in the early 20th century that panetonne production changed from being a largely artisan made product in to something produced on a much larger scale. Two enterprising Milanese bakers seperately began to produce it on a factory scale - in such large quantities that it became possible to export it to the rest of Italy and even abroad where there were large immigrant Italian populations. Though there have been many takeovers and Nestle are now the owner of a number of original producers, there are still several large companies making panetonne. Few Italians make it using a home recipe though and today its been estimated that over a 100 million panetonnes are made for home and export consumption in the run up to each Christmas. It's thought to involve at least 600 million euros of business every year. Since 2013, in Milan, a competition is held for the best panetonne and a special award is made to the judge's choice. In 2016 it was evidently won by Giuseppe Zippo from Salento.

Walk in to any Italian supermarket in the run up to Christmas and you will come across boxed panetonnes piled high in special displays. We went down to the supermarket in Chiusi this morning and I took the photograph below to illustrate the point.

DISPLAYS OF PANETONNE IN THE "PAM" SUPERSTORE, IN CHIUSI, TUSCANY

There are however, in many Umbrian and Tuscan towns, artisan bakers who still make panetonnes at Christmas time in the traditional way and I'm always bowled over by their splendour if not the price that is charged for them. My favourite artisan cake shop and chocolatier, Nando's, is in Orvieto just over half an hour south of where we are near Castiglione. Every year they have a magnificent display of panetonnes made on the premises for their customers. One year I will splash out and buy one!!

OUR FAVOURITE "NANDO'S" PASTICCERIA IN ORVIETO, UMBRIA

So do I have a verdict on whether its Christmas Cake from England or Panetonne from Italy??
Well - I have grown to love this aromatic, light and fluffy Italian delicacy, especially when its served with marscapone cream and a glass of sweed dessert wine. I suppose the old cliche "When in Rome do as the Romans do" has to apply for Christmas here in Umbria. That won't stop me sneaking a piece of my Christmas cake at some point over the holiday though and there will be a toast to Mum and Peggy for Christmas cakes past. I bet they'll be looking down and saying "how come you didn't make the cake yourself to the old family recipe? - how could this one match up to ours?" Somehow I also don't believe they'd think the panetonne was a good enough substitute for the home made English Christmas cake!

MERRY CHRISTMAS
IAN


PS - I forgot to mention that the Italians serve panetonne at any time on Christmas day but most often as a dolce after the main meal. It's considered to be bad luck to cut off the crown and eat that separately evidently!!

PINOCCHIO - THE POPULAR TUSCAN FOLK TALE

I always find unwrapping Christmas tree decorations brings mixed emotions to mind as many of the ones I use at home date from my childhood. Thinking of where particular ones came from, or of the associations they have with particular places or people who have passed or are no longer part of my life, is a bitter sweet experience and one I feel hard not to be nostalgic about. Here in Italy however, where we only have a small artificial tree I bought at IKEA a couple of years ago, all the decorations are relatively new and have little in the way of associations over and above me remembering I bought most of them in the local LIDL in Castiglione del Lago! This year however, I've just come across one decoration I do have a particular fondness for - a wooden jointed figure of Pinocchio I bought in a tourist shop in Florence when we spent Christmas there in 2012. The story of the little wooden boy with the long nose is probably one of Italy's best known folk tales and its perhaps co-incidental that just a couple of weeks ago I gave a talk on the early history of Disney where the film of Pinocchio was introduced. But where did the story of Pinocchio originate and why is the little wooden boy one of Tuscany's favourite sons??

The jointed wooden figure Christmas tree ornament of Pinocchio
 I bought in a Florence tourist souvenir shop a couple of years ago. 

Pinocchio is a character created by the Tuscan novelist and social commentator Carlo Collodi in the early 1880's. Collodi had started publishing books in the 50's, but Pinocchio became his signature work in 1881, when living in the town of Pescia, he sent a short story about the life of a wooden puppet to a newspaper editor friend in Rome; it was published in the children's section of the paper and went down well with its young audience to the extent the editor asked for more. Between 1881 and 1882 Collodi's work was serialized in the newspaper finally becoming a proper published book in 1883.

CARLO COLLODI & L'AVENTURE DI PINOCCHIO

In the original serial version of the story of Pinocchio, the troublesome boy puppet, after numerous misdemeanours,  has rather a dark ending when he is punished by being hanged from a tree at the end of chapter 15.

Collodi's first rather unpleasant ending to the story of Pinocchio

A comissioning of further chapters from Collodi by the newspaper editor led to a more optimistic and palatable outcome in the 1883 book after the "fairy with the turquoise hair" (the blue fairy in the Disney film) transformed the wooden marionette version of Pinocchio into a real boy. The book was first translated in to English by Mary Alice Murray in 1892.

Illustrations from one of the early versions of Collodi's book. 

The story of Pinocchio will be familiar to many. Carpenter Master Antonio (known as Master Cherry to his friends) chooses a piece of pinewood from which to make a leg for his table only to discover the piece of wood shouts out at him as he begins work. Terrified of going further he gives the piece of wood to Gepetto, the poor wood carver who lives next door. Harbouring a secret ambition to earn a living as a puppeteer Gepetto begins work on the log aiming to produce a boy marionette as a substitute for the boy he'd never had. He names the puppet Pinocchio who is mischievous and troublesome from the start. When his feet are finished he kicks Gepetto and as soon as the woodcarver has taught him to walk he escapes the house and runs in to town. It's not long before a talking cricket which has lived in Gepetto's house for more than a hundred years warns the boy puppet of the consequences of pleasure seeking and disobedience. Angered by the advice Pinocchio throws a hammer at the cricket and kills it. He returns as a ghost later in the stories.

Falling in to bad company was an essential part of the Collodi story

There are lots of tales in the ensuing chapters which describe the boy puppet's rather obnoxious character and the scrapes he gets in to. I love the one where he falls asleep in the house with his feet on a stove only to wake up later to find them burnt to a crisp causing Gepetto to have to make new ones for him. Easily led and naive in the extreme Pinocchio goes on to fall in to bad company and his perilous involvement with the cat and the fox is well known through its inclusion in the Disney film version of the story. Its in the later chapters, which formed the second part of the finished book, that Pinocchio comes under the benevolent influence of the fairy who will teach him to learn from experience and value study, hard work and above all responsibility. When he finally puts the saving of the life of Gepetto before his own by using his intelligence and actions to bravely rescue him from the mouth of the terrible dogfish that he comes of age. Shortly after, during a dream, Pinocchio visualizes the fairy visiting  and kissing him. When he wakes he has been changed in to a real boy and his former puppet body lies lifeless nearby. Its the ending we all would have hoped for.

You might be forgiven for thinking I've fogotton one of the most important and endearing aspects of the story of Pinocchio - the fact that his nose got longer every time he lied - which of course he had a propensity to do. There are several references to this in the Collodi story perhaps the most moving the one where Pinocchio cries over his deformed nose but the solution to the problem being the fairy summoning woodpeckers to come and peck it back to normal size!!

Jen Grafton illustration of the woodpeckers descending onf Pinocchio's nose. 

Pinocchio is obviously a tale with moral value - obnoxious behaviour and the pursuit of hedonism results in adverse outcomes, whereas a moral code based on hard work and a caring responisble outcome reaps its own positive rewards. There is something akin to Ovid's "Metamorphoses" in the tale as well - many feel the positivity arising from the transformation and metamorphosis from wooden puppet to a living boy. In doing research for this posting I was also attracted to the theory proposed by one critic which suggested there was another paradigm to the tale of Pinocchio as well. The story was penned at a time when Italy had gone through its own transformation through the process of Unification and industrialization of the north of the country was changing society fundamentally. The movement of peasants from their simple country lives to dwelling and working in the industrial cities of places like Milan was fraught with difficulty for the naive and unsuspecting and perilous to say the least. This critic saw a parallel in the trials of the simple, naive wooden puppet as it took on a world outside the home of Gepetto the woodcarver. An interesting thought!

The Disney film version of the story of Collodi's Pinocchio released in 1940 was perceived by the critics to be a masterpiece of cinematography though strangely it was a bit of a disaster at the box office. Quite why is something of a mystery given the success of Snow White just a year or so before. One clever wag I spoke about this to suggested it was because the film didn't have a "princess" in it which is another interesting thought. What is also intriguing though is that Walt Disney himself perceived the Pinocchio as described in Collodi's book as potentially unattractive to a cinema going public. Put simply - Walt believed Pinocchio was too unlikeable.

 He also thought the tall, elongated puppet as described in the book was too lifeless and so Pinocchio got a makeover. He was given a rounder and chubbier face, a bright yellow hat with blue band and a red feather, red lederhosen and big, bright blue eyes. His personality was also made warmer and friendlier and in essence "nicer" and the introduction of Jiminy Cricket - an enhancement of the talking cricket killed by Pinocchio in the book, was a touch of brilliance. Developed as Pinocchio's conscience, Jiminy becames a major character in the film. Having said all of this though, the film stuck in essence to the events, trials and tribulations introduced by Collodi in the book. The film also ends with Pinocchio being introduced to the viewer as selfless, sensible, responsible and brave. The boy came good!!

Last week I went in to a Sainsbury's supermarket back home in England before flying out to Italy. Guess what I purchased and brought with me - a digitally enhanced version of the original Disney film which I'll be sure to watch on Christmas Day. PERFECTO.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A A HAPPY NEW YEAR
IAN XX

One person who has read this posting has questioned what Pinocchio would be like if he'd been created today. Now there's something to muse on and I'll leave you my readers to think about that  - no suggestions from me!! It's also intereating to mention that the tourist souvenir figures sold in shops all over Tuscany are formed as a likeness of the illustrations in the Collodi books and not based on the Disney character. I think that's a good thing.

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS - A PAINTING FOR CHRISTMAS - 2017

Well its been a while since my last post and for that I apologize. Work, travels and the prospect of moving house here in England have stopped me from settling down to what I should have been concentrating on and now it's almost Christmas again. Where does the time go? Next week we will be travelling to Italy to spend Christmas and New Year at our place near Castiglione del Lago in Umbria, so our beloved Italy is firmly back in the frame.

I see Christmas time as a period for reflection these days and now that Jon and I are getting old I find myself looking back over my life to Christmases past. Though I'm not a regular church goer my Christian values still always bring me back to the story of the nativity and one memory which returns every Christmas is the image in my mind of my stage debut when, aged 6, I took the role of a shepherd in my school nativity play! As if it were yesterday I can see myself dressed in a brown tunic made from an old wool blanket tied with a piece of string at the waist. A long wooden stick curled at the end acted as a makeshift crook. I had no words to say but the event sticks in my mind as something special, as I am sure other similar stories do for others. What better choice of painting then than a depiction of the shepherds visiting the stable in Bethlehem to worship the new born baby Jesus?

Throughout the history of western art painters have depicted the story of the "Adoration of the Shepherds" presumably because it was a popular choice of subject with church patrons. Notable artists to have depicted the subject are Giotto, Corregio, Giorgione, El Greco, Mantegna, Poussin and Rembrandt to name but a few. I haven't gone for any of these but chosen one from the art gallery in Perugia, the city just down the road from our place in Castiglione del Lago.

The Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria is housed in the  Palazzo del Priori close to the main square and its fantastic. It beautifully displays over 3000 works of art in 40 rooms and the collection ranges from panel paintings inspired by Byzantine art to Renaissance masterpieces by the like of Umbrian born Perugino. My chosen picture is from this collection and is shown below. 

"Adoration of the Shepherds" c1575 - Marcello Venusti (c1512-1575)
Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria, Perugia.

I've seen this picture several times but didn't know much about the artist so I thought it was time to do a bit of research and the findings turned out to be interesting. Venusti came from Como and not a lot seems to be known of his early life other that that he was a pupil of painter Perino del Vaga in Rome in the 1540's. He seems to be best known for being commissioned in 1548 by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese to make a copy in oils of Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" in the Sistine Chapel, Rome. This is now in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples and in recent times it served as the best record available of what the fresco actually looked like when it was newly done and before many of the nude figures had draperies added in the 1560's. The copy was made during Michelangelo's lifetime and it would seem the master approved of Venusti's work. The work secured the painter's reputation and he and Michelangelo also became good friends collaborating in a number of ways. The Master allowed Venusti to execute numerous small paintings of religious subjects related to his designs and its also known that the artist added settings to some of Michelangelo's figure studies. In my chosen painting the shepherd standing on the right of the composition has a twisted pose surely based on similar figures in some of Michelangelo's works. The slightly unbalanced composition, the unrealistic kneeling position of the shepherd with the green tunic on the right, the wine gum colours of the clothing of many of the figures and the long fingered elegant hands of Mary and even that of the bearded shepherd on the left are all reminiscent of a sophisticated style of painting which emerged in Italy after 1520 called Mannerism - a precursor of the Baroque which would develop towards the end of the century. 

Overall Venusti produced a composition for this painting which is a fairly traditional rendering of the subject. The scene is set in the interior of a windowed stable with a landscape visible in the background.The baby Jesus lies in a crib with Mary and Joseph looking on. They are surrounded by shepherds, two on the right and three on the left and there are two donkeys in the right hand side background and a lamb in the foreground close to the picture plane. Above, in a cloud, a host of angels carry a convoluted banner bearing an inscription. There are some lovely details visible in the picture. Notice the standing bearded shepherd on the left carries a lidded pail, he has a large hole in his hose and between his legs we can see his two sheep dogs. The lamb in the foreground is the traditional gift of a shepherd but is also rich in symbolism - a reminder of Christ's sacrifice as the Lamb of God. 

The story of the Adoration of the Shepherds is told in the New Testament in the gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 2, verses 13-14. The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds whilst they tended their flocks and announced the birth of Christ in the Bethlehem stable nearby. The story continues with "and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying - Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and good will to all men". I find it charming that Venusti has chosen to represent this text in the picture through the already mentioned banner held by the angels above. It's in latin of course. 

This ever popular Christian story is one of hope and joy - immortalised in the hymn I'm just humming in my head "Whilst shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground ....." and I could have imagined it appearing on the front of a Christmas card years ago - but not today. As society becomes ever more secular and the commercialisation of Christmas becomes more rampant and force fed to us through every medium you can think of - I have enjoyed taking another look as this traditional 16th century painting - I feel better for it!!

I hope to be back again soon - but Seasons Greetings and Happy Christmas anyway !!

THERE ARE OVER 90 POSTS IN THIS BLOG WRITTEN OVER SEVERAL YEARS SO I HOPE YOU WILL LOOK AT MORE OF THEM OR EVEN CONSIDER BEING A FOLLOWER AND THUS HELPING ME KEEP MY BLOG ALIVE. CHEERS - IAN 

Ian 

GIORGIO VASARI - A PILLAR IN THE HISTORY OF ART!

GIORGIO VASARI (1511-1574) - AN ART HISTORY FOUNDING FATHER

One of the things I love about travelling around Umbria and Tuscany is the fact that there are plenty of places to go associated with the lives of celebrity figures associated with the Italian Renaissance and I don't just mean visiting sites where their work can be seen. It's also fascinating to visit houses where people lived as well as worked, or even to see the place where they were born. For three years we've been going to Arezzo in Tuscany - prompted by the fact that it's the venue for a monthly antiques extravaganza in the streets of the old town. Additionally, however there's a multitude of churches and other buildings to visit - every one with something interesting to see.

Self portrait of Girorgio Vasari dated 1511

Each time we visit the town we mooch round the stalls in the main square - the Piazza Grande - which is surrounded by important and beautiful buildings dating back to the 16th century and beyond. On the top side of the sloping square there's an arresting and beautiful building which has an arched and columned loggia on the ground floor. At the left hand end of it there's a plaque inserted in to the wall of the first pillar which serves as a commemoration to one of the city's most famous and renowned sons - Giorgio Vasari - the architect who designed the 16th century building of which the loggia is part.

Western end of the Vasari loggia containing the
relief panel by Castelluci

Vasari looks out over the street from his window
vantage point.

The plaque is a marble relief depicting Vasari as a mature, bearded man leaning on a window sill looking out. Its 19th century in date and was designed by the Florentine architect Castelluci and sculpted by A Lazzerini using a block of marble from the famous Carrara quarries near Pisa. I can't pass by it without taking a look, for Vasari stays in my mind as one of the founding figures of art history and any student of the subject will have heard of and probably studied his work. Though he was in someways a typical Renaissance man - being a painter, architect and historian he is best known for his famous book "LIVES OF THE MOST EXCELLENT PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS" first published in 1550. Essentially its the very first encylopedia of artists' biographies. The literature on Vasari reveals he was the first writer to us the word "Renaissance" in print; he was also considered responsible for the first use of the term "Gothic Art". The book included a section of technical methods used in painting and there was a second edition in 1568. The artists contemporary to Vasari himself (Vasari was a friend of Michelangelo for instance) appear as the most reliable - those artists he writes about who lived in earlier times such as Giotto, are the most suspect.

"Artists' Lives" may be criticised  by art historian's today for its unreliability, lack of substantiating evidence and bias towards Florentine artists, but the fact is it's an important milestone in the development of the subject. More recent research, based on reliable sources, has led to modification of  Vasari's biographies and today students of art history use his book with caution. The book is still in print today so if you are tempted to delve in Artists' Lives Vasari style you can pop down to Barnes and Noble or Waterstones and get your own glimpse in to this fascinating work.

Frontispiece from Artists' Lives

Vasari was born in Arezzo and he never forgot his home town. In 1540 he bought a two storey house on Via Vente Settembre, just off one side of the Piazza Grande, whilst it was still being built. The house was finally completed in 1548 but the time he spent there was limited as he was constantly required to be in Florence and Rome and in the latter stages of his life he spent most of his time at his permanent residence in Rome. Having said that he undertook decorative schemes inside the property and adorned them with paintings by his own hand and also including works by other artists. He used the property for storing and displaying his collection of works of art.

Vasari's Arezzo house on Via Venti Settembre

The house was enlarged in the 19th century and in the last century it was occupied as a private residence by a number of owners. In 1955 it became an Arezzo museum and extensive restoration was carried out. Today the external appearance of the house is not quite as it was in Vasari's time as various modifications have been made to it in different periods including the insertion of extra doorways. An archive of documents containing correspondence by the writer's own hand together with letters written to him by such artists as Michelangelo can also be found there.

Details from the 16th century interior decoration scheme of
Vasari's house. 

So - this is an intriguing property to visit if you make Arezzo one you your Tuscan destinations. It tends to be overlooked as everyone seems to make a beeline for the church containing Piero della Francesco's "Miracle of the True Cross" fresco cycle. Don't miss that - but do find time to make a pilgrimage to this Palazzo which belonged to one the town's most important sons. And if you visit on the first Sunday of the month you can browse round the antiques market too. I wonder what Vasari would have thought of the assortment of dodgy paintings propped up against the wall of his house on the days when the antiques market is held?

THERE ARE OVER 90 POSTS MAKING UP THIS BLOG SO I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE A LOOK AT SOME OF THE OTHERS OR EVEN CONSIDER BECOMING A FOLLOWER THUS HELPING ME KEEP MY BLOG ALIVE. 

CHEERS - IAN 

ITALIAN MICROMOSAIC JEWELLERY - AN ANTIQUE CENTRE FIND

A WEEKEND TRAWL TO A LOCAL ANTIQUES CENTRE TURNS UP SOME INTERESTING PIECES OF ITALIAN JEWELLERY

I like nothing better than to go "antiquing" at the weekends. This might take the form of a visit to a Saturday auction, a trip to an antique centre, a visit to a town where there are loads of charity shops or best of all a mooch round a busy car boot sale where real bargains can be found. Sometimes I come home with nothing at all, but on other occasions the car can be almost full of stuff - some of it destined for our stall in a nearby antiques centre. Our garage is full of items waiting to have value added to them (I like to call it) which means they need cleaning, repairing, restoring, reviving - what ever you want to call it. Jon despairs of the number of objects waiting for such attention and every now and again I have a blitz to make room for more. Am I obsessed I ask myself? I guess some people would call it that, but who can resist a bargain when its under one's nose I also ask? - I know I can't!

A couple of weeks ago we decided on a Saturday morning trip across the Fens - a huge lowland, peaty area surrounding the Wash, marshy in medieval times but drained in subsequent centuries to produce some of the most fertile land in Britain. All sorts of things are grown - everything from cereal crops to flower bulbs and much of the vegetable stock found in Britain's supermarkets comes from this region. Not surprisingly there's a lot of money round here - Fenland farmers can be very rich indeed! All this makes for good pickings in the local charity shops and antiques emporia so its not often that I come home empty handed after a trip to Wisbech, Spalding, Boston or the like. This particular weekend we decided to head off towards Kings Lynn. On the route we'd chosen I knew of a local antiques centre with a number of traders which we'd been to before - I couldn't wait to get hunting!!

Our Antiques Centre destination near Holbeach, Lincolnshire

That Saturday the large centre was crammed with stock. Many of the stalls were full of large pieces of 19th and early 20th century brown furniture - items its hard to find a market for these days, despite the bargain prices. I still can't get my head round the fact that people will pay large sums of money for pieces of furniture given the shabby chic look with a coat of chalk paint and a rub down with coarse sand paper and yet resist the £80 to £120 pounds which would buy a nice Georgian oak or mahogany corner cupboard. Where is the sense in that?

On this trip we were not looking for furniture so on entering the building it was important to try and ignore the plethora of Victorian cabinets and 20th century sets of chairs and concentrate on the smalls. There was also quite a lot of reproduction stuff on some of the stalls, but it was not difficult to filter this out of the reckoning. In one of the aisles I remembered a stall where I'd bought some nice pieces of 20th century costume jewellery and an art deco tin box with jars inside so I made a beeline for that. Disappointingly, on first viewing, I couldn't find a single thing I was interested in so I carried on. Twenty minutes later and it was looking grim - no finds at all!! My motto has been not to give up easily and always to do a second run if the first one yields a blank - so it was another tour round the stalls for a another trawl. Soon I was back at the stand which had drawn my interest in the first place. At the back of the stall was an indifferent looking art deco china cabinet (locked) which the dealer was using to display small items she must have thought would appeal to the light fingered. The top shelf yielded a blank - no items of interest there. On the middle shelf there were some bits of run of the mill costume jewellery with nothing standing out. It was the bottom shelf or bust. Sitting in the middle of the shelf was a small oval picture frame which piqued my interest and I had to get down (painfully I might add) on my hands and knees to get a better look. On peeking through the glass I recognized it had a decorative coloured border so it was time to get the lady looking after the centre to come and unlock the cabinet.

The little photograph frame (only 6.5 cms from top to bottom) I recognized as being of mid 20th century date and therefore of no great age, but it was its decorative border that was of interest. It had been crafted from Italian micromosaic work - an ancient technique which could be traced all the way back to the Roman period. The term was coined by wealthy 20th century collector Sir Arthur Gilbert.

Miniature Photograph Frame 6.5cms tall

To make an item in micromosaic tiny square shaped rods of coloured glass are chopped in to small cubes called tesserae. These are then carefully crafted in to delicate images of objects, scenes or patterns to produce the desired image.

The Technique of micromosaic assembly from coloured glass rods.
Here the image is of the Duomo in Florence

Scenes from the ruins at Pompeii or Roman landmarks were especially popular. Essentially the technique hasn't changed much over the centuries though the quality of the end result has. Compare the difference below between a 19th century brooch crafted in the middle of the 19th century for wealthy Roman visitors and one made for the mass tourist trade in the middle of the 20th century. In the 19th century the quality was much better and the micromosaic work was much closer set, the tesserae were often set in gold or silver and firms like Castellani made pieces for a fairly exclusive market. This type of jewellery, made in workshops in Rome and Florence, was fashionable in the mid 19th century but went out of fashion in about 1870.

Mid 19th century Micromosaic brooch with a view of the Pantheon
in Rome and mounted on silver with a filigree frame. 

Mid 20th century mass produced Micromosaic
brooch with floral decoration on a base metal mount. 

As well as the little oval picture frame there were two other items on the bottom shelf of the cabinet -
a pair of clip on ear rings with floral decoration similar to the brooch above and more unusual - an intricate bracelet made from joined together oblong panels allowing flexibility round a lady's wrist. I have to confess of not having seen one of these before so I'm guessing they are quite rare. I have also never seen one with a panel making reference to the place of origin. This one is marked "VENEZIA" in the central panel and was presumably made in Murano - a centre of production for this cheap tourist jewellery.

Clip on Micromosaic Ear Rings with floral decoration

Micromosaic bracelet made in Murano, Venice

The three finds are not rare items, nor are they of high quality of course, but they are becoming collectable and prices have started to rise. I paid £12 for the photoframe, £6 for the ear rings and £15 for the bracelet. I considered these prices to be very reasonable indeed and I would estimate the values at an antique and collectors fair, or even on ebay to be more in the region of £30 - £40 for the frame, £15 - £20 for the ear rings and perhaps in excess of £40 for the bracelet. This is definitely an interesting area for inexpensive collecting and there are bargains to be had as this visit to the Fens has shown. The jury's out at the moment on the final destination for my 3 pieces. I've a mind to keep them for a while before making a decision whether to sell them on. Not that I will be wearing the jewellery myself you understand!!

Thanks for reading and KBO
Until next time
Ian

Photographs of the pieces bought at the Antiques Centre courtesy of Jonathan Hills

THE PICCOLOMINI LIBRARY IN SIENNA CATHEDRAL

It's back to Siena for this month's post and I've just remembered that its coming up to a year since we took some friends to see Siena Cathedral. I wrote about the fantastic inlaid marble floor in an earlier post but saved one the most glorious aspects of the cathedral's interior for the post I'm writing today. The other thing I've just recalled is the connection between a post from a few weeks ago when I was writing about the artist Pinturicchio in connection with work he'd done on a chapel in Spello and the work the artist did here in Siena Cathedral - the commission which is the focus of this post.

FRONT FACADE OF SIENA CATHEDRAL 

To visit Siena Cathedral is an overwhelming experience for there is so much to see and take in. It's a feast for all the senses and no more so than in relation to the library contained in a room off the left hand side of the nave. The transition from the relatively dark main body of the church to the jewel like interior of this sublime space is a memorable moment in itself (savour it when you visit) for its like walking in to a fantastically coloured jewel box and it is quite simply stunning. So where did this magnificent interior come from - who was responsible for it? and what was its purpose?

THE PICCOLOMINI LIBRARY 

Well firstly the name Piccolomini Libarary is a useful starting point. The room was constructed as a dedicated space for an important collection of humanist antique and medieval manuscripts collected by Pope Pius III of the the Piccolimini family who originated from the small town of Pienza in Tuscany not far from Siena. In fact when it was completed the manuscript collections were never housed here and the space has since become famous for the artistic scheme of decoration carried out by Pinturrichio for Pope Pius III. The Pope had wanted a room dedicated to his famous uncle's memory and a fresco cycle which would tell the story of his life.

This Uncle was a man named Enea Silvio Piccolomini who came from a relatively humble background in the Val d'Orcia, entered the church as a priest and rose to become firstly an important diplomat within the Vatican hierarchy and then later a Cardinal and finally becoming Pope Pius II. As a diplomat Enea had played an important role in leading negotiations between the Pope and King Frederick III of Austria, also playing an important part in brokering the marriage between the Emperor and Elonora of Aragon and making arrangements for his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome itself in 1452. Rising rapidly through the ranks of the catholic church on the back of his achievements, he was made a Cardinal in 1456 and elected Pope just a couple of years later in 1458. He died in 1464.

The Cathedral library dedicated to this Pope was painted and decorated by Pinturicchio (Bernadino di Betto) between 1502 and 1508. The main frescos, in ten large compartments, relate stories from the Pope's life, illustrating such subjects as Ennio Silvio paying homage to the new Holy Roman Emperor, presenting Eleonora of Aragon to Frederick, him becoming a cardinal and his election of Pope. From the first scene at the far end on the right wall where Enio is depicted as a young boy, he gradually ages through the stories. Pinturicchio makes splendid use of all the modern Renaissance techniques of perspective and modelling of the human form to present beautifully costumed figures in brilliant colours set against a combination of real and imagined landscape backgrounds. Latin inscriptions provide titles for every scene in panels at the base of each one. To view a panel fresco is to look through a window at a scene taking place in the foreground, the eye then cleverly drawn through to the far distance beyond. Each one is beautifully composed, balanced, harmonious and worthy of detailed attention down to the finest details.

ENNIO PICCOLOMINI AS AMBASSADOR TO THE COURT OF
JAMES I OF SCOTLAND 

The depiction of the stories themselves though is only part of the overall decorative scheme for the compartments are separated by painted decorative "grotesque" pilasters inspired by the decoration uncovered in the excavations of Nero's Golden House (the Domus Aurea) in Rome. Each is also framed by wonderfully illusionistic arches. The vaulted and compartmented ceiling is amazing, painted in red, blue and gold again with lots of fashionable Roman ornament surrounding the painted scenes in the small panels. Not surprisingly the papal arms feature in the centre of the ceiling. You might want to take a small pair of binoculars with you to look at these. Oh and don't forget to take a look at the sculpture of the Three Graces in the centre of the room - its a Roman copy of a Greek original.

HOMAGE TO POPE EUGENIUS IV
IN THE NAME OF EMPEROR FREDERICK III

This stunning interior was surely Pinturicchio's finest achievement. The room, relatively recently restored, is another Siena "must see" experience and you can discover details of the opening times and charges for the library on the cathedral's website.

Ciao & KBO
Until next time
Ian