Is Italian really the world’s sexiest accent? uh……yeah, it really is! Vero!

October 19, 2014October 21, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Marcello, Marcello, dimmi en italiano, per favore!

Italian: The World’s Sexiest Accent?
Silvia Donati | Monday, September 29, 2014 – 11:42
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Italian is the world’s sexiest accent, according to a poll conducted by CNN.
There are an estimated 7,000 languages on earth; CNN came up with 13 which “sound sexiest to native-English speakers” by using, admittedly, an unscientific method: asking around the office. They then compiled a list where Italian ranked first, before French and Spanish, second and third respectively.
This is why Italian is the sexiest, as described by CNN:
“Raw, unfiltered, the Italian accent is a vowelgasm that reflects the spectrum of Italic experience: the fire of its bellicose beginnings … the romance of the Renaissance … the dysfunction of anything resembling a government since Caesar.
Insatiable, predatory and possessive, this is sex as a second language.
Sounds like: A Ferrari saxophone.”

Va bene, let’s have one more look at Marcello:

Ah, Marcello, Marcello…ti amo per sempre!

E is for EVERYTHING

October 9, 2014October 12, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

While I am certain everybody knows that “e” is the 5th letter of the Latin alphabet, and that it is also a vowel,

I betcha didn’t know that “e” is the most commonly used letter in many languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch, to name a few.

Above is an E such as you might find in an illustrated manuscript. It’s complex.

Let us relax our minds by gazing at a simple little “e”

Ah. So soothing.

Just as with people, there are all kinds of “e”s in the world. The world of E is as big as humankind’s collective imagination. For example, there are “e”s for gardeners:

There are “e”s for animal lovers:

There are “e”s for complicated minds:

There are “e”s for people who see things in patterns:

But, here is the best part of all! You cannot buy an “e”.

But only because they are freeeeeeeeeee!

Here, I’ll give you one of mine:

L a u r t t a

Addio, Oscar.

October 19, 2013October 26, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

One of the people I have held most dear to me was a man I met at the American Academy in Rome in September of 1985. Oscar Hijuelos died last Saturday at the age of 62 of heart failure. In truth, it is not that surprising, for here was a man with a very large heart, or cuore, as they say in italiano, and Oscar used up his heart by sharing it with anyone he was engaged with. It was his charm and ultimately his destiny.

We shared a love of life tempered by the waning golden sunlight of Roma that autumn and by our passion for all things Italian. I introduced Oscar to Firenze and that marvelous citta has never –in a lifetime of visits to Florence– seemed more magical to me, before or since, than in his lively company. We intersected in a time and space that are of course now lost; but, I am witness to an incredible moment that changed us both in significant ways. We were truly “innocents abroad.” It was the best of times.

I shall miss you, Oscar. The world was a bigger, better, warmer, kinder place when you were in it. Ciao, caro mio. Addios.

Summertime, and the living is easy!

July 18, 2013July 18, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

James jumps into Lake Washington at Madrona Beach. Fun times in Lake Washington!

Preceded by an excellent dinner at Cascina Spinasse. Here’s a shot of the pasta being made just before being cooked with butter and sage. OMG, can you spell delizioso?

See those sheets of yellow paper or fabric hanging on rods at right? Those are sheets of egg pasta made right before our eyes. Amazing (strabiliante)!

Ciao, tutti!

S is for spending the summer with John Singer Sargent

July 17, 2013October 12, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Oh my goodness, I have been delinquent! Sorry, let me get back —pronto— to the reverse alphabet of art. Last post was for the letter T and now I’m ready to move on to the letter S. Andiamo!

Wouldn’t you love to be passing a summer afternoon with these ladies? I would! I bet they are discussing their beaus.

Or, taking a summer afternoon nap to escape the heat in this little outbuilding in Corfu? I would!

Or, gliding in a gondola over the waterways of Venice? I would!

Or, observing some exotic ceremony in some Middle Eastern country? I would!

Or, playing some board game with your friends on some pretty bank of some lovely, cooling stream? I would! But I do wonder why all the women have their heads wrapped up in filmy cloth. Too many insects, I presume.

Mosquito Nets by John Singer Sargent

One activity from which I prefer to be excused, is reading while under mosquito netting. But, who wouldn’t like to look at the beautifully-painted image? I would!

Or, painting a portrait of a gorgeous gentleman while sitting on classical balustrade next to a waterfall? I mean come on! I would!

Or standing over water pouring out of a jet and into a pool, while dressed in your most elaborate summer whites. While pausing on a classical balustrade, next to some potted lemon trees in some magnificent Italian locale? I would!

What child wouldn’t like to spend the evening hours, after the heat of the day has passed, dressed in your coolest cotton clothing, capturing fire flies in a flower garden? I would!

Or fishing on the side of a cool stream with your feet in the water? I would!

Or, preparing to dine on an outdoor terrace? I would!

Or, best of all, who wouldn’t love to lie on the ground, sunk into your voluminous and gorgeous summer fashions and being painted all the while by one of the best painters of all time? I would!

Who wouldn’t want to spend a summer with John Singer Sargent?

Keep cool, everybody! Arrividerla!

U is for Uffizi; or is it for ukioy-e? Take your pick.

July 2, 2013September 30, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / 1 Comment

The Uffizi or the art of ukioy-e. How can I decide? I love them both. They are like children, you can’t choose a favorite!

Let’s start in Italy. How can you go wrong?!! Well, you can’t! Did you know that 40% of the world’s art resides in Italy? It is the truth. And a lot of the best is in this former office building in Florence.

Galleria degli Uffizi. I could look at this view–in person of course– for minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or even a lifetime.

Here’s a nighttime view, looking the opposite direction. Sigh.

Here is just one of the masterpieces included in the Uffizi collection. Botticelli‘s Birth of Venus.
Time spent looking at this painting is my idea of heaven, although I have little patience with the crowds that gather in front of this beauty.

And, before I get carried away with the incredible Florentine museo, let me turn to ukiyo-e, aka Japanese wood-block prints.

Here is a masterpiece by Hokusai known as The Great Wave. Try to imagine yourself as one of the boaters in the lower right quadrant. Scary thought! Is the artist making a statement about the magnificence of nature and man’s tiny role in it? Maybe.

And then there is the great Hiroshige as seen in one of his views of the famous road between Tokyo and Kyoto. Notice how the smoke from the bonfire drifts up and out of the composition, even breaking the framing device. Nice touch Hiroshige. No wonder you are considered a master artist.

Based upon the realms of art, the letter U is a good, even great, letter!

Ciao, sayanara!

V is for the Venice Biennale

July 1, 2013September 30, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / 1 Comment

Do you know about the Venice Biennale? The first Biennale was held in 1895 and it is still one of the major international exhibitions of contemporary art. It is happening right now in its 55th iteration. This year’s version was curated by Massimiliano Gioni. He entitled it “The Encyclopedic Palace” (Il Palazzo Enciclopedico) and it includes 88 “national pavilions” with 158 artists. Several countries are participating in the important Biennale for the first time, including Angola, the Bahamas, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Ivory Coast, the Republic of Kosovo, Kuwait, Maldives, Paraguay, Tuvalu and, perhaps most surprisingly, the Holy See!

If you’d like to know more about this year’s exhibition, here is a link:

http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/

I haven’t been to this year’s exhibition (nor would I want to be in Venice in the summer heat and crowds, but that’s just me!). I was there one August for the Biennale. It was the 1980s and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where I was a curator, lent a painting to the exhibition. I had the great privilege of being sent from the Museum to Venice to oversee the packing up of the painting and I got to accompany it back to Boston. This is a major perk of being a museum curator! I have some crazy ass stories to tell about that entire episode, which I will tell some other time.

But, even though I don’t want to rush over to Venice for this year’s Biennale, I still am interested in what’s happening there.

One of the most interesting looking installations–although not an endorsed inclusion in the actual Biennale–is this:

Artist and optical wizard Rudolf Stingel took over three stories of the wonderful Palazzo Grassi (which is owned by billionaire art collector Francois Pinault) and covered the interior walls, and floors with the pattern of one kilim carpet. I hear that the crowds are loving the installation and there is much buzz about it.

X is for the portrait of Pope Leo X. Some guys have all the luck.

June 29, 2013September 30, 2014 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

Quick: what is the one thing that every Italian Renaissance man– including Lorenzo the Magnificent, ruler of the Florentine republic— wanted?

To have their son named Pope, of course!

And Lorenzo got his wish!

And on top of that, Lorenzo’s son, known as Pope Leo X, had his portrait painted by Raphael. Wow, some people really do have all the luck!

Pope Leo X had the good fortune to be born in Florence (in 1475), the second son of il magnifico. His birthname was Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici. In Italian families, the eldest son inherited the business or other elite endeavors of the father; the second son went into the church. Young Giovanni was therefore destined to rise in church hierarchy and, sure enough, was made a cardinale in 1489 at the ripe age of 14. He must have been filled with wisdom at this very mature age. Yuk, yuk.

Giovanni became Pope (il Papa) Leo X in 1513, and he remained in this most elite office until his death in 1521 at the age of 46. The church was losing ground during this time and il papa did everything he could think of to stop the losses. He succeeded in making his nephew the duke of Urbino, but only by leading a costly war which severely damaged papal finances. Some of his cardinals tried to poison him, but he escaped this fate just narrowly.

Leo X is probably best known for granting indulgences to pay for the reconstruction and beautification of the St. Peter’s and the Vatican; for example, he commissioned Raphael to paint what are now known as the Raphael Rooms, which were the central, and largest, works of the painter’s career. One of Raphael’s best known works is The School of Athens in the Stanza della Segnatura, seen here.

Leo X seemed to have been quite unwilling to accept that the way he conducted church business was not condoned and, as a result, Martin Luther wrote the 95 Theses. Leo X condemned Luther in his Papal Bull of 1520. He couldn’t stop the march of reform, however, and the Protestant Reformation succeeded. This pope died in 1521 and is buried in Rome in the church Santa Maria sopra Minerva. I suspect there is a big reason why he wasn’t buried in St. Peter’s, as were some of his fellow popes. But, I don’t have an answer for that at this time.

Now, on to Raphael, one of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance. Here is a portrait of him as a young man.

Raphael’s father was a court painter and, from a very early age, Raphael showed immense talent. His artistic ability and connections took him first to Florence and then to Rome. Of course he knew both Leonardo and Michelangelo. Pope Leo X kept Raphael busy with commissions for the Vatican, and it therefore comes as no surprise that he as well painted the pontiff’s portrait. Here it is again:

Here are a few of Raphael’s other portraits, so you can get some sense of what he achieved in his highly realistic treatment of Pope Leo X.

Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga, ca. 1504
Portrait of Pope Julius II, ca. 1512
Portrait of Bindo Altoviti, ca. 1514

Now is the moment. For nothing is more beautiful than wisteria in bloom.

May 23, 2013May 23, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

This particular wisteria is blooming at the Seattle Japanese Garden as we speak (as I write). This incredible vine was planted in the early 1960s when the garden was first constructed and it was already 35 years old when it was planted. You still with me? That means that this vine is roughly 75 years old! So, yes it is true, some things just get better with age. Fine wine. Wisteria vines. Certain bloggers.

Isn’t it absolutely dreamy?

It even grabs attention even from far away.

This wisteria was blooming in another incredible spot on earth, in Alberobello in Puglia, Italy. I was there in March about four years ago which was springtime in southern Italy. Again, a gorgeous vine! If you are a lucky person, you will recognize that you are in Alberobello by the conical shape of the roofs in the background. They are unique to this spot.

How beautiful is this? Pretty darn beautiful.

And now we are in a different place. You know it immediately by the palm trees.

The picture above and the next few are of a wisteria just starting to bloom in Sorrento on the Amalfi coast. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I just couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was. It is almost incomprehensible.

Another picture.

And another.

See the Bay of Naples in the background. I mean, come on…what is more beautiful than this!

The word for wisteria in italiano is glicine.

One day soon I will talk about another of my favorite plants, known in Italian as ortensia. You will have to check back soon to find out what this one is.

Ciao, tutti!

Dale Chihuly in Tacoma

May 9, 2013May 10, 2013 / get back, laurettadimmick / Leave a comment

If you’re a Dale Chihuly fan, you’ll have to go to Tacoma, Washington.

In a landmark Tacoma building, which opened in 1911 as this then booming city’s major train station, some of Chihuly’s large-scale work is displayed with great effect. This is a terrific old building–it’s on the National Register of Historic Places— and the old and new are integrated magnificently here.

One entire wall of the former train station is made up of windows. Originally this would have allowed passengers to watch for incoming or outgoing trains. Today the wall of glass serves as a great light box, covered with these bright yellow and orange disks of blown glass.

Even on a typically overcast northwestern day, the space glows with the warm light shining through Chihuly’s hotly colored spheres.

The masterful manipulation of the blown glass, which you see in this close-up of one of the gigantic spheres, creates a zig zag pattern within the sheet of glass. This design makes me think of Missoni zig zags (and rest in peace, Ottavio Missoni, founder of the great Italian fashion brand, who died today at age 92).

Handling the molten glass in a certain way to produce this design is a time-honored method in the world-famous Venetian glass world, and Chihuly’s training in that tradition shines through beautifully.

Standing directly in front of one of these huge transparent disks, it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle of orange and yellow.

get back, lauretta!

all things beautiful, with piccoli pezzi of Italian, a soupçon of French, & now ein bisschen of German!

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