Articles by: Giulia Madron

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  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    It's not Only About the Oil…

    An amazing space, delicious food and drinks, and great company. This is how Giovanni Colavita, CEO of Colavita USA, decided to launch the very first “Artisans of The Table” dinner.

    In the heart of Soho, and to be more precise at the Scott Conant Culinary Suite on Broadway, Colavita took the opportunity not only enjoy the company of many friends but also to present to the media and discuss the inception of Colavita wines into the market, an initiative that was born one year ago thanks to an innovative collaboration with the luxury wine leader Terlato Wines International.

    Indeed, in July of 2013, the two brands announced a joint venture and created a collection of super-premium Italian wines.

    This special evening was the perfect moment for Colavita not only to present the premium collection of wine, but also to share his family history and their agricultural heritage and passion for “hand crafting” that has been with them for many, many years.

    “Today we present to the media the 2014 selection of the four wines that we launched at the end of last year, “ said Giovanni Colavita. “We chose Terlato as our partner to manage this market, which is both a family and a company that shares our, same values “

    “I think the Colavita family has always had a great deal of passion and commitment towards quality in the food world,” affirmed Kanchan Kinkade, Director of Public Relations for Terlato wines. “They saw a similar commitment with the Terlatos.

    Terlato has been making wine and have such a passion for the discovery of new varietals and they thought that this was a natural partnership and we are excited to be working with the Colavita family.”

    There were four Colavita wines that accompanied all the delicious courses prepared for the guests by the Chef: Colavita Pinot Grigio di Trentino, Colavita Verdicchio di Matelica, Pinot Noir and Valpolicella Ripasso.

    At the dinner, Colavita invited two special guests who shared some insights not only about the Colavita wines but also about the “table experience” in terms of food and design.

    Erica Duecy, wine and spirits writer, author and columnist who first delighted the guests by offering one of her last creations, the Nonino Spritz, and then, during the dinner, gave everyone some interesting insights about the Colavita wines.

    “The Colavita wines are fantastic for summer time entertaining because they are absolutely made to go with food,” said Erica. “When you try them, you are going to notice that they really come alive with everything that you are eating, a fresh salad or barbecued dishes. They are also very affordable wines so you can use them for everyday entertaining and I think they are going to do quite well in the American market.”

    In addition, another artisan, Jono Pandolfi, known for his designs of dinnerware and collaborations with famous chefs, not only brought some exclusive pieces he made but he provided the guests with some perspectives on how a serving dish like a plate, a cup or a carafe can shape the dining experience, turning it into something very special.

    With the presentation of the 2014 selection of the wines, Colavita could not have chosen a better way to welcome the summer, bringing some freshness to our tables and style into our lives.

  • Life & People

    Laura Boldrini: "My duty is to be Outside with the People"

    The first official visit to the United States  the Italian Chamber of Deputies President, Laura Boldrini started three days ago. On the agenda: several institutional and social meetings with the Italian and Italian American communities along with visits to numerous places of economic, scientific and cultural significance.

    After the first stop in Washington, where she met with several leaders and representatives of major institutions, President Boldrini met the Italian and Italian-American community at the Italian Consulate General in New York.

    “We are also very happy that President Boldrini found the time, within her very full schedule, to visit New York and the many aspects of New York, which sometimes there is not enough time to get to know,” concluded Quintavalle. “I wanted to organize this visit on three directives that I find to be very important,” said President Boldrini.

    "Certainly an institutional one since one of its focus was meeting the institutions here in the US." "In my opinion” continued Boldrini, “in order to get to know a country you have to ‘go outside the building’, and this is also my approach when I am in Rome. My duty is to be outside with the people, to shorten the distance between institutions and citizens.”

    Boldrini explained that the central focus of her visit to New York was to get to know the history of Italy in the US through the stories of Italian immigrants.

    “I am very proud,” said President of the Chamber of Deputies, “of Italian immigration. You contributed to make this country a great country.”

    Indeed, while in New York, Boldrini included a visit to the Ellis Island. “We must remember what it meant to the Italian immigration. It meant work without any guarantees, work that could also end with death,” said the President of the Chamber of Deputies, remembering the tragedy of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, which occured in 1911, leaving almost 150 young women, most of them Italian, dead.

    Moreover, President Boldrini wanted to focus on the importance of the history of Italian immigration in the US  and on the new wave of immigration that Italy is facing today, especially through the youner generation.  

    “During my visit however, I wanted not only to get to know the past immigration, but also the new immigration, the immigration of our talented young people,” said President Boldrini who during her stay in the US had the chance to meet young researchers, scientists, college professors, artists and many other Italians who moved to the US is search of new opportunities.

    “This is a great gift that Italy is giving to this country,” affirmed Boldrini, “and I am both very happy and proud, but also very angry because a country that lets go of the very best of its citizens is a country that impoverishes itself, a country which has no future.”

    However, of the Italian and Italian American community that attended the meeting at the Consulate, Boldrini asked to have faith in her role and the resources of the government.

    “In Italy we are trying to change this situation. It’s not simple. Our country went through a really tough period due to the economic crisis. Today we are facing a situation in which the of unemployment rate of youth has reached 40%,” said President Boldrini.

    “Our challenge now is to create employment and have faith. We must be aware of the fact that we are a great country and that we have the antidotes to get through this.”
  • Art & Culture

    Find Italian Culture and Lifestyle at NYC Book Expo America Fair

    What if you could explore the culture, the art, the history and the lifestyle of one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Italy? Now it will be possible thanks to a delegation organized by ICE (the Italian Trade Promotion Agency), which will set up an exhibit of the very best Italian books, narratives and stories. The Book Expo America Fair will take place at the Javits Center in New York from Thursday May 29 until Saturday May 31 2014. 

    This is one of the most awaited and prestigious events for the publishing world in the US, visitors will have an amazing opportunity to come into contact with the most famous and internationally renowed Italian publishers and operators from all over the world, particularly from North and South Americas and Asia. Most of all they will have the possibility of establishing new contacts, determining new collaborations and negotiating sales.

    Moreover, in collaboration with AIE (Italian Publishers Association), ICE is setting up an entire Italian pavilion of more than 100 square meters in which t 15 publishing houses, literary agencies and other delegates of domestic trade fairs will make their presence.

    Thanks to this initiative, attendees  will have the chance to experience Italy from a completly different perspective. Precisely, explore it through the pages of numerous books from a country whose enormous cultural and artistic heritage makes special. Visitors will get a glimpse into the excellences Italy has to offer in terms of art, lifestyle, literature, traditions and much more.

    For Italy, this represents a unique way to promote itself abroad. Especially when it comes to the publishing sector, which is facing new challenges daily, because of the increasing popularity of the digital products available on the market like, such as e-books.

    The Book Expo America Fair will also offer new formulas for promoting literature and expanding its market in order to respond to the new demands of the increased amount of international customer, who oscillate between actual bookshops and online stores.

    The United States are a strategical market for the distribution and the promotion of Italian publishing products especially now that the interest and the curiosity towards Italy and its culture is constantly increasing. Let's not forget also, that Italian is the most studied language in the US after Spanish and Chinese thanks to various initiatives promoted by schools, universities and the Italian Cultural Institutes present in the US territory.

  • Fatti e Storie

    Chi saranno gli ambasciatori del Made in Italy non italiani?

    ENGLISH VERSION >>>

    Domenica 1 Giugno si svolgerà la Cerimonia di premiazione dell’Italian Brand Ambassador 2014 presso la prestigiosa location dell’Highline Ballroom di New York.

    Il premio, che sarà assegnato dal Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico e dall’Istituto Commercio Estero, è un  riconoscimento conferito a chi, con originalità e passione, contribuisce a dare forza al Made in Italy.

    E  per la prima volta al mondo sarà un non italiano ad essere premiato come Ambasciatore del Made in Italy. “L’Italian Brand Ambassador rappresenta il salto di qualità nel rapporto tra i prodotti italiani e i mercati che li accolgono” ci spiega Pier Paolo Celeste, direttore dell’Agenzia ICE USA.
     

    I premiati di quest’anno saranno infatti personalità di spicco del mondo del commercio di levatura mondiale, che rappresentano aziende con fatturati di un volume tale da essere paragonabile addirittura all’intero Pil di alcuni stati.

    “Il vero grande traguardo è il fatto che stiamo sempre più entrando nel mercato oltre che con i prodotti, anche con l’empatia e la leadership, le due vere leve del terzo millennio” conclude Celeste.
     

    “Ed è proprio per questo che l’”Italian Ambassador” Award non poteva che avere il suo primo atto negli Stati Uniti, Paese da sempre amante e cultore del Made in Italy” sostiene Carlo Calenda - Vice Ministro per lo Sviluppo Economico  - “oggi più che mai il Made in Italy è patrimonio della cultura mondiale, e quindi anche i suoi ‘brand ambassador’ devono essere internazionali”.

    “Solo in questo modo potremo rafforzare ancora di più il nostro brand e principalmente entrare nei mercati dove c’è tanta voglia di Italia” conclude il Vice Ministro.   
     

    “Il trend di crescita dell’Italia negli Stati Uniti è il nostro fiore all’occhiello, stiamo crescendo in volume, relazioni e quindi fatturato. L’Italian Brand Amassador è il momento di sintesi di tutte queste attività” ci spiega Riccardo Monti, Presidente dell’Agenzia ICE.

    La cerimonia, che si svolgerà alle 7pm presso l’Highline Ballroom, incontra la musica con il scaletta il concerto di Gianluca Pellerito.

    “Sono molto contento di tornare a New York, una città dove mi sento a casa. Avere l’opportunità di rappresentare il mio Paese, in una città fantastica come New York, è davvero una grande emozione” racconta il musicista.
     

    Il ventenne, talento Italiano del Jazz con il suo quintet,  non è nuovo a grandi concerti e a grandi platee.  Dopo l’esordio a 8 anni ad Umbria Jazz, già a 14 anni Pellerito è stato il più giovane musicista al mondo a suonare al Blue Note. Appena quindicenne si è esibito per il sindaco Bllomberg e a 16 anni al Kennedy Center di Washington su invito della famiglia Kennedy. Nel 2012 Pellerito e il suo quintet si sono esibiti a Londra per i Giochi Olimpici, fino ad arrivare all’apertura di Umbria Jazz nel 2013.

    Dunque chi  vincerà la  prima edizione di  Italian Brand Ambassador 2014? Attendiamo, curiosi, di saperlo.

    Sponsor di questa iniziaiva  sono : Emirates Airlines, Colavita Group and Monini Group.
  • Life & People

    A Non-Italian for The “Italian Brand Ambassador Award 2014”

    ARTICOLO IN ITALIANO >>>

    On Sunday, June 1, 2014, the award ceremony for the “Italian Brand Ambassador 2014” will take place in New York.

    This is a first time initiative aimed at honoring those whom with passion and great effort have contributed to the promotion of the Made in Italy abroad.

    “The Italian Brand Ambassador Award couldn’t be celebrated elsewhere if not in the US, which has always been a country that loved and encouraged the Made in Italy,” said Carlo Calenda, Vice Minister for the Economic Development.

    “Today more than ever the Made in Italy represents the patrimony of the world culture, indeed its ‘brand ambassador’ must be international. Only by these means we will be able to strengthen our brand and penetrate those markets where there is hunger for Italy,” he concluded.

    "The growing trend of Italy in the United States is our flagship," affirmed Riccardo Monti, President of the Italian Trade Commission (ICE). “We are growing in terms of volume, relations and consequently in sales. The Italian Brand Ambassador Award is the summary of all these activities.”

    “It’s the first time in the world that a non-Italian will be awarded as the Ambassador of the Made in Italy,” said the Director of the ICE USA Pier Paolo Celeste.

    “I think that the ‘Italian Brand Ambassador’ represents a jump in quality among the relationship between Italian products and the markets that receive them.

    The award winners this year are figures of the world business of goods, they represent companies whose incomes, in terms of volume, are comparable to the GNP of certain States.  This is the real goal,” concluded Celeste, “we are entering more and more markets, not only with our products, but also with our empathy and leadership, the real levers of the third millennium.”

    During the event, the invited guests will enjoy the performance of the young and talented Italian jazz musician Gianluca Pellerito, who, together with his quintet is not a newcomer to the music scene, since he made his first appearance when he was only 8 years old at the Umbria Jazz Festival.

    At the age of 14 he was the youngest artist in the world who performed at the Blue Note. At 15 he played for Mayor Bloomberg, at 16 he was invited by the Kennedy family to play at the Kennedy Center in Washington. He and his quintet also performed during the 2012 Olympic Games in London as well as during the great opening of Umbria Jazz Festival in 2013.

    Sponsors of the first edition of the Italian Brand Ambassador 2014 are: Emirates Airlines, Colavita Group and Monini Group.
  • Life & People

    United Colors of Soccer at Ribalta

    This is how the Italians in New York celebrate the end of the soccer league: Italian fans wearing jerseys of their favorite teams all united to prove that “soccer is fun but most of all is
    about brotherhood.”

    This was the idea of the President of Naploli Fan Club NY and owner of Ribalta restaurant, Rosario Procino.

    “We wanted to invite all the other Italian clubs that came to Ribalta during this season to watch the games with us. We want to thank them and together we want to deliver a message of solidarity and brotherhood to demonstrate what we believe soccer is. Soccer is fun, we make a fool of ourselves, but in the end we stay together and we celebrate no matter whose team won or lost the game,” said Rosario.

    The NY Fan Clubs of Roma, Sampdoria, Genoa, Fiorentina, Juventus, Milan and the new Giuseppe Rossi Fan Club NY, founded by Diana Santi all participated in the United Colors of Soccer event

    A picture of everyone together, a slice of delicious Neapoletan pizza, a drink and a lot of fun! A big applause was also dedicated to Ciro Esposito, the Napoli fan who has been seriously injured after the strifes which took place before the Italian Cup match Fiorentina-Napoli at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.

  • Arte e Cultura

    “Gran Serata Futurista” arriva negli USA


    Una tournée dedicata a Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in America? Sì, tutto vero, è proprio così. Parte da Washington, grazie a Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, per toccare dieci delle più importanti città americane: Dartmouth, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles e Houston.

     

    Lo spettacolo, che ha riscosso un grande successo al Piccolo Teatro di Milano, narra la storia di Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, con proiezione di opere pittoriche e danza contemporanea.

     

    Negli USA la performance in italiano avra' sovratitoli in inglese. In 70 minuti Finazzer Flory mette in scena il senso della grande città, la forza imbrigliata, l’immaginazione senza fili, lo splendore geometrico meccanico… Parla di movimento, di energia della Città che sale.

     

    E’ una performance che Finazzer Flory dice di voler  schierare, nello stile di Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, contro i passatisti del nostro tempo per i quali come “per i moribondi, per gl'infermi, pei prigionieri… l'ammirabile passato è forse un balsamo ai loro mali, poiché per essi l'avvenire è sbarrato...”.

     

    E’ il terzo anno che Finazzer Flory porta un suo spettacolo negli Stati Uniti. Nel 2011-2012 mise in scena i Promessi sposi e nel 2013 Pinocchio, storia di un burattino. Lo ritroviamo  quindi in America  e, questa volta, gli chiediamo di parlarci della sua “Gran Serata Futurista.”



    Com'e' nata questa iniziativa di portare La Grande Serata Futurista in America?


    E’ nata a metà ‘900 quando  La città che sale di Umberto Boccioni invece di essere Milano prese la strada di New York e del MOMA. Quando la vidi esposta per la prima volta più di 20 anni fa sentii dentro di me il bisogno di dire e dare qualche cosa a un movimento come quello del Futurismo il cui padre non era un pittore da esporre in museo ma un poeta rivoluzionario quale è stato Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

     

    Possiamo dire che la tournee e' un omaggio al movimento Italiano d'avanguardia. Quest'anno si è parlato molto qui a New York di Futurismo, dal Guggenheim al CIMA. Si prosegue la serie di eventi dedicati a questo movimento qui negli USA?


    Premesso che  siamo grati a queste esposizioni, in un certo senso li anticipa per due ragioni. La prima perché nel 2009 già venni negli USA a difendere e promuovere l’identità di questo movimento che nato a Milano vive da tempo altrove. Il nostro spettacolo in realtà offre un’esperienza alternativa e a mio avviso integrativa delle mostre in corso a New York. Attraverso l’arte del teatro possiamo davvero liberare le energie racchiuse e imprigionate dalla cornice della pittura. I visitatori delle mostre dunque se verranno ai nostri spettacoli potranno come voleva il Futurismo essere spettatori al centro del quadro.
     

     
    Secondo lei cosa qual e' l'importanza del movimento Futurista e quali sono le sue ripercussioni oggi.


    Le rispondo con un elogio del presente: il cosmo colorato attorno a Saturno. Il secondo più grande pianeta del nostro sistema solare grazie alla sonda Cassini della NASA ci appare come una magnifica tavola colorata che ricorda il nostro Boccioni. Ecco Marinetti è stato un profeta della relazione tra civiltà tecnologica e delle sue tremende bellezze. L’eredità del Futurismo si è pienamente realizzata e in particolare negli USA. L’immaginazione senza fili dei futuristi è tra noi attraverso wi-fi e skype è “l’officina appesa ai fili contorti delle nubi”. La bellezza che noi vogliamo come Futuristi era ed è quella dell’ubiquità, della simultaneità dove sentiamo che il tempo e lo spazio morirono ieri… La letteratura ha anticipato Google, Twitter e Silicon Valley ovvero l’affermazione della sovranità della fantasia che diventa impresa individuale e comunitaria. A tale proposito anche dal punto di vista politico Marinetti ci ha insegnato che è possibile coniugare anarchia e patriottismo, l’individuo e la bandiera. Ciò che non è riuscito in Italia, mi pare avvenga, qui ogni giorno.

     
     
    Quali sono state le maggiori scelte stilistiche (musica, coreografia, sceneggiatura) nella crezione di questo spettacolo e perche'?

     
    Il ritmo. Tutto è ritmo. Tra parole e silenzio, tra la luce e il buoi, tra memoria e oblio, tra il passo e il respiro, tra la vita e la morte. Ritmo significa mettere in scena  l’esperienza di un viaggio. Con i suoi preparativi, le attese, le vicissitudini, gli inevitabili incidenti accompagnati da sogni, passioni, desideri.  A fianco del ritmo altro criterio è quello di restituire l’atmosfera dell’epoca soprattutto laddove essa appare avversaria di Marinetti: la decadenza. Il recente successo di Sorrentino con La grande bellezza dimostra che nell’immaginario collettivo l’Italia agli occhi degli altri continua ad affascinare e ad emozionare in nome di una bellezza che non è altro che nostalgia. Lo spettacolo combatte contro la luce crepuscolare, avverte lo sgretolarsi delle rovine e inneggia invece alla macchina intesa come ordine che dà forza, precisione, ottimismo. Per uscire dalla malinconia del chiaroscuro che mi pare sia la malattia dell’anima del nostro tempo, contro la quale funziona meglio la filosofia che il prozac.

     
     
    E' la terza volta che viene negli Stati Uniti con uns  performance. Qual'e' il suo rapporto con l'America e con il pubblico Americano.

     
    L’America come è stato ben scritto non è un’indicazione geografica ma il luogo di un mito moderno: l’uomo che pensa e si esprime con originalità, sintesi, chiarezza, entusiasmo. L’America è la libertà di scegliere la passione per il successo, il senso della grande città, l’istinto del record. Il mio rapporto con l’America è legato alla mia infanzia di europeo insoddisfatto, di nomade che ha bisogno di spazi  in cui ci sia tuttavia il senso di un Paese. Il pubblico americano è invece per me molto importante perché è privo di pregiudizi, ti giudica per quello che accade e così facendo coglie perfettamente l’identità del teatro che è un arte effimera e per questa ragione la più autentica, la più vicina alla vita. Anzi più della vita.


    Nuovi progetti nel cassetto?



    Sarò di nuovo negli USA, nel 2015, nei primi mesi sarò in scena ancora una volta nelle più importanti città americane con uno spettacolo dedicato a Leonardo da Vinci di cui interpreto la biografia attraverso fonti autentiche. Leonardo è davvero l’icona che unisce la cultura umanistica con quella scientifica , l’arte con la tecnica. Gli Americani che verranno a Milano per EXPO 2015 potranno vedere questo spettacolo in anteprima a New York e in altre città. La struttura della perfomance è la seguente: è un’intervista impossibile a Leonardo compiuta da un giornalista del nostro tempo, ad esempio del New York Times o della CNN, al quale il genio di Vinci risponde raccontando del suo rapporto con il potere, con la fede, con i misteri delle sue opere, la relazione tra pittura e musica, tra strumenti civili e militari, soffermandosi sulla vita quotidiana di allora attaccando i suoi nemici, offrendo a noi i suoi sogni, i suoi segreti e qualche massima per governare meglio la nostra esistenza.





     

     

     

     

     
  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    NYC Welcomes Nutella!

    Everyone was talking about it and everyone couldn’t wait for it: the opening of the second (the first was opened in Chicago last December) Nutella Store in the US. Where? At Eataly, the most famous Italian gourmet store in the heart of Manhattan.

    The exclusive space dedicated to Nutella was filled to the brim with all-size jars of the famous Italian hazelnut and cocoa spread that has been on the shelves of our kitchens since we were kids.

    On the sweet occasion, Eataly offered a delicious tasting to the Nutella fans who waited in line for hours outside the store. Not only did they give out a free taste of the classic “pane e Nutella” (slice of bread and Nutella) but they allowed people to also choose from the various selection of products made with Nutella.

    Famous pastry chef Katia Delogu prepared croissants, crepes, cookies, sweet sandwiches, muffins and other delicious recipes all with Nutella for the Bar's opening day. A dream for the eyes and for the palate!

    Dino Borri, top manager of Eataly, welcomed all the guests who were attending the awaited event.

    “We always wanted to do this because Nutella was born in the same city where the founder of Eataly, Mr Farinetti, was born: in Alba. After the opening in Chicago we thought we needed it also in NYC. So we found the space, the location and we opened it,” said Borri, excited as well for the big opening. “Today we open with “pane e Nutella” which is exactly the ‘merenda’ (snack) of when we were young and used to eat every day.”

    It’s a great pride for Ferrero to bring one of their best product to the US,” said Bernard Kreilmann, President of Ferrero USA. “It was in the US for several years but only 4 years ago we decided to expand very rapidly and now we are in this location in New York where we have a real Nutella Bar so this is a fantastic experience.”

    Present at the Nutella event was also the celebrity chef and Eataly partner Lidia Bastianich.

    “Nutella represents for me my childhood, my growing up,” said Lidia recalling eating Nutella in her childhood. “It represents the flavor of Italy and specifically of Piemonte: milk chocolate and hazelnuts, doesn’t get any better. It’s a mouth full of Italy!”

    Also her son and international restaurateur, winemaker and judge of the famous TV show Master Chef Joe Bastianich, couldn’t miss the big opening. Actually he couldn’t stay away from the Nutella counter.

    “Nutella is the bounty and the goodness. Nutella is why Italians make everything better.
    It truly represents the simplicity and perfect food that goes with everything,” said Bastianich who fell in love with Nutella when he was was just a kid. It was love at first sight, he told us. “I thought: this is what I need to have in my life.”

    Now that Manhattan has become sweeter thanks to the Nutella Bar at Eataly we are sure you will enjoy it even more!

  • Events: Reports

    Let’s Talk Futurism with Massimiliano Finazzer Flory


    Massimiliano Finazzer Flory is back in the US, and once again sets out to entertain the American public with his new show “Great Futurist Evening.”

    The show will follow the various exhibitions that the Big Apple is holding, paying tribute to the important Italian avantgarde movement, such as the Futurism exhibit currently held at the Guggenheim Museum and the CIMA (Center for Italian Modern Art).

     
    In the “Great Futurist Evening,” which also pays homage to Italian Futurism, Finazzer Flory will play the role of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the movement's founder. A wonderful monologue using the quotes of Marinetti as well as of other key Futurism figures such as Giovanni Papini, Libero Altomare and Aldo Palazzeschi. A mixture of acting, contemporary dance and image projections of art works aim to show off the essence of the movement: a direct reaction against rules, mediocrity and conformism.



    The tour will visit many importants cities around the US. After its big debut in Washington on May 12th, it will move on to Dartmough, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston. (For more information about the tour dates visit: http://www.i-italy.org/node/37926) target="_blank">>>>



    This is the third time in the US for Finazzer Flory. In In 2011-2012 he came with I Promessi sposi (The Betrothed), in 2013 he brought Pinocchio, storia di un burattino (Pinocchio, the Story of a Puppet), and now with Gran Serata Futurista.



    We interviewed Massimiliano Finazzer Flory on the occasion of his upcoming show.


    How did this initiative start?



    It started during the mid 1900s when “The City Rises” of Umberto Boccioni instead of coming to Milan went in direction of New York and the MoMa. When I saw it exhibited for the first time more than 20 years ago I felt I had to contribute in some way to an important movement such as Futurism whose founding father was not a painter who exhibited in a museum but a revolutionary poet: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.  



    We can say that the US tour is a homage to the Italian avantgarde movement. This year everyone talks about Futurism, from the Guggenheim to CIMA in New York. Your show continues the series of events dedicated to this movement here in the US?
     
    Although we are very grateful to these exhibitions, in a certain way the show anticipates them for two reasons. First, because in 2009 I already came to the US to defend and promote the identity of this movement which, born in Milan, has been living elsewhere for a long time. Our show will offer an alternative experience and, in my opinion, supplemetary to the exhibitions that are now on view in New York. Second, through the theater-craft we really can release all the energies that are pent-up inside the picture frame. If the people who will visit the exhibition will also come to our show they could really be, as Futurism would have wanted, at the center of the picture.



    In your opinion, what’s the importance of the Futurist movement and what are its repercussions today?



    I will answer you praising the present: the colored universe surrounding Saturn. The second biggest planet of our solar system thanks to the Cassini probe of the NASA appears to us as an incredible colored table that reminds us of Boccioni. Here, Marinetti has been a prophet of the relationship with the technological civilization and its amazing beauties. The inheritance of Futurism was completely realized especially in the US. The immigration without wires of the futurists is among us through wi-fi and skype. Is “the laboratory hung on the bent wires of the clouds.” The beauty that we want as Futurists was and still is the ubiquity, the simultaneity where we feel that time and space died yesterday...Literature anticipated Google, Twitter and Silicon Valley that is the claim of sovereignity of fantasy that becomes an individual and a collective endeavour at the same time. For this reason also from Marinetti’s political perspective we learned that it is possible to combine anarchy and patriotism, the individual and the nation. What did not happen in Italy I think it happens here every day.      



    Which were the major stylistic choices (music, choreography, script) in the creation of the show and why?



    The rythm. Rythm is everything. Between words and silence, between light and darkness, between memory and oblivion, between step and breath, between life and death. Rythm means putting in scene the experience of a journey. With all its preparation, waits, vicissitudes, the inevitable accidents next to dreams, passions, desires. Next to rythm another criterion is that to give back the atmosphere of that period especially where it seems opposing to Marinetti: decadence. The recent success of Sorrentino with “The Great Beauty” demonstrates that within the collective imaginary Italy to others remains fascinating and excites in the name of a kind of beauty that is just nostalgic.  

     
    The show fights against the twilight, perceives the crumble of the ruins and praises the machine interpreted as order that gives strenght, precision and optimism. In order to exit the melancholy of the chiaroscuro which I think is the illness of the soul of our times, against which it is a better philosohpy than prozac.




    This is the third time you bring a show to the US. What is your relationship with the US and with the American public?



    America is not a geographical indication but rather the location of a modern myth: man who thinks and expresses himself with novelty, summary, clarity, enthusiasm. America represents the freedom of choosing the passion for success, the sense of the big city, the instinct of the record. My relationship with the US is linked to my childhood of an unsatisfied European, of a nomad that needs spaces where there still is a sense of the nation. The American public for me is very important because it has no prejudices, it judges you for what is happening, and in doing so it catches completely the identity of theater which is an ephemeral art and for this reason the most authentic, the closest to life. Actually, more than life.  



    Any project for the future?



    Yes. In 2015 I will be again in the US. During the first months I will be performing in the most important American cities with a show dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci, whose biography I interpret through authentic sources. Leonardo is really the icon that unifies humanistic culture and scientific culture, art with technique. The Americans who will go to Milan for the Expo 2015 will have the opportunity to see the preview of the show in New York and other cities.


    This is the structure of the performance: it’s an impossible interview of Leonardo done by a journalist of our times, for instance of the New York Times or of CNN, to whom the genius of Da Vinci will answer telling him of his relationship with power, faith, the mysteries of his works, the relationship between painting and music, between civil and military instruments, highlighting the everyday life of that period attacking his enemies, offering us his dreams, his secrets and some advice to better rule our existence.   

  • Dining in & out: Articles & Reviews

    NUTELLA: Spread it, Try it and You’ll Never Leave it!

    Dear Nutella lovers, this is your dream coming true!!!! On Monday at Eataly, the Nutella Bar will open. One of the most famous Italian gourmet stores in the world is replacing its wine bar “Eataly Vino,” located by the side entrance on 23rd St, with a bar dedicated entirely to the sweetest and perhaps the most known symbols of  Made in Italy.

    Due to the store’s inability to sell wine until October 2014, following a settlement with the SLA  over "interlocking interests," Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich had to think up a new idea  for the ambient space, initially home to the wine store. After an amazing success of the Nutella bar at the Chicago location (according to the General Manager Alex Saper, people often stand on line for 45 minutes during the weekends), why not replicate it in New York?

    This Monday, from 5pm to 9pm, the new and exclusive Nutella Bar at Eataly New York will serve Nutella on bread, muffins, croissants, tarts and cookies. And all free of charge to everyone who attends the event! After the awaited opening, the Nutella Bar will be opened every day from 10am until 11pm. A real paradise for Nutella lovers in the heart of Manhattan.

    History of Nutella

    Remember this date: April 20th, 1964. This was the date in which Ferrero, one of the biggest Italian confectionary companies in the world, packed the first jar of Nutella, the famous hazelnut and cocoa spread and the sweetest symbol of Made in Italy.
    Nutella represented and still represents a real mass phenomenon from a historical, social, psychological and cultural perspective. And let’s face it. For many of us Nutella was the glutonous sin we would committ without any hesitation. And soon it became a ritual. We would just have to wait for the perfect moment to sneak into the kitchen, find the Nutella jar and stick a finger inside or spread the delicious cream on a slice of bread.

    But let’s go back to its origins and discover who is behind this delicacy temple. Back in 1945, in Alba, a town in the Piedmont region, pastry chef Pietro Ferrero invented the predecessor of Nutella, the Pasta Gianduja, also known as Giandujot. But it was not a cream….at least not yet. Popular legend says that because of the hot temperatures, the Giandujot melted, forcing dealers to sell it as a spreadable cream. Whether this is true or not, the fact remains that Ferrero changed the recipe of the Giandujot, making it softer, recreating the melted cream. The successor of the original product was born: Supercrema Gianduja.

    In 1964, “Supercrema Gianduja” became “Nutella,” from the combination of the word “nut,” its main ingredient and typical product of the Piedmont region, and the suffix “ella,” which makes its name funny, sweet and playful. It was immediately a success and Nutella became the treat that every child, but also adults, wanted in their pantries. Soon, the Nutella phenomenon infected the world, with its name being mentioned by famous actors, book authors and even popular singers. During the 80s for example, famous Italian actor Nanni Moretti uses a giant jar of Nutella in a scene of his movie “Bianca” as the perfect cure against depression. Furthermore, the Nutella television commercials passed into history and even today people still remember many of them. For instance, the television ads inside the famous “Carosello,” the cartoon ads staging the naughty bird Jo Condor towards the Friendly Giant who was the guardian of Nutella or the ads which came down in history during the 90s thanks to the popular motto: “che mondo sarebbe senza Nutella” (what would the world be without Nutella).

    The Nutella phenomenon hit the world the moment it started to appear on the shelves of food markets. Many imitations of it were made but none was its equal. The secret? Maybe the fact that despite globalization and all the changes our society went through, Nutella remained always the same: same package (with some playful limited edition glass jars with cartoon characters), same genuine ingredients and same taste. Furthermore, this hazelnut and chocolate cream is perfect for all occasions and all kinds of recipes. You can serve Nutella with fruit, in cakes, crêpes...you can even spread Nutella over pizza (in many restaurants and pizzerias, this is actually the most popular dessert!)

    It’s so widely appreciated that it even has its own day!  On February 5th, fans around the world share their Nutella recipes or stories and are reminded to carry a spoon and eat it straight from the jar!

    The combination of its wonderful taste together with the “fun” side of the product and the meanings that people have attached to it throughout the years make Nutella one of the most famous spreadable creams in the world bringing together many generations who love it and who would never replace it because...what would the world be without it?

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