Arts and Culture

Restoring the Mosaics of San Vitale

By Livia Alberti

The VI century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna is a unique example of Byzantine art and culture. In recent times an important conservation project has restored the basilica’s mosaic wall decorations to their full glory. Livia Alberti was one of the leaders of the restoration team.

 

Tree of the Wooden Clogs

By Robert Arnold

Robert Arnold looks back at Italian director Ermanno Olmi’s masterpiece “The Tree of Wooden Clogs” (L’Albero degli Zoccoli), winner of 14 awards including the Palme d’Or for Best film at Cannes in 1978 and the César Award in the same year for Best Foreign Film.

The Mariinsky Ballet

By Valentina Bonelli

Valentina Bonelli looks at the history of the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet Company from its glorious beginnings under the creative direction of Marius Petipa and the patronage of the Tsars through the Soviet era and socialist realism up until the present day.

Marius Petipa: the Tsar of Ballet

By Valentina Bonelli

Petipa was most probably the most influential ballet choreographer there has ever been. He was the Premier Maître de Ballet of the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatres from 1871 to 1903. He created a huge number of ballets among which were “Swan Lake”, “The Nutcracker” and “Sleeping Beauty”.

My Father, Ezra Pound

By Alessandra Quattrocchi

An interview with Mary de Rachewiltz, daughter of Ezra Pound, from her retreat in the Italian Tyrol. “My father always managed to be on the wrong side”