LuminosityItalia

By Jon Van Housen and Mariella Radaelli A short sail from nearby Trapani Today the sun-kissed island of Favignana off the northwest coast of Sicily is popular with tourists from across the globe, but in August, 1943 it had visitors of another kind – U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division who arrived on a fishing boat chartered for $3 in nearby Trapani. Ready for a fight, they instead found the pleasant sounds of water lapping against the rocks and gulls overhead. With no opposition they made their way inland and eventually found an Italian colonel emerging from a farmhouse. Through interpreters they learned he was willing to surrender his garrison of 437 men and three large guns trained on the port of Trapani  20 miles distant. But according to a written account by military historian William B. Breuer there was still a matter of honor to settle. The colonel would not hand over his men, weapons and ceremonial sword to a soldier of lesser rank. Returni...

Mariella Radaelli, co-editor at LuminosityItalia, again has a feature story on an aspect of American life in Treccani, Italy’s most prestigious history and culture publisher. In this piece she covers the art and life of Georgia O’Keeffe, who from a childhood in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin went on to conquer the international art world and have a complex marriage with Alfred Stieglitz, the noted New York-based photographer and early champion of modern art. O’Keeffe:  From the Faraway, Nearby 1937 Jon Van Housen, founder of LuminosityItalia, said it is another example of the communication agency’s ability to bridge languages and cultures to bring top-quality, authentic content to readers in both traditional and new media. Story here .

Hungry for design? Take a seat at the Monza design festival during the Salone in Milan. “Italy’s entire manufacturing sector is impressive — it is really world class but Italians must feel confidence in the future. That is the only way great ideas are born.” Thus Carlo Edoardo Valli, president of the Monza Chamber of Commerce, quoted visionary architect Zaha Hadid last week during the opening of Monza collateral events at the Royal Villa for FuoriSalone 2016. Concurrent with Milan Design Week, which starts today April 12 and runs until April 17, Monza and Lissone will showcase several events organized by the Monza Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the APA Confartigianato Milano, Monza and Brianza. The effort includes exhibitions and a design contest. For full listings, see the Monza Chamber of Commerce website. The main exhibition focuses on the art of dining through a rich tableware collection on view in several downtown stores. The project is entitled “Posto a tavola” and feat...

March 12 to May 22, 2016, at The ArtsBox, Contrà San Paolo 23, Vicenza, Italy A premier still life painter in contemporary Italy, indeed one of the greatest in all of Europe, Roberto Rampinelli was born in Bergamo in 1948 and lives between Milan and Urbino, Italy and Amer, Spain. The ArtsBox has teamed up with the Vicenza Poetry Festival to exhibit 30 artworks that showcase Rampinelli’s virtuosity in rendering everyday objects with exacting detail along with marvelous effects in color and light, and subtle variations of texture. The exhibition also creates a dialog between the arts of painting and poetry. Rampinelli’s works will interact with verse by both foreign and Italian poets: Ryszard Krynicki (Poland), Ana Luisa Amaral (Portugal), Douglas Reid Skinner (South Africa), Douglas Dunn (Scotland), Julio Llamazares and Davi Jou (Spain), Marco Fazzini and Valerio Magrelli (Italy).  Curated by Marco Fazzini, who is also founder and director of the Vicenza Poetry Festival, the...

Zaha Hadid, 1950-2016 Mariella Radaelli, co-editor at LuminosityItalia, wrote a piece on renowned Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid for the Khaleej Times in Dubai set for publication on April 1. Sadly the date seems prescient — Hadid died in Miami of a heart attack on March 31. Our condolences go out to her family, friends and colleagues. In her story Mariella conveys Hadid’s passion for creating flowing, organic spaces that echo the natural landscapes of her childhood in Iraq. Story here .