Celebrating of one of the most original Italian artists: Caravaggio

Yesterday night the Italian Cultural Institute hosted a lecture on Caravaggio entitled "The Painter’s body" by the Assistant Professor of Italian Studies and Adjunct Professor of Art History at Northwestern University, Marco Ruffini. The audience was really enthusiastic and interested in discovering new and stimulating details about this innovating artist, thanks especially to the accurate and exhaustive explanations by professor Ruffini who mainly focused on the comparison between the art of Federico Zuccari and the innovation of the Lombard genius. This lecture was presented on the occasion of Caravaggio's 400 years death’s anniversary, and on the occasion of the sensational discovery of the artist’s remains in Porto Ercole in Tuscany. This event was also presented in conjunction with the 2010 Chicago Humanities Festival's theme “The Body.” 

European Jazz Festival: Great Success for Marraffa / Braida Duo

Chicago Cultural Center was crowded yesterday in occasion of the European Jazz Festival. On the first of these two free nights of music, Edoardo Marraffa (tenor and sopranino saxophones) and Alberto Braida (piano) were invited to represent Italy and Italian jazz. The magnificent Preston-Bradley Hall was full with people involved into music and jazz improvisation lovers.

The extraordinary natural acoustics of the Hall magnified Marraffa and Braida’s interplay: the delicate, tradition-rooted pianism of Alberto Braida intermingled with the more radically experimental and aggressive sounds produced by Edoardo Marraffa’s saxes. The result, aggressive and enchanted at the same time, literally hypnotized the audience.
It comes then as no surprise that they got a long round of applause at the end of their exhibition. The two musicians too seemed to be very satisfied with their first Chicago experience!

 

Aldo Cazzullo: Viva l'Italia!

Aldo Cazzullo was at the Institute yesterday to present his latest books “L’Italia de Noantri. Come siamo diventati tutti meridionali” and “Viva l’Italia!.” The public’s response was enthusiastic : an intense debate followed, concerning various aspects of contemporary Italian society.

Since Aldo Cazzullo, as a journalist and correspondent for the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, was in Chicago to follow the mid-term elections, he was obliged to leave as soon as the debate was closed, so that he could write his article.