Difficulty: Advanced
Italy
Pier Paolo Pasolini discusses the effects Fascism had on Italy. He talks about the city of Sabaudia, built by the fascist government on the reclaimed marshland of the ancient Pontine Marshes (Agro Pontino) and how later, what took hold was the culture of consumerism.
Difficulty: Advanced
Italy
As the credits role in this final segment, we hear a song written and performed by Fabrizio De André (together with Massimo Bubola. Una storia sbagliata (a story all wrong) was commissioned for a 1980 TV show about Pasolini's death, called Dietro il processo (behind the trial). You can hear the entire song here, while here you'll find the complete lyrics in Italian.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Borgo Sansepolcro is an out-of-the-way Tuscan city. But, as this video sets out to explain, it boasts one of the most beautiful paintings in the world, so it is well worth the journey. The video begins with some passages from a 1925 essay by Aldous Huxley: “The Best Picture.” We have translated the Italian translation back into English, for learning purposes, but you can find the original English version here.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The host describes the fascinating story of a British army captain who, during World War II, happened to have read Aldous Huxley's words (quoted in the previous segment), and remembered them just in time.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Restoring the Resurrection was a lengthy and complex process, consisting of reinforcement, cleaning, and the retouching of the painting itself.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
The restorers take us through the meticulous cleaning process involving Japanese rice paper, a gel made from marine algae, and a solvent.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Piero was not just a painter; he was a member of an important family in Borgo Sansepolcro. There is a fresco painting attributed to him that might have alluded to the family business, which was producing and selling leather goods.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
It's rare for a work of art to become the symbol of a city and even be part of its coat of arms, but this did indeed happen in Borgo Sansepolcro. Piero's Resurrection may be thought of as a fresco, but it's much more complicated than that, as we learn in this segment.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
For art historians, it is so interesting to try to figure out, with the materials at hand, what Piero wanted his work to finally look like, but it's a challenge, as the artist's initial sketches have been lost.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
With techniques available today, it is possible to distinguish the various layers of plaster used on different days of work, to determine in what order the artists and their assistants applied the paint. And during the cleaning, details can come out that were previously not visible, including buildings and even letters of the alphabet.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Retouching the painting is a very delicate job, and is done in such a way as to be reversible, and respectful to the original.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We take a look at the details of Piero's Resurrezione, details we might not notice by looking at the painting as a whole. Why is Christ not dressed in white? Is there something special about the countryside in the background? The answers are fascinating.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
Had the Resurrection always been in the same spot or had it been moved? We are taken through the questions journalists and historians have to ask: where, when, and why. A researcher, after much research, finally found the answer.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
As a result of historical research and restoration, it was discovered that the Resurrection had not been painted on the wall on which we now see it, but had been transported from another location, likely the external facade of the building, under the arengario of Borgo Sansepolcro.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Italy
We learn some more about the origins of Piero's Resurrection and why it might have been commissioned. As with other works of art, the Resurrection likely had political symbolism as well as religious symbolism.
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