27 Feb XXVI ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO: “GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGAN LE FAY”
XXVI EDITION ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO
“GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGAN LE FAY”
THE NEW INITIATIVE IN SUPPORT OF THE ARTS AND CULTURE
4/7 June 2020
NEW DATES!
Corsini Garden, Florence
Taking place this year from Thursday, 4 June to Sunday, 7 June will be the 26th ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO botteghe artigiane e loro committenze exhibition. The event, held in the 16th-century Giardino Corsini, will bring to Florence a new selection of 100 representatives of the best in master craftsmanship, with major focus on the new generations, that will include potters, glass engravers, silver embossers and goldsmiths, carvers, restorers, string instrument makers, tailors, semi-previous stone and wood inlayers, wickerworkers, designers and much more.
It represents a diversified, select group promoted by the Associazione Culturale Giardino Corsini as part of a project by Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani—an opportunity to also reflect on and share new styles that interpret the constantly-evolving relationship between tradition and innovation, and handcrafts and technology—by bringing together expert artisans who reveal their secrets as they work in their small studio spaces created for the occasion in the orangerie and the grounds of the formal Italian-style gardens.
“ “We still believe there is a future for these areas of artisanship that can still be found in Italy, but we must continue to promote the value of creativity, originality and one-of-a-kind pieces if we want the profound sense of this work to be understood,” explain Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani.
““A task that is not easy in today’s world in which everything is in constant evolution and moving ever-faster, in which the world wide web is the protagonist. But the presence of so many young people—who each year take part as exhibitors and visitors—leads us to believe that we must continue to follow this road by creating an event that is always new and in which people can take part, in order to experience, understand and discover the value of working with one’s hands—a process that requires
time and familiarity with the material—to underscore the concept that artisanship is a tremendous opportunity, even in today’s fast-moving world.”
THE FUND-RAISING DRIVE
While awaiting the ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO event, the “GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGAN LE FAY” initiative is now being launched, the new fund-raising drive in support of the arts and culture, directed towards private individuals and companies.
A new patronage project developed by Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani who in 2018 contributed €50,000 to the reopening of the Richard Ginori Museum of the Manifattura di Doccia and in 2019 €40,000 to finance the restoration of the works of art created for the Russian community in Florence during the 19th and 20th centuries.
“As part of the search for places of significant cultural value that are hidden or forgotten and should be preserved and brought into the future following the guiding principle of our event, for the 2020 drive we have chosen an intriguing 16th-century complex. It is an extremely interesting example of garden architecture, somewhere between a nymphaeum and a grotto which housed within it the marble statue of Morgan Le Fay sculpted by the young Giambologna,” explain the project initiators Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani.
“ The goal is to reproduce the statue by hand using state-of-the-art technologies and house it in the space for which it was designed and then restore the entire “Fonte della Fata Morgana” (“Fountain of Morgan Le Fay”) complex—also known locally as the “Casina delle Fate” (“Little Fairy House”)—which was built by Bernardo Vecchietti in the second half of the 16th century inside the grounds of the Il Riposo villa, his summer home in the heart of the Chianti area in the foothills of Fattucchia in what is now the town of Bagno a Ripoli.
“Our interest was also piqued by the analysis of the architectural complex that arose around the fountain which, although initially offered to the guests of the Vecchietti family, later become ‘public’ and open to travellers as well as a watering place for animals and, finally, a place to do washing. A concept of circular water management ahead of its time!” the organizers add.
The building features a faux light red brick exterior which contrasts with the white Alberese ashlar-work stone that decorates the doors and windows to create a striking, fairy tale-like atmosphere. The interior flooring is a mosaic of small white and black stones which, on the threshold, form the words “Fata Morgana” (“Morgan Le Fay”).
Once again this year, as part of the “GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGAN LE FAY” fund-raising drive, the organizers of the ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO event Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani have also decided to involve a young and well-known contemporary artist who will produce ten works the proceeds from which will be donated to the fund-raising drive.
Through an initiative involving students in the sculpture course of the professor Cristian Biasci at the Accademia di Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) in Florence, Nicola Toffolini will create ten one-of-a-kind pieces to be presented in a specially-produced catalogue with an introduction by Antonio Natali, former director of the Uffizi Gallery.
New works of art inspired by those of Giambologna that, over the centuries, have been removed from their home in the “Fonte della Fata Morgana” and lost. These include, in primis, the “large mask” of Medusa, originally housed in the outside niche, from which travellers could draw water; the coat of arms of the Medici family and the Toson d’Oro (Golden Fleece) of Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany; and the sun of the “trigraph” of St. Bernardine of Siena (the choice of this saint is clearly tied to the name of the patron, Bernardo Vecchietti).
““Our hope,” Giorgiana Corsini and Neri Torrigiani conclude, “is to be able to create in the original size a ‘new’ image of Medusa among those made by Toffolini—and selected by a special jury—and then put it in the place conceived for it, to welcome and refresh travellers in this corner of the Tuscan countryside.”.
Donated several decades ago to the town of Bagno a Ripoli by the Morrocchi family, the “Fonte della Fata Morgana” requires urgent restoration work..
The “GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGAN LE FAY” initiative is open to all and all donations of any amount are appreciated.
“GIAMBOLOGNA E LA FATA MORGANA”
Donations may be made until 30 June 2020 by:
Bank Transfer:
ASSOCIAZIONE GIARDINO CORSINI
c/c n. 50459100000004030 Intesa Sanpaolo Spa – Agenzia 8 / Via il Prato, Firenze
IBAN: IT09 K030 6902 9921 0000 0004 030 – SWIFT: BCITITMMXXX
Memo: GIAMBOLOGNA E LA FATA MORGANA
PayPal https://www.paypal.me/ARTIGIANATOEPALAZZO
OTHER INITIATIVES CONNECTED WITH THE EVENT:
The ARTIGIANATO AND PALAZZO event will also offer a rich programme of encounters and events to provide visitors with an overview of market trends, ideas and suggestions designed to create business opportunities for exhibitors.
These initiatives include:
- The “Main Exhibition” dedicated to the creative story of a major Italian brand that has made artisan tradition the key to its international success and which will be announced during the upcoming “Salone del Mobile” (Milan Furniture Fair).
- “BLOGS & CRAFTS, young artisans and the web”, the competition aimed at young craftspeople below age 35 and bloggers/influencers who comment on crafts, lifestyle, fashion and tourism.
- “Family Recipes”, a daily afternoon event that combines contemporary food culture with the traditional flavours and recipes of the past through book presentations, live cooking and tastings.
In addition, the Premio Perseo will be awarded to the exhibitor most popular with the public, and the Premio del Comitato Promotore (Promotion Committee Prize) will go to the most lovely stand, the prize of which is a free stand at the 2021 event.
The Associazione Giardino Corsini, which organizes and promotes ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO, is a non-profit cultural association committed to promoting and preserving the quality of artisan excellence, the value of what is made by hand and the wealth of knowledge and skill that every master craftsperson—the heart of Made in Italy—passes on, generation-to-generation.
“ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO: GIAMBOLOGNA AND MORGANA LE FAY” is presented with the fundamental contribution of Fondazione CR Firenze and supported by The Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation, Fondazione Ferragamo, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, B&C Speakers, Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte e Michelangelo Foundation in collaboration with Starhotels, Riccardo Barthel, OOO.
No Comments