1.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
2.
Sculpture
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Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. It is one of the plastic arts, a wide variety of materials may be worked by removal such as carving, assembled by welding or modelling, or molded, or cast. However, most ancient sculpture was painted, and this has been lost. Those cultures whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, India and China, the Western tradition of sculpture began in ancient Greece, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the classical period. During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith, the revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelos David. Relief is often classified by the degree of projection from the wall into low or bas-relief, high relief, sunk-relief is a technique restricted to ancient Egypt. Relief sculpture may also decorate steles, upright slabs, usually of stone, techniques such as casting, stamping and moulding use an intermediate matrix containing the design to produce the work, many of these allow the production of several copies. The term sculpture is used mainly to describe large works. The very large or colossal statue has had an enduring appeal since antiquity, another grand form of portrait sculpture is the equestrian statue of a rider on horse, which has become rare in recent decades. The smallest forms of life-size portrait sculpture are the head, showing just that, or the bust, small forms of sculpture include the figurine, normally a statue that is no more than 18 inches tall, and for reliefs the plaquette, medal or coin. Sculpture is an important form of public art, a collection of sculpture in a garden setting can be called a sculpture garden. One of the most common purposes of sculpture is in form of association with religion. Cult images are common in cultures, though they are often not the colossal statues of deities which characterized ancient Greek art. The actual cult images in the innermost sanctuaries of Egyptian temples, of which none have survived, were rather small. The same is true in Hinduism, where the very simple. Some undoubtedly advanced cultures, such as the Indus Valley civilization, appear to have had no monumental sculpture at all, though producing very sophisticated figurines, the Mississippian culture seems to have been progressing towards its use, with small stone figures, when it collapsed. Other cultures, such as ancient Egypt and the Easter Island culture, from the 20th century the relatively restricted range of subjects found in large sculpture expanded greatly, with abstract subjects and the use or representation of any type of subject now common. Today much sculpture is made for intermittent display in galleries and museums, small sculpted fittings for furniture and other objects go well back into antiquity, as in the Nimrud ivories, Begram ivories and finds from the tomb of Tutankhamun
3.
Pavia
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Pavia is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy,35 kilometres south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774. Pavia is the capital of the province of Pavia, known for agricultural products including wine, rice, cereals. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, Pavia is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia. The city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums, dating back to pre-Roman times, the town of Pavia, then known as Ticinum, was a municipality and an important military site under the Roman Empire. It was said by Pliny the Elder to have founded by the Laevi and Marici. It was at Pavia in 476 AD that the reign of Romulus Augustulus, ten months after Romulus Augustulus’s reign began, Orestes’s soldiers under the command of one of his officers named Odoacer, rebelled and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476. Without his father Romulus Augustulus was powerless, instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Odoacer’s reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15,493 assassinated Odoacer at a banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers, with the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to restore and expand and he began the construction of the vast palace complex that would eventually become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Near the end of Theoderic’s reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia’s churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason and it was during Boethius’s captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work the Consolation of Philosophy. Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535, after the capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. The resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until finally being defeated in 561, Pavia and the peninsula of Italy didn’t remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire for in 568 a new people invaded Italy. This new invading people in 568 were the Lombards, in their invasion of Italy in 568, the Lombards were led by their king Alboin, who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy in 568 but his progress was halted in 569 by the city of Pavia. Meanwhile Alboin, after driving out the soldiers, took possession of everything as far as Tuscany except Rome and Ravenna and some other fortified places which were situated on the shore of the sea. ”The Siege of Ticinum finally ended with the Lombards capturing the city of Pavia in 572. Pavia’s strategic location and the Ostrogoth palaces located within it would make Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombards’ Kingdom of Pavia, under Lombard rule many monasteries, nunneries, and churches were built at Pavia by the devout Christian Lombard monarchs
4.
Bartolomeo Colleoni
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Bartolomeo Colleoni was an Italian condottiero, who became captain-general of the Republic of Venice. Colleoni gained reputation as the foremost tactician and disciplinarian of the 15th century and he is also credited with having refurbished the Roman baths at Trescore Balneario. His family was a one, exiled with the rest of the Guelphs by the Visconti. Bartolomeos father Paolo seized the castle of Trezzo by wile and held it by force, until he was assassinated by his cousins, probably acting on order of Filippo Maria Visconti, the young Colleoni trained at first in the retinue of Filippo dArcello, the new master of Piacenza. After the latter was put to death at Venice, Colleoni passed to direct service of the Venetian Republic, although Gianfrancesco Gonzaga was nominally commander-in-chief, Colleoni was in fact the true leader of the army. When peace was made between Milan and Venice in 1441, Colleoni went over to the Milanese, together with Sforza in 1443. Although well treated at first, Colleoni soon fell under the suspicion of the Visconti, and was imprisoned at Monza, Milan then fell under the lordship of Sforza, whom Colleoni served for a time, but in 1448 he took leave of Sforza and returned to the Venetians. Although he occasionally fought on his own account, when Venice was at peace and he set his residence in the castle of Malpaga, which he had bought in 1465 and restored in the following years. Although he often changed sides, no act of treachery is imputed to him, nor did he subject the territories he passed through to the rapine and exactions practiced by other soldiers of fortune. When not fighting, he devoted his time to introducing agricultural improvements on the vast estates with which the Venetians had endowed him, and to charitable works. At his death in 1475 at Malpaga, he left a sum to the republic for the Turkish war. In 1930 the Italian Regia Marina launched a cruiser of the Condottieri class named after Bartolomeo Colleoni, page at the Italian history chronology website
5.
Cappella Colleoni
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The Cappella Colleoni is a church and mausoleum in Bergamo in northern Italy. The site chosen was that of the sacristy of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. The façade is characterized by the use of tarsia and polychrome marble decorations in white, red, over the main portal is a rose window, flanked by two medallions portraying Julius Caesar and Trajan. The upper part of the basement has nine plaques with reliefs of Biblical stories, the four pilasters of the windows flanking the portal are surmounted by statues of the Virtues. The upper part of the façade has a loggia in Romanesque style, the interior includes a square hall and a smaller room housing the high altar. The tomb of Bartolomeo Colleoni is on the wall facing the entrance, the whole complex is surrounded by a triumphal arch. Amadeo himself executed the monument of Medea Colleoni. Located on the wall, it has a statue of the Deposition from the Cross in high relief. The tomb was transferred here in 1892 from Urgnano, the presbytery has a high altar sculpted by Bartolomeo Manni in 1676, housing statues of the three saints to whom the chapel is dedicated, John, Mark and Bartholomew, by Pietro Lombardo. The upswept cornice is supported by Solomonic columns, the altar table, to a design by Leopoldo Pollack, is supported by angels carved by Grazioso Rusca. Notable are the frescoes of the dome, depicting Episodes of the Lives of St. Mark, John the Baptist and Bartholomew, for centuries it was believed that the condottieres remains had been buried elsewhere, as the sarcophagus appeared empty. On November 21,1969, however, they were discovered in Colleonis tomb in a wooden coffin, akademie-Verlag Berlin https, //arthistory. ucr. edu/fama-and-virtus/ Complete description Tiepolos frescoes
6.
Bergamo
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Bergamo is a city in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan and 30 km from the lakes Como and Iseo. The foothills of the Bergamo Alps begin immediately north of the town, Bergamo is the seat of the Province of Bergamo. With a population of around 120,000, Bergamo is the fourth-largest city in Lombardy, the metropolitan area of Bergamo extends beyond the administrative city limits, spanning over a densely urbanized area with slightly less than 500,000 inhabitants. The Bergamo metropolitan area is part of the broader Milan metropolitan area. As of 2015, Bergamo is the second most visited city in Lombardy after Milan, Bergamo occupies the site of the ancient town of Bergomum, founded as a settlement of the Celtic tribe of Cenomani. In 49 BC it became a Roman municipality, containing c.10,000 inhabitants at its peak, an important hub on the military road between Friuli and Raetia, it was destroyed by Attila in the 5th century. From the 6th century Bergamo was the seat of one of the most important Lombard duchies of northern Italy, together with Brescia, Trento, after the conquest of the Lombard Kingdom by Charlemagne, it became the seat of a county under one Auteramus. An important Lombardic hoard dating from the 6th to 7th centuries was found in the vicinity of the city in the 19th century and is now in the British Museum. From the 11th century onwards, Bergamo was an independent commune, the local Guelph and Ghibelline factions were the Colleoni and Suardi, respectively. Feuding between the two initially caused the family of Omodeo Tasso to flee north c, from 1264, Bergamo was intermittently under the rule of Milan. In 1331, it gave itself to John of Bohemia, after a short conquest by the Malatesta in 1407, in 1428 it fell under the control of the Venetian Republic, remaining part of it until 1797. Between 1797 and 1815, Bergamo and its territory were included in the political entities born in North Italy during the French, notably, the Venetians fortified the higher portion of the town. In 1815, it was assigned to the Austrian Empire, giuseppe Garibaldi freed it in 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence, when Bergamo became part of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 20th century Bergamo became one of Italys most industrialized cities and it is also one of the few Italian cities that did not suffer major destruction during World War II. Bergamo experiences a subtropical climate characteristic of Northern Italy. While most of Italy is characterized by dry summers with little to no precipitation, Bergamo has the reverse trend, the two parts of the town are connected by funicular/cable car, roads, and foot-paths. Parking spaces are limited in the upper city. The upper city, surrounded by Venetian walls built in the 16th century, Città Alta is an extremely expensive place to live in, with properties being sold for five to twelve thousand euro per square meter
7.
Urgnano
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Urgnano is a comune in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about 45 kilometres northeast of Milan and about 11 kilometres south of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 8,704, the municipality of Urgnano contains the frazione Basella. Among the churches in the town are Santissima Trinità and the church of Santi Nazario e Celso. Urgnano borders the municipalities, Cavernago, Cologno al Serio, Comun Nuovo, Ghisalba, Spirano
8.
Condottieri
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Condottieri were the leaders of the professional military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy from the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance. In Renaissance Italian, condottiero meant contractor, in contemporary Italian, condottiero acquired the broader meaning of military leader, not restricted to mercenaries. In Italian historiography, Renaissance mercenary captains are usually called capitani di ventura, thus, the word Condottiere in the English language has come to denote, in the modern sense, any hired soldier. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Italian city-states of Venice, Florence, in the event that foreign powers and envious neighbors attacked, the ruling nobles hired foreign mercenaries to fight for them. From the eleventh to the century, European soldiers led by professional officers fought against the Muslims in the Crusades. These crusading officers provided large-scale warfare combat experience in the Holy Land, on the Crusades’ conclusion, the first masnada appeared in Italy. Given the profession, some masnade were less mercenaries than bandits and these masnada were not Italian, but German, from the Duchy of Brabant, and from Catalonia and Aragon. The latter were Spanish soldiers who had followed King Peter III of Aragon in the War of the Sicilian Vespers in Italy in October 1282, by 1333 other mercenaries had arrived in Italy to fight with John of Bohemia as the Compagnia della Colomba in Perugia’s war against Arezzo. The first well organised mercenaries in Italy were the Ventura Companies of Duke Werner von Urslingen, werner’s company differed from other mercenary companies because its code of military justice imposed discipline and an equal division of the contract’s income. The Ventura Company increased in number until becoming the fearsome “Great Company” of some 3,000 barbute, the first mercenary company with an Italian condottiero as its chief was the Company of St. George formed in 1339 and led by Lodrisio Visconti. This company was defeated and destroyed by Luchino Visconti of Milan in April 1339, later, in 1377, a second Company of St. Once aware of their military power monopoly in Italy, the bands became notorious for their capriciousness. In turn, many condottieri, such as Braccio da Montone and Muzio Sforza, consequently, the condottieri fought by outmanoeuvring the opponent and fighting his ability to wage war, rather than risk uncertain fortune —defeat, capture, death— in battlefield combat. Niccolò Machiavelli even said that condottieri fought each other in grandiose, in 1347, Cola di Rienzo had Werner von Urslingen executed in Rome, and Konrad von Landau assumed command of the Great Company. Towards the end of the century the Italians began to organize armies of the same description and this ended the reign of the purely mercenary company, and began that of the semi-national mercenary army which endured in Europe till replaced by the national standing army system. In 1363, Count von Landau was betrayed by his Hungarian soldiers, strategically, the barbuta was replaced with the three-soldier, mounted lancia, five lance composed a posta, five poste composed a bandiera. If the condotta expired definitively, the condottiere could not declare war against the contracting city-state for two years. In fifteenth-century Italy, the condottieri were masterful lords of war, during the wars in Lombardy, Machiavelli observed, the others being bred to arms from their infancy, were acquainted with no other art, and pursued war for emolument, or to confer honor upon themselves
9.
Galeazzo Maria Sforza
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Galeazzo Maria Sforza was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until his death. He was famous for being lustful, cruel and tyrannical and he was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450, and Bianca Maria Visconti. He married into the Gonzaga family, on the death of his first wife Dorotea Gonzaga, Galeazzo Maria Sforza was born in Fermo, near the familys castle of Girifalco, the first son of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti. At the death of his father, Galeazzo was in France at the head of an expedition to help King Louis XI of France against Charles I of Burgundy. Called back home by his mother, Galeazzo returned to Italy by a trip under a false name. The false identity was necessary as he had to pass by the territories of the enemy, the Duke of Savoy. He entered Milan on 20 March, acclaimed by the populace, in his first years Galeazzo and his mother ruled jointly, but later his ruthless character pushed him to oust Bianca Maria from Milan. Sforza was famous as a patron of music, under his direction, financial backing and encouragement, his chapel grew into one of the most famous and historically significant musical ensembles in Europe. Composers from the north, especially the Franco-Flemish composers from the present-day Low Countries, came to sing in his chapel and write masses, motets, some of the figures associated with the Sforza chapel include Alexander Agricola, Johannes Martini, Loyset Compère, and Gaspar van Weerbeke. However, most of the singers at the Sforza chapel fled after Galeazzos murder and took positions elsewhere, as a result, Galeazzo Sforza is also known to have had a cruel streak. He was a womanizer who often passed his women on to his courtiers once he was tired of them. Sforza once had a poacher executed by forcing him to swallow an entire hare and he also had a priest who predicted a short reign for Sforza punished by being starved to death. This made him enemies in Milan. There were three principal assassins involved in Sforzas death, Carlo Visconti, Gerolamo Olgiati and Giovanni Andrea Lampugnani, Lampugnani, descended from Milanese nobility, is recognized as the leader of the conspiracy. His motives were based primarily on a dispute, in which Galeazzo had failed to intervene in a matter which saw the Lampugnani family lose considerable properties. Visconti and Olgiati also bore the duke enmity - Olgiati was a Republican idealist, supported by about thirty friends, the three men waited in the church for the duke to arrive for mass. When Galeazzo Sforza arrived, Lampugnani knelt before him, after words were exchanged, Lampugnani rose suddenly and stabbed Sforza in the groin. Olgiati and Visconti soon joined in, as did a servant of Lampugnanis, Sforza was dead within a matter of seconds
10.
Certosa di Pavia
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The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery and complex in Lombardy, northern Italy, situated near a small town of the same name in the Province of Pavia,8 km north of Pavia. Built in 1396-1495, it was located on the border of a large hunting park belonging to the Visconti family of Milan. It is one of the largest monasteries in Italy, Certosa is the Italian name for a house of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse. The location was strategically chosen midway between Milan and Pavia, the city of the Duchy, where the Duke held his court. The church, the last edifice of the complex to be built, was to be the mausoleum of the Visconti. It was designed as a structure with a nave and two aisles, a type unusual for the Carthusian Order. The nave, in the Gothic style, was completed in 1465, Solari was followed as director of the works by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. The church was consecrated on May 3,1497, the lower part of the façade was not completed until 1507. The construction contract obliged the monks to use part of the revenue of the held in benefice to the monastery to continue to improve the edifice. Consequently, the Certosa includes a collection of artworks of all centuries from the 15th to the 18th. In 1782, the Carthusians were expelled by the Emperor Joseph II of Austria, in 1810 the monastery was closed until the Carthusians reacquired it in 1843. In 1866 it was declared a National Monument and sequestrated by the Italian State, the monks currently living in the monastery are Cistercians admitted to it in the 1960s. In August 1946 the illegally exhumed body of Benito Mussolini was discovered in the complex, two Franciscan friars were charged with assisting in the concealment of the body. The church is built on a Latin cross plan, with a nave, the chancel terminates with an apse. It is covered by crossed vaults on Gothic arches and is inspired, on a reduced scale, the vaults are alternatively decorated with geometrical shapes and starry skies. The transept and the main chapel end with square-plan chapels with smaller, the façade of the church is famous for its exuberant decorations, typical of Lombard architecture, every part being decorated with reliefs, inlaid marble and statues. Sculptors who worked on it include Cristoforo Mantegazza and Giovanni Antonio Amadeo himself, the architect Giovanni Solari, in building the double row of arcades down the flanks of the church, modified its appearance. After his death he was succeeded in Pavia by his son Guiniforte Solari, in their hands the project was thoroughly redesigned
11.
Cremona
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Cremona listen is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city, Cremona is first mentioned in history as a settlement of the Cenomani, a Gallic tribe that arrived in the Po valley around 400 BC. However, the name Cremona most likely back to earlier settlers and puzzled the ancients. In 218 BC the Romans established on that spot their first military outpost north of the Po river, Cremona and nearby Placentia, were founded in the same year, as bases for penetration into what became the Roman Province of Gallia Cisalpina. Cremona quickly grew into one of the largest towns in northern Italy, as it was on the road connecting Genoa to Aquileia. The famous poet Virgil, who went to school in Cremona, had to forfeit his ancestral farm, when the Lombards invaded much of Italy in the second half of the 6th century AD, Cremona remained a Byzantine stronghold as part of the Exarchate of Ravenna. The city expanded towards the north-west, with the creation of a great trenched camp outside the walls, in 603, it was conquered by the Lombard king Agilulf and again destroyed. Its territory was divided between the two duchies of Brescia and Bergamo, however, in 615 queen Theodelinda, a devout Roman Catholic intent on converting her people, had Cremona rebuilt and re-installed a bishop there. Control of the city fell increasingly to its bishop, who became a Holy Roman Empire vassal after Charlemagnes conquest of Italy, in this way, Cremona increased its power and its prosperity steadily and some of its bishops had important roles between the 10th and 11th centuries. Bishop Liutprand of Cremona was a member of the Imperial court under the Saxony dynasty and its economy was boosted by the creation of a river port out of the former Byzantine fortress. However, the two bishops Lambert and Ubaldo created discord with the citys people, Emperor Conrad II settled the quarrel by entering in Cremona in 1037 together with the young Pope Benedict IX. Under Henry IV, Cremona refused to pay the oppressive taxes requested by the Empire, according to a legend, the great gonfaloniere Giovanni Baldesio of Cremona faced the emperor himself in a duel. As Henry was knocked from his horse, the city was saved the annual payment of the 3 kg golden ball, which, for that year, was instead given to Berta, Giovannis girlfriend, as her dowry. The first historical news about a free Cremona is from 1093, as it entered into an alliance led by Mathilde of Canossa, together with Lodi, Milan. The conflict ended with the defeat of Henry IV and his famous humiliation of Canossa to Pope Urban II in 1098, Cremona gained the Insula Fulcheria, the area around the nearby city of Crema, as its territory. After that time, the new commune warred against nearby cities to enlarge its territory, in 1107 Cremona conquered Tortona, but four years later its army was defeated near Bressanoro. As in many northern Italian cities, the people were divided into two opposing parties, the Guelphs, who were stronger in the new city, and the Ghibellines, the parties were so irreconcilable that the former built a second Communal Palace, the still existing Palazzo Cittanova. When Frederick Barbarossa descended into Italy to assert his authority, Cremona sided with him in order to gain his support against Crema, the subsequent victory and its loyal imperial stance earned Cremona the right to create a mint for its own coinage in 1154
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Parma
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Parma listen is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its prosciutto, cheese, architecture, music and surrounding countryside. It is home to the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world, Parma is divided into two parts by the stream of the same name. The district on the far side of the river is Oltretorrente, Parmas Etruscan name was adapted by Romans to describe the round shield called Parma. The Italian poet Attilio Bertolucci wrote, As a capital city it had to have a river, as a little capital it received a stream, which is often dry. Parma was already an area in the Bronze Age. In the current position of the city rose a terramare, the terramare were ancient villages built of wood on piles according to a defined scheme and squared form, constructed on dry land and generally in proximity to the rivers. During this age the first necropolis were constructed, diodorus Siculus reported that the Romans had changed their rectangular shields for round ones, imitating the Etruscans. Whether the Etruscan encampment was so named because it was round, like a shield, the Roman colony was founded in 183 BC, together with Mutina,2,000 families were settled. Parma had an importance as a road hub over the Via Aemilia. It had a forum, in what is today the central Garibaldi Square, in 44 BC, the city was destroyed, and Augustus rebuilt it. During the Roman Empire, it gained the title of Julia for its loyalty to the imperial house, the city was subsequently sacked by Attila, and later given by the Germanic king Odoacer to his followers. During the Gothic War, however, Totila destroyed it and it was then part of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna and, from 569, of the Lombard Kingdom of Italy. Under Frankish rule, Parma became the capital of a county, like most northern Italian cities, it was nominally a part of the Holy Roman Empire created by Charlemagne, but locally ruled by its bishops, the first being Guibodus. In the subsequent struggles between the Papacy and the Empire, Parma was usually a member of the Imperial party, two of its bishops became antipopes, Càdalo, founder of the cathedral, as Honorius II, and Guibert, as Clement III. An almost independent commune was created around 1140, a treaty between Parma and Piacenza of 1149 is the earliest document of a comune headed by consuls, the struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines was a feature of Parma too. In 1213, her podestà was the Guelph Rambertino Buvalelli, then, after a long stance alongside the emperors, the Papist families of the city gained control in 1248. The city was besieged in 1247–48 by Emperor Frederick II, who was crushed in the battle that ensued. Parma fell under the control of Milan in 1341, after a short-lived period of independence under the Terzi family, the Sforza imposed their rule through their associated families of Pallavicino, Rossi, Sanvitale and Da Correggio
13.
Pietro Antonio Solari
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Pietro Antonio Solari, also known as Pyotr Fryazin, was an Italian architect and sculptor. He was born in Carona, Ticino, and apprenticed under his father Guiniforte Solari, himself an architect, in 1476, he was hired to continue the construction of the Duomo di Milano. Later on, he was in charge of construction projects in Milan. In 1484 he sculpted a tomb in the Cathedral of Alessandria, in 1487, he was invited to Russia by Ivan III to construct the walls and towers of the Moscow Kremlin. Within the next two years, Solari built most of the walls and towers of the Kremlin, including the Borovitskaya, Konstantino-Eleninskaya, Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, engineering methods, technique and architectural forms, used by Solari, were reminiscent of the fortifications of Northern Italy. Together with Marco Ruffo, Solari also built the Palace of Facets in the Kremlin and he died in Moscow in May 1493. Arte e artisti dei laghi lombardi
14.
Policlinico of Milan
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The Ca Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico Foundation in Milan, traditionally known as the Policlinico of Milan, is one of the oldest hospitals in Italy, founded by Duke Francesco Sforza in 1456. Today it is a hospital with 900 beds, with wards for adults. There are three different emergency rooms for different categories of patients, the maternity ward has the highest number of births in Lombardy. The programs are concerned with the transfer of therapies from the laboratory to patients. He did so primarily to gain the affection of its people, entering Milan victorious on 25 March 1450, the Duke decided to dedicate a charitable institution to Annunciata. It was then that the new foundation became the Spedale della Nunciata, the completion of the cloisters and their ornamentation was carried out by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo, Solari’s son-in-law and pupil. Although the hospital was founded for the poor, it was from the outset a hospital where people with some hope of recovery were treated, chronic diseases were treated in hospitals outside the city. For this reason the Ospedale Maggiore has always been the centre of information in the city. At the beginning of the 20th century it was decided that the hospital would be moved to a location beyond the canal and this move coincided with the founding of the state University, which took over the old buildings of the Ca Granda, where it remains today. The Ospedale Maggiore moved to a vast area between the streets of Francesco Sforza, Porta Romana, Lamarmora and Commenda, the obstetrics and gynaecology department was the first to be inaugurated, by Luigi Mangiagalli, and the department still bears his name. At the time the hospital moved it had decided that a general hospital would be created in the area of Niguarda. This hospital was designed by Giò Ponti and inaugurated in 1932 and it kept the name Ca Granda, whilst the new general hospital took the name Ospedale Maggiore. Further additions to the institution included the San Carlo Borromeo di Milano. The institution was divided up, giving autonomy to the different institutes, whilst others were founded independently. In 1909 the Adelina brothers and Marco De Marchi founded the Asilo per le madri povere legittime Regina Elena, in 1957 it was converted into a specialist hospital and in 1968 it became the Regina Elena Institute of Obstetrics-Gynaecology and Paediatrics. From 1998 to 2004 the clinical Institutes of Faithful Improvement, Mangiagalli, in 2010 the name of the hospital was changed, reverting to the former Ca Granda. The organisation’s insignia used to bear the scene of the Annunciation, later it was simplified to a picture of the dove of the Holy Spirit. The heraldic representation, still the basis of the Foundation’s current logo, is linked with the Visconti symbol of the flaming
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Milan Cathedral
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Milan Cathedral is the cathedral church of Milan, Italy. Dedicated to St Mary of the Nativity, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, the Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy and the fifth largest in the world, the first cathedral, the new basilica dedicated to St Thecla, was completed by 355. It seems to share, on a smaller scale, the plan of the contemporaneous church recently rediscovered beneath Tower Hill in London. An adjoining basilica was erected in 836, the old octagonal baptistery, the Battistero Paleocristiano, dates to 335 and still can be visited under the Milan Cathedral. When a fire damaged the cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were rebuilt as the Duomo, in 1386, Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began construction of the cathedral. Before actual work began, three buildings were demolished, the palace of the Archbishop, the Ordinari Palace and the Baptistry of St. Stephen at the Spring. Maria Maggiore was exploited as a stone quarry, enthusiasm for the immense new building soon spread among the population, and the shrewd Gian Galeazzo, together with his cousin the archbishop, collected large donations for the work-in-progress. The construction program was strictly regulated under the Fabbrica del Duomo, Orsenigo initially planned to build the cathedral from brick in Lombard Gothic style. Visconti had ambitions to follow the newest trends in European architecture, in 1389, a French chief engineer, Nicolas de Bonaventure, was appointed, adding to the church its Rayonnant Gothic, a French style not typical for Italy. He decided that the structure should be panelled with marble. Galeazzo gave the Fabbrica del Duomo exclusive use of the marble from the Candoglia quarry and exempted it from taxes. Ten years later another French architect, Jean Mignot, was called from Paris to judge and improve upon the work done, Mignot declared all the work done up till then as in pericolo di ruina, as it had been done sine scienzia. In the following years Mignots forecasts proved untrue, but they spurred Galeazzos engineers to improve their instruments, work proceeded quickly, and at the death of Gian Galeazzo in 1402, almost half the cathedral was complete. John the Evangelist, by Cristoforo de Mottis, and Saint Eligius and San John of Damascus, in 1452, under Francesco Sforza, the nave and the aisles were completed up to the sixth bay. The exterior long remained without any decoration, except for the Guglietto dellAmadeo and this is a Renaissance masterwork which nevertheless harmonized well with the general Gothic appearance of the church. During the subsequent Spanish domination, the new church proved usable, even though the interior remained unfinished, and some bays of the nave. In 1552 Giacomo Antegnati was commissioned to build an organ for the north side of the choir
16.
Donato Bramante
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Donato Bramante, born as Donato di Pascuccio dAntonio and also known as Bramante Lazzari, was an Italian architect. He introduced Renaissance architecture to Milan and the High Renaissance style to Rome and his Tempietto marked the beginning of the High Renaissance in Rome when Pope Julius II appointed him to build a sanctuary over the spot where Peter was allegedly crucified. Bramante was born under the name Donato dAugnolo, Donato di Pascuccio dAntonio, here, in 1467, Luciano Laurana was adding to the Palazzo Ducale an arcaded courtyard and other Renaissance features to Federico da Montefeltros ducal palace. Around 1474, Bramante moved to Milan, a city with a deep Gothic architectural tradition, and built several churches in the new Antique style. The Duke, Ludovico Sforza, made him virtually his court architect, beginning in 1476, space was limited, and Bramante made a theatrical apse in bas-relief, combining the painterly arts of perspective with Roman details. There is a sacristy, surmounted by a dome. In Milan, Bramante also built the tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie, other works include the Cloisters of SantAmbrogio, Milan. However, in 1499, with his Sforza patron driven from Milan by an invading French army, Bramante made his way to Rome, in Rome, he was soon recognized by Cardinal Della Rovere, shortly to become Pope Julius II. Despite its small scale, the construction has all the proportions and symmetry of Classical structures, surrounded by slender Doric columns. According to an engraving by Sebastiano Serlio, Bramante planned to set it within a colonnaded courtyard. In November 1503, Julius engaged Bramante for the construction of the grandest European architectural commission of the 16th century, the cornerstone of the first of the great piers of the crossing was laid with ceremony on 17 April 1506. Very few drawings by Bramante survive, though some by his assistants do, Bramantes plan envisaged four great chapels filling the corner spaces between the equal transepts, each one capped with a smaller dome surrounding the great dome over the crossing. So Bramantes original plan was much more Romano-Byzantine in its forms than the basilica that was actually built. Bramante also worked on other commissions. Among his earliest works in Rome, before the Basilicas construction was under way, is the cloister of Santa Maria della Pace near Piazza Navona, Santa Maria presso San Satiro, Milan, ca. Palazzo Caprini, Rome, started around 1510 Leon Battista Alberti Giorgio Vasari Davies, Paul, Bramante, Donato, The Dictionary of Art, Vol. IV, New York, Grove, pp. 642–653, ISBN9781884446009. Bramante, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed. Vol. IV, New York, Charles Scribners Sons,1878, Bramante, Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. Vol. IV, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1911, p.418. Donato Bramante Source Information, Pictures & Documentaries about Donato
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Santa Maria presso San Satiro
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Santa Maria presso San Satiro is a church in Milan. The Renaissance structure houses the shrine to Satyrus, brother of Saint Ambrose. The church is known for its false apse, an example of trompe lœil. The church lies on the site of a worship place erected by the archbishop Anspertus in 879, dedicated to Saint Satyrus, confessor and brother of Saints Ambrose. The current church was built from 1472 to 1482 under commission from Duchess Bona di Savoia. According to some sources, the designer was Donato Bramante, who had moved from the Marche. However, recent documents prove that Bramante had a role, most of the work being attributable to Giovanni Antonio Amadeo. It is certain that Bramante is responsible for the sacristy perspective, the edifice has a nave and two aisles with barrel vault. The nave is surmounted by a dome at the crossing with the transept. The bell tower is still that of the Romanesque edifice preceding the 1480s reconstruction, also from the 15th century is the baptistry annexed to the church. Originally the interior was decorated with white and gold paint, the walls had frescoes by Borgognone, now transferred to the Pinacoteca di Brera. The ancient sacellum of San Satiro was also covered with cotto decoration, also by the same artist are several terracotta busts in the sacristy, which is on the central plan, inspired to the Portinari Chapel of SantEustorgio or to the Colleoni Chapel. The church contains an altarpiece of the Extasis of St Phillip Neri by Giuseppe Peroni, page on the church Bramante in Milan
18.
Ascanio Sforza
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Ascanio Maria Sforza Visconti was an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. Generally known as a diplomat who played a major role in the election of Rodrigo Borgia as Pope Alexander VI. A member of the House of Sforza, Ascanio Sforza was born in Cremona and his parents were Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, and Bianca Maria Visconti. He was also the brother of two Milanese dukes, Galeazzo Maria Sforza and Ludovico Sforza and his teacher was Filelfo who introduced him to government and literature. Other cardinals of the family were Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, Alessandro Sforza, Francesco Sforza, at age of 10 he was named commendatory abbot of Chiaravalle. However, it was in fact Francesco della Rovere who won the papal election, hoping to pacify Milan, Sixtus IV attempted to create Ascanio a cardinal in 1477 but the Sacred College refused to accept him into its ranks. Nevertheless, Ascanio entered the episcopate when he was appointed Bishop of Pavia in September 1479, in 1484 he represented Ludovico Sforza at the Congress of Cremona. Pope Sixtus IV finally created him cardinal deacon of Ss, Vito e Modesto on 17 March 1484. Ascanio entered Rome on 23 August the same year - just a few days after Sixtus’s death, the formal nomination ceremony had not taken place and some cardinals voiced objections to his participation in the forthcoming conclave. Due to Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia’s intervention however, Ascanio was received with full cardinalitial rights, Sforza became administrator of Novara from 25 October 1484 to 18 April 1485. As a cardinal, Ascanios main priority was to reconcile Ferdinand I of Naples with the Sforza dynasty, a dispute with Cardinal Jean Balue, the French ambassador to the Papal Court, in March 1486 complicated matters. Balue had suggested that Innocent VIII summon Rene dAnjou to retrieve his rights over the Neapolitan throne - leading to a violent quarrel with Ascanio, Ascanio was appointed administrator of the See of Cremona on 28 July 1486 and occupied the post until his death. He also became administrator of the See of Pesaro in 1487 until May 1491, in his effort to ally Naples with Milan, he received Ferdinand of Capua, Ferrante’s grandson, in his palace in Trastevere in May 1492. The banquet organised in honour of the Neapolitan prince was so extravagant and magnificent that, according to Stefano Infessura, If I were to give an account, no one would believe me. Sforza resigned his deaconry of S. Vito e Modesto on 26 August 1492 and opted for it again on 31 January 1495 and he was named administrator of the Metropolitan See of Eger on 31 August 1492, staying in that position until June 1496. The marriage was annulled in 1497, on grounds of non-consummation, Cardinal Sforza was named administrator of Elne in January 1494 until May 1495. The friendship between Ascanio and Alexander VI came to a deadlock when the French invaded Italy in September 1494, aware of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere’s machinations against him, Alexander decided to resist the French. Ludovico Sforza having secretly allied himself with King Charles VIII of France, Ascanio betrayed the Pope together with several cardinals, after the papal triumph over the King, Milan abandoned the French and Ascanio was received once again in the Vatican
19.
Pavia Cathedral
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Pavia Cathedral is a church in Pavia, Italy, the largest in the city and seat of the Diocese of Pavia. The construction was begun in the 15th century on the site of two pre-existing Romanesque, twin cathedrals, the cathedral houses the remains of St. Sirus, first Bishop of Pavia, and a thorn from the Crown of Thorns worn by Christ. The marble facing of the exterior was never completed, until recently, next to the cathedral stood the Civic Tower, known in 1330 and enlarged in 1583. It collapsed on March 17,1989, the cathedral was begun in 1488, under architect Cristoforo Rocchi, who was soon replaced by Giovanni Antonio Amadeo and Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono. The original project, with a nave and two aisles flanked by niches and a large central dome, was influenced by Bramante. Leonardo da Vinci is also known to have contributed to the project, in 1521, the altar area was completed by Gianpietrino Rizzi, a pupil of Da Vinci. By the 17th century, the presbytery had been completed but only in the century was the tambour built, while the dome itself. The dome was designed by Carlo Maciachini and completed in 1885, in 1930, construction continued with the two arms of the transept, for which the original plan was followed, although using reinforced concrete. The arms are missing part of the internal marble decoration. The church is on the Greek Cross plan, it therefore has the length and width at the transept. At about 84 m, it is one of the largest edifices with a plan in northern Italy. The central dome, with a plan, is 97 m tall. It is the fourth in Italy in size, after St. Peters Basilica, the Pantheon and the Cathedral of Florence
20.
Ludovico Sforza
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Ludovico Maria Sforza, was Duke of Milan from 1494 until 1499, following the death of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza. A member of the Sforza family, he was the son of Francesco I Sforza. He was famed as a patron of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists and he is probably best known as the man who commissioned The Last Supper. Ludovico Sforza was born on 27 July 1452 at Vigevano, in what is now Lombardy and he was the fourth son of Francesco I Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti and, as such, was not expected to become ruler of Milan. Nevertheless, his mother, Bianca, prudently saw to it that his education was not restricted to the classical languages. Under the tutelage of the humanist Francesco Filelfo, Ludovico received instruction in the beauties of painting, sculpture, and letters and he later helped Leonardo paint with pastels. When their father Francesco died in 1466, the titles devolved upon the dissolute Galeazzo Maria. Galeazzo Maria ruled until his assassination in 1476, leaving his titles to his son, Gian Galeazzo Sforza. For the following 13 years he ruled Milan as its Regent, Leonardo da Vinci orchestrated the wedding celebration. Beatrice and Alfonso’s sister, Isabella dEste was married to Francesco II Gonzaga, the 15-year-old princess quickly charmed the Milanese court with her joy in life, her laughter, and even her extravagance. She helped to make Sforza Castle a center of sumptuous festivals and balls and she loved entertaining philosophers, poets, diplomats and she would become the mother of Maximilian Sforza and Francesco II Sforza, future Dukes of Milan. Prior to and throughout the duration of his marriage, Ludovico is known to have had mistresses, bernardina de Corradis was an early mistress who bore him a daughter, Bianca Giovanna. The child was legitimized and later married to Galeazzo da Sanseverino in 1496, cecilia Gallerani, believed to be a favourite, gave birth to a son named Cesare on 3 May 1491, in the same year in which he married Beatrice dEste. Gallerani is identified as the subject of Leonardo da Vincis Lady with an Ermine – the ermine was the animal of Ludovico il Moro. Another mistress was Lucrezia Crivelli, who bore him another son, Giovanni Paolo. Ludovico also fathered an illegitimate son, called Sforza, who was born around 1484 and died suddenly in 1487. Ludovico contented himself with the rather than the appearance of power. He invested in agriculture, horse and cattle breeding, and the metal industry, some 20,000 workers were employed in the silk industry
21.
Chiavenna
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Chiavenna is a comune in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region of Lombardy. It is the centre of the Alpine Valchiavenna region, the historic town is a member of the Cittaslow movement. Chiavenna is located about 100 kilometres north of Milan and about 40 kilometres northwest of Sondrio, the town is situated on the right bank of the river Mera about 16 kilometres north of Lake Como. The river course leads up to Val Bregaglia in the east, in the north, the Valle Spluga stretches up to Passo dello Spluga and the road to Chur in the Grisons. Chiavenna borders the municipalities, Mese, Piuro, Prata Camportaccio. The municipality of Chiavenna contains the frazioni Campedello, Loreto, Pianazzola, as of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,263 and an area of 11.1 kilometres. In Roman times Clavenna was a town of Rhaetia, on the Italian side of the Alps, north of the head of the Lacus Larius and it was by one or other of these passes that Stilicho crossed the Alps in midwinter, a feat celebrated by Claudian. After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the city marked the limit of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. Clavenna was retaken by the Romans in the century during the reign of Justinian. Clavenna probably derived some importance from its position at the junction of two passes, as does the modern town of Chiavenna, which is the chief town of the surrounding district. Chiavenna received town privileges from the Bishops of Como, in medieval times, the castello served as a residence of local counts controlling the Alpine passes in the north and east. Initially under the overlordship of the Dukes of Swabia, the town was acquired by the Italian Visconti in the 14th century from the bishop of Chur. At a similar time to the campaigns of the Old Swiss Confederacy. This put the Valtellina back under the control of the Prince Bishop of Chur, the Three Leagues was not part of Switzerland until Napoleons much later conquest. To this day, there is a statue of Peter de Salis in Chiavenna, during the favourable time of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, primary schools were created in every place, and the instruction was made obligatory for maids. Lombard and Venetic women where the first to be alphabetised in Italy, the Austrian administration build bold modern routes, created hospitals and brought the level of medicine in Milan up to the top for the time. A citizen of Chiavenna could study in the universities of Innsbruck, Vienna, Prague and he could serve in the imperial army, become an officer, accede to the higher administration, and be ennobled. After the proclamation of the Sabaudian Regno dItalia, Chiavenna followed the sort of the rest of Lombardy, a popular governor, 1771–1773 and 1781–1783
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Tirano
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Tirano is a town in Valtellina, located in the province of Sondrio in northern Italy. It has 9,130 inhabitants and is adjacent to the Switzerland-Italy boundary, the river Adda flows through the town. Tirano has two neighboring railway stations, one, a standard gauge station, is operated by Trenitalia, the state railway company, and is terminus of the Tirano–Lecco railway. The other, a gauge station, is operated by the Rhaetian Railway. The line of the Bernina Railway connects St. Moritz with Tirano, the complete line was opened in 1910. In 2008 the Bernina Railway as well as the Albula Railway were recorded from UNESCO in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, located nearby is the Catholic shrine of the Madonna di Tirano, a major tourist attraction. The shrine is dedicated to the appearance of the Blessed Mother to Mario Degli Omodei on September 29,1504, the Palazzo Salis close by the municipal offices is a remarkable example of the use of trompe loeil to create the illusion of architectural features. Despite its population of less than 10,000, Tirano is considered a city because of the walls that were built to protect it, Tirano station Tirano station Media related to Tirano at Wikimedia Commons Tirano official website Museo PalazzoSalis. Tirano
23.
Valtellina
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Valtellina or the Valtelline, German, Veltlin, Italian, Valtellina, is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski center, hot spring spas, bresaola, in past centuries it was a key alpine pass between northern Italy and Germany and control of the Valtellina was much sought after, particularly during the Thirty Years War. The most important comune of the valley is Sondrio, the major centers are Aprica, Morbegno, Tirano, Bormio. Although Livigno is on the side of the alpine watershed. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the Valtellina belonged to Graubünden, during the Thirty Years War, the Valtellina was a theater of intense military and diplomatic struggle among France, the Habsburg powers and the local authorities. At stake was control of the routes through the Valtellina territory to the passes between Lombardy and the Danube watershed, the anti-Habsburg forces in the Three Leagues put together a court that between 1618 and 1620 handed down a number of convictions against Catholics in the Leagues and Valtellina. The harsh judgments of the anti-Habsburg Thusis court led to a conspiracy to drive the Protestants out of the valley, the leader of the conspiracy, Giacomo Robustelli of the Planta family, had ties to Madrid, Rome and Paris. On the evening of 18/19 July 1620, a force of Valtellina rebels supported by Austrian and Italian troops marched into Tirano, when they finished in Tirano, they marched to Teglio, Sondrio and further down the valley killing every Protestant that they found. Between 500 and 600 people were killed on that night and in the four days. The attack drove nearly all the Protestants out of the valley, prevented further Protestant incursions, the killings in Valtellina were part of the conflicts in Graubünden known as the Bündner Wirren or Confusion of the Leagues. In 1797 the growing power of the First French Republic created the Cisalpine republic in Northern Italy, on 10 October 1797, the French supported a revolt in the Valtellina against the Graubünden, and it joined the Cisalpine Republic. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the Valtellina became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, in 1859 it came, together with Lombardy, to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and finally in 1861 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Australia, especially Western Australia, was a destination for such migrants. Industrially, the area is famous as the home of the worlds first mainline electrified railway, the electrification of the Valtellina line took place in 1902, using three-phase power at 3,600 V, with a maximum speed of 70 km/h. The system was designed by the brilliant Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó who was employed by contractors the Budapest-based Ganz company. These days, however, only Italian and Lombard are spoken, the Fascist Party secretary Alessandro Pavolini was the main proponent of the idea, which he first raised with Mussolini in September 1944. He pointed out that the valley was ringed with fortifications dating from World War I, in the last months of 1944 Mussolinis government began moving munitions and food stores to the area. By January 1945, however, no decision to make a stand in the Valtellina had been taken
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Vigevano
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Vigevano is a town and comune in the province of Pavia, Lombardy in northern Italy. A historic art town, it is renowned for shoemaking and is one of the main centres of Lomellina. Vigevano received the title of city with a decree of Duke Francis II Sforza on 2 February 1532. It is famed for its beautiful Renaissance Piazza Ducale in the centre of the town, the earliest records of Vigevano date from the 10th century AD, when it was a favoured residence of the Lombard king Arduin, for the sake of the good hunting in the vicinity. Vigevano was a Ghibelline commune, favoring the Emperor and was besieged and taken by the Milanese in 1201. In 1328 it finally surrendered to Azzone Visconti, and thereafter shared the fortunes of Milan. The Church of San Pietro Martire was built, with the adjacent Dominican convent, in the last years of Visconti domination it sustained a siege by Francesco Sforza. Once he was settled in power in Lombardy, Sforza arranged for Vigevano to be set up as the seat of a bishop and provided its revenues. Leonardo da Vinci was his guest at Vigevano, as was Bramante, the towns main street enters through a sham arcaded façade that preserves the unity of the space as at the Place des Vosges. Ludovico demolished the former palazzo of the commune of Vigevano to create the space, at the outside of town is the La Sforzesca, a rectangular villa-fortress with corner palace-towers, built in 1486 by Ludovico il Moro. The Cathedral was begun in 1532 under Duke Francesco II, who commissioned the design to Antonio da Lonate, the edifice was completed in 1606. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave, for centuries, the city was a manufacturing centre, especially for the silk and cotton industry. The key sector of Vigevano industry is shoemaking, handily shoemaking began to expand during the First World War and, by the 1950s, Vigevano was known as Italys shoe capital. Guido da Vigevano, physician and inventor Donato Bramante, architect and painter, Leonardo da Vinci, polymath, worked in Vigevano for Ludovico Sforza. Giovanni Peroni, industrialist, who founded Peroni Brewery in Vigevano, eleonora Duse, Italian actress, often known simply as Duse, was born in Vigevano. Vito Pallavicini, lyricist, mostly known for being one of the two writers of Azzurro, gian Carlo Rota, mathematician and philosopher, was born in Vigevano. Margie Santimaria, a professional triathlete Abramo Ardizzi, diplomat, ambassador, bishop, juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, mathematician and bishop of Vigevano. Guido Ferracin, athlete, European bantam weight boxing champion, wenzhou, Peoples Republic of China Ficarra, Italy Matera, Italy Lomellina Giedion, Siegfried
25.
Santa Maria presso San Celso
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Santa Maria dei Miracoli presso San Celso is a church and a sanctuary in Milan, Lombardy, northern Italy. The construction was begun by Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono and Giovanni Battagio in 1493, to house an icon of the Madonna. In the 16th century also the portico in classical style was added. From 1595 the organist was the keyboard virtuoso Giovanni Paolo Cima, notable are the Baptism of Jesus by Gaudenzio Ferrari and Giovan Battista della Cerva, the Fall of St. Paul by Moretto and, on the altar of the right transept, an altarpiece by Paris Bordone. The lectern of the choir is by Giuseppe Meda, in the left transept, within an altar designed by Martino Bassi, is the venerated marble statue of the Assunta by Annibale Fontana with two later angels by Giulio Cesare Procaccini. Annexed to Santa Maria is the Romanesque church of San Celso, dedicated to the martyr Saint Celsus and it was founded in the 4th century and rebuilt in the 11th century. The façade has a window and a Romanesque portal with animal figures decoration. Also from the 11th century is the bell tower
26.
Leonardo da Vinci
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He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Sometimes credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, many historians and scholars regard Leonardo as the prime exemplar of the Universal Genius or Renaissance Man, an individual of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination. Much of his working life was spent in the service of Ludovico il Moro in Milan. He later worked in Rome, Bologna and Venice, and he spent his last years in France at the home awarded to him by Francis I of France, Leonardo was, and is, renowned primarily as a painter. Among his works, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied portrait, Leonardos drawing of the Vitruvian Man is also regarded as a cultural icon, being reproduced on items as varied as the euro coin, textbooks, and T-shirts. Perhaps fifteen of his paintings have survived, Leonardo is revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised flying machines, a type of armoured fighting vehicle, concentrated power, an adding machine. Some of his inventions, however, such as an automated bobbin winder. A number of Leonardos most practical inventions are nowadays displayed as working models at the Museum of Vinci. He made substantial discoveries in anatomy, civil engineering, geology, optics, and hydrodynamics, today, Leonardo is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Leonardo was born on 15 April 1452 at the hour of the night in the Tuscan hill town of Vinci. He was the son of the wealthy Messer Piero Fruosino di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary, and Caterina. Leonardo had no surname in the modern sense – da Vinci simply meaning of Vinci, his birth name was Lionardo di ser Piero da Vinci, meaning Leonardo. The inclusion of the title ser indicated that Leonardos father was a gentleman, little is known about Leonardos early life. He spent his first five years in the hamlet of Anchiano in the home of his mother and his father had married a sixteen-year-old girl named Albiera Amadori, who loved Leonardo but died young in 1465 without children. When Leonardo was sixteen, his father married again to twenty-year-old Francesca Lanfredini, pieros legitimate heirs were born from his third wife Margherita di Guglielmo and his fourth and final wife, Lucrezia Cortigiani. Leonardo received an education in Latin, geometry and mathematics. In later life, Leonardo recorded only two childhood incidents, one, which he regarded as an omen, was when a kite dropped from the sky and hovered over his cradle, its tail feathers brushing his face
27.
Lugano
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Lugano is a city in southern Switzerland in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino bordering Italy. It has a population of 71,500, and an urban agglomeration over 145,000, the 9th largest Swiss city, it is the largest in Ticino and largest with an Italian speaking majority outside Italy. The city lies on Lake Lugano, surrounded by the mountains of the Lugano Prealps, the toponym is first recorded in 804, in the form Luanasco, in 874 as Luano, and from 1189 as Lugano. German-language variants of the name were Lowens, Lauis, Lauwis, the etymology of the name is uncertain, suggestions include derivation from lucus grove, from a vulgar Latin lakvannus lake-dweller and from the god Lugus. The blazon of the coat of arms is Gules, a cross throughout argent. The coat of arms dates from around 1200, the four letters on the coat of arms are an abbreviation of the name Lugano. The shores of Lake Lugano have been inhabited since the Stone Age, within the modern city limits a number of ground stones or quern-stones have been found. In the area surrounding Lugano, items from the Copper Age, there are Etruscan monuments at Davesco-Soragno, Pregassona, and Viganello. Graves with jewelry and household items have been found in Aldesago, Davesco, Pazzallo, the region around Lake Lugano was settled by the Romans by the 1st century BC. There was an important Roman city north of Lugano at Bioggio, there are fewer traces of the Romans in Lugano, but several inscriptions, graves and coins indicate that some Romans lived in what would become Lugano. Other documents, dating from 804 and 844 refer to Lake Lugano as Laco Luanasco, during the fighting between Guelphs and Ghibellines and the new disputes between Como and Milan, during the 14th and 15th centuries, Lugano was the scene of clashes between opposing forces. After a long rule by the Rusca family, Lugano was freed from the domination of Como, at the same time the link between town and the valley strengthened. By 1405–06 documents attest to a vallis comunitas Lugani et, which was a body that was independent of Como. The new community included the parishes of Lugano, Agno, Riva San Vitale, in 1416 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti conquered the region of Lugano and the Rusca valley and made it a fief. A year later, Luganos freedoms were first documented in a series of statutes modeled on those of Como, the town was able to secure complete independence. Between 1433 and 1438 the Duke of Milan, Aloisio Sanseverino sat as a feudal lord over Lugano and he compensated the Rusca family with the ownership of Locarno. Under the reign of his heirs in the following decades rebellions and riots broke out and it was the object of continuous disputes between the Dukes of Como and Milan until it became a Swiss dominion in 1513. Swiss control lasted until 1798 when Napoleon conquered the Old Swiss Confederation, in 1746, the Agnelli brothers opened the first printing press and bookshop in Lugano
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Integrated Authority File
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The Integrated Authority File or GND is an international authority file for the organisation of personal names, subject headings and corporate bodies from catalogues. It is used mainly for documentation in libraries and increasingly also by archives, the GND is managed by the German National Library in cooperation with various regional library networks in German-speaking Europe and other partners. The GND falls under the Creative Commons Zero license, the GND specification provides a hierarchy of high-level entities and sub-classes, useful in library classification, and an approach to unambiguous identification of single elements. It also comprises an ontology intended for knowledge representation in the semantic web, available in the RDF format
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National Library of the Czech Republic
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The National Library of the Czech Republic is the central library of the Czech Republic. It is directed by the Ministry of Culture, the librarys main building is located in the historical Clementinum building in Prague, where approximately half of its books are kept. The other half of the collection is stored in the district of Hostivař, the National Library is the biggest library in the Czech Republic, in its funds there are around 6 million documents. The library has around 60,000 registered readers, as well as Czech texts, the library also stores older material from Turkey, Iran and India. The library also houses books for Charles University in Prague, the library won international recognition in 2005 as it received the inaugural Jikji Prize from UNESCO via the Memory of the World Programme for its efforts in digitising old texts. The project, which commenced in 1992, involved the digitisation of 1,700 documents in its first 13 years, the most precious medieval manuscripts preserved in the National Library are the Codex Vyssegradensis and the Passional of Abbes Kunigunde. In 2006 the Czech parliament approved funding for the construction of a new building on Letna plain. In March 2007, following a request for tender, Czech architect Jan Kaplický was selected by a jury to undertake the project, later in 2007 the project was delayed following objections regarding its proposed location from government officials including Prague Mayor Pavel Bém and President Václav Klaus. Later in 2008, Minister of Culture Václav Jehlička announced the end of the project, the library was affected by the 2002 European floods, with some documents moved to upper levels to avoid the excess water. Over 4,000 books were removed from the library in July 2011 following flooding in parts of the main building, there was a fire at the library in December 2012, but nobody was injured in the event. List of national and state libraries Official website
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Netherlands Institute for Art History
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The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center in the world. The center specializes in documentation, archives, and books on Western art from the late Middle Ages until modern times, all of this is open to the public, and much of it has been digitized and is available on their website. The main goal of the bureau is to collect, categorize, via the available databases, the visitor can gain insight into archival evidence on the lives of many artists of past centuries. The library owns approximately 450,000 titles, of which ca.150,000 are auction catalogs, there are ca.3,000 magazines, of which 600 are currently running subscriptions. Though most of the text is in Dutch, the record format includes a link to library entries and images of known works. The RKD also manages the Dutch version of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus, the original version is an initiative of the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California. Their bequest formed the basis for both the art collection and the library, which is now housed in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. Though not all of the holdings have been digitised, much of its metadata is accessible online. The website itself is available in both a Dutch and an English user interface, in the artist database RKDartists, each artist is assigned a record number. To reference an artist page directly, use the code listed at the bottom of the record, usually of the form, https, for example, the artist record number for Salvador Dalí is 19752, so his RKD artist page can be referenced. In the images database RKDimages, each artwork is assigned a record number, to reference an artwork page directly, use the code listed at the bottom of the record, usually of the form, https, //rkd. nl/en/explore/images/ followed by the artworks record number. For example, the record number for The Night Watch is 3063. The Art and Architecture Thesaurus also assigns a record for each term, rather, they are used in the databases and the databases can be searched for terms. For example, the painting called The Night Watch is a militia painting, the thesaurus is a set of general terms, but the RKD also contains a database for an alternate form of describing artworks, that today is mostly filled with biblical references. To see all images that depict Miriams dance, the associated iconclass code 71E1232 can be used as a search term. Official website Direct link to the databases The Dutch version of the Art and Architecture Thesaurus
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Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
