Family roots

A volte ragiono sulle scelte che mi hanno portato a emigrare all'estero e non posso fare a meno che sentirmi vicino allo stile di vita dei miei nonni materni. Perchè se i miei genitori non hanno mai dovuto lavorare all'estero, la generazione precedente di cui fanno parte i miei nonni invece si.

Sia mio nonno che mia nonna prima di sposarsi han dovuto lasciare le campagne per andare a lavorare temporaneamente in Svizzera, mio nonno come bracciante e mia nonna come cameriera per una famiglia nobile di origine tedesca.

Frugando in casa dei miei genitori è spuntata una cassetta di legno colma di foto in bianco e nero e così ho pensato di scansionarle alcune. 

Così quando mi sentirò un po' malinconica mi basterà guardarle per ricordarmi tutto quello che hanno fatto per me e gli insegnamenti che mi hanno instillato. Anche perchè la mia nonna è stata la mia insegnante di cucito...a volte severissima, diciamo old school. Ricorderò sempre ad esemprio quando a 10 anni all'ombra della nostra casa mi obbligava a ricamare le bavagline per il mio fratellino in arrivo. 

Mitica nonna e immenso nonno che proprio un anno fa ci ha lasciato.

Insomma un piccolo post per ricordarli, perchè ovunque vado il loro ricordo vive in me :)

 

Today I want to write a post about my grandparents because they had had a lot of things in common with my life. Both emigrated to Switzerland and worked there for a long period. I found a small wooden box filled with a lot of pictures about them so I decided to digitize some. 

When I feel a little sad and nostalgic I will remember what they did for me and how much they loved me. My grandma taught me all I know about sewing and stitching, even if when I was a child she forced me to learn those arts with a strictly discipline.Well, it worked! 

Just a little memory about my gorgeous and unforgettable grandparents.

Friday Fav: Fortuny

My Friday Fav today is Mariano Fortuny and his magnificent and sumptuous silk dresses, cloaks and medieval style robes.

I really love this artist because his fame and art are closely linked with Venice despite his name reveals its Spanish origin: he was born in Granada on 11 May 1871 and he spent his childhood between Rome, a little town near Naples and Paris. Fortuny was just eighteen when his family moved to Venice, in a palace in the Canareggio and soon he started to love the new place, its architecture, the oriental atmosphere of the city and the work of Venetian Renaissance painters such as Bellini, Titian, Veronese and Giorgione: all these elements influenced his dress design and his friends said that he spoke Venetian better than Italian.

At the age of forty he threw totally himself into fashion design, after devoting his life to photography, painting and sculpture. His name is connected with the thin pleated silk dress but we must not forget that the Fortuny style was the result of a collaboration between him and the French modell Henriette Negrin. They spent forty-seven happy years together in Venice and in 1909 they opened the first Fortuny boutique in Palazzo Orfei, later renamed Palazzo Fortuny. They worked in this way: he invented the pleated look and the dyeing process while Henriette picked out the patterns and block-printed the patterns of the dresses.

It is important to remark that Fortuny was not a couturier because he did not present an annual collection but he was interested in reaching a big and romantic purpose: a timeless ideal form of beauty.

The "Delphos" dress, the most famous icon of his style, was cut out flat in one piece, than the imported Japanese folded silk laid on heated porcelain tubes fixing permanently the tight pleats with the help of Chinese crystallized egg white. The result was a pressed dress that recalled the idealized "flower-woman" and the "Delphi Charioteer", from ancient Greece. Every single dress had the shoulders and seams accentuated with Murano glass beads, made specially for Fortuny. The success of Fortuny's creations lasted from 1910 until the Forties.

It is today already possible to breathe and feel its power and creativity visiting Palazzo Fortuny in Venice. I went there a couple of years ago and I can assure that the "primo piano nobile" (first reception hall) had a powerful impact on me. I found his fabrics, collections, paintings and dresses simply amazing.

Where I should be today: Scotland

Today is the Scotland's national day: St. Andrews day (national patron saint). I have wonderful memories of the time spent in Scotland with my friends this summer. Anyone who has ever been lucky enough to visit Scotland knows why it is a gem with its magical scenery, in particular mountains and lochs. 

This weekend more than 40 his­toric attrac­tions through­out Scot­land will open their doors to the pub­lic for free! YAY! Happy St. Andrew's day!

 

Oggi in Scozia si celebra il giorno della festa nazionale: Sant'Andrea. Se avete avuto modo di conoscere degli scozzesi, questa festa gli è molto cara e soprattutto è sentita come la giornata per rimarcare ancora una volta il loro spirito di indipendenza dall'Inghilterra. Piccola parentesi: nel 2014 la popolazione scozzese sarà chiamata a votare per IL referendum che tanto hanno bramato, ovvero per la propria indipendenza totale dal Regno Unito (quindi economica, politica e sociale, salvo che per la regina vecchiarda!). 

Colgo quindi l'occasione della festa nazionale scozzese per immergermi di nuovo nei bellissimi ricordi che ho di questa terra selvaggia e magica. Le foto appartengono alla mia ultima vacanza estiva: dieci giorni di free camping a ruota libera per le Highlands.

Warm memories from the Highlands

I talked about my wonderful and wild holiday in the Highlands in this post, but today I would like to share with you my scottish drawings that remind me a lot of warm memories.

Besides of my camera and my rucksack I've bring with me my lovely Moleskine where I've collected the best landscapes I saw during my holiday.

I've drawn few but specials scottish places like the seaport of Malleig, the Dunvengan Castle and the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye and the beautiful Eilean Donan Castle.

What can I add more? It has been a charming holiday.

 

Ho parlato della mia meravigliosa e selvaggia nelle Highlands in questo post, ma oggi vorrei condividere con voi i disegni che ho fatto e che mi ricordano i tanti bei posti che ho visitato. 

Oltre alla mia macchina fotografica e al mio zaino ho portato con me il mio inseparabile moleskine in cui ho immortalato i migliori paesaggi che ho ammirato durante la mia vacanza.

Ho disegnato pochi ma intensi luoghi scozzesi&come il porto di Malleig, il castello di Dunvengan e le cime del Quiraing sull'isola di Skye ed infine il bellissimo Eilean Donan Castle. 

Cosa posso aggiungere di più? E' stata una vacanza davvero incredibile.

Ps. Guardate anche le bellissime foto che ha scattato la mia compagna di disavventure Elisa