EREmilia-Romagna Region European Culture - Regione Emilia-Romagna
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ER
Emilia-Romagna
Region
European Culture
AN IMAGERY FOR FUTURE MEMORY
T he Region of Emilia-Romagna is a recent invention in the long history of our country. Its birthdate is that of
the political unification of Italy, when physically and politically diverse territories were joined together with
a happy outcome. It was certainly a political invention–creation, but also an invention-finding at a cultural level.
Within the numerous differences, a cultural singularity was discovered and reinforced, a sense of self and unique
skill and know-how. The conjuncture found a structure, a civilization, which means a deep and lasting way of life
and inestimable patrimony of economical, artistic, scientific and technical products.
The boundaries drawn are, at the same time, places for exchange. From the Apennines valleys – mountains crossed
with many passes – to the main navigable river, the Po, down to the courses of the Adriatic Sea, they contain an
archipelago of cities linked by a Great Road, the Via Emilia, which passes through them and makes them porous. If
I may use a metaphor, it is like a great, ancient, inhabited bridge, crossed through by other roads run along by pil-
grims, such as the Via Romea along the Sea and the Via Francigena across the mountains. A thick urban cobweb
where the cities – like clearings in the forest during the Middle Ages – seems to be immersed in a complex territo-
rial fabric - mountain plantation and “filled” geometrics, grain and fruit orchards, stock farming and its products,
among the richest and most civil in Europe. Large and small cities with their gates and ports, always knotting
together with many threads their local tradition and Northern Europe
and Orient.
Thanks to these characteristics, the important industrial settlements
become part of the territory avoiding the unmanageable phenomenon
of the metropolis. An open, or at least an ajar localism acts as a con-
scious counterbalance to the impulse towards globalisation.
Men make the places which will make them. The Region has merged
the Romagnas, with their Byzantine heritage, Bologna and Ferrara,
with their papal past, Modena and Parma, with their “laic” duchies -
territories gathered in many different ways by history into cities and
seignories, into fiefdoms and monastic territories. Each real political
project makes a community, ceaselessly provides a way to stay
together, but must take into account the character and life-style of its
citizens - as idiomatic as their dialect. Undoubtedly few peoples in
Europe are so attentive to the quality of the earthly nourishment we
find in domestic architecture and public living spaces, from public
buildings and noble palaces to rural houses, from squares to porti-
coes. Hence the quality of its hospitality and the privileged welcome
to tourists. We must not forget that the national flag was invented in
Emilia and that the only project of unified Italian cuisine was
attempted in Romagna. But flavours are not alternative to learning, nor Arts and Sciences to the Art of Living. From
the Etruscan and Greek vases to the painters (Correggio, Carracci or Morandi), from the cathedral sculptors
(Wiligelmo) to the film directors (Fellini and Antonioni), this Region gave itself and those who have eyes for seeing
an Imagery, that is an incalculable index of images which represents its great “game”. Over time, the Muses have
joined hands. Here Verdi’s music resounds with the joyous words of Boiardo and Ariosto, and the mysterious words
of Pico della Mirandola and Savonarola. In the original heritage of Italian culture, Poetry and Science (Marconi) are
part of the great pedagogical tradition of Bologna, the first of the European universities.
The multi-cultural reality peculiar to Emilia-Romagna Region’s past and present cannot be depicted once and for
all, but must be continually redefined through its images, music and writings. The new languages of the modern age
- from technology to fashion, are also involved, so that its traditions become “future memory”. To live the present we
can look at the future problems using the certain resources of the past.
Paolo Fabbri
LEGACY OF THE PAST
“Thus the oldest sign in the history of the Po plain assumes the imaginary
form of writing on a stone, in the open.”
BEGINNINGS (from “Le antiche vie”, Giancarlo Susini, Marsilio, 1992)
P haethon stole the chariot
f rom his father Sun but no
sooner did he soar into the air
than he was lost among the
lights and started plunging
headlong to earth.
He touched down in the
heart of the Po Delta, where
nymphs, his sisters, wept
rivers of tears, dedicating to
him a poem carved on a
stone. Actually, it was Jupiter
who struck Phaethon dead in
o rder to prevent him, chariot
and all, from crashing to earth
and destroying the planet. Emilia-
Romagna – from myth to history.
F rom stories of the gods related by
Ovid in the “Metamorphosis”, to the
b i rth of the regio VIII, as Augustus
named it when he wanted to
subdivide ancient Italy into regions
but lacked a single name that could
indicate the Adriatic, the Apennines
Ronco Cesi, Reggio Emilia
4 5
BEGINNINGS
Funeral stone of Atiliae and the Po, the three natural
Primitivae, Ferrara,
Civic Epigraphic borders mentioned by Pliny the
Museum Santa Libera,
2nd cent. Elder in the middle of the first cen-
tury A.D. (“octava regio determ i n a-
tur Arimino, Pado, Apennino”).
B e f o re that, there were the
Etruscans, the Celts and, in a
limited area, the Umbrian-Sabines.
Roman wine However, from the Neolithic on, this
Tiberius Bridge over the Marecchia, 1st cent. B.C., Rimini amphora,
Small bronzes 1st century A.D. region, an easily accessible cro s-
Among the ruins of Velleia and Marzabotto representing male and
female offerers, s roads between the North and the
From Ariminum to Placentia, following the traces of time, in Marzabotto, Etruscan
search of our origins. Places once inhabited by others and Museum “P. Aria”,
evidence of a past to be seen and rediscovered, now visiting South, lacked a cultural and ethnic
museums and ruins, now following the ancient ways of end of 6th,
Emilia-Romagna. Artefacts unearthed in Villanovian necro - beginning 5th cent. identity. “Venus”, the figure of a
polises; examples of local, early Iron Age handicrafts, con - B.C.
s e rved at Bologna’s Museum of Archaeology; small woman sculpted in stone, is what
Etruscan bronzes representing offerers, unearthed in
Marzabotto; details of floor-mosaics from a Roman villa,
still partially visible in the basement of Meldola and also remains from the Palaeolithic
some bronze ingots housed in the Municipal Museum in
Rimini, together with marble slabs, graffiti, pots and bricks. period; it was found near Savignano
An impressive catalogue of finds. We go back in time as we
walk among the columns of the Velleia forum, in the provin - sul Panaro. The Bronze Age
ce of Piacenza, stroll among the ruins of Marzabotto, at the
National Etruscan Museum “Pompeo Aria”, or enter the continues until the so-called
National Museum of Sarsina, which houses the statues from
the temple of oriental divinities. All of these are a must for
anyone making an archaeological visit of the region. The “Villanovian” civilisation, which
galleries at the National Archaeological Museum of Spina,
Ferrara, are also of particular interest, as is Bologna’s derives its name from the first open-
Archaeological Museum and the National Museum of Parma
and Ravenna. Mention should also be made of the air necropolis discovered in
Archaeological Museums in Forlì, Modena and Budrio, in
the province of Bologna. Finally, the City Epigraphic
Museum in the Church of St. Libera in Ferrara and the Villanova. In this period the
Garden of Epigraphs in Rimini are also well worth a visit.
In the province of Modena you can visit the archaeological c e n t res of Bologna and Ve rrucchio
collection inside the Este Castle in San Felice sul Panaro,
the Spilamberto collection and the Mammoth Museum in extended into the middle of
Mosaic depicting Anubi, end of 2nd, beginning of 3rd cent., Rimini City Museum Savignano sul Panaro.
6 7
BEGINNINGS
the Marecchia valley. From the Aemilius Lepidus, setting out on
VI century B.C. on, Etruria has a the Flaminian Way, which linked
g reat influence on the region with Rome to Rimini, opened up the way
Felsina (Bologna) as capital, f rom Rimini to Piacenza. It is the
M a rzabotto a thriving centre of Via Aemilia, the Roman road along
c o m m e rce, the expansion of busy which the most important towns in
Adriatic ports in Adria and Spina, the region were to grow while, over
Etruscan bronze liver, end 2nd cent., Ciarvernasco di Sèttima,
where Greek culture predominates, Farnese Palace Museums (Piacenza) the Apennine passes, Velleia,
and ports of call in Rimini and F o rnovo, Mevaniola and Sarsina
Ravenna. There is also strong evi- w e re to be gradually Romanized,
dence to suggest the presence of the latter becoming the centre of a
peoples allied with the Etruscans cult devoted to oriental gods.
and the Samnites against Rome: the In Ravenna, at the port of Classe,
Gauls, notably, and among them, p a rt of the Roman fleet is based;
the Senones in the area we now View of the Veleia forum, 1st cent., Lugagnano Val d’ Arda (Piacenza) with Miseno it is one of the most
know as the Marche; the Boes, who p o w e rful in the Empire.
advanced as far as Parma, and the Oenochoe with With the fall of the Roman Empire ,
trefoil mouth,
Lingonians in the North-East. The 425 B.C., these towns were to go into
Ferrara,
land also bears witness to the pre- National decline. Only Ravenna, crowned
Archaeological
sence of the Romans, who founded Museum capital of the West, was to
their first colony, Ariminum, in the flourish, first falling to the Goths,
N o rth, in 268 B.C. Bononia, Mutina then to Byzantium, whose splendid,
(Modena) and Parma were also p recious mosaics still remain.
founded. The Consul Marcus
Bas reliefs representing Saint Ellero, 7th-8th cent., and Teodorico, 11th cent., Galeata, Municipal Museum The Caesii mosaic, 50 B.C., Galeata,
“Mons. D. Mambrini” Civic Museum “Mons. D. Mambrini”
8 9
“But the city does not tell us about its past, it contains it like the lines on
your hand, written on the street corners, in the grills at the windows,
in the balustrade of a staircase, in the lightning conductors, flagpoles,
TOWNS AND CITIES every section marked in turn with scratches, cuts, grooves, wrinkles.”
(Calvino, Le città invisibili, Einaudi)
R oman towns, spa towns, for-
tified towns. In the plains,
on the Po and by the sea, along the
ridges of the Apennines. Every
piazza, palace and city centre in
Emilia-Romagna is replete with
h i s t o ry. But that’s not all. “Emilia-
Romagna, top of the class for its
civic sense - writes political scientist
R o b e rt Putnam - is far from being a
traditional ‘community’ in the
generally accepted use of the
word, that is the idyllic village
fondly recollected by the old-folk”.
Quite the opposite: it lives in the
p resent and it is “one of the most
modern, affluent, technologically
advanced and entrepreneurial
societies in the world”.
Bologna is the region’s capital but
t h e re are other small “capitals” of
Emilia-Romagna. Imperial Ravenna,
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
10 11
TOWNS AND CITIES
the restless Seigniories of Romagna, Trips to large towns, castles, abbeys and
Faenza, “the little Athens among Medieval villages. Off the beaten track in
the untamed hill villages”, Ferr a r a Emilia-Romagna.
of the Este family, the cradle of cul- We set out from Piacenza, visiting the Piazza dei Cavalli and
the cathedral whose foundation stone was laid in 1122.
t u re and diplomacy, Bologna with Arriving in Rimini, we admire the church of the Malatesta
its 900 year-old Alma Mater family, built by Leon Battista Alberti. Ports of call in the most
important towns: Parma, ducal town, Reggio-Emilia, foun -
Studiorum, the dukedoms of ded in 175 B.C. by M. A. Lepidus, Bologna, Modena,
Ferrara, Forlì and Ravenna. Art towns, “capital” towns, but
Modena and Reggio, the Farn e s e that’s not all. Romagna is riddled with castles as are the
foothills between Piacenza and Parma in Emilia. In the Po
and Bourbon courts in Parma and delta, where the river runs into the Adriatic, we come across
Piacenza. Faenza was also the town land reclamation structures, while in the mountains, villages
of rare beauty like Castel D’Alfero (Forlí) and Scola di
of neoclassicism and Piacenza,the Vimignano (Bologna) suddenly come into view. There are
various tours off the beaten track, following a particular
city of palaces, invites us to look theme: heritage and nature trails. There is the long trail of
abbeys for instance: Bobbio, in the Trebbia Valley, founded in
again at the way our cities are con- 612, in compliance with the wishes of the Lombard King
structed. Indeed the forma urbis of Agilulfo; Nonantola (Modena), Pomposa, cut off between the
Po in Goro and the Po in Volano and St. Ellero, near Forlí,
the towns along Via Aemilia often are the most famous abbeys, nearly all of them, together with
minor religious communities, part of the Benedictine order
conceals more than one heart: there which furthered the monastic life in the region.
From Piacenza to Parma you can follow the castle trail,
is the time-honoured pride of the starting at Castel San Giovanni, Borgonuovo Val Tidone, on
Dukedom, the dignity of the to San Giorgio Piacentino, via Rocca d’Olgisio, Castello di
Lisignano, Rivalta Trebbia and Castello di Montechiaro.
Seigniories but also the custom of If it’s more medieval history you’re after visit the area in the
Apennines above Reggio, between the Enza and the Secchia
all pulling together, the bonhomie rivers, and be sure to take in the Canossa Fortress. It’s still
and a striking knack for coopera- Este castle, 14th and 15th cent., Ferrara possible to admire ancient noble towns in the plains, from
Cortemaggiore, Busseto (birthplace of Verdi), Fontanellato,
tion. If we talk about a region of San Secondo, Colorno (the Farnese and Bourbon summer
residence), stopping off at Sissa, Roccabianca and Zibello.
cities we must also inevitably talk Then there is the trail from Parma to the Liguria region:
from Fornovo di Taro to Pieve di Berceto, from Borgo Val di
about metropolitan areas and small Taro to Campiano, a splendid Medieval and Renaissance
towns. And this also means talking town, to Bedonia and Santa Maria del Taro. Or else back -
track via the eighteenth-century route from the castle in
about a “thoro u g h f a re” region, a Bardi to Vernasca and Vigoleno, a noteworthy Medieval
village, to the celebrated Cathedral in Fidenza.
“conurbation as long as Via Towards the sea along the via Aemilia or the foothills the
itinerary starts at Dozza and takes in the renowned fifteenth
Aemilia, formerly the Consul’s century castles in Imola, Forlí, Forlimpopoli and Cesena.
highway”, as urbanist Pierluigi En route we meet neoclassical Faenza, the Medieval centres
of Brisighella and Bertinoro and the atmospheric villages of
Cervellati puts it, adding: “the town Longiano and Sant’Arcangelo. And more towns on the water:
from Medieval and Renaissance Ferrara to picture s q u e
which spreads out into the Region Comacchio, taking in the archaeological site in Spina,
Mesola Castle and Pomposa Abbey, then on to Ravenna and
is after all an expression of its the Basilica of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe.
Imola castle, 13th cent. Architectural group: Romanesque cathedral 11th and 12th cent., gothic Facade of lombard-gothic cathedral, 12th and 13th cent., Piacenza
bell-tower, 13th cent, baptistery, 1196-1307, Parma
12 13
TOWNS AND CITIES
a rc h i t e c t u re which, through centu- settlements. From the real town we
ries of stratification, gives the town go to the ideal Renaissance town, of
its identity. And here in Emilia- which only the Terra del Sole
Romagna the sense of arc h i t e c t u re remains. The nineteenth century
e x p resses itself in the demarcation transforms the city walls into
of the fields with the same intensity avenues which circle the town
as that which demarcates the urban centre; industrialization brings with
landscape”. it an unbridled building spree;
The history of urban planning in brick is replaced by concrete, and
Emilia-Romagna begins with the the diff e rences between town and
Romans who set up colonies countryside grow more and more
(Rimini and Piacenza), with Via Tempio Malatestiano, 1447-50, Rimini apparent, although in Emilia-Romagna
Aemilia and “forums” such as this phenomenon has been less
Forlimpopoli, Forlì, Imola and radical and irreversible than in
Reggio Emilia parcelling up the other parts. And there you have it:
land in regular plots for distribution a history of stones, the growth of
among the centurions (centuria- towns up to the metropolitan are a s
tion). Subsequently, minor towns of today.
such as Cesena, Faenza and
Fidenza arose where the main
valleys were located. The Middle
Ages impose an urban stru c t u re tai-
l o red to the needs of a community Miniatures representing Lanfranco and
Mathilda of Canossa, A.D. 1200
life: the portico, lordly and devotio-
nal, useful for commerce and an
extension of the home, becomes a
constant element in all of Emilia’s
towns from the period of the Comuni
onwards, while fortifications,
places of worship and centres of
power predominate, especially in
Romagna, in the development of
Hump-back bridge over the river Trebbia, Bas relief by Agostino di Duccio, 15th cent. Abbey of Santa Maria in Pomposa: basilica 8th cent., cloister court 11th cent., Ferrara Facade of Modena cathedral,
9th cent., Bobbio 1099-1106
14 15
No man
who is occupied in doing a very difficult thing,
and in doing it very well,
HANDICRAFTS ever loses his self-respect
(George Bernard Shaw)
N othing has changed since the
days of the Carraccis and the
Marsilis. In Emilia-Romagna the city
centres were made for craftsmen. And
in today’s modern town the role
played by ancient trades is far fro m
secondary, from potters in Faenza to
coopers in Modena who pro d u c e
casks for balsamic vinegar. Every
handcrafted object invariably takes
us back to the human dilemma;
e v e ry ancient trade, which is an
e x p ression of the craftsman’s
individuality and the social function
of the object he produces, puts a
m o d e rn slant on age-old questions.
Quality craftsmanship of the old
school and creative new generation
a rtisans, traditional artistic craft-
smanship and modern ground-
Picture framer Ariano Zaniboni who worked for many years in the historic Federici workshop in Bologna
16 17HANDICRAFTS
b reaking craftsmanship all make Majolica plate
with wide rim
the arts and crafts an integral part of and shallow
the region’s social fabric. And the bowl, first
half
p ropensity for specialization and of 16th
experimentation has also led to the century
establishment of new kinds of
“workshops” in the field of
communications and software.
This explains why concepts of
maintenance and creativity have Majolica jugs, 14th century,
Faenza, International Ceramics Museum
p revailed over the more typical
concept of replacement of today’s Decoration for printed fabrics from Romagna
t h rowaway consumer culture.
Pottery and mosaics which trains technicians and Palace in Bologna, Malagoli’s Renato Signorini, mosaic composition of a Gardens for vases by
N o w h e re is this more true designers to degree level and the c reations in Modena and the cartoon by Renato Birolli Mirta Morigi (Faenza)
than in Emilia-Romagna, the in the workshops of Institute for Technological balustrades of many eighteenth based on a project by
land of small and medium- Emilia-Romagna R e s e a rch on Ceramics, which is century buildings in Piacenza. Ugo La Pietra
an official re s e a rch stru c t u re of Meantime in many workshops in
sized firms and co-operatives, “Grotesques” on a blue back - CNR, Italy’s national research Ravenna impressive mosaics are
g round, fruit dishes with fretwork council. The Intern a t i o n a l assembled piece by piece. Since
where myriad workshops decoration in the manner of Competition of Contemporary 1945 a group of mosaics expert s
have carved out a space Mosaic workshop in Ravenna, Raphael, painted majolica, Ceramic Art and the biennial have been working to rediscover
mosaic composition of a cartoon by Liberty tablew are. Traditional I n t e rnational Exhibition of the ancient techniques in order
for themselves in an faience styles and decorations. Antique Ceramics are also held to pre s e rve Ravenna’s Byzantine
Renato Guttuso
economic landscape A centuries-old tradition which in Faenza. From Faenza pot - masterpieces. Ravenna also
still holds its own in today’s consu - t e ry, known all over the world, boasts a Fine Arts School and
dominated by larg e - mer society of mass-pro d u c t i o n , to the centre for lute-making in the Institute of Mosaics. Last but
scale industry. It is p roving that craftsmanship and Pieve di Cento. Then there’s not least, there is the region’s
industry make a lasting marr i a g e . decorative painting established distinguished tradition of
p recisely here, at the The town of Faenza, whose soil is at the end of the seventeenth goldsmithing and, in Romagna,
junction where culture rich in clays suitable for firing, century when the Bibiena family textile printing workshops,
has been a thriving centre of began working for the Farn e s e the remaining few of a once
meets commerce, that ceramics production since the court and for churches and ari - extensive group which
these skilled craftsmen Middle Ages. Today Faenza is stocratic residences in Piacenza. flourished in the Papal State in
home to the International Equally well-established is the the eighteenth century, a case in
(albeit in limited numbers) Ceramics Museum, one of the The lutemaker Masetti
tradition of artistic wro u g h t point of an art form which has
have continued to play their most important in the world, the i ron work of which evidence survived in suburban are a s in his workshop in
Majolica jug with State Institute for Ceramics, f rom the past remains in the while gradually disappearing Modena
trades, occupying an important which attracts young students
trefoil spout, end of shape of the Romanesque rai - in cities such as Rome due to
position in the life of the Region 15th century, Faenza, Rino Pettorazzi’s wickerwork and f rom all over the globe, the Higher lings in Bobbio, the fifteenth cen - economic and cultural factors”.
International osier workshop in Busseto Institute for Artistic Industry t u ry balcony of Bevilacqua Giampaolo Bertozzi and Stefano
and beyond.
Ceramics Museum Dal Monte Casoni, Black and
white ballerina in painted majolica
18 19
Aquatics by Giorgio Fusella based
on a project by Ugo La PietraNATURAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
Ultimately the aim of art is to intensify and, where necessary,
MUSEUMS IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA develop people’s moral conscience.
(Norman Mailer)
O nce upon a time there
were the "Rooms of
Wonders", private collections of rare,
p recious or exotic objects. Today
many of these "wonders" can be
seen in museums which have sent
experts out into the country’s
highways and byways to bring
back tre a s u res that are selected,
catalogued and put on display.
There’s no need to
dwell on the
immensity of this
heritage. (For each
exhibit on show
many other less
important
but equally
significant
objects live a
secluded life
Guido Reni, Massacre of the Innocents, 1611-12, National Picture Gallery, Bologna
22 23MUSEUMS IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA
in the dim light of museum store - From the Carracci family
rooms). You only have to think of to the museum houses of
Verdi and Toscanini
the number of museums our region
Schools of painting and great
boasts to get an idea of its cultural a rtists are exhibited in regional
wealth. museums. Beneath the porticoes
of the School of Fine Art in
T h e re are more than four hundred Bologna the National Picture
Gallery possesses, among many
museums (the database of the
other oustanding works,
region’s museums can be consulted paintings such as the Virgin of
the barefoot by Ludovico
online at www.ibc.regione.emilia-
Carracci and the Massacre of
romagna.it), ranging from large- the Innocents by Guido Reni.
And there is also the Medieval
scale repositories of artistic and Town Museum, the MAMbo
a rchaeological tre a s u res to small Museum of Modern Art Bologna
and University Museums. Just
civic museums which conserve outside Bologna, in San Marino
local finds, and thus document the di Bentivoglio, the Museum of
Peasant Farming Culture
h i s t o ry of a microcosm. There are recounts the history of the
scientific collections (the best are
the university museums), and
curious collections of cigarette
cards, toy soldiers, upholstery,
naïve art, boats (obviously outdoors
and bobbing in a harbour) and a
museum dedicated to the history of
weighing machines. There are
s i n g l e - room museums (celebrating
village-pump virtues) and museums
Parmigianino, Madonna with Child, Saint Margaret and Correggio, Madonna of Saint Epigraphic Museum of Santa Libera, Ferrara
saints, 1529-1530, Bologna, National Picture Gallery Jerome (the Day), 1527-28,
Parma, National Gallery
24 25MUSEUMS IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA
which cover vast tracts of terr i t o ry Emilian landscape and you only Faenza have their Natural
have to visit the Ethnographic Science Museums and nature is
(the Po Delta, the Trebbia valley)
Museum in Santarcangelo also in the limelight at the Valley
whose cultural heritage - a culture (Rimini) to get an idea of what Museum in Argenta, the Centre
the people of this region are for Environmental Education in Mosaic lunette depicting the Good
made of houses, stones, water, like. Another picture gallery of Shepherd, Galla Placidia mausoleum
Mesola, the Ethnographic Po
national importance is in 5th cent., Ravenna
plants - would not lend itself to Museum in Monticelli D'Ongina
F e rrara, at the Palazzo dei in the province of Piacenza, the
conventional methods of selection Diamanti (Diamond Palace), Flora and Fauna Museum in
and display. itself an architectural master - Premilcuore in the province of
piece of rare beauty. Also in the Forlí, and at the Nature Museum
T h e re are museums exhibiting pri- city of the Este family you can in Pavullo del Frignano
discover treasures on display in (Modena). From these museums,
celess Old Masters and others
the castle rooms and at the City renowned all over Europe, to the
which diligently set out the every- Museum, inside the Schifanoia minor but equally intere s t i n g ,
Palace. Ravenna exhibits the curious and sometimes bizarre
day tools of common working folk; ancient splendour of the collections: in Brescello there is a
museums that sink their roots in Byzantine Age at the Town Museum devoted to Peppone and
Museum and at the City Don Camillo, and the Museo
ancient history and others pre s e n- Museum. In Modena you can degli Sguardi in Rimini dedicated
ting modern history so recent that it visit the Este Museum and to non-European culture. The
Gallery as well as the Museum National Museum of Naïve Arts
has a disquieting ring of familiarity. of Modern and Medieval can be found in Luzzara (Reggio
The idea is to give them (great or History and Art. Parma: after Emilia), the Museum of Salt in
visiting the National Picture Cervia, and you can visit a
small) a second chance: to exorc i s e Gallery inside the Pilotta Raffaello Sanzio, Saint Cecilia, 1514,
floating Museum of maritime National Picture Gallery, Bologna
Palace, you really must pay history in the harbour of
memories of tedious school trips Parmigianino, portrait of a young lady (The Turkish slave), homage to Toscanini and Verdi, Cesenatico.
1532-34, National Gallery, Parma
(lined up unwillingly to admire the calling in on their respective
memorial houses, the former in
usual Egyptian mummy, the enig- town and the latter in Busseto.
matic Etruscan divining liver, Piacenza boasts Antonello da
Messina's Ecce homo at the
Guido Reni and the extended "Alberoni" Gallery and the City
family of the Carracci, a whalebone Museums in the magnificent
setting of the Farnese palace.
f rom the Pliocene Period or one of From cultural to natural
Garibaldi's old shirts). Life is also
heritage, often hidden in out-of-
the-way places: Ferrara and
h e re - not only elsewhere . Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, National Gallery Roman ship, Fortuna Maris, Comacchio Bastarolo, Madonna of the spinsters, second half of 16th
cent., Ferrara
26 27If the world were clear, there would be no art.
VISUAL ARTS (Albert Camus)
L ocated at the crossroads
between continental and
Mediterranean Italy, Emilia
Romagna has always been a place
where different cultures met and
fused.
Thus the cultural map of the region
is extremely rich and complex,
characterised by the different
characters of its cities in the absence
of a s t ronger central authority.
Nonetheless, the contact, sometimes
conflictual, “between the colourf u l
and irregular fantasy of the Celts
and the constant proposal of the
more supple, regular models of
G reek culture” (Riccomini) over
time has formed the character
peculiar to the artistic response to a
multitude of stimuli in the region.
This character is seen clearly in the
many Romanesque cathedrals of
the Po Valley, symbols of
community pride; the first
was the monumental
construction of the
i m p ressive cathedral
in Modena at the end
of the 11th c e n t u ry.
The masterpiece of
a rchitect Lanfranco
and sculptor Wiligelmo,
who inaugurated here
the season of Italian
plastic arts, work on
the cathedral bro u g h t
together in vigorous
synthesis all the phases
of Western devotion: from
Giorgio Morandi, still life, 1952, G. Morandi Museum, Bologna
28 29VISUAL ARTS
Genesis and the Breton King Arthur solemnity of Rimini painters, Wiligelmo which complete Niccolò dell’Arca’s
cycle to the crude realism, of influenced by the personality of Telamone, detail of the decorations on the sarcophagus of
Provençal origin, of the reliefs of the Giotto, who left in Rimini, in the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel the saint (Nicola Pisano, 1267).
Masters of Campione (12th century). Modena, cathedral façade
Malatestiano Temple, a splendid Of the works of Nicolò dell’Arca
This injection of Romanesque the- Crucifix (1312). from Apulia we may remember the
mes into the underlying ancient Late Gothic architecture, repre s e n- Compianto in S. Maria della Vita in
heredity is remarkable in the sculp- ted by the Estense castle (1385) in Bologna (1463), a robust synthesis
t u res of the Parma baptistery Ferrara and the construction of San of Tuscan and Burgundy culture,
(1196); appealing scenes calibrated Petronio in Bologna, initiated by b e f o re moving on to the florid sea-
by Benedetto Antelami on the mea- Antonio di Vincenzo in 1390, has son of the renaissance in Ferrara,
sure of the building’s Roman monu- its artistic counterpart in the fre- re p resented by the architect Biagio
mental aspect, a formula unheeded scoes of Giovanni da Modena in the Rossetti in the “Herculean addi-
by the artist of the cycle of the Bolognini chapel (Hell, Paradise, tion” and the Palazzo dei Diamanti
months, among the masterpieces at Stories of the Three Kings, 1415), a and by the frescoes of Schifanoia,
the Ferrara cathedral museum, in didactic, narrative cycle that intro- where Tura, del Cossa and dè
favour of greater realism. duced the rich variety of accents Roberti produced a masterpiece of
E u ropean Gothic quickly made its from the 1300s into 1400s’ art. Po Valley humanism accented with
presence felt shortly thereafter, Jacopo della Quercia’s sculptures in persistent veins of late-Gothic
with many beautiful buildings in the main portal of the S. Petronio courtly style.
our region, among which we may Benedetto Antelami, Deposition basilica were finished only a few This was an aristocratic model for
note S. Francesco Church in Parma, Cathedral years later (1425), bringing Bologna Lorenzo Costa and Francesco
Bologna (1263) or the Piacenza Tuscan artistic tradition, present in Francia, who painted the
City Hall, appropriately known as Rimini with the works of Leon Bentivoglio chapel in S. Giacomo
the “Gothic” (1281). A visit to the Niccolò dell’Arca, Compianto, detail
Bologna, Church of Santa Maria della Vita
Battista Alberti, Piero della Maggiore and the oratory of
Municipal Medieval Museum in Francesca, Agostino di Duccio and S. Cecilia (1506), cornerstones of
Bologna will serve to get an overall Matteo dè Pasti active in the con- Emilian renaissance art inspired by
view of the art of that time. struction of the Malatestiano Umbrian-Tuscan art, an influence
Vitale da Bologna, in an impre s s i- Temple (1450). In nearby Forlì, that escaped the “irregular” genius
ve series of paintings in the Simone Ferrucci from Fiesole, in of Amico Aspertini, another
Bologna Pinacoteca (National his masterpiece, the tomb of important artist working in the
G a l l e ry), re p resents pictorially the Barbara Manfredi in S. Mercuriale Gian Lorenzo Bernini region.
descriptive naturalism seen in the (1466), off e red other provocative Bust of Francesco I d’Este The arrival in Bologna of Raffaello’s
tombs of the glossarists. The varied stimuli from central Italian art , Modena, Estense Gallery S. Cecilia in S. Giovanni in Monte
n a t u re of the Bologna art scene brought into the region by other (1514, now in the Pinacoteca)
contributed in a variety of ways: for authoritative masters of “ foreign” paved the way for the great season
instance, Mezzaratta gained works: in Bologna, Paolo Uccello in of Raffaello’s influence in the Po
inspiration for his lively, descriptive the church of S. Martino (1437); in Valley, magisterially interpreted by
frescoes, reassembled in the the church of S. Domenico Filippino the Modena sculptor Begarelli,
Pinacoteca, from the Bolognese Lippi (1501) and Michelangelo, opening the way for Bolognese
school of the miniature. This is a Vitale da Bologna
who at the age of nineteen sculpted La Madonna dei Denti
classicism that would later find its
v e ry diff e rent figurative formula Jacopo della Quercia, some of the statues (Angel, Bologna, Davia Bargellini way to Rome with Bologna’s
from that of the noble, cadenced Donato Creti, Allegorical figure
Noah’s Drunkenness, Right-hand pillar, Bologna, Municipal Collection of Art St. Petronius, St. Procolus, 1494) Museum Annibale Carracci.
fourth panel, Bologna, S. Petronio
30 31VISUAL ARTS
Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico w e re the Tuscan Mochi, (Piacenza, p o rtraits of Baldrighi, was bathed
C a rracci tried to imitate the man- Piazza Cavalli, Farnese statues, in a Parisian atmosphere very dif-
nerist grace of Parmigianino, as in 1625), Algardi (Bologna, S. Paolo, f e rent from that of Jacobin Faenza,
the frescoes of Fontanellato (1523) 1644), Bernini (bust of Francesco, represented in the myths and
and his masterpieces in the Estense Gallery, 1650), while a rcane fables of Milzetti palace
National Gallery of Parma (The architects built spectacular (Felice Giani, 1805) at a time
Turkish Slave, Self-portrait), as examples of emphatic theatricality when Enlightenment, rationalism
well as the brilliance of Corre g g i o , which constitutes the most and incipient eclecticism had
who, in the Camera di S. Paolo important aspect of Emilian a l ready inspired a whole generation
in P a rma (1518), translated architecture, for instance, the of reformed architects of Romagna.
R a ffaellesque suggestions into Farnese Theatre, the work of The sculptural group at the
e rotic seduction before embarking Aleotti and the ducal palaces of Certosa in Bologna and Canova’s
on the long adventure of baro q u e Modena and Sassuolo, with their Hebe in Forlì (Pinacoteca Civica)
ceilings in the cupola of the cathedral. grandiose façades by Mitelli and i n t roduced the taste for neoclassi-
The Carracci frescoes in Bologna Colonna, authoritative promoters cism and the passion for antiquity
in the Fava (1584) and Magnani of that style peculiar to our region to which Palagi was greatly
(1590) palaces and the decora- that swept through all of Euro p e , indebted. The decorative arts also
tions in the Palazzo del Giard i n o c a rried by the many artists fol- offer refined examples in the
(1601, the work of Agostino who lowers of the Bibiena family, them- region: the antiques and furn i t u re
was Giovanni Lanfranco’s teacher selves scenographers and theatre in the Glauco Lombardi Museum
in Parma), are the precursors of a rchitects. Wo rthy of mention are and the Magnani Foundation; the
the great altar-pieces in the also Ferdinando, architect of the f u rnished rooms in Milzetti palace
Pinacoteca in Bologna, guiding ducal palace of Colorno, Gian and the 19th-century apartment in
lights of Bolognese painting of the Giovanni Boldini, The Laskaraki sisters, 1867, Ferrara, Boldini Museum
Giacomo Monti, Paolo Canali, Tozzoni palace.
1600s: Domenichino, Albani, Giuseppe De Nittis, Around the lampshade, 1883,
Alfonso Torreggiani and Carlo Piacenza, Ricci Oddi Gallery
One name for all: Giorgio Morandi,
Guido Reni and finally Guercino, Francesco Dotti, famous for the the “painter of bottles” as he has
represented with a series of a rcades and sanctuary of S. Luca. been simplistically defined, the
paintings in the municipal gallery Painting in the 1700s included the a rtist of light, through which he
of Cento. We must take a trip to surprising ceilings frescoed by regenerated objects from nothing,
Rimini and Forlì to admire the Giuseppe Maria Crespi in the making them observers. He lives
works of Guido Cagnacci, one of Pepoli Campogrande palace, on in the heart of his native city,
the most sensual and refined w h e re the presence of an unusual Bologna, through the over 250
painters from Romagna in the popular vein contradicted the paintings exhibited in the Morandi
1600s, while the sanctuary of the local classical ideal, opposite to Museum in Palazzo d’Accursio.
Ghiara in Reggio Emilia provides the lightness of Donato Creti, the “ This is the starting point for con-
a good selection of the develop- Bolognese Watteau”, who did a t e m p o r a ry art in Emilia-Romagna,
ment of Emilian figurative art in the series on the Story of Achilles now which branches out into a thou-
17th c e n t u ry: Ludovico Carr a c c i , at the Communal Collection of Art sand collections and exhibitions,
Guercino, Luca Ferrari and in the Accursio palace. among numerous galleries and
Alessandro Tiarini. French Parma, as exemplified in public and private museums, art
Other illustrious artists present, in the urbanistic plans of Petitot, the Christian Boltansky, Les Regards, 1996, Bologna, academies, shows such as Art e
the field of baroque sculpture , Giovanni da Modena, Wise men’s sea voyage Antonio Canova, Hebe permanent collection, Modern Art Museum
Bologna, S. Petronio, Bolognini Chapel Forlì, Pinacoteca Civica sculptures of Boudard and the Fiera and experimental centres.
32 33VISUAL ARTS
The MAMbo - Museum of Modern contemporary art:
Art of Bologna - periodically holds the most recent have
exhibitions in its new premises, been dedicated to
“ex Forno del Pane”, a form e r monographic documenta-
Bakery, opened in May 2007, and tion of artists such as
at Villa delle Rose, dedicating an Lucio Fontana, Luigi
“open space” to young emerging Veronesi and Enzo Cucchi;
talents. The permanent collection among its most important
includes works ranging in time acquisitions are the over
from the Roman Secession to the one thousand works of
Francesco Francia painters society Giovanni Fattori, photographer Franco
of the 1920s and the artists in the Mounted patrol, 1861- Fontana and the collection
following decade gravitating 1864, Piacenza, Ricci of contemporaneous
around the review “l’Orto”. Oddi Museum design.
The most important currents from Many other collections of
the post-war period to the present modern and contemporaneous art
day are also represented. are available in the region: among
I n t e rnationally important exhibi- the private galleries it will be
tions of the masterpieces of Monet, enough to mention the Ricci Oddi
Chagall and Gauguin, to name but Antonio Fontanesi, Poplars, 1868-70,
Piacenza, Ricci Oddi Gallery Gallery of Modern Art in Piacenza,
a few, are shown in the Palazzo dei with paintings of the 1900s
Diamanti in Ferrara, a part of the including La Madre by Boccioni.
municipal Galleries of Modern Art. Gilbert & George, Sleeping, 1991, Bologna, The important Magnani Rocca
Palazzo Massari, the other section permanent collection, Modern Art Museum Foundation at Mamiano di
of the Galleries, houses the Boldini Traversetolo in the province of
Museum with works from the 19th Parma exhibits among others
and 20th centuries, from the works of Durer, Tiziano, Rubens,
Ferrara “divisionisti” to the rooms Goya, but also Monet, Renoir,
dedicated to Roberto Melli and Cézanne down to De Pisis,
Filippo De Pisis, as well as two Morandi and Burri among the
exhibition areas reserved for moderns, besides sculptures of
modern and contemporaneous art. Canova and Lorenzo Bartolini.
Futurists such as Enrico And finally, in Romagna there is
Prampolini, the Roman school up the Tito Balestra Foundation in
to the realists (Renato Guttuso) Longiano, with numerous works of
and the abstractionists (Afro, Mino Maccari, and the Vero
Giuseppe Capogrossi, Renato Stoppioni Pinacoteca in Santa
Birolli) are shown in the Modern Sofia, which, besides carrying on
Art Gallery of Forlì, while in the tradition of the Campigna
Modena the Municipal Gallery, Prize, conserves many works of
born in 1958 as the Hall of Mattia Moreni.
Culture, holds exhibits of Filippo De Pisis, Vase of flowers, 1937, Gaetano Previati, Stealing the Lord’s Body, Ferrara, around 1900,
Carlo Carrà, Haystacks, 1929, Piacenza, Ricci Oddi Gallery
Piacenza, Ricci Oddi Gallery Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art
34 35My library was a dukedom big enough.
LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES (William Shakespeare)
E milia-Romagna possesses
an extraordinary wealth of
libraries and archives which
conserve and make available to
the public a priceless heritage
which is constantly expanding and
developing. During the Middle
Ages there were clerks who copied
folios: these were the parts in which
– in true entrepreneurial style – the
works of the masters were subdivi-
ded so that they could be copied at
the same time and then distributed
among the students who flocked to
Bologna from all over the reading
world. In the closing decades of the
fourteenth century business was
brisk in the typesetting trade
as the art of
Gutenberg gained
recognition: names
Malatestiana Library, Cesena
36 37LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
like Benedetto Faelli, right Libraries Museums and Cultural Heritage, The International Children’s Book
and historical archives has been coordinating and imple -
through to Bodoni in the 1700s, menting a regional library policy Fair in Bologna is a date in the
are now known to experts and non-
in Emilia-Romagna which aims at standardizing proce - diary of the world’s book trade:
In Emilia-Romagna there are dures for cataloguing and retrieval
e x p e rts alike. Through the and once again Emilia-Romagna
state-owned libraries, local of information in conformity with
centuries a publishing industry municipal libraries and libraries national and international norms. finds itself, by virtue of its books,
run by the Church (about 1300). It also promotes re-ordering opera -
developed which had its share of at the crossroads where ideas are
Together they form an immense tions and the inventorying of histo -
c o l o u rful personalities which cultural heritage. Roughly 460 of rical archives: after the activities translated into words and images.
them are local libraries dispersed aimed at their enhancement, with
grew, and continue to grow, in this Where library and publishing
throughout the region and perfor - inventories and reordering, techni -
f e rtile topsoil. Links with ming an inestimable service to their cal support and staff training, new facilities keep abreast of the
users. Local libraries alone account services were opened to the public,
Academe, school and the art world industry’s latest developments
for some 14 million volumes, both often along with library ones. The
have always been strong. The ancient and modern, and 127,000 a rchives of Giosue Carducci, and welcome visitors from all over
periodicals. The only example of an Marini Moretti, Riccardo Bachelli,
mention of the names Zanichelli, the reading world.
ancient library which has survived Giuseppe Ung aretti, Cesare
Guanda, Franco Maria Ricci, intact to the present day, is the Zavattini and Luciano Anceschi Malatestiana Library, Cesena
University Library, Great Hall, Bologna
extremely interesting Malatestiana are all on Emilia-Romagna’s soil.
F o rni, Pàtron, Il Mulino and
library in Cesena, set up by the
Maggioli is enough to make the express wishes of Malatesta Novello
in the Fourteenth century. Other
point. Theirs was a cultivated and
world famous libraries are: the
stimulating environment which set Archiginnasio and Sala Borsa
libraries in Bologna, Ravenna’s
great store by its legacy of books,
Classense, Reggio-Emilia’s Panizzi,
documents and native writers. the Ariostea in Ferrara, the
Palatina in Parma, Rimini’s
Today there are newspapers,
Gambalunga and Modena’s Estense
magazines, periodicals of every Library. All of them contain
collections and bequests which tell
description, cigarette cards – Classense Library, Ravenna
the story of their close links with
everyone has heard of Panini – local – and not so local –culture. To
this list of libraries we should then
and multi-media publications.
add the historical archives which
Various forms of the written word belong to local authorites, cultural
institutes and research centres
which, now as in the past, find
which form an integral part of the
their readers who come to consult region's cultural heritage. Since 1983
Emilia-Romagna’s Superintendent
them in the same centuries-old
for books and documents - then
libraries. Department for Libraries, Archives,
Trisi Library, Lugo
38 39Give to me the life I love,
Let the lave go by me,
Give the jolly heaven above
NATURAL HERITAGE And the byway night me.
(R.L. Stevenson)
N ature and culture. In parks
and gardens the very stones
breathe the air and an invisible
thread runs between the world
a round us and our interpretation of
nature. That’s why the museum
becomes a journey along the paths
of the Apennines, along the shore-
line on
the longest
beach in Europe, boating down the
Po through the telescoping tre e s
which lead to ancient villas. Rocks
f rom the Tertiary period stand out
along the ridge of Mount Cimone.
They are the oldest rocks in a
Po delta regional park, salt pans, Cervia
40 41NATURAL HERITAGE
geologically “young” (no more than
The great outdoors
in Emilia-Romagna 50-70 million years old) and
“unstable” region, ranging from
F o u rteen regional parks,
fifteen regional nature reser - the Apennines to the River Po.
ves, plus two national parks
With a sea view. The natural land-
and one interregional, several
state nature reserves and many scapes on display to the visitor
historic parks and gardens, show the peaks of Mount Cusna,
make up the green areas of
Emilia-Romagna, equal to 11,8 Mount Cimone and Mount Corno
per cent of the entire territory. alle Scale, which rise to a coy
F rom the regional park
“Boschi di Carrega”, a game- 2,000 metres and then tail off to
reserve for Parmesan noble - form a well-behaved band of hills.
men under as early as the
Farnese dynasty, to the forests A landscape formed of stratified
of Casentino, whose history is reliefs and sedimentary rock stai-
Monte Sole, historical park, Bologna
bound up with the monks of
ned by layers of gypsum where
Camaldoli. There is the protec -
ted area of the Po Delta, calanchi, friable clay landslips,
between Ferrara and National park of Tuscan-Emlian Apennines,
Lavacchiello Falls gouge furrows in the upper flanks
Ravenna, through whose rare -
fied mists emerge like distant of the valleys. And we descend
recollections the Pomposa once more to the flatlands of the
abbey, among the most precious
examples of Romanesque art , plain, divided up into squares by
the Etruscan Necropolis in the ancient Romans. It’s the
Spina, the mosaics at Sant’
Apollinare in Classe and the alluvial plain of the Po valley,
Este castle in Mesola. The itine - which opens onto the sea, borne
rary, rich in unique, stunning
scenery, changes rapidly fro m along by the great river itself.
snowy peaks to lowland mar - The Delta widens out and fresh
shes. Forests of beeches, chest -
water meets sea-air where the
nut-trees, conifers and rare
Piacenziano and Stirone river regional park, the canyon at San Nicomede, Parma Po delta regional park, Volano Interregional park Sasso Simone e Simoncello,
Pietrarubbia Castle
42 43NATURAL HERITAGE
marsh was reclaimed and the
natural vegetation was replaced by
vineyards and orchards, except
for the woods of Mesola, full
of fat-columned oaks, and for a
pine-forest near Ravenna where
ever since ancient times man has
pre f e rred the Mediterranean pine
to the white poplar and the ash.
Badland formations in Parco dei Gessi and Calanchi Sassi di Roccamalatina regional park, Onferno nature reserve, caves of Onferno, Rimini Piocene spur nature reserve, Adone Mount, Bologna
dell’Abbadessa regional park, Bologna Modena
flowers cover the Western area of the Roccamalatina Stones and the Groppi
Bolognese Apennines. Meanwhile the Rossi in the Berceto park, where the
peak of Mount Cimone dominates the ancient village of Corchia stands out. If a
“Corno alle Scale” park and the neigh - walk through history and nature is your
bouring Upper Modenese Apennines thing, why not climb Mount Sole, which
Park, sharing a border with Tuscany. sadly g ained notoriety for the massacre
The national park of the Tosco-Emilian by Nazi-Fascists of local partisans in
Apennines extends along the north 1944. Alternatively, visit the Monteveglio
Apennine ridge of Reggio; while gypsum Abbey and its intact Medieval village.
outcrops in the hills of Romagna cha - Other protected areas include the river
racterize the parco della Vena del Gesso Ta ro, which attracts an incredible variety
Romagnola (chalk seam park). In the of birdlife, and the Stirone, which flows
province of Bologna in the gypsum park between walls rich in fossils and is domi -
and in the “Calanchi dell’Abbadessa” nated by the castles of Vigoleno and
badlands, visitors can explore under - Scipione.
ground thanks to the karstic phenome - The Onferno natural reserve stands out
non which has produced a network of for its seven different species of bat; the
over 200 caves, one of the most extensive reserve of Salse di Nirano for its curious,
gypsum cave systems in Europe. In little volcanoes produced by salty mud
Castelnovo Monti the square outline of emissions; and the reserve of Fontanili di
the Bismantova Stone is easily discerned; Corte Valle Re, where some import a n t
it rivals the sandstone pinnacles of the plain springs are protected.
Foreste Casentinesi national park, Falterona Mount, Campigna Po delta regional park, pink flamingo
44 45MUSIC AND THE PERFORMING ARTS
Music does not address itself to the rational mind.
MUSIC
It’s a kind of structure you can’t explain.
(Anthony Burgess)
T o attempt a
description of Emilia-
Romagna’s musical life is not sim-
detailed
ple. It is perhaps best understood as
an answer to a calling and, above all,
to a hierarchy of relationships, a
network of responses to an artistic
and theatrical stimulus which at
various moments in the region’s
history has assu-
med various
forms and
directions. It
would be helpful
to think of the
entire region as a
royal court, an
ideal society whose
musical life develops
around the work of the
great reigning dyna-
sties such as the Este in
Ferrara and Modena, the
Papal State in Bologna (at
Maestro Arturo Toscanini
48 49MUSIC
that time it was already one of the
Italian peninsula’s chief centres of
music and cultural exchange
between North and South), the
Farnese, the Bourbon and the
Habsburg dynasties in Parma and
Piacenza. The specific weight of
the people’s musical aptitude is gal-
Regio Theatre, 19th cent., Parma. Concert conducted by G. Gavazzeni,
vanized by this legacy and finds Messa di Requiem by G. Verdi, Parma
concrete expression via administra- A living, productive
tive structures designed and set up cultural model
with the express purpose of optimi- The structures operating today in
the region are the true expression
zing the relationship between musi-
of its cultural history: the Bologna
cal supply and demand. Municipal Theatre Foundation,
the six traditional theatres of
Organizational structures which Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia,
Modena, Ferrara and Ravenna, a
were to bear lasting fruit since the
multitude of small and medium-
patterns adopted in the Po plain sized historical theatres, the
T h e a t re Association of Emilia-
were immediately taken up by Romagna (ATER), a pioneering
venture to bring concerted regio -
international centres of thought, nal planning to the arts. Born of
fashion and ideas. the need to coordinate and stream -
line policy, programming and pro -
This musical identity, the expres- duction, ATER paved the way for
Aterballetto and the Regional
sion of a collective heritage based Orchestra and, most recently, the
on a shared sensibility, is epitomi- Arturo Toscanini Foundation, the
region’s chief source of musical
Romolo Valli Theatre, 19th cent., Reggio Emilia Giuseppe Verdi Theatre, 19th cent., Busseto
50 51MUSIC
zed in landmarks like Corelli and
Paganini (the latter laying the foun-
dations for what was to become the
modern orchestra when he was with
the Orchestra Ducale di Parma in
the first half of the nineteenth cen-
tury), Padre Martini (with whom
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied.
The young composer went to Arturo Toscanini at
Bayreuth with Winfred
Bologna in 1769 and brilliantly Wagner in 1931
passed the examination to become a Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini
full member of the prestigious Luciano Pavarotti with the Emilia-Romagna
Symphony Orchestra Arturo Toscanini
P h i l h a rmonic Academy of Bologna), production which runs the
Emilia-Romagna Orchestra,
Rolla, Paer and on to Toscanini and dedicated to serving the region
Emilia-Romagna Symphony Orchestra Arturo in terms of concerts and opera -
Pizzetti. It is thanks to Giuseppe Toscanini tics as well as the “educational”
Verdi, however, the high point, the sector for schools, and for the
Filarmonica Art u ro Toscanini,
most significant episode in a long an excellent orchestra of inter -
national standing which repre -
line of memorable musical expe- sents the region’s contribution to
riences, that the region’s energ i e s the exclusive circle of gre a t
Italian symphonic orchestras.
drifting on the current of Italian These organizations constitute
the various segments of the
melodrama, were channelled in a region’s multi-faceted produc -
tion system, organized to chan -
new direction towards the tenets and
nel and foster new development
guiding principals of Central on the historic and cultural heri -
tage of this land.
E u ropean culture . Maestro G. Gavazzeni Girolamo Magnani Municipal Theatre, 19th cent., Municipal Theatre, 18th cent., Bologna
Fidenza
52 53Celebrating is much more than just an expression of individual
happiness, it is an experience. It means loving others,
FESTIVALS accepting them, laughing with them.
(Douglas R. Stuva)
T he spirit of fun and the love of
music, of theatre and of life
itself of the people of Emilia-
Romagna is reflected in the region’s
historical reconstructions and
medieval fairs. Jazz and blues music
accompany the buskers who also
bring with them the sound of the
Celtic harp and African drum into
the heart of Ferrara. It also pervades
the dance and theatre season which
f e a t u res distinguished names both
in the classical and contemporary
A place for public demonstration and solidarity, the piazza has the magical power to transform art into a popular event
54 55FESTIVALS
p e rf o rming arts. That’s entert a i n-
ment! – Emilia-Romagna style.
When in summer the theatres thro w
open their doors and drag their
audiences out into squares, cloisters
and court y a rds; when city centers
come alive and period architecture
p rovides the perfect setting to be
“moved by concord of sweet sound”.
With this in mind, the Region plans
a “tour through history”, placing the
traditional themes of music, tourism
Pat Metheny, Ravenna Jazz 2017
and architectural heritage side by
Gran Final, Porretta Soul Festival 2012 Chick Corea-Steve Gadd Band, side with cinema, ballet and gastro-
This is where the stage is set Bologna Jazz Festival 2017
nomy. This is designed to shine the
Great celebrations, concerts and festivals in keeping with the theme of showing our of great interpreters and international stars, well as
region’s architectural heritage to advanta ge. During the summer there are festivals in “Ravenna Jazz”, “Crossroads” brings the cities spotlight on the region’s immense
practically all small towns and cities. The outstanding events are: the great symphony t o g e t h e r, the “Porretta Soul Festival” in Porre t t a
concerts and performances of commissioned works at Ravenna Festival; the famous Terme, is dedicated to blues, and gathers together lovers wealth of cultural and natural
Malatesta Classical Music Festival, each year devoted to a specific aspect of classical of this Afro-American music, and “Jazz in’it” of Vi g n o l a
music. Summer in Bologna always brings a fine entertainment series in Piazza Ma ggiore exhibits musical influences ranging from the resources, and to increase public
and in dozens of other locations. The courts and courtyards of ancient palaces and castles Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Ferrara plays host to the a w a reness of the entertainment and
come alive with concerts in Piacenza, Modena and the Province of Bologna. Buskers Festival, the most important event devoted to
Among those events not to be missed are “Mundus”, Italy’s most complete series of World s t reet entertainment in Italy, and perhaps even in p e rf o rmance opportunities off e re d
Music, hosted by Reggio Emilia and “Ferrara sotto le stelle”, which offers the city’s public Europe. Ancient music too has its important space with
Buskers Festival, Ferrara Jazz and original music by singers/songwriters. Every year Sarsina pays homage to the Festival “Grandezze& Meraviglie” which takes by the regional system. In this way
Plautus with a summer season of classical drama. Of particular note are the place in Modena where is also set the remarkable the region becomes one large stage
S a n t a rcangelo Festival, which for decades has presented the best in experimental theatre Festival VIE dedicated to the contemporary scenes. If
p rojects from Italy and abroad, and the “Arrivano dal mare” (they come from the sea ), a you want to relive the past all you have to do is attend o ffering its citizens and visitors a
festival devoted to puppet theatre. one of the traditional Palios, held just about everywhe -
During the autumn season, the Festival Ve rdi, a real celebration of the great cultural and re, Medieval celebrations such as those held in chance to enjoy themselves.
historical icon, takes place in Parma, and moreover the Parma Theatre Festival, which Brisighella, complete with learned conventions and A cultural tourism strategy which
gives exposures to various trends in international experimental theatre. Noteworthy p e rf o rmances of miracle plays, or follow a procession
events in Bologna include “Bologna Festival” devoted to traditional classic music, like those in places once under Mathilda of Canossa. enhances, both at national and
“Angelica”, a festival dedicated to contemporary and experimental music, and “Gender Amongst the full calendar of cultural events throughout
Bender” a rich festival exploring the theme of gender identity. In the Province of Bologna, the year, the festival “Organi antichi”, organized in E u ropean level, Emilia-Romagna’s
“Emilia Roma gna Festival” reaches a wide audience through lots of concerts all over the different locations in and around Bologna, gives
terr i t o ry. From classical music to jazz and blues. The “Bologna Jazz Festival” is the sta ge p rominence to the wealth of fine organs in the are a . image as a region of culture .
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