Italy’s art treasures

From the Pantheon in Rome to the ruins of Pompeii, no country has striven more than Italy to diligently preserve its centuries of art and tradition.

Now another of those ancient monuments, the Colosseum in Rome, is staging an exhibition showcasing how Italy has fought to safeguard its unique treasures that still captivate millions the world over.

The event, Ruins and Rebirth of Art in Italy, will show how since Renaissance times the country has battled to keep artefacts out of the hands of thieves and rogue traffickers.

The exhibition, on the second tier of the Colosseum, is divided into six sections, featuring around 60 pieces from Italy and abroad.

They include a monument to Niobe from an ancient Roman villa, now topped by its head since its recent return from Poland, and the Marciante Artemis, returned to state hands seven years ago after a five-year battle with dealers who produced five fake copies to put detectives off the scent.

Among other works are a Roman statue, The Haranguer or Orator, dating from the first century BC; the Gustiniani Hestia depiction of a noblewoman, held in the Torlonia collection in the Italian capital; the Birth of Bacchus, from Hungarian capital Budapest; and the Roman goddess Dea Roma from Ostia, ancient Rome’s harbour city.

And there is the centrepiece of the show, a terracotta statue of an ancient Mother Goddess excavated in Abruzzo five years ago just before robbers could pounce.

The exhibition, which runs until mid-February next year, marks the centenary of the passing of Italian legislation in 1909 safeguarding the country’s cultural treasures.

The first section of the display, At the Origins of Protection, dwells on how Italy came to appreciate the importance such protective laws.

It also shows how 19th century Italian statute prevented Doric friezes in Sicily falling into the clutches of the British Museum.

The second section, The Unification and National Education, shows how after the Risorgimento, or reunification of Italy in the mid-19th century, the fledgling state stepped up efforts to acquire privately-owned museums, archaeological excavation sites and artefacts – including a collection of likenesses of Italian thinkers that since the 1600s had stood in the Boncompagni Ludovisi palace, which presently houses the US embassy.

The next part of the exhibition, 20th Century Progress, focuses on the enactment of conservation and anti-trafficking legislation, primarily a 1909 law that for the first time enshrined in statute the Government’s ownership of historical artefacts.

Other sections look at how Mussolini’s Fascist administration tried to appropriate Italian art for propaganda purposes and also examine efforts to repair damaged artwork and the range of accords Italy has signed for the return of its artwork from around the globe.

If you’re interested in apartments in Rome or Lazio, please visit our property in Rome pages.

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Villas in Tuscany: Maremma

Investors looking for villas in Tuscany have historically headed for areas such as Chianti, Florence, Pisa and Lucca.

But where to turn to now that because of the demand in this part of Tuscany, villas have shot up in price?

There is a place that retains Tuscany’s charm but is far more affordable. Welcome to the Maremma, in southern Tuscany.

This is a place that has drawn Italian holidaymakers for decades. They have been joined by visitors from Holland, Germany, France and the US to name a few, hundreds of whom have purchased Tuscany villas here. To most UK visitors, however, it remains an undiscovered treasure.

The Maremma starts from Follonica, south of Piombino, and extends as far south as Monte Argentario. Eastwards it stretches to the borders of the province of Siena.

There are 100 miles of stunning coastline. Follonica is a lively beach resort that also has the Modigliani art gallery, with works by Picasso, Dali and Bolano.

Some 10 miles south of here is the beach of Cala Violina, where the white sand is so fine that, according to folklore, it produces the sound of violins when walked on.

A short stroll inland lies Pian d’Alma, which houses two Etruscan necropolises dating from between 700BC and 500BC.

Monte Argentario is an island attached to the mainland by three fingers of land, creating a natural lagoon. Viewed from the air it appears crafted with amazing precision, a large flower between the Maremma and the sea, overlooked by Monte Argentario’s forts of Orbetello, Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano.

Just off the south-west coast of Monte Argentario is Isola Rossa. The natural landscape is totally unspoilt here and the views are breathtaking ‒ ponds, little islands, cane thickets and pristine white sandy beaches.

In fact, mile after mile of the Maremma coast is bathed in rare beauty, with stunning flora, fauna and wildlife.

Sailing is popular while Punta Ala, on the south side of the Gulf of Follonica, boasts one of Europe’s largest and most beautiful golf courses, looking out over the sea.

In Tuscany villas tend to be more affordable the further south one goes. Consequently, the Maremma coast has become a prime location for investors looking to buy villas in Tuscany.

Talamone, Marina Albanese, Castiglione della Pescaia and the fashionable Punta Ala are great as resorts and as spots in which to snap up villas in Tuscany, either as buy-to-let or as holiday homes .As Monte Argentario, almost completely surrounded by the sea, is one of the most highly sought-after areas of southern Tuscany, villas here tend to be highly prized, with owners holding onto them for as long as possible given their huge rental potential.

Villas in Tuscany’s Maremma hinterland are also a great investment as well. Some of the towns here are among the region’s most scenic.

Pitigliano, for instance, its houses spectacularly hewn from the tufo rock. The hilltop town has amazing views over the valley, with acres of olive groves.

Saturnia’s thermal baths are a must-see, a place where you can be pampered with beauty treatments and relax in thermal pools.

Semproniano, Castel del Piano, Piancastagnaio, Sovana, Bagni San Filippo, Manciano and Abbadia San Salvatore are other scenic towns, with picturesque shops selling traditionally made handmade utensils, pottery, art and works in wrought iron. They are also handy bases from which to discover the beauty of the Maremma.

But you cannot leave the region without seeing a palio ‒ a medieval racing contest. Unlike Siena’s famous event, which features horses, in Roccastrada it is run with donkeys and in Paganico, at the foot of Mount Amiata, with frogs.

Mount Amiata is another of Maremma’s delights, a dormant volcano turned holiday and ski resort.

All this, and some of the most affordable villas in Tuscany. But for how much longer?

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San Fruttuoso, Liguria

The coast of Liguria (Italian Riviera) has many serene, undiscovered gems to visit.

Few are more serene and lovely than the small village of San Fruttuoso, midway between Portofino and Camogli and on the edge of the sprawling park to which Portofino lends its name.

San Fruttuoso, famed for its eighth century abbey, is located at the mouth of an inlet on the Portofino promontory.

The hamlet retains the allure of a hidden, secret paradise, helped in large part by the fact that there are only a few routes that lead here.

One is to take the boats that link San Fruttuoso to the nearby towns and villages of Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure and, slightly further afield, Genoa.

Alternatively, take your pick from one of the three footpaths that wind their way between the rocks and the vegetation of Mount Portofino.

However, it is a walk well worth the effort and the views over the bay, in particular along the path from Portofino, is truly breathtaking.

San Fruttuoso is made up of a small beach, its monumental abbey, church, the Doria Tower and the few buildings that face the blue emerald mirror of the sea, set against a background of dark green pines.

Legend surrounding the retreat that would later become the abbey has it that in 259AD, Guistino and Procopio, disciples of the martyred bishop San Fruttuoso, were shipwrecked in a tempest and tossed here.

They found themselves surrounded by three lions that, rather than tear them to shreds, traced in the sands the outline of the church they had to erect in honour of the saint.

In truth, the monastery was built in AD711 when Prospero, Bishop of Tarragona and fleeing the Moors’ invasion of Spain, landed here with the San Fruttuoso’s ashes.

The settlement was later destroyed by Saracen invaders but reconstructed at the end of the 10th century by Benedictine monks. In the 13th century it was enlarged by the Doria family.

Today the abbey stands as one of the most significant examples of medieval property in Liguria.

There are obvious Byzantine influences in the architecture, notably in the cupola of the church bell tower. However, in large part, the complex that one can admire today dates from the end of the 10th century and the start of the 11th.

More recent restorations have remained faithful to its original Roman-Gothic architectural characteristics. Visitors will note the irregular span of the arched portico, necessitated by the positions of the rocks on which the foundations lie.

And the restored façade has done away with the old wooden windows and in their place have come panes in an almost invisible structure, which has given this hall within the building a splendid view over the sea and coast.

Just behind the abbey is the Andrea Doria tower, built in the 16th century to defend against Turkish pirates.

By the way, the small beach here was created only in 1915, by a violent storm that swept the flood’s detritus downstream.

If you’re taking a dip in the bay, go deep enough and you can admire the Christ of the Abyss statue, lowered onto the sea bed in 1954 and said to watch over local sailors.

To view houses and apartments in this part of the Italian Riviera, please visit our Property in Liguria page.

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Captivating Catania

Catania, like so many of the enchanting towns and cities on the west coast of Sicily in Italy, is gloriously overlooked by the 3350m Mount Etna, while it in turn looks out onto the Ionian Sea.

Sicily’s second city, it is an irresistible mixture of various cultures down the ages, a city where Norman meets medieval, where Roman meets Greek.

A city of cathedrals topped by spectacular cupolas and glorious edifices of white limestone and black lava rock.
A city whose diverse influences are typical of the myriad of cultures that make Sicily, this land of such contrasts, the beguiling region of Italy that it is.

A city of the modern and the traditional. Amble along Via Etnea and gaze at its boutiques; relax in one of the trendy bars of the Bonajuto Lane and the Scalinata Alessi.

But for a taste of its rich past, stop for lunch at one of its numerous old butcher’s shops, visit its famous fish market and then, come nightfall, bed down in one of its Norman palaces now elegantly transformed into a glamorous modern hotel.

Any tour of Catania should start at the hub of the city, its main square, the 17th century Piazza del Duomo. This houses its cathedral; its famous elephant fountain, the city’s symbol; and also the Palazzo degli Elefanti.

A short stroll from here lies Via Crociferi, one of the most charming streets in Catania and boasting marvellous examples of 18th century Baroque architecture, in particular the Benedictine monastery and San Guiliani church.

If you are here, try to make time to take in the magnificent Ex Benedictine Convent nearby, now taken over by the local university.

Should you fancy a spot of lunch at this juncture, this part of Catania is well blessed with restaurants.

Highly recommended is the local delicacy of arancini ‒ rice croquettes packed with meat, cheese and tomato. Pasta alla norma is another local Sicilian staple and in addition the fresh fish, as you would expect from a seaside city, is almost uniformly without par.

As you continue your tour, Via Etnea is best appreciated slowly. This boulevard traverses Catania from Piazza Duomo to Piazza Stesicoro and allows you to view, in Piazza Stesicoro, the monument to Vincenzo Bellini, the early 19th century Sicilian composer, while opposite lie the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre, dating from the second century BC.

This piazza also contains the Church of St Agata at the Furnace, one of eight churches in the city dedicated to its patron saint.

The ideal way to round off your visit to Catania is a relaxing stroll around the grounds of the 17.5 acre Villa Bellini public gardens, featuring beautiful squares, fountains and bridges.

However, no trip here is truly complete without seeing Mount Etna– Iddu to locals ‒ close up.

The mountain last erupted in 2002 and the area can be explored by hiking, cycling, horse-riding or in a 4×4 vehicle.

Getting to its summit offers spectacular views extending from the Gulf of Augusta to the Aeolian Islands to the Gulf of Augusta

The most relaxing way of discovering Mount Etna is undoubtedly by the Circumentea rail line. The train also stops off at the picturesque villages dotted around the foot of its slopes and two of the most beautiful are Linguaglossa, with its buildings in lava and sand stone, and Randazzo, renowned for its medieval architecture.

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Alassio’s fine idea

Of all the ways to boost flagging tourism over summer it was arguably one of the most innovative.

In the Italian Riviera resort of Alassio – a few miles north of Imperia along Liguria’s coast – tourists and other motorists who parked illegally got a €36 fine…along with a Lottery ticket.

The idea was the brainchild of Alassio’s limelight-loving mayor Marco Melgrati. He explained: “It’s a way to make the fines digestible for tourists. We’ve always said that tourism depends on a smile.”

This being Italy though, that smile had to come with a certain, well, style. To launch the audacious scheme, local parking wardens were accompanied by famous Italian showgirl Alessia Ventura and a team of 10 bikini-clad women.

Mr Melgrati explained: “It’s obvious that whoever gets a parking fine gets angry. But a Superenalotto (lottery) coupon, perhaps delivered by a very beautiful woman like Alessia Ventura and her 10 Supergirls, will definitely make them less angry.”

The idea apparently came to him during a meeting with an official from Italian lottery organisers Sisal, who had merely wanted permission to sell lottery tickets on the beaches of the Ligurian resort.

The company were quite taken with the idea. Managing director Emilio Petrone said: “A jackpot such as that offered by SuperEnalotto will surely put everyone in good spirits.”

Good spirits, however, that weren’t going to be doled out to every Tom, Dick and Harry who fancied a ticking off from the beautiful Miss Ventura along with the chance of a multi-million pound lottery jackpot –because some drivers will find themselves with nothing more exciting than a plain old parking fine.

As Mr Melgrati put it: “I fear that some motorists may try to be crafty and deliberately get themselves a fine to be able to admire Alessia and the other splendid girls close up.”

Sisal were so taken with the idea that they considered extending it to other parts of the Italian Riviera popular with tourists. With the full blessing of the publicity-conscious First Citizen.

Mr Melgrati grinned: “I haven’t copyrighted the idea of matching lottery tickets and fines. But I certainly won’t be displeased if when the initiative is repeated in other areas, they specify that the idea was born in Alassio.”

There was some irony in his championing the idea of women in bikinis doling out parking tickets. He had previously defended his resort’s ban on preventing swimming costumes being worn beyond the beach on the grounds of “good taste”.

He insisted: “That ruling was my predecessor’s, who had a different meaning. It was to avoid seeing, in shops and the city centre, certain spectacles of people who shouldn’t allow themselves to be in a bikini. But this is different.”

Ah, that’s all right then…

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