Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Seen "Under the Tuscan Sun"...

Yesterday I happened to see "Under the Tuscan Sun": now I understand why people love Tuscany.

As an opinion by an Italian, most of the things seen there are plainly false, like the Tuscan market with the animals alive, and everything is set up to build a fabolous scenery. Tuscany is beautiful, and full of art, but most of its cities are now places you cannot live in anymore. Lots of friends of mine told me that 20-30 years ago you could enjoy places like Pienza, Bagno Vignoni, Montalcino, Montepulciano and others without spending a fortune to buy food, and without taking the car for every single need. Now, these towns are like Venice: beautiful to see, fabulous sceneries, but with no soul. Mansions are bought by cinema stars, music idols, big managers, princes, but the soul of Tuscany is largely lost.

A phenomenon like this recalls when I went to Germany and visited the Hauptbrauerei in Munich: very typical, but completely false. People inside were foreigners, and everything was built like a theathre.

Indeed, most of the times this is really what we are looking for when on holidays, fantasy instead of reality, fake instead of truth.

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Dante Ferretti's nomination for the Academy Awards

Dante Ferretti on a vintage picture
For the ninth times, Dante Ferretti from Macerata has been nominated for the Academy Awards as Art Director and Set Decoration. It's the ninth time for Dante Ferretti: he won the Oscar in 2005 for The Aviator.

This year the nomination comes for Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Johnny Depp.

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