When I can to Rome the first time with my family we were six in one room: father, mother and four children. Gina Lollobrigida, who today celebrates her 90th birthday, has for many years lived in her grand villa on the Appia Antica, the long Roman road which now links villas and parks on the outskirts of Rome. Lollobrigida wasn’t intending to be an actress; she studied … [Read more...] about Gina Lollobrigida at 90 on Loren, Castro, singing and sculpture: “I was the number one!”
Italy
Sophia Loren returns to the big screen after a decade
Sophia Loren will be returning to the big screen in a film based on Jean Cocteau's 1930s play La Voce Umana (The Human Voice). Loren last appeared in the cinema in Lina Wertmuller's Peperoni Ripieni e Pesci in Faccia (Too Much Romance, It's Time For Stuffed Peppers) in 2004, and on television in La mia casa e’ piena di specchi (My House if Full of Mirrors), an … [Read more...] about Sophia Loren returns to the big screen after a decade
Pope resigns! Extraordinary news from Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI said at a meeting of cardinals this morning that he will resign as pontiff at the end of this month: Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come … [Read more...] about Pope resigns! Extraordinary news from Rome.
Saturday nights heat up as Tony Manero struts into Milan
Tony Manero is coming to town in a brand new production of Saturday Night Fever, performed in an all-Italian translation as La Febbre del Sabato Sera. After a few months of touring in the Netherlands earlier this year, the popular stage version of the film which launched John Travolta's career arrives at Milan's Teatro Nazionale. Apart from recreating the iconic white suit … [Read more...] about Saturday nights heat up as Tony Manero struts into Milan
Milan’s Teatro Franco Parenti celebrates its birthday with an orgy of Hamlets
One of the most respected Milanese theatres was born from an artistic collaboration between three pillars of Italian theatre: the director Franco Parenti, writer Giovanni Testori and up-and-coming young director Andrée Ruth Shammah. Together they formed the Salone Pier Lombardo which, since Parenti's death in 1989, has been run by Shammah, and renamed Teatro Franco Parenti. … [Read more...] about Milan’s Teatro Franco Parenti celebrates its birthday with an orgy of Hamlets
Conductor Giuseppe Sinopli’s brother beaten into a coma by drunk thugs
Gabriele Sinopoli, brother of the late, great orchrestra conductor Giuseppe, has emerged from a coma after being attacked by a group of drunks. They kept punching me in the head, one seemed like a professional. A group of thugs. The 64-year-old had beeped his horn to ask six young men to move out of the street outside a bar in the centre of Mestre, near Venice, so that he … [Read more...] about Conductor Giuseppe Sinopli’s brother beaten into a coma by drunk thugs
Filippo Timi can be excellent, so he shouldn’t be anything less: Romeo and Juliet in Milan
What to think of Filippo Timi? After the extraordinary success of his Amleto² (Hamlet squared) comes Giuliett' e Romeo (a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet). There are just five characters: the Nurse, Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and Cupid. Yes Cupid - it's a very loose adaptation. As Cupid, Timi comes on as though Jason Bieber had been styled by Pierre et Gilles, with … [Read more...] about Filippo Timi can be excellent, so he shouldn’t be anything less: Romeo and Juliet in Milan
La Famiglia: opera Italian-style with the Muti family
Riccardo Muti’s daughter is about to make her directing début: Chiara Muti will direct Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, which her father will conduct, for the Ravenna Festival. Oh yes, her mother, Cristina Mazzavillani is the Festival’s artistic director. Nice and cozy… keep it in the family. Chiara Muti isn’t new to the theatre. She emerged from the prestigious theatre school … [Read more...] about La Famiglia: opera Italian-style with the Muti family
Roberto Bolle – interviewed by Sportweek – on football, ultras, Beckham and tattoos
Another day, another cover. After the Chi magazine article a couple of days ago follows a 7-page spread in the equally popular men's magazine Sportweek, the weekly insert of the sports daily La Gazzetta della Sport. Alessia Cruciani goes for a different tack with her questions, her terminology all coming from the world of football. It works well. Athletes are famous for … [Read more...] about Roberto Bolle – interviewed by Sportweek – on football, ultras, Beckham and tattoos
Sorpresa! Cecilia Bartoli returns to La Scala after a 20 year gap
It was announced yesterday that Cecilia Bartoli will return to Milan’s La Scala after an absence of twenty years. The singer, feted abroad but largely ignored in her homeland, was working on a project with La Scala which evaporated when Riccardo Muti suddenly parted ways with the theatre. Now it is Daniel Barenboim who has engineered her comeback which will open the La Scala … [Read more...] about Sorpresa! Cecilia Bartoli returns to La Scala after a 20 year gap