Autumn 09 - Leonardo, Fellini, Puglia guided tour 2010 and a hidden corner of Sardinia.

Leonardo in Milan (‘the most important exhibition in history according to the New York Times); Fellini in Portofino; the Historical Regatta down the Grand Canal in Venice; Italy’s major Writers’ Festival in Mantova and a weekend enjoying the fascinating and solitary beauty of the southern coast of Sardinia – we hope you enjoy the Autumn edition of Volare, the quarterly Hidden Italy newsletter.

5% discount for Hidden Italy Guided tour until 30 September.

Although the first guided tour to Sicily (14/5 to 27/5) is fully subscribed there are still places in the second (29/4 to 11/5) and in the Puglia guided tour (30/4 to 12/5) and we are offering an early bird discount of 5% for these for booking made before 30 September (www.hiddenitaly.com.au/tours).

We are also very pleased to have Carmelina Ricciardello join our team to guide the second Sicily tour (29/4 to 11/5). Carmelina was born in Sicily and raised in Australia. She went back to Italy for a brief visit in 1992 and has been there ever since. She worked running hotels and managing walking tours in central and northern Italy before returning to Sicily several years ago. Few people know the walks of Sicily as well as Carmelina (www.hiddenitaly.com.au/about).
 

Exhibitions Autumn 09

Designs by Leonardo from the Codice Atlantico. Biblioteca Ambrosiana Museum and the Santa Maria delle Grazie, www.ambrosiana.eu, first instalment until 10 December. As a build up to the Expo of 2015 in Milan, all the more than 1000 pages of the largest collection of sketches, designs and notes of Leonardo da Vinci, the Codice Atlantico, will be shown over a period of 6 years. The New York Times has described it as the longest and most important exhibition ever held. The first section of the exhibition will display 45 pages including military designs, architecture and letters.

Federico Fellini: between cinema and dreams. Castello Brown, Portfino, until 11 October. Something completely different from another Italian genius. In possibily the most striking setting in all of Italy, this exhibition of drawing, paintings and designs by the great film maker Federico Felllini, will be hosted in the marvelous Castello Brown at the tip of the exclusive Ligurian resort of Portofino. It also includes videos, photos and objects from the master’s long and colourful cinematic career.

Mimmo Rotella. Before Decollage. Pinacoteca Provinciale, Bari, until 30 September. Mimmo Rotella, the Calabrian painter, was one of the most interesting Italian artists of the 20th century. In 1953, he pioneered the technique of decollage, layering images on as canvas and then cutting them to produce a 3D effect. This exhibition looks at the artists work before this revolution, foucssing on his paintings and drawings between 1946 and 1950.
 

Events in Autumn 09

The Historical Regatta, Grand Canal, Venice, 6 September. If you are lucky enough to be in or near Venice this extraordinary pageant is a must. If not, it is held on the first Sunday of September every year and recreats the majesty and opulence of Serenenissima’s glorious past. This year (as with most) starts with the historical procession itself (at 15.45) and is then followed be a series of races, including the pupparini (children’s race) the mascarete (women’s race) and finishes with the fiercely contested gondola race at 17.55. As with ,any things in Venice, the big challenge is the crowds. The best viewing places are around the Rialto vegetable markets and at the vaporetto stops of San Silvestro and San Samuele (if you aren’t lucky enough to have a hotel or home overlooking the canal) but these will be very crowded. For the cannier, and to avoid the crowds, several less well-known museums such as the Ca Rezzonico and the Ca Pesaro, face onto the canal, whre you can escape the crowds and get to see the exhibition as well.

Mantova Writers’ Festival, Mantova, www.festivalletteratuyra.it from 9 to 13 September. The seat of the Gonzaga family during the Renaissance, the prosperous town of Mantova is one of the most delectable towns in northern Italy (see the Hidden Italy Autumn 08 Newsletter for travel tips http://www.hiddenitaly.com.au/tips. It celebrates its illustrious past with Italy’s largest international literature festival, held in the second week of September annually.
 

Hidden Italy Autumn weekend: Porto Pino, the Hidden side of Sardinia.

Sardinia is a large and complex place, the locals consider it a continent unto itself, but its international image is dominated by one stretch of caost line, the Costa Smerelda, one of the classic ‘play grounds of the rich and famous’, which was discovered and developed by the Arga Khan in the rollicking 1960’s. It is a magnificent area, with prices to match, but is only a small, and rather alien, part of Sardina. Porto Pino, is one of the most distant points of the island from the Costa Smerelda, both figuratively and physically, with kilometres of unspoilt coastline, charming villages, fascinating history, very reasonable prices and nary a tourist to be seen in the very comfortable early autumn period.

How to get there:

Cagliari, Sardinia’s administrative capital is well connected to most major Italian cities by air and Porto Pino is an easy 50 minute drive from the airport (you’ll need a car to best explore the island) following a beautiful coastal road that wraps around the south-western tip of the island.

Where to stay:

Hotel Cala dei Pini is 50 room 3-star hotel in Porto Pino, with parklands, tennis courts and a pool, with double rooms around 90 euro per night b&b. Luna sulla Duna is a charming B&B on the highland overlooking Porto Pino, which has three rooms available for around 30 euro per person. Corte Le Palme is another 3-star option in the neighbouring town of Sant’Anna Arresi, with doubles for around 90 euro per night.

Where to eat:

One of the joys of any trip to Sardinia (or Italy of course) is the food. Being on the coast, Porto Pino specialises in seafood. Most of the restaurants in Porto Pino are spread along Via del Mare, which connects the two wetland areas of Maestrale and Is Brebeis. Their specialities include crustaceans, octopus, tuna coming from the fisheries of the nearby island of San Pietro and bottarga, dried and compressed fish roe, as well as the famous local gnocchi malloreddus. Some suggestions: La Pescheria (owned by the colourful Basilio Sulis) and Il Comorano (specialising in both cooked and raw seafood).

What to do:

Porto Pino is famous for its rolling sand dunes, the best known beaches are found along the coastal roads for Porto Pinetto and Porto Botte, where there is also the Porto Botte Kitesurfing and Sailing Club) so this is one of the great attractions of the area. Porto Pino is lies between to wetland reserves with walking trails which is this season host huge flocks of pink flamingos, migrating south to avoid the northern winters.

The area around Porto Pino is known as the Sulcis and it is famous for its wines, produced by the indigenous Carignano grapes, a ldeicate red that is also a good accompaniment to seafood. There are a number of fine producers which can be visited by appointment for tastings including: Cantina Mesa and Cantina Sociale di Santadi.

One of the highlights of the area is the nearby island of San Antonio (join to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, which was an important strategic point for numerous civilizations sailing the western Mediterranean including the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians and the Romans. The small island has a host of archoelogical treasures including the sites of Tofet (the cemetery of the Carthaginians) with beautiful views across the wetlands of Santa Caterina and the Villaggio Ipogeo, another Carthaginian site. The island also has two excellent museums, one archeological and the other ethnographic. The little town of Sant’Antioch is also very charming itself, and has a number of good restaurants, and has some excellent and virtually untouched coastline which can be visited via a narrow road that rings the island.

Porto Pino is part of the newest province in Italy, the recently constituted Carbonia-Iglesias province, which is also very rewarding to explore. The first stop would be Villaperuccio, which has a fine example of prehistoric necropolis, 20 minutes drive away and includes the largest prehistoric monument in Sardinia. From here you can make a leap from prehistory to Modernismo within a 30 minute drive to visit the extraordinary town of Carbonia, which, as its name suggests, is a coal mining town, created on the orders of Mussolini and created in his inimitable style. The centre of the town is built on rigorous rationalist style, including the school, town hall, hospital workers and mangers’ housing. After lunch, from here you can continue north along the spectacular provincial highway that skirts the coast, characterised by wild rocky coast line and hidden beaches and bays. A place to stop is the pretty little port of Porto Flavia. On the way back to the Cagliari airport you can complete your visit by stopping at the Roman temple of Antas, surrounded by pine and juniper trees.