NINO ROTA ~ December 3, 1911 ~ April 10, 1979

Nino Rota (December 3, 1911, Milan – April 10, 1979, Rome) was a world-renowned Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti. He also composed the music for two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films, and for the first two films of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy.

During his long career Rota was an extraordinarily prolific composer, especially of music for the cinema. He wrote more than 150 scores for Italian and international productions from the 1930s until his death in 1979 -- an average of three scores each year over a 46 year period, and in his most productive period from the late 1940s to the mid-1950s he wrote as many as ten scores every year, and sometimes more, with a remarkable thirteen film scores to his credit in 1954. Alongside this great body film work, he composed ten operas, five ballets and dozens of other orchestral, choral and chamber works, the best known being his string concerto. He also composed the music for many theatre productions by Visconti, Zeffirelli and Eduardo de Filippo as well as maintaining a long teaching career at the the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, where he was the director for almost 30 years.

Text:wikipedia.com

Image:rchrd.com/blog/images/rota.jpg

FIRENZE ~ L'ACACIA B&B near Santa Croce

Image:wikipedia.com

October 2009 we spent three nights at a wonderful bed and breakfast on the third floor of a 15th Century palazzo just around the corner from Santa Croce in Firenze. (It is immediately behind the mustard yellow building at the left of the photo.) Debbie, Alision and I had stayed there in 2007 and it was one of the high points of the entire holiday. Diana and her mother, Rosalia, were extraordinary hosts, as they were again four years ago. Diana even arranged a doctor's house call for my brother-in-law Tom Martin, who had picked up my horrendous cold.

While in Florence we visited the Ufizzi Gallery, the Duomo (of course) and the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David --among many other things. This was Tom's first visit to Italia.

Possible Day in SIENA

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town square, which houses the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, is an architectural treasure of Siena, and is famous for hosting the Palio horse race. The Palazzo Pubblico, itself a great work of architecture, houses yet another important art museum. Included within the museum is Ambrogio Lorenzetti's series of frescos on the good government and the results of good and bad government and also some of the finest frescoes of Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.

Siena's cathedral, the Duomo, begun in the twelfth century, is one of the great examples of Italian romanesque architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380. It is unusual for a Christian cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in existence, with a north-south transept and an east-west aisle, as is usual. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

Inside is the famous Gothic octagonal pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1266–1268) supported on lions, and the labyrinth inlaid in the flooring, traversed by penitents on their knees. Within the Sacristy are some perfectly preserved renaissance frescos by Ghirlandaio, and, beneath the Duomo, in the baptistry is the baptismal font with bas-reliefs by Donatello, Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and other 15th century sculptors. The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo contains Duccio's famous Maestà (1308–1311) and various other works by Sienese masters. More Sienese paintings are to be found in the Pinacoteca.

On the Piazza Salimbeni is the Palazzo Salimbeni, a notable building and also the medieval headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in continuous existence and a major player in the Sienese economy.

Housed in the notable Gothic Palazzo Chigi on Via di Città is the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena's conservatory of music.

Image & Text:wikipedia.com

(More likely we'll spend two days in Siena starting tomorrow. As of this writing, today is an unplanned day. Perhaps we'll be in Vicenza or Verona and spend the night in Bolgogna.)