Italia [antikvár]

6 ITALIA INTRODUCTION ¦^he bello!' and '0 bella!' are exclamations which may be heard at any moment of the day or night, in any place all over haly from men, women and children of every description. These expressions are an automatic reaction to any pleasurable experience. They indicate in a very natural and spontaneous way the intimate relationship in halian sensibility between beauty and happiness. And I tliink it is arguable that tlie output of beauty through the ages has been higher in Italy, in proportion to die size of tlie country, than in any odier region of the world. In some respects the Italians have been fortunate. Tliey were born in a country of quite extraordinary beauty and diversity. They have also had die advantage of seeing a high standard of beauty among dieir fellow human beings, and they have shown a touching sensibility to the beauty of their women as the story of a Genoese girl, Simonetta Cattaneo, demonstrates. She grew up in Piombino, where her parents lived in exile, and turned out to be an exceedingly beaudful girl, who at die age of fourteen was married to Marco Vespucci, a young memljer of a well-known family of Florentine merchants. The Vespucci mansion in Florence was the resort of some outstanding painters, among ihcm Domenico Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli. This was the dme when Lorenzo de' Medici had succeeded his father as the ruler of Florence. He and his younger brother, Giuliano, were fond of arranging spectacular entertainments and in 1475, during one of thc.sc events, Simonetta was crowned the Queen of Beauty. In the tournament Giuliano's standard was painted by Botticelli, h represented Simonetta as Pallas Athena in a field of flowers. On 26 April 1476, however, soon after being crowned Qiiecn of Beauty, Simonetta died from consumpdon at the age of t\\'enty-three; three years later Giuliano was assassinated in the cathedral of Florence by enemies of the Medici. When Simonetta was buried in the church of Ognissand the whole of Florence turned out to see die vision of her beauty as they carried her to the tomb in an open coffin: ardsts and friends, humanists and poets, the entire Vespucci family, Ahovb: Jlie Via Monte d'Oro m Martina Franca, Apulia. Rioht: Parí of the Saloiie Cenirale in the Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, Piedmont. OVEKI'ACili: (Mual and houses in the Foudamtnla Cavanella, Biirano, an island in ihe Venelian la!!,oan. the civic authorides, the clergy and a host of friends accompanied the bier. All along the way from balconies and windows the people looked down to see Simonetta for the last dme. Even after the burial there were artists who could not forget her beauty. Leonardo da Vinci went home and drew a portrait of her. Many years later Piero di Cosimo remembered seeing the procession when he was only fourteen and painted from memory a famous portrait now in the Museum of Chantilly in France. Of the remembered representations of Simonetta, the most famous are those in uvo paintings by Sandro Botticelli in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence: Primavera, or 'Spring' (c.l478), and the somewhat later Birth of Venus, when die graceful nude figure of Venus inspired by Simonetta balances lighdy on a large sea shell blown ashore by a puffing Zephyr. The feeling for beauty %\'hich drew the people of Florence to witness the passing of Simonetta is perhaps innate. It has certainly been a feature of Italian life and activity in all ages. Even in our modern age of mass production, préfabrication and industrial output we can still obser\-e a distinct and highly elegant Italian style emerging in the manufacture of all kinds of goods in Italy and in a large range of building work. AVe see it in clothes and footwear, in household furniture and consumer durables, in cars and ships. It also shows itself in larger projects, from niotonvays to railway stations, from sporting arenas to power stations, and in die creation of new villas and gardens. By combining beauty with comfort and liveliness, die Italians arc able lo provide die joy in life which their conquerors in the past, no less dian their friends and visitors al all times, have found unfailingly irresistible.