It is difficult to define the craft of this genuine Florentine with precision: a woman with great charisma, a charming and stylish person who specialises in a profession that she herself invented. Simonetta Doni is a wine designer, well she is actually the wine designer! A clearly famous designer who is specialised in the creation of wine labels.

A successful career dedicated to the image management of wine through its dressing. A creative who has acquired the secrets of communication and wine marketing through experience combined with timeless taste. A woman who dresses the bottle, praising it with the label.

“The success of a wine depends also on the way in which the label represents it. This is the initial impact on the consumer, an impact that may be decisive for the purchase.”
How can she be wrong in a world where image is everything? An excellent wine without suitable dressing loses its appeal.

Simonetta Doni has made an impression in just a few years with her grace, intuition and feminine creativity in a traditionally male world such as that of wine. Today she is the owner of "Doni & Associati", one of the very few studios specialised in the image of wine companies in the world. Her clients include some of the most important companies internationally, but also young innovative and emerging companies.

How did you come up with the idea of creating wine labels?

For my first labels a few years ago, I had certainly created beautiful images, but perhaps without fully understanding the value of communication and sales. A little later on, an enlightened producer asked me to invent a series of concepts that he intended to communicate: the smell of the earth, the seduction of the wine, the happiness that it could have given to those who drank it, its history, the work behind it, etc. I became aware of the value that a simple piece of paper could have. The challenge of achieving the goals was the springboard that made me concentrate on this form of communication for the passionate and all-involving world of wine.

Were your first approaches with this world very masculine?

In reality, dealing with a world that is mainly made up of men was a positive thing. I believe that female sensitivity brought added value to it. The comparison was always stimulating and constructive. Seeing things from a sometimes opposite point of view makes one find new and interesting solutions. There are now many of us who work and create fantastic projects in this world.

Where were you aware of having made it?

After the first label, which I call “aware”, other producers came to me and told me that they had seen that label. Therefore they asked to be study the image also for their products.

Which is the most difficult client?

There isn’t one in particular, but let’s say that the most demanding clients are those which make us always find new solutions with their countless requests and make us define even the tiniest detail in an almost maniacal way, which make the difference when all put together.

How difficult was it to make the image of wine labels more contemporary?

Once upon a time, the image was created only to say what was contained in that particular bottle and if something was depicted on it, this was often done by someone in the family who dabbled in painting or drawing who “created” the image. They weren’t concerned with communicating all the series of elements that are now vital and implementing the knowledge that we have now gained today. We always propose an innovative hypothesis among the possible alternatives, but certain companies still aren’t completely ready for these solutions. In reality, the large international competition will soon make us explore new paths, without losing the sense of history, where we will be able to also communicate using innovative and contemporary languages.

Info:
Studio Doni & Associati
Via Guelfa, 85 – 50129 Florence 
Tel. 055 26 80 23 – Fax 055 26 79 772
info@donieassociati.it - www.donieassociati.it

“Garrisca al vento il labaro viola…”. "the violet banner fluttering in the wind…" Who does not know the famous first line of the Fiorentina theme song by Narciso Parigi, which has been a loyal companion encouraging the actions of the Fleur-de-lis team since the 1950s, through the good and the bad times? 

He began his career at the age of 16 at Campi Bisenzio (where he was born on 29th November, 1927, singing on Radio Firenze and straight from there was taken to Rome by the RAI. A career which very soon passed to the other side of the ocean. 

Over his long career he has cut 5.500 titles and sold tens of millions of records.  Parigi has also starred In 17 films (he played in the The Graduates (1995) by Leonardo Pieraccioni, where he played the part of Berto or, in 1959 the realisation of the film Assi della Ribalta together with Ferdinando Baldi and was also ambassador of the Fiorentina song ("Un bacione a Firenze" to give just one example) in the United States and the rest of the world.  Narciso is a Fiorentina in every respect.  He is his city's emblem and just like its symbol, Parigi is a Fleur-de-Lis who has knowingly opened his petals to the entire world.

And Florence - which was never very magnanimous towards its own Masters from Dante onwards - has this time, and quite rightly so, placed Narciso amongst its artistic emblems and has awarded him a well-deserved title during the presentation of the book "Narciso Parigi, a Tuscan's sense of music and life from another era", which was held in 2006 at the Palazzo Vecchio.  A book with the Idea of celebrating the artistic birthday of this great Florentine artist, one of the few examples of the internationally famous "made in Tuscany", exactly 60 years after cutting his first record "Ho lasciato il mio cuore a Firenze" - I left my heart in Florence - (June 1946).  The book is a 300 page biography, published by Semper, which covers the life of "the voice of Florence in the world" from his beginning.  A book full of news, curiosities and photographs written by the musical critic, Giovanni Ballerini, with a preface by one of the best experts in the field of Italian songs, Paolo Limiti.

But during our telephone conversation, wherein Narciso retraces his early years, it is to his time spent in Campi Bisenzio that he frequently returns to and where he lingers over memories linked to his youth and the second world war…..he tells me of friends lost In the war, of them dying a hero's death, of the pain he has carried within him all his life……melancholy stories, measured, sometimes, by pauses of uncertainty during which, in the background, one hears the voice of his wife Fiorella, (to whom he has been married for 51 years), who reminds Narciso of names he cannot remember; sometimes, cadenced by meaningful silences falling after raw anecdotes, my imagination leads me to see those people, those places and even recreate the smell and noise of bombings. 

The post-war years were hard, but in Narciso's heart can be heard "i bei tempi che furono", (the good times that were),  the time of "….that Florence described in my songs….. Mattinata fiorentina, Firenze sogna…..", "i tempi di una Firenze sana….", Florentine morning….., Florence dreaming…., the times when Florence was good….   
In truth, Narciso Parigi is "a Tuscan from another time", but nevertheless a reality to be proud of.  For yesterday, today, tomorrow.  

A charming, smiling lady with caring, industrious hands.  Hands moving slowly in the air, as though caressing the most precious of work. 

Loretta Caponi, embroiderer and owner of the trade name known from Florence to all round the world, tells her story of a child who held a needle and thread in her hand for the first time at just five years old. 

"I don't think I had the perception then of what was happening to me. My parents were severe and in that period young girls had to have a vocation in life. I clearly remember that the first thing I made was a cushion depicting a young girl". 

A skill which she knew how to exploit, working initially for other people. 

"At 14 years old I was embroidering handkerchiefs and bras, they paid me one lira for each piece of finished work". 

Time passed and with it came love in the form of the painter Dino Campana, a pupil of Ottone Rosai, with whom she lived an enjoyable and creative life, filled with encounters and important friends. 

"My husband - she calmly relates - had his studio in Via degli Artisti and every evening at nine 'o' clock on the dot his friends would ring the doorbell". 

Friends whose surnames echoed those of text books.  From Vasco Pratolini to Mario Luzi to Giuseppe Ungaretti, Tommaso Landolfi, Piero Bigongiari and Romano Bilenchi. 
Years in which Loretta established lifelong friendships and began her collection of embroidery, acquired from her travels around the globe.  Thousands of incredible objects dating from the 15th century to the 30's of the 19th century. 

After the 1996 floods the first shop was opened, a world of materials, threads and colours where she realized exceptional weaves, first in Borgo Ognissanti and later in Via Tornabuoni, which is still here today and where she works together with her daughter Lucia and a team of collaborators.  An all female staff. 

"The problem - she laments - is that you can no longer find anyone.  Sometimes schools accompany their students to see the laboratory; but no-one wants to become an artisan, today who studies fashion, only wants to be a designer". 

"Nothing is impossible if you have already realized it in your mind”.  This is the sentence that attracted me to his internet site.  This and the pure nature of his gaze.
It is reductive to describe this man that journalistically speaking is an “extreme desert explorer”.  It is very difficult to have the opportunity to interview him because he is very selective, and therefore I begin thanking him, his wife and Press Agent Krista Corso for agreeing to speak with me.
When you read this interview, it will be May and the person writing it will be in Jerusalem – Gaza – Sinai (540 km), having gone there for love to fill the emptiness of peoples’ souls and will shout, that in the name of God, we do not kill, but we love.
Max Calderan is a unique man who stays alone in the summer in the desert, without a doctor or assistance, non-stop, sleeping with micro sleep cycles that last 7 minutes.  
Science does not yet know how to explain the reason that he is able to survive exposed to these inhumane conditions.  These are his four world records: Qatar 202km in 38 horus – 45 degrees: Oman 437 km in 90 hours – 42 degrees; Oman 198 km in 49 hours – 58 degrees: Oman 360 km in 75 hours – 52 degrees. And here we are today, at the race of Love in Gaza and then, in 2010 at the most extreme challenge: the crossing of the Empty Quarter in Saudi Arabia, 1400 kilometres of firey desert...Max surprises me with another of his phrases that make you think: “The desert does not change, but it makes who we are in reality emerge”.

When did you first fall in love with the desert?
7 years ago.  Looking through an encylopedia I was struck by the image of a beduin and a camel with the caption “desert of the Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia”.  I saw myself in that beduin and I made a plan and wrote above the image: 2010 Arab desert.  Then I went to my mother and I said “Your son will be more or less 40 years old and he will be the first man to cross the unexplored desert”.

Therefore, can you say that you are carrying out your childhood dreams?
I think that each of us can obtain what we want if we want it.  Sometimes you hear people say that "It is not possible to do this thing".  This concept does not exist.  It is not possible to not succeed if you want to in a visceral, almost spiritual way.  If you want that thing, you see your dream realized, you visualize it intensely and nothing is impossible.  It is enough to know how to eliminate bad thoughts and bad company.  If at the end, you can't do it, nothing is lost, it means that you are nevertheless a human being capable of dreaming and if you are capable of dreaming, it means that you are alive.

Tell us a little about your inner strength and how you technically survive in the desert in such extreme conditions?
First I would like to say that I am not an extraordinary person.  I am completely normal.  My electroencefalogram, my electrocardiogram, my blood tests, etc, are in line with those of any sedentary person of my age.  Even if my electrocardiogram shows a heart that is like that of an 18 year old, there is no sign of the typical enlargement of an athelete.  You should not be surprised by what I do.  Rather, what surprises me is that other people are not able to do the same.  They do not do it not because they are not capable, but becasue they do not know the strength that they have inside.  A strength that is obscured and that permits anybody to do great things.
Many people ask me: how do you survive, how do you work out, what do you eat in the desert, etc.  I don’t have any secrets or things to tell.  I do not condition myself.  I do not get distracted by that which imposes limits on us.  I will explain: if we read than a man dies in the desert with 58 degree heat, then it is easy for him to die, but if we have the strength to get rid of this limit, this does not happen.  Everyone can do it and not die without eating, without sleeping without stoping, without gps, without satellites, etc.  We are much greater than what people would like us to believe.  

How did you manage to discover these capabilities?
I have never meditated, or done training, or yoga, even though I know that these are very important and functional for some people.  Personally I am convinced that applying an external method functions, but does not belong to us and is therefore contaminated in some way.  If we want to discover something about the world, we do not have to point the telescope towards the sky, but we can turn it towards ourselves and look within to find our own strength.
 
The desert therefore helps us to discover who we are?
The biggest desert is not to be found in kilometres of sand, but it is here, in civilization.  The worst snake is not hidden under a rock, but sits next to us in the office where we work.  The most dangerous animals are in the cities.  The greatest danger is not hidden in 1000 kilometres of sand, but in the station in Milan at midnight.
It is important that in everything, there is a meeting of souls.  This is what helps us to discover who we are, the true positive conditioning that must guide us.  My strength comes from this place, in the life of everyday.
No alibis or compromises and even the person who is at my side, for example, is not a conditioned soul.
In the desert I am a superman only because in real life I have this great strength that makes me filled with love.  A Love with a capital L, not made of “what I lack” but of the belief that there is something bigger, valid values.  To have a woman by my side who is not only a person who irons your shirt or is half-dressed on television, but instead represents your larger goal: a couple united against any limitation.  

In 4 world records of solitude you will have had dramatic or cathartic moments ...
I can tell you by only making you visualize something.  Let’s imagine an afternoon in the middle of August on the beach.  We take away all of the umbresllas and the people.  We look at the sand that does not end in the sea, but continues as far as the eye can see.  58 degrees, the feeling of being closed in a car without air conditioning.  You would like to roll down the window but you cannot, you would like to escape, but you cannot....  You check your water bottle and you realize that you are out of water.  You look around, there isn’t anybody there...  That is the most dramatic moment, which for me is the greatest opportunity that God can give me.  It is as if he were saying to me: “Wake up, you can change your limits, you know that you are bigger than this!”
It is in the moment of drama that you recognize the strengh of souls; in those moments you are not alone.  I have the soul of my wife with me who says “you can do it”, a strength that is double, not like two bodies, but like two souls.  The soul of my wife enters into me, as if I were wearing it, and it pushes me forward.  Two united souls have an explosive strengh, the individualist man will never achieve what he wants.
But if instead you ask me to say what has been the worst moment I tell you only that it is the fear of not succeeding to communicate well to others what I want to say.  This is more dramatic for me than being without water in the desert!

What is fear for you?
An instrument to control the masses.  For me it does not exist.  Fear conditions us, it stops us in so many things.

I was reading about your micro sleep cycles, how do you get such little sleep?
There is nothing extraordinary in this either.  My micro sleep cyles go back to man’s origins.  Cavemen, in fact, had to be alert if they did not want to be assaulted by prey and they slept this way.  The trickery of sleep was born afterwards and came on by having to nourish ourselves with starches, which first did not exist.  In reality, the canonical eight hours of sleep are not necessary.  It is the stress of life today that makes us sleep a lot.
 
What does it feel like to be alone in the desert?
There is always something bigger that keeps us company.  We are never truly alone.  There is alway something greater that keeps us compnay and with which, if you want, you can speak.  The souls of people who you love are there with you: you speak with them, you speak with Jesus.
Patty Pravo who is passionate about the deserts and visits them asked me an extaordinary question about this.  She asked me: “Max, how do you find the strength to leave the desert”.  This is the crux of the discussion: from the desert it is difficult to find the strength to leave.  You feel so well that you not only don’t want to leave but you want to bring it with you, away from the chaos, to the people that you love.

But what smells do you smell?
The smells in the desert are fascinating.  The heat, for example, has a smell that can qualify as a liquid smell that envelops you and permeates your pours dilating them and entering into your body.  It is an alive smell of heat, full of energy.  You feel the beating of your heart because you aren’t distracted by external sounds.  You hear your blood flow through your veins, you hear your your breath and in the end you discover that absolute silence does not exist because there is always a sound in the background, which is yourself and your living soul.  Animals that you meet in the desert, like the scorpion, the snake, or others are one with the universe, a splendid gift from God that we have almost completely destroyed.
 
Tell us about your trip in May of 2009?
 It is a race that is a little different than the others.  It is the crossing of the human soul, it is the search to fill the desert with all of the world’s love.  Today we no longer say, I love you.  We do not listen to our elders, who are our memory.  We reflect: this is a true desert, the desert of the soul that should be filled every day with small gestures.  I am going to the Holy Land to repropose what we all must do in our everyday lives.

After "the strength inside", you are writing another book.  What will it be about?
It will be about this trip to the Holy Land and my meeing, in the desert, with Jesus.  We will meet like old friends.  He will tell me about the world 2000 years ago and I will tell him about the world today.  In the end, he will get very angry when he learns how he and his work are used to delude people and to make a profit.

A banal, but a necessary question. Are you scared of death?
No, because if you do not submit to it, but you command it, it brings you to life.

In your training, you go to Friuli, Tuscany and the Arab peninsula.  You pass through Friuli, where you are from, to the Arab peninsula, this much we understand, but why train in Tuscany?
To gather emotions and then, because even if it is absurd, in Tuscany if we take away the greenery, the hills and the vines and we leave stones, and its ascents and descents, we have the desert.  Contrary to what people believe, the desert is not only a yellow ocra strip on the horizon, but a continual succession of climbs and descents and it is not only sand, but is also stone.

But who really is Max Calderan?
A normal person who, like everyone of us, leaves his mark.  I always go alone in  search for good, not looking for the spiritual, but begining with the spiritual.  I do not want to change the world, but make people understnad that the body and the spirit, in each one of us, exist as one with an extraordinary force.
 

The last two centuries have seen numerous accounts of emigration from Tuscany by those who, in search of a better life style, or escaping hostile political situations or just simply.  In pursuit of the spirit of adventure, have decided to abandon their native country to do just this.  I have had the pleasure of listening to one of them, Foster Gabriel Mori, in the recounting of his long life. 

The memories of the elderly are a patrimony which can help us to learn their past through narration and projection; a past which represents a unique and invaluable historical memory for each and every one of us. 

Before telling his story I would like to spend two words on the importance of listening, which has been a part of us even before birth, with our mothers' heartbeats and her voice; and, after birth, listening to noises from the environment and later, towards one year, to arrive at discovering our own noises and words. 
But after listening for a long while, it happens, unfortunately, that we learn to talk a lot more and to listen less. 
And it is in this era where we are often found to say "I don't have time", that listening becomes a luxury, probably the only thing we should not deprive ourselves of.

Foster is a youngster, 86 years old, born in Washington state, son of immigrants originally from the province of Pistoia who went to America at the end of the First World War. 
Foster's childhood was a much suffered one due to his delicate constitution, so much so that at the age of 14 his father decided to send him to Italy to stay with relatives in order to receive better treatment, but his condition worsened and he became gravely ill. 

He was given only 6 months to live. The doctors ignored the cause of his illness and the only thing they could advise was to combat his physical weakness with a reconstituent based on eggs (a difficult undertaking, seeing that at the time - we are in 1937 - Italy was breaking away from Ethiopia, Mussolini was in power and eggs were extremely scarce!). 

But the fragile boy with the foreign accent survived and began to go from village to village with his Bianchi bike, thereby earning himself the nick-name "small little American". 

On his return to America he passed his matriculation and voluntarily signed on with the Marines; from Washington he went first to San Diego (California), then Phoenix (Arizona) and from there to Tucson where he obtained his degree in law and became a solicitor (a 58 year career, still active!). 

Around the middle of the 1950s he was nominated Honorary Consul to Italy for Arizona and held this office for 27 years. 

"It was not just an honour, but a privilege to represent the Italian Republic for all those years and nothing makes me happier than to know that I helped so many people with my same origins", clearly moved by what he was telling me.

Biography of Foster G. Mori

My name is Foster Gabriel Mori. I was born in the state of Washington in the United States of America in April of 1923.
My father was Umberto Mori and my mother was Libera Mori Innocenti (maiden name). My father first came to the Unites States shortly after the First World War, at the request and insistence of a brother that had come to America before the war, and was working in a saw mill in Western Washington.
My father came from Italy to the United States and traveled all the way across the United States to Western Washington, where he went to work in a saw mill. Although he did not have a high education, after working in the saw mill we was promoted to Chief Millwright. He had the responsibility of maintaining  the operation and running of the entire saw mill, which was a large one that produced more than 170,000 board feet of lumber per day.

Although my father had not become very well acquainted with my mother in Italy, he used to see her at the market place. He wrote to her and inquired if she would like to get married and she accepted.
She had a brother who lived in Chicago and who was in Italy to check up on the family to see how they were doing after the war, and he escorted her from Italy to Washington where she and my father were married.
My father was born and raised in Pieve a Nievole, Province of Pistoia, Tuscany. My mother had been born and raised in Montecatini Terme, Province of Pistoia, Tuscany. 


My mother and father being immigrants, did not know how  to speak, read or write English. When I was born, and later was born, there was a problem with filing a Birth Certificate.
They were assisted by a neighbor whose family were immigrants from England. My mother said she wanted to name me "Vasco", the neighbor lady strongly objected, insisting that I should have an American name, and that is how I became Foster, which happened to be the name to be the name of her favorite composer, Steven Foster. When my brother was born, the same thing happened. My mother said she wanted to name him "Dino", and the neighbor lady instead named him Donald.
It, however, was not a problem to my mom and dad because immediately they called me "Fosco", and the called my brother "Dano".

We spoke Italian within the family. At the age of 5 until 15 years I was very sick child and was a shut-in. My mother subscribed to an Italian newspaper that was printed in San Francisco. For lack of something to do as a shut-in, I would read her newspaper. At the age of 14 years, our family, doctor told my mother and father that I had 6 month to live. My father, who knew that they were practicing medicine in Italy long before there was in United States, made arrangements for me to go to Italy. I traveled by myself from Tacoma, Washington to Chicago, where I met up with  my Uncle (my mother's brother), who with his family, was returning again to Italy to check up on other family members. We crossed the Ocean in a ship called Conte of Savoia.

I lived in Italy from May until October, sometimes with my father's family relatives and sometimes with my mother's family relatives. In August, I became very, very ill, where I was bed-ridden and no one thought that I would ever be able to get back to the Unites States.
A girl my age by the name of Rosita was living in an apartment below where I was staying. She became worried and ran into a small town called Borgo Buggiano, and she brought back a young doctor named Dr. Cavallo.
He immediately said that he did not know the reason for my illness, but he knew that I was not strong enough to fight it, and he began giving me massive shots of Calcium and put me on a strict diet. He said, for example, I was to have one egg yolk with Marsala every day.

This was almost impossible, since in 1937 Italy was just getting over the Ethiopian War, Mussolini was in power, and eggs were hard to find. But, Rosita, my little friend, when she would hear a chicken cackle, she would go steal an egg for me.
The doctor's treatment began to show results, so that by October I was strong enough to return home, where my mother continued the same treatment. 

While in Italy, I purchased a used Bianchi bicycle which I used to entertain myself going from town to town on their market day. I became known in the region as "Piccolo Americanino".
Of course, in those five months that I lived in Italy I was exposed to the Italian language and Italians writings, and I have never forgotten them.
Some of the people would ask me to come by their place in the evening, and we would crawl under a blanket to listen to an English radio station, so that I could then translate to them what was going on the world outside of Italy. I'm glad that Mussolini never found out.

After returning home to western Washington, I continued to improve, so that I was able to graduate from high school.
While the Second World War was going on, I wanted to go into the armed services. Since I didn't want to go into the Army or Navy where I might be shooting at Italians, I volunteered to serve in the United States Marine Corps, so that I would be restricted to the war with Japan. After serving in the Marines for two and one-half years, I received an Honorable Discharge. 

After leaving the Marines, I returned to my home in Washington.

I decided that I did not like the Washington weather any more, since after coming home, it rained for 19 consecutive days. Having experienced the weather in San Diego, California where I took my Marine Corps training, I left Washington and went to San Diego. 


In San Diego, since the war was winding down, I was not able to find work. One day, I met a young lady who was working as a waitress while she was going college and whose parents lived in Grendale, Arizona, a suburb more of less of Phoenix. At her invitation, I traveled with her by train across the desert, arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, stayed with her family for a day, then I discovered I had an Uncle living in Phoenix.  


My uncle offered me bed and room in exchange for helping him out in his little "Italian Grocery" store. I worked in the store stocking shelves, working at that cash register, waiting on customers, while at the same time I enrolled in college, which at that time was called Arizona State College.

I found that by going to school early in the morning I had enough time to sell real estate, sell insurance, and after a while, I even built a house. I built the house so that I could bring my mother and dad to Phoenix from Washington, and I gave them the house before I went down to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona School of Law, from which I graduated with a Doctor's degree in law.
In addiction to being admitted to the State Bar of Arizona, I also took the California Bar exam and was admitted to the State bar of California, which would allow me to also practice law in California. Eventually, I developed a law practice that had me representing clients both in Arizona and California. 


I became aware that there were a lot of people of Italians descent in Arizona as well as California.
During the war, there was a Prisoner of War camp in the outskirts of Phoenix. Since the Italians had no desire to escape, they were permitted to freely go into the city, and of course they made friends, and by the time they were expatriated back to Italy, they left behind descendents, and in some cases wives.
There was already a community of Italians in Arizona prior to the war because of the Roosevelt Dam, a large conservation dam, which I am told is one of the largest masonry work was done by Italian masons from Italy.

They also left their "impression". This resulted in people needing Italian documents to be translated to English and vice versa, as well as assistance and advice in matters resulting from immigration between the two countries, or such as when someone died, or for conducting business activities.
For example, when General Electric bought the Olivetti computer business from Italy, all those documents had to be translated from Italian to English and certified.
In addiction, some years later under the Nato Plan, Italian flyers were brought to Luke Field which was near Phoenix for training of fighter aircraft. They also required help, and unfortunately, when one of them didn't survive, I had the task of determining their next of kin and arranging for the transportation of the corpse to Italy, which required red tape, since the body required a visa and there had to be acceptance of that body in Italy, not only by the family but also by the cemetery for interment.       

The Italian Consul General in Los Angeles first wanted to appoint me a Consul in 1951, but in those days it would have required me to register as a foreign agent with the United States State Department, and I declined.

The Italians were not the only ones that needed representation between the United States and their country of origin. France also had that need and so did Norway. Both Norway and France in 1951 did have Consuls. They contacted me and we formed the Arizona Consular Corps, and I did all the legal work of putting together the association. In later years, we incorporated as a non-profit corporation.

Today, I am the only surviving original members, and the Consular Corps has now grown to 29 members representing countries all over the world. 
Though my work in representing Italy, Prime Minister Fanfani asked to come to Rome one year together some other consuls from other countries such as Argentina, Brazil, etc.
For me, to represent the Republic of Italy for so many years, is not just a honor, it has been a privilege. It was pay back, and nothing makes me happier than to know that I helped many people of Italian descent over the years.

I steel do, because even now I am Consul Emeritus for the Republic of  Italy, and since I've been the only Italian Consul that can read, write and speak Italian, I continue doing that when the need arises.

Among my accomplishments, I have worked with the Italian Trade Commission to bring Italian products into Arizona. Also, I have practiced law for 58 years, and I am still practicing. I am very proud of my credentials and very proud not only to have been of Italian origin, but a Toscano.


During my life, I have visited Italy 15 times. Two of my three children speak Italian. My deceased first wife's family was also from Tuscany. My present wife, although not of Italian descent, has been "picking up the language", and shares my love for everything of Italian culture.  
   

Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi, is synonymous with guarantee and tradition within the international wine-making sector. After all, seven hundred years of history in the cellar are not to be sniffed at….. On the other hand this is one of the oldest families in Italy, most certainly the oldest in terms of wine-making, since their production started in 1300 and is now one of the most internationally renowned, thanks to their constant ability to develop and renew, always however keeping in mind their highly respectable heritage.

The name Frescobaldi does not however only evoke wine, but also a long-standing tradition in Italian art, culture and history. The Frescobaldi family boast among their ancestors poets, explorers, musicians, bankers and politicians. Their commitment to winegrowing has however always been a very important aspect of family life. For 30 generations – namely from the XIV century – this family has in fact been producing wine in their many Tuscan estates , although the annexations of the estates belonging to the Albizi, another great family of the Italian aristocracy, which resulted in this brand’s leap forward, only date back to the XIX.

Since the postwar period Lamberto Frescobaldi and his son Vittorio – the current Chairman – have been promoting modernisation, organisation and wine-growing in their various estates, particularly those at Pomino’s Castle, where we have been given hospitality by Tiziana Frescobaldi, supreme hostess and communications officer of the family-run company.

After a beautiful journey which took us near the first mountains of the Apennines we reached the Castle, which is situated on the incline of the Val di Sieve, about 40 km northeast from Florence. Within Tuscany this estate represents a unique productive environment, thanks to a specific climate microcosm which provides a perfect balance between vineyards and woods.

The elegant and austere 500-year-old Pomino Castle is surrounded by over 1,400 hectares of land, mainly characterised by sandy soil and an altitude which varies between 400 and 750 metres. The castle was built in the XVI century by the architect Gherardo Silvani and was recently the subject of careful restoration. In the wide portico we are attracted, on the left, by a lovely little chapel, consecrated in the Seventeenth century and frescoed by Filippo Tarchiani, but soon the time comes for us to get to the heart of the matter, so to speak… Tiziana Frescobaldi and the enologist Francesca Pratesi prove to be very thorough and accurate guides, as we are led to the pulsating heart of Pomino Castle, its cellars, to witness with our own eyes the production and development of one of Italy’s smallest D.o.c.s.

The nineteenth-century cellars,which are laid out over three floors, are the result of a state-of-the-art architectural design that exploited gravity to make wine ‘fall’ from one floor to the next. The ground floor is crowded with tuns made of Slovenian wood, all lined up like soldiers: the basement, almost a temple to Bacchus, is divided into three ‘aisles’ where the ‘barrique’ are left to rest for 18 months. The top floor is the splendid ‘vinsantaia’, unique in its genre both in terms of charm and technique: at Pomino grapes are in fact laid onto vertical trellises in a dry and well-aired environment where windows are always left open.

Thanks to its environmental characteristics and the optimal exposure of its vineyards, Pomino produces great classy wines characterised by their strong qualities, their aromas and scents and their high level of acidity. As well as Sangiovese, Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, Pinot Bianco, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Moscato are also grown here. Pinot Nero in particular deserves a few words, as it is one of the most difficult species of grape to grow but has found, here at Pomino, the type of environment with a varied range of temperatures which is not common to these regions and which contributes to creating refined and classy nectars.

These are the wine-growers’ signatures: Pomino Benefizio, Pomino Rosso Casafonte and Pomino Rosso. From the Benefizio, the ‘highest’ of the whole estate, originates the homonymous Cru which is the first Italian white wine made in barrrique since 1979. Casaforte on the other hand is a rare and temperamental Pinot, a great example of Tuscan Nero characterised by its strong qualities:it simply has to be tried. And what about the reassuring ‘classics’, all inimitable and unmistakable, also thanks to their original appearance.

Information:

Castello di Pomino
Visits are by appointment only;
contact Mrs. Nicoletta Piccini,
ringing the head quarters of Marchesi
de’Frescobaldi at 055 27141

It is as pleasant to talk with Federica Bosco as it is to read her books, which have garnered popular and critical acclaim both in Italy and abroad. This exhilarating Florentine writer, who is in love with the States, is an author of four novels published by Newton & Compton.

The novels belong to a literary genre that is becoming ever more popular in the world. They have been translated into eight languages and more than 300,000 copies have been sold. To the titles "Mi piaci da morire" (which will become a fiilm), "L’amore non fa per me", "Cercasi amore disperatamente", she has now added "L’amore mi perseguita", which completes the trilogy of Monica, the protagonist’s adventures. We immerse ourselves in her characters, we imagine and visualize scenes thanks to the evocative way in which stories are written.

I would define her writing "cinematographic" - so much so that it is not surprising that Enrico Vanzina from "Mi piaci da morire" wants to make her work into a film. She, a Florentine Carrie Bradshaw (the protagonist from Sex & the City), is more than a niece of Bridget Jones, as some have wanted to define her.

Federica is a thirtysomething year old. For the year that she has been living in Bagno a Ripoli, outside Florence and in Rome, where she took a drama course, she has not been single.

She was a tourist entertainer, "a citizen of the world", and she is passionate about yoga and a vegan. Unlike Monica and her bizarre sentimental adventure stories, Federica surprised herself when she found her own Prince Charming. This leads us to wonder, how would Monica-Federica respond to the question that appears on the cover of "L’amore mi perseguita?" (in bookstores from the 6th of November), that asks: "is there really one great love or is it only a publicity stunt"?

We can find this out by asking her the question at the book presentation which will take place in Florence on Thursday the 4th of December at 21.30 at the Feltrinelli bookstore in via de’ Cerretani, 30/32r.

Rina Corsi, soprano and mezzo-soprano is an authentic star. She is a proud Florentine and a woman whose life spans much of the twentieth century.
It is enough to say that she began her stage career in 1927 and stopped performing in 1965. During this time, she sang in the world’s largest theatres under the direction of prestigious Maestros and in the company of celebrated colleagues, such as Maria Callas.

She had her debut in Montevarchi in “Boheme” in April of 1927. She interpreted the part of Mimì and the next year at the Politeama di Pia, she played Nedda in “Pagliacci”. In 1931, she sang in “Francesca da Rimini” by Zandonai in Trieste and in Palermo. During the same season she also performed in “Boris Godunov”. She played the part of Marina many times to great critical acclaim. In August of 1932, she successfully acted at the Littorale di Noto in “La Lupa” by Pierantonio Tasca. In 1933, at Teatro Verdi in Florence, she triumphed when she interpreted the part of Mariella in “Il Piccolo Marat” alongside Hipolito Labaro.

She was then the protagonist in “Graziella” by Rossato at Teatro Bellini in Catania the 17th of March, 1934. Between 1933 and 1940 she added a lot of plays to her repertoire: “Mefistofele” (Margherita), “Madama Butterfly”, “Andrea Chenier”, “Mignon”, “Cavalleria Rusticana”, “La Favorita”, “Werther” (with Tito Schipa), “Il Franco Cacciatore”, “Fiorella” (by Italo Brancucci), “Adriana Lecouvreur”, “l’Heure Espagnole”, “L’Arlesiana”, “Fedora”, “Edopo Re”, “Il teatro dei Pupi”, “Mastro Pietro” by M. De Falla, “Il ballo delle Ingrate” by Monteverdi and in October of 1942, she debuted at the Fenice in Venice by singing the part of “Madonna Imperia” by Alfano.

Gifted with a prodigious musical memory that enabled her to learn many scores in only a number of days and to recite naturally, she was able to immediately immerse herself in characters. She was even admired outside of Italy where she performed in operas and recorded records.
Places that she traveled to include: Nice, Bastia, Madrid, Lisbon, Oporto, Amsterdam, Aja, Cairo…and even Japan for the first competition organized by the RAI. After her luminous career as a soprano, she became a mezzo-soprano renewing her success. Thanks to the bright and polished tone of her voice, it is possible to say that she holds a place of prestige. After almost 100 years, we like to remember some curious anecdotes that are related to her career.

She called her leap to fame a “stroke of destiny”. She was less than 25 years old when, after having learned “Il Piccolo Marat” with M. Mugone perfectly, she took part in an audition that was too close to the debut of the opera that would soon be performed in Teatro Verdi. It is obvious that people were saying: ‘yes, you are good but you need to return because there are not vacancies in the company”.

At the debut of the opera, the soprano woke up without a voice! The manager remembered Corsi and exclaimed: ‘Only that girl can save me”. The evening of the performance, Corsi was presented to the public as “Your fellow-citizen substituting the Soprano … who was all of a sudden unable to appear…”. From the first aria, it was a true triumph and at the end of the show, M. Mascagni was sent a telegram to inform him of the success of the performance. She often remembered with satisfaction that she had performed in her own city of Florence at the only, or certainly the first, showing of the Oberon put on at the Boboli Garden in June of 1951 during the XIVth Maggio Musicale Fiorentino event. She was often the guest of Count Chigi in Siena for concerts in the salon of his famous building.

Over the course of her career, she sang with important colleagues. In September of 1948 she sang with Maria Callas in Perugia. Let’s conclude with another vivid memory… It was a provincial piazza in Empoli or Fucecchio and she was performing in “Carro di Tespi” when a young and elegant Indro Montanelli passed by “haughtily indifferent, without even giving her a passing glance!” Who knows how many vivid stories Rina Corsi still has left to tell us.
We wish her a happy birthday.

It is not the smell of diluents nor the pungency of the resins that wraps this place to make it like an oasis on this buzzing isle of Manhattan but the spirit of the place, the energy, the trust, the belief and the unconditional love of human beings…For the last 12 years Maria Teresa Meloni Florentine painter has concentrated on oil portrait studies Thru her art she manages to render the deepest layers of the human soul vivid and clear.

They say she started at age seven

Yes I was in my third grade .. All the children were painting different shapes, different fruits and I came up with deposition of Christ….It is exactly the Virgin Mary looking at Christ on the Cross. You can see the profile of Mary with the veil on … after 20 years I studied my little painting again and visible under the veil there is sketched the roundness of the profiled cranium as if it was a study in order to give the prospective to the rest of the face that with just the veil on top would have resulted had to achieve,h’mmm and I was only 7” 

Her positive spirit made her go thru hardships and there were many of those…

I met Elizabeth Ross Johnson at the swimming pool of my gym. She became my first patron. When she came to my studio, I treated her like a neighbor. We had coffee, tea later on that week I was commissioned. This is a fairy tale kind of deal (she smiles). …I still had not realized who she was!! And that is how the New York story begins...

…How do you work?

“I am with the patrons all the time, but I move like a shadow not to disturb the rhythm of their daily lives. Of course we talk a great deal, and it is not only I asking questions,. I want them to get to know me too.I say- I come to you, you come to me – and then we meet in the middle point and that is the painting. …And then she paints for 4 months…And they say she was born too late in the centuries I think it is because of the city where I am from – Florence. The region itself – Tuscany. It was the smell, the feeling, and the peacefulness of antiquity of the 14th century. I embrace the philosophy, It is the time of the re-birth. The domination of The Vatican is very present but alas! It is the time of Pico Della Mirandola, His beautiful poetry is the manifest of the renaissance. Man is the only center of the universe with his free will and all his forms of expression are magnified.

…a meeting that you will never forget

Heath Leger… He was one of the most humble creatures I have ever met in my life. “I meet him at café Gitane, I was having breakfast At The table next to me Heath Leger was having his breakfast. Just when he was about to pay his bill I got up and said – “I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Maria Teresa Meloni. This is my office(upstairs is my studio, so you are in my office – he was already cracking up – I have been asking your friend NFA for 3 years to introduce me to you. But at this point I thought I would take the matter in my hands – I am a painter, I particularly like painting little children, and since you have one maybe you are interested in seeing my work – For sure - he said and he scribble his info on a little piece of paper (she shows the little note) Minutes later I am in my apartment talking to him through mylaptop. I showed him my work.

…and he said he had never seen anything like it. A couple of minutes later she was in his apartment talking about details

“ I remember that his phone would not stop ringing. He finally picked up and said “ I am with a friend of mine, I have to call you later”. He showed me beautiful photos of his daughter. We decided to meet in the first week of February.” You will come to live with Matilda and me. I do not want a portrait of Matylda only. I want to be there with her. I will hold her and you will paint us together”.
…I cannot stop thinking about it, what an awful thing his death was. If only we would have done it then.Even though it was a brief moment, the fact that he recognized something so special in me is priceless, since his talent was vast! I will go on telling this story forever….” 

Information: www.meloniportraits.com

He is from Tuscany, actually from the Maremma and the nephew of a true Buttero, as he likes to specify. As you get to know him, you discover that the fierce, modest and peaceful spirit of the Etruscans whom he is passionate about, lives anew in him; from his strong handshake to the last note of his marvelous singing. It is true, for the person we are speaking of is an ambassador of bel canto.

We are referring to Roberto Nencini, a baritone with well-respected ancestry: it is difficult to count the shining prizes in his showcase and all the awards bestowed on him. It will suffice to say that he has performed with Ricciarelli, Cossotto and Casolla and under the direction of Petre, Metha and Muti, to name a few. Nencini though is an artist with multifaceted talent, an artist always looking for challenges. He has in fact worked in theatre and the movies under the direction of Zeffirelli, Comencini, Laudadio and Steno, not to mention a recent visit to the world of Musical.

He was the powerful Mangiafuoco/ Fire Eater of “Pinocchio”, directed by Pooh. On the stage he is amazing. He has a full voice and he is a charismatic interpreter and an actor with inborn qualities at times refined and at times impetuous and ironic. When the lights on the stage go off, years as a performer did not touch the essence of the man. We briefly talked to him as we caught up with him during a time of rest in his native Maremma. “I am here to work on a project that has been on my mind for a long time”. 

What kind of project?  

Opening a school of bel canto. I remember I had to move to studyand I want to offer an opportunity to the young people of this area.And then, among the many requests, I received one from Lima,which I am particularly interested in. They asked me there toperform a Requiem by Verdi.

Why are the bel canto artists sought after abroad and almostignored in Italy?

Because our society is very superficial, the melomeniacs representa small niche. We forget the greatest authors are Italian and we gocrazy for imported music. Abroad, on the other hand, they adorethe Italian bel canto. Weird indeed! Is it a pity to be ignored in your own land and adored abroad?  No. Touring around the world makes you proud, knowing that youhave the honor to represent your own country.  How are the audiences in other countries?
Very attentive! They don’t miss a note…  

Is there a specific occurrence in your career which really stands out?  

It goes back to my debut at the Torre del Lago Puccini Festival. Iwas invited to sing for Simonetta Puccini, niece of the great Maestro.Before I started, she approached me and said abruptly: “I really wantto know how this Edgard sings”. At the end of the romance she askedme why I hadn’t been present at the mass for her grandfather’s soul– I really couldn’t tell her I had not been invited – and she added:“What a shame, grandfather would have loved you!”  

When you work, are you aware of your Maremma ties?

 

If the situation requires it, I reveal my disposition. I remember oncein Amsterdam, the theatre was full and I was about the get on thestage and the well-know singer who was due to perform with mehad a panic attack. I faced her resolutely and literally pushed heron the stage. She gave a beautiful performance and right after shesaid: You really come from the Maremma!” Ever since that day webecame best friends. 

What is the strongest emotion you feel as you sing?

 

An intimate feeling I feel every time I sing in church. When I sing, Ithank God for the precious gift of my voice. 

What about professionally?

 

The first time I sang at the Duomo di Milano with 150 orchestralplayers and 200 choralists behind me in front of an audience of 14,000 completely silent people! Breathtaking.