Welcome Italia – L'ItaloEuropeo – Independent Magazine in London

Beniamino Marcone: “The Young Montalbano” is not a clichéd fiction

by Mirianna la Grasta

Beniamino Marcone, 34, plays Giuseppe Fazio in “The Young Montalbano”, an Italian television series produced by RAI and broadcast in the UK by BBC Four. We met him at Tasting Sicily UK Enzo’s Kitchen, London.

As Mr Marcone argues, “The Young Montalbano is not a clichéd series”. It is rather an accomplished and successful production set in Sicily, Italy, and based on the detective novels of Andrea Camilleri. “When watching the series, the public focus less on the Italian stereotype and more of the beauty of Sicily.”

For Mr Marcone acting in the series was a “brand new journey”. The actor is in fact best known for playing Diego Bucci in “I Cesaroni”, a comedy that portrays the daily life of a modern family in Rome. “I Cesaroni resembled a sitcom, and in terms of acting it was similar to a drama,” he says. “The Young Montalbano, instead, was harder to play, as we were asked to improvise in the moment.”

When asked about the state of the Italian cinema industry Beniamino Marcone looks very positive and confident. As he says, there are always issues in terms of funding, but “we are able to produce high-quality films”. “We just need to make room for young talents.” He explains that, with low funds, only passionate and creative youth can boost growth and quality in the industry, on both a national and an international level.

But at the same time it is important for older actors to realise when it’s time for them to leave. “There are a lot of actors who stop being passionate about what they do and work just for money.” “If you do it for money you should stop,” Mr Marcone adds, “as this lowers the quality of our productions.”

Going back to The Young Montalbano he says: “I really don’t care about Italian clichés. Maybe we have some in the series, but Camilleri‘s stories are very well written and both my colleagues, Michele Riondino and Alessio Vassallo, are sensational actors.”

see the video interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZrARFjdbg&t=371s

Welcome Italia 2016

Three days of Italian food, drink and business, with the best producers exhibiting their delicious creations and the participation of the best Italian chefs in the UK

Welcome Italia is the event organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the UK dedicated to all food lovers that wish to discover and explore the best of Italian Food & Beverage: aromatic coffee, handmade pasta, delicate extra-virgin olive oil, fine truffles, exquisite cheeses and much more…

As well as meeting the producers of the finest Italian excellencies, it will be possible to attend extraordinary cooking shows. The most famous Italian chefs in the UK will showcase their talent, recreating delicious and tasty recipes; Francesco Mazzei will hold a cooking demonstration and Danilo Cortellini, head chef at the Italian Embassy, will exhibit on the morning of Sunday 23rd. You will be able to find tasty recipes using Nonno Nanni’s soft cheeses and discover traditional dishes with chefs from the provinces of Novara, Perugia, Cosenza and Lazio region.

The first day (21st October) is a trade only day. It will be a unique opportunity for all Food & Wine professionals in London to discover new products and typical dishes. Moreover, it’s definitely the best stage for Italian producers to promote their business and get in touch with British importers and distributors.

On 22nd and 23rd October Welcome Italia will open its doors to the public, who will be able to taste and buy products directly from the exhibitors, recreating the atmosphere of a real Italian Market. Our 60+ companies come from all over Italy and include producers of wines, beers, organic olive oils, regional specialities, charcuterie and some very particular products such as hemp flour pasta and salami matured in red wine.

When?

Trade only day: 21st October (1pm-7pm)

Free to visit: 22nd October (10.30am-7pm)

23rd October (10.30am-5pm)

Where?

The Royal Horticultural Halls

Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE

CONI and Roma 2024 release the First Census of Sports Facilities in Rome

The first complete map of the city’s sports heritage

includes over 2,200 sites. The full results will be presented on September 27.

ROME, September 6, 2016—The Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) and Rome 2024 have released the first census of sports facilities ever carried out in Rome. More than 2,200 sites in the Italian capital were mapped, with 1,000 of the sites being public institutions, schools included.

Over the course the six months, a team of young engineers and architects hired by CONI and the Roma 2024 Bid Committee collected nearly 10,000 photos documenting the state of each facility, which will soon be made available online, and built an app dedicated to sports in the city featuring a collective map, detailed descriptions and geolocation data for each facility.

The complete results of the census will be presented by Rome 2024 President Luca di Montezemolo, Vice President Luca Pancalli, General Coordinator Diana Bianchedi and CONI President Giovanni Malagò at a press conference on September 27.

As part of the legacy of Rome’s Olympic and Paralympic project for the city, CONI and the Rome 2024 Bid Committee aimed to task CONI Servizi and ConiNet – together with the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research in Italy (MIUR), Rome’s City Council and Città Metropolitana – with developing a fundamental tool meant to benefit the Roman community beyond the Games themselves. Knowing which facilities are available and what condition they are in, particularly in the city’s suburbs, will be key to developing future sports infrastructure and services in Rome.

The four primary objectives of the census included: first, learn which facilities are present and how they can be further developed, creating an online database of all public, private and school-run facilities; second, select sites, including those in the suburbs, that could be renovated and used as training facilities, should Rome win the bid to host the Olympics and Paralympics; third, develop a tool that will be useful for future improvements and aims at optimizing the services available to citizens and increasing the focus on sports in our schools; and lastly, contribute to developing a safer, more accessible, inclusive and sustainable city by promoting physical fitness, integration and a healthy lifestyle.

The young team of engineers and architects carefully analyzed sports facilities, gyms, fields and other sites, collecting information regarding the condition of each facility, the level of accessibility, the presence or absence of defibrillators, technical features, the types of activities possible at each site and other details. The census also created a map highlighting areas for improvement around Rome, specifying actions to be taken to renovate facilities, comply with standards, and make the most of the sports facilities available. This study, and the permanent monitoring and updating that will go with it, will be part of the city’s heritage as a tool for further planning – a legacy independent of Rome’s candidacy.

ITALIANS CARD INITIATIVE FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE EARTHQUAKE

TO SUPPORT VICTIMS OF THE EARTHQUAKE IN CENTRAL ITALY, ITALIANS CARD LAUNCHES THE SITE ITALIANS4ITALY. THE INITIATIVE WAS BORN THANKS TO THE COLLABORATION WITH SPONTANEOUS AND IMMEDIATE RESPONSE FROM NUMEROUS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS IN UK AND ITALY.

ITALIANS4ITALY (or ITALIANSFORITALY) was born as an immediate response to ITALIANS CARD initiative to support the Italian charity working within the territory during the crisis caused by the earthquake that hit central Italy – therefore the whole country – which is in a need of support that should not be limited to these emergency days.

The initiative is unstructured, free and as simple as possible. It aims to achieve its goal in disintermediated, transparent, free from political and religious prejudice, based on the need to maintain a constant support, and the use of technology to save donation fees (free of commissions from banks, credit cards, foreign exchange and fundraising sites – commissions which sometimes reach up to 20%) and where possible optimal tax for residents in the UK.

All donors will be able to monitor their contribution and receive certification regarding the use of the donation by a chosen charity.

Everyone can report new charities – strictly Italian – in addition to those already suggested on this site, as well as promoting initiatives or events taking place in the United Kingdom to support the emergency earthquake.

THE PROCESS OF DONATIONS IS EASY:

You choose the Charity for which you want to make a donation
By accessing the details of the Charity you will see two counters which respectively show the number of donations and the total amount. In addition, there is a counter that will mark the total amount of the donations i.e. those who have not yet donated, but who are committed to do so in the future – and another one that will show the total amount of the contributions already paid to various charities in the previous week.
When making a donation commitment you will have to provide your name, surname and e-mail.
When a charity is selected and reached total of £500, an e-mail will be sent to donors and the transfer will proceed from UK account to the Italian Charity.
The process will be activated within 7 days after the donation has taken place.

If the charity is registered in UK or the money is send from UK as a GIFT AID, the donor resident in the country will receive the certificate for tax purposes. The UK account controlled by a third party auditor

Once you r contributions will be send to the non-profit Italian organization, the acknowledgment of paymeny and confirmation of how the funds will be used will be send. Finally, followed by an email sent to each donor who wil provide feedback for the payment.

The co-founder, Mr Matteo Cerri, says:
“We just want to be a simple, effective and efficient to lend a hand in this time of need. A tool that we hope will also serve in the future and give continuity to that incredible stream of solidarity that quietly flowing between Italians in Italy and abroad. It is not for us to choose how and to whom to give, but we just want to provide a channel to help those who are in the field helping every day. We wanted to make transparent, trackable and optimal donations, using simple technologies that we are using for cards and accounts of Italians Card, and tried to make further contribution of our card holders that there are already more than a thousand in the UK. What surprised me is ‘a sense of belonging and genuine solidarity that, in this crisis, our people have been able to express, even from a distance. This project ‘started with a call to a friend; others, dozens of them, have suffered side by side and worked during the days off because ‘the site started its operation in less than two days! “

Sara Galimberti comes back with her new electro-dance single, “High Heels”

At the end of each episode of “Tacco12!…E non solo“, a programme that goes on air on La7d, whoever was paying enough attention was already able to catch the notes of High Heels: that’s the title of the new single by Sara Galimberti, an electro-dance song with some pop vibes in it, way different from the songs the singer has produced since her participation at the Sanremo Festival in 2007.

“When I was asked by the producers of “Tacco12!.. E non solo” to write and compose the opening song of the programme, I was both deeply honoured and astonished. A minute later, though, I was already working on it. I thought about how to create a song that could suit a glamour programme, with a public mainly made up of women and that could, at the same time, express that powerful feeling each woman gets when she’s wearing a 5-inch heel“, she said. She then added: “Starting from that sensation I started to explore sounds and atmospheres that had a 80s vibe, as well as modern and daring bits in them. High Heels is a song that represents me: fresh, gritty and energetic. I see it as a nice electro-dance break inside my repertoire. Shortly, I will go back working on my upcoming album, which has a melodic rock vibe to it. In the meanwhile I hope many people will dance to High Heels, available on iTunes and other music platforms.”

Sara Galimberti is not stopping her live activities either: she has been playing in some of the most famous cultural events all around Italy, like the “Le Giornate di Cinema della Basilicata” in Maratea and the “Premio Nazionale dell’Accoglienza”, where she shared the stage with more than just well-known artists, like Al Bano and Massimo di Cataldo. On August 27th, she will receive the award for “Songwriter of the Year”, during the Premio Stelle del Sud event, in Camigliatello Silano.

Lyrics:

Born  with high  heel, born  with  high  heel, born with high heel, born with high heel.

When i was too young dreaming like a child, feeling everywhere beauty by my side.

When i was too young dreaming like a child, walking through my way feeling everyday that i was

Born with high heel, born with high heel, born with high heel, born with high heel, born with high heel.

CREDITS:

Testo e musica: Sara Galimberti

Mix: Nerio Poggi “Stratisound Studio”

Mastering: Max Paparella “Groove Sound Design”

Special Thanks to Fabrizio Foggia, Stefano Pallotti, Marco Falorni, Tommaso Martinelli, Cataldo Calabretta, Nicola Timpone e Rossella Deliso.

High Heels is available on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/it/album/high-heels-single/id1140482467

THE POSITIVE CHANGES OF HISTORY – NADEY HAKIM: “THE ART’S SURGEON”

Written by Rosita Pirulli.

Tuscany, a culturally rich italian territory will host a great sculpture made by Nadey Hakim– notable UK surgeon – on September, 10th 2016 at 6:00 pm.

He realized a bust’s reproduction of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s “David” at “ADA” (Art’s Academy) of Florence, which will be situated in Monterchi, inside its Gardens of “Civic Museums Madonna del Parto”.

Does it mean that two far nations – UK and Italy – can be reunited during this ambiguous 2016?

Yes, it is possible, but this time into the Valtiberina Toscana area.

The love for art brought the surgeon to Italy, where he was fascinated by its artistic beauty, and contemporary transformig his philantropy into a work of art.

But how was the bounding bridge between the two countries made real?

The project starts thanks to Matteo Canicchi (professionist of touristic sector) who accomplished the meeting between Professor N. Hakim and the Monterchi’s Councillor for culture, Silvia Mencaroni, in the first months of this year.

During the dialogue between the two professionals, Hakim’s interest in the Valtiberina Toscana emerged. This was the spark which made Silvia Mencaroni tell him the whole fantastic story of that town (Monterchi), never visited by him.

<<The most significant point that I wanted to devolve to Prof. Hakim was the strong binding between the fresco – “Madonna del Parto” of Piero della Francesca – and the Monterchi’s town community>>

In fact the Councillor, during the radio interview on “Londononeradio” (10-08-2016), satisfied the listeners’ curiosity about that point, telling them how the fresco’s residence hasn’t changed for centuries: citizens helped it to overstep several wars and other uncomfortable events that could damage or transfer it into different areas of the world, like some Piero della Francesca’s artworks are situated at “National Gallery” in London today.

For many Italian people it continues to be an important maternal figure to which reference, and consequently to defend admiring her beauty.

However the strong binding between Italy and UK surmounted the “parochial” comments bringing back the attention on the rediscovery of Piero della Francesca made by English people during early ‘900, a period when he <<fell into oblivion>> in Italy.

<<The facts, even historic ones, which relate these countries are numerous.>> said Silvia Mencaroni.

An incredible example is the interesting and fantastic story of Tony Clark: the English captain – one of several art lover – decided to not bomb the italian town of San Sepolcro during the Second World War, because he knew the presence of “La Resurrezione”, despite being aware of nazifascists’ presence in that area.

Prof. Hakim added himself into the list, continuing to reverse History’s marches like his ancient collegues.

Forgetting the last June 23th 2016, the exhibition of the David’s bust explains that no boundaries are accepted with Art: the vehicle whose motor is universal love, which binds each other through several languages and exspressions.

“I’m not a pacifist, I’m simply against war” – Gino Strada at the Royal College of Surgeons

Royal College of Surgeons, 25th of July, London.

The Q&A at the “Why War” event, created by EmergencyUK, is started by the Londoner Giles Duley, a war-photographer who’d rather be classified as a anti-war photographer.

He shared with the audience the reasons why he happened to become a photographer and eventually a “anti-war photographer”; when he was a sportive young man he was victim of an accident that kept him in the hospital for a while, during which he received from his godfather two gifts: an Olympus camera and a book about the famous war-photographer Don McCullin. He then became passionate about photography and pursued a career as a music, fashion and tabloid photographer, traveling around the world, meeting cool and famous people. A life that all of his friends used to be jealous of, but he wasn’t very happy about that. At the end of the day he used to go back to his hotel room, feeling like he didn’t do anything special for himself of for the world. That’s when he re-opened that book that was given to him some years before about war-photography that he finally found out what he wanted to do though his art, storytelling the war.

So he starts co-operating with big associations and charities like Doctors without Borders, directly on the battle field. Unfortunately, in 2011, in Afghanistan, he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) and he was severely injured, losing both legs and an arm. This accident didn’t stop him from going back to work, once he recovered and so now he’s recently been back to refugee camps near Syria, where he documents the lives of these people that he’d rather not call “victims” of the war but normal people, with an incredible strength, to whom he wants to give back dignity through his photos and portraits; “When I speak to these people, I don’t see refugees, I see doctors, lawyers, builders, children, normal people who have been deprived of their normal lives”.

Then Giles is joined by Gino Strada on stage, surgeon and co-founder of Emergency, a charity organization that has been operating in conflict areas of Africa since 1994 to provide medical assistance to large part of the population who normally doesn’t have access to free and high quality medical care. More information can be found online on their official website, emergency.it, but today Gino’s purpose is to talk about the philosophy behind the mission of Emergency. He claims to be a cold person, even with the young patients who demand to see him before surgeries, because he’s afraid to become too emotional and attached, but also because he wouldn’t know what to say to these kids who need to be treated because of wars that could be avoided but are perpetrated by adults living in what we call a “civilized” world. The existing inequality between those who can have and those who cannot have, those who have rights and those who have not, generates discrimination and division among people, and nobody is taking care of eliminate this separation; talking about healthcare, specifically, there are so many people who cannot access quality and free treatments, even in Italy, although it covers one of the top positions in the ranking for best national health system. Then there is war; always there, ready to knock on our door, nowadays more than ever, although millions of people have already been experiencing that for decades now, with governments and media turning a blind eye on this matter. Strada said “I’m not a pacifist, I’m simply against war” and accused politicians of all parties and countries to not understand how nocive war is for everyone, and after all history showed us, is still an idea taken in examination by governments when actually it should just be abolished, because “war is not human”. Despite it, he doesn’t aim to be a politician, he only wants to keep doing his own job, the surgeon for people in need without asking to be paid by his patients. The last part of the event is the actual Q&A where various people, Italians but also other nationalities, in the audience, had the chance to ask their questions and they all seemed to lead to one main doubt: what can we do, as powerless and little human beings, to change things and stop war? The answer, unfortunately, is not easy, probably doesn’t exist, but the advice given from both Strada and Duley is to find in our own lives and routine something that can express our campaign against war. Duley found his own vocation in storytelling through photography, Strada through medicine. We can all do something starting from our ambitions, our skills and the people around us.

Luca Zingaretti: The pride of getting to English people’s hearts through an Italian show

LONDON – Luca Zingaretti, the Italian actor and director famous for his role as Inspector Montalbano in 1999, landed in London yesterday and is already having a busy schedule; he came to the UK to perform in both Oxford (today) and London (tomorrow) with his famous reading-monologue of “La Sirena”, also known as “Lighea”, a story written by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, an author from Sicily who is mostly known because of his masterpiece, “Il Gattopardo”.

Zingaretti will perform at the Sheldonian Theathre, in Oxford, and in at the British Museum, in London, as part of the exhibition organized to showcase the golden era of the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea: “Sicily: Culture and Conquest”. The exhibition, which started last April and is now about to end on August 14th will tell the – almost – untold story of Sicily’s best era, focusing on the period between the 8th and 13th century, when Sicily was conquered and influenced by the Greeks and the Normans, who left lasting marks in the island’s culture and traditions. Visitors are able to know Sicily’s diversity, prosperity and importance throughout these years and in the following centuries.

“La Sirena” is a long story by Tomasi Di Lampedusa, telling the story of two men with opposite personalities: an old retired professor and a young vital journalist. Their casual meeting in a bar, in Turin, turns into a friendship as the tale goes on: their differences are the key point of the story, since the whole narration revolves around the contrast between old and new, North and South, old age and youth, dreams and reality. The old professor has lived the majority of his life bound to the memory of his true love, a mermaid met in Augusta, Sicily; on the other hand, the young journalist lives day by day, bound to no one, enjoying whatever (and whoever) comes his way. The British Museum will be completely changed tomorrow, July 22nd, in occasion of the “Sicilian Splendour” special event, taking place from 6pm: it will be a multisensory evening celebrating the soul of Sicily, past and present – including music, drama, workshops and poetry performances. Zingaretti’s performance will be part of this event, but will not be open to the general public: in the words of one of the curators, Peter Higgs, the museum “will turn into a little Sicily”.

During the press conference held today at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, Zingaretti revealed some behind the scenes of his first “meeting” with this story, which he defined a “fairytale of friendship”, as well as some experiences related to the fame which followed his role as Montalbano. “A lady suggested it to me, more than once, persistently, and then I decided to give a chance“, he told journalists gathered at the Institute. So it was only by chance that he got to know this tale and after that, he decided to bring it to the world through the powerful mean of theathre. He has been touring for four years now but what never ceases to amaze him is his constant discovery and re-discovery of how appreciated and loved Italian culture and “bella vita” are outside of the BelPaese. “Sometimes we take many things for granted and we don’t realise how proud we must be of being Italian“, he added. Of course negative comments will always find their way to weaken one’s reputation but, in his case, good sides have always outnumbered the bad ones. That’s the case of the famous Inspector Montalbano, which is the role Luca Zingaretti is most known for. He shared a little anectode about how he found out about Montalbano’s fame outside of Italy: an English man stopped him in the middle of the street to tell him about how much he and his friends enjoyed watching the series on BBC4.

“It makes me very happy and proud to know that we were able to get to English people’s hearts through an Italian show“, he confessed. The peculiarity and the charm of the Inspector lies, in his opinion, in his being the pile of “Italianity” and in the show’s ability to portray a local reality, which is in contrast with the globalized world we live in nowadays. “He’s a simple man who just needs his country, his town and his job to be happy and feel satisfied“, Zingaretti stated. His success, though, is strictly bound to the fact he is an inspector in Italy: he probably wouldn’t be as well-known as he is, if he had worked in the UK, for example. The way Montalbano is portrayed makes him accessible to people of all ages: he
represents both nostalgia of a long-gone past, full of small local realities and a goal, an objective to reach in order to live a happier life with less fiction and more real life.

Both performances of “Lighea” are sold out: the London show at the British Museum will be watched by 500 people in total, 350 of which will be there to watch it live and it will be one hour long.

#ProseccoToLondon – a unique bike trip from Italy to the UK

LONDON – On this very last day of the Bellavita Expo, the most important food & wine fair of Italian products in London, something rather special and unique happened: in the morning, at about 11am, a bottle of Villa Sandi Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG – departed from Valdobbiane Italy on July 9th – arrived at Bellavita, attached to the bike of one of the two cyclists whose contribution and participation was vital to the success of the project.

Mike Ramseyer and his good friend Nick Wheeler cycled for 1500km across Europe to get to London on July 19th and to give us, and the visitors who were at the fair, an incredible show: with Villa Sandi being one of the main sponsors of Bellavita, choosing the arrival point of the bottle was easy. The bottle was presented by the cyclists together with Mr. Giancarlo Moretti Polegato, owner of the Villa and the firm, on the Wine Academy stage to a chef from a London restaurant, “Da Cavendish”, a meeting which symbolises the perfect match of food and Prosecco.

The two cyclists set off from the incredible Villa Sandi Headquarters, with the bottle of Villa Sandi Prosecco strapped on tightly to their bikes and begun their journey to Britain, after two days in the Villa, where they also had the chance to visit the firm and see the production themselves, thing which is available for everyone who is interested in seeing the “birth place” of this sparkling wine and tasting it as well. Mike and Nick started their journey, which gave them the incredible opportunity of admiring some of the most stunning places of Switzerland and France as well as some quite hard time due to bad weather; despite the heavy rain, the idea of a glass of Prosecco waiting for them at the finish line at Bellavita kept them going until the very last day, when they finally crossed the UK border and safely delivered the “1500km bottle” to Douglas Santi, the Italian chef in charge of turning this already unique product in something even more peculiar.

The connection between the Villa Sandi Prosecco and bikes is no new: for seven years now Villa Sandi is the main sponsor of the “Prosecco Cycling” project, an event which attracts thousands of people every year – 2,400 just in the 2015 edition, 400 of them being foreigners – mainly Britons. Last year’s edition was the one which Mike took part in, when he cycled from the UK to Italy and then participated in the competition: we can say that #ProseccoToLondon was a way for him to “close the cycle”, since he came back home in the same way of how he left almost a year ago. This year’s edition will take place in Valdobbiadene, Treviso, on October 2nd and is expected to be a great success just like its past editions and Mr. Giancarlo Moretti Polegato will also take part in the competition, being a bicycle lover himself.

The idea for this project, #ProseccoToLondon, was born from the positive firsthand experience of Mr. Moretti Polegato, who told us during our interview, that he had the chance to discover some hidden yet amazing places among the hills where the competition takes place. With cycling being one of the most loved sports here in the UK as well, the genius link between the two was just at hand: in addition to that, the UK is currently the first marketplace in the world for Prosecco, which is loved and appreciated more and more by Britons – especially by women. This spumante’s peculiarity is its ability to adapt to any kind of food and/or dish, in the words of Mr. Moretti Polegato: it is widely used in Eastern cuisines as well as in European ones, it can be drunk as a cocktail, with meat or fish – including sushi and with fruit as well.

Villa Sandi can be considered one of, if not the absolute protagonist of the fair: it was the sponsor of the Best UK Sommelier competition which took place on the very first day of the expo and which was won by a young Italian sommelier, currently working at “Locanda Lucarelli” – Mr. Moretti Polegato stressed the importance of letting young people in the industry, because he strongly believes that the next step – after reaching the level of quality which charachterises Italian wines – is to promote the several brands and types of wines, thing that can be done at its best by youngsters.

The suggestion and the piece of advice we would give you after meeting, tasting and enjoying the Prosecco from Villa Sandi is to try it and enjoy as well, to visit the places where it is born and where it is produced. Places that are also extremely appropriate for a holiday surrounded by nature, relax and… good wine.

MARGRAF: exclusive Italian marble and the new World Financial Center project

MARGRAF invite to the press conference – that will take place on June 29 at 9:00 a.m. at The May Fair Hotel, London – to discover its exclusive Italian marble and the new World Financial Center project – New York, with the participation of Arch. Craig Coperland – Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects.

Margraf’s story (former Industria Marmi Vicentini) started in Chiampo (province of Vicenza) in 1906. Since its early start, the company devoted to accurate research work and development of new technologies, working in tight collaboration with famous international architects.

Today, after more than a century, Margraf is a leading, world stakeholder in this field.

Among many other pluses, Margraf owes its worldwide established reputation to its skilful extraction of marble and the ability to transform it into finished, polished slabs or tiny tiles and to provide a huge array of precious materials and excellent products for building construction and architecture (from the cladding of inner and external walls, to interior design items, to bathroom and kitchen decoration). On top of all this, Margraf ensures extensive environmental compliance investing any efforts to minimize any possible kind of environmental impact.

This includes the use of cutting-edge technologies, the implementation of landscape recovery and energy saving practices, as well as the exploitation of renewable resources. Margraf is a perfect merging of past and present forming a first-class enterprise eagerly turned to the future.

Margraf is again running high on the international market: the company headquartered in Chiampo, Vicenza, is going to supply 10,000 sq. m of exquisite marble in customized sizes and formats, out of its quarries of Botticino Classico and Fior di Pesco Carnico destined to the refurbishment of the new World Financial Center in New York.

Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, the designers who first did the original project back in 1988, took care of the first extensive and large renovation of the existing building.

The works consist in the requalification and rearrangement of the interiors and of the entrance halls with the aim of maintaining the essential parts of the present structure. Recently, a new magnificent lobby was added to the Tower Four South Hall facility in Brookfield Place. The new entrance is wider than in the original plans of the ’80s, and designed as an open space with natural room illumination using sunlight. The overall surface is 24 m wide, 21 m long, and nearly 6 m high. The South Lobby looks out towards the east, on Brookfield Place, and south, with a beautiful view of Battery Park City North Cove Marina. MARGRAF S.p.A– Via Marmi, 3 – 36072 – Chiampo (VI) – Italy – tel. +39 0444 475900 – info@margraf.it – www.margraf.it Margraf Botticino Classico and Fior di Pesco Carnico have been respectively used to clad a wall in the core space, the side walls, and the entire interior floor. Fior di Pesco Carnico and Botticino Classico slabs have been laid on every surface according to an apparently random pattern, merging hues without any recurrent vein.

This was meant to enhance the natural tones and streaks of the different materials and to ensure greater, overall brightness. Therefore, the refurbishment and finish of the South Lobby translates into a new, wider access to the Tower, embellished by new natural materials “made in Italy”. In order to ensure consistency with the remaining older parts of the facility, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects decided to use the same Fior di Pesco Carnico as for the first part of the project in the ’80s.

This exquisite marble in changing hues from grey to rose, and white, with ivory streaks, and a coarse, grained texture is exclusive to Margraf and comes from the only existing quarry of Forni Avoltri (Udine). When asked, Architect Cesar Pelli explained that Fior di Pesco Carnico teams perfectly with any other marble type: “… We actually use it quite often in combination with marbles in other colour shades. I wanted a marble type that could be used in concert with green, red, and orange hues and Fior di Pesco Carnico performs very pleasingly because it contains a bit of all colours.

Nevertheless, you can also use it by itself to get very attractive and vivid flooring effects …” The architect’s love for this natural material means that he has been promoting its application all over the world, from the Winter Garden of the original World Financial Center in New York, up to the Canary Wharf Main Tower in London.

For over a century, Margraf has been siding with international architects in their master works in Italy and abroad, thus becoming an icon of the excellence of the “made in Italy” all over the world. Industria Marmi Vicentina experienced its first success in the USA back in 1906 when the first skyscrapers were built. Since then, many important projects have been executed, including for instance the Coca Cola Building in Atlanta, the IBM Tower in Georgia, and the Smith Centre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas. Nowadays, Margraf’s marble and natural stones are an increasingly frequent “specification” for the construction of many hotels, luxury residential homes and community spaces.

Margraf and Damien Hirst in London: The Pharmacy 2 is born Located within Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, Pharmacy 2 is Damien Hirst’s restaurant, launched in collaboration with Mark Hix.

The restaurant opened on February 23rd, serves traditional British, European and Mediterranean specialities to the Gallery’s visitors during the day, and in the evening after the gallery is closed.

Thanks to a long tradition in the processing of marble and to the use of cutting-edge technologies, Margraf was chosen by the Caruso St John Architects firm to create an extremely original floor: a white surface of marble resin, inlaid with 21 large pills, carved using new generation waterjet machinery, finished by hand, and made with 35 types of brightly coloured fine marbles (green, red, yellow, blue, pink, blue, etc.).

It is a spectacular match of workmanship and technology. The company based in Chiampo, near Vicenza, has been for years a leading player in London through its collaboration with the city’s most prestigious architectural firms: from the Main Tower in the Canary Wharf finance complex, through the prestigious Fenwick Bond Street luxury mall, to the Burlington Arcade, the historical shopping gallery that hosts luxury shops, reopened in 2015, after a long and complex renovation effort.

Technical details Design: Caruso St John Architects Address: Newport Street Gallery – Newport Street – London – SE11 6AJ Stone Used: Azul Macaubas, Azul Cielo, Bardiglio Imperiale, Bianco Thassos, Bianco Carrara, Bianco Laser, Bianco Statuarietto, Blue Luise, Emperador Dark, Giallo Reale, Giallo Siena, Jerusalem Gold, Lapis Blue Extra, New Damasco, Nero Belgio, Onice Rosa, Onice Verde, Quarzite Rossa, Rosso Alicante, Rosso Lepanto, Rosa Sabrina, Rosa Portogallo Chiaro, Travertino Giallo, Travertino Al Verso, Travertino Rosso Soraya, Verde Guatemala, Verde Pavone, Verde Giada, Arancio di Selva, Bianco Cintillante, Verde Pavone, Verde Acquamarina, Azul Bahia, Verde Jasmine, Emerald Quartzite. Dimensions of the round pills: 92 cm in diameter Dimensions of oval pills: 95 x 30 cm