EVERYTHING IS COPY

EVERYTHING IS COPY

Sep 20, 2026 | BOOKS, CULTURE, CULTURE, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, ISN'T IT IRONIC?, BOOKS

Imagine a pleasant morning in early September in the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco in Vigevano. 

As I’ve already told you, it’s a special place, not only because it’s very beautiful, but also because it lends itself to a variety of events.

So you might find yourself taking a stroll while coming across a sports group that, in sync with their headphones, is working out with resistance bands; or while observing how the opening scene of 101 Dalmatians is still very relevant today, given the multitude of two-legged and four-legged creatures out for a walk. 

And then you discover that it’s the day when the Supercalifestival is hosting a breakfast  with Nora Ephron!

A real treat is the recent publication of the famous *Crazy Salad*, finally translated into Italian.

Before the event: breakfast served on the lawn in front of the Palazzo Ducale, also known as the Maschio.

In perfect, albeit unintentional, synchrony with the start of the presentation by organizer Ludovica Giuliani of the Le Notti Bianche bookstore and speaker Giorgia Antonelli the roar of engines from the Fiat Ritmo gathering could be heard! 

In short, this castle courtyard is pretty busy, you might say.

And what if I told you that, on top of all that, guests for a wedding to be held in the Sala dell’Affresco, whose entrance is located right behind the stage, were trickling in?

So while Ludovica and Giorgia were telling us how Nora Ephron managed to bounce back after her painful divorce from Carl Bernstein, a car decked out in tulle and white flowers was escorting the bride.

From *Heartburn* to *Heartbeat*… minute by minute.

As has been rightly observed, Nora would have laughed at that.

Irony, always and in any case.

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

As we all know, a civil ceremony is rather brief, certainly shorter than the story of Nora Ephron’s life, so to the sound of Sal da Vinci’s song, the newlyweds bid farewell to their guests outside the castle, interrupting the speech for the third time, or perhaps enriching it with that special aspect of life known as the unexpected.

All together passionately, all on a pleasant early September morning in the courtyard of the Castello Sforzesco in Vigevano.
Everything is copy.

COHOUSING UNIPV

COHOUSING UNIPV

Sep 12, 2026 | CULTURE, CULTURE, ITALY, ITALY

Cohousing is not simply “cohabitation,” as Treccani specifies, it takes four words to define it precisely: private homes, shared services.

UNIPV, or the University of Pavia, an ancient and prestigious institution, needs no introduction.

It is divided between the historic campus in the city center and the “boat” so named for its distinctive architecture which houses, among other programs, courses in engineering, medicine, and sports science.

As the new academic year approaches, there are countless out-of-town students about to begin their studies who need to find housing.

To address this need, a unique project has been launched that also addresses other needs that are becoming increasingly common: people living alone.

In particular, older adults.

This has led to the creation of the Welcome Home project, open to people over 65 who are willing to offer lodging or simply allow others to use their home during mealtimes or for study and relaxation, in exchange for small daily favors: assistance with using digital resources, and accompaniment to administrative, healthcare, and cultural facilities.

These are real and widespread needs.

The University of Pavia, thanks to the Lombardy Region, will provide a subsidy to the landlord to partially cover the rent.

Loretta and Sebastiano tell us more. 

Applications must be submitted by September 30  and are submitted to a selection process to verify eligibility, followed by introductory interviews and a short training course.

In short, the utmost care is taken, which also opens the door to a second opportunity: caring.

In this case, the students’ volunteer activities are not tied to living together but involve offering their time and good company, accompanying participants in recreational and cultural activities, helping with small daily chores, and providing support with whatever is needed.

All planned activities are free of charge.
Project Coordinator: Emanuela Carnaghi. 

Do you think this is a worthwhile project?

MAMMA MIA!

MAMMA MIA!

May 10, 2025 | CULTURE, CULTURE, MUSIC, MUSIC

Mamma Mia!

You will think: movie? No: theatre.

The musical Mamma Mia is back at TAM!

 


Notably, this is the 25th year since the debut of this musical in London’s West End.

25 Super Trouper Years!

A return to Teatro Arcimboldi Milano. 

A return for Mamma Mia! And a return for us too.

I already told you about Cats. 

By now you know: I adore musicals!

By now you know: I receive fantastic birthday presents, and the tickets for Mamma Mia at the Arcimboldi Theatre were another spectacular surprise!!!

Mamma mia!

 

I breathed in the joyful atmosphere even before the curtain went up as I watched the other people, there were all possible generations: from tiny little girls with puppets in their hands and ballet shoes on their feet, to gentlemen who despite the difficulty of walking leaning on their cane reached their seats.


Kids, families, couples, groups, and then them: all wearing a pink t-shirt showing the words the bride’s friends around the bride, wearing a tulle tutu tucked over her jeans, blindfolded with a silk scarf and unaware of what was about to happen.

I found it a really nice way to organise a hen party.

Then came ‘the orchestra’ … a very modern, digital version.

On the two mega screens on either side of the stage the words started to flow and the magic began.

At first I was even moved. Beautiful. Everything was perfect.

Did you also have the chance to see any of the versions of Mamma Mia that took turns on stage?

Do you like Abba songs? Which is your favourite?

How many times have you seen the movie?

Mamma Mia, here I go again
My my, how can I resist you? 🙂

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

Dec 21, 2024 | ART, ART, MOVIES, CULTURE, CULTURE, MOVIES

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

I went to the cinema with Monica thinking I would be moved but actually I got angry.

You can find the review on the blog Matavitatau and incredibly this time Nick was more lenient than me.

Of course: The room next door has a lovely part.

Everything concerned to the visual sphere represents perfection, starting with the colours used in a sublime as well as communicative way

In an interview, set designer Carlota Casado  mentioned Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings among the references.

If you look at her paintings:
Oriental poppies
Ladder to the moon
Jiimson weed white flower

you can get a clear idea of the range of greens that I particularly admired.

The costumes, which we could call outfits, by Bina Daigeler are a riot of colour, style and quality.

Every single detail is meticulous, even I quote: ‘the coffee machines.’

The settings are fabulous: New York at its most magical and a house that represents the perfect blend of architecture and nature.

The set is Casa Szoke, designed by the Aranguren+Gallegos Arquitectos studio  near Madrid, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and located on the slopes of Mount Abantos in the forest of La Herrería. 

As if that were not enough, the furniture elements are well-known design pieces and the painting People in the sun by Edward Hopper becomes an integral part of the narrative as well as the visual.

And Almodòvar completes the representation of beauty by quoting James Joyce: The Dead from Dubliners

The snow falling faintly through the universe, and faintly falling, upon all the living and the dead.

The Room Next Door is Pedro Almodòvar’s first English-language film and his intention, I would say successful, was to make it as American as possible.

But then there is the verbose part, let me use the term, the dialogues in my opinion are that much excessive that they break the balance of everything else.

And there are a number of unfinished elements.

I will not go into the profile of the protagonist, nor into the euthanasia issue, because everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

But remaining on the mere portrayal of the illness and the physical and psychological suffering, perhaps because I have unfortunately experienced it from my side, I could not help but get nervous.

An exclusive death.

Real life, however, is quite different.

Did you enjoy it? Did you find the ending unsettling or inspiring?

KEEP CALM AND POTA

KEEP CALM AND POTA

Apr 13, 2024 | ART, ART, CULTURE, CULTURE, WOMEN, WOMEN

Keep calm and pota!

Don’t say you’re not already smiling thinking to Keep calm and pota.

I immediately lit up, also because Keep calm and pota is curated by Piöcc’s Café.

Café! A coincidence, or rather, I would directly say a sign.

A sign that I immediately grasped when I contacted the Teatro Centro Lucia in Botticino Sera.

Yes, you read that right: theatre.

Elena kindly explained that their artistic direction in recent seasons has been proposing a review of dialectal comedies from the Brescia area entitled ‘Èl bel del dialet a teàter’.

As I have already mentioned, I am very fond of dialect. 

Keep calm and pota is therefore a dialect comedy, and Cafè di Piöcc a theatre company.

Elena also helped me contact the director: Manuela.

In two words: a revelation!

Quoting Queen Agatha:
A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues make a proof.

Keep Calm, Coffee and Friendship. 

The founders of the Café di Piöcc are three friends who meet in the parvis of the cathedral church in Montichiari.

Money is tight and friends watch the gentlemen eat pastries and drink wine, but they can only afford water from the fountain: the Café di Piöcc then, that is, the poor man’s café.

At Cafè di Piöcc, stories, gossip and historical facts are told.

From these tales, one of the first theatre companies in Brescia was born in 1970, a troupe that was also the subject of a university thesis.

Manuela joined the company, gradually performing various tasks: props girl, prompter, actress with a small part, assistant director.

Until one evening in the rehearsal room she picked up a book from which an envelope came out with a letter that no one had ever seen.

Destiny, magic, what would you call it?

In this letter, Beppe Boschetti, one of the three founding friends, had expressed his wish to leave the company in Manuela’s hands.

A story made up of people, a long journey made up of extremely remarkable theatre works such as I tre innocenti (The Three Innocents), inspired by news events, or Semplicemente donna (Simply Woman): a red chair and 49 changes of clothes representing the stages of life up to menopause.

And yet settings and periods vary while the common denominator remains the titles that are idioms, e.g. Petost che peji l’è mei insi or Ogné come la sàpes stada.

All the way to Keep Calm and pota.

Pota is the word that unites Brescia and Bergamo, an intercalary that, pronounced with the typical accent, is always very nice.

The author had the intuition to combine pota with the expression keep calm, linking up with Freud’s truth, the female Ego interjecting itself with the Super Ego, and communicating a message: love wins.

Speaking of messages, the Cafè di Piöcc also collaborates with the municipality of Montichiari for social work with the Legality in short project. 

It can therefore be said that Cafè di Piöcc keeps calm but is unstoppable!

Many many compliments and a special thanks to Manuela Danieli.

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

VIGEVANO BIENNIAL

Feb 10, 2024 | ART, ART, CULTURE, CULTURE

Vigevano Biennial: the very moment I saw the first video introducing it, I felt a great sense of gratitude.

Arianna Forni, the creator and curator of this artistic and cultural project, during the last interview explains that she was inspired while visiting an artist’s exhibition in Vigevano, and fell in love with the Sforza Castle after about 45 seconds.

I want to point out this not so much with pride, but to remind those who, like me, live there and sometimes do not consider its value that much.

Who is Arianna Forni? Her bio is very rich, but among the many things I like to mention in particular her blog: The Greatest Coat.

On her home page, you can also find R.E.M.‘s  Loosing my religion and to me this a sign.

Music aside, Arianna with her words takes us on an artistic journey through art and with art. 

Alongside Arianna Forni, artistic director of all the side events: musical and otherwise, an artist capable of embodying the perfect fusion of music and painting: Andrea Fumagalli, Andy. 

The Vigevano Biennial has the patronage of the Municipality of Vigevano and 

of the District of Pavia 

and will be held from

8 April to 31 May, so be warned.

In the meantime, I suggest you not to miss the artists’ presentations on the Biennale Vigevano whispers of arts social pages. 

AFMetastrategy produces a crescendo of stories containing calls for artists, calls for partners, calls for endorsement and presentations of all the artists who will participate.

Truly the Castello Sforzesco and the Piazza Ducale are the place where step by step the dream becomes reality, or rather, turns into Art.

Archives

Pin It on Pinterest