Rainy Day and Art in Perugia

Wednesday October 21 was the first real full rain day of our trip.  High of 20C.  Our ultimate destination was the Museo di Palazzo Baldeschi located on the main street of Perugia, Corso Vannucci.

We first checked out the weekly fruit and vegetable market in front of the Church about five minutes from our apartment.  Due to the rain, there weren't too many vendors.  We bought a few vegetables,

Weekly Wednesday market in Monteluce- in front of the Church

We dropped the vegetables at the apartment and then took the bus to the historic centre.  At the top of the escalators there was a small tourist information kiosk inside the library.

Library next to tourist information

It was raining pretty heavily so we stopped for a coffee at Sandri, a wonderful chocolate shop/caffè on Corso Vannucci.  

Rainy day in Perugia

Outside of Sandri--- the caffè opened in 1860.

The interior has wonderful ceiling frescoes, carved wooden counters, glass pastry cases and chandeliers.

A few tables inside and a large patio outside that was empty due to the rain.

Alonso laughing for the photo.  We had a small sandwich and coffee.

We walked down a side street and saw an interesting plaque on a building.  It noted that "in the basement of this building, the police of the fascist regime secreted and tortured Pergugini anti-fascists.  Among them, Alfio Porticelli and Mario Santucci chose death by throwing themselves out of the widow.   Gastone Sozzi, leader of a local Young Communist League suffered horrible torture which caused his death at only 25 years on February 6, 1928". 

Plaque put up on April 25, 2005,  "on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Italy from Nazi Fascism.  In Memory of those who defended here freedom and justice and so that they are not forgotten."

Commemorative plaque

We walked over to the Museo di Palazzo Baldeschi.  It is located on the main street, Corso Vannucci and acquired  by the Fondazione Peugia in 2002.  It currently houses three permanent museum collections; renaissance Majolica; the Marabottini Collection and the historical collection of the Foundazione.   The Palazzo is the result of the fusion of various buildings.  The heirs of Baldo- a famous jurist and professor of law, decided in 1369 to add two houses to the initial building.  There were more additions but starting in the late 16th century, the houses were transformed into a homogeneous building with the characteristics of a palace. A portal was built toward Corso Vannucci.

Outside of the Museum (I took the picture on Monday when the museum was closed,
and when it was sunny out)

Today the museum was open

List of artists in the exhibition entitled:
San Francesco nostro contemporaneo: tra Arte e Spiritualità
(Saint Francis our Contemporary: Between Art and Spirituality)

Description of the exhibit: "Eight hundred years after the death of Saint Francis, the Fondazione Perugia pays tribute to the patron saint of Italy with an exhibition that rereads the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Saint through the gaze of some of the most significant Italian and international artists of the 20th century and the early 2000s."

The exhibit tries to address issues such as "what does it mean today to live essentially?"  What kind of relationship can we built with the world, with others, with what surrounds us?"  Definitely important questions to contemplate.

Another incredible setting to display the art.

Alberto Burri (Città di Castello, 1915- Nice, 1995), Sacco, 1955. Burri, trained as a physician, was imprisoned in the US during WWII. He transforms the canvas into a living field.  
We have seen some of his works on this trip.  Very powerful.

William Congdon (Providence, 1912-Milano, 1998), Gethsemane, 1960. Congdon was trained in New York and arrived in Italy in the postwar period and lived in Assisi for a number of years.  
He converted to Catholicism in 1959.

Amazing ceiling and chandelier.

Marina Abramović, (Belgrade, 1946), Count on Us Chorus ed. 2/5, 2003 -tension between life and death.

Omar Galliani (Montecchio Emilia, 1954, In Lumine Dei (diptych), 2004-2006  (ceiling detail above picture).  A beautiful piece- inviting a meditative mode of viewing.

Maurizio Cattelan (Padova, 1960),  Mother, 1999.  
In relation to Saint Francis, the work recalls prayer as an inner act.

Kiki Smith (Nuremberg, 1954),  Eclipse: January Twenty-first, 2019.

  Between tears and stars- an echo of the Canticle of Saint Francis, 

where every element participates in a shared harmony.

Gino De Dominics (Ancona, 1947-Rome 1998), Attempt to Fly, 1969 (video and photographs).

Michelangelo Pistoletto, Biella, 1993, Venus of the Rags, 1967-2014.  Pistoletto's practice connects art and society's collective responsibility.  Here, a copy of the classical Venus is placed beside a heap of used clothes: the contrast bewteen the ideal and discard activates a reflection on consumption.  

Mimmo Paladino (Paduli, 1948), Altre ali fuggiranno, 2023.  "The human figure appears as an essential presence between memory and myth".

Mimmo Paladino (Paduli, 1948), Assediato, 1998

In the foreground: Mario Ceroli, (Castel Frentano, 1938), Le chiacchiere, 1989. A collection of 2,351 wooden letters- where language dissolves-- a balance between silence and community,
in ressonance with Saint Francis.

We decided to look at a portion of the permanent collection.   There was a room of paintings by Giorgio Maddoli (Perugia, 1916-1978) and sculptures by Antonio Ranochhia (Marsciano, 1915- Perugia, 1989).

In the 1940s the two became friends and they exhibited together on several occasions.

Giorgio Maddoli (Perugia, 1916-1978), Il capanno rosso, 1955.

Antonio Ranocchia (Marsciano, 1915- Perugia, 1989), Paola, 1969.

Giorgio Maddoli, Case Nuove, 1959.

Antonio Ranocchia, Il passero, 1983.

Giorgio Maddoli, Ritratto di ragazza, 1940

There was also a room of paintings by Gustavo Benucci (Perugia, 1927-1991). He studied in Rome and then returned to Perugia in 1945.  In 1950, he exhibited his art at the XXV Biennale d'Arte in Venice.  In the early 1950s he became interested in Neo-cubism. In the 1960s he began to reflect on pollution which damages the beauty of nature.  

Gustavo Benucci (Perugia 1927-1991), Paese sul Gargano, 1970.

Gustavo Benucci, Paesaggio, 1956

Another look at the room with the paintings of Maddoli and Ranocchia sculptures.

We really enjoyed our afternoon at the Museo.  The Saint Francis Our Contemporary exhibit was  beautifully curated in a beautiful setting.  Lots of interesting pieces dealing with spirituality and the legacy of Saint Francis.  We also enjoyed the dialogue in the permanent collection between Maddoli and Ranocchia.

Getting off at the lowest of the three escalators-- en route to catching a bus back to our apartment.

We headed back to the apartment for a curated dinner by Alonso.