Dieci anni di galera

 

Si avvicina il 30 dicembre, data di presentazione in tribunale a Perugia dell'istanza di fallimento della nostra azienda per mano del dipendente più anziano in termini di anni di attività. Saranno passati dieci anni da quel giorno, che ha cambiato la mia vita, trasformandola in un luogo di detenzione senza sbarre. Perché proprio il 30 dicembre? Ci sarà stata una scadenza per legge, entro la quale ottenere quanto dovuto per diritto. Dietro al dipendente lo zoccolo duro dei sindacati. 

E chi tutela gli imprenditori? In dieci anni non abbiamo più sentito un'associazione di artigiani, CNA o CONFARTIGIANATO, la Camera di Commercio o l'ente bilaterale, che a suo tempo richiese il contributo per ciascun dipendente: per fare cosa? Quando una piccola azienda fallisce, rimane sola in mezzo all'oceano, senza soldi, perché solitamente è questa la ragione per cui l'azienda fallisce: viene a mancare il grasso. Quindi? Come fa senza soldi l'ex imprenditore a pagare un avvocato? 

I miei genitori non possono neanche attingere al gratuito patrocinio, perché la loro prima casa, che è andata all'asta nel mese di maggio, deserta, risulta ancora a nome di mio padre, il cui reddito fa cumulo insieme a quello di mia madre. Per la prima volta siamo stati a fare l'ISEE e questo è quello che è venuto fuori: non hanno diritto a niente. Quindi? Hanno già 83 e 84 anni, tanto vale che passino il resto della loro vita ad aspettare la morte. 

Così, senza di loro, la casa sarà libera e lo Stato potrà regalare l'immobile al prezzo vile tra quattro/cinque anni a altri disgraziati, che prenderanno un mutuo per comprarla, oppure a un imprenditore edile, che magari la demolisce per farci un palazzo con più appartamenti. Così va il mondo e chi diventa debole non viene difeso: sei spazzato via come cenere davanti a un focolare, cenere che dà anche fastidio e va fatta sparire prima possibile dal pavimento pulito dell'ipocrisia, di cui è intriso lo Stato. 

SEGUI LA STORIA DELLA CAMA IN CINQUE

PUNTATE SULLA PAGINA DEL CENTRO

CAGIANELLI PER IL '900

Cama® è un marchio registrato

FRIENDS OF CAMA Il blog

Post originali di Roberta Niccacci

Storia di un'azienda artigiana italiana in tempo di crisi

Segui la pagina facebook

Friends of Cama è anche su Twitter

Seguimi su LinkedIn

Talenti e virtù

Cosimo I de' Medici contornato dalle personificazioni
delle sue cinque virtù. Gli angioletti suggellano il suo disegno
di conquistare Siena. 

Nel mese di dicembre scorso sono stata accolta nella Onlus 100mila ripartenze di Treviso come imprenditrice fallita. La Onlus infatti aiuta gli imprenditori e le imprenditrici fuori gioco a ripartire tramite assistenza di un anno con un coach, un mentore, workshop e riunioni anche con gli altri imprenditori italiani. 

Ecco il payoff della Onlus: "L’Associazione 100 mila RIPARTENZE vuole promuovere una nuova cultura del fallimento, non più inteso come sinonimo di incompetenza e stigma sociale, ma come momento di crescita personale e professionale."

Così ho seguito passo passo con interesse, fino ad ora, tutto ciò che la Onlus aveva da offrire in termini di insegnamenti. La prima cosa che ho imparato, e che non conoscevo affatto, sono le SOFT SKILLS c. HARD SKILLS, un linguaggio che a me non era familiare. La scoperta è avvenuta grazie alla presidente della Onlus, nonché fondatrice, Fiorella Pallas, in quanto specializzata in formazione tramite i talenti, le soft skills, appunto. Le soft skills ispirano anche la stessa Onlus. 

Fin da subito, a livello personale, ho pensato al fatto che sono andata per lo più di soft skills per tutta la mia vita, negli ambienti in cui mi sono cimentata, e che attualmente sto ricercando invece il modo di arricchirmi di hard skills, di strumenti da lavoro, per affrontare la creazione di un progetto innovativo allo scopo di tornare a lavorare, fare la dichiarazione dei redditi, pagare le tasse, come quando ero una cittadina italiana produttiva, grazie all'azienda della mia famiglia.  

Poi ho collegato le soft skills in generale con le virtù di rinascimentale memoria, incontrate nel corso delle mie ricerche, in particolare a Firenze. Qui Cosimo I de' Medici, grande stratega, si era contornato di virtù, che lo aiutavano a conquistare i territori e a realizzare le sue opere di mecenate. Scrivo delle virtù di Cosimo I de' Medici in un mio post del 2014, che vorrei rinfrescare, dicendo innanzi tutto che le virtù di Cosimo I de' Medici si riassumono per me nel detto "Festina Lente", che viene tradotto come "affrettati lentamente", traduzione che non mi diceva niente neanche in inglese (haste slowly). 

Per questo motivo mi sono data una spiegazione di "Festina Lente" da sola e la illustro volentieri qui di seguito. Partiamo dalla domanda: Cosa c'entrano le virtù di Cosimo I de' Medici col suo motto "Festina Lente"? 

Le virtù di Cosimo I de'Medici che traducono il suo
motto FESTINA LENTE. Anche una tartaruga può dotarsi
di una vela e acquisire velocità. Essa rappresenta le vrtù
della mente

C'entrano eccome, perché l'ossimoro"Festina Lente" ci insegna ad "andare veloci per rendere onore alla virtù dell'azione, mantenendo la lentezza necessaria alle virtù della mente, perché agiscano con efficienza". Per Cosimo I de' Medici le virtù sono in numero di cinque, come il numero delle soft skills principali, ovvero dei talenti in sede di test personale. Le virtù sono: la pazienza, la saggezza, la circospezione e il silenzio (virtù della mente), sono le virtù che necessitano di lentezza. Dell'azione fa parte la quinta virtù, ovvero quella della forza, che garantisce la velocità di realizzazione di un disegno di conquista. 

Quindi oggi possiamo dire che siamo tornati a dei valori rinascimentali, all'uomo al centro della realtà, in cui la relazione con gli altri e le competenze trasversali possono garantire il successo lavorativo sia alle dipendenze che in un progetto personale d'impresa. Certamente Cosimo I de' Medici aveva aperto la strada alle virtù, a cui tutti indistintamente possiamo ricorrere. I talenti sono un loro upgrade. 

L'ultimo insegnamento di Fiorella Pallas è che gli strumenti tecnologici a nostra disposizione vanno usati oggi anche in fatto di talenti, nello specifico la rilevazione dei talenti personali tramite piattaforme digitali a intelligenza artificiale come Talentoday, di cui Fiorella Pallas è distributrice in Italia. Il concetto è valido anche per chi scrive e pubblica libri: usare al massimo tutta la tecnologia a disposizione. 

Una piccola pubblicità meritata: Giovedì 8 aprile dalle ore 10.30 alle ore 11.30 Fiorella Pallas ci dà appuntamento su Linkedin per un Webinar gratuito dal titolo "Talentoday: coaching e intelligenza artificiale". Siamo tutti invitati! 

Cama® è un marchio registrato

FRIENDS OF CAMA Il blog

Curiosità rinascimentali in tempo di rinascita

Verso un nuovo modo di fare impresa nell'artigianato artistico

Segui la pagina facebook

Friends of Cama è anche su Twitter

Seguimi su LinkedIn

La pietra dello scandalo

La pietra dello scandalo o "Acculata"

A Firenze, al Mercato Nuovo o del Porcellino, esiste una pietra rotonda di romana memoria, che racconta la storia di come nel Rinascimento venivano trattate le persone che contraevano debiti con insolvenza: i falliti. La pietra è collocata al centro della loggia ed è di due colori: bianco e verde. 

Il tondo riproduce una ruota da trasporto e ricorda ai fiorentini la storia del suo Carroccio, del luogo di preparazione per la battaglia e del suono della campana di avvertimento per il nemico: una forma di lealtà di quel tempo, della durata di un mese, per permettere all'avversario di prepararsi a difendersi. 

La stessa forma di rispetto per il nemico non esisteva nel mondo dei mercanti e dei banchieri di Firenze: per chi era fallito non c'era via di scampo e affinché tutti avessero in ignominia il fallimento, venne istituita la pratica della "pietra dello scandalo", così chiamata appunto la ruota di marmo del Mercato del Porcellino. Lo statuto dei mercanti riportava la punizione e la pratica veniva offerta in prossimità di una guerra o nelle occasioni ufficiali, facendo uso del Carroccio. 

Con la piazza piena di gente, per il suo divertimento e conoscenza, la persona fallita, trasportata sul Carroccio, veniva condotta in catene al centro dell'edificio, presa per mani e piedi, denudata delle braghe, le sue natiche sbattute con violenza per almeno tre volte sulla nuda pietra, in base al danno economico prodotto. 

Da qui deriva l'espressione "essere col culo per terra" e la parola "sculo" inteso come sfortuna. I fiorentini chiamano questa pietra "l'acculata". 

Non ci stupisce il fatto che, mentre per altre situazioni sociali si sia finito con l'edulcorare perfino la terminologia in uso, per il fallimento niente sia cambiato a distanza di secoli dal colto Rinascimento. Infatti è possibile oggi trovare online, sulla Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica, notizie relative al fallimento di una persona fisica anche a distanza di anni. Non c'è rispetto neanche per le persone fallite che si suicidano per la vergogna. Il documento di fallimento rimane lì a conoscenza di tutti gli utenti, non viene eliminato. 

Non sempre le persone insolventi sono delinquenti, disonesti o sciocchi. Ne sia la prova che con la crisi sanitaria attuale molte attività si trovino in situazioni a rischio fallimento. Le crisi passate invece hanno prodotto in Italia lo stesso effetto a macchia di leopardo solo su alcuni imprenditori. Eppure il resto della società ha continuato la sua corsa. 

Molti sciacalli, anche ex concorrenti, hanno avuto modo di infierire su quegli imprenditori falliti delle scorse crisi, appropriandosi dei loro averi pignorati, grazie anche al favore dell'Istituto delle Aste Giudiziarie, dove si prende da uno per regalare ad altri. In tutto questo turbinio da girone dantesco, uno sciame di burocrati percepisce uno stipendio e professionisti si garantiscono consulenze: persone che vivono sulle disgrazie altrui. 

È possibile che uno Stato permetta una pratica cinica di questo tipo nel Terzo Millennio solo perché c'è di mezzo il denaro? Per lo Stato qual è il costo di gestione di un fallimento a fronte dell'interruzione dell'attività d'impresa, considerando i tempi biblici della burocrazia italiana? Qual è il ruolo delle banche nei Tribunali fallimentari? Quali favori economici garantisce lo Stato alle banche tramite i fallimenti? 

Il primo punto su cui riflettere è senz'altro il concetto attestato che la crudeltà non sia degli animali ma propria solo dell'essere umano. È la pura verità. Il mezzo economico, il denaro, può essere veicolo di trasposizione della cattiveria umana, della taccagneria e della mediocrità, la vera pietra dello scandalo. 

Cama® è un marchio registrato

FRIENDS OF CAMA Il blog

Curiosità rinascimentali in tempo di rinascita

Verso un nuovo modo di fare impresa nell'artigianato artistico

Segui la pagina facebook

Friends of Cama è anche su Twitter

Seguimi su LinkedIn

Il Mattino Ha l'Oro in Bocca

Aurora borealis in Alaska

The Italian saying 'Il Mattino ha l'oro in Bocca' (literally translated: morning has gold in its mouth) is normally translated with expressions that have nothing to do with our original saying.

The most common translation is: 'early to be, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise' followed by: 'the early bird gets the worm' and translations such as: 'if you snooze you lose' which is actually closer to another famous Italian saying: 'chi dorme non piglia pesci' (literal translation: fisher asleep, no catches the fish). This saying in particular is pretty close as regards the subject of opportunities. 

Let's go back to IL MATTINO HA L'ORO IN BOCCA and let's take the time to discover how the world of etymology can help us. First of all, we inherited this Italian saying from the Romans who used to say: 'Aurora aurum in ore habet'.  Therefore we are narrowing down the word 'gold' to a specific morning time: aurora, which translates 'daybreak'.  We know that daybreak takes place right after dawn and before sunrise. It is accompanied by purple beams. It's so beautiful. But what has gold to do with daybreak in particular? 

The concept is that not only morning hours are a precious opportunity to take advantage of being full of energy after a healthy night's sleep.  There is more to it: the Italian word 'aurora' is based on the word 'gold'. That's why morning has gold (Aurora) in its mouth (entrance). 

Aurora in Venice, Italy 

As a consequence, this Italian saying makes complete sense now. Morning enters the day with a gold, shining moment, - daybreak - when light first appears. 

Etymologically the word "Aurora" in Latin, Sanskrit, and Ancient Greek comes from: "shine", "glow", "light", "brightness", "gold".  These words also give birth to: "Euro", "Gold", "Austria", "Heliacal". The word "Aurora" is therefore powerful, positive, lively, providing strength and hope.

Last but not least Roman mythology describes Aurora as a goddess. In Greek mythology, Aurora was called Eos. She is the goddess of dawn and renews herself every morning flying across the sky. That's how she announces the sun's arrival with Apollon in his chariot of fire. Aurora comes in glory and is surrounded by golden beams. She brings light to the day! 

Guido Reni, Aurora, 1613-14  (click on image to enlarge): Aurora is the goddess on the upper right
showing the way to the god of the sun in his chariot. 

----

FRIENDS OF CAMA 

Join the Facebook Page to Receive Blog Updates 

~ All things Italian, great Italian insights ~

NEW!

Now on Twitter

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

As luck would have it, the Friends of Cama story is true 

It is not easy for me to describe my experience as it is like living a dream come true. There is much warmth in it. I have no idea if it comes through the screen in all its authenticity. 

I am happy with the success achieved so far. So this is definitely my victory speech!

1. This is a twenty-year-long story 

As we know from classical literature—  where personal life experiences are elevated to models— twenty years is the perfect journey's length. That's what turns you into your life's heroes. In the history of books, the most famous journey is the Odyssey. Indeed it was used in Ancient Greece as a children's educational book. It is a beautiful book! 

Odysseus' journey took place in the Mediterranean
sea. It took him twenty years to get back home. 

My personal story of rebirth started back in 1993 with my first visit to the United States: so twenty years are part of my life's book. I have proceeded by trial and error, without any knowledge of what I was about to find, quite an adventure. 
My most amazing work experience besides selling ceramics in the United States was working in a nursing home in Italy. I discovered that taking care of patients the way I do was very much like selling ceramics the way I do. In that case, I could hug and give love to other people on a deeper level. I gave them much warmth and made them feel at ease. We loved each other so much. 
However, the last five years were the most important ones. Back in January 2009, my family put me in charge of solving business matters. I kept repeating to them that I was only a shop assistant & a hostess. This was beyond my abilities. It was an impossible task even for experts. Nevertheless I accepted. 

My personal life and my plans for Cama
are interwoven just like in DNA.
It is the most amazing experience in my life.
I wish to think this is a bracelet.
Science makes everything look so cold. 

2. My personal life and my plans for Cama are interwoven just like in DNA. 

What's most interesting is that it is almost impossible to mix business and emotions. It's like mixing ice and fire. To me, business is the coldest of all words. It has much to do with death if we think of expressions such as your death is my life. It's a rule in business. It's awful. Time to make a change!

Nevertheless, I kept going on and putting my heart and soul into my endeavor. My personal life started mixing with my constant thoughts to find ways out for my family's workshop. 

Everything changed with my moving away from Deruta beginning January 2011. I worked so hard behind the scenes. At a certain point, I let everything go. That's when life started setting priorities for me: the next year I met my soul mate, so I discovered true love. I had had that wish since I was a little girl. I had almost forgotten about it. 

In the meantime, I had started helping other people. I had so much extra energy! 

What's very important to me is that last year I realized what friendship means. As a dream made true my brother came back into the crew. He is a true friend to start with. In forty years of experience at Cama's, I had created a world apart there, where I mixed friendship and love, care and service in my selling ceramics. I had learned to be professional at the same time. Out of there, I felt like a fish out of water. 

Life sets new year's resolutions for me: the first priority was my soul mate.
The second priority is eating healthy. I am a sweet tooth and staying away
from sugar is a dream come true. It all started with a wish the year before.

3. My dreams start with a wish 

I discovered that every dream come true is a life's priority. My wish to meet my soul mate was a long-held wish of when I was a little girl and a young woman. I had to get over my limits to meet my perfect match. What a beautiful love story! 
My soul mate and I are the universes where I can experience the most beautiful feelings such as true love, friendship, mutual help, trust, humbleness. All positive emotions are there every day! 

Another wish of mine was to feel healthy. I had expressed it a long time ago. Additionally back in 2012, I organized gym classes, where I live, in order to force myself to exercise with other people. No way. The miracle happened six days ago on New Year's eve. As life decided that these personal priorities came before business matters, I understood that anything is possible. I was becoming stronger and stronger. Eating healthy will add much strength to my body. That's exactly what I needed right now. 
My next wish is a secret. Actually, I have more than one wish. I have learned to disclose dreams after they have come true. Let's follow the Friends of Cama story together! 

----

FRIENDS OF CAMA 

Join the Facebook Page to Receive Blog Updates 

posted by Roberta Niccacci

NEW!

Now on Twitter

Money and Beauty. Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities

Crest of Pope Urbano VIII Barberini
who became Pope in 1623. The noble Barberini
family was originally from the county of Florence
(Semifonte, Barberino Val d'Elsa, Italy).

"Money and Beauty. Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities" (17 September 2011-22 January 2012)


This is the title of one of the several beautiful exhibitions that are organized at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Sometimes during the year, I get to visit Florence and I am probably going to accept the invitation of a new friend of mine from Piegaro to visit Florence again before wintertime. I love Florence and for me, it is a source of inspiration every time I go.
Regarding this exhibition in particular I recall that at the end of my visit, while walking back to the train along with the streets of downtown Florence I was feeling drawn back to the Renaissance times and it was a wonderful feeling, I could appreciate everything around me with so much pleasure, Renaissance scenes were still lively around me thanks to marble details, names of banks, arches, family crests, as if I had gone through a voyage back in time.
In times of recession for many of us, the temptation of destroying the wealth of others is very strong, the Vatican is running great risks these days, Pope Benedict XVI would be better off keeping silent, staying home, and inviting his followers and crews to pray for the peace in the world, stressing out what nuns and friars do every day among other obligations serving other people with welcoming homes for the poor, schools and retirement homes. Many people in Italy and in the world are currently pointing the finger at the wealth of the Vatican and the contradictions between their ethical comments about what is happening in our corrupted society and what they do bad and especially own: wealth, money, and at least one huge bank: The Bank of the Vatican known as IOR.

The famous "Last Judgment" by Michelangelo Buonarroti in the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope PAUL III Farnese. 

In the Renaissance one of the representatives of the Catholic Church, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) incited rich people in Florence to get rid of their wealth, repent of their sins and give up on beauty and money, it is said that the artist Botticelli himself had some of his paintings fired in the so-called Savonarola's "Bonfire of the Vanities", which was one of the subjects of the exhibition in Florence, indeed the culmination of the story of the evolution and flourishing of the patronage of arts supported by banks in the city of Florence.

Urbano VIII born Maffeo Barberini (Florence
1568-Rome 1644) was elected Pope in 1623
and is buried in the Basilica of St. Peter in
Rome. 

Nowadays the process of condemnation seems to be reversed, the Church is being for the moment "verbally" attacked, in times when popes are no longer patrons of the arts despite the wealth they have accumulated in centuries of power. These days popes are no longer supported by the fact of preserving art and culture because it comes from their education, in the past being patrons of the arts was protection for themselves and their cortege in the first point. Art and beauty are a blessing for everybody while vile money is not a reason for being respected especially if popes are not coming from noble families like in the past, where their wealth had noble origins or at least what they made through the Church was being camouflaged by the respectability of their nobility. 

Among the Popes of the past, one of the most important Patrons of the Arts was Paul III born Alessandro Farnese, whose family owned a palace in Caprarola, Italy which is one of the best examples of Renaissance residences in Italy. Pope Paul III used to stop in Piegaro, Italy to rest during his travels from Rome to Perugia. He stayed in Piegaro five times at the end of which he named Piegaro "Terra" (Latin word for "estate") which was the highest title for a place as a thank you to the Piegarese for being welcoming and kind.  Pope Paul III is remembered for commissioning the "Last Judgement" (painted between 1536 and 1541) to Michelangelo Buonarroti. He honored Piegaro with his gifts in 1547 because the appointment "Terra" was accompanied by the public clock for the bell tower and the exemption from a tax for the 18 years to follow.

On the contrary the Barberini family, a Pope's family whose crest reproductions are numerous in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome (three golden bees over a blue background), where the most important member of their family is buried, Pope Urbano VIII, they were known for the saying "Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini" (Latin for "what the Barbarians didn't do was perpetrated by the Barberini family") and is referred to their destroying attitude towards the arts (such as the fusion of bronze antique girders of the Pantheon to make the baldachin of the Cathedral of St. Peter) and towards the city planning in Rome which during their papacy underwent major remodeling. Nevertheless, in recent years, art critics have reinstated the Barberini family affirming that the saying was a slander of opponents of the Barberini family, propaganda that put the shame on the Barberini family to politically destroy them. Indeed Pope Urbano VIII, born Maffeo Barberini, was a great patron of the arts, the first sponsor of the famous Italian architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini who became famous all over Europe thanks to the intuition of this pope and is the author of the questioned baldachin, which we still admire in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome.

Sandro Botticelli, The Calumny of Apelles (1494) Uffizi Gallery
Slander is today's most used weapon in politics, religions, and many attacks on opponents in private life. 

As nobility is concerned especially these days popes should belong to noble families, this is the other shield against attacks because once you are deprived of nobility, you end up being on the same level as the people you are praying to, as alternative holiness maybe your other shield but only in case, you are a saint. And if you are a saint you have no money to defend yourself from the attacks of other people. Saints are the richest people among the poor (we are all poor compared to the wealth of a few people in the world) and thank goodness there is no money involved, we would be attacked likewise.

A Swiss guard at the Vatican
seen through a kid's eye. 

Art and beauty with strong roots add warmth and love to our lives, they were part of the Renaissance period as main themes, in a period which was exclusively Italian and created in Florence. If we think of the 17th century as a transition - the Baroque Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome is probably the greatest example of this period - the century that followed, the Enlightenment, was deprived of humanity; science may be right and perfect but forgets about the fact that mankind has a soul, indeed the 18th century gave vent to Romanticism which is likewise a period without balance concerning the feminine and the masculine in nature. Art and beauty are also the cure, panacea of our uproarious feelings, no matter how bad our feelings can be and regardless of their origins. Long-life to the Italian Renaissance and to those who appreciate it as a tradition of the Italian talented artists longing for peace, kindness, and love, this is one reason why in Italy we are very talented for uniforms!

It is probably a legend that the uniforms of the Swiss guards of the Vatican were designed by Michelangelo but we like to think this is a true story, as a matter of fact, these uniforms were inspired by Renaissance paintings and they are very fascinating especially in the drawing herewith displayed. The Swiss guards have been to the service of the Popes in the city of Rome since 1506, the year in which Leonardo finished his "Monna Lisa".

The Monna Lisa edited by my friends at Sezione Aurea, The writing is sarcastic for these
times and "L'agio conta" translates "wealth matters". 

A note from the Desk of Roberta Niccacci 

Dear Readers, 

Thank you very much for your patronage. I wish to know all of you one day, maybe by serving you with products and services. Today the blog has reached 30,000 visits with a steady flow of 3,000 visits a month in the past quarter. I see your statistics, the keywords you use to find my blog but I am not receiving any comments or feedback from your side. Well, maybe this is just how blogs work. Anyway, if you wish to receive more of my posts you may "like" my Facebook page at the following address: www.facebook.com/friendsofcama. This would be much appreciated. 

With Affection and Warm Greetings from Italy, 

Roberta Niccacci

-------------

Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

FRIENDS OF CAMA 

Join the Facebook Page to Receive Blog Updates 

NEW!

Now on Twitter

WALLED-IN DOORS

Walled-in doors are everywhere in Italy 

Dear Readers and Friends of Cama, I apologize with those of you who are not Catholic, in this blog you will find many references to the Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Church for their ikons) there is no intention of advertising the official religion of Italy. In the past the Roman Catholic Church was a major patron of the arts and therefore most of the works of art in Italy are located in churches or are religious places themselves. The greatest Italian Renaissance artists have worked for Popes. I look at churches as museums  and inspirational places for their works of art along with appreciating the gift of peace and their purifying scent of incense. 

WALLED-IN DOORS IN ITALY

The most famous walled-in door in Italy is called "Holy Door" and is located in the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome. This door is dismantled by the usage of a pickaxe every beginning of the Jubilee Jear of the Roman Catholic Church, on the Christmas eve of the previous year. The Holy Door remains open for the Jubelee celebrations and covered up again on February 6th of the following year. The Jubilee takes place every twenty-five years and is the year of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, salvation and payment of debts to debtees and creditors. There are also Jubilees for special occasions. Pope Boniface VIII started the Jubilees tradition based on an old Jewish tradition in the year 1300, the last Jubilee was in the year 2000 and the next one will take place in 2025. The city of Rome is already  getting ready for this important event.

Rear of the Walled Holy Door in the Basilica of Saint Peter in
Rome. (photo by Paul Bruder)

Rome was one of the applicant cities
for the XXXII Olympic games of 2020. The name
of the hosting city will be announced on September
7, 2013 among the remaning cities which are as follows:
Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo.  

The Jubilee is a great opportunity for pilgrimages, after the withdrawal of Rome as the city of the Olympic games of 2020, Rome looks forward to the Jubilee of 2025 as the next opportunity of revival of the city with an international echoing for the whole Italian peninsula. 

Symbol of the pilgrims
(it was originally used to drink clear
waters in ponds along the way to
the sanctuary of destination)

The Jubilee of 1950 must have been a very important Jubilee. It started the tradition of mass religious pilgrimages. In Rome there were three millions and a half visitors that year. Fifty years later, in the Jubilee of the year 2000 pilgrims visiting Rome were twenty-five millions (more than seven times that number) with seventy thousand volunteers. 

Example of a walled-in door 

Under different circumstances in 1971, I assisted to the covering up of a door and it was not as promising. That door was never reopened. This event changed my life and the life of my family forever. 




Popular Italian saying:  "Chiusa una porta, si apre un portone" (tr. "when one door closes, one gate opens"). 

(to be continued...) 

-------------

Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

FRIENDS OF CAMA 

Join the Facebook Page to Receive Blog Updates 

NEW!

Now on Twitter

A Japanese tradition from Renaissance times

Contemporary "Naked Raku" by
famous English artist David Roberts

If we wish to find something in common between late Renaissance ceramics and the wonderful contemporary ceramics of the "Naked Raku" art, we may notice that the only thing connecting the two arts is the temperature of the firing in the kiln.

Also from the point of the view of the patterns, in the "Naked Raku" there is no use of the perspective. But by researching and reading more about "Raku Nudo" (in Italian), we learn that the tradition started in Japan in the late 16th century producing small cups, also known as vessels, for their tea ceremonies.

Common Japanese tea pots

In the late 16th century in Italy, Rome was the most important center for the arts. At that time artists were converging in Rome from all over Italy and from Europe, looking for contractors, mostly working in new churches, new monasteries, newly built chapels but also for private homes, usually artistocratic families related or orbitating in the circles of Cardinals, Bishops and the Pope himself, whose state was isolated from the rest of the events of Italy.

Shield of Vatican City State

Additionally the Roman Church was going through a period of rebirth and relaunch as a reaction to the Protestant movements in Europe, while the middle class in Italy had lost its power as a consequence of the invasions of other European countries. Indeed after a long period of peace towards the end of the 15th century the French King Charles VIII invaded Italy (A.D. 1494) starting a long period of wars (called "Wars of Italy"), during which the most powerful countries in Europe fought for the control of Italy. This situation ended in 1559 only, with the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis which heavily changed the geographical profile of the peninsula.

On the other hand Europe had discovered Japan around A.D. 1542-1543 through a group of Portuguese Jesuits who ended up in Japan from China, where they had arrived as missionaries, driven to Japan in  their boat under a storm. This discovery opened new important markets to European traders, it is through this discovery and thanks to the Portuguese Jesuits that we acquired the tradition of tea in Europe. The first countries to welcome the tea tradition were France and Holland (tea was first imported by the "Dutch company of the East Indies"), then welcomed with great success by Great Britain (around A.D. 1650) where it became the national English beverage.

At the end of the 16th century this is the new pattern
that we find in Deruta ceramics. It is called "compendiario" (tr.compendiary) and
will be a distinctive pattern of the 17th century especially in central Italy.

Florence is celebrating Japanese art and heritage this year with the exhibition "Giappone, terra di incanti" (tr. Japan. Land of enchantments) from April 3rd to July 1st, 2012 at Pitti Palace, where the first Japanese ambassadors stayed in 1585, when they visited Italy for the first time.

Link to Pitti Palace - Japan. Land of enchantments

The history of Deruta and its artistic influences in Assisi and Rome

Store ceramic sign in Assisi dated 1923. 

The history of Deruta is much related both to Assisi and Rome for different reasons.

First of all the latest discovery about the Deruta ceramic tradition is a document stating that the first ceramics delivery was to a convent in Assisi in 1282 (water and wine pitchers).

Secondly, Assisi has always been one of the best shop windows for Deruta ceramics. Stores in Assisi have been floridly filled with Deruta ceramics for decades, setting the trend for souvenir shopping.

Rome was more inspiring to Deruta from the point of view of the art itself. When we think of Rome and Deruta ceramics, we think of the Vatican rooms painted by Raphael with classical grotesques and of the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. The ceramic art tradition of Deruta reached its best expression in the Renaissance period because it was inspired by great Renaissance artists.

Milan and Perugia were other Deruta shopping towns. In the 1920s major Deruta workshops opened here their own stores there. Indeed the 1920s were a second Renaissance period for arts & crafts in Europe. They were a moment of glory especially for Deruta, whose path towards a ceramic art revival had started at the end of the 1800s. 

Within this time frame, we would like to remember the guest artist David Zipirovic (Kherson, Ukraine 1885- Moscau, Russia 1946), who worked in Deruta between 1923 and 1927. He accepted the invitation of the factory "Società Anonima Maioliche Deruta" and greatly contributed to bringing back the Renaissance ceramic tradition in Deruta. David Zipirovic was specialized in the ceramic reproduction of works of art of the most important Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo, Raffaello, Pinturicchio, Perugino. David Zipirovic had learned the Renaissance painting techniques as a student at the Academy of Beaux-Arts in Paris and as an art grant holder in Rome.

David Zipirovic widely encouraged the tradition of the so-called "tracing paper" on ceramics,  a technique that was in use in the Renaissance period to transfer the works of art from paper to the walls. As a curiosity, upon restoration of the Sistine Chapel in the years 1980-1994 close-ups of the frescoes showed the use of nails to trace the outline of the scenes upon application of cardboards. In Deruta nails were replaced by needles and cardboards were replaced by tissue papers. 

example of a tracing paper from Deruta, Italy - dots allow the charcoal to leave a trace on the
ceramic surface by using a pouch. The best painters will do the outline with the finest brushes. Charcoal is not fire-resistant, this is why it is necessary to outline the dot lines by the use of water paints. Michelangelo used this technique in Rome in the Sistine Chapel.

Mr. David Zipirovic was very well welcomed in Deruta and had many followers. One of his best pupils born in Deruta was Mr. Cesare Teobaldo Pimpinelli (Deruta, Italy 1909 - Gualdo Tadino, Italy 1991). Cama Deruta was proud to have Mr. Cesare Teobaldo Pimpinelli as a guest artist early 1970s. He painted beautiful Renaissance collection plates - such as the herewith following example - which are now part of the private collection of the Renato and Elena Niccacci family, owners of Cama Deruta.

Reproduction of the Prophet Zachary from the Sistine Chapel, original by Michelangelo Buonarroti. By Cesare Teobaldo Pimpinelli, citizen of Deruta and pupil of David Zipirovic.

In 2000 a beautiful art book about David Zipirovic was published by Giulio Busti and Franco Cocchi: "David Zipirovic a Deruta. Maioliche 1923-1927" (tr."David Zipirovic in Deruta. Ceramic pieces from 1923 to 1927") published by  CENTRO DI della Edifini s.r.l. Florence. Also catalogue of the exhibition held in the same year at the one-time factory premises of the "Società Anonima Maioliche Deruta",  popularly known as "Fabbrica Grande" (tr. "the big factory"), which is nowadays the seat of Deruta middle school.

Cover of the book "David Zipirovic a Deruta. Maioliche 1923-1927" 

I did this research upon request of a Cama customer, Theresa J.,  who expressed the wish to know more about this subject.

--------------------- 

Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

FRIENDS OF CAMA 

Join the Facebook Page to Receive Blog Updates 

NEW!

Now on Twitter