The Trap

Posted on June 27, 2019 by babbityjean

The scene: Church of Santa Maria Maddalena in Castelnuovo Magra, a town of less than 8,500 people in the province of La Spezia, region of Liguria.

The protagonists:

  • Don Alessandro Chiantaretto, parish priest of Santa Maria Maddalena;
  • Daniele Montebello, mayor of Castelnuovo Magra;
  • “The Crucifixion” by the Flemish painter Pieter Brueghel the Younger;
  • The Special Unit of the Carabinieri that investigates art theft;
  • Two art thieves;
  • A talkative pensioner; and
  • The international press

The date:  Around the Ides of March 2019

It was the middle of the day in bright sunlight.  The parish priest of Santa Maria Maddalena was on his usual mission to bring communion to housebound parishioners.  Two men entered the empty church and headed directly for the side chapel.  There, in a glass case was the precious “Crucifixion” by the Flemish painter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638).  They worked quickly.  They smashed the case with a hammer, removed the painting worth at least 3 million euros, and sped off in a white Peugeot.  The screeching car attracted the attention of a resident, who saw that the church door was wide open, and raised the alarm.  The priest, the mayor, and the townspeople were all distraught.

But what really happened? The Carabinieri had been tipped off weeks earlier that burglars had set their sights on the Brueghel painting.  Don Alessandro was also worried about the increasing attention to this church.  “Tourists have always arrived from Belgium, Holland, and even Japan.  Lately, however, also many Italians.  When I started to find beer bottles left in front of the painting, I suspected that among the tourists could also be those who were interested in the painting for less honorable reasons.”  Don Alessandro loves art and knows this Flemish painting by heart because as a child he loved to draw three subjects in particular: Batman, Donald Duck, and the works of Brueghel.

So the Carabinieri, the parish priest, and the town mayor hatched a plan.  They removed the original painting for safe keeping, substituted a fake, and installed security cameras.  And they agreed to keep this secret.  But the townspeople weren’t easily fooled.  Mayor Daniele Montebello said, “I had residents in my office, suspicious because this painting looked different.  I tried to play it down, telling everyone that it was just an impression.”  The copy, in fact, was much brighter than the original and lacked the typical roughness of the brushstrokes.

When news of the theft got out, Castlenuovo found itself the center of attention.  One talkative pensioner could not resist the temptation to tell the story.  The mayor was flooded with phone calls and interview requests not only from the Italian media, but also from the New York Times, CNN, and Canadian newspapers, among others.  The real story is that the thieves stole a fake painting by falling into a trap set by the Carabinieri.

The target painting is an oil on five oak panels that shows the Crucifixion from above.  It may be based on a work done by the artist’s father, Pieter Brueghel the Elder.  It is similar to another of Bruegel the Younger’s work which is housed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The younger Brueghel’s auction record stands at more $10.7 million, set at Christie’s in 2011 for The Battle Between Carnival and Lent.

What now?  Father Chiantaretto says that the church usually remains open all day, so visitors can pray or appreciate its many artworks. But he fears that the theft—even of a fake—would force him to limit access.  “When churches are like museums, you either must have staff or volunteers, or you close them.”  Italy remains a popular destination for thieves because of its rich cultural heritage and the plethora of churches –filled with art — that remain open and free to the public.  The good news is that art crime has fallen in Italy from a reported 906 incidents in 2011 to 449 in 2016.

And this is no doubt in part due to the vigilance of the Special Unit of the Carabinieri, which is investigating this case under the strictest secrecy.  The only thing the Carabinieri will say is that this was probably a case undertaken on commission and that locating the thieves is “only a matter of time.”

Posted in Arte, English, Italia, Liguria | 2 Comments

Chi inventò il telefono?

Posted on June 20, 2019 by babbityjean

I bambini americani studiano a scuola Alexander Graham Bell.  In realtà, era Antonio Meucci.  Lui fu un interessante e prolifico inventore che, sfortunatamente, ebbe una vita tragica.

Meucci nacque a Firenze nel 1808.  Frequentò l’Accademia di Bell’Arti nella città dove studiava anche ingegneria chimica, meccanica ed elettricità in particolare.  Poi lavorò al Teatro della Pergola come tecnico di palcoscenico.  Un giovane romantico e sognatore, Meucci trovava che la bellezza del teatro fosse molto ispirante.  Era qui che incontrò la sua futura moglie, Ester.

Nel 1835, la coppia emigrò a L’Avana, a Cuba, dove Antonio divenne capo ingegnere al Grande Teatro Tacón.  A Cuba ricevette il riconoscimento di ricercatore scientifico e sviluppatore di nuove tecnologie.  Qui concepì il primo sistema telefonico nel 1849, quando Alexander Graham Bell aveva solo 2 anni.

L’attrattazione verso il “nuovo mondo” indusse la coppia ad emigrare negli Stati Uniti nel 1850.  Vissero il resto delle loro vita a Staten Island, a New York, dove Meucci continuò a sviluppare le sue invenzioni, tra cui le candele senza fumo.  Ester perse l’uso degli arti a cause dell’artrite e fu confinata un una camera da letto al piano superiore.  Meucci sviluppò e installò un sistema teletrofonico, che collegava la camera di Ester alla sua piccola fabbrica, in modo che potesse parlare con lei durante il giorno.

Tra il 1850 e il 1862 Meucci sviluppò più di 30 diversi modelli di trasmissione della parola su corrente elettrica.  Continuò a sperimentare, ma aveva bisogna di finanziamenti per fare dimostrazioni su larga scala delle sue scoperte rivoluzionarie.  Il pregiudizio impediva ai finanziatori di New York di sostenerlo, quindi Meucci rivolse le sue speranze all’Italia.  Nel 1861 eseguì una dimostrazione a lunga distanza con una famosa cantante lirica italiana a New York, che fu pubblicato nel L’Eco d’Italia, un giornale italiano di New York.  Purtroppo, non fu in grado di ricevere gli investimenti necessari dall’Italia, che era in pieno Risorgimento.

Un’altra tragedia seguì.  Andò in bancarotta a causa di processi contrari da parte di collezionisti fraudolenti. La sua casa di Staten Island fu messa all’asta; per fortuna, l’acquirente permise alla coppia di continuare a viverci senza affitto.  Ma nel 1871 sul traghetto da Manhattan a Staten Island, il motore a vapore esplose quasi uccidendolo.  Mentre era in ospedale, sua moglie vendette i suoi modelli di teletrofono per raccogliere soldi per vivere.

Durante il recupero, fondò la compagnia Telettrofono.  Ma prima di portare le sue invenzioni sul mercato, avevo bisogno di un brevetto per tutelarsi legalmente.  Non poteva permettersi il costo di 250 dollari, quindi ricevette un caveat, cioè una notifica ufficiale che certificava la richiesta ufficiale per un brevetto; poteva essere rinnovato annualmente al costo di 10 dollari.  Poi nel 1872 andò alla Western Union Telegraph Company di New York per chiedere il permesso di testare il suo apparecchio telefonico sulle linee telegraphiche dell’azienda.  Fornì una descrizione del suo prototipo su una copia del caveat; lui ripetutamente chiese dello stato del prototipo.  Due anni dopo fu informato che tutto il suo materiale era andato perso.

Nel 1874 il caveat di Meucci scadde e due anni dopo Alexander Graham Bell, un dipendente della Western Union Laboratories, fu concesso il brevetto per il telefono. Meucci protestò.  Ovviamente cause legali seguirono.  Meucci si era limitato nel dare prove per dimostrare la sua invenzione del telefono elettromagnetico. I suoi modelli erano stati venduti e poi “persi” alla Western Union.  L’articolo nel giornale L’Eco d’Italiaera stato distrutto da un incendio.  Il giudice di questo processo, che era un noto sostenitore dell’anti-immigrazione, non credeva al resoconto di Meucci e così perse la causa.

Più di 100 anni dopo la morte di Meucci, il Congresso degli Stati Uniti ha riconosciuto nel 2002 il suo pionieristico lavoro sul telefono; aggiungendo inoltre che “se Meucci fosse stato in grado di pagare la tassa di 10 dollari per mantenere il caveat dopo il 1874, Bell non avrebbe ricevuto il brevetto”.

Oggi a Staten Island si trova il Museo Garibaldi-Meucci nella casa di Antonio Meucci, il vero inventore del telefono.  Era amico di Giuseppe Garibaldi, fautore dell’Unità d’Italia. Per oltre 50 anni la missione del museo è stato quella di preservare l’eredità di questi uomini e di promuovere la comprensione del patrimonio Italo-americano attraverso programmi, corsi culturali, artistici ed educativi.  L’entrata al museo è per caso di 10 dollari.

 

Posted in Firenze, Foto, Immigrazione, Italia, Italoamericani, New York, Storia | Leave a comment

Who Invented the Telephone?

Posted on June 20, 2019 by babbityjean

American school children are taught that is was Alexander Graham Bell.  In fact, it was Antonio Meucci.  He was an interesting and prolific inventor who, unfortunately, had a tragic life.

Meucci was born in Florence in 1808.  He attended the Accademia di Bell’Arte where he studied chemical and mechanical engineering, and electricity in particular.  He then worked at the Teatro della Pergola Opera House in Florence as a stage technician.  It was here that he met his future wife, Ester.  A young and dreamy romantic, Meucci found the beauty of the theatre to be quite inspirational.

In 1935 the couple emigrated to Havana, Cuba where Antonio became the Chief Engineer at the Great Tacón Theatre.  In Cuba he gained recognition as a scientific researcher and developer of new technologies. It was here that he conceived the first telephonic system in 1849 when Alexander Graham Bell was only 2 years old.

The lure of the “New World” enticed the couple to emigrate to the United States in 1850.  The lived the rest of their lives on Staten Island, New York, where Meucci continued his inventions, including smokeless candles. Ester became crippled with arthritis and was confined to an upstairs bedroom.  Meucci developed and installed a teletrofonic system, connecting Ester’s room to his small factory so that he could speak with her throughout the day.

Between 1850 and 1862, Meucci developed more than 30 different models of transmitting speech over vibrating electric currents.  He continued experimenting but he needed funding to make large-scale demonstrations of his revolutionary discoveries.  Prejudice prevented New York financiers from supporting him, so Meucci turned to Italy. In 1861 he performed a long-distance demonstration featuring a famous Italian opera singer, which brought much attention and was published in L’eco d’Italia, an Italian newspaper in New York.  Unfortunately, during Risorgimento, he was unable to attract the needed investments from Italy.

More tragedy followed. He became bankrupt due to trials against him by fraudulent collectors.  His Staten Island house was put up for auction; fortunately, the buyer allowed the couple to continue living there rent-free.  But in 1871 on the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island, the steam engine exploded nearly killing him.  While he was in the hospital for months, his wife sold his teletrofono models to raise money to live on.

While recovering from his injuries, Meucci formed the Telettrofono Company.  But before he could bring his discovery to market, he needed a patent to protect himself legally.  He could not afford the $250 cost so he obtained a caveat (an official notice of intention to file a patent application) which could be renewed annually at the cost of $10.  Then in 1872 he went to the Western Union Telegraph Company of New York to ask for permission to test his telephone apparatus on the company’s telegraph lines. He provided a description of his prototype and a copy of the caveat; he repeatedly inquired about the status. Two years later he was informed that all of his materials had been lost.

In 1874 Meucci’s caveat expired and two years later Alexander Graham Bell, an employee in the Western Union laboratories, is granted a patent on the telephone. Meucci protested.  Lawsuits ensued.  Meucci had limited existing evidence to prove his priority of the electromagnetic telephone.  His models had been sold and then “lost” at Western Union.  The newspaper article in L’Eco d’Italia had been destroyed in a fire.  The judge in this trial, a well-known anti-immigration proponent, did not believe Meucci’s accounts and he lost the case.

Ove 100 years after Meucci’s death, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution in 2002 recognizing Meucci’s pioneering work on the telephone; it said that “if Meucci had been able to pay the $10 fee to maintain the caveat after 1874, no patent could have been issued to Bell.”

Today on Staten Island stands the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum in the former home of Antonio Meucci, the true inventor of the telephone.   He was a friend to Giuseppe Garibaldi,who had championed the unification of Italy. For over 50 years the museum’s mission has been to preserve the legacies of these men, and to promote understanding of the Italian-American heritage through cultural, artistic and educational programs and classes.  Admission to the museum is $10.

 

Posted in English, Firenze, Foto, Immigrazione, Italia, Italoamericani, Storia | 1 Comment