The Torlonia Marbles

Posted on July 1, 2021 by babbityjean

This is a story of many stories.  First and foremost, it is about the Torlonia marbles themselves.  In April 2021, 92 masterpieces were unveiled at the Palazzo Caffarelli in Rome’s Capitoline Museums.  Called the “Torlonia Marbles: Collecting Masterpieces,” this exhibition represents the largest and most important private collection of ancient art in the world.  It rivals those in the world’s great museums and is second only to the Vatican Museums in the size and quality of the art.  The entire collection of 620 pieces includes statues, sarcophagi, busts, vases and reliefs dating from the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD.

The exhibition opens with a panoply of busts, as well as the collection’s only bronze, a first century AD statue of the Roman general Germanicus—set against walls of Pompeian red.  The next rooms feature a satyr and nymph in dance, the embrace of Eirene and Ploutos, and a fantastic bas-relief with a view of the time of peace by Portus Augusti.  These works represent those brought to light during the 19th c. excavations of the Torlonia’s lands near Rome, in Sabina and in the Viterbo area.  But the bulk of the entire collection was assembled by acquiring collections—in whole or in part—from aristocratic Italian families in financial straits.  Those collections, in turn, had within them a significant number of works from collections dating back to 16th century Rome.  Hence the entire display is described as “a collection of collections,” which represents a cross-section of the history of collecting antiquities.

This project also revealed new insights into classical sculpture.  Before going on display, the sculptures had been researched and cleaned.  Supported by the Italian luxury brand Bulgari, conservation of one marble relief depicting a harbor still had traces of its original painted surface.  Even though classical sculptures were often brightly painted, it is rare today to find evidence of the original pigments—either because they faded over time or because collectors preferred pristine surfaces.  According to the conservator of the Torlonia collection, Anna Maria Carruba, recording historic interventions was her most challenging task.  In the exhibition is a large resting goat statue from the end of the 1st century BC; however, the head is from a later period and is attributed to the Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.  The exhibition concludes with a statue of Hercules stripped clean of its patina to reveal “a puzzle” composed of 125 pieces belonging to at least two different ancient statues that were brought together in different eras.  It had been coated to give the sense of one sculpture, which was not an unusual process in the past.  The statue represents not only practices of the past but also the challenges facing today’s conservators, restorers and archaeologists.

The origins of this collection date back to the Torlonia family that amassed a fortune during the 18th and 19th centuries through administration of the Vatican’s finances.  The family kept its collection private; in 1875, Prince Alessandro Torlonia set up a private museum to showcase the ancient marbles, but the collection was visible only to other noble families by special appointment.  The world glimpsed the statues only through photographs in a catalogue that was published in 1884. 

The mystique grew.  The collection ended up in storerooms in Rome after World War II.  (This story will be told in next week’s post).  The Italian government tried to reach an agreement with the Torlonia family to either display or sell the works, but the negotiations stalled for decades.  In 2013 the most recent Prince Alessandro Torlonia (who died in 2017) set up a Foundation to manage the family’s artistic patrimony.  The Foundation is run by the prince’s grandson, Alessandro Poma Murialdo.  Then came a breakthrough in 2016: the Italian government, the family heirs, and the foundation signed an accord to display the works.  The deal also stipulates that the collection will tour abroad, but the pandemic has delayed the decisions on which countries and institutions.  “The international tour was for us an essential part of the accord from the start…It’s important that the collection be shared internationally,” said Poma Murialdo.

Posted in Architecture, Arte, English, Foto, Italia, Roma, Storia, Vaticano | 1 Comment

È davvero un progresso?

Posted on June 24, 2021 by babbityjean

Con i progressi tecnologici, ci sono sempre pro e contro, vantaggi e svantaggi. Pensa ai social media, ad esempio. Recentemente sono apparsi degli articoli su due “innovazioni” alimentari, che solo il tempo dirà se le riscuoteranno fra la gente, per poi adottarli.

La prima innovazione – riportato sul New York Times – proviene da ricercatori di un laboratorio della Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. I ricercatori hanno progettato una pasta piatta, che una volta bollita si trasforma in forme tridimensionali. Il loro progetto non è iniziato come un’impresa culinaria, ma i ricercatori finendo per concentrarsi su uno degli alimenti più popolari al mondo, hanno scoperto che la pasta non è solo semplice e reperibile ovunque, ma anche ricca di forme.

Nell’industria alimentare odierna, la pasta viene prodotta attraverso una trafila di metallo che la modella nella forma desiderata: gomito, torsione o tubo. Il team di ricercatori di questo progetto ha iniziato con una ricetta convenzionale di farina di semola e acqua, poi ha utilizzato un rullo classico per creare foglie di pasta. Ha quindi inciso sulle sfoglie minuscoli in superficie. Le superfici scanalate si dilatano meno di quelle lisce durante la cottura, creando così forme diverse. Tuttavia, il processo è più complesso del semplice rigonfiamento: la modellazione al computer ha previsto il risultato finale in base anche ad altri fattori, tra cui il modo con cui il calore e l’acqua modificano il glutine e l’amido dell’impasto durante il processo di cottura. 

Naturalmente, solo mangiandole potremo dire la nostra sulla qualità dell’innovazione. I ricercatori affermano che la pasta da piatto è divertente da preparare, utilizza meno imballaggi e ha una quantità di carbonio inferiore rispetto alla pasta secca tradizionale.   Inoltre cuoce in 7 minuti… restando, pensate, perfino al dente, il che è già un buon inizio.

L’altra innovazione arriva da Roma, secondo quanto riportato dalla CNN. Vicino a piazza Bologna in via Catania, è sorto un nuovo distributore automatico di colore rosso brillante. Ma questo non eroga spuntini classici, bevande o altri oggetti di uso quotidiano. Produce pizza: pronta e cotta in soli tre minuti. Da “Mr. Go Pizza “, i clienti possono scegliere tra quattro tipi di pizza, che costano tra 4,50 euro e 6,00 euro: margherita, quattro formaggi, alla diavola, o con pancetta. La macchina impasta e cuoce la pizza, mentre i clienti possono osservare tutto ciò da una piccola finestra di vetro. La pizza viene poi servita in una scatola di cartone, proprio come in un ristorante da asporto. 

La tecnologia Mr. Go nasce da una start up internazionale che opera nel settore food tech; Al progetto partecipa il Food Labs di Bolzano, che da dieci anni lavora per implementare l’efficienza e la qualità dei macchinari. Il risultato? Per lo più pollici in giù. Tra i commenti – “non abbastanza caldo”, “condimenti insufficienti”, “ha un sapore più simile a una piadina”. La pagina Facebook di Mr. Go risponde ad alcuni detrattori: “Il misto di farine utilizzate contiene una piccolissima quantità di agente lievitante e zucchero, che attivano il processo di lievitazione durante la fase di cottura”. Ma cucinare questa pizza fatta a macchina a 195° centigradi non è neanche lontanamente vicino al minimo di 425° centigradi di un forno a legna per pizza. E la macchina non può certamente generare quel piacere di guardare un pizzaiolo in bella vista al ristorante di fronte ad un forno a legna. Sul lato positivo? La macchina è in funzione tutta la notte, e forse per gli studenti della zona, Mr. Go è proprio una gran trovata.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, Formaggio, Foto, Italia, Italiano, La Gente, Roma | Leave a comment

Is this really progress?

Posted on June 24, 2021 by babbityjean

With technological advancements, there are always pros and cons, pluses and minuses.  Think of social media, for example.  There were two announcements recently about food “advances” that only time will tell whether people will accept and adopt them.

The first—reported in the New York Times— comes from researchers at a Carnegie Mellon University laboratory in Pennsylvania. Researchers there designed a flat pasta noodle that when boiled turns into three-dimensional shapes.  Their project didn’t start out as a culinary endeavor, but the researchers ending up focusing on one of the world’s most popular foods:  they found that pasta is not only simple and ubiquitous, but also rich in shape design.

In the food industry today, pasta is made by folding or squeezing dough through a metal die and then into the desired shape—elbow, twist, or tube.  The research team in this project began with a conventional recipe of semolina flour and water, and then used a classic roller to create sheets of dough.  Then they stamped the flattened dough to create tiny patterned grooves in its surface.  The grooved surfaces expand less than the smooth ones during cooking, thus creating different shapes.  However, the process is more complex that just swelling—computer modelling predicted the final designs based on other factors including how heat and water changes the dough’s gluten and starch during the cooking process.

Of course, the proof will be in the eating.  The researchers say that flat-to-plump pasta is fun to make, uses less packaging, and has a smaller carbon footprint than traditional dried pasta.  It also cooks in 7 minutes…making it al dente, which is a good start.

The other announcement comes from Rome, as reported by CNN.  Near Piazza Bologna in via Catania, stands a bright new red vending machine.  But this one doesn’t dispense classic snacks, drinks or daily necessities.  Instead, it produces freshly cooked pizza in just three minutes.  From “Mr. Go Pizza,” clients can choose from four kinds of pizza that cost between $5.20 and $7.20: Margherita, quattro formaggi (four cheeses), alla diavola (spicy salame), or pancetta (bacon).  The machine kneads and tops the dough, and then customers can watch the pizza cook behind a small glass window.  The pizza is dispensed in a carton, just like at a takeaway restaurant. 

The Mr. Go technology comes from an international start up that operates in the food tech sector; The Food Labs of Bolzano participates in the project, which has been working to implement the efficiency and quality of the machinery for ten years.  The result?  Mostly thumbs down.  Among the comments— “not hot enough,” “not enough toppings,” “tastes more like a piadina (an Italian flatbread).  The Mr. Go Facebook page responds to some of the detractors: “The flour mix used contains a very small amount of leavening agent and sugar that activate the leavening process during the cooking phase.”  But cooking this machine-made pizza at 380 degrees is nowhere near the 800-degree minimum of a wood-burning pizza oven.  And the machine cannot generate the joy from watching a pizzaiola knead the dough and cook it in that oven within sight of your restaurant table.  On the positive side?  The machine is open all night, and maybe for students in the area, Mr. Go is just the right thing.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, English, Formaggio, Foto, Italia, Roma | 2 Comments