La Luna Rossa: Challenger for the America’s Cup

Posted on March 4, 2021 by babbityjean

On Sunday, February 21, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli earned the right to race Emirates Team New Zealand for the 2021 America’s Cup.  The Italian boat won the qualifying competition in the Gulf of Hauraki (Auckland, New Zealand) beating INEOS Team UK in 7 races to 1, demonstrating Luna Rossa’s superiority in every aspect of the regatta: faster boat, better maneuvers, an almost perfect positioning in the field.  Owned by Patrizio Prada, CEO of Prada, Luna Rossa is led by Max Sirena.  The 11-man crew includes the helmsmen Francesco Bruni and Jimmy Spithill (an Australian).  As the team celebrated—with rum added to champagne inside the Prada Cup that passed from sailor to sailor, they vowed to do whatever it takes to win the “Auld Mug,” as it is affectionately called: “We will leave no stone unturned to bring the America’s Cup to Italy for the first time in 170 years.”

The oldest trophy in sport, America’s Cup began in 1851 when the Royal Yacht Squadron hosted a race around the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom.  The schooner America won.  The trophy was named ‘America’s Cup” after the yacht was donated to the New York Yacht Club (NYYC) and the cup was dedicated to international competition in perpetuity.  The contest is held between two sailing yachts:  the defender represents the yacht club that currently holds the America’s Cup and the challenger represents the competitor yacht club.  The defender and the challenger determine the timing of each match.  The America’s Cup has not had a set schedule over the years, but the competition has recently been held every third or fourth year.

There has only been one challenger until 1970.  Because of multiple challengers thereafter, the NYYC agreed to run a series of races with the winner becoming the official challenger.  Since 1982, the Louis Vuitton Cup has been the prize for the winner of the challenger selection series.  (This year Prada sponsored the challenger selection series.)  The America’s Cup trophy was held by the NYYC until 1983—the longest reign in the history of all sports.  Thereafter Australia, New Zealand, and even Switzerland (a land-locked country) have shared the limelight as defenders.  Italy appeared on the scene in 1992 when Il Moro di Venezia of the Compagnia della Vela (Yacht Club)challenged and lost to America of the San Diego Yacht Club.  Italy was the official challenger again in 2000—this time the Luna Rossa from the Yacht Club of Punta Ala (in Tuscany) challenged and lost to Team New Zealand.  Despite being the original host, the United Kingdom has never won the “Auld Mug.”

The history and prestige of the America’s Cup attract not only the world’s best sailors and yacht designers, but also wealthy entrepreneurs and sponsors.  The America’s Cup is a test of sailing skill and boat design, as well as fundraising and management skills.  Competing is expensive with modern teams spending more than $100 million each.  There are specific rules that each country must follow.  This year the boats are AC75s, which are 75-foot foiling monohulls.  They have no keels but instead use a foil cant-arm system for leverage.  And they seem to fly at nearly 100 km per hour!  Each boat has freedom in many areas of design but there are rules about the boats being constructed in the home country.  Likewise, 20% of sailors in each team must have passports from that country, and the rest must meet a residency requirement.

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli will now face Emirates Team New Zealand from March 6 to 15.  This is the event for which the team has been training for the last four years.  As the defending team, the kiwis are considered intelligent, skilled and almost certainly very fast.  They have been able to sit back and observe their potential competition in the Prada Cup.  For now, Italy can celebrate becoming the official challenger for the Cup.  They sailed incredibly well in a boat that looks impressively quick.  As skipper Sirena said on February 21, “It’s a beautiful day for Luna Rossa and for Italian sailing.  Thanks to all the fans who pushed us from Italy…I hope, in these difficult times, we have brought joy to homes.  And now let’s get back to improve the boat and be as good as Team New Zealand.”  

Posted in English, Foto, Italia, Lo Sport, New York, Sicilia, Storia, Toscana, Venezia | Leave a comment

La Carta e l’arte

Posted on February 25, 2021 by babbityjean

La carta venne usata per la prima volta in Europa nell’XI secolo ma era costosa, di scarsa qualità e difficile da cancellare. Quindi, il disegno non era una forma d’arte durante il Medioevo. Ma nel Rinascimento tutto cambiò. La disponibilità di carta migliorò, era quindi meno costosa, e così c’era maggiore possibilità di essere usata anche per il disegno. Gli artisti del Rinascimento, grazie alla carta, erano in grado di abbozzare il proprio lavoro prima di disegnarlo, dipingerlo o scolpirlo. Ciò significava che potevano pianificare e sperimentare idee su carta, facendo evolvere la loro arte a  più alti livelli.

Secondo Mark Kurlansky nel suo libro del 2016, “Paper: Paging through History”, durante il Rinascimento “gli artisti disegnavano e abbozzavano con vari gradi di abilità. Leonardo da Vinci era leggendario per le sue capacità di disegnatore. Michelangelo, noto per i suoi affreschi e le sue sculture, era altrettanto brillante come disegnatore … sebbene la maggior parte del suo disegno fosse scarabocchiato caotici su fogli di carta non destinati alla vista del pubblico. Entrambi gli artisti utilizzavano la carta di Fabriano molte.

“Michelangelo usava molta carta … quasi ogni pezzo di carta che usava conteneva alcuni schizzi. Alcuni erano disegni finiti. Su uno splendido disegno della risurrezione di Cristo è anche annotata una lista della spesa. Su magistrali disegni ripiegati, sono annotati sul retro banali cose di vita quotidiana.  Michelangelo potrebbe essere stato tra i primi a buttare giù idee veloci per se stesso. Sono state raccolte circa 2.000 lettere di corrispondenza di Michelangelo. La scrittura epistolare è un’altra pratica che sbocciò con la diffusione della carta.

“Leonardo da Vinci era famoso nella sua vita per non completare i propri progetti. … Per fortuna però che c’era la carta, su cui Leonardo poteva dare libero sfogo al proprio genio. Anche se di solito viene considerato un pittore, sono stati trovati solo 15 dipinti, alcuni incompiuti, insieme a due murales danneggiati.  Provò a creare anche alcune sculture, ma non ne finì una. Lasciò ben 30 taccuini rilegati. A differenza di Michelangelo, che non voleva che le persone vedessero i suoi lavori su carta, Leonardo ha lasciato appunti sulla calligrafia speculare – una curiosa risposta visto che era mancino. Sono pervenuti fino a noi disegni raffiguranti tutte le sue invenzioni e appunti sulla letteratura, l’arte, la mitologia, l’anatomia, l’ingegneria e, soprattutto, sulla natura….

“Leonardo lasciò anche 4.000 fogli di disegni di una bellezza sbalorditiva. Fu il primo artista ad essere riconosciuto per i suoi disegni su carta. Il lavoro di Leonardo divenne lo standard per l’arte nella Firenze rinascimentale. Studiare arte ora significava lavorare sulla carta e imparare a disegnare. Leonardo stesso aveva imparato l’arte in quel modo nella conosciuta bottega del Verrochio “. 

Da allora gli artisti si sono formati sulla carta.

Posted in Arte, Firenze, Foto, Italia, Italiano, Storia, Toscana | Leave a comment

Paper and Art

Posted on February 25, 2021 by babbityjean

Paper first came to Europe in the 11th century but it was expensive and of poor quality and difficult to erase.  Hence, drawing was not an art form during the Middle Ages.  But by the Renaissance this had all changed.  The availability of better and less expensive paper opened up the possibility of the sketch.  Renaissance artists were able to sketch their work before they drew, painted, or sculpted it.  This meant they could plan and experiment with ideas on paper, and it raised their art to a new level.

According to Mark Kurlansky in his 2016 book, “Paper: Paging through History,” during the Renaissance, “artists drew and sketched with varying degrees of skill.  Leonardo da Vinci was legendary for his skills as a draftsman.  Michelangelo, known for his frescoes and sculptures, was equally brilliant as a draftsman…though most of his drawing was scribbled chaotically on sheets of paper not intended for public view.  Both artists used Fabriano paper at least some of the time.

“Michelangelo used a great deal of paper, [and]…almost any piece of paper he used contained a few sketches.  A few are finished drawings.  A stunning drawing of the resurrection of Christ is also marked with a shopping list.  Masterful drawings were folded up, with notes about the banal ephemera of everyday life jotted on the reverse side. … Michelangelo may have been among the first to jot down quick ideas for himself.  Some 2,000 letters from and to Michelangelo have been collected.  Letter writing is another practice that blossomed with the widespread use of paper.

“Leonardo da Vinci was notorious in his lifetime for his inability to complete projects. … Fortunately, there was paper, on which Leonardo could capture his genius.  Though he is usually thought of as a painter, only 15 paintings, some unfinished, have been found, along with two damaged murals.  He also attempted some sculpture, though he never finished one piece.  But he left behind 30 bound notebooks.  Unlike Michelangelo, he did not want people to see this work on paper, including notes he made in his mirror-image script – a curious response to being left-handed.  He left drawings depicting all kind of inventions, and notes on literature, arts, mythology, anatomy, engineering, and, most of all nature….

“Leonardo also left behind 4,000 sheets of drawings of staggering beauty.  He was the first artist to be recognized for his drawings on paper.  Leonardo’s work became the standard for art in Renaissance Florence.  Studying art now meant working on paper, learning to draw.  Leonardo had learned art that way himself, in the workshop taught by Andrea del Verrochio.”

Artists have been trained on paper ever since.

Posted in Arte, English, Firenze, Foto, Italia, Storia, Toscana | Leave a comment