Today is the day before February 14th and some silver-haired readers may remember an old adage about liking something or lumping it. But are we absolutely certain that there are no other possible alternatives to this (ahem) ‘sugary’ routine? Talking about love may imply realising that many of those things that are (or are not) … Read more
The vanishing point of a painting is the spot to which our eye is drawn and that gives us the intended perspective; but who’s to say the eye wouldn’t prefer to continue roving? A bit like Vermeer’s “Astronomer” which is now in the Louvre, but once belonged to the Rothschilds, the Jewish banking family. The … Read more
“The silence of the place was dreadful”, is how Perrault describes the Prince’s impression when he arrives at the castle, shortly before breaking the spell which had kept Beauty asleep for one hundred years. We could do with a fairy tale, even after one week; a week during which, with a great deal of effort, … Read more
December is the month we measure the year as if counting with an abacus. But no worries, at least as far as words are concerned: the newly-coined ones that get most frequently mentioned usually don’t give us too much of headache. Although they come charging through the palisades, they generally consist in the name of one’s sweetheart … Read more
According to a time-honoured tradition, today is the day that we Italians put up our Christmas trees and proceed to staging our nativities. Let’s imagine, however, that we’re flying over another classic Christmas scene: New York, Fifth Avenue and the Metropolitan Museum. The Christmas tree lights are about to be switched on but, as we … Read more
At the Fondazione Prada in Milan Rem Koolhaas and Salvatore Settis have mounted a Roman sarcophagus on a desk: visitors are invited to sit down on an office chair to observe the marble artefact. It’s almost an explicit invitation not to get distracted. It was the Romans themselves who had favoured the idea of a … Read more
Medieval books of hours always featured sections – flourishes – that didn’t contain the devotional prayers to be said at the canonical hours. In these miniature drawings, which in technical jargon were called “Marginalia”, the illuminators would let their imagination run free. One of the strangest and most popular drawings of this kind depicts a knight in … Read more
This autumn, social networks are offering us a rather interesting journey around the world. For example there’s the Metaverse which recently celebrated its first birthday, yet is still about as densely populated as Antarctica. On the other hand, when it comes to traffic TikTok allows us to glide over a street in Beijing at rush hour, … Read more
Some are doomed to roam the earth before they find a soul mate with an ideal form, and the following story is all about this. We know that the origins of “All Hallows’ Eve” are to be found in the Celtic pagan tradition: it was believed that on that particular night the souls of the … Read more
The dachshund is a classic example of wishful thinking. Although handbooks tell us that it has a playful temperament, it seems that this is an ‘optional extra’ reserved for close acquaintances only. Indeed the dachsie fancies itself as a guard dog, but its diminutive size isn’t on its side. Talking of sides, the dachshund’s defeat … Read more
