The new book by Alessandro Masi, Secretary General of the Dante Alighieri Society is released: ten illustrated stories to discover the wonderful language of art
It is entitled Traveling with art the new book published for Loescher publisher by Alessandro Masi, with Chiara Barbato and Gaia Chiuchiù, which aims to carve out an original space in the panorama of Italian for foreigners. The novelty of the text is in fact in the choice of a format narrative and beautiful signed illustrations by Enrico Focarelli Barone, aka Frelly, a young and promising illustrator of Calabrian origin but Roman by adoption.
Frelly's comics translate into images the stories of numerous characters, coming from different parts of the world, who, driven by personal, cultural, study or work interests, undertake their own exciting 'I travel to italy'and an grandtour contemporary that touches Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Venice, Turin, Pompeii and Palermo but does not stick to the usual cliche: Emad, for example, dreams of training as a restorer in the prestigious school of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Sergei attends an exciting auction session, Ryan wanders among the pavilions of the Venetian Biennale to catch up on the latest frontiers of creativity, while Adrian is engaged in research on the applications of new technologies for the use of archaeological heritage.
The ten episodes evoke as many specific aspects of the art world (the museum; the artist's tools; iconography and iconology; restoration; artistic techniques; the art market; contemporary art; architecture and urban planning; archeology; Christian architecture) and refer to the key words of the language of art: a selection of 200 headwords studied in depth with the help of agile cards and a rich section of exercises. The work is completed by the digital materials that can be downloaded from the “Imparosulweb” portal and from the “Discover +” app by Loescher.
In his introduction to the volume, the Minister of University and Research Gaetano Manfredi defines Traveling with art "A simplified and clear tool to achieve the aim of strengthening the knowledge of the Italian language in international students in Italy". And he adds: "In a complex moment like the one that all educational systems are experiencing in this year 2020, due to the pandemic [...] it is necessary to relaunch by continuing to promote the quality of the Italian higher education system at an international level".
In the book, this objective is not pursued by offering exclusively technical or didactic support, but by accompanying the foreign reader and student in a context of real life, helping to understand the absolute excellence of our artistic history and our cultural heritage.
Notes on the Authors
Alessandro Masi he is an art historian and Secretary General of the Dante Alighieri Society. He is a lecturer at the Uninettuno University and the IULM University. His studies are centered on Italian art from Futurism to Pop Art. He has curated monographic works and exhibitions on artists of the twentieth century. He is the author of publications concerning the politics and legislation of the arts and of a history of Futurist literature. He also dealt with Roman painting of the 60s and was the film's scientific consultant Electric shadows, produced by Rai Cultura (2019). Lastly, he has collaborated with various newspapers and television schedules Third Page, broadcast on Rai5.
Chiara Barbato deals with the history of art and architecture, in particular of the twentieth century in Italy. He is tutor of Contemporary Art History at the Uninettuno University. Since 2001 he has collaborated with the Dante Alighieri Society, for which he has held courses in Art History for foreigners and coordinated numerous cultural and editorial projects. He has curated thematic and monographic exhibitions, including Lucius Fontana. Los Origines (Rosary of Santa Fe, Castagnino Museum, 2019).
Gaia Chiuchiù she has a degree in languages, language teaching address. He is currently responsible for research, experimentation and programming in the courses of theItalian language academy Assisi for which she is the coordinator of the courses of Italian language and culture and English language and culture. She is the author of teaching materials for teaching Italian as L2.
Dante Alighieri Society Press Office
