LE RISPOSTE DELLA SCIENZA ALLE DOMANDE DELL'ASTRONOMIAGravità Zero
Questa conferenza, aperta a tutti gratuitamente, ha lo scopo di raccontare al pubblico quali sono i contributi che la scienza dà all'astronomia.
Esponenti di diverse discipline scientifiche ci spiegheranno come la fisica, l'astronomia, la
statistica, la chimica e la divulgazione scientifica si sono messe al servizio della conoscenza del cielo sopra di noi.
LE RISPOSTE DELLA SCIENZA ALLE DOMANDE DELL'ASTRONOMIAGravità Zero
Questa conferenza, aperta a tutti gratuitamente, ha lo scopo di raccontare al pubblico quali sono i contributi che la scienza dà all'astronomia.
Esponenti di diverse discipline scientifiche ci spiegheranno come la fisica, l'astronomia, la
statistica, la chimica e la divulgazione scientifica si sono messe al servizio della conoscenza del cielo sopra di noi.
Presentazione - Analisi di una notiza di cronacaEleonora Emme
Analisi di una notizia di cronaca - Corso di laurea in Comunicazione e psicologia
Teoria e tecnica dei nuovi media - Professore Piero Schiavo Campo
Eleonora Matrella - Claudio Tagliabue - Federica Boccia
Presentazione - Analisi di una notiza di cronacaEleonora Emme
Analisi di una notizia di cronaca - Corso di laurea in Comunicazione e psicologia
Teoria e tecnica dei nuovi media - Professore Piero Schiavo Campo
Eleonora Matrella - Claudio Tagliabue - Federica Boccia
2. II fisico toscano
Guido Tonelli
quando,
a maggio, ha
vinto il premio
«Galileo» per
la divulgazione
scientifica
Qui sopra la
pagina di ieri
del Corriere
Fiorentino;
nella foto
piccola,
il Centro Virgo
visto dall'alto
Rapporti di forza
Gli Usa negli ultimi dieci
anni, hanno investito un
miliardo di euro, ovvero
tre, quattro volte quanto
investito dall'Europa
Viva Cascina,
ma abbiamo pagato
l'attesa dei finanziamenti
Cosa non ha funzionato
In un mondo normale,
Gentiloni, il ministro
Fedeli e i responsabili del
progetto si siederebbero
a un tavolo: se vogliamo
primeggiare nella
scienza, la politica deve
ascoltare gli scienziati
Chi è
• Fisico e
professore
all'Università
di Pisa, Guido
Tonelli fa parte
del team che
ha scoperto
il bosone di
Higgs e ha
vinto il Nobel
nel 2015
• Dal 1976
lavora nella
fisica delle alte
energie al Cern
di Ginevra
r
-f
e4 ^V1 *—.,
T 1
3. Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, Thursday 5 October 2017.
«Long live Cascina, long live Virgo. But we got 30, when we could have got 31». For Guido Tonelli, a
Tuscan professor of Physics at the University of Pisa, the award of the Nobel Prizes for Physics to Rainer
Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S.Thorne is wonderful news but above all a missed opportunity for our
Country. "If Italy and France had not cut the funds, today there would be an Italian among the award-
winning scientists, i.e. Adalberto Giazotto, an Italian physicist and creator of Virgo», says Tonelli, an expert
in high energy physics. He knows what it means to be close to achieving the most important honor for a
scientist: he is one of the protagonists of research that thanks to the accelerator of CERN in Geneva have
confirmed the existence of the boson postulated by Peter Higgs, a scientist who in 2013 won the Nobel Prize
for Physics with François Englert. On Wednesday 2, the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences announced
three new Nobel Prize winners Weiss, Barish and Thorne for discovering the first gravitational wave
(predicted by Einstein one hundred years ago), as part of the Ligo-Virgo collaboration: it is a project
involving over a thousand scholars all over the world, including the United States, Italy, France and
Germany. The US (Ligo) and the Italian interferometers (Virgo, based in Cascina, Pisa) constitute a
triangulation that confirmed the validity of the first Ligo observation, dating back to September 14, 2015, a
few weeks ago.
Professor, how did you react when you learned about the Nobel assignment?
«It's an event to be celebrated, undoubtedly. We expected it, it was in the air. Italy had a part to play in the
great discovery of gravitational waves and the Higgs boson. The initial signal of 2015 has been confirmed by
other similar signals: when on 14 August 2017 Ligo and Virgo collaborated with each other, they identified a
fourth signal identified by both experiments; there was no longer any doubt about the kind of revelation. But
this news can not fail to leave a certain bitter taste in the mouth. If ten years ago Italy and France had
invested "aggressively" like the United States did, today we would be celebrating an Italian-American
Nobel».
You are referrring to Giazotto, the pioneer of the Virgo project?
«Rainer Weiss is the father of Ligo. The Italian equivalent is Adalberto Giazotto, who immediately proposed
a method to increase the sensitivity of the interferometer in the region of low frequencies. Everyone told him
it was impossible, that it would be overwhelmed by higher noises; but he stubbornly insisted and
demonstrated that it is possible to identify gravitational waves precisely in the low frequencies. He was the
first in the world to have this idea and this system was adopted by both Virgo and Ligo. The collaboration
between the two interferometers envisaged the entry into operation in 2015: so it was for Ligo, while Virgo
became operational only in 2017. Two years' delay we have paid for dearly».
Has the United States been more forward-looking?
«The National Science Foundation has spent about a billion dollars, or three, four times more than the
amount invested by Europe. It is obvious and right that they have won the Nobel Prizes. They were so
resolute that they built two interferometers: one in Hanford and one in Louisiana».
Can Italy still get on board this moving train? Politicians are celebrating, but how much credit should
our country be given?
«I am the first to say “Viva Cascina, Viva Virgo ". There certainly was an Italian scientific contribution. Italy
embarked on a line of research that led to the Nobel. But now we must think about what did not turn out the
way we would have wanted. In a normal world I'd see Paolo Gentiloni, Minister Valeria Fedeli, sit around a
table; as well as Fernando Ferroni, president of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (sponsor of the
Virgo project together with the French National Research Council), the head of Virgo Giovanni Losurdo
along with his French counterparts. If Italy wants to excel in science and technology (and it has the tools to
be a scientific and cultural superpower), politicians should listen to scientists. The next Nobel Prize could be
won by an Italian who will detect fossil gravitational waves, those that were emitted in the first few moments
after the Big Bang: they are the most refined instrument that can be conceived to understand the first states of
life in the universe.
5. He spent over ten hours lying on the asphalt, under a camper parked near the house. An involuntary snap
of the foot, perhaps to stretch after long immobility, has betrayed him. An agent of the mobile squad,
posted in the immediate vicinity, noticed the suspicious movement under the vehicle and tracked it down.
Patrizio Iacono was captured on Friday night at 10 p.m., after an endless manhunt. A hundred officers had
been busy until evening looking for the gangster, in a city literally in check, with false alarms, numerous
checkpoints and considerable deployment of armed law enforcement officers. That morning, shortly after
11 o'clock, he had fired a shotgun and then a 9-caliber pistol, cold-bloodedly injuring four people who had
dared to scold him for his reckless driving. He sowed panic in front of the "Tirreno" cafeteria in via
Michelangelo, in the "Cep" housing estate. He left behind him blood and fear, and then stealthily
disappeared on foot, crossing the tunnel under two blocks of council flats. The 21-year-old Iacono left no
trace behind him, not even that of his telephone: despite his youth he had the lucidity and the "foresight"
to turn off his red cell phone, dismantle it carefully in the family garage and hide until late at night. "How
long have you been looking for me?" he exclaimed to the officers who had told him to come out of the
hiding place. Perhaps he thought he had got away with it, in the absolute silence of a neighbourhood sealed
off by the police. The policemen took him to the apartment he shares with his mother, who at the moment
is in her native Alghero. His father had given himself up after a long time in hiding, while one of his brothers
is detained in Volterra prison. A problematic family background to say the least. "When we found him he
was calm," the investigators said yesterday morning at the press conference. A calmness that vanished
when the police took him to the aforementioned garage located in another condominium. «How did you
know about this garage?», Iacono is said have asked with eyes wide open, worried about what policemen
and carabinieri would soon discover. A real arsenal next to the phone left a few hours before: two rifles,
one with the barrel sawn off and with the serial number erased, a silencer and various types of
ammunition. "A considerable collection of illegally owned weapons", the attorney Alessandro Crini stated,
evidence of Iacono's ability to procure weapons illegally despite having been under house arrest for a year.
When he was a minor he was sentenced for robbery by the Juvenile Court of Sassari to be held in a juvenile
detention centre. Iacono arrived in Pisa from Sardinia a few months ago, after being subject to prohibition
to reside in Sardinia for a violent episode in 2017, when he had for sentimental reasons shot a man, to
whose home he had previously delivered a horse's head and some bullets.
Now he is in the Don Bosco prison in Pisa and in the next few hours will be questioned by the on-duty
magistrate.
"We arrested him in flagrante delicto. The people living in the area and witnesses collaborated in the
search ", explains the major Giovanni Bartolacci, in agreement with the deputy chief of police Rita
Sverdigliozzi. But why, despite being under house arrest, was Iacono known in the neighborhood for driving
without regard for the speed limit? In the last few hours it has emerged that the court had allowed him to
leave his home for two hours in the morning, but the police - responsible for surveillance of the young
Sardinian -, "had never received reports or complaints about his behaviour," the police explained.
A crucial point to be clarified is where the weapons discovered in the garage came from and, above all,
where the two guns used on Friday morning are. "At the moment we do not know where they are - say the
investigators -. Nor do we know where his motor cycle is. The investigation will have to clarify that ».
7. Identikit
• Virgo
è un grande
interferome-
tro costruito
da una
collaborazione
internazionale
per rivelare
onde
gravitazionali
provenienti
dall'universo
• Le onde
gravitazionali
sono un effetto
predetto dalla
teoria della
relatività
formulata da
Einstein
• Virgo è
nel comune
di Cascina (PO:
ha bracci
lunghi 3 km
f r I/ f
r lF f
r f Ir r Ir Ir J I I d I I
, I I II I I III
La rappre-
sentazione
delle stelle
di neutroni;
a sinistra, selfie
degli scienziati
di fronte
a uno dei bracci
di Virgo
8. Sharon Braithwaite in Cascina (Pisa). Tuesday 17th
October 2017.
Since 17 August the film of the universe is no longer silent: the Ligo-Virgo collaboration has
discovered the audio file of the oldest cinematographic work of all time. For the first time the fusion
of two neutron stars was observed simultaneously with the gravitational waves by the
interferometers (Ligo, in the United States, and Virgo in Cascina), with the electromagnetic
radiation of 70 telescopes on the ground and in space. Yesterday at 4:00 pm Italian time the
beginning of a new era of astronomy, called "multi-messenger", was announced: it makes it
possible to study space with observations based on different types of signals. Three simultaneous
international conferences illustrated the results from the United States, Germany and Italy, which
made an important contribution with the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) (National
Institute of Nuclear Physics), the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (Inaf) (National Institute of
Astrophysics) and the Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Asi) (Italian Space Agency). At the Virgo centre
in Cascina, a large group of Pisan scientists followed the live streaming of the announcement
launched by the National Science Foundation in Washington, concluding with applause and a toast.
Antonella Bozzi, head of the information technology sector of Ego, was present; Giancarlo Cella,
head of the Virgo Pisa-INFN group; Enrico Calloni, of the Virgo-Ligo joint localization
commission; Eric Genin, responsible for the Virgo-EGO injection system; Henrich Heitmann,
coordinator of the Virgo-CNR detector. All agree about the extraordinary importance of the event, a
revolution like that of Galileo when he pointed his telescope at the sky. Also present was
Massimiliano Razzano, physics researcher at the University of Pisa and scholar of the "multi-
messenger" approach. "So far we have talked about" multi-frequency "astronomy, which involves
studying a phenomenon with all the types of light available: radio waves, visible light, x-rays and
gamma rays, different forms of electromagnetic waves, but which we can consider as the one and
the same messenger - says Razzano -. Multi-messenger astronomy is a step forward: gravitational
waves are an independent messenger, a kind of second "sense". By combining electromagnetic
waves and gravitational waves we can understand the universe even more comprehensively. In the
future, we expect to see another messenger, neutrinos, a kind of third "sense" ».
In recent weeks, scientists have reconstructed the trajectory of the two signals emitted by the fusion
of stars, which took place at the outer reaches of the galaxy NGC 4993, in the constellation of
Hydra, at a distance of 130 million light years from Earth. It was planetary team work: teams of
astronomers and physicists worked together around the globe. INFN emphasizes that the Italian
contribution was decisive for the identification of the gravitational signal and for the
characterization of the source. "The conclusion of years and years of work", says Giancarlo Cella,
researcher at INFN in Pisa. The discovery was also significant because it made it possible to
understand that heavy chemical elements are formed, such as gold and platinum, as these events
occur. «For the first time in the history of mankind we could see and feel how two stars die - says
Walter Del Pozzo, of the Physics department -. At the origin of the universe there was only helium
and hydrogen. The fusion of neutron stars produces the elements that now exist on Earth». The
event of 17 August was predicted by Einstein a century ago and explains how our planet and life on
it came into being.
9. E nel Battistero "entrano"
personaggi contemporanei
Rivoluzionaria la scelta della commissione sui soggetti delle quattro nuove vetrate
Accanto a San Ranieri ci saranno Giuseppe Toniolo, Paolo VI e Giovanni Paolo Il
1 PISA mità, composto da monsignor
Giovanni Paolo Benotto, arci-
vescovo di Pisa, Gisella Cappo-
ni, direttrice dell'Istituto Cen-
trale Superiore di Restauro di
Roma; Marco Ciatti direttore
dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure
di Firenze, Mauro Ciampa del-
la Fondazione Pisa e Andrea
Muzzi, sovrintendente per le
province di Pisa e Livorno»,
spiega Pierfrancesco Pacini,
presidente dell'Opera della Pri-
maziale Pisana e membro della
commissione. «Le nuove vetra-
te rappresentano una realtà
nuova che ben si sposa con il
contesto - commenta Benotto -
San Ranieri sostituirà una vetra-
ta dedicata a lui, ma che è anda-
ta completamente perduta du-
rante l'ultimo conflitto bellico.
Abbiamo pensato di unire al pa-
trono tre personaggi del nostro
tempo, che hanno avuto a che
fare con Pisa e la Piazza del
Duomo». Giuseppe Toniolo fu
il primo beato dichiarato dalla
Chiesa in tempi recenti e appar-
teneva alla chiesa pisana; Paolo
VI, nel 1965, aveva celebrato la
messa tra il Battistero e il Duo-
mo, in occasione del congresso
eucaristico nazionale. Stesso
onere per Giovanni Paolo II, in
città nel 1989. «Mentre San Ra-
nieri evoca una iconografia clas-
sica che ormai appartiene alla
tradizione pisana, le altre figure
manifestano un' iconografia
particolare: Toniolo fu uno stu-
dioso di dottrina sociale della
chiesa e sempre capace di indi-
care l'origine della sua identità
cristiana tra le correnti culturali
dell'epoca- sottolinea l'arcive-
scovo - Giovanni Paolo II è raffi-
gurato nel momento dell'atten-
tato a San Pietro, protetto dal
manto della Madonna. Paolo VI
si trova tra la nuova e la vecchia
liturgia, alla soglia del concilio
Vaticano II; è rappresentato
con riferimento alla sua visita
pisan a, infatti tiene in mano l'o-
stensorio. Dopo il congresso eu-
caristico di Pisa, che avvenne
nel giugno 1965, Paolo VI ema-
nò un'enciclica fondamentale
per quei tempi, per ribadire il
mistero dell'eucarestia e del te-
ma della transustanziazione».
Nel 2006 Mori, classe 1975, ot-
tenne l'incarico di dipingere
una riproduzione della celebre
vetrata realizzata da Duccio di
Buoninsegna per l'oculo absi-
dale della cattedrale di Siena
nel 1288, copia che ha sostituito
l'originale, ora conservato nel
Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
di Siena.
Sharon Braithwaite
Un talentuoso artista grosseta-
no ha vinto il concorso interna-
zionale bandito dall'Opera del-
la Primaziale Pisana e co-finan-
ziato dalla Fondazione Pisa, per
la realizzazione di quattro vetra-
te mancanti del Battistero.
Francesco Mori avrà l'onere e
l'onore di creare ex novo le ve-
trate che sostituiranno quelle
non più recuperabili, a causa
dei bombardamenti della Se-
conda Guerra Mondiale. Le
opere andate parzialmente per-
dute furono ideate da artisti ita-
liani e francesi tra il 1839 e il
1865 e caratterizzano le apertu-
re del primo volume del monu-
mento: dieci sono state riporta-
te all'antico splendore grazie ad
un importante intervento di re-
stauro realizzato dal Centro
Conservazione e Restauro "La
VenariaReale" di Torino e sotto
la direzione dell'Istituto Centra-
le di Restauro di Roma.
Le vetrate di Mori saranno in-
stallate entro il 30 aprile 2018 e
completeranno il ciclo decorati-
vo di sedici vetrate istoriate del
Battistero; raffigureranno quat-
tro personaggi chiave della sto-
ria pisana e non solo: il patrono
San Ranieri, Paolo VI, Giovanni
Paolo II e Giuseppe Toniolo. Al
concorso hanno partecipato 57
artisti provenienti da Francia,
Inghilterra, Germania e Stati
Uniti. Mori ha sbaragliato la
concorrenza «per l'originalità e
la forza dei personaggi unita, in
particolare, all'equilibrio e
all'armonia con le vetrate pree-
sistenti. Così ha deciso la com-
missione giudicatrice all'unani -
M
Pierfrancesco Pacini presidente dell'Opera della Primaziale
II Battistero in piazza dei Miracoli (archivio)
10. Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, 30th
September 2017.
A talented artist from Grosseto has won the international competition announced by the Opera della
Primaziale Pisana and co-financed by the Fondazione Pisa, for the construction of four missing
stained glass windows of the Baptistery. Francesco Mori will have the task and the honour of
creating from scratch the windows that will replace those no longer recoverable, due to the
bombings of the Second World War. The works lost in part were designed by Italian and French
artists between 1839 and 1865 and characterize the openings of the first volume of the monument:
ten have been restored to their former glory thanks to an important restoration project carried out by
the Conservation and Restoration Center " La Venaria Reale "in Turin and under the direction of
the Rome Central Institute of Restoration. Mori's glass windows will be installed by 30 April 2018
and will complete the decorative cycle of sixteen stained glass windows of the Baptistery; they will
represent four key figures in Pisan history, but not only: the patron Saint Ranieri, Paul VI, John
Paul Paolo II and Giuseppe Toniolo. 57 artists from France, England, Germany and the United
States participated in the competition. Mori overcame the competition "for the originality and
strength of the characters combined, in particular, with the balance and harmony with the existing
windows." This was the unanimous decision of the judging commission, composed by Monsignor
Giovanni Paolo Benotto, archbishop of Pisa, Gisella Capponi, director of the Istituto Centrale
Superiore di Restauro in Rome; Marco Ciatti director of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Workshop
of semi-precious stones) in Florence, Mauro Ciampa of the Fondazione Pisa and Andrea Muzzi,
superintendent for the provinces of Pisa and Livorno ", explains Pierfrancesco Pacini, president of
the Opera della Primaziale Pisana and a member of this commission.
«The new windows represent a new reality that fits well with the context - comments Benotto -. San
Ranieri will replace a window dedicated to him, but that was completely lost during the last war.
We decided to join the patron with three personalities of our time, who had to do with Pisa and the
Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square)». Giuseppe Toniolo was the first person to be beatified by the
Church in recent times and belonged to the Pisan church; Paul VI, in 1965, had celebrated Mass
between the Baptistery and the Cathedral, on the occasion of the national Eucharistic congress. The
same burden for John Paul II, in the city in 1989. "While Saint Ranieri evokes a classical
iconography that now belongs to the Pisan tradition, the other figures show a special iconography:
Toniolo was a scholar of the social doctrine of the church and always able to indicate the origin of
its Christian identity among the cultural currents of the time - the archbishop emphasises -. John
Paul II is depicted at the moment of the assault on Saint Peter, protected by the mantle of the
Madonna. Paul VI is located between the new and the old liturgy, on the threshold of the Second
Vatican Council; he is represented with reference to his visit to Pisa, in fact he is holding the
monstrance. After the Eucharistic Congress of Pisa, which took place in June 1965, Paul VI issued a
fundamental encyclical for those times, to reaffirm the mystery of the Eucharist and the theme of
transubstantiation ».
In 2006 Mori, born in 1975, was commissioned to paint a reproduction of the famous stained glass
window created by Duccio di Buoninsegna for the apse oculus of the cathedral of Siena in 1288, a
copy that replaced the original, now kept in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo di Siena.
11. L'INCONTRO » I IL MAESTRO E LA SUA OPERA
Il viaggio da mille rullini
Yamashita parla della sua mostra su Marco Polo a Palazzo Blu
di Sharon Braithwaite
1 PISA
Le foto scattate tra il 1999 e il
2000 da Michael Yamashita,
sulle orme di Marco Polo, pren-
dono vita grazie all'avvincente
racconto del fotografo. Dal sug-
gestivo scatto di piazza San
Marco a Venezia, con la nave da
crociera che entra in laguna la-
sciando esterrefatti i presenti,
all'immagine del deserto del Ta-
klamakan, dall'Afghanistan alla
Cina: Yamashita affascina lo
spettatore anche con la parola.
Dopo aver studiato Il Milione
e, approfonditamente, la storia
del celebre mercante italiano,
Yamashita è partito nei primi
anni Duemila da Venezia per di-
mostrare «una volta per tutte
che Polo era stato in Cina» e
smentire definitivamente i suoi
detrattori. Un centinaio delle
creazioni del fotografo califor-
niano sono in mostra a Palazzo
Blu fino al primo luglio: alcune
di esse sono state illustrate con
dovizia di particolari ieri pome-
riggio da Yamashita, introdotto
dal presidente della Fondazio-
ne Palazzo Blu, Cosimo Bracci,
Torsi e dal curatore Marco Cat-
L'artista
si racconta
visitando
l'esposizione
delle sue foto
scattate
fra il'99 e il 2000
ripercorrendo
"Il Milione"
taneo, direttore dell'edizione
italiana di National Geogra-
phic. «Siamo onorati di avere
con noi Yamashita», ha esordi-
to Bracci Torsi, mentre Catta-
neo ha sottolineato la trenten-
nale collaborazione dell'artista
con la rivista che dirige. Tra gli
aspetti più belli dell'incarico ri-
cevuto dal National Geogra-
phic, Yamashita menziona la
possibilità di vivere in Italia
(«amo questo Paese e la sua cu-
cina») e quella di visitare Paesi
che oggi sono inaccessibili a
causa delle continue guerre.
«Come si può pensare che
Marco Polo non sia stato in
Oriente? Dobbiamo essere grati
a lui per averci raccontato così
tanti particolari geografici del
suo viaggio. Nessuno prima di
lui aveva intrapreso un'impre-
sa simile - afferma Yamashita -
I suoi detrattori sottolineano
che nel Milione Polo non cita la
muraglia cinese, ma il motivo è
molto semplice: essa fu costrui-
ta duecento anni dopo la sua vi-
sita in Cina». In quasi due anni
egli ha scattato circa mille rulli-
ni, pari a 36.000 foto. «Ho scat-
tato in libertà, National Geogra-
phic non mi aveva dato limiti e
così ho fatto. E pensare che oggi
con la macchina digitale, deci-
samente più precisa e accurata,
ne scatto 3, 4 volte in più. Forse
avrei dovuto convertirmi pri-
ma», dice il fotografo suscitan-
do le risate del pubblico.
Yamashita ha parlato delle
avventure che lo hanno portato
tra le impervie valli del Karako-
rum e nel deserto del Taklama-
kan, attraversando gli avampo-
sti dell'antica Via della Seta, per
raggiungere le terre della corte
dei Khan. Lungo il suo percor-
so, il fotografo e regista pluri-
premiato, celebre per i reporta-
ge sui paesaggi e le leggende
dell'Asia, ha cercato - e ritrova-
to - le atmosfere che dovevano
avere accolto Marco Polo più di
settecento anni fa, visitando lo-
calità dove la vita continua a
scorrere con lentezza e dove la
modernità non ha ancora sop-
piantato le tradizioni del passa-
to. «Prima di partire sapevo co-
sa volevo fotografare e così,
quando sono stato a Venezia,
sapevo di voler catturare l'en-
trata in laguna della Grand Prin-
cess - racconta Yamashita - Ho
comprato una scala e l'ho posi-
zionata nella piazza. Ad un cer-
to punto due carabinieri si sono
avvicinati per dirci che non po-
tevamo star lì. La mia assistente
è riuscita ad ammaliarli, ma do-
po venti minuti sono diventati
seri».
Per fortuna dopo pochi minu-
ti e un ritardo «tipicamente ita-
liano», la mastodontica nave da
crociera è apparsa e al suono
dell a sirena gli uccelli si sono al-
zati in volo. «Ho scattato in po-
chi secondi due o tre rullini da
entrambe le fotocamere che
avevo. La foto che ho scattato è
andata ben oltre la visione che
avevo». Un altro aneddoto ri-
guarda lo scatto di quella che
poteva essere la carovana di
Marco Polo nel deserto dell'A-
sia centrale. «Quando siamo ar-
rivati lì con la jeep sono rimasto
deluso dalle centinaia di turisti
presenti e dalle decine di dro-
medari numerati. «Lì non avrei
potuto fare la foto che volevo e
così ci siamo diretti verso est -
dice ancora Yamashita - A un
La partenza
da Venezia
incrociando
la più grande
nave da crociera
mai entrata
in laguna
«Amo l'Italia
e la sua cucina»
certo punto noto una duna: il
sole evidenziava le ombre dei
dromedari, dandomi modo di
creare l'illusione di viaggiare
nel l3esimo secolo». Nella foto-
grafia d'autore conta innanzi-
tutto la bravura e la capacità di
cogliere l'attimo, ma anche la
fortuna gioca un ruolo fonda-
mentale. «Adoro fare foto nel
maltempo, nelle tempeste di
neve o sabbia», dice indicando
una foto di uno dei mercati più
ricchi dell'epoca. «Era aprile e
da ero in una regione desertica,
a diversi metri sul livello del ma-
re. Se nel punto focale non fos-
se apparso quel signore con
l'ombrello rosso, sarebbe stata
una foto qualsiasi. Quel detta-
glio l'haresa speciale».
CRIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA
12. Una delle splendide foto di Michael Yamashita in esposizione alla mostra di Palazzo Blu
Michael Yamashita parla con i giornalisti a Palazzo Blu (fotoservizio Fabio Muzzi)
1
13. Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, 4th
May 2018.
The photos taken between 1999 and 2000 by Michael Yamashita, in the footsteps of Marco Polo, come to
life thanks to the compelling story of the photographer. From the suggestive shot of Piazza San Marco in
Venice, with the cruise ship entering the lagoon, leaving those present amazed, to the image of the
Taklamakan desert, from Afghanistan to China: Yamashita fascinates the viewer also with the word. After
studying Il Milione and, in depth, the history of the famous Italian merchant, Yamashita departed in the
early 2000s from Venice to demonstrate "once and for all that Polo had been in China" and to refute his
detractors definitively. One hundred of the creations of the Californian photographer are on display at
Palazzo Blu until the first of July: some of them were illustrated in great detail yesterday afternoon by
Yamashita, introduced by the president of the Palazzo Blu Foundation Cosimo Bracci Torsi and by the
curator Marco Cattaneo, director of the Italian edition of National Geographic.
"We are honored to have Yamashita with us," said Bracci Torsi, while Cattaneo drew attention to the
artist's thirty-year collaboration with the magazine he directs. Among the most beautiful aspects of the
assignment received from the National Geographic, Yamashita mentions the possibility of living in Italy ("I
love this country and its cuisine") and to visit countries that are now inaccessible due to the continual wars.
"How is it possible to think that Marco Polo hadn't been in the East? We must be grateful to him for telling
us about so many geographical details of his journey. Nobody before him had undertaken a similar
enterprise - says Yamashita -. His detractors point out that in Il Milione does not mention the Chinese wall,
but the reason is very simple: it was built two hundred years after his visit to China ".
In almost two years he has used about 1000 films, equal to 36,000 photos. "I took liberties, National
Geographic had not set me any limits and so I did. And to think that today with the digital camera,
decidedly more precise and accurate, I take 3, 4 times more photos. Maybe I should have converted first,
"says the photographer, arousing public laughter.
Yamashita spoke of the adventures that took him through the inaccessible valleys of the Karakorum and the
Taklamakan desert, crossing the outposts of the ancient Silk Road, to reach the lands of the court of the
Khans. Along the way, the award-winning photographer and director, famous for his reports on landscapes
and legends of Asia, has sought - and rediscovered - the atmospheres that must have welcomed Marco
Polo more than seven hundred years ago, visiting places where life continues to flow slowly and where
modernity has not yet supplanted the traditions of the past.
"Before leaving I knew what I wanted to photograph and so, when I was in Venice, I knew I wanted to
capture the entry into the lagoon of the Grand Princess - says Yamashita -. I bought a ladder and placed it in
the square. At one point two carabinieri approached to tell us that we could not stay there. My assistant
managed to charm them, but after twenty minutes they became serious ". Fortunately, after a few minutes
and a "typically Italian" delay, the mammoth cruise ship appeared and at the sound of the siren the birds
soared into the sky. "I used up two or three rolls of film in just a few seconds from the two cameras I had.
The photo I took was well beyond the vision I had ". Another anecdote is about the shot of what could have
been the Marco Polo caravan in the central Asian desert. "When we arrived there in the jeep I was
disappointed by the hundreds of tourists present and by the dozens of dromedaries that were all
numbered. I could not take the photo I wanted there and so we headed east - says Yamashita -. At one
point I notice a dune: the sun highlighted the shadows of the dromedaries, giving me the opportunity to
create the illusion of travelling in the 13th century ".
In art photography what counts first of all is the skill and ability to capture the moment, but luck also plays
a fundamental role. "I love taking pictures in bad weather, in snow or sand storms," he says, pointing to a
picture of one of the wealthiest markets at the time of Polo. "It was April and I was in a desert region,
several meters above sea level. If the gentleman with the red umbrella had not appeared in the focal point,
it would have been any sort of photo. That detail made it special".
15. Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, Wednesday 10th
June
2015
Fruit and vegetables are now being sold on the
premises of a former petrol station
While the small historic shops are closing and
the big supermarkets are filling their shelves with their
products, in San Giuliano
the agricultural firm “Ti Coltivo” has
opened a space at the gates of Pisa,
where seasonal fruit and vegetables will be sold.
To do this they have completely refurbished the disused area
of the old petrol station next to the bank
Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, Pisa,
Livorno in via Calcesana in
Ghezzano.
The former petrol station.
To create this innovative
“supply station” the firm has invested about 80 thousand
euros. It is the product of the passion of five young
agronomists who after graduating dedicated themselves
to the ancient trade of agriculture and recently
decided to set up a new entrepreneurial activity
that combines creating community,
reducing environmental impact and promoting culture.
Doing the shopping and reading a book.
“Casa Ti Coltivo” is an alternative shop,
a “concept store” that opened less than a month ago
where you can shop, eat a salad or a sandwich with
vegetables quench your thirst with a
juice, as well as read a book and visit a
temporary exhibition. The premises are divided into
distinct spaces: one part is dedicated to the purchase of
food and drinks, zero kilometres fruit and vegetables,
another to the serving of food and drink consumption,
relaxation and display of recycled objects and photos. Next to
the wooden boxes of locally produced fruit and vegetables
there are tables and chairs
for a healthy break.
“Casa Ti Coltivo” also organizes thematic meetings on
Bio-architecture, the use of foods and their properties,
workshops for children and evening events.
From next week they will also be
open in the evening
for an organic wine-based aperitif
and artisanal beers.
The reclaimed area. "Before there used to be
an abandoned, derelict Q8 petrol station.
We reclaimed and redeveloped
the area to create a green space, in a green area,
available to the town - explains Alessandro
Di Fonzo, one of the founders
of "Ti Coltivo" -. Here goodness
and health meet. We
we grow vegetables and fruit using natural,
market garden methods: we find the
other products locally,
preferably organic, of course.
».
Respect for the environment. For the construction
of the premises recycled materials with low
environmental impact were used, salvaging
and reusing old disused objects. Before opening,
the San Giuliano agricultural enterprise
launched the "Ti Baratto" ('I barter') initiative.
"Our customers offered us things that they no longer
used in exchange for fruit and vegetables - adds
Di Fonzo -. We also sell
plants and we do organic gardening:
for example, if a customer has insect-infested plants,
we go and inspect and evaluate the
problems and introduce insects that are
antagonists of the 'Bad' ones '. Everything is eco-sustainable:
biodegradable packaging
the electricity is not supplied
by Enel (the Electricity Board) but
by NWG, a Prato company that generates
electricity exclusively
from renewable sources. A project
in line with the general trend towards
healthy food, slow-food and reduction of
environmental impact, attracting considerable
attention since it was opened in mid-May
with more than 100 visitors each day.
17. The company that managed the hotel
Granduca in San Giuliano has failed
Almost seven months after the official
seal was affixed to the building yet
another black page for local tourism.
The sole managing director of the
company “Cms srl” was Simone
Salsini, a former town councillor of
Porcari
Cms Hotel srl, the company that managed the Hotel di
Pisa (formerly hotel Granduca) until March 2015, has
filed for bankruptcy. Almost seven months after the
official seal was affixed to the hotel facility, yet
another bankruptcy of the third managing company.
Simone Salsini, a well-known entrepreneur in
Porcari (Lucca) and former town councillor, was the
sole managing director of of Cms Hotel srl: Marcella
Andreoli was the majority shareholder and
Concetta Italiano minority shareholder. CmsHotel
managed the hotel from February 2014,
after the failure of the preceding management,
Iniziative Turistiche srl.
For San Giuliano it is a black page in which the
protagonist is an important tourist accommodation and
the victims are the employees, who have worked
without being paid for six months and are unlikely to
get back what is owed to them.
Among them are workers who have worked in the hotel
for over twenty years and have experienced two other
bankruptcies: that of the hotel Gest
directed by Franco Albanesi (declared on 11 May
2011) and that of Iniziative turistiche, directed by Luigi
Simari.
«We really have been ripped off. We get only 500
euros a month unemployment benefit (introduced by
the Jobs act): less than half the wage we should have
been paid. Difficult to make ends meet on that. The
mayor Sergio Di Maio has helped us more than anyone
and we are very grateful to him – the employees tell us
–. In the last two years we've lost everything.
We want there to be an enquiry into this affair: how is
it possible to set up a company with such a small
amount of capital? Why is it always the same people
that have managed the hotel?
». Franco Marchetti, deputy mayor and councillor for
productive activities is also demanding clarification.
«We hope that the ongoing bureaucratic procedures
will clarify the situation – says
Marchetti –. I hope that these proceedings will lead to
finding a positive solution for what strategically vital
for tourism. We hope that there will be an entrepreneur
who is just eager for profits, but also sees the
potentialities of the place». «The situation has become
worse compared to the past –
is the comment by the mayor Sergio Di
Maio –. We hope that the situation will be clarified as
soon as possible so that the hotel can once again play a
central role in the tourism of San Giuliano».
Sharon Braithwaite in San Giuliano Terme (Pisa),
9th
October 2015.
19. Sharon Braithwaite in Pisa, 6th
July 2016
Renato gives us a life lesson
The former librarian of the Scuola Normale
who has been fighting Sla for more than ten
years has been back to see his work
colleagues
Renato Nisticò has returned to his
beloved workplace, even if only
for a few minutes, despite the
disease that has afflicted him for more than
ten years. His fighting spirit is more alive than
ever and to welcome him
at the Palazzo del Capitano
of piazza del Castelletto, current
seat of the school library of the
Scuola Normale Superiore, he found
his friends and colleagues of one
life. Former librarian of
Scuola Normale Superiore has
expressed his wish to return
in those places that are so dear to him
and the "Team Deri Sla" association,
founded by Stefania Mazzucchi
in memory of her husband Daniele,
has done everything possible to make his wish
come true.
Mr. Nisticò arrived in
a vehicle of the Misericordia of
Navacchio, accompanied by
volunteers, by his carer and
his nurse, by Mazzucchi e
by Paolo Malacarne, head of Intensive Care at
Cisanello hospital.
Everyone is considerably moved at seeing
him again and reading the emotion
in his eyes, the only part
of the body that Nisticò is able to
move. The Als is in fact a
neurodegenerative disease that
progressively immobilizes
the body. A cruel fate that slowly
weakens and stiffens
the muscles, but not the mind,
which remains alert and attentive. Nisticò
expresses the desire to communicate with his
eyes,
thanks to the irreplaceable aid of
Simonetta, his nurse:
with a few eye movements he indicates the
letters of the alphabet written on a sheet,
composing words that are pronounced by
Simonetta.
Those words that Nisticò studied,
weaved together and read during
his university studies in Calabria
and then in his beloved Pisa.
Nisticò, born in Catanzaro 56
years ago, was a acknowledged
as scholar, writer and, for some
years, also collaborator
for the cultural insert in the Tirreno daily
newspaper.
He is the author of several literary essays
and radio programs and is a fan of the
singer-songwriter Francesco De
Gregori. Literature has always been
his great passion.
"Team Deri" was born in March
2014 to support Als patients
and their loved ones. Why live in the
illness can be, as shown
in life Daniele Deri. The volunteers
of this association
make possible those actions
of everyday life that the Als transforms
into insurmountable obstacles.
"This return to the Scuola Normale is
an opportunity to get Nisticò out into the
open air and to continue the awareness-raising
activities of our association
- says Mazzucchi-. We are
collecting funds to buy
an ambulance for the
Misercordia of Cascina, suitable
for those suffering from Als, but usable
also for the rest of the population.
In an ambulance equipped
in this way the journey will be
safe and more comfortable. It will be possible
to connect the patient
to the respirator and to the inverter aspirator,
so as not to lose the battery charge, and have
20. when necessary
the essential health equipment
to deal with the unexpected ».
Nisticò's friends will also participate
in the fundraising. Yesterday he visited some
places
of the library of the Scuola Normale.
To conclude, Simonetta read a message from
him
addressed to those present.
"Dear colleagues, coming here is
very moving for me, as you can imagine.
Simply returning here is not without its
emotion, not just because I find myself once
again
among my beloved colleagues, but also
because the dream of a library was
ingrained in my imagination and led me to
write a book on the subject. I'd like to take
the opportunity to greet Mazzucchi,
Malacarne and his organization
that made this visit possible. A big, big hug».
His former
colleagues are touched and amazed by the grit
and the
courage shown by Nisticò, who after
spending many years at
home, decided only a few weeks
ago to come out and visit
his former place of work.
«In the early
2000s Renato read in public
Orlando Furioso, the
work by Ludovico Ariosto revived
this year by the Scuola
Normale - comments Elisabetta
Terzuoli -. We miss his beautiful voice a lot
and the special tone of his voice was also
well known
to the general public thanks to his
program on Radio2 dedicated
to literature». «With a little bit of it
common sense, it's possible to go anywhere
safely and
in tranquillity with those affected by this
disease - says
Malacarne, head of the AUOP
and member of the association
"Team Deri" -. They must not be shut up in
their homes.
If they want to go out, they should be able to
do so».