#san cristoforo

[penandpurveyor]

Venice's Forgotten Island - San Christoforo della Pace

[shadovvheart]

a set of portraits of the four main characters for a campaign run by @volterzz517 - thank you so much for commissioning me!

this colourful group of adventurers are: Taven Springpocket - a dragonborn fighter, Rexxar Shadowfang - a gnoll ranger, Krik Crallas - a crow aarakocra bard, and San Cristoforo - a minataur paladin!

[paolo-streito-1264]

Milano, Italy. Washerwomen on the Naviglio Grande in San Cristoforo.

[wandering-cemeteries]

San Cristoforo alla Certosa

Ferrara, Italy March 2024

[redvelvetsource]

tods: International celebrity guests attending “The Art of Craftsmanship” Venetian event at Tese San Cristoforo, including Brand Ambassador Joy.

[sabinerondissime]

Milano, Italia. Lavandaie sul Naviglio Grande a San Cristoforo.

[archiveofcanvas]

Andrea Mantegna, 1454-1457, Martirio e trasporto del corpo decapitato di san Cristoforo, affresco, dettaglio / Detail

[armandoandrea2]

Lavandaie a San Cristoforo, 1955

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Wrote this weird little....thing? concerning my favourite letter from Marsilio to Giovanni. The famous "nothing is a feast without my Giovanni" letter.

(Shout out to @centaurianthropology for the pointing out that we know Giovanni because Marsilio loved him. 100% riffed that line from you)

-----

The Day After the Feast of San Cristoforo and San Giovanni

July 26, 1474

Centre us in the church of San Cristoforo a Novoli, the day after the feast of both San Cristoforo, the church’s namesake, and San Giovanni. Entre Marsilio who is busy missing Giovanni.

His Giovanni, to be precise.

He is writing as much, to Giovanni, his Giovanni, that yes there was a holy day, a holy act, a holy moment celebrated but can it be called a feast? By others, maybe. But the feast day of San Cristoforo and San Giovanni is no feast for Marsilio if his Giovanni is not present. His hero, his Achates, his sweet delight, his sacred one. See how dear Giovanni is to his Marsilio?

-

Sacred and secret – to be sacred is often to be secret. To be set aside, to be held quiet and close and in safety. The holy sacrament is the Mysterium, the great mystery, which should always bring a person to stillness which is, at the end of the day, who and what God is.  

Marsilio considered his and Giovanni’s love to be a sacred thing. Something to hold close, something that quite probably brought them to stillness. But secret? No, never that. That is not Marsilio.

Louder than grackles he’s banging on doors, hanging on bells, hollering as a crier about Giovanni. Everyone should know his name, should know that Marsilio loves him, that their love is something exciting, something new, something special. So special he will build into the framework of his philosophy, his theology, a sacred sedilia for them to sit together. Off to the side, holding hands, as if they were married.

-

Which they are, Marsilio believes, in a manner of speaking. He is telling Giovanni right now, write now that it is God’s desire that they should live together on earth with a single will and similar way of life and in heaven under the same principle and in an equal degree of happiness. He is writing that love has many forms as there are lovers since all men, after all, love. If a man does not love, he is no man. That Marsilio is closer to Giovanni’s thoughts than Giovanni’s own tongue and hand therefore between their minds the ministry of tongue and hand cannot intervene. They are the sweetest of morsels. They are love and service. Their minds and souls were transfused into each other, in a single instance. A gentle pouring of grace and love. God forbid that what burns within should not be seen by others – it is only by being seen by others can they be understood. The world will witness, will be made to look and see and acknowledge that their love is beautiful. That God ordained that they should live their lives closely, that they should find each other, know each other (spiritually), place themselves (spiritually) inside one another (spiritually).

Since, as Marsilio says, there is to be no ministry of hands or mouths or tongues between them because their love is divine and not earthly.

Save for all the times that it is earthly.

Which has Marsilio explaining in his fervent, frenzied fashion that God made man and so understands how difficult and dangerous is the providence which He has given man to live in. And salvation requires trust in divine mercy, so trust. Trust. Plato, too, understands. And Marsilio has interpretated Plato in a manner to dictate that, well, since his soul and Giovanni’s soul remain oriented towards Love and Beauty, they do not fall too far down the ladder of Truth. Only a rung, maybe. They’re still on their way to becoming God, themselves. Sacred.

-

Marsilio as priest would know the importance of Secretum. That which is hidden, that which is a mystery, that which is set apart, withdrawn, private. The rite of Confession, after all, is an integral sacrament. Who took Marsilio’s? Or was he heretical and kept some secrets for God alone? A dangerous act, if he did. For himself, for the souls of his parishioners. A priest should be in a state of spiritual purity before he performs mass. Another sacred rite, sacred ritual, where the silence of the great mystery ahead of the elevation of the host is called secret.

-

Secret, too, is the wide swath of empty space in the history of Marsilio shaped tall and heroic as the man Giovanni was. Stings, doesn’t it? Like a wound gaping. Giovanni is a great mystery. He was a man who lived sixty-five to sixty-six years on this earth, beloved of Marsilio who lived sixty-five to sixty-six years on this earth dying as they did ten years apart from each other. To the day? To the month, at least? Unclear. Giovanni’s last will and testament is in Florence’s state archives: Notarile Antecosimano, 15790, Francesco di Ottaviano, notary, fols. 139r.–150r. Would it hold a date of death? Maybe not – but it would hold the idea of a date. More exactness would require a visit to his parish and that would require knowing where he lived when he died and who recorded his death. And that is his death, another sacred mystery, but not his life. His life with Marsilio, his life after Marsilio, his life outside of Marsilio.

There were daughters, possibly four of them. A wife. Brothers. A father named Nicolo and mother named question-mark. All the women in his life a question mark. They existed and were impactful, but their lives and names have been chased out of the historical record. Giovanni himself barely leaves a shadow of a whisper.

We know him because Marsilio loved him.

We know him because Marsilio loved him and Marsilio’s words were thought worthy of preservation because he happened to catch the attention of Cosimo de’ Medici one day who decided that it would be Marsilio who translated the corpus of Plato into clean, beautiful, orderly Latin.

We know him because Marsilio loved him and Marsilio caught Cosimo’s attention and translated Plato and managed to persuade men with surnamed like Valori and Pazzi and Medici to fund the printing of his manuscripts which helped ensure their survival.

Marsilio loved Giovanni and Marsilio loved Cosimo and Cosimo loved Marsilio and Marsilio and Cosimo loved Plato together and Marsilio and Cosimo loved each other because of Plato and Marsilio loved Giovanni because of a mutual friend named Domenico Galletti who Marsilio loved and who loved Marsilio.

But, fundamentally, yes, it comes down to the intensity with which Marsilio loved. Carving space for Giovanni into his beloved philosophy, into every possible reference where it would be applicable, and even times when it is not applicable.

Marsilio loved. Giovanni is remembered.  

But daughters and wife and mother all had names and people who loved them. Tangled webs of knowing and being known that did not withstand the test of time for reasons of sex and literacy and knowledge-making and luck and culture and faith and language and civility-making and time and acts of nature.

-

(1966, bad year, bad flood.)

-

But Giovanni was loved. Is loved, since books exist today where Marsilio is telling the world he loves Giovanni, telling Giovanni he loves Giovanni. Written once, the words crash forward into the future.

Could he have imagined it? Giovanni, standing at mass in Marsilio’s church, listening to his lover preach. Watching the hands that presumably had ministry with his body raise the body of Christ. Watching the mouth and tongue that presumably had ministry with his body, eat the body of Christ. Drink the blood of Christ. These heavenly things that held no value for Marsilio unless his Giovanni was there. Could Giovanni have imagined this? Marsilio certainly did. But did Giovanni?

Because of luck, time, acts of nature, acts of God, knowledge-making, history-making, culture, faith, sex, notions of civility, all we have for his answer is loudly oppressive silence.  

[aki1975]

Giuseppe Bertini - Varese - Villa Ponti - Galileo mostra l’uso del cannocchiale al Doge di Venezia - 1858

Galileo, che insegnava a Padova, nel 1609 mostra il telescopio al Doge Leonardo Donato realizzato grazie all’esperienza delle vetrerie di Murano e valorizzato per scopi militari. È il simbolo di un periodo che cambia il mondo con fenomeni tra loro collegati:

- il diffondersi degli archibugi che determinano la fine della cavalleria medievale;

- sospinte dagli alisei (“trade winds”) e da uno spirito tardo-crociato, favorite dalle innovazioni navali, le scoperte geografiche (Cristoforo Colombo scopre l’America nel 1492, Vasco de Gama doppia il Capo di Buona Speranza nel 1497, Magellano nel 1519 parte per circumnavigare il mondo);

- le iniziative coloniali che, dopo la Spagna (Cortes in Messico e Pizarro in Perù) e il Portogallo, sono condotte dqll’Olanda, dall’Inghilterra e dalla Francia;

- la crisi climatica, agraria (eccessiva cerealizzazione), demografica e sociale (i picari) del Seicento;

- il declino della centralità del Mediterraneo a vantaggio dell’Atlantico e, più in generale, dell’”economia mondo” con la nascita del capitalismo (es. Lombard Street a Londra) e il successo di città quali Bruges, Anversa e la Lega Anseatica;

- l’invenzione della stampa (1455);

- la Riforma e la Controriforma con i conflitti creati in Francia e nell’Europa dell’Est;

- la rivoluzione tecnico - scientifica che distanzia l’Europa dall’Impero ottomano;

- l’imporsi degli Stati nazionali sulle città stato e sul Sacro Romano Impero di Carlo V dopo il declino della Spagna per via della politica della “limpieza de sangre” che allontana i ceti produttivi (o li combatte, come in Olanda) e impedisce all’economia di svilupparsi con la conseguente inflazione per via dell’afflusso dell’oro e dell’argento americani.

Qualche evento in particolare:

1494 - Trattato di Tordesillas: Portogallo e Brasile si spartiscono le Indie orientali e occidentali

1500 - i Portoghesi scoprono il Brasile

1516 - dopo il fenomeno dei “marrani” spagnoli, viene fondato il primo ghetto italiano, quello di Venezia

1517 - Lutero affigge le sue tesi a Wittenberg

1522 - Battaglia della Bicocca (presso il villino degli Arcimboldi) in cui Carlo V sconfigge il re di Francia Francesco I e consolida il proprio dominio sul Ducato di Milano: “c’est un bicoque” significa “è un gioco da ragazzi”

1525 - Assedio di Pavia. Francesco I viene condotto prigioniero a Madrid

1527 - Sacco di Roma: per comporre il conflitto fra Clemente VII Medici e Carlo V, la figlia di quest’ultimo Margherita d’Austria (la “Madama”) sposa prima (1536) Alessandro Medici - ed i Medici tornano a Firenze - e poi (1538) Ottavio Farnese, nipote di Paolo III

1542 - Concilio di Trento

1555 - Pace di Augusta: Carlo V costretto ad accettare il luteranesimo dei principi tedeschi;

1558 - Alla morte di Carlo V, gli Asburgo si separano: Filippo II in Spagna, Margherita d’Austria in Olanda, Ferdinando I in Austria

1570 - Pio V scomunica Elisabetta I

1571 - Battaglia di Lepanto

1572 - Notte di San Bartolomeo

1574 - i Gonzaga, vassalli spagnoli, estendono il proprio potere sul Monferrato

1588 - L’Invencible Armada sconfitta dagli Inglesi

1598 - Enrico IV, convertendosi al cattolicesimo, termina le guerre di religione

1608 - I francesi fondano Quebec, poi conquistata nel 1775 dagli Inglesi

1609 - Le provincie olandesi si costituiscono in repubblica indipendente dalla Spagna: inizia il secolo d’oro dei Paesi Bassi

1621 - Fondazione della Compagnia olandese delle Indie Occidentali

1624 - Fondazione di New Amsterdam

1640 - Indipendenza portoghese

1652 - Gli olandesi fondano Cape Town

1664 - New Amsterdam ribattezzata New York

Al termine di questo lungo periodo di cambiamento e di instabilità (es. inflazione, epidemie), ne emergerà la società dell’Assolutismo e poi dell’Illuminismo del XVIII secolo, il “secolo delle rivoluzioni”.

[venicepearl]

San Cristoforo, San Michele, and Murano from the Fondamenta Nuove, Venice (1722) - Canaletto

[opera-ghosts]

Ester Mazzoleni (1883 - 1982) dramatic soprano.

She wanted to become a painter. Her voice was discovered during a stay in Italy and educated in Trieste and Pisa. Debut in 1906 at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome as Leonora in “Il Trovatore”, after which there was as Rachel in “La Juive” by Halévy. Rapid career of the great Italian theaters. In 1906 she sang at the Teatro Petruzzelli Bari Amelia in Verdi’s “Masked Ball”. In 1907 she came to La Scala, where she made her debut as Isabella in “Cristoforo Colombo” by Franchetti and until 1917 had huge successes. In 1907 she sang at the Teatro Regio in Parma, the title character in Catalani’s “Lorelei”. 1908 celebrated it at La Scala as Giulia in the classic opera “La Vestale” Spontini, as Selika in Meyerbeer’s “Africaine” and as Lucrezia Borgia by Donizetti, 1909 in the title role of Cherubini’s “Medea”, these operas after long oblivion were discovered practically new. In 1908 she worked there with the premiere of the opera “Paolo e Francesca” by Mancinelli. 1915-1916 she appeared at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on as Leonora in “La forza del destino” in 1917 as Leonora in “Il Trovatore” and as Lucrezia Borgia. At the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, she joined in 1911 as Isolde in “Tristan und Isolde,” as Selika, as Gioconda and as Aida. At the first festival in the Arena of Verona in 1913, she sang Aida as a partner of Giovanni Zenatello. She was very successful at the Teatro Regio in Turin: Valentine in 1915 as the “Huguenots” by Meyerbeer, 1919 as Lucrezia Borgia, 1920 as La Traviata and the title role of Catalani’s “Dejanice” in 1922 as Aida and 1924 as Norma, on 18/03/1922 she sang on there in the world premiere of the opera “La Figlia del Re” by Adriano Lualdi. In 1923, she appeared again in Verona as Norma. Huge successes they had in Spain and South America, but she appeared in Western Europe. 1910 glamorous appearance at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in the title role in “La Vestale”, 1915 at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan, as Amelia in Verdi’s “Ballo in Maschera”. Further guest performances at the Teatro Fenice in Venice (1912 as Elisabetta in “Don Carlos”), the Teatro Comunale of Bologna (1918 Traviata and as Aida) at the Cairo Opera House (1924 Dejanice), Teatro Grande Brescia (1923 Dejanice) , at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo (1925), the Teatro Real Madrid (1918 as Mimi in 1919 as Alice Ford in Verdi’s “Falstaff”), in 1919 in Buenos Aires. Highly valued as a Verdi singer. After the end of her career she lived since 1926 as a teacher in Palermo. There she is shortly after her 100th Birthday 1982 died.

[joseandrestabarnia]

TÍTULO: Virgen con el Niño entronizados con los santos Sebastián y Roch 

AUTOR: Jacopo Loschi 

FECHA: hacia 1470 

TÉCNICA: Fresco independiente 

DIMENSIONES: 245 x 266 

ORIGEN: Parma, oratorio de San Gerolamo 

INVENTARIO: GN1487 

Este fresco y el de la Virgen y el Niño con los santos Jerónimo (NV. 1487) provienen del oratorio de San Gerolamo (ver también que, erigido a partir de 1451 a instancias del conde Cristoforo Valeri, se encontraba en el actual pueblo Valorio. Consagrado en 1452, fue vendido en 1475 por el fundador a los cartujos del monasterio de San Gerolamo, un complejo situado fuera de las murallas de la ciudad. Suprimida la Orden en 1769, el oratorio fue vendido primero a los dominicos de Colorno y luego comprado por particulares en 1780. Transformado en almacén, fue destruido a principios de los años ochenta de nuestro siglo. 

Información e imagen de la web del Conjunto monumental de la Pilotta, Parma. 

[missccellaneous]

Tu Corazón por Mí (En Vivo) en YouTube Music

[wandering-cemeteries]

A sunken ship.

San Cristoforo alla Certosa, a former monastery turned cemetery.

Ferrara, Italy

March 2024

[viunews]

Catania, arrestato pusher di crack e cocaina nel quartiere San Cristoforo

Durante la perquisizione, sono stati sequestrati 10 grammi di crack e 2 grammi di cocaina.

La Polizia di Stato ha arrestato un catanese di 25 anni, trovato in possesso di crack e cocaina. L’arresto è avvenuto nel cuore del quartiere San Cristoforo, in una casa di spaccio protetta da porte blindate e un sofisticato sistema di video-sorveglianza. L’operazione, condotta dagli agenti della sezione antidroga della Squadra Mobile, ha rivelato un vero e proprio fortino della droga.…