Meraviglioso Amore Mio - Arisa

Meraviglioso Amore Mio - Arisa

Fiat 500

Fiat 500 advertisement, 1957

Everything's Gonna Be Alright - The Babysitters Circus

I have heard this song a lot, but had no idea who it was by until my friend in Italy posted this on Facebook. By the New Zealand band The Babysitters Circus, this is the music video for Everything's Gonna Be Alright, featuring a flash mob in Auckland city.

'The Babysitters Circus (TBC) is a four piece New Zealand Electronica/Bass and Funk/Groove freak show that was born when the quartet began throwing sounds and ideas together while babysitting for a friend. It soon became apparent that what started out as simply a creative outlet for it’s members was too good to keep hidden away and it just felt wrong to not give everyone the chance to shake their shaky bits to tracks oozing with infectious fleshy hooks.

Although relatively new to the music scene, TBC’s members most certainly aren’t. Jason Kerrison has spent many years at the top of the NZ Music Scene with his band OPSHOP, enjoying not only commercial success, but also picking up numerous NZ Music Awards and the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Award along the way. Jamie Greenslade, better known as solo hip-hop artist Maitreya, is another Silver Scroll winner, taking away the APRA Maioha Silver Scroll Award in 2010. Tim Skedden has enjoyed a long musical career, being a founding member of both The Feelers and also OPSHOP and while Tim has previously thrilled fans with his guitar playing, he is now stepping more into the limelight and unleashing his too long kept hidden song-writing and vocal talents. Newcomer Selwyn Leaf completes the TBC line up. A natural entertainer, he brings a big top boom to each and every occasion and adds a soulful tone to the groups high energy performances.

TBC delivers a recorded and live experience that is as uplifting as it is refreshing and has now evolved into a fully fledged live act that has left crowds up and down the country eagerly awaiting the next time the Circus rolls back into town. Maybe it’s the songs, maybe it’s the on stage chemistry, maybe it’s the guy wearing face paint, maybe it’s all of the above, maybe we’ll never really know…'

Source

Ventisettesima

È la ventisettesima nuovamente. Undici mesi fa. E quasi un anno. Hai preso parte del mio cuore con te.

Mark Twain

'Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.'

- Mark Twain

Ravensburger

An Italian advertisement for Ravensburger puzzles from 1995.

Luna Rossa

This morning, before heading in to uni, I chatted with a friend who lives in Germany for over an hour online; was lovely to catch up after not having really talked to him for a year. We talked about travel, food, and language; three of the most wonderful things in the world. I think experience is what creates life; more than possessions or even knowledge, it is experiencing things, no matter how big or small, how seemingly monumental or trivial, that is important. It is about moments.

As the bus drove over the Harbour Bridge, the sun reflected off the 72-foot Prada Luna Rossa catamaran, the Italian flag waving in the breeze, the ocean glittering. At the time, I had no idea what the beautiful catamaran was here in Auckland for; but I just read that it is one of the yachts that will be in the America's Cup 2013 race. The Italians plan to stay in New Zealand until March, heading to the Louis Vuitton Cup challengers' race in June, in San Francisco. The winner of that will compete against the Oracle, current holders of the America's Cup. Sometimes I wish I had kept up sailing, it looks like so much fun.

Photos from Vogue

Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for; and as we don't have Thanksgiving in New Zealand perhaps I have never really taken one day aside to devote to really think about how much I have, which is such a shame really. I just got home from the opening event of our Grad Show for art school; what an amazing opportunity it has been to be able to spend four years here, learning and developing not only an artistic practice but getting to hang out with the most wonderful bunch of friends anyone could ever ask for. And I'm also thankful for tonight's dinner and dessert; delicious seafood risotto and chocolate soup with mini pancakes from Elliott Stables. Best.

L'Invitation Au Voyage

Louis Vuitton's campaign video, L'Invitation Au Voyage, stars Arizona Muse and Musee du Louvre

Italy

'Snow enhances the contrast and emphasizes the relief of the Alps that tower over northern Italy in this true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from the Terra satellite on March 25, 2003. Northern Italy hosts many large cities, and industrial activities, and the gray cast to the terrain is both urban development and air pollution, which is a persistent problem in the region. At left in the image are Corsica and Sardinia, both of which sport a bit of snow at higher elevations. Snow is also visible on the slopes of Mt. Etna on the island of Sicily, at bottom center.

On the western coast of Italy, due east of Sardinia, a gray patch along the coast shows the urban development of Naples, with the brown circle of Mt. Vesuvius in its midst. All along the eastern coast of Italy, the waters of the Adriatic Sea are colored blue and green, likely a mixture of sediment from rivers and tidal action and microscopic marine plant life.'

Source

Tours

The French city of Tours on Euromaxx City, Deutsche Welle

Arcobaleno (Rainbow)

Inzuppa 7 pennelli nel tuo cuore di 36 anni finiti ieri 7 aprile
E rallumina il viso disfatto delle antiche stagioni

Tu hai cavalvato la vita come le sirene nichelate dei caroselli da fiera
In giro
Da una città all'altra di filosofia in delirio
D'amore in passione di regalità in miseria
Non c'è chiesa cinematografo redazione o taverna che tu non conosca
Tu hai dormito nel letto d'ogni famiglia

Ci sarebbe da fare un carnavale
Di tutti i dolori
Dimenticati con l'ombrello nei caffè d'Europa
Partiti tra il fumo coi fazzoletti negli sleeping-cars diretti al nord al sud

Paesi ore
Ci sono voci che accompagnan pertutto come la luna e i cani
Ma anche il fischio di una ciminiera
Che rimescola i colori del mattino
E dei sogni
Non si dimentica né il profumo di certe notti affogate nelle ascelle di topazio
Queste fredde giunchiglie che ho sulla tavola accanto all'inchiostro
Eran dipinte sui muri della camera n. 19 nell'Hotel des Anglais a Rouen

Un treno passessiava sul quai notturno
Sotto la nostra finestra
Decapitando i riflessi delle lanterne versicolori
Tra le botti del vino di Sicilia
E le Senna era un giardino di bandiere infiammate

Non c'è più tempo
Lo spazio
È un verme crepuscolare che si raggricchia in una goccia di fosforo
Ogni cosa è presente
Come nel 1902 tu sei a Parigi in una soffitta
Coperto da 35 centimetri quadri di cielo
Liquefatto nel vetro dell'abbaino
La Ville t'offre ancora ogni mattina
Il bouquet fiorito dello Square de Cluny;
Dal boulevard Saint-Germain scoppiante di trams e d'autobus
Arriva la sera a queste campagne la voce briaca della giornalaia
Di rue de la Harpe
<<Pari-cûrses>> <<l'Intransigeant>> <<la Presse>>
Il negozio di Chaussures Raoul fa sempre concorrenza alle stelle
E mi accarezzo le mani tutte intrise dei liquori del tramonto
Come quando pensavo al suicidio vicino alla casa di Rigoletto

Si caro
L'uomo più fortunato è colui che sa vivere nella contingenza al pari dei fiori
Guarda il signore che passa
E accenda il sigaro orgoglioso della sua forza virile
Recuperata nelle quarte pagine dei quotidiani
O quel soldato di cavalleria galoppante nell'indaco della caserma
Con una ciocchetta di lilla fra i denti

L'eternità splende in un volo di mosca
Metti l'uno accanto all'altro i colori dei tuoi occhi
Disegna il tuo arco

La storia è fuggevole come un saluto alla stazione
E l'automobile tricolore del sole batte sempre più invano il suo record fra i vecchi macchinari del cosmo
Tu ti ricordi insieme ad un bacio seminato nel buio
Una vetrina di libraio tedesco Avenue de l'Opéra
E la capra che brucava le ginestre
Sulle ruine della scala del palazzo di Dario a Persepoli
Basta guardarsi intorno
E scriver come si sogna
Per rianimare il volto della nostra gioia

Ricordo tutti i climi che si sono carezzati alla mia pelle d'amore
Raggianti al mio disiderio
Nevi
Mari gialli
Gongs
Carovane
Il carminio di Bombay e l'oro bruciato dell'Iran
Ne porto un geroglifico sull'ala nera
Anima girasole il fenomeno convergere in questo centro di danza
Ma il canto più bello è ancora quello dei sensi nudi

Silenzio musica meridiana
Qui e nel mondo poesia circolare
L'oggi si sposa col sempre
Nel diadema dell'iride che s'alza
Siedo alla mia tavola e fumo e guardo
Ecco una foglia giovane che trilla nel verziere difaccia
I bianchi colombi volteggiano per l'aria come lettere d'amore buttate dalla finestra
Conosco il simbolo la cifra il legame
Elettrico
La simpatia delle cose lontane
Ma ci vorrebbero delle frutta delle luci e delle moltitudini
Per tendere il festone miracolo di questa pasqua

Il giorno si sprofona nella conca scarlatta dell'estate
E non ci sono più parole
Per il ponte di fuoco e di gemme

Giovinezza tu passerai come tutto finisce al teatro
Tant pis Mi farò allora un vestito favoloso di vecchie affichés


Dip 7 brushes into your heart 36 years old yesterday April 7th
And touch up that face worn out by the passing seasons

You have ridden life like a nickel-plated mermaid on a carousel
Whirling
From city to city from philosophy to frenzy
Love to passion royalty to poverty
There isn't a church movie theatre newsdesk or bar you don't know
You've slept in every family's bed

There should be a carnival
Of all the sorrows
Forgotten along with umbrellas in all the cafes of Europe
Gone in a cloud of smoke with handkerchiefs in the sleeping cars of express trains heading north or south

Countries hours
There are voices that follow you everywhere like the moon or a dog
Even the whistle of a smokestack
That stirs the colours of the morning
And of dreams
You won't forget or the scent of certain nights drowned in topaz armpits
These cold narcissus that I keep on the table by the inkwell
Were painted on the walls of Room 19 of the Hotel des Angalis in Rouen

A train rambling along the quay late at night
Beneath our window
Beheaded the reflections of multicoloured lanterns
Among casks of Sicilian wine
And the Seine was a garden of blazing flags

There is no more time
Space
Is a twilight worm coiled in a drop of phosphorous
Everything is present
As in 1902 you are in a garret in Paris
Sheltered by 35 square centimetres of sky
Melting across the glass of the skylight
La Ville offers you again each morning
The flowering bouquet of the Square de Cluny
From Boulevard Saint-Germain exploding with trams and buses
Every evening you hear the hoarse cry of the paperboy
From Rue de la Harpe
"Pari-cûrses" "l'Intransigeant" "la Presse"
The shoestore Chaussures Raoul still rivals the stars
And I rub my hands stained with the liquors of sunset
Like that time I thought about suicide near Rigoletto's house

Yes my dear
The most fortunate man knows how to live with uncertainty like the flowers
Look at that gentleman strolling past
As he lights his cigar proud of his manly vigour
Restored by the fourth-page spreads in the daily papers
Or that trooper galloping through the indigo darkness of his barracks
A sprig of lilac between his teeth

Eternity shines in the light of a housefly
Place the colours of your eyes side by side
And sketch the arch

History is as fleeting as a nod at the train station
And the tricolour car of the sun keeps breaking its own record pointlessly amid the used machinery of the cosmos
You remember along with a kiss planted in the darkness
The window of a German bookseller in the Avenue de l'Opéra
And the goat grazing on yellow broom
Among the ruined stairs of Darius's palace at Persepolis
You need only look around
And write from your dreams
To revive the face of our joy

I remember all the climates that caressed my skin like a lover
Shimmering on my desire
Snows
Yellow seas
Gongs
Caravans
Carmine of Bombay burnt gold of Iran
I carry their hieroglyph on this black wing
Sunflower soul the phenomenon converges here in the centre of this dance
But the most beautiful song is still that of the naked senses

Silence music of the south
Here and in the world circular poetry
Today marries Always
In the crown of the rising rainbow
I sit at my table and I smoke and stare
A young leaf trills in the garden right in front of me
White doves flutter through the air like love letters thrown from the window
I know the symbol the code the electrical
Connection
The attraction of faraway things
But we need fruit and lights and crowds
To festoon this Easter with miracles

The day sinks into the scarlet basin of summer
And there are no more words
For that bridge of fire and jewels

My youth will pass like the end of every play
Tant pis I'll make myself a fabulous suit out of old posters

- Ardengo Soffici

Cologne - with tourists from Brazil

Cologne, Germany, with tourists from Brazil on Discover Germany, Deutsche Welle

'Brazilian sisters Geisa and Lílian Toller from Sao Paolo take us along as they explore Cologne's chocolate museum and the factory where the 4711 fragrance is made.'

Tersicore per le strade di Vienna

La Domenica del Corriere

23 June 1929

Tersicore per le strade di Vienna: Tersicore nella strada. Una danza delle insegnanti di ballo, nel Corteo delle Industrie, che si è svolto in questi giorni a Vienna.

Le rondine - The Swallows

in deliziose cappe di raso nero
dattilografavano il risveglio
dettato dall'aurora

in refreshing capes of black satin
they're typing out the new aubade
daybreak just dictated

- Farfa

Paris' FIAC Art Fair

Paris' FIAC Art Fair on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

The Lingotto Building

The Lingotto building in 1928

The construction of the Lingotto building began in 1616, and opened in 1923. Designed by Matté Trucco in the Lingotto district of Torino, Italy, the five floored building housed the automobile factory of Fiat. Raw materials would enter on the ground floor, and as they progressed further up the floors of the building, they would get closer and closer to becoming cars; until they reached the rooftop, finished, and tested on the rooftop track. In its time, it was the largest car factory in the world; Le Corbusier gave it high praise, calling it 'one of the most impressive sights in industry' and 'a guideline for town planning'. Eighty different models of Fiat cars were made in the Lingotto building, until the 1970s when it was outmoded, and finally closed in 1982. Such an influential and avant-garde building could surely not have gone to ruin, and after an architectural competition was held, the winner, Renzo Piano, rebuilt the factory into a modern complex of concert halls, a theatre, convention centre, shopping arcades, and a hotel. The Automotive Engineering faculty of the Polytechnic University of Torino has its headquarters in the eastern part of the building. The remodelling was finished in 1989, and the track retained; used for events such as the Red Bull Lingotto, the 2006 Winter Olympics speed skating, and the filming of movies such as The Italian Job.

Red Bull Lingotto

Last year, Red Bull held a special race in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Italy's unification, and the 65th anniversary of Vespa. The event had multiple stages and challenges including a timed tire change and riding up the spiralling ramps to the roof of the Lingotto building, an old Fiat factory in Torino, in exactly 90 seconds, no more, no less. Once on the rooftop track competitors raced two laps; with the winner being the one with the two closest times for each lap. The amazing rooftop track was built to test the original Fiat cars.

Nove mesi

Nove mesi.
E ho ancora manchi.

The Greek Island of Kos

The Greek Island of Kos for Euromaxx Travelogue, Deutsche Welle

Kaleidoscope

'Los Angeles is far from possessing the beauty of New York or the depth of Chicago, and I understand why some French people spoke to me about it with such distaste: without friends, I'd be lost. But it can be enjoyable as a kaleidoscope - with a shake of the wrist, the pieces of coloured glass give you the illusion of a new rosette. I surrender to this hall of mirrors... The French consul has invited me to dinner with N and M. In the entrance hall there is an exhibition of Hawaiian jewellery, shell necklaces, leis, and softly coloured seeds. I have never seen such an enchanting restaurant: it's as beautiful as the Palais des Mirages in the Musee Grevin. Greenhouses with luxuriant plants, aquariums, aviaries where birds coloured like butterflies swoop, all bathed in a murky, submarine light. The tables are glass pedestals in which the gleaming ceiling is reflected; the prismatic pillars are faceted mirrors in which space is infinitely multiplied. We dine under a straw hut at the end of a lake, in a forest, in the middle of an enormous diamond. The waitresses' costumes are a modest version of Hawaiian dress. In cylindrical glasses, which hold nearly a pint, we are served zombies (cocktails made from seven kinds of run poured on top of each other: the amber liquid is layered from dark brown to light yellow). The meal transports us, unexpectedly, to China. The dishes don't have that overly visual aspect that often discourages the palate in America; instead, the look very appealing. And if French cooking is 'thoughtful', as Colette says, this cuisine seems the fruit of a thousand years of meditation.

At midnight we are alone on top of a hill. We sit on the ground and smoke in silence. Los Angeles is beneath us, a huge, silent fairy-land. The lights glitter as far as the eye can see. Between the red, green, and white clusters, big glowworms slither noiselessly. Now I am not taken in by the mirage: I know that these are merely streetlamps along the avenues, neon signs, and headlights. But mirage or no mirage, the lights keep glittering; they, too, are a truth. And perhaps they are even more moving when they express nothing but the naked presence of men. Men live here, and so the earth revolves in the quiet of the night with this shining wound in its side.'

from America Day by Day - Simone de Beauvoir

Bonté

 

Earlier this morning, after going to the US Consulate to have an interview for my Visa, I went in to Smith & Caughey's for a browse. Their specialty food section is amazing; I want everything! I bought a tin of Bonté candies; little and gemstone shaped, they are naturally flavoured with raspberry, cherry, and blueberry. I can't seem to find much information about the company on the internet, in English at least, but the confectionery company began in 1860, in Nantes, France. Cute and pink, they are the perfect hit of sugar for an early morning start. There are heaps of other flavours available like violet, hibiscus, rose, strawberry basil, cherry blossom, poppy, citrus segments, and sea salt caramel.

Flooding Hits Tuscany

The swollen River Arno flows under the Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Three dead as Italy flooding hits Tuscany Three people died on Tuesday when their car fell into a swollen river as torrential rain caused widespread flooding in Tuscany and Umbria.

by Nick Squires, Rome

13 November 2012

The flooding in central Italy followed heavy rain and an unusually high tide in Venice – the sixth highest level since records began in 1872 – which left nearly three-quarters of the lagoon city under water. The three people feared to have drowned – two men and a woman – were believed to be employees of Enel, Italy's biggest electricity company. The car they were travelling in was swept off a collapsed bridge in Grosseto, a few miles inland from the Tuscan coast. The deaths brought the death toll from the bad weather to four – on Monday a 73-year old man was swept away in his car by floodwaters near the town of Capalbio, also on the coast of Tuscany.

Elsewhere in the region, normally known for its sun-baked summers and idyllic landscapes, people were plucked from their roofs of their flooded homes by rescue helicopters. As rivers broke their banks, more than 100 people were forced to flee their homes and take refuge in emergency shelters. The towns of Orbetello and Albinia were inundated with water, with the latter "looking like Venice", according to Italian news reports. In Rome, the Tiber was so swollen that it was no longer possible to walk or cycle along its banks. Major roads and railway lines were blocked.

Enrico Rossi, the head of Tuscany's regional government, said the flooding was so severe that it required intervention by the army. He said floods had worsened in recent years and blamed global warming. "Climate change is causing ever more serious flooding," Mr Rossi told Corriere della Sera. "We can no longer postpone the work that needs to be done." He called for 50 million euros a year for the next 10 years to build new bridges and embankments. The flooding in Venice on Sunday and Monday allowed tourists to pull on their swimming costumes and go take a dip in St Mark's Square, the lowest lying part of the city. The level of the water reached 149 centimetres – the highest since 2008.

The flooding underlined the need for a multi-billion pound flood protection barrier to be completed as quickly as possible, the consortium behind the project said. The Moses flood prevent project entails the construction of giant steel gates across the three inlets through which water from the Adriatic surges into Venice's lagoon. The 300-tonne hinged panels will be fixed to massive concrete bases dug into the sea bed and will be raised whenever a dangerously high tide is predicted. Inaugurated by Silvio Berlusconi, the then prime minister, in 2003, it was due to be completed this year but is now expected to be operational in 2016. The consortium, the Consorzio Venezia Nuova, said that had the much-delayed project been up and running on Sunday, Venice would have remained dry. "This high tide underlines the urgency and necessity of completing the project quickly," it said in a statement.

Source

Acqua Alta

Acqua Alta has left two thirds of Venice, Italy, submerged in water.

  

Images found here on The Telegraph.

Coffee Culture

Coffee Culture on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

'Cimbali is the world's leading manufacturer of espresso machines. It's MUMAC museum near Milan is devoted to the daily Italian ritual of drinking coffee. On show are 200 machines by various manufacturers and a display that gives visitors insight into 100 years of technology, design and the culture of brewing a perfect espresso.'

Southern Italian Peninsula at Night

'This astronaut photograph highlights the nighttime appearance of the southern Italian Peninsula. The toe and heel of Italy’s “boot” are clearly defined by the lights of large cities such as Naples, Bari, and Brindisi, as well as numerous smaller cities and towns. The bordering Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, and Ionian Seas appear as dark regions to the east, west, and south. The city lights of Palermo and Catania, Sicily, are also visible.

The International Space Station (ISS) was located over an area of Romania, close to the capital city of Bucharest (approximately 945 kilometers to the northeast) at the time this image was taken. Part of a solar panel array on a docked Russian spacecraft is visible in the foreground. The distance between the image subject area and the position of the photographer, as well as the viewing angle looking outwards from the ISS, contributes to the foreshortened appearance of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily.'

Source

Palermo

The Italian city of Palermo, featured on Deutsche Welle's Euromaxx City

The Pacific Ocean Never Runs Dry

'But oh, San Francisco! It is and has everything... The wonderful sunlight there, the hills, the great bridges, the Pacific at your shoes. Beautiful Chinatown. Every race in the world. The sardine fleets sailing out. The little cable-cars whizzing down the city hills. The lobsters, clams, & crabs. Oh, Cat, what food for you. Every kind of seafood there is. And all the people are open and friendly... Everyone is connected with the Universities hard-up. But that doesn't matter. Seafood is cheap. Chinese food is cheaper & lovely. Californian wine is good. The iced bock beer is good. What more? And the city is built on hills; it dances in the sun for nine months of the year: & the Pacific Ocean never runs dry.'

- Dylan Thomas from a letter to his wife Caitlin

Hiatus

After sporadic posts and a brief hiatus I am back to posting! After art school finished, I have been keeping busy with work and enjoying summer. On Thursday we headed out to Piha beach in a convoy of cars, stopping for some delicious ice cream on the way; spending the afternoon and early evening in the glorious sunshine. Barefoot, we climbed the rocks over to the lagoon where we swam in the warmer water, and saw a seal only about five meters away on the rocks ahead. Spending time with amazing friends, eating melon, reading a travel book, getting a tan, and having Piha burgers and chips for dinner; the perfect start to summer! I hadn't been to Piha since the beginning of the year, and it was nice to make new memories at a place that will always be special.

Last night we launched fireworks and sat around a bonfire in the backyard of my friends' flat - was lovely just to relax and watch the flames dancing.

The Fifth of November

The fifth of November was my final day of art school; the end of four years filled with ridiculous amounts of art and conceptuality; inky-painty happiness, squealy girl-chats and nail polish obsessions, cafe and ice cream dates, late-night no-sleep deadlines, and now tears of sadness that this is over, time spent with the best and most wonderful friends ever. What better way to end such a journey than to dance the night away in an art gallery. It's so strange to be finished, I don't even know what I feel.

An Unexpected Briefing

The new safety video for Air New Zealand is The Hobbit-themed.

La solitudine - Laura Pausini

Laura Pausini's 1993 hit, La solitudine

Summer

Just picked up my official acceptance letter from the University of California, Santa Barbara! Extremely excited; three more days of art school left before it's time to relish the summer sun and to prepare for six months overseas! Life is beautiful.

Basilicata

A Trip to Basilicata on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

Sistine Chapel

A photograph I took of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Rome a few years ago; Michelangelo's masterpiece is now 500 years old!

Here is an article from BBC News about the artwork.

Sistine Chapel ceiling at 500: The Vatican's dilemma

Alan Johnston, BBC News, Rome

31 October 2012

The Vatican has indicated for the first time that it might eventually need to consider limiting the number of visitors to the Sistine Chapel, 500 years after its completion.

Michelangelo's famous frescoes have been described as one of the world's supreme sights. In scene after scene, some of the Old Testament's most powerful stories unfold. And at the centre of this vast work is one of the best known images in Western art; the depiction of God reaching out to touch Adam into life.

But for some, the room has become a victim of its own fame and magnificence. They say it just attracts far too many tourists. Twenty-thousand visitors pour through the Chapel's doors every day; more than five million a year. And the Italian literary critic, Pietro Citati, recently launched a searing attack on the Vatican authorities for allowing in such huge numbers. Writing in the pages of Corriere della Sera newspaper he went as far as to describe the crowding on an average visit as an "unimaginable disaster". "In the universal confusion no-one saw anything," he wrote. And speaking to the BBC he reinforced his criticism. "The Sistine Chapel was full of people - a huge crowd, packed tightly together... and they were all breathing! There was this dense 'human-ness'! Human sweat. It was horrendous." Mr Citati said that this endless, rising, humid "wall of human breath" could be damaging for the priceless frescoes above.

Responding to this kind of criticism, the director of the Vatican Museums, Antonio Paolucci, acknowledged that there was a "serious problem". He said that the whole doctrine of the Catholic Church was set out in the images in the Sistine Chapel, and that he wanted everyone who visited to be able to appreciate that symbolic system. But Mr Paolucci accepted that that was not easy to do when the room is packed. "It becomes noisy, people are confused, bewildered - it's hard to understand." he said. "Too many people make it uncomfortable... and it also creates a problem for the conservation of the frescoes." Mr Paolucci said plans to improve the ventilation and counter the threat from humidity in the Chapel would be unveiled soon.

But he also said that, ultimately, steps might have to be taken to restrict the numbers allowed in. "We may get to that point - if necessary - a so-called 'limited number' of visitors," Mr Paolucci said. "But so far we've tried to avoid this because the Sistine Chapel for those who visit the Vatican is not only a place of art but also a spiritual, religious place."'A living death'

There is an argument that it should be made as easy as possible for any pilgrim coming to Rome to see this room that has such a significant place in the Catholic world. The Sistine Chapel is also a papal conclave where the College of Cardinals meets to elect a new Pope And just a matter of weeks ago, in a newspaper article, Mr Paolucci said it would be as "unthinkable" to limit access to the Sistine Chapel as it would be to limit access to the famous shrine at Lourdes.

But the critic, Mr Citati takes a darker view, arguing that it is all about money. The Church makes a significant amount out of visitors to the Chapel and the other delights of the Vatican Museums. Everybody in the long queues in St Peter's Square is paying more than 15 euros (£12.50) for a ticket. But it is possible though to avoid the masses if you can spare close to 220 euros for a private tour. Each involves about 10 people who are allowed into the Chapel outside the standard opening hours. Mr Citati is not the first person to take issue with the number of visitors being allowed into the Chapel. Writing shortly before his recent death, the art critic Robert Hughes recalled reading of the German writer, Goethe, visiting the Chapel 200 years ago. Back then the Sistine was "a place where one could be alone, or nearly so, with the products of genius," Hughes wrote. "The very idea seems absurd, today; a fantasy. Mass tourism has turned what was a contemplative pleasure for Goethe's contemporaries into an ordeal more like a degrading rugby scrum." He said that painting was a silent art, that deserved silence from those who came to view it.

But these days the Sistine Chapel is filled with the sound of its murmuring mass of visitors. And it is hard to ignore the conversations around you. "Can you imagine someone painting this... with a brush!" an American tourist exclaimed to his companions on a recent visit. Then they discussed what Michelangelo would have been paid. And soon afterwards they were laughing out loud, thoroughly enjoying themselves but prompting an angry security man to come stalking over, glaring at them, and "shushing". It was the sort of exchange that drains the place of the spiritual intensity that Michelangelo wanted to give it.

Robert Hughes said the modern atmosphere in the Sistine represented "a kind of living death for high culture" at the hands of mass culture. And with its talk now of the possibility of eventually limiting numbers, perhaps the Vatican is beginning to feel the same way.

Commissioned by Pope Julius II, Michelangelo began work in July 1508, and the ceiling was unveiled on 1 November 1512. Michelangelo accepted the commission unwillingly at first as he considered himself to be a sculptor rather than a painter. The Sistine ceiling was the first, but not the last fresco Michelangelo undertook. The central ceiling vault depicts nine scenes from the Book of Genesis: three of the Creation, three the fall of Adam and Eve and three of the story of Noah. The Sistine Chapel was named for Pope Sixtus IV, the uncle of Pope Julius II. Michelangelo later said: "After four tortured years, more than 400 over life-size figures, I felt as old and as weary as Jeremiah. I was only 37, yet friends did not recognise the old man I had become."

Un raggio di sole

'Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed è subito sera.'

'Everyone stands alone at the heart of the Earth
transfixed by a ray of sunlight,
and suddenly it is evening.'
 
- Salvatore Quasimodo