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Italian painters: Alberto Burri

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Art can be made out of  anything; is something that we all learnt from the 20th century artists and painters, who could give life and make art with the strangest materials and objects.

Alberto Burri was an Italian painter, though he didn’t use a brush to create his masterpieces. His art is strongly connected with materialism, and is made out of fire.

He started to paint while internated in a criminal camp during the second world war, using everything he could find in a place like that. He turned into astraction using unorthodox materials, making collages with pumice, tar, and burlap, and started a series of canvases that bulged into the 3rd dimension. The bright colours of his works, all dominated by “scarves” of fire, give a very drammatic feeling to the whatcher.

He also gave an astonishing example of land art, covering the area of a destroyed town (Gibellina, destroyed by the earthquake) with white concrete, calling it Il Grande Cretto.

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Italian recipes: Sicilian Spaghetti!

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Summertime: blue skies and blue seaside! Here you are a perfect, fresh, savoury dish made by anchovies, which will suit your summer dinners.

Very easy to prepare, wonderfully tasting. Try to cook this spaghetti yourself…buon appetito!

Ingredients

  • 1 pound spaghetti
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 (2 ounce) can anchovy fillets, chopped
  • 1 cup fine bread crumbs
  • 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
  2. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and anchovies to cook for about 2 minutes; stir constantly.
  3. Stir in breadcrumbs and turn off heat. Add parsley and black ground pepper; mix together.
  4. Toss anchovy sauce with hot pasta and sprinkle with cheese; serve.

(Source: Allrecipes)

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Italian recipes: Crostata with apricots

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

The beautiful season is wellcoming us with her colourful and juicy fruits! The following recipe is for a delicious crostata with apricots…try to bake it…and you will have a perfect snack for every spring and summer day!

Filling:

8 Medium Sized Fresh Apricots
1/2 Cup Sugar
2 to 3 Tablespoons Amaretto Liqueur
1 Cup Apricot Jam

Crust:

9 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Finely Ground Cornmeal
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Toasted Almonds

Directions:
Cut the apricots in half and remove the pit. You do not need to peel apricots as the skin is very delicate and will blend into the filling. Coarsely chop. In a heavy pan mix the chopped apricots and sugar and cook for about 5 to 7 minutes until the fruit has softened and begun to break down. Add the amaretto liqueur and apricot jam and mix well.

Mix together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until well blended. Add the egg and egg yolk and continue to mix just until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, walnuts, baking powder and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until the dough comes together.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Take about 3/4 of a cup of the dough mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Spoon the apple mixture into the crust and use a spoon to smooth across the bottom crust. Mix the almonds into the remaining dough, and using your fingers, break up the remaining crust mixture into small pea sized pieces and drop it across the top of the tart. Do not worry that it doesn’t cover completely as it looks more rustic this way!

Bake the tart in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until it is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Source: http://www.italianfoodforever.com/

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Italian all over the world!

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Italian is the 19th more spoken language in the world: 62 millions people knows it as mother tongue, and 120 million people knows it as second language. It is used often for commercial reasons, as Italy is both importing and exporting goods from and to many countries.

As we all know, modern Italian is an evolution of the Florentine dialect, and is one of the 23 official European languages. But why is it so important? Let’s see in how many places  is spoken!

Italian is the official language in: Italy, San Marine, Vatican State, some parts of Switzerland, in three regions of Slovenia and in Istria (a Croatian region close to the Italian border). It used to be the official language of Malta (until 1934) and Corse (until 1859).

In Switzerland is one of the three official idioms (with French and German).

In Brazil is recognized as “ethnic language ” of the poeople of Santa Teresa and Vila Velha in the Espirito Santo’s state, where is taught as obligatory second language at school.

In France, Italian is spoken in the Nice area and in Monaco.

You can find Italian speakers also in Albania and Montenegro, because of the many relations these countries have toghether, as well as in Dalmatia.

Italian is diffused in the African ex-Italian colonies such as: Lybia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Because of the emigration, Italian has a significative presence in the USA, Argentina, Venezuela, Uruguay, Germany and Australia – where it is often spoken at home as a second language.

So what are you waiting for? Come and learn it at the Institute Galilei!

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