L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2020 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE She had them painted or carved on plates, vases and stationary. The friars of the Monastery of the Annunciation figured out how to extract the essence of violets and create a perfume just for her. Three decades later in 1870, a local barber named Ludovico Borsari obtained from the monks t h e e x a c t f o r m u l a o f M a r i a Luigia's perfume and started his successful perfume house inter- nationally known as Borsari. T h e i r f i r s t f r a g r a n c e w a s Violetta di Parma, still a classic that never goes out of style. Maria Luigia was the quintes- s e n t i a l P a r m i g i a n a . S h e e x p r e s s e d t h e e n d u r i n g Parmigiani love for good food, a r t , a n d o p e r a . S h e c o m m i s - sioned the court architect Nicola B e t t o l i t o b u i l d t h e T e a t r o Regio, a magnificently grand opera house. Rossini, Verdi, M a s c a g n i , L e o n c a v a l l o a n d P u c c i n i s t a g e d t h e i r o p e r a s there. Maria Luigia also founded the city's Music Conservatory. Music is a fundamental part of this year's program of events, from La Città Delle Muse – a series of concerts across the p r o v i n c e o f P a r m a – t o l i v e music shows held at the former Eridania sugar factory trans- formed by architect Renzo Piano into a modern sound factory named the Paganini Auditorium. S i n c e 2 0 1 5 , t h e A r t u r o T o s c a n i n i P h i l h a r m o n i c Orchestra has been performing there, a fitting acknowledgment that Toscanini, the greatest con- ductor of Verdi who ever lived, was born in Parma in 1867. During the reign of Maria L u i g i a , F r e n c h t r a v e l w r i t e r Stendhal (né Marie-Henri Beyle) dictated his masterpiece, The Chartreuse of Parma, a tale of political intrigue that Honoré de Balzac considered the best novel of his time. P a r m a a l s o h a s a s t r o n g antifascist identity. It produced a g r e a t n u m b e r o f f i g h t i n g Partisans during WWII. Today, t h a t s p i r i t c o e x i s t s w i t h t h e city's entrepreneurial and innov- ative vocation. The compact city is as com- plex as a maze, and in fact the w o r l d ' s l a r g e s t m a z e c a n b e f o u n d h e r e : T h e M a s o n e Labyrinth, a 20-acre, star-shaped bamboo labyrinth that winds its way around a golden pyramid. The attraction was created by art m a g a z i n e p u b l i s h e r F r a n c o Maria Ricci, who in 1998 sold his publishing house to bring wonder to each visitor. This venue will host events. Until May, the 14th-century Palazzo del Governatore is host- ing Time Machine, a show on how cinema has changed our perception of time and space. This year, well-known Anglo- Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor will develop an ad hoc project for the city. The Parma countryside is magic as well with its lakes and many castles – ranging from Torrechiara to Bardi, Felino and the Castle of Compiano built by the Lombards. The rural tour shouldn't exclude a visit to the R e g g i a d i C o l o r n o , M a r i a Luigia's favorite residence. "Parma is a nation," wrote poet Attilio Bertolucci (1911- 2000), referring to the richness of its landscape, topography, and geodiversity. Bertolucci, one of the greatest Italian poets of the 20th century, was a native of San Lazzaro, a village just a 10-minute drive from downtown P a r m a . T h e v i v i d c o l o r s o f nature, his irony and joie de vivre extend through his entire literary production. Bernardo Bertolucci, the O s c a r - w i n n i n g f i l m d i r e c t o r (1941-2018), was Attilio's son. As a boy, Bernardo wanted to be a poet. "Yes I did, just to emu- late my father," he told me in Milan during an interview at the A r m a n i H o t e l , i n 2 0 1 2 . B e r n a r d o , w h o g r e w u p i n Parma, did in fact publish an award-winning book of poems in his teens. "But later I stopped trying to be like Attilio, for I found my language, cinema," he told me. His masterpieces – The L a s t E m p e r o r ( 1 9 8 7 ) , L a s t Tango in Paris (1972), The Little Buddha (1993) – were warmly e m b r a c e d b y H o l l y w o o d . Bernardo sang the praises of Parmensi farmers in the movie Novecento (1976) filmed on a farm in Roncole. "Bernardo was involved in this current exciting project as t h e C h a i r m a n o f t h e P a r m a Capitale della Cultura 2020's c o m m i t t e e , " s a y s M i c h e l e Guerra. The Parma Film Festival will pay homage to the Bertoluccis, an artistically inclined family t h a t i n c l u d e d B e r n a r d o ' s y o u n g e r b r o t h e r , G i u s e p p e Bertolucci (1947-2012), a talent- ed play writer and screenwriter. The Bertolucci archives will relocate to Palazzo Pigorini that w i l l h o u s e t h e C e n t r o S t u d i Bertolucci with materials com- i n g f r o m t h e C i n e t e c a d i Bologna, the most important Italian film archive. Next month, violets will cast their fragrant purple haze across the lawns in front of the Palazzo Ducale. Visitors will smell their sweet scent, making their days pretty in Parma, "one of the towns that I most longed to visit, after reading The Chartreuse, s e e m i n g t o m e c o m p a c t a n d glossy, violet-tinted, soft," wrote French novelist Marcel Proust. It isn't only the city of Parma to be capital of culture, but the whole province: views of Torrechiara and Bardi (Copyright: Dreamstime) Continued from page 6

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