Showing posts with label Alberto Ressa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alberto Ressa. Show all posts

Sunday, September 22, 2019

St. PIUS V

S. PIO X
Piazza della Balduina 5
1957/61 Alberto Ressa (1902/?)
St. Pius X Sarto (1903/14) was canonized in 1954 and he was the last pope to be declared a saint until John Paul II and John XXIII in 2014 
“Terracotta panels of the Stations of the Cross” 1963 by Raul Vistoli (1915/90)

CHAPEL OF St. PIO OF PIETRELCINA 
Painting “St. Pio of Pietrelcina” 2003 by Ulisse Sartini (1943) popular painter of very realistic, almost photographic portraits

MAIN ALTAR 
“Bronze Crucifix” by Publio Morbiducci (1889/1963), the sculptor of the statue of the Bersagliere (the running soldier) opposite Porta Pia 
Huge organ made in 1969 by the Tamburini firm

In 1964 in this church was shot the final scene of the sci-fi movie The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price from the novel by Richard Matheson I Am Legend which also inspired the eponymous movie starring Will Smith in 2007
The Last Man on Earth is considered a cornerstone of the horror genre in Italy

Monday, February 3, 2014

HOTEL CAVALIERI HILTON

HOTEL CAVALIERI HILTON
1961/63 Ugo Luccichenti (1898/1976), Emilio Pifferi (1907/?) and Alberto Ressa (1902/?), built as an exception to the municipal urban plan for the Società Generale Immobiliare (General Real Estate Company)
In the atrium spiral fountain by Franco Albini (1905/77) and Franca Helg (1920/89)
The very expensive restaurant "La Pergola" on the top floor, boasting the prestigious chef Heinz Beck, is considered one of the best restaurants in the whole of Italy
"The operation, at the center of a bitter controversy carried on by the weekly magazine L'Espresso and the National Institute of Urban Planning, started in 1954, when the company had entered into an agreement with Hilton Real Estate to build a hotel in Monte Mario in a designated area for public parks or extensive building, in which it was planned a wide panoramic square similar to the one on the Janiculum Hill. The question debated also in court concluded, however, with the construction of a huge hotel with eight floors above ground and three underground, the impact of which was 'in fact much worse than it could have been expected' (Italo Insolera)" (Gianluca Ficorilli - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)
Among the over one thousand works of art kept in the hotel:
Paintings
"Judgement of Paris" by Giuseppe Bazzani (1690/1769)
"Landscape with Hermit" by Alessandro Magnasco (1667/1749)
"Flora" by Carlo Cignani (1628/1719) a pupil of Francesco Albani
"Arrival of the Bucintoro in St. Mark's Square" by Josef Heintz the Younger (about 1600/78)
"Country landscape with bridge" by Giuseppe Zaïs (1709/84) artist from Belluno who died in poverty, exponent of the Arcadian school
"Dollar Sign" by Andy Warhol (1928/87)
Sculptures
Bronze statue "Boy with Dog" by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)
Marble sculpture "The Kiss" by Antonio Tantardini (1829/79)
Remarkable collection of antique furniture and prestigious tapestries from Belgium and Beauvais, Art Nouveau clocks and vases