News - March 6, 2009

SUF Patrons calendar of events unveiled

What do a series of Last Suppers paintings, intriguing art installations at the Gori Collection in Pistoia, a fresco-painting workshop, a garden party, an exploration of Renaissance sculpture at the Bargello and Orsanmichele, and private visits to Villa Gamberaia and Villa I Tatti have in common? They are all part of the special calendar of events put together by SUF’s Elaine Ruffolo, Field Studies Coordinator, and Director Barbara Deimling, for the members of the SUF Patrons.

As part of the SUF promise to organize activities exclusively for the Patrons, Ruffolo has put together a fabulous calendar of events, beginning with a private tour in March of four different Last Suppers, as interpreted by various artists from the 14th to the 16th centuries.

A visit to the Gori Collection in Pistoia is scheduled for April, where Patrons will see this important collection of over 60 installations by international artists, scattered throughout the remarkable outdoor spaces of this romantic park and farmland, as well as inside the historic villa and various farm buildings.

May will see the Patrons trying their hand at copying a fresco by one of the great Renaissance masters with the help of SUF Professors Diane Kunzelmann and Enzio Buzzegoli. Summer will kick off with the annual Patron Garden Party, to be held in the Villa Rossa garden in June.

The program continues in September with a guided tour of the Bargello Museum and an exceptional visit behind the closed doors of Orsanmichele, opened especially for SUF Patrons, with the opportunity to see famous Early Renaissance works by such artists as Verrocchio, Ghiberti, and Donatello. In October the Patrons will be treated to a private visit to Villa Gamberaia, inspiration for architects, painters and authors for more than 400 years, and Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. Some 120 works of Renaissance and oriental art are distributed throughout the house, while the unique library contains approximately 130,000 volumes and an archive of more than 300,000 photographs and other visual materials.

Patrons are also invited to attend all SUF featured events, including two major events in March: the two-day conference organized by SUF, New York University, and the European University institute, A Transatlantic Dialogue on Migration and the symposium Civic Space in Scattered Cities, organized by SU School of Architecture, SUF School of Architecture, and the Targetti Foundation. Wrapping up the events calendar for the Patrons is an invitation to the Annual Graduate Symposium at SUF’s Villa Rossa, where the 2009 Florence Fellows will present their research on an art history topic, followed by a gala reception.

For more information about the SUF Patrons, contact Elaine Ruffolo (enruffol@syr.fi.it) or see SUF Patrons.

Upcoming SUF events

March 25, 2009 - 3:30pm
Civic Space in Scattered Cities
SUF School of Architecture Symposium
Ospedale degli Innocenti, Salone Brunelleschi
Piazza SS. Annuziata, Florence
Simultaneous translation English/Italian provided

March 23-24, 2009
A Transatlantic Dialogue on Migration
NYU’s Villa La Pietra and the Salone de’ Dugento at Palazzo Vecchio

An international two-day conference co-organized by Syracuse University in Florence and New York University with European University Institute and the Facolta’ di Legge and Scienze Politiche of the Universita’ di Firenze.

The next SUF News Broadcast will be Friday, March 20.