(Feb 21) – The association ‘Fiorentini nel Mondo’ (Florentines in the World) has organized the biographic exhibition “Amerigo’s America – Firenze e i mercanti del Nuovo Mondo”, which opens tomorrow in New York, on the anniversary of the fifth centenary of his death. The event will be inaugurated at the presence of the Consul General of Italy Natalia Quintavalle. The exhibition will be hosted until next March 2nd at the Manhattan campus of St. John’s University. “A prestigious university – says Andrea Galluzzo, president of ‘Fiorentini nel Mondo’ -, one of the best for historical studies and science, which pays a great attention to the Italian culture.” After the USA, the exhibition will move to Florence, where there will be a new opening on March 25th, for the Florentine New Year, at the headquarters of the European School of Economics in Palazzo Rosselli del Turco. Then, from October 17th, the exhibition will be hosted at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo. “Thanks to our delegations in the world, we managed to organize the exhibition in these two big cities. Hopefully we will be able to organize new international stages”.
“First of all, Vespucci – Galluzzo says – was a businessman of the 15th century”, a man who “managed the assets of the Medici”. Vespucci changed his life at the age of 45 (the average age of a man was around 50 years), when he moved to Seville taking in the management of the Medici bank. From there he began his experience as navigator and explorer. Significant the letters in which he described places visited and its inhabitants, creating a “census of the risks of a certain place” Galluzzo says. “This biographical exhibition wants to break away from the stereotypes of Vespucci – says the president of the ‘Fiorentini nel Mondo’ -, defining his career first as merchant and then as explorer. This is an event dedicated to one of the symbols of all the Florentines over the world”. (Cle)
AMERIGO’S AMERICA
The exhibition – in Italian and in English – recounts the deeds and the entrepreneurial skills of Vespucci through an historical iconography. The exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of an historical essay, published by Gallorosso Editrice and Grafiche Gelli and written by Andrea Claudio Galluzzo, Stefano Rosi Galli, Luciano Artusi, Tommaso Conforti, Stefano Guelfi Camaiani, Oleg Sisi, Massimo Cecchi, Stefano Cordero di Montezemolo and with a preface by Elio D’Anna, president of the European School of Economics. A video created by Tommaso Conforti will narrate Vespucci’s life through a series of images. The association ‘Fiorentini nel Mondo’ has dedicated to him a special commemorative medal in bronze by Alessandro Luzzi.
