Italy

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Art

A Rainbow of Vegetation Consumes a 7-Story Building in a New Mural from ‘Blu’ in Rome

Photos by the artist and Valentino Bonacquisti

Street artist Blu (previously) just wrapped up work on this monumental mural on the streets of his new home in Rebibbia, Rome. The painting depicts a clump of technicolor greenery as it swallows the facade of a 7-story residential building, and is part of a series of works by a neighborhood group called “Mammut” that is trying to redevelop abandoned green spaces in throughout the city. You can see more photos of the new piece over at Gorgo Magazine.

Design

Vertical Forest: An Urban Treehouse That Protect Residents from Air and Noise Pollution

© Beppe Giardino

A potted forest of trees and branching steel beams disguise this 5-story apartment building in Turin, Italy. Designed by Luciano Pia, 25 Verde brings plants up off the ground in an attempt to evade Turin’s homogeneous urban scene and integrate life into the facade of the residential building.

The undulating structure creates a transition from outdoors to in, holding 150 trees that absorb close to 200,000 liters of carbon dioxide an hour. This natural absorption brings pollution protection to its residents, helping to eliminate harmful gasses caused by cars and harsh sounds from the bustling streets outside. The trees’ seasonal progression also creates the ideal microclimate inside the building, steadying temperature extremes during the cold and warmer months. The plants’ full foliage block rays of sun during the summer while letting in warm light during the winter.

The building holds 63 units, each benefiting from the terraces and vegetation just beyond their windows and walls. Each species of plant has been chosen purposefully from deciduous plant life in Turin to provide the highest variety of color, foliage, and blooming. This innovative design provides a childlike dream while also instilling real world benefits to those who live in this urban treehouse. (via Divisare)

© Beppe Giardino

© Luciano Pia

© Beppe Giardino

© Beppe Giardino

© Beppe Giardino

© Beppe Giardino

© Beppe Giardino

Photography

Aerial Adria: An Italian Beach Resort Photographed from Above by Bernhard Lang

All photos courtesy of the photographer

Several years ago, Munich-based photographer Bernhard Lang vacationed at a seaside resort in Adria, Italy, and was struck by the perfectly uniform arrangements of colored umbrellas used by each hotel. Last month he returned, this time by air, and shot for several hours on the coastline between Ravenna and Rimini. Lang is well known for his aerial photography of locations around Germany including coal mines, residential life, and industrial sites. You can see more over on Behance.

Art

New Blurred Cityscapes by Valerio D’Ospina

Cattedrale di Milano (2014). Oil on canvas, 40 x 40in.

Manhattan (2013). Oil on panel, 35 x 48in.

Driving on Madison Avenue (2013). Oil on panel, 48 x 24in.

Broadway and West 25th (2013). Oil on panel, 24 x 16.5in.

Duomo di Milano (2012) Oil on linen, 39 x 56in. / Facade (2012). Oil on panel, 24 x 30in.

Bivio (2011). Oil on panel, 40 x 24in.

La Strada (2014). Oil on panel, 48 x 40in.

It’s hard not to get lost in these dramatically blurred architectural renderings and cityscapes of New York and Italy by Italian painter Valerio D’Ospina (previously). The Pennsylvania-based artist most recently had a show last year at Mason Murer, and you can now follow him on Facebook and Instagram. (This Isn’t Happiness)

Amazing Craft Documentary

Man Spends 40 Years Building Giant Kinetic Carnival Rides to Advertise Family Restaurant in Italy

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

Courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià

On June 15, 1969 in Battaglia, Italy a man named Bruno bought a few jugs of wine, some sausages and a few other items and set up a tiny food stand underneath a tree to see if anyone would show up. By the end of the day he had sold almost everything and the family restaurant, Ai Pioppi, was born. The next month he had a chance encounter with a blacksmith who didn’t have time to make a few hooks for some chains. Bruno decided he would learn to weld himself and enjoyed it so much he began to dream up small rides he could build to entice new customers to Ai Pioppi. It turned out to be brilliantly successful.

Now forty years later, the forest around the restaurant is packed with swings, multi-story slides, seesaws, gyroscopes, tilt-a-whirls, and bizarre kinetic roller-coasters for adults and children. In this artfully filmed 10-minute documentary by a team over at Fabrica, we get the chance to meet Bruno, see many of his rides in action, and learn a bit about his philosophy on existence and death.

For this post I also included a few photos courtesy Oriol Ferrer Mesià who visited Ai Pioppi in 2011 with several friends. You can see many more shots here and here.

The next time I’m in Italy I think this is at the top of my list.

Photography

Idyllic Photographs of the Tuscan and Moravian Landscapes by Marcin Sobas

Poland-based photographer Marcin Sobas captures mesmerizing images of agricultural fields and hills of Tuscany, Italy and the Czech Republic (first photo). Sobas approach is unique in that instead of capturing the entirety of the landscape he instead uses a telephoto zoom lens allowing him to take tightly cropped shots that appear both immense in scale but extremely specific in scope. You can read more about his process in an interview over on 500x, and click through any of the images above to see them full size.