Tuesday October 15 was another beautiful day. Blue sky with a high of 28C.
Our late morning destination was the Galleria Comunale d'Arte (Municipal Art Gallery). It was about a 25 minute walk uphill from our apartment.
We passed the Convento Cappuccini (Capuchin Convent) which is built on an ancient pagan site on the Buoncammino hill. It is the main convent of the Sardinian Capuchin friars. Under the Convent, there are famous Punic caves transformed by the Romans into stone quarries to build the amphitheatre, to which they are connected by an underground tunnel. The Convent was built in 1591 and is now called the Convent of S. Ignazio after France Ignazio da Laconi (1701-1781) who was Sanctified in 1951.
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| The Convent |
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| Beautiful mosaics |
Across from the Convent, was the Anfiteatro Romano (Roman Amphitheatre), Cagliari's most significant Roman monument. It dates back to the 2nd century and is carved into the rocky flank of the Buoncammino hill. Over the centuries, much of the original theatre has been cannibalized for building material. In its heyday, crowds of up to 10,000 people would gather to watch gladiators battle each other.
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| The remaining section of the amphitheatre |
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| Another view |
We were only about five minutes away from the Municipal Art Gallery. It is housed in a neoclassical villa in the Giardini Pubblici (Public Gardens) north of the Castello. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. There are works by many of Sardinia's top artists alongside painting and sculptures from the Francesco Paolo Ingrao (1909-1999) Collection. Ingrao was a collector of 20th century Italian art.
The Gallery opened in 1933. In the past, it was the site of the royal armoury, but the 18th century building which houses it was destroyed by an explosion and later rebuilt in 1828. After the bequeath of the Ingrao collection in 1999, the Gallery was renovated and there have been other improvements since that time.
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| Gennaro Maldarelli (Ritratto di bambina (portrait of a young girl), 1840-- linked to Neoclassicism. It is an example of Academic painting. |
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| Domenico Colao (1881-1943), Monte Leone- his work belongs to the Tuscan Macchiaioli movement |
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| Enrico Reycend (1855-1928) Paesaggio (Landscape)-impressionist aspects |
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| Enrico Reycend (1855-1928), lungo il po presso la gran madre di dio a torino (1884) |
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| Paolo Ferretti, Paesaggio, 1915 (impressionist influence) |
There were a number of paintings in a section called From Divisionism to Futurism. The art movement known as Divisionism originated in the 1880s and came to prominence in Italy in 1891. Its technique had its origins in the pointillism of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac and consists of placing primary colours near each other, without mixing them, and by applying light brushstrokes.
The literary and art movement known as Futurism came into being in 1909 with the publication by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti of his Manifesto of Futurism. Ingrao chose for his collection the less avant-garde works of the Futurist painters. Ingrao especially appreciated the Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni. There are 32 paintings of his in the collection. Boccioni died in the midst of WWI at just 34 years old.
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| Giuseppe Cominetti (1882-1930), Coppia che balla (a couple dancing) |
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Cominetti, Vaso di Fiori
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| Arturo Noci (1874-1953), Ritratto di donna (Portrait of a Woman), 1901 |
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| Camillo Innocenti (1871-1961), Marina (circa 1908) |
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| Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), La ciociara (1901-05) |
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| Umberto Boccioni (18820-1916), Ritratto di Ines (1908-10) |
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| Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), Due Teste (Two Heads) (1907-09) |
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| Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916), In montagna, 1915 |
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| A wall of paintings |
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| Diego Pettinelli, Ritratto di Adriana De Carolis, 1930 |
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| Carlo Socrate (1889-1967), Vestizione della sposa, 1934 |
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| Carlo Socrate (1889-1967), Ritratto di signora, 1926 |
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| Carlo Socrates (1889-1967), Ritratto femminile, 1945 |
There were a number of works by Filippo De Pisis (1896-1956). He had a long stay in Paris where he met the leading exponents of impressionism, whose style he interpreted in his own way.
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| Filippo De Pisis, Matura morta con candelabro e violino, 1931 |
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| Filippo De Pisis, Parigi (Paris), 1938 |
Deiva de Angelis trained in London and Paris. She lived a non-conventional life which ended prematurely in 1925.
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| Deiva de Angelis (1885-1925), Ragazza con fazzoletto rosa (Girl with pink kerchief) |
There were a number of paintings and drawings by Giorgio Morandi (Bologna 1890-1964), whose work we both really enjoy, We have seen a number of exhibits of his work in our travels.
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| Morandi, Still Life, 1954-- mature work focusing on the geometric elements of the composition. |
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| Morandi, Still Life, 1929 |
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| Correspondence between Morandi and Ingrao |
There was one room in the middle of the Gallery where a temporary exhibit was housed. The exhibit was entitled : Bisus: Memory and the Shadow of Time and is by Gabriella Locci, a Cagliarian artist who lives and works in the city.
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| Quote at the beginning of the Exhibit |
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| Map of the Journey/ Memory 2011 |
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| Night thoughts- 2023 |
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| Misunderstood sadness- 2018 |
On one wall, was the 2020 piece
Red is under and over the water. There was an accompanying video which showed the piece being put into the sea, to simulate a symbolic journey.
Red is under and over the water- 2020
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| Video showing piece in the Sea |
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| The piece on its journey |
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| Far on the horizon the light has the sound of thunder- 2024 |
We both like her works a lot. Masterful engraving and print making. We then continued in the next room with the Gallery Collection.
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| Mario Mafai (1902-1965), Il suonatore di fisarmonica (1954-56) |
There were a number of paintings by the Florentine Expressionist Ottone Rosai. His 1940s paintings "often showed seated male figures seen from behind with blurred outlines in an atmosphere of restrained use of colour."
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| Ottone Rosai (1895-1957), Figure al caffè, 1941 |
There was a room with a number of works by Mino Maccari (1898-1989). Maccari took part in combat during WWI and participated in Mussolini's "March on Rome" in 1922. Years later, he made a complete turnaround, joining the Resistance in 1944. All 34 paintings in the collection belonged to his mature period, reflecting the distinctive elements of his artistic style: bright colours, stereotypical facial features, deformed physical shapes and accentuated forms.
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| Mino Maccari, Tre figure, 1961 |
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| Mino Maccari, L'Austriaco, 1946 |
Mino Maccari, Ammiraglio seduto su una tinozza, 1957. Admiral sitting in a tub "depicts a high navy officer sitting on a tub, showing the sharp irony with which Maccari addressed the powerful in society".
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| E. Martini, Testa femminile, 1933 |
We really enjoyed our visit to the Municipal Gallery. An excellent collection that was very well documented. The 1910-1955 period was a very significant period of Italian art.
We then walked in the Public Gardens--- a beautiful peaceful spot, with great views of the city. The Gardens were bought by the Municipality in 1840 and were designed for walks in a typical 19th century garden.
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| Signage- lots of places to sit |
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| An amazing tree- I Ficus Magnolioides-- estimated to be over 200 years old. |
There were a number of cats near the Gallery.
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| Very healthy cats |
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There were a number of cat homes just near the entrance to the Public Gardens and Gallery--
well looked after. |
We walked down the hill and around the corner to the Orto Botanico (Botanical Gardens), which we had passed on our way up to the Gallery. The Orto Botanico was established in 1858 and is one of Italy's most famous botanical gardens. It extends over five hectares and has around 2000 special of flora, some from as far afield as Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas.
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| Some beautiful flowers just as we turned the corner |
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| Near the entrance of the Botanical Gardens |
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| Many specimens |
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| There was a large map at the entrance to the gardens and many paths to take |
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| Very lush-- but unfortunately most of the flowers were gone |
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| Fountain with aquatic plants |
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| Towering trees |
We wandered a bit and sat in the shade near the fountain. We did not explore too far as we were a bit tired from our hike up to the Gallery and our Gallery visit. We appreciate the wonderful green spaces in the city.
As it was around 3:00 p.m., we decided it was time for a snack. We went to Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the street with restaurants parallel to the street with our apartment. Many were already closed for the afternoon, but we stopped at Il Cigno for a bite to eat. As a note, most shops are closed from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. and restaurants that serve both lunch and dinner are often closed from 2:30 or 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 or 8:00 p.m.
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Il Cigno
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| Alonso with our fried calamari, I only remembered the photo when we were half through our snack. |
We went back to the apartment and then decided to go for a late coffee at around 5:00 p.m. at Dulcis Pasticceria in the Marina District.
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| Lovely store with take out and tables-- they serve Napoli coffee and their amaretti were especially good. |
Then back to the apartment. We headed out to dinner at 7:45 p.m. and decided to go to Su Cumbidu, a typical Sardinian restaurant recommended by our host and also one we had walked by the other evening.
There was a long row of tables outside and a busy kitchen and a large indoor dining space. We chose outdoor dining as it was still a very pleasant 24C.
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| Outside at Su Cumbido |
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| Alonso had a wonderful Sardinian ravioli-like pasta, filled with sheep cheese, sage, mint and saffron (Culurgiones cun salvia e zafaranu) |
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| I had Fregula cun birdura (small Sardinian pasta with tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms and eggplant)- Yum |
It was lovely eating outside on October 15. More explorations on Wednesday October 16, which will be our last full day in Cagliari. We head back to Toronto on Thursday October 17.
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