The Medici Way: A European Lifestyle Company

24/05/2026

Certaldo Alto’s newly opened exhibition of “La Parola Salvata” is presented as a diary featuring over fifty of Alfredo Rapetti Mogol’s works, both historic and recent, including his well-known “writings” on canvas and his latest word-breaking works.
Grazie Serena for extending this special invitation. Rapetti Mogol’s talk was truly exceptional.

Words are central to the project, functioning as both the message and the key to interpretation, and are materialized on various media such as canvas, lead, concrete, antique paper, and marble.

Words form the root of Rapetti Mogol’s work, seeking a dialogue with space and time. He contrasts the sung word (music) with the painted, preserved word—a silent, immobile concept that acts as both concept and image, perpetually balancing form and substance, ethics and aesthetics. His expressive form involves a unique technique called “stitching,” which merges the act of painting with the act of writing, marking words, signs, and traces on canvas.

Born in Milan in 1961, Rapetti Mogol was influenced by his family’s atmosphere of music, literature, and poetry, and was introduced to the Milanese artistic scene by his maternal grandfather, Alfredo De Pedrini. After training at the Milan Comics School, he intensely explored his pictorial practice, culminating in a four-year collaboration starting in 1996 with artists Alessandro Algardi and Mario Arlati. This led to combining his passions for writing and painting as visualizations of mental and psychological processes. His work continues the ideal path of pictorial writing, engaging with art history from the historical avant-gardes and conceptual art to the Spatialist experiments of Lucio Fontana and abstract writings of the 1950s. Since the late 1990s, Rapetti Mogol has sustained a notable exhibition activity across Italy and the rest of the world.

If you are in Tuscany, go see it!
And be sure to have a lunch with cipolla rossa for which Certaldo is famous for (now it’s even a protected heritage of the town!).

15/05/2026

Volterra in the clouds. 🩵

08/05/2026

11/04/2026

Wow 😍
We love this stuff! What about you? Have you thrown a coin into the Trevi Fountain? It’s about time.

Come funziona la Fontana di Trevi?Entriamo direttamente nel suo backstage: scopriamo l'antico Acquedotto Vergine che passa nella camera di manovra, il locale...

11/04/2026

Wow 😍
We love this stuff! What about you? Have you thrown a coin into the Trevi Fountain? It’s about time.

Come funziona la Fontana di Trevi?Entriamo direttamente nel suo backstage: scopriamo l'antico Acquedotto Vergine che passa nella camera di manovra, il locale...

25/03/2026

Happy Dante Day! Known as Dantedì in Italian, today celebrates the famed Italian poet and writer, Dante Alighieri 🇮🇹📜

Every year on March 25th, Italians and literature lovers around the world celebrate Dantedì, a day dedicated to one of the greatest figures in human thought and Italian culture: Dante Alighieri. Best known for his monumental work The Divine Comedy, Dante’s writings shaped the Italian language and offered profound reflections on morality, justice, love, and the human journey.

Born in Florence in 1265, Dante lived during a turbulent period of political strife, exile, and social upheaval. Yet his vision transcended his time, blending classical knowledge, theological insight, and poetic imagination into a universal exploration of the soul. From Inferno to Paradiso, his verses invite readers to reflect on the human condition, the consequences of choices, and the pursuit of virtue.

Dantedì is more than a literary commemoration—it’s a celebration of Italian identity, culture, and language. Schools, libraries, and cultural institutions across Italy hold readings, lectures, and discussions to honor his legacy, emphasizing how Dante’s work continues to inspire writers, thinkers, and artists centuries later. For Italian Americans, Dantedì is also a reminder of the enduring influence of Italian heritage on global culture, from literature and philosophy to art and public discourse.

On this Dantedì, we remember Dante Alighieri not just as a poet, but as a thinker whose vision encourages reflection, creativity, and a connection to the enduring power of culture and language. His journey through the realms of the afterlife remains a guiding light for all who seek meaning, understanding, and the beauty of the written word. 💙🇮🇹

22/03/2026

Sacred Spaces Art Retreat
Private noble villa in the heart of Tuscany
September 28- October 3, 2026
Limited to 8 participants in order to ensure the highest quality experience.
Guest Artist: Michelle Arnold Paine

During the years she spent living and working in Italy, Michelle Arnold Paine steeped herself in the Renaissance masters, the rhythms of the liturgy, and the intimacy and beauty of daily Italian life. After her return from Italy she received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and went on to earn an MFA from University of New Hampshire.

Michelle’s work as an artist centers around expressing the timeless spaces of European architecture, and the narratives recounted within them. She has exhibited across the US and her paintings have appeared in many publications which seek to explore elements of the divine.

Program Description:
Between the earth and the sky, built spaces in which we dwell serve a function, but also can take on significance related to our very essence as human beings. During our week together in Tuscany we will explore the shadowy mysteries of centuries —even millennia— of architecture. We’ll spend time responding on site in the monumental sacred spaces of Tuscany with dry and wet media.

All art materials will be supplied on site for those who prefer to travel light.

Retreat is open to every artistic level as well as to non-creative travel companions.

Cost per person (USD):
A $500 deposit reserves your spot!

$2,950 (double with shared bath)
$3,300 (double with ensuite bath)
$3,650 (single with shared bath)
$3,950 (single with ensuite bath)

Cost includes: pre-trip planning, airport group transfers, 5 nights lodging, 12 quality meals, daily excursions, art workshop with instruction, group ground transportation, and all necessary art supplies. Additional pre/post day extensions optional for those who desire extra time to relax and refresh.

20/03/2026

What a treat earlier this week to experience the newly opened exhibition “Rothko a Firenze” at Palazzo Strozzi. Now through August. Definitely worth a visit.

Our summary and a few favorite pieces:
In 1950, Rothko travelled to Europe, visiting Venice, Florence, and Rome. The encounter with Italian art, from Giotto and Fra Angelico’s frescoes to Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library, left a lasting impression. The sense of balance and scale discovered in these works influenced Rothko’s approach to painting. Through the 1950s compositions, Rothko explored how color and light could create a direct emotional experience for the viewer. He denied the tranquility often attributed to his work, describing each surface as containing an intense, even violent, energy which pulsates within the canvas.

Rothko’s studies, spanning from 1958 to 1962, chart the evolution of compositional structures that would later appear in his work, Rothko explored how closely balanced zones of tone could generate an architecture of quiet tension. Using tempera paint on textured sheets, he tested the proportions and intervals between forms, adjusting the weight of each plane to evoke a sense of inward pressure and enclosure. Notably these works coincide with Rothko’s 1959 trip to Italy and his immersive experiences in the architectural spaces of Rome and Florence.

In 1958, Rothko represented the United States at the Venice Biennale. The exhibition revealed a decisive shift in his painting with the emergence of the dark red and brown tonalities that would define many canvases of the coming decade. The following year, he travelled again through Italy, visiting sites such as the temples at Pastum and the frescoes of Pompeii, that would continue to inspire him. The deep, weathered reds of Roman walls and the enveloping stillness of those spaces profoundly marked his sense of color and scale. The thin layers of pigment vary from dull brick to glowing crimson, creating a space of compressed luminosity and evoking a meditation on the endurance of light within darkness. These canvases confront the viewer with a concentrated intensity, where human emotion is held at the edge of darkness.

18/03/2026

Even overcast days in Florence (Italy) present an opportunity for an afternoon coffee with a beautiful view. It’s the perfect joy following a morning at Palazzo Strozzi absorbing the new Rothko exhibition. Who knew that Italy impacted his work so much? You can feel it in his layers of colors. Worth the visit if you find yourself in Florence these next few months.