Siena, 14 works of art donated to the 186th “Folgore” Parachute Regiment
On Friday 18 March at the Bandini Barracks they will be presented the works that some artists have donated to the 186th “Folgore” Parachute Regimentthrough the International Medicean Academy of Florence.
An idea, this of the encounter between art and the military world, born from the profound sense of towards the Regiment, of how four friends who over time have served there, and who have become dear to them in a large family. Among this group of friends, too Michele Coppola who in addition to being a “son” of this department, he then developed his career as an artist and later became Rector of the International Medicean Academy of Florence. Just in the City of the Flower, Coppola involved the late goldsmith artist Paola Crema, so that she would embrace the initiative and involve a certain number of personalities from the art world. From that moment on, the collection began to be built up and today is donated to the Regiment
Do not forget that this kind of “affective twinning “between the” Folgore “and the International Medicean Academy dates back to 2017 when the Brigade was awarded the highest honor of the Florentine assembly, namely the Lorenzo il Magnifico Award. The following year the 186 ° Regiment instead obtained the Laurentian Medaland it was in that context that the idea, however pioneering, of bringing contemporary art to a barracks, when the idea launched by Professor Frabetti was received by the then Commander of the Regiment, Colonel Fraterrigo. An idea that reflects the growing demand for culture and a renewed sensitivity towards beauty which, as someone said, “will save the world”. But, adds Rettore Coppola, “sometimes it is not taken into account that artists draw on their soul to dare dimension to what size does not have, they draw on their emotional, their works, their visions die from their infinite reservoir to be born in our reality. When a painter decides to paint, he doesn’t really know where his painting will go but he knows where it will go with himself… he touches the bottom of his nature in an emotional apnea and then comes back up, perhaps tired or exhausted but certainly satisfied “.
Over time, during the period of command of Colonel Bernacca, the group of works of art was consolidated. Now, to the current commander Colonel Veggetti, the honor of inaugurating the exhibition by exhibiting the works in one of the most important places for conviviality in a barracks, that is, in the canteen. Each of them represents not only a subject but a theme that wants to offer not only lightness but also ideas to favor a modern form of the intellectual otium..
14 artists present with their works, among them, in addition to the same Michele Coppolaalso the painter and designer Luciano Manarathe photographer Massimo Listrithe sculptress Vittoria Marziarithe painter Ambra Morosi. Doctor Ariani, vice president of the Medici Academy, donated some works from his private collection to the Regiment.
In addition to several masters, we should thank Prince Alessio Angelo-Comneno Ferrari, President of the Angelico Costantiniana Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences in Rome, who donated two works from his private collection created by his mother, Princess Stefania Angelo-Comneno of Thessaly. A particularly prestigious donation, since the Prince is the current head of the imperial family of the Angelo-Comneno, which contains a millenary history halfway between East and West. And precisely the Academy, also by virtue of the review Studies on the Christian East (triple class A of the Ministry of University and Research) is still today an active subject in the promotion of religious dialogue and in the dissemination of culture worldwide.
The International Medicean Academy and the 186th Folgore Parachute Regiment are therefore proud to be able to boast a similar collaboration that enriches the event.