Maaxi

I've had the flu for a few days so haven't posted -didn't want to waste the few days we have left so have gone out but not bothered with the blog.  We went to Maxxi yesterday and I loved it.
http://www.fondazionemaxxi.it/?lang=en

Maxxi is Rome's contemporary art and architecture museum which is set in an absolutely amazing gallery space.  There were several really good exhibitions and we spent hours checking them out. The "Indian Highway" exhibition was really impressive and had some very large complex sculptures.  It is really worth seeing.  You can't take photos in the gallery space so check out the Maxxi web site to see a selection of exhibits.

We were interviewed for a customer satisfaction survey (in Italian, we managed to answer everything ok so our Italian must be improving). I felt obliged to answer after having subjected people to interviews for years as part of my work :)

Maxxi is at Via Guido Reni, 4/A   Roma 00196

Opening hours
Tue-Wed-Thur-Fri-Sun
11.00-19.00
Sat
11.00-22.00

Closed
every Monday,  1 May & 25 December

Arrivederci Milano

I forgot to mention that a few days ago I was bitten on the arm  by a big dog while we were walking along the footpath near our hotel I was lucky that it was very cold and that I was wearing lots of layers and had on a puffy coat so that the dog  didn't really hurt me. The dog's owner just said "scusi" and took off -didn't check to see if I was ok.   There are so many big dogs here, and lots of stand offs in the street between dogs as owner try to rein them in.  No sign of muzzles anymore.

The weather has been fairly cold but fine and  manageable and today it was warm -10C max -with a clear blue sky, the warmest it has been since we've been here.

These photos were taken from the top of the Duomo a few days ago -you can see how cold it was from Rob's clothes :)

Among other things, today we went to see and exhibition of Artemesia Gentileschi's work on loan from around the world.   I was so happy to have the chance to see it.  I've read quite a bit about her and have only ever seen one of her paintings before at the Uffizi in Firenze.  She was an artist in the 1600s and was recognized as an accomplished artist in her lifetime -she painted women as strong characters.  It was interesting to see an exhibition in which nearly all of the central subjects were women.

The curators didn't really go into great depth about the controversies in her life but let her work speak for her.  There was also an installation with audio about her rape trial  and a selection of her letters.  

http://www.mostrartemisia.it/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_Gentileschi

In Milano even the police stand around looking stylish :)

Inside the Gallerie at night

We leave for Rome tomorrow -we'll be home in just over two weeks