Our Blogger: Jona

The Skunk Anansie are an English rock group, whose image is very famous thanks to the singer Skin (Deborah Dyer), a girl with her head completely shaved. The group was formed in 1994 and was disbanded in 2001 but reformed in 2009. Their name comes from the spider-god Anansi folk tales of West Africa, with “Skunk” (Moffett) placed in front to make the sound more aggressive.

The Skunk Anansie back in concert in Italy in 2010 for Rock Festival in Rome. 15 July 2010, Skunk Anansie will be live in concert in Rome at ‘The Hippodrome Capannelle with all the power of Rock. After two concerts in Milan and Florence in November 2009, which recorded the two dates sold out (sold out), the Skunk Anansie back on tour in Italy also in 2010 for the Rock Festival in Rome. For all fans of Skunk Anansie, the concert in Rome is not to be missed. Even for the date of July 2010 is expected to sell out and tickets for the concert of Skunk Anansie are already on sale.

To enjoy all the emotions Rome has to offer don’t forget to make a reservation at Yes Hotel or Hotel Des Artistes!

Our Blogger: Marcelo

Stoic and fatalistic. Introverted. Painter of daily life. A sense of humor and a frank manner mixed with a conservative vision about politics. A man who simply accepted things as they were. Edward Hopper (1882 – 1967), one of the most popular and well known American artists of the twentieth century will be in Rome from February 16^th.

For the first time in Italy! An exciting exhibition that arrives to Rome after a great success at the Palazzo Reale in Milan (More than 1,600 daily visitors). The Exhibition in Rome is organized with the support of Fondazione Roma and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. It will be entirely dedicated to all aspects of Edward Hopper’s extraordinary career.

Explore Edward Hopper artistic conception in which  “Great art is the outward expression of an inner life of the artist, and this inner life will result in his personal vision of the world’’ while , “So much of every art is an expression of the subconscious’’ and ‘’ and little of importance by the conscious intellect.”

Our blogger: Marcelo

-Marcelo, philosophical as ever talks about an ongoing exhibition in Rome and while at it takes us for a walk into Leonardo’s mind.

Simply beyond any kind of definition! How can you say that you are something when you are everything? Sculptor, architect, painter, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, anatomist, inventor, writer, botanist, geologist…The very meaning of ‘’open mind’’ is fitting better than never  for someone who explored every single aspect of human being and his relationship with nature. Not for a moment The Beauty was forgotten, since a searcher of the Truth is first of all a lover of the Truth.

Understanding the Truth as a whole is certainly the very spirit of the renaissance. That spirit was fully alive in Leonardo.He dreamed of a flying man, walking on water beyond limitations not by going against nature but through a fully understanding of it . And so in time the dreams became true by an unconditioned faith in nature and human being that gave inspiration to mankind…

The exhibition ‘’ Leonardo, il genio e le invenzioni’’ (Leonardo da Vinci – genius and inventions) At the Palace of the Chancellery is being held in Rome until April 30th 2010. Mostly focused on “machines” designed by the genius find on display fifty-operated machines and available to the visitor to touch and feel.

The machines are divided into five categories: water, air, earth, fire and mechanisms. The first four categories including that interacting ‘’element’’ of nature while the last one instead contains all those machines that may have different applications.

The man had always looked at the sky with an inexpressible feeling of wonder. Leonardo not only looked but worked on in order to design his very famous flying machines (including the parachute).

His genius, however, not only turned to the sky but also to the sea, to enable humans to explore its depths. It seems that Leonardo developed a diver or even a submarine. Later he decided to quit the experiments in fearing that they might be used for illicit purposes such as piracy.  Ethics were part of his vision. Funny enough anyway, to consider that a device for a ‘’miracle’’ (walking on water) was also provided by his creative mind.

This exhibition includes a chain that Leonardo designed for bicycles and watches. By this Leonardo anticipated the invention of a car.

Among the inventions relating to water: the innovative hydraulic saw, which uses water power to drive an automatic system capable of cutting timber and saving human labor.

Now you’ve read about it. You may have red lot about Leonardo. Maybe it’s time to experience directly yourself. Just exactly as he intended it… Isn’t it?

To get there from our locations Hotel Des Artistes Rome or Yes Hotel Rome is very easy by simply taking the bus 40 or 492 arriving there in no more than twenty minutes! If you need accommodation check www.hoteldesartistes.com or www.yeshotelrome.com.

Our Blogger: Jona

Even if the concert is held on Friday the 8^th of October 2010, for sure you are able to hear U2’s most famous song “Sunday bloody Sunday”. The Irish rock band which has sold more than 170 million albums and won 22 Grammy Awards. And that is more than any other rock band has achieved. Not only the selling records will guarantee you an unforgettable evening at Olympic Stadium.

 The road to world wide success has been long. Everything started in 1976, when none of the 4 members were very good musicians. Years went by, and they got better. Everything changed in 1987 when they released hit record The Joshua Tree. U2 has all these years made lot of charity work and helping people with groups like:  Amnesty International, Make Poverty History, the ONE Campaign, Live Aid, Live 8, Bono’s DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa) campaign, and Music Rising.

Tickets can be bought online: www.ticketone.it and prices are very reasonable because 85% of all tickets cost less than 95€, the ones for the field in front of the stage cost 55€ and at least 10.000 tickets cost 30€.  

Our Blogger: Vanda

It begins on February 4 the fith edition of Equilibro, festival of contemporarydance, that from the stage of the Auditorium Paco Della Musica  will open a window to the multiform and fascinating universe of contemporary dance.

Music

It will be also naturally of scene the great Italian music, with Carmen Consoli (before absolute and preview of the new album), Claudio Baglioni,Enrico Rava, Cristiano De Andrè, Paolo Fresu, Gino Paoli, Gianmaria Testa, Danilo Rea, Gabriele Mirabassi, Elio e le sotrie  Tese, Giovanna Marini, Bandabardò, Ludovico Einaudi, Fortunate Mesolella Mimmo Epifani, Actores Alidos.

Numerous the great scheduled musical events. As usual, the season will be studded with international concerts. Here are some proposals: Philip Glass (world preview), Lou Reed, Joss Stone, Tori Amos, Devendra Banhart, Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Mark Knopfler, Bobby McFerrin, Sonny Rollins, Daylight Krall, Peter Hammill, Paco De Lucy, Tuck & Patty, Jamie Cullum, Allen Toussaint, Ralph Towner, Aires Tango and Javier Girotto, Brad Mehldau, Uri Caine, Richard Galliano, William Parker, Marc Ribot, To the of Meola, Alvin Curran, Jack DeJohnette, Bobo Stenson, Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Kronos Quartet, John Mc Laughlin, Anthony Placer, Radiodervish, Manu Katché, Kocani Orkestar, Abida Parven, Alim Qasimov.

Performances

Equilibrium, in this sixth edition will be directed  by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. It will be he choreographer and dancer to inaugurate the festival with the new choreography Orbo Novo.

Both the initiatives will promote the young creativeness in the dance and in the theatre  awarding  two prizes: the winning artists will take home, respectively, 10 thousand and 20 Euro.

Culture

Appointments to theme, reviews devoted to the history, to the poetry, to the book industry, to the sciences, to the journalism, with the share of exponents of the world of the culture coming from about ten countries, that weave artistic experiences.

Among the guests: Peter Ludlow, Ilaria  Capua, Robert Caillau.

The theme of this year of the History’sLessons is “Crisis and revolution.” Prestigious historians will speak of the great transformations that have changed our past Journalists as: Paul Mieli, Peter Angela, Roberto Napoletano, Gianni Mura, Natalia Aspesi.

Art

Will begin in 2010 and will also continue in the 2011 Fluxus Biennal, the review curated by Achille  Bonito Olive, one of the most influential art critics in Italy.

To know more about the festival you can visit the official website and if you’re looking for the place to stay, the Hotel Des Artistes and Yes Hotel are the perfect hotels in a perfect area!

“Equilibrium. Festival of the new dance.” Rome, Auditorium Parco of the Music, up to February 26. Next shows “Namasya, contemporary solos” of Shantala Shivalingappa, 22 and 23; and “Opening night” de Les Slovaks Dance Collective, 25 and 26.

Our Blogger: Marcelo

“Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit.”

-Horace

From the 24^th February the exhibition ‘’ I Giorni di Roma: L’età della Conquista, Roma e il mondo greco’’ will allow you to explore the classic art even deeper into its roots and learn more about the cultural influence that Greece had over Rome, because as the Roman poet Horace said (and that’s the quote we’re using for this entry): “Captive Greece took captive [with its culture] her uncouth conqueror“.

The Capitoline Museums, placed in the legendary Capitoline Square (designed by

Michelangelo, no less) is the location chosen for this event. The decision is more than natural since the Capitoline Museums (the first public museum in history) are thematic-centred in the classic period.

Impressive marble statues, fine works in bronze and terracotta sculptures, ornaments and home decor items made of bronze and silver. Everything in order to bring you back in time and portraitf a period during which the ruling elite felt, with increasing awareness, the strengthening of its prestige and expressed it through art.

The conquest of Greece (the decades between the end of the third century BC and half of the first century A.. C)  opens an entire new prospective to the Roman society. The exhibition will focus on this very great moment in Roman History allowing visitors to better understand the strong influence of the Greek culture in Rome.

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Where: Piazza del Campidoglio

From: February 24, 2010
Until:  September 05, 2010

More info: http://museicapitolini.org/ http:// www.beniculturali.it

The Capitoline Museums are located at only fifteen minutes by bus (40 or 492)  from our locations: Hotel Des Artistes (www.hoteldesartistes.com) or Yes Hotel Rome (www.yeshotelrome.com).

Our Blogger: Vanda

From on October 24 up to February 14 th 2010, to the Museum in Rome Trastevere, you can assist to a photographic show from the title “Before and after the Wall.”  The exhibition has the purpose to tell the history of the wall in Berlin through forty photos taken during the last forty years in Berlin, the show it will put in prominence all the changes that this city has suffered from the creation of the wall up to its demolition and its transformation into a ”monument” of a past that cannot be forgotten.

The photographers authors of this interesting show are: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Leonard Freed, Bruno Barbey, Ian Berry, Guy Le Querrec della Magnum Photos, Gianni Berengo Gardin a Mauro Galligani, Giovanni Chiaramonte, Nicola Gnesi e Davide Monteleone and the great French agency Eyedea.

The museum is open every day, except Monday, from 10:00 until 20:00 but the box-office is closes to the 19. Price ticket: 5.50 European (whole) 4.00 European (meeting place). Address: Piazza di Sant’Egidio, 1/b

At Hotel Des Artistes and Yes Hotel we will be more than happy to give you all the necessary information to visit this and many other famous museums in Rome. Make a reservation and get ready for the experience of a lifetime!

Our Bloggers: Michele & Raul

Your father looks like Dante, and your brother like Ariosto.
Tonight, at its usual place, the moon looks strange,
Maybe because I haven't seen you in a week...
(Antonello Venditti, Notte Prima Degli Esami)

You might not know him, but Antonello Venditti is a true Roman Icon.

He is a great supporter of the football team Roma. He even composed a song for them called “Grazie Roma” (Thank you, Roma). And many of his hits are etched into the consciousness of Italy. One of his most famous hits “Notte prima degli esami” (the night before the final exam) talks about the final exam in highschool, a rite of passage every Italian has to go through. The protagonist of Antonello’s song is desparete because he has this very important exam the next day, but he cannot stop thinking about the girl he loves– It must be a common situation, because the song is almost an hymn and the number of times it has appeared in movies or TV shows is impossible to calculate.

Well, if you are going to be in Rome during New Year’s eve you will have the chance to spend a very Roman evening, for Antonello will be the star on the public concert with wich the Eternal City will celebrate the arrival of 2010 .
Your appointment with this true icon of Romanity is at the Fori Imperiali (basically, near the Colissseum) starting at 20:00 P.M. on New Year’s eve. Don’t miss it!

The Fori Imperiali area is easily accesible from Termini. Yes Hotel and Hotel Des Artistes are located only a few blocks away from the station, the perfet location to get the most of Rome! Make a reservation, and have a memorable New Year!

Our Blogger: Marcelo

Lovers of Fantasy are familiar with Mister Michael Ende. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages. Now there is an exhibition in Rome to commemorate the years that he spent in Italy and the thirtieth anniversary of his Masterpiece: ‘’ The Neverending Story’’.

The book describes the world of Fantasia which is being threatened by “The Nothing” an evil force that destroys everything. The story aims to keep us in touch with the imagination against the trend to be only a practical, logical and cold…

The ‘’mostra’’ develops through manuscripts, photographs and different documents, describing the fifteen years that Ende lived in Genzano (about thirty miles from Rome).

We hope you enjoy it and that you also find inspiration in our beautiful City of Rome. Maybe the same inspiration that Michael Ende and other authors have found here, in this eternally- neverending-inspiring City.

Our Blogger: Raul

Thinking about a different way to greet the new year? You will be hardly pressed to find a most exciting city than Rome. The eternal city will offer you excitement, culture, and tons of fun to start the new year with the right foot.

Rome houses one of the most interesting art collections in the world: the Vatican Museums, where you will be able to admire the Sistine Chapel. How’s that for a good way to start your year? Not to mention the Capitoline museums, the Trevi fountain, and of course the Coliseum.

Every year a concert is organized at Piazza del Popolo (subway stop Flaminio) to celebrate the new year. And that night fireworks can be seen at Trastevere and Castel Sant’Angelo. But the Roman tradition is to attend a cenone (litterally, a “big dinner”) at a restaurant to celebrate the new year with your relatives and closest friends. The typical dish on this occasion is the Cotecchino e Lenticchie, that’s, sausage and lentils. Near Yes Hotel and Hotel Des Artistes there are many typical restaurants where you will have the chance to experience a truly Roman New Year’s Eve.

Our hotels are conveniently located, with buses and subway stations at a stone’s throw, and the Colisseum is only half an hour away from us. So don’t hesitate to book now with us your accomodation for the New Year or Christmas, and while you are at that, take a look at our special packages!

Happy New Year!