Actor, musician, writer, humorist, activist, composer, host of TV (among them his own show) and radio programs, owner and creator of his own record label, retailer, etc.., Oddly enough, I think we are missing out a few things this man has done, the only man with whom I would get married in a blink with my the eyes closed, Mr Henry Rollins.

It is simply that some people are restless and others aren’t and Rollins is one of the most restless human being you can find, along with great talent, imagination and creativity and a tremendous personality. His career kicked off in 1980 as a singer of the band “State of Alert”, the experience only lasted a year, after which he joins the legendary punk rock band “Black Flag” a crazy rock phase where the young Rollins suffered as he had to sleep for months in a van and received spitting and blows from crazed up fans during shows, a normal attitude of punk fans back then. After 5 years with Black Flag, Rollins had grown enormously and decided to form his own band called “Rollins Band”, with which he was quite successful, especially with his album “Weight”. The Rollins Band had two formations and several albums, the last one was released in 2002, after which the band dissolved and Rollins dedicated his time to his project “Spoken Word”.

As a soloist, beside the Rollins band, he put out two very interesting albums in the hard rock jazz line , always filled with intelligent lyrics, poetry and criticism. The concert will take place next February 15 at the Alcatraz club in Milan, and it will have a bit of everything, his solo music, some tunes from the Rollins Band and certainly humor and a lot of dialogue with the attending crowd. If you’re in Milan do not miss it.

For more information visit:http://www.lastfm.es/event/2039910+Henry+Rollins+at+Alcatraz+on+15+February+2012

Luz Obscura

A very complete artist, as few are in a seductive city as few others cities are. Rent apartments in Milan and secure your entry for this great show.

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Translated by: Marc
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From the 20^th of January to the 10^th of February, we will be able to enjoy “Excelsior” at the Teatro La Scala in Milan. The show “Excelsior” returns again to the Lombard capital to inaugurate the ballet season.

In 1881, this unique, historical and allegorical choreographic composition was presented for the first time. The show is divided into six acts, composed by eleven scenes, which celebrate the triumph of light and civilization over obscurantism. They recall great feats of humanity and technological achievements of the time, as important as the telegraph, the battery, the steam engine or the Suez Canal.

“Excelsior” was a success at its premiere. It presented more than 100 performances during its first season in Italy, as well as an extensive international tour, through which it obtained a passage through the symbolism embodied the spirit of the time.

The current show produced in 1974 and is a lighter version than the original, both in its scenery, music and dancers, which in its original version, were more than 500 extras. However, the show does not lose anything of creativity and nostalgic flavor of the Italian ballet spirit.The main figure of “Excelsior” is the famous dancer Roberto Bolle, étoile at La Scala in Milan. Bolle has been part of the most prestigious dance companies in the world, the London Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, The Ballet of Stockholm, Tokyo and New York. In this last one, he was appointed principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre in 2003. The show also features the special participation of the Russian dancer Alina Somova, during the 20^th, 22^nd and 25^th of January. Alina was chosen as the Mariinsky Theatre in 2003 and comes from the prestigious Vaganova Academy of the Russian ballet.

Teatro La Scala in Milan is one of the most important places in the world of its kind. The present building dates from 1778, since the first, located at Teatro Ducale was burned in 1776. Salieri opened the new theater with his play “L’Europe riconosciuta”. The first reform of its facade dates from 1907 and later after the damage suffered during the bombing of World War II, had to be renovated again. For some years this magnificent hall was also a casino as was the custom in the nineteenth century.

Tickets to attend this wonderful show are already available in the Internet, in different web ticket sites, including http://www.viagogo.es/Milano/Teatro-alla-Scala-Entradas/_V-1381/Excelsior-Ballet-Entradas, the price of available seats is between € 99 and € 125. Hurry up, because the high expectations created by “Excelsior” has made some sessions, totally booked by now.

Fernando Paterna

Holiday apartments in Milan are the best way to visit the city and get to know each and every one of its charms. The Lombard cuisine, its customs and historic buildings are just some of the attractions that this great city has prepared for you. Do not forget to pay a visit to its big shops avenues and cozy cafes.

Translated by: Hans
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If you like Italian football you’re in luck. On the 15th of January you have an unmissable appointment between two eternal rivals. Both teams of the city of Milan come across each other again in the most important football competition in Italy, the Serie A.

Rossoneros and interistas are at odds and have a rivalry which dates since the foundation of both clubs. The Milanese population is divided between fans of Inter and Milan.

Both teams share their stadium, the Giuseppe Meazza, also known as San Siro due to its location in the namesake district of the city. It has a capacity for 80,000 spectators and it has seen two World Cups and three European competition finals played on its grass. The teams alternate the stadium and every week one or the other plays its match there.

The origin of all the rivalry comes from a distance. At the beggining, the Milan Cricket and Football Club (original name of the currently named AC Milan) was the only team of the city but, in 1908, a disagreement emerged on the subject if it was convenient to allow foreigners to participate in the team. 43 directors and members of the club decided to turn away from the club and founded a new team, Internazionale di Milano. After this divison, the rossonero (red and black) team was quickly considered as the middle and lower classes team of the city, with its fans mainly being trade unionists and workers. However Inter was considered the club of the rich, but this fact has been forgotten in present times.

Inter has 18 Scudetti (league titles) in its cabinets, 7 Italian Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 3 European Cups, 2 Interncontinental Cups and 1 World Club Championship. Milan, meanwhile, has 18 Scudetti, 5 Italian Cups, 2 European Cup Winners Cup, 7 European Cups, 3 Intercontinental Cups and 1 World Club Championship.

These are two of the biggest clubs in world football who have faced each other in over 200 occasions and the statistics show a very balanced outcome in their head to head. Regarding the fans, Inter is the second most popular club in Italy behind Juventus from the city of Turin, while Milan occupies third place. During the days previous to the match, the city atmosphere is quite frankly intense and their fans proudly show their colours and flags on the balconies of their houses.

Both teams arrive to the match in very different situations. Inter is having an irregular season while Milan is presented as title contender.

The show which awaits us at the San Siro will be frankly intense, thrilling and vibrant, you can’t miss it! You can still buy tickets for the match in the main websites of sporting events.

Fernando Paterna

Milan is the second most important city in Italy, one of the world’s most important commercial and financial centres, as well as being the fourth most important city in Europe in terms of economy and the capital of fashion. Renting apartments in Milan is an easy, comfortable and affordable option to visit the city.

Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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This is a controversial character of Italian modern art, probably one of the best cartoonists of all times. His name was Andrea Pazienza, and his life was very short (32 years) but incredibly intense, not only by events that encouraged her, but also due to the way he lived his life: in a totalizing, absolute and extreme way. Andrea Pazienza was defined several times as “the greatest living artist,” a claim which is a bit presumptuous, especially if his work is not known. Then, when you open and read one of his comics , one realizes that the level of his drawings allows this presumption without fear: the strength of the colors he uses and his incredible ability to create stories that the – literally – jumps out of the pages and become true moments that we live in our daily life.

Andrea Pazienza was born in San Benedetto del Tronto on May 23, 1956. His father, an art education professor conveyed in him from an early age, his love for art, teaching him to look. From a very young age, Andrea left traces of his genius, creating set designs for a few shows at the Teatro Verdi in San Severo and, since 1973, performing solo and in group exhibitions. He achieved great success thanks to the first comic book he published, “The Extraordinary Adventures of Penthotal” a story inspired by his years at the University of Bologna (where he studied at the DAMS – Disciplines of Art, Music and entertainment, a career he left when he was only two assignments away from his degree). He was also devoted to painting, another art that he developed from an early age, creating a symbolic picture representing his suicide when he was only 15 years. In 1984, the darker side of his artistic production is revealed publicly: the relationship with heroin and a drug dependence. It was those that led him to his death: June 16, 1988, at his home in Montepulciano (Tuscany), Andrea Pazienza died of a heroin overdose. It was never clear whether it was suicide or an overdose taken without the will to die.

Nonetheless, Pazienza leaves an unparalleled legacy in the world of Italian comics. The exhibition “Pazienza un corno!” Organized by the Gallery Ca ‘di Fra’ in collaboration with the Little Nemo Art Gallery of Turin aims to bring together a number of very significant works of the artist. During the entire month of January you can visit the exhibition in the ??Via Carlo Farini 2 (Milan) space . The opening hours of the Space is between 10 and 15 to 13hs 19hs, Monday to Saturday. Until January 28, 2012 (closed for Christmas Holidays until January 9).

For more information: http://sbamcomics.it/eventi/eventi-pazienza-un-corno-alla-ca-di-fra.

menschauser

So do not miss the chance to know this artist. We recommend you rent apartments in Milan and learn more about the art of comics, from the hand of one of its most renowned authors.

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Translated by: Marc
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They called him  ”The Asian Banksy” due to the force of his messages and theformal quality of his works. He became known in the world of Street Art, the world which at first stood in firm opposition to exhibit at art galleries, proposing very precise ideas and standing in a  very rebel positions, creating “ephemeral” art  that could not be sold purchased or possessed as it belonged to the city, a display of gray walls that give it an artistic life of its own, and consequently message to society as a whole.

However, in recent decades (probably from the era of the great artist Basquiat and Banksy finally reaching today media phenomenon) the world of street art has increasingly moved to the conventional circuit of exhibitions and auctions, and the artists whose canvas was formerly on the metropolis, are now engaged to perform a somewhat different versions of their works,  for they can be transported, displayed and, finally, sold.

Can this be considered treason? Some say yes. Others, more cautiously, assert that the galleries provide a space for the socially engaged work of these artists to install their message and their challenge directly into the usual circuit of art sales. But there is no doubt: this same message, displayed on the walls of the exhibition loses all its force at these aseptic spaces.

For all these reasons, it’s worth visiting at least a show of this kind: to get an idea of ??what it means to move a message from acity  to cold art gallery, and to see how (sometimes radically) the artist changes his content .

Farhan Siki is a young artist from Indonesia who had never had a personal exhibition in Europe. His moment is now when the Primo Marella Gallery in Milan decided to give him this opportunity and lend him this space ending on  January 28, 2012. In the exhibition, which will open on the 14th of December at 19hs, will present 15 major works of Farhan, all unpublished.

Siki Farhan’s work presents its messages in a humorous and bold way butalso exploring in depth the textual element. In fact, he often uses logos, icons and symbols of local and global mass culture , to arrange them in his paintings (until recently on walls), loaded with  hyperbolic functions and parodies. It is a language in a way, how he approaches the world of advertising and communication, and through which the artist presents the ironic and bitter contradictions of contemporary life. Somewhat paradoxically, his polemical attacks are also directed to the art world, criticizing some artists in the ” art star system” (he is no doubt referring to the likes of Damien Hirst – whose  diamond skull sold for $ 74 million) .

menschauser

So if you are interested in reflecting on the meaning of advanced criticism by street art to date, we recommend you do not miss the opportunity to see this exhibit. You can rent apartments in Milan and spend a few days of art and culture, directly in the capital of “fashion” in Italy.

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Translated by: Marc
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When planning a family trip you always have to think about children and we often do because it costs thousands of problems to  find entertaining places where everyone can fully enjoy those days off. Don’t be nervous, Milan offers amazing moments for parents and children and we are going to tell you about them.

One advantage of Milan is its wonderful parks where you can walk, jog or simply lie down and enjoy watching the kids jump around and play. The Parco Sempione, which lies between Sforzesco Castle and Piazza Sempione, has ponds, bridges, playgrounds for children and a museum. In short, you can spend an afternoon or a morning there  enjoying it as much as your children do and you even can have a cup of  tea and spend a full day of relaxation at a very low cost.

Another place to visit  is the Parco Forlanini in Via Corelli which is  235 hectares of greenness, making it the largest park in Milan and it happens to be  open every day of the year. Even in the beautiful Azzurro Park you can go for a swim if the weather is good.

If your children are grown-up, a  great entertainment for the whole family are thematic tours. There are double-decker rides  with buses touring the best sights of the city to interesting 3 hours photographic tours where they teach you some basic techniques to enhance your pictures and portraits, and children will learn the history of the city and photography in one trip. Usually there are special prices for families and discounts for children.

The same is true in the many museums like the planetarium, or monuments and castles. Without doubt the best option in this area is the Museum or Museo dei Bambini MUBA di Milano. A place that your children and you will undoubtedly enjoy

You can also rent bicycle tours or go on tours like those offered by AWS cycling into the heart of the city.

What can not be missed is a visit with the kids to get some  ice cream shops in Milan and bring out  the kid in you. A well known one is La Bottega del Gelato, located in Via Pergolesi 3. There you will find a paradise of flavors, colors and smells that you cannot resist. This ice cream is internationally renowned for the quality and variety of flavors such as Colombian pitahaja, Indonesian granadilla and  postacchio di Bronte, among other exotic varieties that will make you and your children very happy.

If it is food you want, kids prefer pizza and sandwiches in a relaxed spot., but nothing too fancy So look out for places where parents and children can enjoy a delicious dinner after a day of sightseeing, hiking and unloading the emotional burden of such a entertaining day. For that purpose, nothing is  better than Norman , a highly recommended restaurant to go with your family and taste their wonderful pizzas cooked in a wood oven, the meats, the homemade sausages which can be accompanied with fresh green salads. It’s a relaxed place, decorated with kitchen and farm utensils where children are treated like kings.

For more information: http://www.muba.it/php/news.php

Nancy Guzman

Remember that nothing is better than to end the year and start a new one full of energy spending a few days with your family. Rent apartments in Milan it has the best spaces and unbeatable prices. So don’t think about it too much and convince yourself that it is cheaper to spend a week in apartments in Milan than go to family therapy.

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Translated by: Marc
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It seems that people still don’t understand the meaning of fashion – that it is still thought of as a frivolity; something belonging exclusively to the elite, with nothing to do with ordinary, daily life. This could not be wrong. Fashion is everywhere, and it has the power to radically transform your life. Fashion has replaced the space previously occupied by organised religion, and television – institutions which these days yield little power or influence over every day life. Fashion is inside all means of communication.

What are the revolutionary elements of fashion in this day and age? Perhaps not many, but like all contemporary cultural artefacts, it is nothing more than the result of hundreds of recyclings, repeated visions and visionaries. Arthur Rimbaud believed in the distortion of the senses to reach higher levels of perception – and fashion does exactly this when you think about it.

In the Western sense, fashion is the result of an organisation which is for the survival of an aesthetic which is placed in front of the rest in a competition of originality and daring. This is how the big designers of the world are the ones who mould the body of the men and women of today. And if you think about it, clothes are not something which is just added on top of the body, but the body is conditioned, and defined according to an immaterial concept – material which covers the body to give shape and meaning to the dress; in such a way, that one is displaced by that clothing. So when you find yourself buying discount H&M clothing at the end of the month, you are simply a cog in the wheels of this controlling system. You are part of this clothes machine – the clothes don’t belong to you, you just give it volume, and movement; you are replaceable, not indispensable.

And with all this in mind, the fashion industry continues to be unstoppable. Each year the number of designers grows, along with the resources for the manufacturing and creation of clothing. Even if New York, London, Paris and Milan continue to be the centres of worldwide fashion, there are still possibilities for the creation and production of alternative clothing, which is accessible to all. Just browse the web a bit, and you’ll find fashion made locally, of not only good quality but much more affordable, and produced using more natural and environmentally friendly methods.

Milan Fashion Week runs between the 21st and 27th of September, For more information on the shows, designers and events, you visit the website http://www.cameramoda.it/.

Alexa Ray

There’s nothing quite like finding one of the apartments in Milan and enjoying a week of glamour and beauty.

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Translated by: Poppy
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The term mafia is used universally round the world to refer to organised crime. The word takes its origins in Italy; and the four main Italian mafias are the Ndrangueta in Calabria, the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the Camorra in Campana (which are the three historical mafia regions) – and the Sacra Corona Unita in Abulia. But it’s like the tentacles of an octopus; they have infrastructure, political links and business halfway round the world, from Italy, Canada, Argentina, United States, Columbia, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, to the Spanish coast. Countries such as Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein have always been prime spots for the money laundering antics of the mafiosos.

The mafia was born in Sicily, as the Cosa Nostra, during the middle of the 19th century, in parallel with the establishment of the new Italian State. Sicily found itself governed by factions, in a feudal system whereby the only way of obtaining anything, was the by the law of force. Originally, the group was an organisation dedicated to the protection and independence from the law, which later moved into a complex system of organised crime. Its members, the mafiosos , always defined themselves as men of honour, who employed a series of codes of unforgettable honour; amongst the most well known being the law of silence. Blood links are also of the upmost importance within the mafia, which is where the clans came from.

There have been many criticisms of this long-standing side of Italy. One of these voices was that of acclaimed writer Roberto Saviano, who was born in 1979 in Naples, and wrote the book Gomorra, which details the inner workings of the Camorra. The book went on sale in 2006, and was met with worldwide success, but it brought its author to be ostracised, and hounded. Receiving death threats, he was forced to leave the country and live in a secret location, with 24 hour security protection. Saviano is conscious of the fact that his life is on the line, and that the publication of his book might have been also his death sentence.

Many threatened just like Saviano, such as the Sicilian journalist Lirio Abbate, have stated that the difficulty of fighting the mafia is in a constant clash with the wall of politics. In the north of Italy, the mafia has gradually integrated into the legitimate the economic system – it is not seen, or heard, or associated with the kind of murdering of innocent people, or bloody crime which we have come to hear about the mafia of the south.

In Milan, the financial capital of the country, the second and third generations of the Ndrangueta control the economic sectors of Lombardia, also infiltrating local political institution. Nowadays, the mafia capitals are no longer those we always thought they were, such as Palermo, Naples and Reggio Calabria.

It is estimated that organised crime in Italy generates around 120,000 million euros per year. If there mafia has also triumphed in Milan, it is because the city has always been the national emblem of wealth, the place of the bourgeoisie, private banking, the design world, cutting edge fashion, innovation, and above all, the ideal terrain for doing things silently, furtively, without leaving any traces.

Ara

When you travel, you have the opportunity the understand the behaviour of a community. The best way to understand the origins and evolution of the Mafia is to read the books, and articles by journalist Roberto Saviano – and rent apartments in Milan a city on the cutting edge of design and culture.

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Translated by: Poppy
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The pop is a genre that in spite of many years of popularity, with memorable artist as: Madonna, Britney Spears or Robbie Williams, is far from disappearing. Constantly, there are new artist eager to offer new proposals and renew the stages, one of many reasons for which pop is the most   loved and famous genre in the world.

The Naked and Famous is a new indie pop band from New Zealand that released an album that made them famous in no time. They have been ranked number one in some charts in the world, becoming one of the few New Zealand’s band to do so in the last three years.

The group, which was formed in late 2008, recorded “Passive Me, Aggressive You”, launched on the 6^th of September, 2010. Since then, the quintet managed to position itself as one of the most important bands in the indie world, because of its unique synthesizers and mixture of the voices of its members both, of the guys and Alisa Xayalith, the only woman in the band.

Their most famous song is without a doubt “Young Blood”. Song, that not only was remixed by many of the major DJs around the world, but also appeared in many television series such as Covert Affairs, Chuck, Gossip Girl and The Almighty Johnsons. Logically, it was an instant hit.

The naked and famous has been influenced by: Massive Attack, Bjork, PJ Harvey and Tricky. In fact, its name was taken from one of the songs of the artist from Bristol. The New Zealanders have been compared to some of the most important groups of the electro pop scene around the world as MGMT or Passion Pit, in many occasions.

More information: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111804388906223

Tunnel: Via Giovanni Battista Sammartini 30, Milan, Italy

MiLK

Auckland’s band is taking advantage of their fame by making presentations around the globe. This time The Naked and Famous will perform in Italy on the 7th of September in the Tunnel. If you want to see one of the most important indie pop bands of the moment, rent apartments in Milan and enjoy their concert.

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Translated by: Hans
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More than a novelty or boldness of a designer fashion or another, the so-called plus-size women are taking the catwalks, shops and fashion magazines. This is nothing new and it doesn’t seem to be a fad at all! It seems that finally the great brands of the fashion world are leaving aside the canon of skeletal beauty of the past decades, a radical change in tone, “beauty is in all the forms, not only in thinness”.

This necessary change to health and happiness of women started from the fight against anorexia and bulimia established by Donna Donna Onlus, an association that has given respite to the world of fashion. On 2007 was the London catwalk establishing the requirement of their models wearing at least size 0, with the phrase: “London gateway without anorexia” and was the first to demonstrate against the stereotype of beauty, which until then, just four years ago, was indisputable.

From then until today, the scene has changed considerably. The last version of Fashion Week in Milan started with a parade of XL models called “Ladies of the Desert” by designer Elena Miro, which involved the “XL super models” Tara Lynn and Lizzie Miller, who showed their curves to the world. Moreover, the magazines V-Magazine and Vogue have devoted entire editions to fashion and XL models, with the slogan: “Curves up”

Today Milan is the city that marks the change with numerous boutiques for plus sizes, to name a few: XL Moda and Lady XL located at: Strada Statale Padana Superiore, 18, 200063, Cernusco sul Naviglio, Milan.

Just something else: Enjoy fashion, beauty and Curves up!

Luz Obscura

Beauty is present in a huge variety of shapes and colors, the secret is in knowing how to discover it and appreciate it. Rent apartments in Milan a city where beauty and fashion will surprise you.

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Translated by: Maria
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