Word: urbino
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...from the next act of the global economy's evolving plotline. "Wo jiao Francesco," says a young Italian man, at the start of a Mandarin lesson in an office conference room. With a quick "Bravo," for Francesco, Alessandra Brezzi, a moonlighting professor of Chinese from the nearby University of Urbino, begins drilling her seven students on useful workplace vocabulary (ziliao/raw material; caiwuchu/accounting department) and proper Chinese etiquette (introduce yourself with a business card ready; never open a gift right away). Of course, these lessons are by now standard for anyone in the West looking to drum up business prospects...
...paint several frescoes in the palaces of the Vatican. Much of Piero's best output - or at least the best that remains - can be found in the midsized cities of central and eastern Italy, where he was a favorite of the major noblemen who ruled the towns of Urbino, Ferrara and Rimini...
...portraits on display offer an intimate look at Piero's skill. The facing profiles of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino are iconic Renaissance images, especially the Duke, Federico III, one of the Renaissance's most accomplished condottieri, or mercenary barons. Painting with brilliant color and unfiltered realism, Piero doesn't blink at the prominence of Federico's nose and chin, but he never crosses into caricature. His approach gives Piero's portraiture a strikingly modern aspect. "It is almost hyper-realism," Bertelli says. "The faces are gigantic compared to the background landscape, making them monumental." The same attention...
Federico's greatest achievement was the construction of the Palazzo Ducale. Today, the palace looms over Urbino much as it did then, like a giant yellow-brick wedding cake, but what's notable is what's missing. Every contemporaneous castle...
Italy had a moat to ward off invaders, but Federico didn't need one. He was that kind of powerful. Urbino is now a university town with a population of just 15,000, and maneuvering through its narrow, walled streets takes about five minutes, even in a van the size of Pavarotti. We entered the palace and immediately realized that this was not just another of the extravagantly fussed-over behemoths that dot Italy like diners on Route 66. Standing in the Cortile d'Onore, with its perimeter framing a perfect square of sky, you feel the exuberance of Renaissance...