Casa Italia

During the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver "Casa Italia" will be open to entrepreneurs and to the public to promote Italian business and culture.
Yesterday I visited with my friends Interior designers and bloggers Michelle and Patricia and I was a bit embarrassed since there was no food on sight...while other pavilions during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver have chosen to open pubs and restaurants the Italian pavilion instead decided to have a restaurant operating only for dignitaries, athletes or by invitation. Disappointing not to have food (possibly slow, since the concept of Slow Food was invented in Italy years ago) but luckily the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry has a big collection of contemporary design, the "MFA Design Collection", at Farnesina Palace in Rome (Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry building) that travels to foreign offices to enhance on an international scene the cultural value of Italian design
Casa Italia presents a small part of the "Collezione Farnesina" during the Vancouver Winter Games.
Here are some examples.

Intriguing object, perfect shape, looks like a decorative accessories but instead is a clever set of plates for two people, hand decorated with precious metals. Called appropriately Giulietta e Romeo and produced by Bosa.

"Tatino" is a seat or a footrest made of flexible polyurethane that follows the contour of the body. Produced by Cerruti Baleri.

"Cùcùrùkù" is a Cuckoo clock in a contemporary version by Progetti.

"543 Broadway" stainless steel chairs with seat and backrest in epoxy resin and spring feet. At Casa Italia the colors of course are Green, White, Red, like the Italian flag! See picture at the top. They are produced by Bernini.

"Calla" is a beautiful chair supported by a rotating base. It could be transformed in chaise longue as pictured or it can be an armchair when the two wigs are folded. Produced by Domodinamica.


Today I went back because I was invited for lunch at the Casa Italia restaurant by the Italian Cultural Center.

A delicious buffet of Italian appetizers

A round of Parmigiano Reggiano to start...after that I was too busy enjoying the food to take pictures.

A special guest was Jury Chechi, an Italian icon for artistic gymnastics who dominated his specialty, the rings, during the nineties, so he was named "The Lord of the Rings".

A picture of Chechi from previous Olympics which reminds me of the gorgeous and very appropriate exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery of Leonardo da Vinci drawings of the structures of the body and the movements of musculature, on loan from Queen Elizabeth's collection during the Winter Games.

Another fun Olympic day.