PRESS RELEASE

MILAN FLIES TO NEW YORK WITH LEONARDO

Regione Lombardia, Comune di Milano and Fondazione Stelline fly to New York with Hub Leonardo to present the packed programme of celebrations for 2019, dedicated to the Great Genius to mark 500 years since his death

[Milan, October 6th, 2018] On October 8th and 9th, Leonardo will be the focus of a series of initiatives organised by the Fondazione Stelline with its Hub Leonardo, coinciding with Columbus Day, a traditional event in which the Fondazione has participated for the past three years, celebrating the great Genius admired the world over, before an audience of more than one million people on 5th Avenue.

“Come to Leonardo, Come to Milan” will be the slogan accompanying these momentous two days in New York, promoted by the Fondazione with sponsorship from the Regione Lombardia (the Regional Authority) and Comune di Milano (the City of Milan). The aim is to promote Milan and the areas of Lombardy where Leonardo lived for more than two decades, and where he left traces of his creative flair in every field of knowledge.

On October 8th, Leonardo will be celebrated during the Columbus Parade on Fifth Avenue with an historic re-enactment in Renaissance costumes, kindly provided by the Sforzinda association in Vigevano. Following the parade, the institutional delegation will attend a private, official reception at the Italian Consulate in New York. On October 9th, an event will be held at the Morgan Library & Museum of New York, chosen as a symbolic site due to its collection of Italian Renaissance art, including a precious drawing by Leonardo; moreover, the event will take place in the museum’s auditorium, the Gilder Lehrman Hall, which was designed by architect Renzo Piano in 2006. There, at 6pm Filippo Del Corno, Executive Councillor for Culture of the City of Milan, will present the rich programme of projects and initiatives on offer in Milan in 2019, marking the five-hundredth anniversary since Leonardo da Vinci’s death. Over the course of the two days, the team will work to reinforce the links between the capital of Lombardy and New York through the figure of Leonardo, a cultural icon perfectly suited to highlighting the “new Renaissance” that Greater Milan is experiencing in the wake of Expo 2015.

This, then, is a prestigious international showcase for promoting abroad as a cultural attraction and boosting tourism to Italy, particularly Milan and Lombardy, in 2019; particularly to those places connected with Leonardo, such as Milan, Vigevano and Vaprio d’.

“Milano e Leonardo” is part of this drive to develop and promote Milan’s brand as a city of culture in 2019. It is a geographically spread-out programme of celebrations marking the fifth centenary of the genius’ death. Thanks to its many partners, institutional and otherwise, this intense schedule of events will help boost and confirm the international tourist credentials of the city of Milan, and indeed the entire Region, once and for all. Within this framework, coinciding with the days that New York City is dedicating to Italy, the international event at the Morgan Library & Museum represents a significant opportunity to meet industry members and representatives of the American media, particularly those specialising in tourism, culture and the arts, with a view to promoting our region.

Under the Patronage Thanks to With support of

Thanks to the participants of the Culture Department of the City of Milan, and the Department for Autonomy and Culture of the Lombardy Regional Authority, this special project will transform the Morgan Library & Museum into an authoritative international stage, leveraging cross-cultural exchange as the true factor for development; it comes as part of a dynamic regional marketing drive aimed at showing that Milan can compete with other capital cities in the culture sector too.

The evening of October 9th will come to a close with a preview screening of the short film Being Leonardo da Vinci by Massimiliano Finazzer Flory, produced in partnership with RAI CINEMA and sponsored by the National Committee for the celebrations to mark 500 years since Leonardo da Vinci’s death. Adapted from the international hit show, this unique film brings the face and language of Leonardo to life; it was filmed in some incredible locations including Milan, Amboise, Vigevano, Vaprio d’Adda, Vinci, Clos Lucé and New York. It features some stunning, evocative sets such as the Sala delle Asse at the Sforza Castle in Milan, and the Crypt of San Sepolcro, which Leonardo depicted in a famous map in his Codex Atlanticus; his home in Clos Lucé, and the house where he was born in Vinci; the Acquafraggia waterfall in , and the River Adda. The film also features a unique, extraordinary scene: Leonardo holding his own autograph. The only original autograph of his to survive, it is now held at the State Archive.

“Presenting Milan to the world as the city of Leonardo means drawing widespread attention not only to the figure of the genius himself, but also to the places in Lombardy with which he was connected”, says PierCarla Delpiano, president of the Fondazione Stelline. “It’s a sort of circular process that can benefit all of the institutional parties involved. The Fondazione Stelline has a special relationship with New York, not least thanks to the last work of Andy Warhol: the artist made his The Last Supper series at the Stelline in 1987, paying tribute to the Last Supper which is housed in the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, opposite our prestigious premises. That’s why we chose New York as the place to present the major international show, L’Ultima Cena dopo Leonardo (“The Last Supper after Leonardo”), which we are staging in 2019. The exhibition aims to highlight the influence that Leonardo still has even in contemporary art, as demonstrated by Anish Kapoor, Wang Guangyi, Yue Minjun, Robert Longo, Nicola Samorì and the Masbedo, all of whom we’ve invited to re-assess the contemporary relevance of the most sacred, iconic painting in western culture”.

Events in New York – October 8th and 9th, 2018

Columbus Day Parade > October 8th, 2018 at 11 am – 1:30 pm Leonardo will be celebrated during the Columbus Day Parade on Fifth Avenue, with an historic re- enactment in Renaissance costumes. Following the parade, the institutional delegation will attend a private, official reception at the Italian Consulate in New York.

Morgan Library & Museum > October 9th, 2018 at 6 – 9 pm The packed programme of initiatives and projects sponsored by the Lombardy Regional Authority and the City of Milan will be illustrated by Filippo Del Corno, Executive Councillor for Culture, City of Milan. The evening will end with the world premiere of the short film Being Leonardo da Vinci a Massimiliano Finazzer Flory.

Fondazione Stelline Press Office corso Magenta 61, Studio BonnePresse 20123 Milano Gaia Grassi +39.339.56.53.179 tel. +39.02.45462.411 Marianna Corte +39.347.42.19.001 [email protected] - www.stelline.it [email protected] - www.bonnepresse.com Under the Patronage Thanks to With support of