On Wednesday 13th April, Italian artist, author and official biographer to Pope Francis, made a whirlwind visit to his adopted town of Beeston and Nottingham city to strengthen ties of friendship and cooperation between UK and Nottinghamshire – the land of Robin Hood – and Italy.
It was his seventh visit here since 2014 to meet his friend and ‘creative partner’ Marysia Zipser, Founder of Art Culture Tourism/ACT group.
In the morning he was interviewed by NottsTV in Screen 6 of the ARC cinema Beeston before stepping onto the tram with Marysia and William Ranieri, videographer and filmmaker from Brighton, to Nottingham city centre.
See the evening’s edited clip here.
After walking up to the Robin Hood statue they were warmly greeted by the current Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Cllr Dave Trimble. It was a great honour for Roberto to meet and talk with the Lord Mayor and to be escorted by him around the castle to see the latest improvements and exhibitions there. He was particularly impressed by its history of rebellion – calling Nottingham “Rebel City”.
In the evening, Marysia had organised a special reception with invited guests at The Star Inn Beeston, sponsored by Nottinghamshire County Council, Broxtowe Borough Council and Marketing Nottingham / Visit Nottinghamshire. It was a great opportunity to catch up with friends and network with new ones. Roberto talked about his latest books and projects, and how he feels youngsters should spend less time using IT screens and be encouraged to use their hands more to create things.
He and Marysia talked about the latest promotions of the The Ghost Bus (short films) Project made famous by his macro photographic imagery of the old bus stationed at Bartons Garage. He also announced that an extraordinary opera performance of the new version of Jeanie Barton’s roses theme (of the photographic and creative initiative YearOfTheRoses | ACT ) has been created by the Choir and Orchestra of the Cassano-De-Renzio Comprehensive Institute in Bitonto, Bari (Puglia, Italy), directed by Saverio Pansini. So this will launch the Roses of the Year 2022 in mid-May.
Early next morning, Roberto departed taking the Skylink bus from Beeston to East Midlands Airport to catch his flight back to his hometown of Bergamo and to continue his touring educational program with Italian schools. We hope it won’t be too long before he is back in the land of Robin Hood.
“Re-birth, Re-new and a sane Re-bellion is what we need today to make this world a better place! In every field and activity. And mainly in the world of Art!” – Roberto Alborghetti
Star Inn evening was Facebook live streamed see Videos https://www.facebook.com/artculturetourism
Photos att. By Robin Hood statue by Christopher Frost Evening shot at Star Inn by William Ranieri
Posted on 21 April 2022
