“Photographing is like making love”. Letizia Battaglia was convinced of this and she devoted her whole life to telling a different Palermo from the one bent by the mafia, a “child Palermo”, as she herself defined it.
The moving journey through the story of the first Italian female photojournalist, an extraordinary and acute visual witness of the Italian life and society of the last 50 years, in particular of her Sicily, is the first of the five stages of the series. Being Maxxi. Born from the dialogue between Fremantle and MAXXI, in collaboration with Rai Cultura, the series offers a cycle of masterclasses which – in the spaces of the Roman museum designed by Zaha Hadid – will feature five undisputed masters of Italian arts and culture in the world, ready to reveal themselves on Rai 5 from 14 September to 12 October.
Among the female appearances of the week ready to tell art on TV from 12 to 18 September, Marina Abramović stands out, with the traveling retrospective in which the artist reflects on her life and on her 50-year career using the system of re -performance.
This and much more on the agenda of art on the small screen.

Marina Abramović | Courtesy Sky Arte

On Sky Arte with Van Gogh and Marina Abramović
The first appointment of the week with art on Sky takes us to Mantua. Tuesday 13 September at 1.15 pm at the Gonzaga court we will meet Andrea Mantegna, a master capable of creating absolute masterpieces, becoming one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance. The series “The great masters” will lead the public from home to discover the omnivorous artist, intellectual thinker and passionate lover of the classical tradition. Born into a family of modest conditions, he ended up in the shop of Squarcione who used him in the first part of his career. Freed of his master torturer, Andrea managed to create absolute masterpieces establishing himself as one of the greatest painters of the Renaissance, enchanting the Gonzaga family in Mantua with superb masterpieces such as the Wedding room.

The journey into art on the small screen continues from Mantua to Urbino. We meet on Thursday 15 September at 9.15 pm Raffaello. The Young Prodigy, following the extraordinary adventure of the Renaissance painter, with his eyes focused on a less usual aspect of his production, female portraits, timeless emblems of absolute beauty, constantly sought after. Valeria Golino’s voice will guide the viewer through a dreamlike journey into the magical enchantment of art.

A 400-year time jump accompanies us in the footsteps of Van Gogh. Saturday 17th September at 1.15pm Van Gogh – Sunflowers he will guide us between Amsterdam, Tokyo, London, Munich and Philadelphia, to investigate the mysteries behind Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers. Vincent created five paintings that show the same subject, now housed in the National Gallery in London, at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Sompo Museum in Tokyo.

Vincent Van Gogh, Vase with twelve sunflowers, 72 x 91 cm, Oil on canvas, Munich, Neue Pinakothek

The week of Sky ends, Sunday 18 September at 9.15 pm, with a first vision entitled Homecoming – Marina Abramović. The Cleaner is the traveling retrospective in which the Serbian performer reflects on her life and her 50-year career using the re-performance system.

Being Maxxi: 5 masters of art meet on Rai 5
Wednesday, September 14, remote control aimed at Rai 5 which, on the occasion of the new season, will see the art programming move to prime time on Wednesday. The first appointment is for Wednesday 14 September with “Being Maxxi”, the series born from the alliance between Fremantle and MAXXI, in collaboration with Rai Cultura. This is a cycle of masterclasses that will see five undisputed masters of Italian arts and culture in the world as protagonists in the spaces of the Roman museum designed by Zaha Hadid. Thanks to the first-person story of Letizia Battaglia, Mario Cucinella, Piero Lissoni, Nicola Piovani and Michelangelo Pistoletto, the public from home will discover the secrets of the trade and the creative process that accompanies the creation of each work. To guide the story of the five protagonists, intimate and at the same time formative, will be six points: the beginnings, the family, the meetings, the study, the work, the success.
The first voice to tell the public, in one of his latest interviews, through fragments of memory, unpublished anecdotes, episodes and personal memories that make up a single story, the artist and the person, will be, on Wednesday 14 September, at 9.15 pm, Letizia Battaglia. The life of the artist for whom “photographing is like making love” was a continuous commitment to also tell a Palermo different from the one bent by the mafia, a “child Palermo”, as she herself defined it. The story is therefore a moving journey through the story of the first Italian female photojournalist, known throughout the world for her shots of the Mafia, an extraordinary and acute visual witness of Italian life and society in the last 50 years.
“Being MAXXI” is a Fremantle – MAXXI co-production and is made by Scarlett, from an idea by Ernesto Assante. Written by Chiara Salvo, Sabrina Bacalini, Virman Cusenza with the direction of Alessandro Galluzzi.

MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome

On Arte tv Donatello, pop star of the Renaissance
There is an artist, a precursor of the High Renaissance, who, with his innovative vision of space, has influenced the art of sculpture over the centuries. His name is Donatello, protagonist of the documentary “Donatello: the pop star of the Rianscimento” broadcast until 2 December on Arte tv. Gifted with an out of the ordinary sense of observation, the Florentine master scrutinized the world like no other before him, approaching proportions and perspectives in a completely new way. He is also responsible for the great turning point that led colleagues of the caliber of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to follow in his footsteps.
The documentary on Arte tv tells about his life, the relationship with the patron Como de ‘Medici and the great friendship with the architect Filippo Brunelleschi.

Roman Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina

The many souls of Sicily light up on Rai Storia
Rai Storia Monday takes us to Sicily. For “It’s Italy, beauty!” let’s start to discover the island of many souls, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman. These different civilizations, whose artistic and architectural styles have overlapped and then assimilated each other, have given life to a unique example in the world of “cultural exchange”. From the Roman Villa of the farmhouse in Piazza Armerina, in the province of Enna, we will move to Palermo, Panormos for the Greeks, Panormus for the Romans, Balaarm for the Arabs, Balermus for the Normans who wrote the most beautiful and original pages of medieval architecture Sicilian, bringing together the Greek East, the Latin West and Islamic art.