14 Jan WE LOVE ITALY: THE JAPANESE PASSION FOR THE “BELPAESE”
They love our cities, especially Venice, Florence, Rome and Milan. They love them for their history, landscapes and views, for their food (especially, pizza), art and also for the shopping.
Mariani Affreschi’s stand at the Mitsukoshi Department Store (Nihombashi, Tokyo) during the Italian Cultural Week
In actual fact, on reflection, the Japanese and Italians have a lot in common: apart from of the big sushi boom now infecting most of Italy, we can say that the desire to live and the positivity towards life and the world are feelings shared by both countries.
This aspect of the Japanese culture is also reflected in its artistic passion, which is embodied in their desire to bring the flavours, perfumes, history and forms of beautiful Italy to their cities.
A few years ago, Mariani Affreschi was hired to decorate the new “Porta” shopping centre that connects the Yokohama station to the city centre.
The interiors of the "Porta" shopping centre in Yokohama: the ceiling frescoes by Mariani
The splendid frescoed ceilings, which decorate the sky in the Japanese stores, recount and evoke the history and beauty of our country: there are images of piazzas and art cities, landscapes and breathtaking views, representations of traditions, habits and customs, all Italian, the shops where our grandparents worked, the rebuilding of the 1950s, the golden period and the legendary Sixties.
But there are also the protagonists of the history of world art and, in particular, the Renaissance: the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raffaello.
These scenes of Italian life, brought together in a frame of frescoes with musical angels, decorate the inside of the Japanese shopping centre and recapture their tastes: the love of life and bright colours, the passion for landscapes and harmony.
The interiors of the prestigious Shopping Mall of Yokohama dedicated entirely to Italy
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