From 1 june to 14 July, Villa Romana will host Trattoria Guaiana, a project by Niccolò Moronato, Prince Asford and Alice Jasmine Crippa in dialogue with 2024 Villa Romana fellows, Guia Rossignoli (Opificio delle Pietre Dure) and Lia Markey (Newberry Library, Chicago).
The Salone di Villa Romana will be turned into a Tuscan-Guyanese trattoria, a convivial and participatory canteen, to discover what it tastes like to live in a society where tradition is not used for othering, but it learns from every voice that contributes to its reality.
Trattoria Guaiana was born from a significant historical obliteration: the unsuccessful attempt by the Medici to colonise the Amazon in 1608 - in what is now called French Guyana - and the story of the six Tupì people who arrived in Florence aboard the Tuscan expedition, never to return home. By bringing this fact back into the mainstream of popular culture, Trattoria Guaiana creates a space that stretches to the margins of Italian tradition and identity, embracing cultures and natures that are still excluded from it.
Trattoria Guaiana is open on June 2nd • 6th and 8th.
Prenotate a pranzo o cena!
Also look out for the public programme events on 4, 5 and 9 June.
On 4 June, from 5.30 p.m. Radio Papesse becomes Radio Guaiana Toscana, a performative radio talk that we will share with Niccolò Moronato, Prince Asford and Alice Jasmine Crippa, with Elena Agudio, Mistura Allison and 2024 Villa Romana fellows.
For years we have dreamed of bringing cooking to the radio, of playing with food show formats! And finally we will meet to exchange recipes, to talk about manioc broth, soffrittos and chutneys, about ponce alla livornese, about what is considered food or decoration, and again to listen to what the dishes of Trattoria Guaiana sound like, to discuss - thanks to food - stories that have resurfaced, encounters, traditions that meet and live new lives.
You can come and listen live or stream from the Radio Papesse website.
On June the 5th, Niccolò Moronato will converse with Guia Rossignoli about Guaiani in Toscana: sulle tracce degli indigeni attraverso mantelli, monumenti e storie dimenticate.
On June the 9th - from 1.30 p.m. - a cactus barbecue and a conversation between Niccolò Morontato and Lia Markey - entitled Guaiana Toscana: colonial frequencies of the Italian Renaissance - will accompany the inauguration of the Guaiana Toscana Garden at Villa Romana.