Unicorn found in Italy

[YouTube - Link]

A deer with a growth abnormality in its horns has been found in Italy. The single horn growing from the top of its head makes him the world's first documented genuine unicorn. His existence also lends credence to medieval tales of unicorns.
- Via: discovery-news, Via: Neatorama

High Heel Bathtub

“The shoe bathtub was designed by Massimiliano Della Monaca, a designer from Italy. The piece was adorned with beautiful mosaic tiles to accent its beauty and salute the classic ‘pump’ shoe. Shoe lovers worldwide can take in the beauty of this bathtub and revel in this piece where fashion combines with home furnishing design to create a work of art.” w/ photos. LINK

Catch Yayoi Kusama's latest exhibit in Italy

If you're in Milan anytime between now and February 14, 2010, I highly recommend that you check out octogenarian avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama's exhibit at the Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea. Kusama lives in a mental hospital in Tokyo, but she's still a prolific producer of art filled with dots and repetitions; in a biographical documentary titled I Love Me, she claims that drawing is the only thing that makes her feel normal. LINK: Boingboing

THE STELVIO PASS, ITALY

Photography by Damian Morys

The Passo dello Stelvio, located in Italy, at 2757 m (9045 feet) is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps. It was picked by the British automotive show Top Gear as its choice for the “greatest driving road in the world”, although their search was concentrated only in Europe. This image beautifully captures the top quarter of the pass. (source)

Via: Damian Morys on Flickr, Via: TwistedSifter

Time-Lapse Graffiti by Blu and David Ellis

Awesome roving camerawork documents huge great graffiti pieces being painted on the walls, floor and roofs of a derelict courtyard over ten days, and stop-motion animation techniques bring it all to life. Add weird layers of sound design and a looping pattern to melt your mind even more, and this stuff feels like the graffiti-meets-film making equivalent of avant-garde jazz. Even stacks of wood and the crumbling walls themselves become characters in the animation.

COMBO was created for the art festival Fame, held in Grottaglie, southern Italy between June and September 2009. And it seems the artists had to cope with their fair share of adversities during the time they worked like crazy on the animation, beset by mosquitoes, rain and bored assistants. Blu has done similar stuff in a previous piece called MUTO, but COMBO takes the cake. LINK

Sources: Motionographer, Via: Urlesque, Via: Youtube

Volcano-Shaped Italian Mall

Volcano Buono is a commercial center right near Mt. Vesuvius, the only volcano on mainland Europe to have erupted in the last century.

The roof of most of the structure is what looks like a grassy knoll, a surface that holds over 25,000 plants and helps naturally insulate the interior spaces. The crater holds an outdoor theater, a market and a "sloping pine forest." In addition to the normal mall shops inside, there's also a 2,000 seat cinema, a supermarket, a hotel and a bunch of restaurants. Seriously, how cool is this thing? LINK

Volcano Buono, Via: Inhabitat]

A Fire Breathing Robo-Beast

Don’t call Lyle Rowell’s giant fire-breathing robot a dog. The artist, who lives in Rimini, Italy, insists that his 1,900-pound creation, Lrry (pronounced “Larry”), is actually a cloven-hooved, two-legged, half-donkey, half-raptor-type-reptile.

The contraption is the product of four months of Rowell “crawling around in the scrap and dirt” to gather parts that he liked. He took an engine from an old Volkswagen Bug–like Citroën and stuffed it into two chopped-up and welded-together motorcycle frames. Aside from propane for Lrry’s fire breath, Rowell was able to scrounge up nearly every part, all the way down to the linkages and sprockets.

A chain-driven crankshaft moves Lrry’s legs, and an electric-hydraulic pump turns the wheels in the back. Its top speed is a poky 0.6 mph, but Rowell isn’t ashamed of his robo-pet’s sluggishness. “I believe,” he jokes, “that it was Confucius who said, ‘It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.’” LINK, Via: Metafilter, Via: Neatorama, Via: Youtube

Creative Advertising Photography by Thomas Lavezzari

Amazing and superb creative advertising works by Thomas Lavezzari, professional designer, based in Italy. Thomas is talented artist with over 20 years of experience in photo art and ad. LINK

Art Museum Strongoli: Italy

Located on the top of Motta Grande in Calabria, Italy, the new Art Museum Strongoli in Calabria is the third Coop Himmelb(l)au project in Italy. Viewable from the city on a hilltop, the museum will not only be a cultural center but a step towards future development in Calabria, a place for cultural entertainment and recreation.

Featuring a cone-shaped design, the symbolic structure offers a panoramic view of the sea. The new museum houses a panorama restaurant and a small “multi-hall” which offers a temporary exhibition space, lecture hall, auditorium and cinema for public events or gatherings. LINK

Bjork - Army Of Me

Bjork singing ARMY OF ME live at Festivalbar in Italy. She is totally badass in this performance. LINK: Youtube

Ice Orchestra

“Musicians at the Ice Music Festival in northern Italy actually play instruments made of ice.” LINK: Youtube

Single-horned 'Unicorn' deer

This undated photo provided by the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, Italy, Wednesday, June 11, 2008, shows a deer with a single horn in the center of its head. The one-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed 'Unicorn' - was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence. LINK

Patching Old, Crumbling Walls with LEGO

As part of a group art project "20 Eventi," Jan Vormann came to the village of Bocchignano, Italy, and "fixed" old, crumbling walls there … with LEGO!

Link - Via: Boing Boing, Via: Neatorama

"Lombardy City of Milan, Italy"

From the Castello Sforzesco, a castle right in the middle of downtown Milan, to the famous Gothic Duomo (it's magnificent facade undergoing restoration when these pictures were taken), Milan has its charm and its...shopping, of course. It's the fashion capital not only of Italy, but of the world. Pictured is the Top of the Milan Duomo. Via: About