Sansepolcro

Sansepolcro, formerly Borgo Santo Sepolcro, is a town and comune in Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo.

Situated on the upper reaches of the Tiber river, the town is the birthplace of the painters Piero della Francesca, Raffaellino del Colle (a pupil of Raphael), Santi di Tito, and Angiolo Tricca. It was also the birthplace of the Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, and of Matteo Cioni, who translated into Latin Piero della Francesca's treatise about perspective in painting (De Prospectiva Pingendi).

Today, the economy is based on agriculture, industrial manufacturing, food processing and pharmaceuticals. It is the home of Buitoni pasta, founded by Giulia Buitoni in 1827.

History

According to tradition, the town was founded around 1000 AD by two pilgrims, Arcanus and Aegidius, who brought a stone from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (thus, San Sepolcro) with them from the Holy Land. They founded an oratory dedicated to Saint Leonard, on the site of the current Cathedral.

Piero della Francesca

Piero della Francesca (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpjɛːro della franˈtʃeska]  listen ; c. 1415 – 12 October 1492) was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. As testified by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, to contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca is chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting was characterized by its serene humanism, its use of geometric forms and perspective. His most famous work is the cycle of frescoes The History of the True Cross in the church of San Francesco in the Tuscan town of Arezzo.

Biography

Early years

Piero was born in the town of Borgo Santo Sepolcro, modern-day Tuscany (where he also died), to Benedetto de' Franceschi, a tradesman, and Romana di Perino da Monterchi, part of the Florentine and Tuscan Franceschi noble family.

He was most probably apprenticed to the local painter Antonio di Giovanni d'Anghiari, because in documents about payments it is noted that he was working with Antonio in 1432 and May 1438. Besides, he certainly took notice of the work of some of the Sienese artists active in San Sepolcro during his youth; e.g. Sassetta. In 1439 Piero received, together with Domenico Veneziano, payments for his work on frescoes for the church of Sant'Egidio in Florence, now lost. In Florence he must have met leading masters like Fra Angelico, Luca della Robbia, Donatello and Brunelleschi. The classicism of Masaccio's frescoes and his majestic figures in the Santa Maria del Carmine were for him an important source of inspiration. Dating of Piero's undocumented work is difficult because his style does not seem to have developed over the years.

Baptism of Jesus

The baptism of Jesus marks the beginning of his public ministry. This event is described in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. John's gospel does not directly describe Jesus' baptism.

Most modern theologians view the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist as a historical event to which a high degree of certainty can be assigned if religious texts are taken at face value. Along with the crucifixion of Jesus, most biblical scholars view it as one of the two historically certain facts about him, and often use it as the starting point for the study of the historical Jesus.

The baptism is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus, the others being the Transfiguration, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Most Christian denominations view the baptism of Jesus as an important event and a basis for the Christian rite of baptism (see also Acts 19:1-7). In Eastern Christianity, Jesus' baptism is commemorated on 19 January (in the Gregorian calendar, 6 January in the Julian calendar), the feast of Epiphany. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches and some other Western denominations, it is recalled on a day within the following week, the feast of the baptism of the Lord. In Roman Catholicism, the baptism of Jesus is one of the Luminous Mysteries sometimes added to the Rosary. It is a Trinitarian feast in the Eastern Orthodox Churches.

More Than a Miracle

More Than a Miracle is a 1967 film also titled Cinderella Italian Style and Happily Ever After. It stars Sophia Loren, Omar Sharif and Dolores del Río. The movie has a fairy tale narrative. Filmed in the countryside outside of Naples, Francesco Rosi directed and Carlo Ponti produced. The theme music was a hit for Roger Williams, reaching #2 on Billboard's survey.Sergio Franchi recorded the title song (written by Kusik; Snyder; Piccioni) on his 1968 RCA Victor album, I'm a Fool To Want You.

Plot

The film recounts the misadventures of a beautiful and temperamental Neapolitan village girl Isabella (Sophia Loren) and an ill-tempered Spanish prince, Rodrigo (Omar Sharif). The prince was a risk taker, avoiding his parents' wishes for him to marry. One day while riding a horse in the countryside, he becomes distracted by a noise and sees someone flying across the sky! This person predicts his future and gives him a donkey to take him in the right direction if he pats its back and feeds him flour. On the way back, he meets Isabella. He is very much attracted to her, but she rejects him.

Baptism of Jesus (disambiguation)

Baptism of Jesus or Christ may refer to: