RAI dedicates special programming to Raphael on the 500th anniversary of his death. Here is the guide

The great Raphael Sanzio disappeared on April 6, 1520 (although there are some sources that establish his disappearance at April 17), and this year, as is well known, therefore marks the five hundredth anniversary of his advent. For these days, in order to celebrate the event, Rai has decided to kick off special programming dedicated precisely to the great Urbino, and which will involve some of the public service networks: Rai1, Rai3, Rai Storia, Rai5, RaiNews24 and Rai Radio. It will be, Rai points out, “a journey studded with images and voices that the public will be able to make while staying at home and that will close, symbolically, in front of his tomb and the epitaph that his friend Pietro Bembo wrote for him, in Latin, summarizing his genius: ’Nature itself, while it was alive, feared to be vanquished, and once it was dead, feared to die too.’”

Here is the guide to TV programs dedicated to Raphael. It begins Saturday, April 4, on RaiNews24: the program Tuttifrutti, at 9:40 a.m., features a report on the exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale.

Sunday, April 5, on Rai1, at 9:35 a.m., with Paese che vai...luoghi, detti, comuni, which will feature a journey from Rome to Urbino in the footsteps of the painter. Also on April 5, on Rai3 in late evening, is the documentary Raphael. The Sensitive Genius by Luca Trovellesi Cesana, for the screenplay by Claudio Centioni and the scientific advice and conduction of art historian Luca Tomìo (this is a documentary centered on the artist’s universe, starting from the house in Urbino where he was born until his arrival in Rome: a journey that also features the extraordinary participation of Achille Bonito Oliva and unravels among the historic palaces of 16th-century Florence and the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg).

OnMonday, April 6, in the programs Uno Mattina (from 6:45 a.m.) and La vita in diretta (from 2:10 p.m.) there will be in-depth coverage of Raphael. Next, on Quante storie (at 12:45 p.m.), Giorgio Zanchini interviews restorer Antonio Forcellino, who wrote the book The Century of Giants. The Pearl Clasp, centered on Raphael. At 3:45 p.m. Licia Troisi’s program Terza Pagina on Rai5 will have an episode dedicated to Raphael, while also on Rai5, at 7:15 p.m., there will be the documentary Raphael. The Myth and Modernity, which recounts not only his artistic activity, but also the legacy he left and its propagation to the present day (it starts by analyzing the architectural works, completed by his pupils but revealing his style, after which with architectural historian Alessandro Viscoglio we visit the Villa Madama and the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, while architect Paolo Portoghesi explains Raphael and the fundamental reference to classicism, and then again the documentary deals with the intense relationship with patrons, the popes and his banker friend Agostino Chigi, but also with Raphael’s fortunes from the 16th to thenineteenth century, through the Davoli Collection in the Panizzi Library in Reggio Emilia, where engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi and others bear witness to the spread of Raphael’s models to the courts of Europe and beyond, and concludes with Raphael’s bequest to a contemporary artist, Luigi Ontani, author of a self-portrait in the guise of Raphael). On Rai Storia, at 9:10 p.m. the TV premiere of La Roma di Raffaello, a documentary by Davide Savelli and Massimiliano Griner (directed by Graziano Conversano) devoted to Raphael’s Roman years, from 1509 to 1520. At midnight, instead, Raphael will be remembered in the episode of The Day and History.

As far as radio programming is concerned, Rai Radio1 will have reports made by the culture and entertainment editorial staff in the 8 a.m. edition of Gr1 on April 6, then repeated on Gr2 at 1:30 p.m. and on Gr 3 at 8:45 a.m. Rai Radio3, on the other hand, will devote the entire day on Monday to the theme of Beauty: the invitation addressed to guests and listeners will be to #thinkaboutother, so the anniversary of Raphael will coincide, yes, with the celebration of the artist, but also with a broader reasoning on the necessity and power of Beauty. From art to music, literature and film: all the day’s programs will give rise to a multi-voiced reflection on what art and culture can do to heal the world. Space, therefore, will also be given to Raphael on Radio Techetè, with Raffaello secondo Dario Fo, a show-lesson recorded at the Auditorium Rai in Naples and reproposed (edited by Edoardo Melchiorri) in three parts, in podcast and on demand, while Radio3 Classica celebrates the artist in music, at 2.30, with the Atlas/Alamire Special “Music in the Time of Raphael,” featuring pieces by Josquin Desprez, Marco dall’Aquila, Heinrich Isaac, Costanzo Festa and Jacob Obrecht. Finally, Isoradio will follow the main virtual initiatives dedicated in the territory to the artist.

RAI dedicates special programming to Raphael on the 500th anniversary of his death. Here is the guide

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