Constance. Women and Power in the Mediterranean Empire of Frederick II
Extended until April 28, 2022
Italian Cultural Institute
686 Park Avenue, NY
Monday through Friday 10AM to 4PM
Presidents of the scientific committee
Maria Concetta Di Natale, Fabio Finotti, Pierfrancesco Palazzotto, Giovanni Travagliato
The Italian Cultural Institute in New York proudly presents: Constance. Women and Power in the Mediterranean Empire of Frederick II an extraordinary exhibition centered around the relationship between women and power, and the relationship between the Italian-European area and the Mediterranean space, represented by the world of Frederick II and Constance of Aragon.
“I am proud to bring Palermo and Sicily to New York – says Fabio Finotti, director of the ICI. The civilization of Frederick II is extraordinary and played a pivotal role in the development of our history, not only political but cultural. We must not forget that Italy was made first with language and poetry rather than with weapons, and that in De Vulgari Eloquentia Dante identifies the Sicilian poets of Frederick II’s court as the very origins of ‘Italian’ poetry. The valorization of the Mediterranean civilization is also central to this project, not only for our history but also for our future. And the exhibition mainly calls attention to the relationship between women and power, which should certainly be addressed in a new way”.
This remarkable exhibition, created with philological accuracy by Maria Concetta Di Natale, Pierfrancesco Palazzotto and Giovanni Travagliato from the University of Palermo, also tells the story of four powerful women who lived between the 12th and 14th centuries, all linked to Frederick II and all baptized with the name Constance: the emperor’s mother, wife, daughter and granddaughter. The artifacts on display tell the story of Constance of Altavilla, queen and empress (1154-1198), mother of Frederick II; of the first wife of the “Stupor mundi” (‘Wonder of the world’), Empress Constance of Aragon (1184c.-1222), whose 800th death anniversary falls this year and whose funeral rings will be on display; of Empress Constance (1231c.-1307 /13) natural daughter of Frederick II and Bianca Lancia and child bride of John III Ducas Vatatzes, Emperor of the East in Nicea; and of Queen Constance (1249-1300), daughter of Manfredi, another natural son of Frederick II.
From Sicily to the ICI-New York, on view for the first time after having remained in a safe for decades, the cabochon-cut quartz that adorned the fibula of the cloak with which Frederick II was placed in the red porphyry sarcophagus in 1251, in the Cathedral of Palermo. And on display a number of precious and varied artifacts from the Cathedrals and diocesan collections of Palermo and Monreale, the Municipal Library and the Palatine Chapel, the Salinas Archaeological Museum and the Gallery of Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo, and other Institutions, as well as part of the collections of the Sicilian Regional Assembly and private collections.
A virtual visit of the exhibition will be available on stanzaitaliane.it, as well comments, notes and interviews. Periodially uploaded, also a series of video lessons dedicated to Frederick civilization, in the dual perspective of the presence of women and of the Mediterranean world, curated by prof. Francesco Somaini, coordinator of the new Medieval Studies Center of the University of Salento.
