To please the eyes of the greedy shoesaholic there’s an ummissable exhibition in Vigevano (Pavia). Set in the old castle, the perfect frame for such beautiful creatures, the exhibition is dedicated to high heels, a passion for girls and a feticism for some men. Definitely a weapon of masses distraction since they first appeared, 3500 years ago.

«Il tacco a spillo. Fascino e seduzione» ( High heels, charm and seduction) opened in February and you still have just a few days to visit it, till March 25th.

You will find shoes from the early 50s until nowdays. Sorry, you can not try em on but you can surely dream of them, for days and days.

From haute couture ones until retro and eclectic models you will be able to see what a pair of high heels can do, as Marliyn Monroe said: “I don’t know who invented high heels, but all women owe him a lot”.

So get ready, and don’t forget your shoes!

It will take place in the area once renowned for the fair that has been moved quite recently to another part of the city and it is supposed to be ready within Spring 2011.

At the press conference the main guest was Daniel Libeskind the polish architect already responsible, together with Zaha Hadid and Arata Isozaki of the 3 new towers of Milan, called City Life. Daniel Libeskind is the hand behind tower C, shaped as half of a sphere. The new area was born in 2007 and should be complete in 2014. Part of the project includes also this brand new museum of Contemporary Arts designed by Mr. Libesking realized especially and exclusively for Milan, “the best city for architecture”.

The structure is inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci and his theory of balance and will bound together a circle and a square but incorporating modern elements such as a suspended garden and thermal baths.

At the press conference there were also Letizia Moratti, major of Milan, and Vittorio Sgarbi, responsible of cultural events for the city of Milan, who has been already promoting some of the most shocking art exhibitions Milan has ever had.

They all agreed saying this is an important step for the internationalization of the city and will finally focus the attention on contemporary art, a secret passion Milan has been growing for years, thanks to private collectors and temporary exhibitions.

We will finally have a brand new museum dedicated exclusively to contemporary art that will help Milan to shine within the best cities in Europe for art of any kind. Everybody was excited and extremely satisfied, now we only have to wait until the official opening!

That’s what MI-Sex is about. From March 7th to 9th the hottest place to be in Europe will be, without any doubt, Milan.

In 5 days all the people working in the industry, actors and curious will gather once more in Milanofiori (Assago) to partecipate to the longlasting fair of sex in town since 1994.

Mi-sex’ formula “shop and show” is the best way to promote directors, new talents and “items” giving also the chance to sell your services, toys and whatnot directly to the audience. There’s a main stage where there will be nonstop shows for the whole weekend, plus other minishows around the fair, also involving the audience.

This year Mi-Sex has a special surprise for all the women, to celebrate Women’s Day at midnight of friday the 7th, the wordly renowned italian actor Rocco Siffredi will cheer all the girls around unveiling every woman’s dream, a new area named “village boys stripmen”. I guess the name says it all already.

While the spring is about to begin get ready for the hottest weekend you’ll ever see this year, shyness is not allowed!

Concerning the fair it will be hold in Milan Fairgrounds, Rho (entrance gates: Porta Est, Porta Sud, Porta Ovest) from 9.30 am until 6.30 pm, the fair will be open to the public on April 20th.

The excellence of the commercial offering, the massive variety of new items and products, the various stands and the arrangements ensure that any visit to the exhibition complex is rendered easier and more user-friendly.

As evey year, at the same time a range of collateral event will take place in the fair but also in different locatios throughout the city, attracting students, artists designers and curious and promising once more an unforgettable experience.

Other important events will take place in the backdrop of the “Sala delle Cariatidi” at Palazzo Reale in Milan,and in the Refectory at the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (where the famous Da Vinci’s “last meal” is located.)

This is not only a forniture exhibition but also the most important design event of the year in Milan so make sure to be in town and have a look!

It all started in the mid 90s with a new generation of nostalgic for the spectacle and perceived glamour of the old times determined to bring burlesque back. This revival was pioneered independently by Billie Madley’s “Cinema” in New York and Michelle Carr’s “The Velvet Hammer Burlesque” in Los Angeles.

Few years later Dita Von Teese, ex wife of the renowned rocker Marilyn Manson, made burlesque go big with her brilliant 1930′s cabaret style striptease in a giant glass of absinth complete with sponge sugarcubes. All of a sudden the world was back to the past and discovered the pleasure of a strip which is not simply taking clothes off but a real performance.

And the burlesque fever started spreading all over the globe in the blink of an eye.

Burlesque refers to theatrical entertainment of soft and parodic humor, which usually consists of comic skits and a striptease, never leaving the performer completely naked. Originally, burlesque featured shows that included comic sketches, often lampooning the social attitudes of the upper classes, alternating with dance routines. It developed alongside vaudeville around 1840.

A couple of years ago Burlesque shows started taking place in Europe aswell, especially in the UK and France and right now is this phenomenon is spreading, no longer underground, in Italy aswell.

The biggest team in Italy is certanly SickGirl, born as a tiny photographic project in 2004 and evolved fastly in a website featuring glamorous photosets of pin up girls since the beginning of 2005.

Currently this web based community hosts more than 3.000 users, 2.000 guests per day,about 90 “sick girls”, at least one new photoset a week and, above all, a burlesque show that already touched 40 venues all over Italy, from Milan to Palermo, covering the whole territory and attracting more and more people as time goes by with increasing success.

The tour is crossing the national borders soon, with a show in Slovenia on March 19th that promises to be just the first one of a series of international performances, but you still have many chances to see the show in Italy, the next one is scheduled for March 8th in Nova Gorica and more italian dates will be added soon.

Feathers and fans, shimmering seductive and ironic women, retro music and funny skits, nothing is missing to the sickgirl burlesque show … do you really want to miss it?

From January 30th till March 9th, in the Contemporary Art space it will be possible to admire his brand new site-specific project called Fatica 16 (Fatigue 16), as in his previous “fatigues” Daniele Puppi has always been dealing with art and space, and with space we do not mean a mere area but an interacting form participating actively as the base for every artwork.

Puppi uses his own body to measure, expand and dilate the space in a determinate amount of time, filming everything and then setting up brilliant video -sound installations. This concept is the core of his art.

So the audience will not only see the exhibition but participate to it, being surrounded and encompassed by a new disiorentated dimension, a new multisentitive experience to recognize the space, destructured and then rebuilt by the artist.

It’s very interesting to see what Daniele Puppi has obtained from Hangar Bicocca: bricks, concrete and sheets were the instruments he used to unveil the secret soul of that space.

He’s been working on it for sixteen days in a row to experiment with all the possibilities the hangar, looking just like a factory, gave him. He’s been fighting agains bricks and iron sheets, experimenting with the space, using walls in unusual ways , filming his continuous face-to-face duel with the Hangar. The duel ends up with the final fatigue, that determinate movement that projected gives birth to the heart of his work, as the synthesis of all possible actions and movements that could have been done in that same space.

We could spread rivers of ink writing about it, but this is not the kind of art you write about, this is the kind of art that needs to be seen and experienced.

As last year the event will take place at the Portello pavillion of fieramilanocity, the most important place for exhibitions and fairs. This year the fair will be open from April 4th till April 7th with an exceptional invitation-only preview on thursday, April 3.

MiArt is an important event for art collectors, gallery owners, artists and curators.

The fair will give a complete showcase of what’s going on in the modern art world throughout its 3 sections: Modern, Contemporary and Anteprima, gathering the best italian and international artworks, portraying the whole panorama of worldwide art from the historic avant-garde to the most recent experimental works, attracting collectors with different interests and backgrounds. The guest country for this year is Latin America.

One of the most awaited event for this year’s fair will be the presentation of the project for the brand new Milan Museum of Contemporary Arts, that will be realized by Daniel Libeskind in the citylife area and should be ready for 2011, even though there are still many doubts about it.

The fair itself will be full of new features and surprises and, thanks to the increasing collaboration with public and private associations, art will takeover the whole city of Milan with the parallel project called “FuoriMiArt” that will include different art exhibitions located in different parts of the city.

A few examples? Anselm Kiefer at the Triennale Bovisa, Giacomo Balla at Palazzo Reale, Mario Sironi at Fondazione delle Stelline and last but not least Richard Avedon at Spazio Forma.

So wherever you love or live art is time to get ready for an interesting experience at MiArt 2008.

Milan is something more than a simple tattoo convention, it is the showcase of international tattoos par excellence, of tattoos considered as a form of art and not only just like a trend or fashion related business.

Tattooists from all over the globe will gather in Milan from February 8th till February 10th, from 12 pm till 8 pm in a 4 stars hotel named Quark Hotel close to the heart of the city.

Milan Tattoo Convention is not only a once in a lifetime chance to see some of the best tattooists on earth at work but also a 360 degree experience mixing tattoos with bikes, martial arts matches with belly dancing performances and, as every year, a contest that will pick the best work done during the convention.

It is a great opportunity too get some new ideas, show your tats or even take a new one following the spur of the moment, even though most of the artists have a queue of fans already waiting their turn! This convention is always overcrowded and a great way to spend your afternoon even if you are not into tattoos or body modification at all, it will introduce you to a whole new world of colours and inspiration and show you tattoos as a form of contemporary art.

So for those addicted to needles and for those afraid of them let’s get ready, 3 days only might change your mind forever or make you spend an unforgettable afternoon.

Tickets available at the door.

The exhibition, literally “unveieled” to the public about one week ago, is titled “Von Gloeden. Nudi, paesaggi e scene in genere” (Von Gloeden. Naked portraits, landscapes and general scenes) and will be open to the public until March 24th.

For the few people who still don’t know this eclectic German photographer, Wilhelm von Gloeden (one of the biggest gay icons in the world) and for the pleasure of his followers 130 images will be displayed despite the strong opposition. In those photos, where erotism meets neoclassical style and classic greek culture, Von Gloeden immortalizes young boys as well as beautiful sicilian landscapes.

Von Gloeden has always been considered an inconvenient personality and his works were so modern and foretelling he got arrested several times for detaining pornographic material.

This exhibition does not only show his previously censored naked guys photos but also striking panoramas, portraits of common people and frames of everyday life, celebrating Von Gloeden not ony as a gay icon but, most of all, as a creative and talented photographer.

The first exhibition dedicated to Von Gloeden in Italy was held in Spoleto in 1978 and was described as scandalous by some critics.

Catwalks, happening and parties will alternate from February 16th until February 23rd: the schedule has never been so tight and just a few lucky ones will be allowed to attend the coolest parties in town!

Once more this worldwide important happening has been organized by Camera nazionale della Moda Italiana (The National Chamber for Italian Fashion), this Association represents all the highest cultural values of Italian Fashion. It aims to protect, co-ordinate and strengthen its image, both in Italy and abroad.

Once again the Fashion Week will be hold at Fiera Milano City: eleven modern pavilions with a total gross covered floor space of 115,000 square meters located in the heart of the city.

This year main sponsor is Canon, together with American Express, DHL and a few more.

The final schedule has not yet been released but we are already sure there will be main important brands such as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada and many more, not to mention the most important celebrities and journalists of the whole globe such as “Miss Devil” herself, Anna Wintour, who never miss this event.

Let’s get ready, soon enough we will know what we need to be dressed to kill!