I girasoli

I girasoli is a Radio Popolare arts program with the rhythm of a cultural notebook opened in public. It is quick on its feet. Each episode gathers exhibitions, photography projects, art fairs, heritage initiatives, book conversations, and local cultural actions into a single Saturday route. The show is especially attentive to visual arts and cultural goods, but it rarely treats them as sealed-off specialist subjects. A discussion of a photograph can lead to childbirth, grief, ancestry, tourism, public space, or the difficulty of getting major works into one room. That practical curiosity gives the program its character. It cares where something is happening, who made it, who curated it, how long it can be seen, and why a visitor might want to make time for it. Recent episodes have moved from Women Power and Magnum photography to Rothko in Florence, Van Dyck in Genoa, Brescia Photo Festival, Giampaolo Barbieri’s Shakespeare-inspired images, and an affectionate remembrance of Dario Fo’s painted and scenographic work. Milan is a recurring center of gravity. Casa della Memoria, Casa degli Artisti, Palazzo Reale, the Women’s Bookstore, Via Tortona, and smaller galleries all appear as part of the cultural map. Yet the show also follows paths to Genoa, Brescia, Cremona, Vicenza, Florence, and Lodi. Its interviews are not ornamental. Guests explain how a festival leaves institutional spaces, how a photo series can hold family roots and nature together, or how restoration and memorial projects keep history available. The program has a service-minded edge, with times, streets, closing dates, and booking reminders arriving alongside critical judgment. It can be enthusiastic. It can also turn solemn when memory, loss, the Shoah, prisons, or social struggle enters the frame. The language stays approachable throughout. For listeners who want art talk with names, places, and usable context, I girasoli offers a lively weekly companion.