It’s now become a tradition. On the second Thursday of July there’s a summer event held in the forecourt of the attractive church at Fornoli, Bagni di Lucca, organised by Marco Nicoli and the Mammalucco cultural association.

Previous events have included choirs, songsters, poets and actors. This year we were privileged to have the cantori (singers) of Tereglio who combined forces with a group from Coreglia Antelminelli singing canzoni popolari which are not ‘pop’, rather folk songs.

Seated in the balmy summer evening air we listened to a variety of songs ranging from ‘stornelli’, to ‘valzer’ and ‘mazurka’.

After these lively renditions there was nothing better than to adjourn to the parish hall for a delicious rinfresco.

Thanks are also due to Fornoli’s parish priest Don Giuliano Ciapi who supplied the beautiful ambience of the church forecourt.

How are you spending your sunny evenings in this incredibly warm Italian summer? Fortunately this afternoon there was a violent tempest ‘a la Vivaldi’ and much needed water dropped down on land which was prone to those forest fires which have already devastated so many parts of Sicily and southern Italy.

There is nothing more delicious than to hear the rumble of thunder and resounding drops of rain in the heat of summer here! It’s the next best thing to talking a walk through the cooling woodland.