The Cave of the Mother Goddess

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Francis

The cave of Castelvenere situated under the southern cliffs of Monte Penna in Garfagnana, and reachable by footpath no 111 from San Luigi, is a place steeped in mystery and antiquity. I’ve already talked about in in various other posts. See for instance:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/the-tuscan-underground/

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2014/03/22/heavenly-alpeggio/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/pen-mountain/

The enigmatic cave is the site of ancient fertility rites dating back to at least Etruscan times and perhaps even further to the spectral period of the Neolithic age as statuettes found there and now viewable at Castelnuovo’s museum demonstrate.

I also believe this cave has a healing presence. If one is feeling too much with the present age then the Castelvenere is there to relieve the pressure. These photographs are from ten years ago, one of the first times we went there. We also had an unexpected meeting on our journey that time!

As soon as it’s sunnier I think I’ll make a beeline for this cave of the mother goddess…

Viareggio’s Bubbleman

Posted on January 30, 2018 by Francis

He was born in the centre of Moscow in 1956. Not wanting to do military service he opted out for the best alternative, which was to become a student in a medical school. Graduating as a doctor he found employment in a pulmonary unit (but he still smokes). He did that job close on twenty years but when ‘perestroika’ occurred things changed drastically. Money was not forthcoming for his work-place and so he found himself out of a job. He decided to travel in Europe instead. In Venice in 1996, he found he had no money. He had to survive somehow and so picked up various jobs around the place, Sometimes he was a plumber or a builder, sometimes he collected snails and found mushrooms. Eventually he took the job he still holds now: Viareggio’s bubbleman. “It’s not really a job”, he declared. “I don’t know who’s having more fun, me or the kids.”

Then one day, just over a year ago, something happened which, as the phrase goes, went viral, He was creating bubbles, as was his wont, in the passage to the Neptune bathing establishment and next to the shop with the big art nouveau number 48. Suddenly the shop owner came out and started hosing down the pavement surrounding the building. “Out of here” he shouted to bubbleman. “Why?” asked the Russian. “Get out of here you scum or else I’ll smash your head. Who are you anyway?” “I am a human. You are a fascist” replied Boris, for that was the bubbleman’s name. Then the shop owner turned his hose onto Boris, soaking him. By this time a small crowd had gathered. They liked bringing their children to watch the bubbleman. Boris has a way with them. “What’s going on?” one of the audience asked. “It’s him; I want him away from my shop-front. He lowers the tone of this neighbourhood,” said the shop-keeper.

One person was recording the incident on his mobile. A hand covered his phone lens. “Stop it” said a voice.. But it was too late. The event had been filmed and then posted on Facebook. It became viral. Eventually, Viareggio’s mayor came to know of it. He arranged a meeting between himself, Boris and the shop owner. The latter was forced to apologise. “It became a little out of hand” he admitted.

Boris told me he does many other things apart from amusing children. “I can heal people from their back pain with my massage. I also have a technique to help those who are suffering from worsening sight. My method does work. Look at me. I once had to wear two different types of glasses – now I need none.”

“And what about the shopkeeper?” I asked. “It’s water under the bridge. Who has had to pay has paid”, he replied .

Meanwhile a child came up to Boris. “I want to make bubbles myself”. “Do you really? I’ll show you how then”, said Viareggio’s bubbleman.

And so Boris took the child under his wing and showed him how to blow bubbles. The child was so happy to see the great suds soaring up in the light evening wind. The child’s parents proudly watched.

Meanwhile the great carnival procession of the fantasia-town was taking shape. “After all,” said Boris to me as I bid goodbye , “life’s just like a bubble. Sooner or later it will pop into nothingness.”

It’s Carnival Time in Viareggio!

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Francis

Are you carrying out your New Year’s resolutions and have you decided what to give up for Lent (making New Year’s resolutions?) – those forty days, beginning on Ash Wednesday (February 14^th this year – same day as Saint Valentine’s???) and ending on Holy Saturday which Jesus spent in the wilderness resisting Satan.

Italy celebrates the time before Lenten abstinence by holding carnivals in many towns. The word ‘carnival’ comes from Latin ‘carne vale’ = farewell to meat. That’s why Mardi Gras – marking the last big feast before Lent starts – is the day before Ash Wednesday.

Carnival is a time for letting off steam and reversing traditional roles: subordinates become masters, partners are swapped, rules broken and masked balls take place . A useful Italian word to learn for this time is ‘veglione’ = all-night dance party. The previous way of doing things transforms into chaos and from this disarray a new structure arises, reflecting the burgeoning spring. (It’s no coincidence that ‘Lent’ comes from Anglo-Saxon ‘Lenten’ meaning spring).

Because of the carnival’s R. C. associations there’s been no similar tradition in the UK since the reformation. The North London Notting hill ‘carnival’ takes place in summer and is a misnomer since it’s actually a festival inspired by Caribbean culture. The West Country carnivals are protestant in origin and occur in November, the Guy Fawkes and gunpowder plot month. However, carnivals go back to pre-Christian times: the Roman Saturnalia and the Celtic Samhain.

Italy has its ‘big five’ carnivals which all should try to attend. They are

CARNIVAL LOCATION	FOUNDATION	CHARACTERISTICS
Putignano, Puglia	1394	Papier-Mache allegorical floats and the figure of ‘Farinella’
Venice	Founded 14^th century but suppressed by Napoleon and resuscitated in 1979	Wonderful baroque costumes and masks. A lot of cultural activities: arts exhibitions and music included
Acireale, Sicily	Very, very old.	Lots of fresh flowers decorating the floats
Ivrea, Piedmont	Mediaeval in origin it’s the only Italia carnival with an unbroken tradition.	Teems with folklore and tradition. Battle of the oranges (wear a red cap if you don’t want to get pelted) Particularly rich in Napoleonic costumes. Famous for ‘Mugnaia’. Beautiful floats
Viareggio, Tuscany	Dates from 1873, the time of the town’s expansion as a major seaside resort	World-famous floats designed by some of Italy’s greatest designers. First place to use papier-mâché in 1923. Great political satire. Lots of ‘veglioni’. Absolutely unmissable.

Rome had a carnival once (remember Berlioz’ overture and Goethe’s travel diary?) However, it was abolished in the nineteenth century because spoil-sports thought the horse race down the Corso had become too dangerous. What a shame.

I was at Viareggio’s unmissable carnival last Saturday when the floats made their inaugural parade down the wide seaside promenade. The event was quite stunning and the weather held – important when the floats are made of papier-Mache! There are three categories of floats and each category is separately judged. This gives a big chance for smaller float builders with fewer resources than the gigantic ones built at the ‘Cittadella’, a special site for float construction and exhibitions which opened in 2001.

Viareggio is particularly hot on political satire (even Mrs. Mayhem made an appearance this year), world issues (especially environmental degradation) and social commentary (poor disabled access and smoking are big issues). The first category floats presented the following issues.

Number		Float Title	Issues	Symbols used
CATEGORY ONE
1	In un mondo che prigioniere è (in a world where we are all prisoners)		We are all subject to being punished for freedom of expression	Cell doors, swaddled human figures
2	Fumo negli occhi (smoke in your eyes)		Smoking causes death	Skeleton, cigarette butts
3	Proxima ventura		Towards a better future	Galleon, giraffes, helicopter
4	La pace di cristallo (fragile peace)		Threat of war	Prostrate dove with world figures above it
5	Papaveri rossi (red poppies)		Stop wars	Red poppies, WWI soldiers
6	No tu no (Not you)		Increase disabled access	Pulcinella on wheelchair, barriers
7	Ozio, vizio e vitalizio (Leisure, vice and annuities)		Against political corruption	Cicciolina, Razzi and Berlusconi
8	Aspettando Godot (Waiting for Godot)		We’re all waiting for dreams which never seem to materialize.	Huge tramp and text from Becket’s play
9	E’ come credere alle favole (It’s like believing in fairy tales.)		Fake news	Pied piper and mice

There were five second category floats and nine category three, all equally inventive and dealing with essential issues like plastics waste, political corruption, war-threats etc.

See if you can distinguish which floats are which in my panoply of photos taken last Saturday:

A lot of the carnival fun is also to do with the float actors and their costumes, the public and especially the children who have a real field day at this event!

Wouldn’t it be great if the Italian carnival tradition were brought to the UK, There could be such opportunities to allegorize ‘swivel-eyed’ Conservative in-fighting (to say nothing of Labour) not to mention the political figures who could be wonderfully sent up. In my mind’s eye I’m already imagining a Brexit float shaped like a double-decker filled with the usual suspects … It would certainly help to relieve public frustrations at the tragi-comic mess that is going on in those islands to the distress of the NHS, crime figures and education.

The Viareggio carnival continues as follows:

Seafront parades on:

Domenica 4 febbraio – Ore 15,00

2° CORSO MASCHERATO

Domenica 11 febbraio – Ore 15,00

3° CORSO MASCHERATO

Martedì 13 febbraio – Ore 17,00

4° CORSO MASCHERATO notturno DEL MARTEDI’ GRASSO

Sabato 17 febbraio – Ore 17,00

5° CORSO MASCHERATO notturno

Al termine la proclamazione dei vincitori

Grande Spettacolo pirotecnico finale (ie great final fireworks display)

Pisa Mover or Pismover

Posted on January 27, 2018 by Francis

Last year, on the 18th March, the Pisa Mover, a cable-rail shuttle service connecting Pisa central station with Pisa airport and replacing the former conventional electric rail service, was inaugurated. It cost almost 72 million euros. Of this amount public finance contributed 21 million.

As with most new transportation systems there have been both praises and complaints regarding the new service.

First the complaints:

It’s expensive! A ticket costs Euros 2.70 to travel just over a mile. To compare prices and distance: a ticket from Bagni di Lucca to Pisa Central station covers a distance of 22 miles and costs Euros 5.60 This means that if the Pisa mover ticket cost were applied to the rail journey from Bagni di Lucca to Pisa central that ticket would cost almost 60 Euros!

Why is the ticket from Pisa central station to the airport so expensive? The answer is obvious: the ticket price has to cover the cost of financing the project. Whether the number of passengers using the Pisa mover will be able to recoup the cost even at this price is a moot point. It’s been estimated that ten million passengers annually must use the system for financial solvency but the current number is rarely above eight million.

Walking distance to and from the interchanges at Pisa central and Pisa airport is longer creating possible difficulties for less able passengers. It’s a far cry from the formerly quick interchange to Florence or Rome trains from Pisa Central station.
The system wasn’t really necessary. There was a previous rail service and when that was removed the temporary shuttle bus cost Euros 1.20 – less than half the present amount – and continued all the way to the famous leaning tower!
Since the new cable-train system is incompatible with conventional rail systems all passengers must change trains and there can be no expansion of the Pisa mover for direct services to Florence and Rome from the airport.
The Pisa mover is actually slower than any of the old systems, taking 8 minutes for the transit. The old conventional train system took 5 minutes and the shuttle bus 6 minutes…
It’s not possible to buy on-line direct tickets to the airport from Bagni di Lucca. One needs to have some convenient cash to purchase an extra ticket at Pisa central station and, again, wages have to be paid for special assistants there to help passengers purchase tickets because of somewhat confusing auto-ticket dispensers.
There are fewer seats on the new trains. Thankfully it’s a short journey.
There was a corruption scandal and criminal investigation into the Pisamover construction company which was subsequently disestablished.

Second, the praises.

The Pisa mover has a frequency of 12 new trains per hour instead of the old trains, which were 2 per hour and the shuttle bus which was 7 journeys per hour. However, one must remember that the old trains had greater passenger carrying capacity.
There is an intermediate stop at Via di Goletta Navicelli for the additional car park.
The Pisa mover is of interest to railway anoraks because of the cable transportation system involved. They can have great fun in taking photos and writing down rolling stock numbers.
Can’t think of any other.

So there you have it. At least with the Pisa Mover I haven’t yet come across the chaos which ensues when London’s Piccadilly line has to cater for both rush-hour commuters and Heathrow airport passengers.

A Sad Chapel in the Woods

Posted on January 27, 2018 by Francis

The nearby village of Gombereto has three little churches (or chiesine) in it religious purlieus: San Giuseppe, standing outside the southern entrance to the village, Santa Maria dei Dolori, at the northern end, and Refubbri, the chiesina della Visitazione, which sadly stands (just) in total neglect, roofless and prey to ivy and the weather. The chiesina or oratory of the Visitation of The Virgin Mary to Saint Elizabeth, is mentioned in a famous poem by Robert Browning, who visited this area with his wife (For more information and photographs on this sad situation do visit my special web site at http://refubbri.tripod.com/engstart.htm).

As I returned from shopping yesterday I stopped to look at the melancholic chapel. Even in winter it was almost totally covered by foliage. The roof has long since collapsed but the inner arch supporting it was still intact, for how long goodness knows.

The little bridge connecting it to the road was still seemingly solid but, again, I wondered for how long – the Refubbri stream had become a raging torrent and I wasn’t quite sure if the bridge was safe to cross.

There was talk at one time of restoring the chapel at Refubbri and using it for non RC Christian celebrations but, to date, nothing has come of this. It might have also made a mountain rifugio or shelter for trekking in the area.

However, I noted that around the chapel council forestry workers were cutting down dangerous and obstructive trees and clearing out the stream bed.

I asked if they were going to clear the chapel of its encroaching vegetation but they said they had no orders to do so.

While there are many worthy causes to donate money to and many more distinguished buildings needing help I remain dejected at the thought that, for the thirteen-plus years that I have lived here, the little woodland chapel of Refubbri has no-one to love it and help it live again in some form whether that be even a hiker’s shelter from the rain. Who knows whether it will still be standing in ten years’ time? At least nature will destroy it rather than the mindless vandalism that has demolished so many abandoned buildings in London.

Bagni di Lucca’s Concentration Camp

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Francis

On 27^th January 1945 Red Army troops entered the Nazi concentration and death camp of Auschwitz and came across a scene which remains indelibly etched on the world’s conscience. In 2005 a United Nations resolution instituted an International Holocaust Remembrance Day or ‘Giorno della memoria’ as it’s known here in Italy.

270px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-N0827-318,_KZ_Auschwitz,_Ankunft_ungarischer_Juden

It’s so important to remember the most horrific genocide Europe has ever known, in which almost seven million people were killed purely on the grounds of their ethnicity, their beliefs or their sexual orientation. Forgetting what happened then only encourages further genocides in other parts of the world such as is still occuring today in countries whose names sadly crop up time and time again in the news.

Bagni di Lucca is commemorating this awful part of our history with events throughout the week.

First there’s the commemoration, at Fornoli’s Peace Park, of Liliana Urbach, the only citizen of Bagni di Lucca who died in Auschwitz aged just sixteen months.

For more on Liliana see my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/suffer-little-children/

Fascism originally did not uphold racist legislation. It was only after the conquest of Abyssinia and the establishment of the ‘East African Empire’ in 1936 that apartheid began here. Gradually this was extended through the exclusion of Jewish people from education and employment and finally led to the promulgation of racial laws with heavy punishments meted out to those who married into different ethnic groups.

I have an extensive post discussing Italy’s racial laws at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/38053/

(For Italy’s only extermination camp – in Trieste – see my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/italys-death-camp/)

The second holocaust event at Bagni di Lucca was the unveiling of a long overdue memorial plaque on the old Terme Hotel which is now crumbling amid grim desolation. It was in this hotel that ninety eight persons from Bagni di Lucca and surrounding areas were ‘concentrated’ before starting their journey to the Auschwitz death factory. Again I’ve dedicated a more-in-depth post on this hotel at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/from-bagni-di-lucca-to-auschwitz/

In that post I wrote “meanwhile, the sinister and decrepit façade of the old Hotel delle Terme has nothing to show on it that this was the last sight many people would have had of their beloved families and their beautiful country. This, in my opinion, is a scandal that must be rectified as soon as possible. Here is a building that, more than any other in this area, witnessed man’s brutality to man and people pass by it without realizing what purpose it was used for. A memorial plaque should be placed on it now because if we don’t remember……..”

(It’s also horrifically ironic that it was in this same hotel, in happier days that Puccini composed a large part of his wonderful opera, ‘Girl of the Golden West’ in 1909).

I’m glad that this omission has now been rectified.

The memorial plaque reads as follows:

‘Here, at Bagni di Lucca’s hot baths in the old Terme hotel, Italian and foreign jews, arrested in our province by order of the Italian Social Republic, were confined. 98 old, adult and young persons left here on the 23rd of January 1944. Auschwitz was their destination, the result of racial hatred’.

Regarding this incident there are so many unanswered questions. Could anything have been done to save these ninety eight people? Did they know where they were heading to? Was it ignorance or indifference or fright of locals that marked their fateful end? Why was the god, whose temple lies opposite the hotel, so blatantly indifferent to their plight when religious brethren were particularly active and lost their lives in opposing such barbarities? (For example, the exemplary action of Don Aldo Mei – read about him in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/forgiving-your-executioners-the-story-of-don-aldo-mei/ )

We may never know but we shall never forget!

Lucca’s Archbishop comes to Bagni di Lucca

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Francis

The rare visit of an archbishop to Bagni di Lucca means that something of major ecclesiastical importance will be announced.

Last week, in Villa’s parish hall, Castellani’s simple message to the congegations of Val di Lima was that many local churches will have to be closed down, and parishes merged, within ten years because of a lack of priests. The figures are stark: since archbishop Italo Castellani succeeded to the See of Lucca in 2005 one hundred and fifty priests have died of old age or ill health and just ten new ones have been found to replace them. Currently the seminary of Lucca, where fledgling priests are trained, has been reduced from over two hundred entrants to just five – and the majority of the novices are not of Italian origin.

Of course, those who object to priestcraft and think that the Roman Catholic Church is a cover-up for exploitation of people’s superstitions and are instigators of sexual abuse and corruption will be delighted. But that is not the point. Religion in Italy is a cultural phenomenon which permeates all aspects of life in this country whether one is a believer or not. To give a very simple example: near our village a young man some years ago fell in love with a girl from another part of the Lucchesia. Both wanted to get married and desired a white wedding. This proved to be impossible since the groom had dropped out of his catechism class, had not received the Holy Communion sacrament and was, therefore, ineligible for a church ceremony. Much against his instincts, but realizing that the respective families would have felt done out of a ‘proper’ wedding, the groom, in his twenties, re-attended catechism classes, fortunately this time with a more personable priest, and a white wedding was able to be celebrated.

Of course, social change, anomie and immigration in Italy’s big cities are changing the picture but it still remain true to state that belief in the Holy Family, and particularly the Madonna, is at the heart of the majority of social nuclei in this country.

Furthermore, the largest part of Italian artistic creation, some of the highest order the world has known, has been sponsored by ecclesiastical institutions. I am not just referring to the great fresco cycles, like Michelangelo’s in Rome’s Sistine chapel, or the wonderful basilicas and sanctuaries that grace our landscape. Even Longoio’s little church has a beautiful seventeenth century altarpiece which would be extolled by the UK’s National Trust but is here just another humble example of religious manifestation.

Who would look after or even be able to think of looking after such a heritage? Up to now it’s been the priests with their acolytes, parishioners and volunteers. What would happen if the last priest vanished from the Controneria countryside? How could one commemorate the annual saint’s day festivals with their colourful processions, their elaborate church displays and their joyful celebrations? Are we really beginning to see something as drastic as that which happened with the dissolution of the British monasteries under Henry VIII – the overnight sweeping away of centuries of history, tradition, artistic creation and literature?

This picture’s paint is even bleaker when one considers that, of the priests left to serve the community, few are below the age of sixty.

Of course, the Church has exploited the naivety of the faith of many locals in the past, burnt heretics, forced women into nunneries, abused the young etc. but it has also helped social cohesion (‘Vox Populi Vox Dei’) and provided education and social care.

The only religion that is growing in these parts is that which has roots outside Europe. The Muslim community is ever clamouring for more spaces in which to practices its faith. (See my post on the Florence mosque at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/a-mosque-for-florence-una-moschea-per-firenze/ ). If the picture does not change regarding priesthood recruitment are we to expect what is happening to several cities in (e.g.) the UK: the sale of churches to other convictions? In that country, for example, 500 churches have closed down since 1990 and 423 new mosques founded, over half of which use converted ex-Christian churches. The landscape of Birmingham is now increasingly dominated by minarets rather than by spires and, regrettably, British multiculturalism is giving way to Islamic fundamentalism as the phenomenon of ‘foreign fighters’ has demonstrated.

What is the answer to all this? My solution would be the following:

The setting up of an effective government, business and church financed body to look after closed or abandoned churches rather in the style of the Redundant Churches Fund in the UK.
The encouragement of young people who are believers in the Roman Catholic Church to participate more fully in its liturgy. This is already taking place in the case of a local young Religious Instruction teacher who assists the priest in the Mass and conducts a church choir. Could not these young persons conduct more of the church service like a ‘Diacono’ or Deacon? (A ‘Diacono’ is a layperson who is able to celebrate the Mass without blessing the Host, which must be sanctified by the priest).
Could not ‘Diacono’ qualifications be extended? (For example, married men can become ‘Diaconi’ but single men can only be ‘Diaconi’ provided they remain unmarried). Also, in this age of gender equality, why can’t women become ‘Diaconi’?

Regrettably I see, if the Church does not move forwards and grasp the nettle, a scenario where. perhaps by the end of the next century, churches in our valley will either be turned into perpetually locked-up museum pieces or have their campaniles converted into minarets to cater for the increasing Islamic community and the Val di Lima may echo to the call of the muezzin rather than the ring of bells. It happened in 1453 when the cathedral of Santa Sophia in Constantinople was converted into a mosque in its renamed city of Istanbul and it’s happening in many parts of the UK today. So why shouldn’t it happen here in the Val di Lima (or rather, why mustn’t it happen…)

What a Wally in Lucca!

Posted on January 24, 2018 by Francis

I don’t like the late start of operas in Italy. 9.15 pm seems to be the usual procedure and by the time one has got home it’s closer to 2 am. The way to get round this in Lucca is to attend a Sunday 4 pm matinee. It’s also a great chance to savour the crisp winter sunlight on the city walls and browse through the city’s antiques market.

Despite the name of its heroine, ‘Wally’, (which should not be pronounced in the English way but in the Italian one as ‘Val-ley’- short for ‘Valpurga’) Catalani’s last of six operas – composed in a sad life cut short at age thirty-nine by TB – proved a thrilling experience at Lucca’s Giglio theatre last Sunday. The Tyrolean scenario, by Puccini’s librettist Illica after Wilhelmine von Hillern’s novel Die Geier-Wally, provided the composer with opportunities for Austrian Ländler (at the time of the opera Südtirol still belonged to the Hapsburg empire), yodeling arias and atmospheric scoring depicting the icy mountains which, in the end, kill off the heroine and the hero with an avalanche.

Indeed, Catalani’s instrumentation of these alpine landscapes, using just the highest and the lowest orchestral timbres in octave unison, was also adopted by Prokofiev in the ‘Battle on the ice sequence’ in his ‘Alexander Nevsky’ score and in Vaughan Williams’ seventh ‘Antarctica ‘ symphony. The inevitable wind-machine makes its eerie entrance too…

Even if you’ve never seen ‘La Wally’ you’ll recognize at least one aria from it. It’s the heart-melting aria Ebben ne andrò lontana made well-known to the world through Wiggins Fernandez’ rendition in Jean-Jacques Beineix‘s 1981 cult movie Diva.

I’ve written extensively on Catalani here and in ‘Grapevine’ magazine. His is a life plagued by false promises, unrequited love and a killer disease. See:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/catalanis-calamitous-life/

and

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/magnificent-san-michele-mass/

Here is the cast list for the performance I attended last Sunday:

I felt Serena Farnocchia was superb as the protagonist (befitting a winner of the coveted Luciano Pavarotti prize, Find out more about her at

http://www.serenafarnocchia.com/HOME_ITA.html)

Of Wally’s two competing lovers I was a little underwhelmed by Gellner but fully convinced by Hagenbach. Supporting cast and choir were resoundingly adequate. Regarding the scenario I was disappointed by the few fluffs of artificial snow announcing the annihillatory avalanche. Actually, only Hagenbach is suffocated by the snow since Wally, Tosca-like, leaps to her death into a ravine.

Wally, unusually for many nineteenth century heroines, is a wild child of nature with no time for sentimental Traviata-type gushings. She knows what she likes and abruptly repudiates those lovers she can’t stand. True, there is heartrending emotion in her famous act one aria but Wally does point forwards to Minnie, heroine of Puccini’s 1910 ‘Girl of the Golden West’. In this respect, Catalani’s opera does not reduce women to a vessel at the mercy of opportunistic men but creates a new feminine dimension fully equal to the machinations of the male sex – surely a timely insight today in view of all those exploitation accusations in the news.

What would Catalani have gone on to create had he lived longer? This is the unanswerable question which could be put with regard to so many other musical geniuses, Mozart and Schubert for a start. One thing is certain, however: Catalani’s premature death must count as one of Italy’s and Europe’s greatest artistic losses. I looked almost tearfully at the under-rated composer’s memorial plaque in the Giglio’s foyer:

For the next two operas concluding the Giglio season click on

http://www.teatrodelgiglio.it/it/stagione-in-corso/lirica/la-fanciulla-del-west/

Bagni di Lucca’s Own Dolomites

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Francis

Last Saturday afternoon in the elegant rose room of Bagni di Lucca’s ‘Circolo dei Forestieri’ Marco Nicoli presented a new book dealing with our beautiful part of the world.

The book is called ‘Le Dolomiti di Val di Lima’ and it’s by Enzo Maestripieri .

‘Le Dolomiti di Val di Lima’ is a superb guidebook to our local mountains written by someone who, although not of this area, (Maestripieri is from Pistoia) has known these mountains since he was a young lad.

The book is divided into three parts.

The first is an introduction to the area dealing with its geological, historical and cultural aspects. The author also mentions the problems affecting the area today: depopulation, abandonment of traditional agricultural practices and changing climate conditions. All these mean that paths are neglected and, at lower altitudes, are covered by rapidly enroaching vegetation making the going in many areas as tough as cutting one’s way through a Mayan jungle.

The second part covers, in a rigorously organized form I’d never encountered before, the main mountain groups of our Val di Lima area. Apart from pioneering new routes through many of the areas the author has also made several discoveries including former mines dating back to the eighteenth century.

The massifs, so familiar to many of us, covered are:

Right of Lima river:

Crinale di Campolino and Valle di Scesta
Balzo Nero
Monte di Limano and Monte Cimo
Monte Mosca, Coronato and Prato Fiorito

Left of Lima river:

Penna di Lucchio and Memoriante

This part of the book makes mind travel almost as exciting as travelling for real. The photographs by Paolo Mazzoni are superb and there are over five hundred of them in the book!

The third part is a ‘quick guide’ to the twenty-five best walks in our area. This is the part that will most appeal to all those in love with our unique landscape. Here is a page from walks nos 3 and 4, dealing with ways of getting to the top of the Balzo Nero, the majestic peak overshadowing the village of Vice Pancellorum.

Even if I think I know some of these places well the author’s skill in finding alternative routes is quite astonishing. All in all I would rate Maestripieri’s book as probably the best to have been published on the Val di Lima mountains .

A book like this can only bring more people from all over the world who are willing to discover our area’s natural delights and learn more about the special cultural features of this remoter part of Tuscany. The fact that it’s titled ‘The Dolomites of Val di Lima’ isn’t an advertising sweetener. Maestripieri truly proves that one doesn’t have to climb up the Marmolada in the North Italian dolomites to experience the thrill of scampering over excitingly-shaped and rewarding rocky mountain slopes. And also in the Val di Lima one is not invaded by hoardes of similar-minded people like one is in the Italian Dolomites. It’s all waiting for you here to discover!

The Flying Mule Track

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Francis

Today the time of living within a drizzly cloud has finally vanished and blue skies and sunshine have returned. An occasion perhaps for re-savouring the pleasures of hillwalking? In the meanwhile, casting my eyes back to January 2008, I came across this incredible walk in neighbouring Lunigiana which takes one down from the village of Vinca to Monzone.

I have already written a post about this walk in June 2013 when I did it a second time with two friends, both of whom are no longer with me in our area: one friend has returned north and the other has gone further afield to the land where none return. The full account of that memorable time on this walk is in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/magical-mulattiera/ and it cannot be bettered.

Originally a mule-track between Aiola (alt: 90 metres) and Vinca (alt: 900 metres), path no 39 traverses alp-like pastures, birch forests, exposed rocky outcrops, and chestnut woods to finally enter the cultivated areas of the Lucido valley villages. In addition, along the path one can meet with a sanctuary, several Maestà (little shrines), the ruins of an ancient church, a remote hermitage and a mysterious castle watch tower buried deep in the forest. This truly is a path to experience, although it requires some fitness, a good sense of balance, keenness and perseverance.

The footpath starts from the little village of Vinca which is nestled below 5850 foot high Monte Garnerone.

It first traverses a forest through whose barren winter branches we could see weirdly-shaped exposed rocks. What wonders were around us: the wild crags of the Northern Apuans and the extensiveness of views over the Lucido valley, the timelessness of it all…

Our way then ‘flew’ over an amazing little viaduct .

Round the corner was the ruined chapel of the ‘Madonna Vecchia Di Vinca’ which still has traces of painted decoration on the wall. Under the shadow of a projecting rock, the chapel made a welcome stop and shelter. A legends say that here the Madonna summoned a fountain from barren rocks and, indeed, there is still a trickle of water by the chapel. Other stories relate that the chapel was gobbled up by ants and that the only animals that could pass it were dogs as all other creatures were considered inferior.

The path continues on a metal gangplank across one stretch which has fallen down due to a landslide. Holding on for dear life to an iron chord against the rock face, we negotiated this stretch without difficulty (just didn’t look down!)

On both occasions I undertook this walk by the time I’d reached the sign indicating a detour to the ‘Eremo di San Giorgio’ I was too tired to add the extra mileage. Will there be a next time when I will make it there? The remains of the hermitage are on top of a ridge around 2950 feet high. It was built in the seventeenth century but was abandoned in 1779 when the order was dissolved by order of the grand duke of Tuscany. The hermitage appeared to be a substantial construction with two stories, a church, bell tower, refectory and twelve friars’ cells. Now, however, I am told little remain and the hermitage is being dissolved into the encroaching ravages of vegetation and time. I wonder what it must have been like to be a friar there?

Path no 39 now becomes tamer and enters a thick forest in the centre of which we could see the ruins of what seemed to be a castle keep. In fact, ‘Il Castellaccio’ was a defense watch-tower for the Vinca valley and, despite my best attempts, I was unable to find a way past the surrounding walls into the tower itself.