Monthly Archives: March 2019

Il Giorno della Liberazione – Stile Inglese

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Today would have been ‘Freedom day’ for some brits. For others it would have amounted to banishment, Kleenex tissues and copious amounts of strong spirits. I need not tell you what I am referring to –  I don’t want to add to the thousands of patients suffering from a now well-defined mental disturbance caused by stress and anxiety deriving from a situation created by politicians who wouldn’t even be able to decide on their lunch menu at BDL’s ‘Circolo dei Forestieri’.

I just wonder if there will be enough psychotherapists left in the UK once most of the continental ones have fled from an island inhabited  by sympathisers of ‘European Researchers’. What an irony that it was this same island that gave refuge to an eminent psychoanalyst fleeing from Nazi persecution. His name, of course, was Sigmund Freud and I just wonder what he would have said about it all. Perhaps that UK is suffering from a Nordic version of the Oedipus complex termed the Hárbarðsljóð syndrome, the name deriving from a Norse legend dealing with a verbal combat between Thor, the god of thunder and a mysterious ferryman, who introduces himself as Harbard but is, in fact, Odin, the king of the Gods, disguised.

The concept of a ferry fits the UK archipelago of islands rather appropriately – if ferry companies without ferries are not employed! The verbal duel is equally apposite when looking at the almost three years of somewhat wasted negotiations between the UK and the EU.

The fact is that the UK, having shed its venerable figure lording it over an empire on which the sun never used to set, is still finding it difficult to be re-born as an infant who is having a somewhat fraught relationship with its re-discovered mum, Europe. (And don’t give me that shit about Europa being abducted by Jove who transformed himself into a bull).

Verbal duels have abounded in the hothouse Cloche merle atmosphere of Bagni di Lucca where a rag, tag and bobtail clump of brits have found themselves planted for varying periods of time, either permanently or part-timely. Cutting across these brits are no longer those decisions over which aperitivo to drink or what kind of pizza to savour – these, sadly, are discussions long-since dimmed in the once amicable sunset. No, it is now a choice between full English brexfast and continental caffexistance with brioche in the morning, with a few shades of Earl Greys and Americanos in-between.

The pages of FB which, for many members of this crew, have surpassed the time watching DVD’s of ‘The Good Life’ or leafing through the pages of some monstrous biography of a Britannic worthy, are full of the most varied comments on the subject, ranging from virtuous to vitriolic, from tender to toxic, from sense, to common sense to nonsense.

What has always flabbergasted me is how brits in love with Italy and all the gorgeous things it can offer and who, in some cases, are even resident here, could have believed the bojo trash at all – Bojo who, incidentally, gave a hard time to the daughter of one of Italy’s best commentators on the UK and resident there since Beatle mania days. (Find out who she is yourselves…).

Of course I might quote that eminent politician Keith Hacker who declared that ‘I have nothing against Europe – it’s just Brussels I can’t stand.’

Already, here is a clear distinction made between the effete French fry and the sumptuously soggy chip… Should we now rename the Brussel sprout the Bexhill spud?

I quote from a friend whose female common-sense I have treasured ever since I was a teenager:

Francis, I think we must resist implying that Leave voters are stupid. It doesn’t dignify the Remainers’ stance. I have some highly intelligent friends who voted to leave. Having said that, when I ask what benefits there will be to being outside the EU, I am yet to get an answer, let alone a cogent one. It was, I’m sure, an emotional vote for many Leavers. It is the most horribly polarising thing I can remember in my lifetime, I think. It really has become a taboo subject with several friends I know and love. A national tragedy on many levels.

To which I answered:

Yes …all this quite unnecessary nonsense has done is to divide people, families and friends in a way not seen since the Reformation or, dare I say it, the Civil War. It’s like putting to referenda questions like ‘do you believe in/support God/abortion/same sex marriage/death penalty/abolishing the bourka/faith schools/diesel cars/ etc. etc. These are issues to be settled in Parliament with representatives voted in by us the people. We all have a right to our own opinions and an equal right to discuss them with other people without fear of being bullied. This Brexit thing should NEVER have been raised to a political issue to be thrown to the person in the street to decide by a referendum without a proper quorum of 60%. Whatever the outcome there will need to be a peace, reconciliation and healing committee to patch up the UK nation where, this morning, I hear the news that anxiety and stress caused by Brexit is the fastest growing mental disturbance being treated by the NHS…

A few days ago our area of Bagni di Lucca was hit by strong winds, which, although they did not bring the devastation of March 2015, caused enough concern and damage to worry all of us especially my olive grove.

As I wrote, again on FB:

“Howl, howl, howl, howl!” (Shakespeare ‘King Lear’ act V )
“Urlate, urlate, urlate! Oh!”(Shakespeare ‘Re Lear’ atto V)

Not as bad as the night of March 5th 2015 (see https://longoio2.wordpress.com/…/…/the-night-of-the-tornado/) but still pretty awesome and awful…

To which a friend, denizen of the UK, but not from the England bit, wittily responded thus:

I thought you were talking about Brexit, and then I saw the photos…

Yesterday I righted things in my olive grove and wrote in FB:

Repairing hurricane damage to my ‘orto’. Let’s see if crutches and stones at base will help the olives. Problem is that quite thick roots have been severed. We can but try. Thanks to Sandra for tip about using stones. The trees are well and truly stoned in expectation of the next howling blast.

To which another friendly wit (this time from the England Bit of the as yet UK) responded thus:

Coincidentally, Francis, ‘..well and truly stoned in expectation of the next howling blast’ rather neatly sums up the mood in the UK at present 

Actually, the mentality us brits in Italy need is inscribed on this plaque, already described at greater length in my post at https://longoio3.com/2019/03/26/15142/

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Meanwhile I wish you all a happy survival, remaining leavers in Bagni di Lucca comune……

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(Outside the Westminster municipal lunatic asylum with European Supergirl Madeleina Kay and Young European of the Year for 2018 earlier this year).

Another Week-End and Everywhere to Go

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Let’s look at some of the activities and events which will take place in and around Bagni di Lucca during the coming days. At least they’ll help to take our minds off what’s happening at a certain place by the Thames…

I’m definitely not going to miss Moliere’s comedy ‘Tartuffe’ this Friday 29th March at 9 PM at the Teatro Academico. It’s about a religious hypocrite that unctuously uses his sanctimonious self to dupe a gullible family; a theme still somewhat relevant today. If your Italian is not that brilliant then it might be worth swotting up on the plot at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartuffe#Plot. There’s no problem about that: I always have to do the same with opera plots, even if they’re sung in English!

On Sunday in Villa’s market place there’s another favourite event: the antiques market – something else not to be missed! Look out for that Botticelli disguised as a copy. (If you don’t believe me see https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/mar/28/botticelli-copy-found-to-be-rare-original-from-artists-workshop

On Sunday 7th April there’s a truly great event : the 43rd Giro dei Colli termali or walk/run around the thermal hills of Bagni di Lucca. Depending on your stamina/inclination you can choose a variety of routes starting from 2 to 4 kilometres through 10, 18, 20 kilometres. It’s a very ‘Italian’ event with families joining in and I regret I’ve only done it once so far. Turn up in the morning at the stadium.

The longest route goes through our village of Longoio and I did a little of the route, now blue-spot marked,  yesterday with two feline competitors who need no introduction to readers of my blog.

 

 

There are refreshment points en route and the weather is set fair. Sandra and I have also done the equally entertaining romp called ‘Marcia delle Ville’. For an account of that one see my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/the-marathon-lucca-style/

 

 

Again, on Sunday 7th April at 6 pm in Bagni di Lucca’s Library, there’s the Spring Jazz concert organised by the De Montaigne foundation. It’s now in its seventh year and this time stars the world renowned singer from Livorno, Chiara Pellegrini and members of her highly jazzed-up family, Andrea and Nino.

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To savour a little of Chiara’s ensemble here’s an excerpt from YouTube:

The concert is free but don’t forget to book!

Of course, there’s loads more happening but one can’t be everywhere at the same time unless one has been cloned!

 

Bagni di Lucca’s Pet Cemetery

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It needs guests and friends to make one see Bagni di Lucca afresh. One becomes so used seeing everyday landscapes that there is a danger of taking them for granted. Yesterday, after an excellent Sunday lunch at the Circolo dei Forestieri, we took a walk to the oldest part of Bagni di Lucca Villa which is on the hill overlooking the market square and, indeed, I saw familiar places as if I’d chanced across them for the very first time.

 

 

Fortuitously, we met up with the owner of the casa Mansi. The casa was once the holiday home of Napoleon’s first wife, ‘not tonight Josephine’, and Bonaparte’s mother, Letizia Ramolino. Two of the Emperor’s sisters enjoyed their summer here too: Elisa Baciocchi, princess of Lucca, and Paolina Borghese, immortalised in Canova’s statue. (Incidentally, Paolina also had a place at the seaside which I recently visited and described in my post at https://longoio3.com/2019/03/18/lascivious-luxury-at-viareggio/).

More recently, the Casa Mansi was home to Ian Greenlees who was the director of the British Institute of Florence from 1958 to 1980. (For more information about Ian see my article at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2014/09/13/an-aesthete-in-bagni-di-lucca/)

I was particularly struck by a number of plaques in the casa Mansi’s garden, most of which were placed on a wall surrounding a (drained unfortunately ) fishpond. They were memorials to Greenlees’ pets, his beloved boxers.

 

One plaque was also dedicated to two kid goats.

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One plaque, for me summed up the attitude every United Kingdom part or full-time resident in Italy should have. I just find it incredible that in Bagni di Lucca there should still be some ‘brex-pats’ who continue to worship with adulation at the shrine of the false brexitian idol..

These words are what every true lover of Italy and citizen of Europe should aspire to:

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(Translation: Ian Greenlees lived here from 1969 to 1988.  His country was England, his love was Italy, his mind and learning were European; honorary citizen of Bagni di Lucca.)

 

Incidentally, the Casa Mansi is for sale at a price which would barely buy one a pokey mews flat in London’s Kensington. For more on the Casa do see my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/how-to-live-in-style-in-bagni-di-lucca/ )

 

The Italian Red Cross: a Beacon of Humanity and Fraternity

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That the history of the Red Cross in Italy reflects the history of the nation itself was clearly brought out in the afternoon conference held yesterday in the Rose room of the Circolo dei Forestieri.

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The Red Cross is an example of the best of Italy – not the stereotyped picture of back-handers and corruption but of the prime glory of this extraordinary country – its sense of acting together in desperate situations, its not counting the cost, its amazing acts of bravery and its immense source of volunteers – whether they be fire-fighters, ambulance drivers, social workers or educationalists. There are not many people in Bagni di Lucca who haven’t been helped by the local Red Cross branch in some way.

I had initially no plans to attend this highly interesting session as it was such a lovely spring equinox afternoon and I was busy planting fruit trees in my little field:

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However, I thought I’d wander down to Bagni di Lucca and was truly rewarded. This was the programme:

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I was enchanted by the special parade uniform of the volunteer nurses. At first I thought they were wearing it as a historical evocation. In fact, no stylist had thought of changing their uniform since the last war!

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The session opened solemnly with us on our feet to listen to the mission statement of the Red Cross and Crescent movement with its seven main points:

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  • Humanity: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavours, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.
  • Impartiality: It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.
  • Neutrality: In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.
  • Independence: The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.
  • Voluntary service: It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.
  • Unity: There can be only one Red Cross or one Red Crescent Society in anyone country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.
  • Universality: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.

The speakers were all excellent, covering the history of the Red Cross which, in Italy, has its origin in the Comitato dell’Associazione Italiana per il soccorso ai feriti ed ai malati in guerra in Milan in 1864.

 

 

The year is important because it marks the beginning of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy and its long healing stage from the battle for independence, in particular from the battle of Solférino which truly marked the beginning of the International Red Cross movement.  It was the evangelical Swiss preacher Henry Dunant who, arriving on the day of the battle and seeing the terrible carnage, was shocked by the disorganized relief for the wounded,

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Dunant re-organized assistance to the wounded, brought them to the cathedral of Castiglione delle Stiviere and there, with the help of the population, especially women, relief was given to all, regardless of which side they were fighting for, but, instead, practising the motto “Tutti Fratelli” (‘all brothers’)

Later Dunant wrote “A memoir of Solferino” and founded the International Red Cross.

The point all speakers made was that, prior to the founding of the Red Cross, the wounded soldiers of the battlefield were not considered neutral – each side looked after its own casualties. The new idea of the Red Cross was to regard all casualties on the field impartially.

Since that time the Italian Red Cross has expanded its scope to cover not only war casualties outside Italy but also natural disasters. Particularly poignant were the conference contributions of Red Cross volunteers who have assisted in places like Iraq and Libya and, in Italy, the devastating 2016 Amatrice earthquake which caused over 300 dead and the destruction of a large part of the town. One of the volunteers who were present at the earthquake was still a teenager at the time and confessed how it changed his whole outlook on life for ever.

Two of the speakers mentioned Florence and I thought immediately of the great ‘lady of the lamp’ who laid down the foundations of modern nursing, named by her parents after the city she was born in 1820. I was, invited by the chair Marco Nicoli, to give my own little contribution on Florence Nightingale mentioning five places we had visited associated with her:

  • Her birthplace in the villa Colombaia near Florence’s Porta Romana and her memorial plaque in Santa Croce’s main cloister (Sandra remembers how she assisted her father, secretary general and photographer for the Italian Institute of London in taking a photograph of the memorial).

 

 

  • Claydon house where Florence was brought up as a typical aristocratic nineteenth century girl.

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  • The battlefields of the Crimea which we visited in 2004 (when it was still part of the Ukraine) and the hospital at Scutari where Florence brought her healing touch.

 

 

  • The Herbert and Saint Thomas hospitals in London which Nightingale encouraged War Minister Herbert to build according to her ideas and adjoining Saint Thomas the Florence Nightingale museum with many objects belonging to her including her medicine chest.

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Here is an 1890 recording of Florence Nightingale’s voice. I think it is so moving!

I finished my contribution by quoting that haunting line from Wilfred Owen’s poem ‘Strange meeting’ which sums it all up really:

I am the enemy you killed, my friend…

It is paradoxical that human and natural disasters can bring out the worse in humanity in the form of scavengers and unspeakable torment and yet, at the same time, bring out the best: that common bond of humanity and love which deep, in our hearts, may unite and provide hope for the future of our planet.

 

 

The Bells, The Bells!

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One of the sweet joys of our valley (Val di Lima) is to hear the sound of church bells, so soppily evocated in Ketelby’s ‘Bells across the meadows’

They are rung, not just on Sunday morning, as today just one priest has to administer six churches, but also on Saturday afternoons as well.

Church bells recollect Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem:

What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells —
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

Bells are also a premonition of our life’s end when they sound for funerals – a higher tone for ladies and a lower for men

Again, to quote Poe:

 How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy meaning of their tone!

Less poetically, church bells can also mean a noisy nuisance keeping their neighbours wide awake even in the middle of the night when they toll the hours:

..the rolling of the bells —
Of the bells, bells, bells —
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells —
Bells, bells, bells —
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

A friend I play chess with related to me the following instance of utterly discordant bells sounding between a priest and the owner of a B & B near the village church. In 2010 the parish priest received funds to restore the clock chiming the bells which had been silent for some time. The parishioners were delighted to hear their bells again but, as they also chimed throughout the night, the owners and guests at the B & B were less overjoyed. They asked the priest to silence the bells during the night but he objected and, also, there was no opposition to the bells from the villagers.

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The B & B owners called in an environmental agency to measure the bells’ decibels. They were found to be 59, (the tolerance limit is 50). A judicial sentence was issued ordering the parish priest to silence the bells during the night.

The priest objected to the judge’s sentence and also complained that the B & B owners demanded compensation for damage to their custom and the cost of calling in the environmental agency. The priest then went to court stating that he was only implementing the will of the parishioners. The bell tower had been silent for years, because lightning had burned the electric circuit ringing the bells. He said “thanks to the money received from the insurance I was able to restore the clock of the bell tower, to the satisfaction of the faithful, who always asked me to restore the chimes because they gave them comfort and made them feel in company”.

The court hearing, however, ended in favour of the B & B owners who stated that their stance was not a discriminatory act of a religious nature for, although not Roman Catholics, they were Christians and, while not originally from those parts, were integrated and well-liked by the villagers.

There’s a similar story about another village in our valley in which people from abroad objected to the church bells next to their holiday home, this time during the day as well as the night. In that instance they were unsuccessful in their complaint and, shortly afterwards sold up.

The fact is that ‘campanilismo’, the love of one’s church tower, is an important sentiment in Italian society. It’s as deeply felt as loyalty to one’s football team and can be likened to that untranslatable Welsh word, ‘hiraeth’, or longing for home – home-sickness, in fact.

I wonder if a negative mutation of the same attitude is behind the weird phenomenon of brexitisis that has torn apart the fabric, not only of British society, but also of its political life. In any case, beware of finding a house in Italy too near to church bells. They can often sound trouble…

 

Other Views of Life In and Around Longoio

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If you want to know more about life in and around Longoio and see more photos of our hamlet and the surrounding country then there are two facebook pages worth looking at.

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(Sorry, wrong picture….this isn’t life in Longoio (yet). It’s a hypothetical view of life in lower Brexitshire c. AD 2990).

 

The first is a group page I keep, mainly written in English. It’s called ‘Longoio’ and you find it at

https://www.facebook.com/Longoio-271075589577951/

The second is another group page maintained by someone born and bred in Longoio but who now lives in the plain of Lucca where she is a teacher. It’s called ‘Longoio Nel ❤’ and you can find it at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1770997666551182/

It’s lovely to know that locals are, increasingly, taking their own photos of the area – having a smart phone does have its positive social side too – and each contributor has their own take on our lovely village.

As for other Longoio-featured blogs, there is another one called ‘Lazy Sunday Afternoon’ from a contributor born and bred in Wales.

Luckily for sassenachs it’s ‘ddim o gwbl’ (not at all) written in Welsh, has a very lively and witty style and is well worth reading. What’s also fun about it is that each post concludes with a verse which is equally light-hearted.

I’m truly glad to have come across Longoio’s other blog and, indeed, its writer.

You can find it at:

http://longoio.blogspot.com/2018/10/missed-first-sunday-too-lazy.html

PS Perhaps I should try a verse too at the end of my blog posts.

 

 

It’s lovely to live in a place

where drizzly days are rather rare

 

…….spoke too soon…. as outside, I fear,

it’s pelting down at quite a pace

 

and my washing’s got drenched again

with all this Italian rain!

 

 

(O dear, not half as good as hers).

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(Cheekie with her fur wet again)

 

STOP PRESS!!!

Sandra (wife) has said that she’s found her blog again. A true pioneer, Sandra started her blog in 2006 and here is a link to it:

http://alexandra-dreaming-heavenly-rainbows.blogspot.com/

I’m so pleased to have found it!

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Walsh (1929 – 2019)

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If I learnt any history at Dulwich College it was largely thanks to Terry Walsh who has recently died. (In the photo Mr Walsh is seen wearing his chain of office as president of the Old Alleynian Club).

I still remember how, in our lessons, Terrry gleefully pronounced the names of certain colonial figures: “Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Redvers Buller, such appropriate names for the persons they were…” Terry also noted how a certain boy at our school, by name N. Farage, ‘put on a provocative “facade” to wind-up teachers.’

Terry Walsh was also a major contributor to the definitive history of our school (which is four hundred years old this year. (See

https://books.google.it/books/about/Dulwich_College.html…)

Sadly, the likes of such magnanimous, convivial, fair and learned persons are ever more rarely met in these times.

R.I.P. dear Terry. (1929 -16 March 2019)

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Lascivious Luxury at Viareggio

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Viareggio isn’t just sea, sun, sand and ice-cream. It’s also history with beautiful mansions ranging from classical to art nouveau. It’s a major luxury yacht building and service area. It’s a great fishing and sea food centre and it has a considerable artists’ colony. Together with its nearest English equivalent, Brighton, Viareggio has been the holiday haunt of the rich, the famous and the princely. Within its boundaries there are no less than two regal residences: the Villa Borbona on the Viale dei Tigli (‘Lime Tree Avenue’) and the Villa Paolina by the square which has a monument to Shelley, who unfortunately met his briny death in 1822, aged 29, off the Viareggio coast in a violent storm.

 

For last week’s fish Friday, I couldn’t miss my cod and chips. What better place to have it fresh from the sea of Viareggio with crispest batter but no soggy chips, and mayonnaise instead of vinegar…. mind you, I did miss my mushy peas… but not the rain!

P.S. The cat below is Ettore – a favourite of fishermen – sadly no longer with us on this planet since 2016 but in spirit with his statue. (Still miss my beloved cat Napoleone badly…..)

 

Other must-see places in Viareggio are the stunning art nouveau Villa Argentina (see my post on that at

Tiger-Hunting in Viareggio’s most Exquisite Art Nouveau Villa

and Puccini’s residences. (For more on them see my posts at

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/where-turandot-grew-up/

and

https://longoio3.com/2018/06/30/the-house-of-the-princess-of-my-dreams/

Recently, as part of international women’s week, at Bagni di Lucca’s casinò, Renata Frediani gave a fascinating talk on Paolina Bonaparte Borghese and her times. (See my post on this at https://longoio3.com/2019/03/13/dont-miss-out-on-pontes-casino-this-week/).

Renata mentioned that she had helped to refurbish the princess’s rooms in the Villa Paolina. Last Friday I  visited the villa and was certainly not disappointed!

The exhibition is set up in the stately rooms of the ‘piano nobile’ of the emperor Napoleon’s sister, Paolina Borghese. It has been refurbished with furniture and artistic items of the Napoleonic age, all curated by Renata Frediani who is an antiques collector from Lucca and an expert on ‘style empire’. Most of the precious furnishings, including the entire collection of exquisite dresses on display, were supplied from Renata’s own collection.

 

The exhibition is further enriched with evening dresses, also from Renata’s collection. They are of special interest as they are by the famous fashion stylist from Lucca, Dina Bigongiari Santini who died in 2004 aged 89. If you’ve never heard of Bigongiari, you should know she was Giorgio Armani’s favourite designer as well as of the Royal House of Montecarlo. Dina was much appreciated for her novel dress designs which have a truly refined, aristocratic quality. She opened her atelier during the post-war period in the historic centre of Lucca and also created the silk museum, (upon which textile Lucca founded its fame and fortune).

Dina Bigongiari ’s styling was innovative and of the highest quality. For me a definition of beauty would be to meet a lady wearing one of her dresses…

 

Set in the exquisite ambience of Princess Borghese’s pleasure palace with its delightful frescoed rooms, the Villa Paolina’s collection is certainly something to seduce one away from the esplanade and the ozone-laden air of Viareggio’s seafront.

These are the villa’s current opening times.

1 September to 14 June: Wednesday to Saturday 3.30 PM to 7.30 PM, Sunday 9.30 to 1.30 PM, 3.30 PM to 7.30 PM.

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There’s more information on the villa at https://www.visittuscany.com/en/attractions/villa-paolina-civic-museum-in-viareggio/

If your thing isn’t fashion then the villa Paolina houses no less than three other museums:

Museo Archeologico e dell’Uomo A.C. Blanc (local prehistoric and Etruscan finds.)

 

Museo degli Strumenti Musicali C. Ciuffreda (Musical instruments collection, including items from Tibet).

 

Atelier A. Catarsini: an artist’s studio and contemporary art exhibitions including paintings by one of my favourite local artists, the brilliant Fornaciari who lives round the corner from the villa.

 

To sum up do look at this leaflet about Viareggio’s civic museums:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women in the Driving Seat

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Photographic exhibitions have always played an important in the ‘Homage to Women’s week’ commemorating International Woman’s day at Bagni di Lucca Ponte’s Casinò. This year is no exception and I would like to concentrate on Sergio Garbari’s contribution to the event.

I can do nothing better than to translate the reasons Sergio has given for his photographic exhibition:

“WOMEN IN THE DRIVING SEAT”

Photographic exhibition by Sergio Garbari

Tribute to women 2019

Municipal Casinò, Bagni di Lucca 9-16 March 2019

I am returning to the theme of women in their work environment which I began last year with the “Kitchen” exhibition, dedicated to women at work in a restaurant kitchen. The girl I saw driving an ambulance in Bagni di Lucca is the starting point for this exhibition’s theme. I thought that finally, even in a “men’s” world, like that of rescue vehicle drivers, some sort of equality had finally opened, a step forward in appreciating women’s talent and ability. Many other women have made inroads in numerous other sectors of the world of work; by looking around I have found some splendid examples of commitment rewarded by esteem, consideration and trust. I have selected women that are not only thick-skinned behind the wheel of a vehicle, but who also have confidence in their life-style choices. Bars, shops, social services, journalism, pharmacies, live by these women’s energy and know-how. It was a pleasure to photograph them and I hope to have transmitted their intensity and brilliant spirit. Thanks to Tina, Emanuela, Rossana, Simona, Mara, Annalisa, Elisa, Veronica and Gaia.

Carry on trucking!

 Sergio Garbari

 sergarbari@tiscali.it

Here is a slide show of Sergio’s beautiful photos:

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Not so long ago I shared a post in Bagni di Lucca’s community page stating that Sergio has another theme in mind relating to women who have come to the Bagni di Lucca area from outside. They could have come from any part of the world, from the UK to Australia, from Holland to Morocco.

I can think of many instances regarding women from outside locations employed in Bagni di Lucca. Just going through friends and acquaintances I can think of women working in holiday homes, women as artists (there were plenty of non-Italian artists at the Casinò exhibition, for example), women working as English teachers, women playing the piano for local choirs, women working in laundries women dog and cat-sitting, women running sports courses in rafting or pony-trekking, women involved in alternative therapies, women managing enterprises etc.

There are few photographers of the calibre of Sergio. I am quite sure that in time for next year many of you will, indeed come forwards and be part of an exhibition entitled ‘New women in Bagni di Lucca’.

Again please let me know if you’re interested in this project by sending me an email to fpettitt@gmail.com.

Bagni di Lucca Casino’s Main Salon of Art

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If you were unable to make it to the exhibition in celebration of International Women’s day at Bagni di Lucca’s casino here are photographs of the works of art in the main ‘salone dei gigli’ (Salon of the Lilies).

I make no pretence of placing my  critique on what was displayed except to state that the variety of techniques, styles, subjects, visual interpretations displayed in the artistic talent and genius, in our area is quite stunning.

This is a list of the artists exhibiting.

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This is a list of the  works displayed as a slide-show going anti-clockwise round the beautiful hall. If you are familiar with the artists then I’m quite sure you’ll be able to recognize what’s whose. Otherwise, just sit back and admire! (I regret the non-anti-reflecting glass in some exhibits).

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