Monthly Archives: August 2020

Lucca’s Living Music

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Music for me and for so many others is not just the Shakespearean food of love but the food of life itself. Music richly accompanies our memories, colours our passions, soothes our sorrows and heightens our joys. How sad it is then that the on-going pandemic is cruellest with this art. Writers and readers may pursue their activities in solitude and artists paint their canvases without spectators. Music, however, pines for shared interaction more than most arts: indeed, the playing of members in a symphony orchestra is one of the sublimest social collaborations known to mankind.

It was, therefore, with the greatest penchant that I attended a concert given as part of the ‘Settecento Musicale a Lucca’ (‘Eighteenth century at Lucca’) festival in the city’s superbly huge barn of a church, San Francesco, whose re-opening to the public after a three-year restoration we witnessed in 2014.

(See my posts on that momentous event at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/07/07/magisterial-monastery/

And at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/new-life-to-an-old-quarter/)

This was the programme:

Music yearns for an audience, even if socially-distanced on appropriately marked seats music, even if husband and wife are asked, as we were, to be seated with a couple of vacant places between us!

Music also requires just one player to entrance that audience whether it be on a piano or, in the case of the late afternoon’s opening item, a solo violin. Da Won Chang’s interpretation of J. S. Bach’s violin partita in D minor was beautifully played and its last movement, the famous chaconne, utterly riveting.

It also demonstrated how good so many musicians are coming out of specialist courses at Lucca’s ‘Boccherini’ conservatoire.

The ‘Animando’ chamber orchestra, conducted by Stefano Teani, followed with a group of four pieces by Mozart, Tartini, Vivaldi and Durante which displayed the astonishing variety of eighteenth century Italian music. The Neapolitan school was represented by Durante and Venice (naturally) by Vivaldi. Austrian Mozart spent two of his most formative youthful years in Italy where he assimilated the exceptional melodic qualities of that country’s music. His divertimento K136 remains one of my favourite pieces and it was very agreeably played by the orchestra. Vivaldi is best known for his concerti composed for a variety of solo instruments but those for orchestra are equally good. This one was played with particular verve and ‘authenticity’ despite its not being performed on period instruments and with no harpsicord continuo present. But then the new fashion is now steering towards a question of style rather than mere ‘authentic instruments’.

Throughout this performance Animando’s instrumental balance was excellent, defeating any confrontation with the somewhat cavernous interior in which it performed. For particular praise was the double-bass playing by Valentina Ciardelli, one of Lucca conservatoire’s most distinguished graduates and one who has laudably established herself as a player and teacher of that neglected emperor of instruments in our London borough of Greenwich.

The concert’s second half was played by the ‘Luigi Boccherini’ chamber orchestra under the multifaceted musician Luca Bacci who is also the director of Lucca cathedral’s Santa Cecilia choir.

To demonstrate how Johann Sebastian Bach’s development was strongly influenced by Italian music Vivaldi’s concerto for four violins RV580 was played: the prototype for Bach’s recreation in his own four harpsichord concerto. Of particular interest to me was a very dashing symphony by Puccini – not the ‘La Bohème’ fellow, of course, but his grandfather Antonio. Music does run in so many families: just think of Bach and Mozart, for instance.

The acoustics of San Francesco are surprisingly good as befits a mammoth shoebox of a church without any side aisles. Baroque music demands a moderate resonance and I felt the building was well suited to the eighteenth century repertoire.

It was wonderful to return to the ‘concert hall’ in this lovely building after such a long deprivation; I realised that this was the first concert I’d been to since February. It was also an especial frisson to realise that we were hearing the music of Boccherini in the same church where he lies buried.

Perhaps the concert might have added a work by another of Lucca’ great musical geniuses, Geminiani, who as this inscription states taught the brits how to play the violin properly!

(Incidentally the dedication was written by the noted violinist and quartet leader Adolfo Betti, grandfather of Massimo Betti, Bagni di Lucca’s well-known chemist.)

There are a few more concerts in this series which has been brought to fruition in perhaps one of the most difficult years for music ever since the bombings of Milan’s la Scala and Dresden’s Semper opera houses during the last war.

Indeed, I had a vague intimation that this was how Myra Hess’s famous concerts in London’s National Gallery must have felt like during the Second World War when instead of being bombarded by a virus the populace had to confront incendiaries and mortars.

(Saint Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio – a stained glass window in the concert’s church)

As in all cases prior booking is required since numbers are limited and masks must be worn at all times and temperatures must be taken, as is written on the admission ticket…

Summer’s Last Phase

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We can always tell when we are reaching the end of summer here in Longoio.  First, there’s an Italian phrase that says the weather changes after ferragosto (August 15th) and, again, it’s proved right since there has already been a sprinkling of rain and today is somewhat overcast. The forecast is for something more torrential to happen to us this coming week-end. Let’s hope it’s not another of those ‘water bombs’ which increasingly characterise the weather here and, indeed, are becoming more common even in the United Kingdom.

The second warning that our summer is entering its final phase is the ‘Del Ciocco’ car rally which was held last Saturday.  Competitors come from all over Europe and there are several British drivers. We walked to the turn-off for our village of Longoio to see and hear the souped-up cars screech and rumble round the sharp bend near the bus stop on their very twisty way to Montefegatesi.

I am reminded that my younger brother, before his untimely death seven years ago, was an appassionato of rallies and served as navigator in them. Indeed, his funeral hearse was none other than an E-type Jag!

The third warning is Bagni di Lucca’s traditional Fiera di San Bartolomeo which makes me think of that play by Ben Jonson. London’s Bartholomew’s Fair, dated back to the 12th century and was held for the last time in 1855.  Bagni’s fair which turns the town centre into a pedestrianised area is also locally known as the ‘Fiera dei cocomeri’ (water melon fair) because of the many water melon stalls (not so many this year, however). It is an occasion for the inhabitants from the surrounding villages to meet up, catch up on the latest gossip and maybe conclude a few deals. Today, the Fiera preserves its social focus and is a pleasant way to meet friends one may not have seen for some time. This year, of course, such social interaction has become ever more poignant because of the pandemic which really hit people here very hard with the strictest rules for social distancing and face mask wearing while the UK was still taking the thing in a somewhat laid back way. The inhabitants have truly suffered serious social deprivation here!

So another summer is flashing past us at an even faster rate than all the previous ones we have enjoyed in this idyllic valley. Such is the transience of life…

A Late Summer Walk on Bagni di Lucca’s Volcanic Hill

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The aim on the last of the walks organised by the Comune of Bagni di Lucca was to get to the top of the town’s volcanic hill, the source of its medically beneficent hot springs, beginning from Ponte a Serraglio and then descending towards Villa.

We started from the garden of Villa Fiori; the first part of our walk covered sights that we’d already seen on a previous walk, this time organized by the Michel de Montaigne foundation and described here: https://longoio3.com/2020/07/29/how-pardini-beautified-ponte-a-serraglio/.  These included Europe’s first purpose-built casino and the Bernabò baths, hopefully to be shortly opened to the public.

We took the footpath leading up to the ‘Terme’ Varraud, Bagni di Lucca’s main spa, named after the Frenchman who refurbished it in the last century.

The Terme comprise the original buildings which Napoleon’s sister, Elisa, princess of Lucca and Piombino used for her own therapy. The interiors were once prettily frescoed but unfortunately in the 1960’s – an era notorious for its insensitivity to heritage buildings, the decorations were largely destroyed or covered over by cement. A few details, however, remain, including this lovely set of bird representations and landscapes.

It was in this space that the original casino and its ballroom were situated; the takings of the gaming tables were used to subsidise thermal treatment for the poorer classes who could ill afford them. It’s nice to know that the casino originated not so much for profit but for philanthropy.

Virgilio, our guide, has been nicknamed the ‘prince’ of this demesne. Not only is he barman of the Terme but he is probably the most knowledgeable person on its history: anything Virgilio doesn’t know about the Terme is si mply not worth knowing.

Virgilio gave us a lively description of what it was like for high society when they disported themselves in the baths here during the nineteenth century. (Notice that the Terme were already open to all regardless of colour or creed).

Regrettably, the ‘grottine’, the naturally heated caves within the establishment, cannot at present be used because of the health crisis but the spa offers other facilities: mud baths and hydrotherapy (which my wife is currently availing herself of) among them.

We continued to the top of the hill where there is a hamlet appropriately called ‘Colle’.

There is also a building known as ‘Il Paretaio’ which means ‘bird trap’. Here there was once a scheme to erect a monument to the memory of the German poet Heine who loved Bagni di Lucca (particularly one of its women, a ballerina) and wrote extensively about it in his travelogue on Italy.

There’s a somewhat dodgy road going down from here to Villa but we took a much more romantic way: the ’via dell’amore’ or lover’s path, favoured by the likes of Byron and Shelley. I was amazed I’d never previously discovered this beautiful walk down to villa with its cool shades and stone benches. Anyway I’ll certainly add it to my favourite walks around Bagni.

Eventually we reached the old, upper part of the town which consists of a collection of noble mansions arranged around a central square. I’d already visited some of these previously: the Burlamacchi house, for example and the Casa Mansi which was once the former director of the British Institute of Florence, Ian Greenlees’, residence next to which until 2018 (when he died aged almost 102) lived Boccaccio authority, Sam Stych, friend of Greenlees and our friend too.

On one side of the piazzetta is the Bagno alla Villa which although refurbished, is still waiting for someone to administer and open it to the public.

Virgilio is chamberlain to the Vicaria della Val di Lima, a historical re-enactment society which has done much to enliven the atmosphere of Bagni di Lucca with its pageants and crossbow competitions. Its headquarters are in the sixteenth century villa Buonvisi, once the holiday residence of a noble Luccan family. The villa subsequently passed to the rich Scottish financier John Webb whose friend Lord Byron stayed here.

It’s lovely how the Vicaria have lavished care and brightened up the villa with its displays of flags, costumes and arms. Bagni di Lucca has some extraordinary but regrettably unused buildings and Villa Buonvisi is a great example of how they can be employed for the benefit of all those persons living in or visiting Bagni di Lucca.

Our visit ended with a look at the centre of town with its theatre, the Teatro Academico, and the suspension footbridge across the Lima. Here we parted from the main group who were booked for a meal at the nearby Tana Del Ghiro (‘Dormouse den’) restaurant. We had, however, previously booked with friends near Pescaglia so thanked Virgilio for a truly enjoyable walk which let us see familiar sight (and some new ones…) with a fresh pair of eyes.

These walks have been a highlight of this summer at Bagni di Lucca and I really look forwards to seeing them repeated next year when hopefully the wearing of masks will be a distant recollection!

A Public Hanging at Casabasciana

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On July 18th this summer some villagers found him around 5.30 in the morning as they were walking to the car park to go to work. A man in his mid-fifties, from the United Kingdom, had hanged himself from a tree in the square of Casabasciana, the village in the mountains surrounding Bagni di Lucca.

It was a truly desperate action on which the carabinieri, alerted by the 118 emergency number after the first rescuers had arrived on the spot, are now trying to shed some light

For the casualty, who had moved to Casabasciana around twenty years ago, however, there was nothing more to be done: the rescue was completely useless. A terrible scene unfolded in front of those who had triggered the alarm call. Unfortunately, the desperate attempt to save his life was quite useless.

Who was this man? Evidently he had once led a happy life in his new home in the delightful village of Casabasciana. Then tragedy struck. His pregnant wife not only died in childbirth but the unborn daughter died as well with her. Friends rallied round to help the man in a heartrending situation. For a while he accepted their help but increasingly he became more and more reclusive until he refused to open his house to anyone from outside. At the same time he still accepted friendship from dogs and cats.

A second tragedy ensued from this. For when the authorities and volunteers entered the man’s house they found a scene of absolute horror and degradation. It wasn’t just the fleas that attacked them and many of the homes in Casabasciana. The situation of abolute squalor that emerged in a house in the town, which required a deep disinfestation by our refuse services BASE S.r.l, also involved some pet animals, which were found in poor condition and have since been looked after by the volunteers of the Arca della valle association.

“When our association was alerted to a situation of extreme difficulty” – explain the volunteers – “a terrible scenario appeared before our eyes. About twenty skinny, hairless cats full of fleas and utterly terrified were carried out by us from the house in question. Together with the cats on the street we also found billions of hungry fleas that attacked us as soon as we arrived”.

“The house” – the account continues –“was  full of carcasses of dead animals (at the moment the estimate is about twenty corpses including cats and dogs) and dirty beyond belief. It is now being subjected to serious disinfestation and cleaning while the cats wander terrified and hungry inside the village unable to be caught because  of their feral nature. Volunteers Monia, Patrizia, Vanessa and Fabrizia managed to catch eleven cats that will be subjected to all the necessary treatments and will be sterilized. The situation will continue to be monitored.”

For days now, the hygiene problem in this already difficult situation arising from the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to hit Casabasciana. Mayor Michelini visited the village to check up on the progress of the cleaning and sanitizing intervention. Accompanying him was also the environmental councillor to see how the flea infestation could be controlled.

“We are now at the end of the work to remove the accumulated waste” – said Mayor Michelini – “and on the first morning of Thursday BASE, our refuse collection company will provide for the complete disinfestation of the streets affected by the phenomenon. I hope that the long-standing hygiene problem will be definitively eliminated forever “.

“I want to thank” – continued the mayor – “all the inhabitants of Casabasciana and the visitors to the village for their patience and endurance shown in this hygiene emergency which, regrettably, also had such  a tragic end. I thank the BASE company that has handled the problem with commitment and professionalism bringing it to completion, and the municipal officers and the local police for the support and assistance they have given me “.

However, the Arca della Valle said that they were disappointed the mayor didn’t mention them.

The president of the Arca Della Valle Association, Francesco Purini, replied to the statements of Bagni di Lucca mayor Paolo Michelini, regarding the inspection of the municipality pending the health emergency in Casabasciana.

“After the timely intervention of our girls from Arca della Valle – he says -, we are saddened by the fact that the mayor Michelini has not in the least mentioned the work performed flawlessly by our volunteers, highlighting this intervention which we believe has arrived with some delay. As president I would like to thank the volunteers of the Ark of the Valley, in particular Monia, Vanessa, Patrizia and Fabrizia for the excellent work they have done in Casabasciana especially with the removal of over twenty dog and cat decomposing carcasses and the help given to malnourished cats that had been locked up in the abandoned house. The Arca della Valle volunteers has also been able to capture and sterilize some cats in very bad conditions.”

I have discussed this both tragic and horrific story with various people in the know. The most obvious question I asked was why this situation was not discovered earlier. Why did the man, who clearly had psychological problems, developed after the awful death of his wife and daughter, fail to receive any meaningful help?. The answer to this one is that at the start he did get assistance from friends, relative and social services but then gradually excluded them to the extent that he barred the door of his house against anyone who tried to gain admittance. In that case why was not a court order issued by the health authorities for his house to be searched?

If the scenes of decomposition and decay were so ghastly then there would have been evidence of this in the stench arising from the unfortunate man’s house. Surely there would have been complaints arising from neighbours?

And how did the man get his provisions? Surely he would have gone to the shop, (Casabasciana has its own local shop). Socially, people would have asked him questions out of curiosity. How were the cats fed, for example?

Mystery upon mystery accrues. One thing is certain, however. It doesn’t matter whether one lives in a tower block on a failing inner city housing estate or if one lives in a house in a tiny mountain village of less than two hundred inhabitants; it is still possible to be entirely neglected by people and die in abject conditions of dreadfulness. We hear stories of dead bodies found in council flats months after death. At least in this particular case the body was found a few hours later hanging from a tree in the village’s main square. There again one requires a certain amount of effort to hang oneself and there will be some inevitable noise and commotion during the night: getting the rope to sling correctly over a branch of the tree, confirming that the noose slips easily round the neck and is positioned to correctly break one’s back bone, ensuring that the death will not be protracted and agonised by cries of pain.

This whole episode has greatly shocked and saddened us and all those people who have been told about it. Why did it happen? Indifference? Unwillingness to interfere in other people’s business? Fear of reprisals or attacks?

I just don’t know. Can humans be that indifferent?

This is, however, the fourth time than the image of a hanged person has returned to haunt me.

The first is that of the preserved tree trunk in nearby Montefegatesi where a partisan was strung up by the Nazi authorities during World War 2.  Then there was the pizzeria owner by the Ponte delle Catene where we regularly ate. Another was that of Sergio Fini, one of my students and a friend. He was a poet and an artist who loved to draw trees and write poems about them. He hung himself on a beam in his house at Fornaci di Barga. And the fourth was this Englishman who had clearly come to Italy full of happiness and hope with his beloved in the wish to start a new life in this beautiful country but who so tragically and pointlessly finished up by stringing a noose round his neck and ending in utter squalor not only his life but the lives of those innocent animals who had trusted him.

The black dog is truly a fearsome beast to face as my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/the-black-dog/ has pointed out!

New Health Reaches Fornoli

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While having our car‘s wheel alignment attended to in Fornoli (which has its fair share of excellent garages) I had a look at the building site where Bagni di Lucca’s new health centre is taking shape.

It has been a long time in the making. Already at the start of the millennium there was a project to replace the current building occupying the local health centre.

In 2011 the project was almost abandoned but at last, in 2019, contracts were signed and in January this year building work started on the new centre which will be built on one level and, in addition to consulting rooms, will contain a hall. The whole building will naturally comply with the latest energy saving requirements.

Actually I didn’t see any sign of workmen on the site when I viewed it yesterday. However, what I did notice was that the building work is taking shape. I also noted the extra logistics required, in addition to the standard health and safety regulations in view of the present situation

The present site occupies part of a private house and, especially with the social distancing regulations caused by the current pandemic, is increasingly cramped. Indeed, it has been necessary to install an outdoor canopy to contain the overflow of clients attending.

It will be a very good thing for Bagni di Lucca when the new health centre is finally completed, hopefully by the end of this difficult year. It’s also going to be another first for Fornoli, which has been dubbed ‘The New Bagni di Lucca.’

Photographing Life under Covid-19

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A  photographic exhibition documenting local life under Covid-19 and organised by the L’Ora Blu’ (the blue hour), continues near the Borghesi restaurant in Bagni di Lucca Villa’s high street, Viale Umberto.

The ‘Blue hour’ is a phrase used in photography to indicate those particular moments just before dawn and twilight which allow particular contrast effects not otherwise obtainable as light is here characterized by a colder temperature and lower energy level, resulting in subjects with numerous shadows, and de-saturated colours.

The L’Ora Blu photographic group, which is curated by Marco Barsanti, was born after the first photography course organized by the Michel De Montaigne Foundation of Bagni di Lucca. Sharing a common passion has stimulated meetings to talk about photography and improve technique and composition.

We now live in a masked, socially distanced society. It’s surely gone on too long (like a Wagner opera, as one wit proclaimed), and the pictures taken by a group of local photographers amply illustrate this fact:  the especially vulnerable elderly who after a life that has experienced the ravages of war and deprivation have now to face another trial:

And the park benches neatly laid out with socially distancing X’s telling people not to sit there as if they were musical chairs :

With several other photographs the exhibition develops the contemporary theme, that strange refrain of our time which few of us would have foreseen, accustomed as we have been to other threats like global warming and Islamism terrorism.

Now the danger comes from an invisible enemy about which little is known but which can affect anyone of any age, of any status and of any provenance with equal force.

In the midst of this pandemic there remain several people I know who place the real danger in the fear of catching the virus rather than the virus itself. True, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. However, we all know what happened to those heads of state who shrugged off the fear, underestimating it and advised the nation to ‘take it on the chin’, while shaking hands with Covid-19 infected patients.

The fact is that it is easy to hypothesise that the pandemic is merely an increasingly totalitarian government’s ploy to place all its citizens under their control. There appears to be not too much difference between Orwellian thought-crime and the supposed conspiracy theorists.

So again another ideology steps in to divide us from erstwhile friends. Those who have not yet been lost to the brexitian cult are now in danger of being swept up in yet another dubious theory: that relating to Covid-19. No, of course, they will say all the figures are incorrect. This person did not die from the virus but from something else; the scenes in hospital intensive care departments have been greatly exaggerated, and if people actually believe that the virus exists then it must have been produced artificially by a frankensteinian laboratory, a certain person’s ‘chinese virus’. Meanwhile, the second wave lurks like a winter tsunami

However, I too, have been now touched by the death of a friend or relative victim of the horror: a school-mate, fellow scout and musician lost to the imperceptible menace. At least I have the memory of his stay with us in Longoio, the time we spent in each other’s company and the places we visited (including the re-opening of Puccini’s birth-house in Lucca) to treasure. How many more memories must we gather prematurely before this thing is finally defeated?

Like the Black Death, the Great Plague of Italy of 1630, London’s of 1665, and the cholera epidemics of the nineteenth century something positive may come out of all this. Perhaps will it be a book like Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’, an immortal collection of stories related to each other by a group of young noble Florentines quarantined in a country villa away from the plague afflicting their home town at the time. Perhaps it will be like Albert Camus’ ‘The Plague’ based on similar experiences when living in Algeria. Or perhaps it may reflect those terrifying pages in one of Italy’s greatest writers, Alessandro Manzoni’s, novel ‘I Promessi Sposi’, (The betrothed) when describing the great plague that afflicted Milan and northern Italy in much the same way as the present peril is still continuing to menace.

On Italian television statistics relating to the ‘crisi corona’ are spewed out on a daily basis much like the weather forecast. New regulations are introduced to control the spikes. When will we ever return to normalcy I wonder?  At least the British Museum will shortly re-open thanks in large part to the sterling cleaning efforts of its Italian heritage preventative conservator and dust expert Fabiana Portoni. Now there’s some hope!

Meanwhile the ‘Ora Blu’ photographic course, which should have started in September, has had to be postponed because of the health emergency. For further details about when it will start please email

gruppofotografico.lorablu@gmail.com

or contact Isabella on 339 2982359.

Merry Capers

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Capers are not just naughty frolics or escapades. They are also  some of the loveliest and most useful plants one can have in one’s garden.

The garden walls of our place in Longoio host four caper plants.

We didn’t plant these delightful plants; they just happened to be there when we found the house and have remained so through the hottest summers and the coldest winters. Indeed, it’s not that easy to plant capers: like cats they have a mind of their own and choose the places where they wish to flourish.

Capers, the flower buds of Capparis spinosa, have been used in Mediterranean gastronomy since ancient times to flavour a great variety of foods: from meat, to fish, to pasta. I especially like them with a tomato sauce for pasta, in salads and sprinkled on cheese toast. I’m sure that capers can be grown in the UK using a heated propagator but to see these beautiful plants grow on one’s garden wall in Italy is truly a joy to behold.

As with all capers one has to reach a big decision: either pick the bud or let it flower into one of the most delicate blossoms we know.

 

We have to continue to make this decision during our indolent August days, for capers flower between May and October.

There are two methods to prepare capers for our table: either using salt or using vinegar. My wife Sandra has used both methods.

Preparing capers with salt.

Cut the stem of the capers one by one, wash them gently, drain them, dab them with a cloth and allow to dry completely.

In a jar proceed with a first layer of salt, a layer of capers of about 1 cm, another of salt and proceed in this way until the jar is complete.

Store the jars in a dark, cool place and shake the jars from time to time. The salted capers will be ready after forty days and will keep for almost two years.

To consume salted capers, they must first be de-salted in plenty of cold water, changing it several times, drained well and dabbed with kitchen paper, rinsed with vinegar, squeezed gently, placed in a jar covered with extra virgin olive oil and kept in the fridge. It is better to de-salt small quantities of capers and leave the rest in salt.

Do you know the difference between capers and cucunci? Capers (capperi) are the unopened flowers

while cucunci are the fruits containing the seeds that come from uncollected flowers or capers.

Capers grow throughout Italy but the best ones are reputed to come from the island of Pantelleria.

Preparing capers with vinegar.

Wash the capers, drain them and dry them with a cloth.

Put the capers in a bowl and sprinkle them with coarse salt and bay leaves. Let them macerate for 2 – 3 days, mixing them occasionally with your hands. After this time, put the capers in the sterilized jars.

Boil white vinegar for a few minutes. Pour the hot vinegar over the capers so as to completely cover them, seal and leave to flavour for five days.

Drain the capers from the vinegar. Then put them back in sterilized jars.

Boil the remaining vinegar, let it cool, then add it to the capers, seal and keep in the pantry.

Medicinal uses of capers

Capers contain more quercetin (an anti-inflammatory agent) by weight than any other plant. The root bark is used in herbal medicine. The active ingredients have diuretic and blood vessel protective properties. It can be used in the treatment of gout, haemorrhoids, and varicose veins. An infusion prepared with caper roots and young shoots was used in folk medicine to relieve rheumatism.

PS the Italian expression ‘capperi’, said as an exclamation, means ‘crickey’ or ‘gosh’ or ‘wow’. It’s obviously a polite way of avoiding the expression ‘Cristo!’ E.g. ‘Capperi che pizza!’

PPS The caper plant hibernates in winter. Do not be alarmed if it looks dead in that season. Come spring the cappero will re-flower in all its full glory.

 

Le Ravacce: Not Such a Load of Rubbish Now

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BASE, our local refuse collection and recycling company, moved this August 3rd from their former location at the beginning of the road to Lugliano to Le Ravacce which is a couple of kilometres from Bagni di Lucca on the Brennero road leading to Abetone.

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The turn-off to the left if you are coming from Bagni di Lucca Villa is marked by this old industrial water pump relic.

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I always thought that the old ‘isola ecologica’ was a load of (wait for it…) rubbish. The building used an old paper mill rented by the company and was not particularly well organised. Plans to move to a new site were already made in 2019 but it is only this month that they have been carried out.

At Ravacce all is changed for the better. A purpose-built ‘isola ecologica,’ it has well-defined areas for different types of material.

Most of this is, of course, collected by that misnamed ‘door-to-door’ weekly collection on defined weekdays for plastic, metal, papers or kitchen waste. It’s misnamed because in many cases (e.g. ours) the collection is certainly not ‘porta a porta’ or ‘door to door’, especially when one has to cart the wheeless bins down steep village lanes to reach the collection point.

Actually this last problem has been solved for us thanks to my wife’s brilliant idea of using an old shopping basket trolley. Here is Sandra is giving its test run.

Le Ravacce web page is at

https://www.bagnidiluccaservizi.it/

The centre’s opening hours are from 8:30 to 11:50 from Monday to Saturday.

The following categories of waste materials are permitted for collection at the centre (together with their code numbers).

 

200127 – Paints, inks, adhesives and resins containing dangerous substances

080318 – Waste printing toner other than those of heading 080317

150101 – Paper and cardboard packaging

150106 – Packaging in mixed material (light multi-material)

150107 – Glass packaging

160505 – Gas in pressurized containers (fire extinguishers)

160601 – Lead acid batteries

160604 – Alkaline batteries

170904 – Mixed waste from construction and demolition activities

200108 – Biodegradable waste from canteens and kitchens (wet)

200121 – Fluorescent tubes and other mercury-containing waste

200123 – Discarded equipment containing CFCs.

200125 – Edible oils and fats

200126 – Used mineral oils and fats

200132 – Out-of-date medicines

200133 – Batteries and accumulators

200135 – Discarded electrical equipment (TVs and monitors)

200136 – Electrical and electronic equipment (Small appliances)

200138 – Wood not containing dangerous substances

200140 – Metals

200201 – Biodegradable waste (garden and grass clippings)

200307 – Bulky waste (bedsteads etc.)

The centre has the now sadly obligatory instructions relating to Covid-19 for users (my translation).

To protect the safety of users and operators contagion prevention operating rules apply. Access will be allowed only to single persons and security measures provided by the operators must be strictly respected at all times; the minimum interpersonal safety distance of 1.8 meters must always be observed. If waiting, one must remain in one’s vehicle. Wearing masks is compulsory and any kind of contact with the operator must be avoided.

As the centre’s boss proudly proclaimed to us. “We now have the centre we deserve.” I’m quite sure they do now!

(…although we feel a little sorry for the owners of this house on the approach to the ‘isola ecologica’.)

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Elisa’s Villa Resurrected

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The hills surrounding Lucca are dotted with some very fine villas which not only provide an escape from the city’s often torrid summer heat but also supply their owners with farm produce, especially olives and wine.

One of the most notable of these villas is the ‘Villa Reale di Marlia’ Napoleon’s sister Elisa’s favourite summer residence during her time as princess of Lucca and where Paganini was her music teacher. Elisa transformed the old medieval structure into an elegant palace in the latest neo-classical fashion and redesigned its grounds into Italy’s first English-style landscape gardens with their broad natural vistas.

After the fall of the principality the property passed into the hands of Maria Louisa of the Bourbons and a long period of decadence subsequently followed. Luckily in 1923 the Villa Reale was purchased by the Italo-American Pecci-Blunt family who set about restoring it and turning it into a mecca for artists and cultural activities. One of their guests was Dali.

The Villa’s chapel is the resting place for the deceased members of this distinguished family.

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It must be terrible to have to part with such a gorgeous property but sadly this is what happened;

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(Camilla was a talented photographer of celebrities. Her husband managed the Rolling Stones’ recordings).

the villa entered into a second phase of dilapidation as the family decayed until in 2015 it was saved by a shining knight in the form of a young Swiss couple who had fallen in love with it. Five years of thorough restoration of the villa and its gardens ensued. Frescoes were cleaned, ornamental details were reinstated, furnishings and musical instruments were refurbished and the grounds were returned to their former glory. Most important for visitors the Villa itself was open to the public for the first time (The Pecci Blunts only allowed entry to the gardens) and from this year we are now able to enjoy the property’s varied charms.

(The times of opening together with many other details about the Villa Reale are shown on its web site at: https://villarealedimarlia.it/. Booking is necessary as entry numbers are limited).

Despite the strictures of Covid-19 it’s quite amazing how new life has been breathed into the villa and, in particular, through the various events it is programming.

We attended one of these events last Monday. It was ‘Shooting Star Night’, known in Italian as ‘La Notte di San Lorenzo’, when one wishes upon a star (or more correctly meteors and comets) and hopes that a request may be realised.

The wish to see a villa resplendent in all its original animated glory was certainly realised for us and the gardens were filled with varied events relating to the theme of the night. We started with a little refreshment, including a glass of Camellia gin, at the refreshment gazebo.

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We then proceeded to Pan’s grotto with its eccentric sculptures.

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Here a group of gifted singers dressed in the high-waisted empire style, entertained us with arias from Mozart and Bel canto operas.

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We accompanied some of them on a tour of the grounds as passengers in a horse-drawn wagonette.

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It was truly a sweet manner to be whisked away to a different more leisurely era (except for those ubiquitous face-masks which must be worn!)

The Villa’s gardens are divided into very different areas. First there’s the grand central lawn with views south to the Pisan Mountain

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and north towards the Pizzorne hills.

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The variety of trees and shrubs is remarkable: mimosa, camellia, magnolia, weeping willow, Gingko Biloba, hibiscus, and many others are all found in the grounds.

The Spanish garden, inspired by the Alhambra, was filled with bubbles by a very talented artiste who captured the attention of children of all ages.

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The two limonaie (orangeries) were the location for an art and a photographic exhibition, the latter concentrating on pictures of the cosmos.

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The Teatro Della Verzura (or theatre of greenery) with its manicured hedges and terracotta statuettes was the venue for a dramatic monologue dealing with Dorian Gray.

In the lemon garden acrobats and singers amused us as dusk approached and coloured lights were switched on.

We then visited the Villa Reale which has been perfectly restored – some might say too perfectly, but then there are still some fitments missing, curtains and draperies for example. One downstairs room was dedicated to the restoration with ‘before and after’ pictures. Everything has received the attention of the Swiss couple from the painted door panels to the ceiling decorations, from the Napoleonic bed to the harp and fortepiano. It has been truly a labour of love. One might say how lovely it is for people to be able to live again in this charming pleasure palace. However, the truth is the owners do not actually reside there but in the bishop’s ex-palace further along in the grounds. (No  photographs inside the villa are allowed).

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There are so many water features in the Villa’s park: a grand pond, the rivulets and fountains of the Spanish gardens,

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an art-deco swimming pool, the gorgeous colonnade

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and pond of the lemon garden

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and the semi-circular water theatre with its cascade behind the villa.

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Our enchanted evening concluded with an open-air talk by members of the Capannori observatory on the phenomena of ‘La Notte di San Lorenzo’. We learned the difference between comets, meteors and meteorites and, with the help of a laser, constellations and stars were pointed out to us. For instance, I finally found where Vega, the brightest star in the constellation of Lyra, is positioned and where Saturn is located.

There are plenty more events planned including a repeat of the one we attended and a cosplay day. Everything is well-marked on the villa’s web site. However, it is essential to pre-book; we obtained our tickets a week before our event which was just as well since it was sold out on the day. (Numbers are, again, limited by Covid 19 rules).

I just wish that Bagni di Lucca could have its own shining knight coming to the rescue of some of its own palatial dwellings like the Villas Ada and Fiori, for example. Is there anyone out there who missed buying the Villa Reale but is happy with something more modest?

A House by the Marina

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Marina di Pisa has long been known to us. My post at https://longoio3.com/2018/10/18/fishing-for-compliments-at-marina-di-pia/ tells something about the strange fascination of this place.

While spending a very pleasant afternoon at Marina di Pisa a couple of days ago and revisiting our favourite fish restaurant ‘Il Pescotto’ followed by a delicious ice at the bar across from the restaurant

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I came across this house. It looked particularly picturesque with its angled approach to the coast.

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I also noticed there was a plaque on the house’s façade. Who once lived there I wondered?

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It turned out to be Giuseppe Viviani, someone I had known nothing about.

Giuseppe Viviani (San Giuliano Terme 1898 – Pisa 1965) was an Italian painter and engraver who ranks among the greatest of twentieth century Italian artists (along with Giorgio Morandi and Luigi Bartolini). He had a particular predilection for life on the Pisan coast which he knew and described well as these works show:

On Viviani’s death, following his last wishes, the original plates of his engravings works were thrown into the sea at Marina di Pisa. (I wonder if there are scuba divers who have managed to find any of these plates.).

Giuseppe Viviani achieved fame only after World War II when he was appointed to the chair of engraving at Florence’s Academy of Fine Arts, a position once held by that superb impressionist painter Giovanni Fattori.

A period of great success began for Viviani and in 1960 the city of Pisa dedicated a major exhibition to him.

Viviani’s life was not easy: in fact, he lost his father at the age of two and had to move with his mother to live with his grandfather, a manufacturer of artificial limbs, objects that must have been imprinted in the memory of the child artist, so much so that he included them in several of his works.

With the Florence appointment Viviani, now fifty, finally received the success he deserved: his engravings reached high prices, giving him an economic foundation that allowed him at last to devote himself completely to his art and to his second great passion, hunting. It is not by chance that hounds are portrayed in many of Viviani’s works.

Upon his death the artist asked to be buried with his favourite shotgun…

Giuseppe Viviani’s art is marked by a melancholy and decaying vision of life and, at the same time, by a great love for life itself. With refined technical expertise, the artist moved between naive popular imagery and the search for references of memory, recreating a world of deep emotional content, rich in allusions, hints and meanings.

I am so glad I came across that house in Marina di Pisa and my discovery of Giuseppe Viviani’s work. My friend Giovanni Fascetti is president of the Viviani association at his birthplace at San Giuliano Terme. Indeed, Giovanni’s father, Antonio, a fine artist specializing in commemorative medallions who sadly died last year, knew Viviani.

Incidentally, Marina di Pisa is full of extraordinarily luscious fin-de-siècle mansions. Here are a few I spotted during my visit:

I just wonder who stayed in them?