Are we getting back to normal here in the Lucchesia? Of course, all this depends on what one means by the word ‘normal’. But if it’s a case of being able to take part in activities without having to show a green pass or wear a mask or, more essentially, if such activities are back in the running: activities like theatre, concerts, walking trips, festa and such like then definitely they are coming back this year with greater force than ever after two years of unimagined social and financial hardships.
More difficult to come back is the habit of looking out for events and actually attending them. So used in the past two years of being cocooned in the relative safety of one’s home and watching dvds, playing scrabble or enjoying a walk, a spot of gardening or cooking it takes a little effort to remember again to look out for events, book them and then drag oneself out to their venues.
Having said this there are some fine events lined up for the Lucchesia summer. Which ones have caught my eye and which ones shall I go to?
Here is my current selection:
Il Serchio delle Muse. This excellent classical and lyrical music festival is back minus the much missed figure of the bass singer Luigi Roni, a native of the Serchio valley, who founded it in 2002 but sadly died of Covid-19 in 2020. Maestro Roni’s last appearance had been in 2019 as Simone in Puccini’s ‘Gianni Schicchi’ in Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice. We shall always remember the concert he gave at the rifugio Rossi on the slopes of the Pania Della Croce. He will now forever live in celestial landscapes and, of course, in the festival he founded.
Here is the link to the full listing of the ‘Serchio delle Muse’ programme this year. I shall certainly not want to miss that Pergolesi!
Another classical music festival I shall not want to miss is the one in the magical setting of the Pieve an Elici, a picturesque Romanesque church with the most stratospheric views over the Versilia coastline and the Tyrhennian Sea:
Closer at hand are the delightful walks around our own comune of Bagni di Lucca with visits to historic buildings and local handicraft centres all organised by the Fondazione Montaigne and conducted by the commune’s young students.
For music of a slightly different nature there’s the Borgo a Mozzano festival which returns after an absence of three years:
https://www.festivalborgoamozzano.it/
I think these events are something to start with for a summer which finally promises rather more social and cultural interaction after two years of ‘La Peste’ (the plague).