‘We must go shopping. The fridge is getting empty and the prices are getting higher.’ Yes of course. Let’s go shopping while we can still afford to do so. But can we pay for the petrol?

Increasingly we are combining different trips to the outside world into a whole where business and pleasure can mix together and we can economise too. Yesterday was a case in point and it’s a great way to make a day of it when going to the local discount store and coalescing replenishing the larder with paying bills, pure sightseeing and walking in the delightful freedom of pure nature which now is recovering from the stultifying heat of the previous weeks.

After exceeding our budget at Penny Market (although it does happen to be the best value food place around here) we headed north up up the Serchio valley and turned off into the Turrite Cava valley where our route was almost blocked in one of two narrow entrance tunnels by a huge artic. heading for the local paper mill.

Fortunately the juggernaut didn’t get stuck and we managed to continue our escapade. We stopped for our lunch of baguette, brie and ham at an old mill which has been rescued from utter dilapidation and turned into a stopping place on a footpath for Monte Penna,

The river views from the mill’s little bridge seem rather vertiginous especially when its parapets are somewhat low!

Carrying on we wanted to see if we could reach an ancient Augustinian monastery which has been restored by a couple of artists over the last ten years.

We took the wrong turning and landed on some high pastures but the walk was still very refreshing.

At ‘I Romiti’ we entered a Marie Celeste atmosphere into the ancient monastery chapel now converted into an exhibition hall. We explored a little further and eventually met the owner in an atmospheric kitchen. He welcomed us to his amazing hermitage, now transformed into a cultural centre with the possibility of staying there and participating in art workshops and well-being courses.

At the entrance road to the Romiti ( ‘the hermits’) we met another intrepid person who is restoring the mill once used by the monks into full working order. Inside there were mill wheels dedicated to the grinding of chestnut and corn flour respectively.

Outside we met other locals of a furry and horned variety who also in their own special way are helping to preserve the old pastoral traditions of this gorgeous part of wild Tuscany, the Garfagnana.

Eventually we managed to escape from the seductive charms of the Turrite cava valley but not before coming across a delightful mediaeval pack-horse bridge tastefully restored in 2004.

So next time you head for your local discount store do explore the area around it, combineduty and pleasure save a bit of energy in the petrol you use and make it a great day out.

The Villa Buonvisi-Webb in Bagni di Lucca’s historic heart was the venue last night of an enjoyable concert of baroque music given by Marcello Rizzello on the oboe accompanied by Tommaso Nicoli on the harpsichord.

The programme started with a sonata for oboe and keyboard by one of the formulators of the Galante style, Giovanni Battista Sammartini. The synchrony between the two performers was precise, balance and acoustics were excellent and the two musicians fully displayed idiomatic accord with eighteenth century musical style.

The next item titled ‘Ballo di Mantova’ was a harpsichord solo by Giovanni Battista Ferrini (1601 – 1674) an Italian composer, organist and harpsichordist. It was a gentle piece with variations and well-suited to the timbre of Nicoli’s instrument. I had not come across Ferrini before but in the absence of any programme notes at the concert (an omission due to a print problem) found out the following about him.

Giovan Battista Ferrini was organist at the Church of Saint-Louis-des-Français in Rome from 1619 and at the main church of the Oratorians in Rome, the Chiesa Nuova (Santa Maria in Valicella), from 1623 to 1653. He may have been part of the close entourage of Girolamo Frescobaldi and seems to have been an illustrious harpsichordist, known as such by his colleagues with the nickname of “Giovan Battista Della Spinetta”.  Interestingly for the times Ferrini composed no religious music and his compositions remained unpublished until recently.

Telemann, unfairly denigrated by some unappreciative listeners as a ‘note spinner’, followed with a piece from his ‘Essercizii (sic) musicali. Here we were re-joined by the oboist who showed admirable dexterity in his ornamentations of the score.

Nicoli then had a second soloist spot with three items selected from Handel’s keyboard suites and ending with that great passacaglia from the seventh, very well-played and familiar to many Italian listeners as a piece which used to be heard (on a harp) during broadcasting intervals on Italian RAI 1 television.

Handel’s music concluded the concert with a sonata in four movements originally for flute but transcribed for oboe. Rizzello fully showed the baroque oboe’s fine dynamic range which was enhanced by his projection of the sound against the cavernous walls of the palazzo.

The encore was the second movement of this sonata.

All in all it we passed a delightful late evening spent in listening to good music in the spacious hall of Bagni di Lucca’s most magnificent renaissance villa. It demonstrated how, after a late start in the field, Italy is producing a fine second generation of historically informed performers replete with prodigious talent and enthusiasm. After all it was Italy which was the principal germinator of most of the newest musical trends in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and surely it must be that country which is closest to some of the supreme traditions of western classical music.

“Mediocrity in the musical world?  Yes. There’s a lot of that and many will point to the Venetian restored to notoriety via a twentieth century drama: Salieri. Of course it’s largely dramatic make-belief and cooked up for stage effect. But as in all these things there’s a modicum of truth. The trouble is that Salieri was affected more by mental delusion: the idea of being Mozart’s poisoner which, of course, he wasn’t: Wolfgang died of Rheumatic fever instead.

I can’t believe just how Antonio has sprung back into some performance fashion after that film. Mind you, Salieri’s music was thought well enough in his time. Even Beethoven felt inspired to write a set of ten variations on one of his themes. And Salieri was quite a master of reformed French opera à la Gluck. witness ‘Les Danaides’.

I too was thought highly of in my time. A strong competitor to Rossini? A rival to the melodic supremacy of Bellini or the dextrous wit of Donizetti? Indeed. Many melomaniacs thought that. The point is, however, that unlike some others I could name I bowed out gracefully when my time came. I knew I couldn’t keep up with those budding compositional stars…and as for the young Verdi? Christ! I even said in my memoirs that I confessed I had been surpassed by the divine Vincenzo Bellini, a fact that is testified by my Requiem mass written in homage to the great Catanese. (By the way, although of Tuscan descent I also was born in Catania.)

Yet as a young lad I was considered a worthy successor to the likes of Cimarosa and the Italian operatic school. I was feted in the great opera houses of Europe and – more than that – adored by several women. Singers lay themselves at my feet in the hope that they might receive one of my specially-tailored arias and exult as prima donnas. Ballerinas would dance their pirouettes imploringly before me. I admit I was quite the handsome young gentleman and a genial composer to boot.

I only mentioned my greatest love in passing in my memoirs however. Just two lines for the most beautiful woman in the Empire. She who when sculpted in the nude by Canova as a wedding anniversary present from her husband riposted to scandalised tongues with ‘actually my boudoir was very well-heated’.

She whose father declared that he had had to choose between his own ambitions and keeping an eye on her and wished he’d made the former choice as his life would have been a deal easier. Hence Carlo Maria’s comparatively modest position in Corsican society. No matter, his son Napoleone took over the important matter of fulfilling family ambitions!

You would think that a difference of twenty-six years between Paolina and me might not be scandalous today. In my time however, I could not possibly marry her, that wildly tempting cougar, that quasi-Messalina in a neo-classical silk tunica. In any case Paolina was still married to Count Borghese although no longer living with him.  As a wit at the time said she made love to a multitude of men and sometimes even to her own husband…  What a frenetic woman she was! Operatically hysterical too.  Paolina could have been the basis for several of the heroines in the almost eighty melodramas I wrote in my lifetime. Our relationship was frenzied, fraught but always fond… in the end.

Nonetheless Paolina would threaten suicide if her Nino (that’s the nickname she gave me) ever left her and she would torment me with a list of names of dancers and sopranos I was supposed to be having affairs with.  So tiresome! So untrue!

It was getting all a bit too much for me and after a saccharine surfeit of postulations, passions and pleadings I decided I would opt for a conventional marriage with a woman more in keeping with my age and class; I said so to Paolina in no uncertain terms. Gone were our escapades to the sylvan bowers of Bagni di Lucca and the Royal villa near the terme where we would disport ourselves in the thermal waters which filled its marble baths. The same went with the villa Paolina had built as her love nest at Viareggio. With its encrustations of stucco and mythological erotic scenes it had transformed itself into a mausoleum for me. I thought, let Paolina entomb her within its gaudy bowers! Let her languish in its dappled summer gardens. Let her drown herself in reptilian tears before ever swallowing me up with her inescapably honeyed bites! That villa, once by the ocean’s edge now in the centre of a worldly resort. Now with its magical garden built-over with holiday condominiums…that centre of our love’s most intimate, most adventurous aphrodisiac sports

And so I left my Paolina and never more uttered a word about her to anyone. Nor did I do more than say I’d met only once the eternally victorious Venus in my posthumous memoirs. It was actually so sad. Paolina did eventually resign herself to an utter loneliness from which death soon lovingly released her for she died shortly afterwards of liver cancer aged forty-five

Yet the irony is – as is natural for anyone or anything that is truly beautiful – that Paolina Bonaparte is remembered for ever while I, Giovanni Pacini, am forgotten. I, the most celebrated composer of the age. I the author of over seventy melodramas ranging from’ Adelaide e Comingio’ to ‘Il Barone di Dolsheim’ to ‘La Schiava di Bagdad’ to ‘Alessandro nell’Indie’ to ‘Gli Arabi nelle Gallie’. I, the author of the ‘Sinfonia Dante, commissioned specially for the Florentine commemoration of the six hundredth year of  the birth of the ‘sommo poeta’. I, the great music teacher and director of the Lucca conservatoire – originally named after me but now retitled after someone equally prolific, but not in opera rather in string quintets, one enclosing that familiar minuet.

Anyway I’m glad that a few recordings have since been made of my music and that at least my memories are available as an e-text. However, I can’t help thinking I shall never become as well-known as I was in the heat of nineteenth century European opera houses and certainly never steal a glimmer of limelight from that great young love of my life: Maria Paola ‘Paolina’ Bonaparte”.    

‘L’ultimo Amore. La fin du  re^ve’. A play written and directed by Orlando Forioso with the part of Paolina Bonaparte played by Francine Massiani and that of Giovanni Pacini played by Lucca Tanganelli was performed at the Real Collegio di Lucca last Monday. It was a performance Sandra and I enjoyed very much and it prompted me to write this monologue spoken by the hapless composer.

An evening to remember…The Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

celebrated in grand style at nearby Diecimo – after three years pandemic absence – with Vespers in the beautifully decorated Romanesque Pieve,

followed by a band-enhanced procession of the Virgin’s statue

and concluding with a superb fireworks display which contended with but was enhanced by an apocalyptic thunderstorm.

Italy at its traditional best!

***

Do note….Ferragosto is a conflation of two holidays. The first derives from the holiday given to workers and slaves by the Roman emperor Augustus at the start of the month named after him. The second holiday is a religious one for the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.

Incidentally what is the difference between the Virgin’s Assumption and Jesus’ Ascension? The theological answer is that Jesus raised himself into Heaven through his own power and victory over death. It was an active action. The Virgin, however, was raised into Heaven by the Father. It was a passive action.  

Both pre-Christian and Christian ‘Ferragosto’ festivals are combined in several well-known Italian events.  Siena’s Palio with its famed horse race celebrates the Virgin Mary’s Assumption . Horse races were also held in ancient Roman times on the ‘Feriae Augusti’, the emperor’s festive day when the winner would receive a precious cloth called ‘pallium’ . And Diecimo in its own special way honours this great day in the Italian calendar.

There is among UK citizens a long-standing prejudice regarding the quality of Italian Television which I feel is quite unjustified. Perhaps this may be because there continues to be a large amount of chat and games programmes occupying viewing hours. Sometimes there’s even soft-porn broadcasting bored housewives stripping off on some of the less reputable channels. Possibly it may be resentment that one is forced to pay for the ‘canone’ (Italian television licence) included in one’s electricity bill and can only get out of this enforcement by giving up the television set entirely. It could be that the language skills required for some of the best and most involved programmes may be beyond the capabilities of some of the notoriously second-language deficient British populace resident in Italy. Indeed, I have even heard of so called ‘ex-pats’ who tune-in exclusively to UK television which appears to me to consist largely of interviews with ghastly politicians inhabiting the Palace of Westminster, first-time house buyers hunting in New Malden and dog shows. How can they possibly get to grips with perhaps the world’s most beautiful language I wonder?

Of course, the quality television in any country depends on a selective choice of channels.  To help viewers there are a number of web sites that list programme schedules on the multifarious Italian TV channels. The one I like to  use is Programmi Televisivi – I programmi della serata in televisione. (programmi-televisivi.com).

(Carlotta abandoning TV viewing for balcony watching.)

Several Italian TV channels offer often inspiring viewing.  For instance, we recently found ourselves on RAI 3 ‘virtually’ seated in Verona’s Arena for a sequence of nights at the opera including a brilliant production of ‘Carmen’ by that doyen of directors Franco Zeffirelli. RAI 3 also produces a long-running programme called GEO which shows documentaries dealing with everything from Amazonian jaguars to transhumance in the Apuan Mountains. Presented by Sveva Sagramola and Emanuele Biggi we love to watch it and not just on rainy evenings. GEO’s web site is at Geo – RaiPlay. RAI 5 presents also some exceptional material including fifties and sixties Italian cinema and archival (black-and-white mostly) drama productions with such wonderful actors as Vittorio Gassman.

‘Linea Verde’ is another very interesting programme to watch (Web site at Linea Verde – Stagione 2021-2022 – Puntate – RaiPlay) It’s particularly valuable for foreign residents in Italy as it delves into local and regional practices like cookery, agriculture and traditions and displays many lovely ‘borghi’ for excursion planning.

With the world’s highest number of UNESCO-listed historical and artistic monuments Italy certainly does not lack places of interest to film and whet the appetite. In this respect it’s easy to find programmes dealing the peninsula’s sights and activities on everything from the smallest hamlet in Calabria to the major artistic centres. We find NOI TV, our regional station, essential viewing. (Web site at NoiTV – La TV della provincia di Lucca). Apart from home-grown news updates including road closures and the weather NOI TV presents interviews with local celebrities ranging from artists to herbalists to shepherds. It also informs us on upcoming events and presents a whole spread of places to explore.

Licia Colò is a well-regarded presenter of documentaries and travel programmes. She explains things beautifully and not too quickly. Known to the general public as a host of travel programmes including ‘Alle Falde Del Kilimanjaro’ and for her scientific dissemination activity she is the author of various books that tell about animals and her experiences around the world including a delightful one we have about cats. Currrently Licia is presenting a series about various fantastic places to visit in Italy. See her web site at http://www.liciacolo.it/

Channel 45 (FOCUS – web site at focus tv – Focus.it) is another gripping TV channel. It consists largely of investigative documentaries ranging from ancient Egyptian pharaohs to UFO sightings to air-crash disasters to Nazi enclaves in deepest Patagonia…Be careful, however. It can be addictive especially as many of the programmes are in English.

With regard to good TV programmes Italy mourns this week the passing of perhaps its most famous scientific documentarist, Piero Angela, at the age of 93.

Piero was an Italian science popularizer, journalist, television presenter and essayist, with a brief initial professional career as a jazz musician and pianist. He was known as the creator and presenter of popular broadcasts in a format made world-famous by the BBC and its panoply of popularizers like Richard Gregory, Raymond Baxter, Jacob Bronowski and David Attenborough.

Piero Angela gave life to a documentary strand of Italian television for the very first time in that company’s history and his programmes like Quark and ‘SuperQuark’ became (surprising RAI) prime-time viewing. Angela was also well-regarded, for his scientific journalism and non-fiction publications. It’s recognition of  Piero Angela’s importance in making science palatable to so many that his funeral this Tuesday takes place with all the highest honours the Italian republic can offer at Rome’s Campidoglio.

Significantly Angela requested a secular funeral and he left this last, moving message for his viewers and friends:

“Dear friends, I’m sorry not to be with you anymore after seventy years together. But nature also has its own rhythms. The years that have led me to learn about the world and human nature have been very stimulating. Above all, I was lucky enough to meet people who helped me achieve what every person would like to discover. Science allows us to face problems in a rational but at the same time human way. Despite a long illness I managed to complete all my programmes and projects (even a small satisfaction: a jazz record on the piano…). Also, sixteen episodes for schools on environmental and energy problems. It was an extraordinary adventure made possible thanks to the collaboration of a large group of authors, assistants, technicians and scientists. In turn, I tried to relate to others what I learned.

Dear viewers, I think I have done my little bit. Try to do your bit too for this difficult country of ours.

A big hug

Piero Angela”

We are not going to hang around waiting for a government hand-out or a tax reduction to plan for our winter survival. It’s crazy how news of possibly the most horrendous energy bill rises are hitting our wireless-sets right now when we are in the centre of yet another heat wave in which we’d truly love to immerse ourselves in cooling shades and eat plenty of ice-cream instead of wondering how we are going to stoke the household hearth when there’s nothing to feed it.

Clearly, the first thing to do is to get rid of relying so much on gas, whether Russian or Algerian or wherever. For our hot water baths, for instance, we’ve recently had a disco-therm panel installed on our roof like we used to have at our former abode. The system works very simply and very well. The sun’s rays hit a ceramic conductive outer layer on the panel fixed on the roof and heats up the water (diverted from entering the gas boiler) contained in it.

Of course, there must be some sunlight for the water to heat up at all. On dull days it’s best to have one’s shower in either late morning or the afternoon. But it’s amazing how the water never seems to fall below warm with this system even with no sun. If hot water is required after days of bleak sunless weather then it’s no problem to divert the water supply through the boiler again just by turning a couple of taps.

What about gas for cooking? For quick meals there’s nothing to beat the microwave which is also great for doing things like coddled eggs and porridge. But what about baking a cake or a roast? Then there’s that classic piece of Italian kitchen hardware – the ‘cucina economica’ (economic kitchen). Our brilliant cucina not only provides an oven and a surface on which to place umpteen saucepans and frying pans but also heats the house. If one doesn’t want to use the cucina then there’s the cast-iron ‘stufa’ to radiate life-giving warmth.

The problem city dwellers will face, however, is where to get their wood supply from. For those of us who live surrounded by forests this is an easy matter for we can just stroll into the woods and pick up plenty of fallen branches. (Never ever hew live trees please!).

We then chop up the wood using either a hand or a mechanical saw.  (Doing this part of the job will warm us up if nothing else does…).

Heat or eat is an oft-posed choice in the extreme situation we could soon be facing. Here again the obvious solution is to dedicate part of the garden to grow-your-own veg. Unfortunately this year because of the drought situation and the hosepipe ban, we’ve not been too successful with our own kitchen garden. A variety of salads, however, have sprouted out in time to grace our lunch table. We hope in better luck next year , however, when we’ll also decide on a bit of crop rotation.

We don’t have a fire-arm licence and besides it’s not the hunting season yet. However, the meat from some of the (cinghiali) wild boars tramping across our grasslands (and doing them in) could make a really tasty sauce for our spaghetti. (Photos from our wild-life night-time camera).

We are inventively adaptable as members of the human species. Hopefully those pretending to rule over us will make the situation a little easier when winter draws on…

Let Gracie Fields have the last word!

Gracie Fields ‘Winter Draws On’ 1935 78 rpm – Bing video

PS There’s an old Italian saying that goes ‘Più’ lana, meno legna’ – ‘more wool (on you), less wood (on the fire)’. That’s probably the best solution!

Becoming ever more perplexed, indeed irritated by the Labour Party’s policy on Brexit I wrote the following note to my local MP

“Dear Mr Pennycook

This is just to state that I have signed the national petition for the UK to re-join the EU customs union and single market.  We cannot allow the disruption to the free legal flow of trade and people between the UK and the continent to continue to harm the economic and social welfare of this country. I hope the Labour party realises this fully.

Yours sincerely  

Francis Pettitt  

Matthew   Pennycook MP, 29 July, 07:50 replied to me:

Dear Mr Pettitt,  

 
Thank you for letting me know.

  
Best wishes, Matthew Pennycook  

A couple of days ago I received a fuller reply from the Labour Party. My considerations on this letter are in non-italics

Dear Francis,  

Thank you for your email to the Labour Party in relation to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. I’m very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.   Your views and observations have been duly noted and shared with the relevant policy teams.

 
The country is now in a settled position out of the EU and Labour have no plans to change that.

So now we know (if we didn’t before!).

The Conservative’s choices are failing the country and fall far short of what they promised. Labour has a plan to make Brexit work and deliver for the British people  

But the 2016 referendum and its implementation was a Tory choice!  

The Labour Party has a five-step plan to improve our relationship with the EU.   Labour would seek practical solutions to the current problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol and reduce any checks to the absolute minimum to ensure that trade flows freely. There is a clear route through a new veterinary agreement, similar to the ones between the EU, New Zealand and Canada, as well as a trusted trader scheme.    The Labour Party would improve the Tory deal by reducing the trading barriers businesses face on a daily basis and get investment flowing into the country once again.

 We will not re-join the Single Market or Customs Union.

Why on earth not? Even Greenland has.

So the government needs to find practical improvements that would provide greater investment and opportunities.

Steps would be taken such as improving long-term deals for UK hauliers to reduce supply chain problems, seeking regulatory equivalence for financial services and maintaining Britain’s data adequacy status.   The Party would ensure the country’s world leading service sector and scientists are not missing out and can flourish. We will ensure our services can access crucial European markets and that our world leading scientists continue to get the funding they need and are still able to participate in joint projects.   Labour will use green investment and a commitment to buy, make and sell in Britain to ensure we are best placed to compete on the global stage.

The Government have missed Brexit opportunities

What opportunities? There are none….or none that most of us can see.

In the past 18 months, including missing the opportunity to cut VAT on energy bills. Labour will use flexibility outside of the EU to ensure British regulation is adapted to suit British needs. This certainty will give British business the confidence it needs to expand and become job creators again instead of stagnating in a state of limbo created by Tory indecision.   The next Labour Government will prioritise working more closely with the EU on foreign, security and defence policies to keep us safe. The Labour Party is proud that Britain is one of NATO’s leading European nations.

If Britain is a leading European nation then why does it have no say in the EU having left it?

The Party wants to see these bonds strengthened with a new UK-EU security pact which would allow us to better tackle new threats such as cyber and information warfare and cooperate on new frontiers like AI.  Agreements like this would also make it easier to tackle cross border threats such as organised crime and human trafficking.  

All these pacts were in place when the UK was part of the EU!

The UK needs a good and constructive relationship with the EU and only Labour can provide that.

Oh yea? What about the Lib-dems and the Greens?

The Tories are more interested in political dogma than negotiation ties that would allow both the UK and EU to prosper.  We are already building a constructive relationships with our neighbours based on security, prosperity and respect and a Labour government will end the era of acrimony with the EU to deliver for British people..   Our policy is made democratically, through discussion and consultation with members, the public, businesses, experts and civil society groups. You can take part in the conversation online at www.policyforum.labour.org.uk. Join discussions with politicians and representatives from across the Labour Party and share your ideas with us,  so that when the time comes – we can serve our country again in government. 

   Best wishes,      

Alistair Campbell Membership Services and Correspondence The Labour Party 

This letter has left me utterly demoralized and depressed. With the cataclysmic increase in household energy bills. With the never-ending biggest armed conflict in Europe.

On my birthday Rishi Sunak tweeted the utterly ridiculous phrase “Keep Brexit safe”. To quote the recent statement by EU-super girl Madeleina Kay:

“My response could have continued indefinitely with a list of the devastating consequences we are now currently facing because of this ridiculous act of self-harm, however, twitter has a character limit – so here’s my pick! (Feel free to add your own!)

Keep nationalism safe.

Keep racists safe.

Keep environmental degradation safe.

Keep NHS staffing shortages safe.

Keep Airport chaos safe

Keep the hard border in Northern Ireland safe

Keep the queues at Dover safe.”

To these I would add

‘Keep the Tories safe’

‘Keep the metropolitan police safe’.

‘Keep the energy companies’ mega-profits safe

“Keep our rotting fruit and veg fields rotting because of lack of euro-workers.

etc. etc.

Let us at the very least comfort ourselves with the thought that we remain willing exiles from the kingdom of Brexitania and are able to enjoy such delectable evenings as a lyrical concert by Puccini’s family house in his village at Celle in the warmth of an appenine summer evening.

An art exhibition by Morena Guarnaschelli has opened in the foyer of Bagni di Lucca’s casino at Ponte a Serraglio.

Morena is highly regarded for her artistic creations which have unfolded in ever evolving stages. She is also well-known for her brilliant organization of such events as ‘Women’s day’ and ‘extempore art’ which have been highlights in Bagni di Lucca’s calendar.

Emerging from the enforced social curtailment of the past two years Morena tells me that her exhibition stems from her discovery of the spiritual geometry of the Flower of Life and owes much to the harsh times experienced under the pandemic. As she says in her manifesto (my translation):

“After years of creating styles in different directions I wished to approach a new expression in art, perhaps also thanks to the “lockdown”, which gave me the time to dedicate to my art. I continued with my “mandala” theme, concentrated on the female face (always my favorite subject) and last year, in its simplest form, on the female profile.

I began to explore sacred designs like the Mandala, the Flower of Life, and Yin Yang. The circle symbol itself is regarded as the representation of the infinite, without beginning or end. Starting with a circumscribed circle, as was the custom of Tibetan monks for meditation, I went beyond, feeling the need to escape to freedom. Shortly afterwards, I discovered the Flower of Life, a flower with six petals, which contains within itself perfection, creation and summation.

The flower is a symbol I fell in love with! Every petal is a symbol of balance, harmony, rebirth and perfection. It is the most well-known and complex form of sacred geometry. Using the Flower of Life in everyday life means surrounding oneself with its power and continuous source of energy.

Everything was created through the Flower of Life. Every molecule of life, every cell in our body contains this structure as its basis, from atoms to galaxies. Finally, in Chinese philosophy, I discovered Yin Yang, a symbol of harmony too, between two opposite energies. In my latest pictures I have combined these three sacred elements: circle, flower of life and yin yang.

I hope that the exhibition will ignite a spark of curiosity and exploration in each of you. “

It certainly has in my case and I have already spent some of my time in drawing sacred flowers of life and realizing how far back this symbol goes all the way to the ancient Egyptians and the Celts. It also fascinated Leonardo da Vinci who used it for his representations of Vitruvian man. Indeed, I only have to go to our local Romanesque church at San Cassiano to view the flower in all its mystical glory on the church’s façade, gaze at some of our garden flowers or even our teapot mat!

(I found using a mini-cd a very useful way of starting on a flower of life pattern…)

Yin Yang describes how opposite forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. This is so true in all our daily lives for we may only fully experience joy if we have gone through grief, appreciate the silence if we have suffered the noise, blossom into pure love because we have known the torment of hate and endured death in order to envelop ourselves in the ecstasy of life.

I was fascinated by the way Morena has weaved the primordial symbols of the Flower of Life and Ying yang into her paintings. They become an integral part in the composition of her female portraits, in their ornamentation; indeed in their exaltation. As great composers like Bach use mathematical-geometrical  formulae to ennoble their art and create something new  like the Art of Fugue so Morena Guarnaschelli has been able to use the essential canons of these articles of sacred geometry to create works of extraordinary fulfilment and (what is so desperately need in our troubled times) communicate peace and undying love.

The exhibition is open Mon-Sat mornings until August 18th. Free admission.

Matured Cheddar, Blue Stilton! The German chain supermarket leaflet even also showed proper British-baked digestive biscuits and Scottish shortbread. To say nothing of those lemon muffin cup-cakes. Fish and Chips too! Definitely worth a visit to our local Lidl store. Of course, many snobs will censure us for admitting a craving to buy British food in a country boasting some of the finest culinary products in the world. (Italy has 267 protected food products as distinct from the UK’s 69). However, others may sympathise with us who have been reared largely on solid (or stolid?) British fayre.

After our brilliant morning yoga session in Bagni di Lucca’s public garden under the guidance of guru Martyn Sheldon we decided we’d indulge in shopping for British food, jump into the car and head for Lidl.

Avoiding Lucca’s outlet which we thought might have already sold out of the precious vitals we chose to head for Pescia’s store.

We selected the Brennero road towards Abetone. Turning off on the mountain road towards the Tibetan-like steepness of Lucchio we headed for the hamlet of Zato. In this little settlement of shepherds we’d previously purchased some really excellent cheese made with milk from the local goat and sheep herds.

Beyond Zato the road’s asphalt surface disappeared and we started to manoeuvre bumpily over a gravelly and stony surface made up of red rocks and earth. However, because of the weeks of almost rainless weather although the going was slow it was not too hard thanks to our four-wheel-drive veteran Fiat Panda and Sandra’s brilliant rally-honed advanced driving skills.

At the top of the trail the tiny chapel of Croce a Veglia, a timber cross and a stupendous view greeted us. To the north the Lima valley stretched to the Apennines of Abetone. To the south the softer contours of the Pesciatina valley, (also known as the Pesciatina Switzerland because of its similarity to certain landscapes in the centre of that country) spread before our wondering eyes…

It was a truly glorious panorama. I thought to myself how different this was from a standard trip on a number 53 bus to our local Lidl store in south-east London!

   

The road suddenly regained its asphalted surface and we traversed past the ten ‘castelli’ or ancient villages of the valley. I have described this charming area of the Apennines in previous posts at:

A Fabulous Circular Trip from Bagni di Lucca to Pescia and Back – From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Three (wordpress.com)

And at

Tuscany’s Own Switzerland | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com).

so won’t here!

Reaching Pescia we had a pit stop at a friendly bar close to the ancient church of San Francesco which boasts the oldest known portrait of the saint who preached to the birds and tamed a wolf.

Pescia is a delightful Tuscan city without any of the ghastly tourist crowds infesting Florence and now unfortunately Lucca. It has a lot going for it including the Palio festival which takes place at the start of September. (For details see Palio Città Di Pescia – Un tradizione che non passa mai di moda (paliocittadipescia.it)).

I’ve written extensively on Pescia in my posts at Strawberries at Montecarlo and Mediaeval Times in Pescia | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

and at:

Fishing for Pescia’s Hidden Treasures | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

We then headed for the object of our expedition: Lidl. Not as crowded as Lucca’s branch, Pescia retains the lines which makes this an appealing place to shop and ….we did find those English food  products including the prized Blue Stilton!

As it was Fish Friday on our return to base camp at our new home we put the fish and chip packet to good use only to discover that in fact the fish was a strange breed from Alaska and that the whole lot refused to produce the characteristic batter when fried but dissolved itself into a milky stew. What eventually emerged was a sort of fish kedgeree and certainly not what was promised on the cover illustration. However, as by this stage we had become rather hungry we munched our way through the whole lot and found it quite palatable.

The lemon cup-cake muffins went rather better and I made up a dessert with them adding lemon sorbet which went down a treat in the still super-hot evenings our area continues to experience.

My verdict on our expedition to Pescia’s Lidl? It’s OK if one likes to do some skilful off-road driving and encounter some of the most breathtaking views in our part of the world. However, it may be somewhat more convenient to head for the Lucca store using the standard route in future. (PS we did return from Pescia via Marlia…)

And as for that ‘British food’. It’s all right for a taste every now and again if such patriotic cravings cannot be resisted. However, we are residents in Italy and wish to fully immerse ourselves in that country’s experiences, integrating our tastes with its extraordinary culture extending from artist’s studios to sports cars engineering works to haute couture to the delights of its multifarious culinary traditions. I think, under the circumstances, that even we can afford to go without Blue Stilton and, instead, eat equally delicious Gorgonzola!

Having written this I am reminded of an elderly English couple who used to live in the Bagni area but have since removed to France. They invited me once to Sunday lunch at their place. It was a truly delicious spread and very British with roast beef, boiled potatoes, mint sauce and carrots followed by apple pie and custard. I felt very nostalgic and commented ‘how wonderful that you have managed to create a truly traditional Sunday lunch.’ ‘But that’s the way we usually eat here’ replied the cook. I later discovered that the most this otherwise very personable couple ventured into Italian food was to order an occasional pizza at the local bar.

It remains, however, a great pity that Italian supermarket shelves, in addition to their own local extraordinary variety of cheeses, are filled with French, Dutch, Greek and German varieties but none from the Island Kingdom! Even before the damnation wrought by Brexit this was still largely the case and now it appears to be even more so. A pity,  For what harm could a slab of mature cheddar do on an Italian supermarket shelf I ask myself?

Our visit to Euromarchi’s factory for statuettes production took place in yesterday’s blazing afternoon. Fortunately air-conditioning alleviated the heat and we were able to appreciate the firm’s production in cool comfort.

Continuing the old tradition of ’figurinaio’ (statuette maker) Euromarchi have largely stopped making them out of plaster in favour of modern resins which are more durable and climate-proof (thus suitable for garden ornaments).

First we were led into the showroom where in addition to the umpteen different representations of the Christmas crib there was a variety of frames and fitments on display.

The boardroom was next on our visit with walls hung with the many certificates of merit this firm has achieved over the years. We also met Mr Marchi, the director of the two-hundred year old family enterprise.

What we did not see was the actual process of making the statuettes. This was rather a pity but since it was late in the afternoon and anyway most employees were away for the holiday season it was understandable.

It’s the first time that Euromarchi has been opened for the Fondazione Montaigne Bagni di Lucca walking tours which are led by very well trained young persons who clearly wish to make tourism and guiding their profession.

We had previously visited Arte Barsanti which carries on the old tradition of using plaster for statuette making. It is fortunate that the industry has reinvented itself with Euromarchi using more modern materials and designs. It would be good, however, if it could branch into more secular fields (sports personalities representations perhaps) or even embrace other religions (like Buddhism or Shintoism to cater for oriental visitors) in its manufacturing iconography.

Next door to the Euromarchi factory is the English cemetery in which non-Catholic residents and visitors to Bagni were buried until the 1950’s. One of the tombs recently restored is that dedicated to the engineer of the railway to Bagni di Lucca.

I have already mentioned this hallowed earth in several previous posts so won’t say more than state that, thanks to the efforts of Marcello Cherubini and the Fondazione Montaigne, the cemetery is now almost completely restored to its former glory and presents a worthy asset to Bagni’s historical monuments.Indeed, I wouldn’t mind being inhumed in there when my time comes. Desiring postulants, however, still have to await the Bishop of Lucca’s verdict on the subject…

Here is the complete list of organised Bagni di Lucca walks: