Our containment of the scarp side of our house’s garden is proceeding quite well.

We have decided, upon advice, to erect two walls, terraced one above the other across areas which have been left without proper restraint because of lack of wall.

Here is wall no. 1 constructed with some pretty hefty breeze blocks each weighing around 30 kilos and with six rows of blocks.

Wall no. I has been now been infilled on its inward side providing a good foundation upon which to site wall no. 2. As in all these Apennine projects the most important thing is to find the bedrock and then build upon it. Fortunately for us not only is our house built upon solid rock (as in all these former traditional farmhouses but unfortunately not so much the case with new-build) but we are well surrounded by good strata of the stuff.

The next stage will be to build wall no. 2 that will stretch across the area from which a previous wall had collapsed in the dim and distant past.

This project isn’t just to help protect our house from any landslides. It is also ensuring that a chunk of our mountain side does not collapse.  So I feel we are also contributing to an environmental project servicing the community and saving our beautiful hills from subsiding under a deluge of rain. Clearly we are now in the throes of climate change: temperatures are increasing and the collision between air currents is getting even more violent contributing to sudden storms, creating flash-floods and water-logging the soil. Luckily for our area we have not been subjects to the disastrously ill-though out cementification which has afflicted so many other parts of a relatively recently industrialised country like Italy: her surplus water can still flow safely away if drainage channels are properly maintained

Undoubtedly the awful landslides occurring as a result of the megalithic floods in Emilia Romagna to the north of us helped concentrate our minds. We decided to act now and realised that if we did it would clearly save us a lot of money and, more important a lot of anxiety.

The costs are contained (we trust) and are certainly not excessive. If we consider what might have happened if we hadn’t acted in time then we are practising enormous economies.

The weather today has stopped being somewhat dull and miserably unpredictable. The sun has shone most of the time now and the earth is drying out making working on this project a lot easier.

I shall certainly appreciate Tom Snout more now. That’s the fellow who acted ‘wall’ in Shakespeare’s’ Midsummer Night’s Dream’. For us, however, ‘wall’ is not an impediment to a lovers’ tryst. Rather it is encouraging us to live together a little longer without falling down a mountainous precipice!

In April this year Fabio Lucchesi, a former deputy mayor and counsellor of Bagni di Lucca, died peacefully aged 95 at his home near his family run Borghesi restaurant in Via Umberto. This is my belated tribute to a fine and good person.

Fabio’s life in the community of Bagni di Lucca was very full. As a member of the erstwhile Christian Democrats, he distinguished himself in three municipal legislatures, from the 1960s to the 1980’s, as counsellor for culture. He was also a correspondent from Bagni di Lucca for ‘La Nazione’ newspaper from 1970 to 1988.

Fabio was a very well-informed person, always calm and kind in his manner. He was a director of Bagni di Lucca’s Post Office and earned respect and affection from his fellow citizens for his affability and availability towards everyone in his daily life and in his political role as administrator.

Fabio Lucchesi was born in New York on December 22, 1927. He arrived in Italy with his mother in 1931, and went to live in Castelnuovo Garfagnana until 1943, where he attended primary school and then the Commercial Technical Institute, concluding his studies at “Vallisneri”. Scientific High School. In 1964 in Bagni di Lucca he married, Stefania Borghesi, from the old-established café and restaurant owning family of the same name. Borghesi restaurant remains managed by the same family.

(Fabio with his beloved Stefania who sadly has died too last month)

Fabio was also deputy director of the local newsheet the ‘Nuovo Corriere’ of Bagni di Lucca and president of the Lions Club, Garfagnana. He gave me a whole series of very informative booklets on artistic treasures in our area which were produced under his presidentship.

Interested in literature and in a wide range of cultural matters in general, Fabio was for many years president and co-founder of the Unitrè (University of the Third Age) branch at Bagni di Lucca. It is in this context that I came to know him. Fabio had attended conferences given by a previous generation of Englishmen resident in Bagni di Lucca like Ian Greenlees. He heard about my interest in cultural matters and invited me to present an English theme. ‘How about the architecture of English gardens?’ Fabio suggested. Of course I loved English gardens which in Italy had become very popular in the nineteenth century through their natural informality so different from the rigid patterns of the baroque gardens. But how on earth would I be able to speak to a well-informed audience in a language I had never used in a public context? Would I be at all effective as a ‘public speaker?’ ‘You can do it’ Fabio said, encouraging me.

So I prepared and delivered a talk on the English landscape garden. Thanks to Fabio’s reassurance the lecture went down a treat and I received many compliments for my first incursion into the Italian conference field.

(Fabio at work with Unitrè and Mario Lena our much missed poet laureate of Bagni di Lucca).

Fabio’s directorship of the Università della Terza Età for the following years at Bagni di Lucca enabled me to give further talks on Italo-English themes. A more complete record of these talks and of the aims and social aspects of Unitre may be read in my posts, some of which I list here:

Life-Long Learning at Bagni di Lucca | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

Learning for the Third Age | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and beyond) Part One (wordpress.com)

Two Italian Connections in My Old SE London Work-place | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

Unitre Christmas Lunch at Borghesi’s in Bagni di Lucca Villa | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

Unitre End of Year Nosh | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

LET’S CELEBRATE FRANCESCO XAVERIO GEMINIANI! | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and beyond) Part One (wordpress.com)

My Wife’s Illustrious Ancestor | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

Giacomo Puccini and Italo Svevo – only Connect | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)

Fifth Time at the Third Age | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and beyond) Part One (wordpress.com)

Learning for the Third Age | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and beyond) Part One (wordpress.com)

I feel it was a great privilege to have met and become friends with Fabio Lucchesi. He gave me an excellent chance to continue my own life-long learning experience and enabled me to gain confidence in delivering talks in Italian. His advice to me to let by-gones be by-gone in the taxing situation where I was involved in a legal case and his support for me at Lucca tribunal was especially appreciated. Fabio’s generosity and affability towards me shall never be forgotten as long as I live. I just wish there were more people like him around to guide me, encourage me or just talk about inspirational subjects with me.

Shortages, shortages, shortages. I’m not talking about tomatoes in Brexitania or sensible politicians anywhere. (Could that be a contradiction in terms, I wonder?). No I’m referring to shortages of rescue vessels in the Mediterranean to save all those embarked on so-called ‘voyages of hope’. I’m referring to lack of food in North Korea while there’s a new missile launch in that benighted place. I’m referring to shortage of artificial limbs for Ukrainian soldiers disabled by a senseless war perpetrated by their neighbours.

Overriding all this must clearly be the shortage of any sufficient sense of intelligence in the world. Will this intelligence ever happen? Will this shortage ever be addressed? But let’s leave these hopelessly optimistic ideas about man’s evolution behind us and discuss the three shortages which rather affected me on this morning’s News.

First let’s take the shortage of rescue vessels in the Med. In particular I’m referring to the incident where a large number immigrants were drowned in Greek waters. This is such a repetitive news item that it glides over too many people’s heads. Now, however, even Brits have realised that it affects their beloved Channel and the legendary White cliffs.

With regard to the Aegean tragedy numbers would have been much higher if a luxury yacht hadn’t rescued a lot of these unfortunates. The contrast between the cocktail life afloat these oceanic Rolls Royces and the distressed saved from disintegrating vessels boggles my imagination! Welcome on board and to Europe!

But why are desperate people lured by desperadoes and paying them sums – which I would be more than glad to have in my bank account – in search of a better quality of life?  If I want to find an improved quality of living elsewhere I’d search out immigration schemes, evaluate what I have to offer and get some money together. That’s why I’m here, after all. Why then are people paying thousands of pounds to gangsters to get them illegally to a supposedly promised land? Why are they spending money which they could very easily use to set up their own businesses in the country of origin? Why are they risking their lives across a temperamental sea when they could at least travel via the safety of a plane flight or even a bus and then apply for asylum if needs be when they reach their destination? Moreover the majority of these people are educated with some even having higher education qualifications – just the sort who could give a valuable contribution to the development of their country of birth.

It just doesn’t make sense. Or does it? And what about the countries these people are coming from? OK there’s a terrible war and unbearable hardships in Ukraine but the majority of young Ukrainians are staying and fighting for their country and freedom.  The Ukrainians who have left for the relative safety of Western Europe don’t want to stay in a foreign country for ever but wish to return to their beloved Ukraine.

As for Pakistan? I’ve visited the country, stayed at the sylvan hill station of Murree, visited the great mosque of Rawalpindi and walked the modernistic streets of Islamabad.

Despite an often unstable political situation and major ecological disasters like the Indus valley floods – but don’t these happen in Italy too as the Romagnian floods and sixty-six governments since WWII show – it’s a country not much worse off than any others around the Indian subcontinent. Why not go then to India which is experiencing an incredible economic boom with the need for more and more labour? 

What is the bloody point of going to a relatively old and tired continent already suffering from over-population, recession, inflation and, in the case of the UK, a catastrophic trading dysfunction because of the ghastly Brexit vote? I might understand distressed people coming from Syria or Afghanistan and even North Korea (if they manage to avoid being shot at the border) but Pakistan?

Regarding North Korea. The first duty of any nation is to enable its population to survive without which that country would rapidly fall into extinction. This is what has happened to several civilizations before ours (if we can honestly and fully call ours a civilization) starting from Neanderthal man and continuing through such cultures as original Tasmanians and Caribbean Indians. Evidently the beloved leader of North Korea thinks that avoiding a shortage of rockets is more important that dodging a dearth of nourishment for his population. What then? Are the beloved’s weapons going to defend a country of famished families and decomposing corpses? What gargantuan Guy Fawkes scenario is he longing for?

Which brings me to another horrific shortage. That of artificial limbs for mutilated Ukrainian fighters, most of whom are young men. What’s going to be more important for that martyred country? Lack of air fighter power or artificial arms and legs? Medals or a wheelchair? The massacre or disablement of a whole generation as happened after WW1? OMG!!!!

I don’t think it’s going to be too healthy for me to listen to the radio news headlines any more here where I live in the relative tranquillity (bar a few boars, wolves and deafening thunderclaps) of the central   Italian Apennine forest.

What, however, is one to do to address these shortage problems? Above all what do we need to address the worst shortage of all: that of sufficiently intelligent people to guide our nations in the betterment of our life quality – for that’s where the overriding shortage problem lies: shortage of intelligence and humanity, utter lack of any coordinated responsibility for the future of our planet. It’s a sort of globalised hara-kiri for the whole human race and its dependent natural friends to my mind.

How long will war endure to be peace? How long will freedom carry on being slavery and, most of all, how long will ignorance continue to be regarded as strength?

A hospital visit to Pisa promoted a visit to the world’s oldest botanical gardens which are next door. The incessant rain only added to the atmosphere of this secret corner of Pisa so near to its more famous tower.

Founded in 1543 by the naturalist, physician and botanist Luca Ghini (1490-1556) Pisa has the first university botanical gardens in the world.

Originally situated on the banks of the Arno River the gardens were transferred to its current site in 1591 and then progressively expanded to its present size of approximately two hectares.

The gardens house plants from five continents: succulents from African and American deserts;

aromatic plants of the Mediterranean maquis; species from the Tuscan marshes

and many secular trees including this giant sequoia..

The Botanical Museum is the successor to the gallery, founded in 1591 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany Ferdinando I de’ Medici. It still retains the picture gallery of seventeenth-century portraits of illustrious botanists, the original entrance gate to the Gallery and the “Studiolo” for the seeds of the botanical garden. It also houses items related to the teaching of university botany since the end of the eighteenth century such as the botanical models in wax and plaster of species like fungi. Other collections include plant samples, botanical tools and paleobotanical collections.

We passed an enjoyable hour spent under a gentle rain and it made us feel very lucky to be able to appreciate a botanical feast after the rigours of a hospital visit.

We’ve all had problems with dust collecting in carpets despite the most stringent efforts of our hoovers and such-like. There is a place in Italy, however, where without dust there would be no carpets! Every year in Camaiore for Corpus Christi (the Feast celebrating the Eucharist, in particular its transubstantiation whereby Christ’s body is actually present in the Host, as believed by Roman Catholics) multi-coloured sawdust carpets are laid down in the main street of this delightful town which also boasts a well-known Lido by the Tyrrhenian sea.

Camaiore’s sawdust carpets are a tangible community art originating around the first half of the nineteenth century. The themes are mainly religious even if over the years they have also addressed social issues in addition to classic decorative, geometric or floral compositions. This year, for example, the theme is that of ‘The Tree of Life’ which could be interpreted in several different ways. For example, ecologically as the threatened oxygen-producing forests on our planet or religiously as the Tree from which Christ’s crucifix was cut. And please don’t forget: without trees there would be no sawdust…

Initially, the main raw materials used by the artists for the composition of the carpets were flower petals and twigs of green myrtle. It was only from 1930 that sawdust became a principal component. The sawdust is obtained from light woods like poplar or fir) and is coloured with aniline in order to obtain the chromatic effects used in the composition of the carpets.

Traditionally the artists maintain great secrecy on the sawdust carpets’ design until the eve of Corpus Christi. These are of impressive dimensions: two metres wide and up to fifty metres in length. Months of elaboration of sketches go into a project which is then realized in just one night.

After the carpet’s artistic conception the design and construction of the wooden templates is undertaken. Then comes the colouring of the sawdust, which in Camaiore is called “pula” (chaff). A multitude of colours is created for the nuances and shades of tone in the carpet’s composition involving many Camaiore denizens who, in their attics, cellars or garages, proceed to colour mountains of sawdust with aniline creating multi-coloured piles of sawdust.

A few days before the solemnity, the various groups trace their carpets’ outlines along the path that the archbishop’s procession will follow but it is the eve of Corpus Domini that the artistic process actually begins. From dusk through the night templates are positioned, colours chosen and sawdust carefully spread.

It’s an artistic work generated by community and the commitment of a group of people who carry out precise tasks until the drawing is completed. That’s how an evanescent wonder is created: a truly colourful and spectacular work that is kept alive for a day, only to be destined to disappear before the end of the following morning.

We did not attend the making of the carpets. Indeed, we were worried that the craftsmen’s work might have to be curtailed as it began to rain in our valley. However, luckily the rain didn’t touch Camaiore and when we arrived at the town the carpets were already beautifully laid out in the main street. It was a truly impressive sight and we were very touched by the immense care in the details and chromatic gradations the local artists produced out of the humblest of materials, discarded sawdust!

Here are some photographs I took to display the carpets’ extraordinary beauty. No wonder that next year the master carpeteers of Camaiore may well have their craft protected as a UNESCO heritage of great value.

After Mass in the town’s Main Square the Corpus Christi procession set forth with the Archbishop carrying the Sacred Host monstrance under a baroque canopy held up by guild members. Local dignitaries, the civic band, and townsfolk with their children accompanied the procession together with singing of religious chants, stirring sounds from the town band and the joyous ringing of bells. It was quite a noise, a totally ecstatic cacophony!

I thought about my time spent in the ceremonies of Tibetan temple near Pisa where a mandala was being patiently created out of another humble material, sand. The climax was the destruction of the great mandala which had been painstakingly built up in the previous weeks. The mandala is a mind liberating celestial city with four gates and its eventual obliteration represents the transience of life on this planet and the fact that the celestial city is truly beyond the comprehension of anyone. I could not help drawing a parallel with what occurred in Camaiore. Although from a different religious tradition the creation of the carpets and their destruction shortly after completion by religious action amounted to the same process, the same transience of life, the futility of imagining any human parlance or immortality, the eternity of the supreme forces that direct our insignificant lives, mutability in all its inevitable impermanence – eternity in a grain of sand, immensity in a speck of sawdust.

The so-called “Blue Hour” is the time before sunrise or after sunset until late evening. During sunset the sun approaches the horizon and its light becomes hotter and hotter as the light rays pass through the atmosphere in different ways. More intense, indeed breath-taking, colours are produced. Although the blue hour occurs before sunrise, it is most effective after sunset for many reasons, such as better visibility or the use of city lighting.

During the blue hour the light changes dramatically. It goes from warm tones to a very particular bold blue. It is precisely at this moment where colour gradations from blue to orange are found in the sky. For photographers this IS the time to take pictures and indeed Bagni di Lucca’s own photographic club is called ‘L’Ora Blu’.

Of course photographing one’s subjects only in the blue hour does not automatically make one a good photographer. Nor does having the latest technologically advanced camera. In many cases pure luck will make the perfect, legendary picture. It’s so often the right place, the right moment when the shutter is pressed that shifts a photo into history. Indeed, not all the club’s photographs have been taken during the blue hour. But using the blue hour does help…

For the next week an exhibition of the club members’ work is on show at the casino at Ponte a Serraglio. The main theme regards places of interest in our area. I went to take a look at it a couple of days ago. This is a selection of what I saw:

I could, of course, describe where each photo comes from. However, I’ll tease my reader and let them work out which of the titles are most appropriate for each of the pictures above:.

Sant’Ansano hermitage

Casino great salon

Loppia pieve (parish church)

Orrido di Botri canyon

Bargiglio watchtower

Signor Galgani, smith

San Martino in Freddana art nouveau parish church

Old Calavorno bridge

Vetriano little theatre

Puccini family home, Celle

Pania della Croce

WWII museum

Water mill

Ponte delle catene

Diecimo parish church

Maddalena bridge

Chestnut museum

Photographers can help us to refresh our sense of reality and make us realise again what a wonderful part of the world we are living in. The variety of buildings is astounding. Ranging from romanesque chapels to baroque churches to art-nouveau mansions to contemporary bridges our area is so rich in wonderful examples of art and architecture. It may not have the degree of fame of Florence or the grandeur of Rome or the exoticism of Naples but it is absolutely to be visited in all cases.

It was fun for me to recognise where the places photographed were without looking at the titles. I think I got most of them but there were a few that I had completely overlooked during my time here in this valley. 

It’s great that the casino is increasingly being used for these and other events. Such a gorgeous building should be used and relished by all visitors to our town.

I wonder how many people pass by Turritecava without really noticing this little village situated on the left side of the road leading to Gallicano and opposite the entrance to the Guglielmo Lera bridge over the Serchio.

Even those heading for Fabbriche di Vallico may have by-passed the hamlet of Turritecava (which means the quarry of the Turrite River) without glancing at it. Indeed, wink your eyes and you might well miss Turritecava. I had spotted this slender collection of houses but never thought that a distinct community lived there. I was proved wrong, however, yesterday evening when I was invited by my avvocato Romina Giusti (who proved herself invaluable in a case I had to suffer some years back) to attend a conference on Europe and European identity.

We arrived at the little library below the end of the single row of houses constituting the village to find very well-stocked and catalogued book shelves. Adjoining was a kitchen area proving that this was also a place where village banquets would be held. The meeting room next door was a real treat. Restored through local efforts it has a pretty arch with stone pediments and a most intriguing serpentine wooden panelling running across its walls. To my mind I felt this could be a representation of the river Serchio which runs below the village.

On one wall was a compendium of photographs showing the work carried out in turning an abandoned cellar into an attractive social centre.

The denizens of Turritecava have been truly busy in setting up their social centre. They have also converted a disused barn into a sweet little church complete with its bell and approached by an attractive Via Crucis.

This was the programme for the conference.

The European themes discussed by the speakers were varied and forceful. The concept of why a European identity was set up after centuries of warring was dominant. Peace especially was a principally sought after goal. This peace was founded on the original idea of an economic iron and steel community between European nations set up in 1956 in order to dispel competition which in the past had led to frictions sometimes even concluding in war. Inspiration for a united Europe came from the greats of post-war reconstruction like Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi and Winston Churchill. Yet Europe still lacks today one major coordinator in the form of a presiding leader, someone who can be referred to in all issues relating to this continent – or again, is it really a continent? World leaders wishing to discuss European issues are still obliged to consult individual heads of state who may have very different viewpoints: for example the viewpoints on the migration problem as envisaged by Germany and Poland. Furthermore if peace is an aim in Europe there is no combined European force to defend it. And is a European army really a very good idea anyway?

Themes like the confusion between diversity and opposition – why if something – or someone – is different should there be opposition rather than belief in variety – were also raised by the speakers. Migration, a particularly hot topic in front-line Italy now with third countries entering the equation as outlined by new EU proposals – was raised and it wasn’t until close to midnight than we left the stimulating conference.

I remain astounded and moved by how a small community can truly club together, produce a real sense of community and set up their own library, social centre, conference hall and social institution. Furthernore that they can become an intellectual focus and involve locals in word-wide issues. Rather than wait for the ‘authorities’ to do something about one’s situation it is surely more effective and admirable to get together in a sense of solidarity and social communion and do things from local foundations. Well done Turritecava!

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The so-called “Blue Hour” is the time before sunrise or after sunset until late evening. During sunset the sun approaches the horizon and its light becomes hotter and hotter as the light rays pass through the atmosphere in different ways. More intense, indeed breath-taking, colours are produced. Although the blue hour occurs before sunrise, it is most effective after sunset for many reasons, such as better visibility or the use of city lighting.

During the blue hour the light changes dramatically. It goes from warm tones to a very particular bold blue. It is precisely at this moment where colour gradations from blue to orange are found in the sky. For photographers this IS the time to take pictures and indeed Bagni di Lucca’s own photographic club is called ‘L’Ora Blu’.

Of course photographing one’s subjects only in the blue hour does not automatically make one a good photographer. Nor does having the latest technologically advanced camera. In many cases pure luck will make the perfect, legendary picture. It’s so often the right place, the right moment when the shutter is pressed that shifts a photo into history. Indeed, not all the club’s photographs have been taken during the blue hour. But using the blue hour does help…

For the next week an exhibition of the club members’ work is on show at the casino at Ponte a Serraglio. The main theme regards places of interest in our area. I went to take a look at it a couple of days ago. This is a selection of what I saw:

I could, of course, describe where each photo comes from. However, I’ll tease my reader and let them work out which of the titles are most appropriate for each of the pictures above:.

Sant’Ansano hermitage

Casino great salon

Loppia pieve (parish church)

Orrido di Botri canyon

Bargiglio watchtower

Signor Galgani, smith

San Martino in Freddana art nouveau parish church

Old Calavorno bridge

Vetriano little theatre

Puccini family home, Celle

Pania della Croce

WWII museum

Water mill

Ponte delle catene

Diecimo parish church

Maddalena bridge

Chestnut museum

Photographers can help us to refresh our sense of reality and make us realise again what a wonderful part of the world we are living in. The variety of buildings is astounding. Ranging from romanesque chapels to baroque churches to art-nouveau mansions to contemporary bridges our area is so rich in wonderful examples of art and architecture. It may not have the degree of fame of Florence or the grandeur of Rome or the exoticism of Naples but it is absolutely to be visited in all cases.

It was fun for me to recognise where the places photographed were without looking at the titles. I think I got most of them but there were a few that I had completely overlooked during my time here in this valley. 

It’s great that the casino is increasingly being used for these and other events. Such a gorgeous building should be used and relished by all visitors to our town.

More information on the’ Ora Blu’ photography group and how to join it is at https://www.turismobagnidilucca.com/gruppo-fotografico-lora-blu/

Last night, in the sweet chapel of Barga’s Santa Elisabetta conservatoire, two choirs from two diverse cultures gave of their best in a very varied programme.

The Santa Cecilia choir from Diecimo under the directorship of Andrea Salvoni opened the concert with a powerful rendering of Lorenzo Perosi’s Magnificat. Ordained a priest at 22 Perosi’s friends included Mascagni and Puccini (who remarked that “there is more music in Perosi’s head than mine and Mascagni’s put together”). Lorenzo’s compositions are mainly religious in character and, after a period of neglect, he is now receiving renewed attention as befits one whose many admirers included Debussy.

Salvoni’s conducting is precise and emphatic. He conducted the choir’s next piece, Robert Fuhrer’s Caecilienmesse, with real élan. I had never come across Fuhrer’s (1807-61) music before and felt it sounded a bit like Schubert. I subsequently found out that the Czech composer had a dubious streak in him and on one occasion had indeed passed a Schubert Mass as his work. Fuhrer also flogged a Stradivarius violin belonging to his church as his own in order to finance his extravagant life-style. Robert’s music was, however, much loved in his time and I found this wonderfully concise Mass, excellently performed by Andrea’s singers, rather endearing in style.

A change of atmosphere entered the baroque chapel with ten folk and popular songs from Munich’s Sonntagschor. I particularly enjoyed the arrangements of Bacharach’s ‘I say a little prayer’ and Simon’s evergreen ‘Sound of Silence’. The singing was well-balanced and most tuneful under Carola Palleis’s direction and Johanna Raymont’s excellent piano accompaniment.

It was a stroke of absolute genius for the choirs, who had really enjoyed their rehearsals together, to combine in the last section of the evening’s performance. First came a refulgent rendering of a Sanctus by J. S. Bach. The moving alpine hymn ‘Signore delle Cime’ followed with the Italian words easefully sung by both choirs. A Bach chorale succeeded with German words sung with comfort by both the Italians and Bavarians. Finally the pièce de resistance arrived in the form of Bach’s ever-loved chorale ‘Jesu joy of man’s desiring’ with the choir accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble consisting of organ two violins and double bass. An encore was rightfully demanded for this piece and few among the very-well attended audience would have minded if it had been performed a third time!

It was approaching midnight when we left the conservatoire to tread the steep streets of Barga’s old town after what I regard as an inspiring choral concert with all participants (and particularly the choirmasters Andrea Salvoni and Carola Palleis) contributing their very best.

Music remains one of the greatest of psychic healers. To think that not that not so long ago Barga was being bombed by the same nation that was now invited to sing in this most beautiful of Italian borghi! Will there ever come a time when both Russians and Ukrainians will be able to do the same I wondered…

Another interesting evening yesterday was spent at Borgo a Mozzano’s Teatro della Verzura in the company of Iranian political activist Pegah Moshir Pour, who graduated in architecture in Italy’s Lucania. Pegah vividly described the crazily difficult situation women in particular are living in a country which is only nominally islamic. For example, the instance where children are beaten by the ‘moral police’ for ripping out the page in their text books showing the dedicatory photos of Khomeini and Khamenei. (I also remember reading how Oriana Fallaci ripped off the hijab she had to wear when interviewing Khomeini and walked out on the leader.)

Many local secondary school pupils attended the event and I considered how hijab wearing, considered by most women as a symbol of oppression in Iran, was increasingly being used by girls in the UK in opposition to their more ‘westernized’ parents. An almost unbelievable contradiction some might say.

For the full programme of interviews with significant players in today’s contemporary Italian scene see

Pegah Moshir Pour is 32 years old and continues to fight for human rights in her country of origin, which she left at the age of 9 with her family to live in Italy..

Pegah is also a digital rights activist and focuses on issues relating to social exclusion.

Pegah told us about has been happening in Itan shaken since last September, by the protests following the killing of twenty-two year old Mahsa Amini guilty of not wearing her veil correctly. “In Iran, women have been fighting every day for over forty years for their freedom: from the abolition of the veil obligation to entry into the world of politics to equal pay”.

“Women in Iran” – Pegah underlined – “are highly qualified and educated. About 97% of them are literate and 70% have a degree in subjects such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.. However, women and men are not free to do things that are taken for granted in the west like, for example, go around in shorts or without a veil or hug or kiss in public or post dance videos on social media.”

Furthermore, the protests that filled the Iranian squares have been followed by the adoption of repressive measures by the regime which has never stopped arresting, killing, intimidating, keeping children locked up at home and preventing them from attending schools. For example, police agents have also launched toxic gas and poisoned university canteens. Schools are supposed to be safe places.but in Iran this is not so given that at any moment the police can raid, collect cell phones, ask for the national anthem to be sung forcibly or beat up girls who don’t wear the veil. 

“Woman, Life, Freedom” is the three-word slogan of the Iranian women’s struggle.

Among the other stories that Pegah told us was that of 17-year-old Nika Shakarami who represented an enemy of the regime given that her videos, where she is dancing and singing happily, went around the world. She took to the streets to protest but was chased and killed with baton blows on the head by police agents. To explain her death, the story of her suicide was invented. In fact her body was thrown from the top of her house. To corroborate this thesis, relatives were forced by the regime to confirm Nika’s suicide on national television, citing a non-existent alcohol and drug problems.

In conclusion, Pegah was keen to reiterate how boys and girls in Iran protest without weapons and with a single slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”.

Here is a list pf the following events in this series: