Another Sunday passed with the sun finally out after days and days of rain. The afternoon was spent at the lively castagnata (Chestnut) festa at Mologno with lots of stalls

Gallicano’s brilliant sbandieratori.

live music and, of course, roast chestnuts

This was followed, at Borgo’s parish church, by the final concert of Giacomo Brunini’s fabulous series: The first half with music was inspired by the church’s beautiful Della Robbia Mary Magdalene sculpture which was introduced to us by Lucrezia Piacentini

The second half had a distinct Brazilian flavour including sambas and Jobim.

Dr. Agnese Benedetti, Bagni di Lucca’s councillor for cultural affairs, presented her book on Baldassare di Biagio’s (c.1434-1484) glorious Benabbio Triptych, yesterday at the church in our comune of Bagni di Lucca which commissioned it almost six hundred years ago: Santa Maria Assunta in Benabbio..

Gianfranco Pierotti opened the presentation and after mayor Paolo Michelini’s greetings Professor Sonia Maffei introduced the research work done by her pupil Agnese Benedetti who illustrated her points magisterially with excellent slides.

Monsignor Michelangelo Giannotti spoke with affection about the effort and work of Don Mario Tolomei, parish priest for over fifty years in Benabbio to preserve this masterpiece. and bring it to wider attention.

Although also named ‘da Firenze’, Baldassare Da Biagio was born in Lucca and the name refers to his being influenced by Florentine artistic trends. He is in every respect a transitional painter bridging two artistic epochs: gothic and renaissance.

A visit to the excellently arranged ecclesiastical museum, which opened in 2009, followed and a plaque in memory of Don Mario Tolomei was unveiled

Delicious refreshments made by the village association concluded the memorable event.

Dr. Agnese (a Gen Z) has her fascinating book published by Maria Pacini Fazzi, priced at €15. In it she includes the following major points.

A. The triptych’s inestimable artistic worth was first brought to the attention of a wider public in the nineteenth century by English travellers to Bagni di Lucca. Before that time it was not especially regarded.

B. The triptych was luckily preserved intact and in its original location by a law of 1913 which recognized it (and other ‘minor’ masterpieces tucked away in village churches) as culturally valuable. Unfortunately this was at a time when many altar pieces were dismembered and their parts sold, often illegally, in the international art market. To remove a painting from the environment for which it was designed and then cut it up is a cultural crime of the utmost severity. The world’s art museums are sadly filled with sections of paintings which should have been part of a larger whole. Automatically their true value has been irrevocably diminished.

C. The triptych was specially commissioned by the Benabbio congregation to beautify their church of Santa Maria Assunta at a time when the Romanesque building was undergoing much needed restoration. It was the congregation who specified precisely what it wanted and arranged not only payment to the artist but also a guarantee pact whereby Baldassare would have to correct the painting free of charge if the congregation found anything wrong with it. All these facts came out through the extraordinary find in 1980 of documents relating to the triptych detailing its sale transaction.

D. As a result of Benabbio’s congregational requirements the triptych strides across two artistic periods. The formal design, the frame partitioning (by fellow artist and sculptor Matteo Civitali) and the extensive use of a gold background reflect international gothic aesthetics. The figures within this framework, however, are directly influenced by the Florentine renaissance as particularly exemplified in the works of Filippo Lippi and his school. The triptych is, therefore, a fascinatingly composite work standing between two artistic worlds rather like such structures as St Paul’s Cathedral which has a gothic floor layout on which a renaissance-styled structure is imposed. In this respect it must be remembered that the renaissance reached Lucca over fifty years after it was born in Florence and arrived even later in the city’s surrounding rural districts. The area was thus still living with antiquated artistic trends at the time of the triptych’s commissioning.

To come to Italy and imagine that by visiting art museums like Uffizi and Brera one has seen the best is to misread reality. Their collections are indeed wonderful but they are just collections torn away from their original ambiences. To enjoy Italian art in the environment for which it was designed is another matter. Lucky for Italy that it has so many frescoes which can only with the greatest difficulty be removed from their locations. With regard to panel paintings the magnificent Benabbio Triptych is a prime example of how all paintings should be shown in the locations for they were created if they are to fully display their artistic significance and beauty

Dull weather Sunday redeemed by lively activities: afternoon at Diecimo to visit house of chemists’ patron saint Giovanni Leonardi, followed by a largely Latin American concert in the beautiful parish church and concluding with a Mohito in the new snazzy Cale’ bar.

Saint Giovanni Leonardi was an Italian priest. He founded the Order of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God (called Leonardini) and was the promoter of the Missionary College of Propaganda Fide. He was proclaimed a saint by Pope Pius XI in 1938.

Leonardi was born around 1541 to a family of wealthy farmers from the village of Diecimo, in the municipality of Borgo a Mozzano, in the Republic of Lucca. During his studies in pharmacy conducted in Lucca, he approached the lay brotherhood of the Colombini, close to the spirituality of Savonarola and under the direction of the Dominican Fathers. He practiced the profession of apothecary for some years in his native town, but around 1568 he decided to devote himself to the study of theology and was ordained a priest on 22 December 1572: he began preaching and teaching the catechism, also establishing a Congregation of Christian Doctrine.

Together with two or three other priests, on 1 September 1574 he founded the congregation of the Reformed Priests of the Blessed Virgin at the church of Santa Maria della Rosa in Lucca, dedicated to the apostolate and training of the clergy: the priests of the new religious family quickly increased in number and for them the founder drafted the Constitutiones Clericorum Regularium Matris Dei, immediately approved by the bishop of Lucca Alessandro Guidiccioni and confirmed by Clement VIII. The congregation was elevated to a religious order on 3 November 1621 by Gregory XV, taking on its current name of the Order of the Clerics Regular of the Mother of God.

He was then expelled from the Republic of Lucca on charges of disturbing public order and disrespect for the constituted authorities and took refuge in Rome.

In 1596, Pope Clement VIII appointed Leonardi as apostolic visitor and commissioner with the task of reforming, according to the canons of the Council of Trent, the Benedictine congregations of Montevergine, Vallombrosa, and Monte Senario; he iswas also charged by the pontiff with settling a dispute between the bishop of Nola and the viceroy of Naples regarding the Sanctuary of the Madonna dell’Arco.

Clement VIII entrusted Leonardi and his congregation with the Church and parish of Santa Maria in Portico, with the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary Romanae Portus Securitatis, where the religious family established its General Curia (transferred in 1662 to Santa Maria in Campitelli).

In Rome, the priest also had the opportunity to meet and spend time with his fellow countryman Filippo Neri, who like him was involved in the movement for the reform of the Church: he also expressed to him his intention to leave as a missionary for the Americas, but was dissuaded. With the Spanish prelate Juan Bautista Vives y Marja, he started a missionary movement in Rome which, after his death, led to the establishment of the Missionary College of Propaganda Fide (1624, later the Urbaniana University) and the erection of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (1627). Together with Juan Bautista Vives y Marja and Martin de Funes, in March 1608 he wrote a letter to Pope Paul V aimed at rekindling the missionary spirit of the Church, with particular reference to the lands of South America.

He died at the age of sixty-eight in Rome in 1608 and was buried in the Church of Santa Maria in Portico: thanks to the efforts of the Cardinal of York, his body was transferred in 1662 to the Church of Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli (his cardinal title). On 25 April 1951, with the decree of the Cardinal Vicar Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani “Percrescente incolarum”, the Church of San Giovanni Leonardi was erected in Piazza dei Cigni in Rome.

Leonardi was declared venerable by Clement XI in 1701 and was beatified on 10 November 1861 by Pius IX. In 1893, Leo XIII wanted his name to be inscribed in the Roman Martyrology (something that had never happened before for the blessed, with the exception of the pontiffs); Pope Pius XI canonized him on 17 April 1938. On 8 August 2006, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, by virtue of the faculties granted to it by Pope Benedict XVI, proclaimed him Patron Saint of all pharmacists. His liturgical memorial is on 9 October.

Una domenica uggiosa riscattata da vivaci attività: pomeriggio a Diecimo per visitare la casa del patrono dei farmacisti, san Giovanni Leonardi, seguito da un concerto prevalentemente latinoamericano nella splendida chiesa parrocchiale e per concludere con un Mohito nel nuovo e raffinato bar Cale’.

Last night it was the occasion another brilliant free lyric concert in the ‘Serchio delle Muse’ series.

This one, dedicated almost completely to Verdi, was thrillingly sung in the elegant surroundings of our Casino’.

The concert was followed by a rinfresco of prosecco and finger food on the house.

Only two concerts in the series are left to go now with a grand gala on December 12th (see programme below). Then…it’ll soon be Christmas!

We took our lines for a walk under the guidance of Bagni di Lucca artist Deenagh Miller and the result is …an exhibition!

It’s at:
AUSER Sala 32 Ponte a Serraglio

Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
10 to 12

Abbiamo portato le nostre linee a spasso sotto la guida dell’artista di Bagni di Lucca Deenagh Miller e il risultato è… una mostra!

Si trova presso:
AUSER Sala 32 Ponte a Serraglio

Ed è aperto martedì, mercoledì, venerdì, sabato dalle ore10 alle 12

Attending Piegaio’s Pumpkin festa is a long-standing tradition for us. However, this year was a little different. First, the weather was of a grey dullness well-known to all who live in the London basin. Second, there was no festa venue at the school. It had been demolished with all the village children now having to go to Pescaglia for their classes. Happily a new school is being built in the same place which will adhere to the latest anti-seismic regulations.. Let’s hope the cost of it will warrant the number of children attending for sadly depopulation still continues here, as in so many other rural areas of Italy.

As a consequent the ample grounds around the school, normally used for the festa, were restricted to a smaller area on the other side of the high street. However, there was still a good variety of stalls selling everything from handicrafts to local food products.

There was also the characteristic display of animals including some fine birds of prey – from ravens to kestrels to eagle owls – alpacas and a donkey.

Exhibitions included a collection of historic photographs illustrating Piegaio’s past life and a fascinating array of radios, walkie-talkies and gramophones. How lucky we are that we can now condense all these items (and many more) into one mobile phone fitting in our shirt pocket.

The original reason of the zucca festa is to have a competition for the best pumpkins. Here are some worthy of prizes:

One Piegaio pumpkin transformed itself into a coach and four and transported us to a fabulously high-pitched concert at Fornoli’s delightful parish church. This was the programme:

If two flautists can generate a pianist and deliver us everything from Donizetti to Sousa then I’m all for this type of marriage. The repertoire was both familiar and unfamiliar. A Dvorak sonata was more well-known to us in its original violin version. The Carmen pot-pourri was fascinatingly different when played as a flute duet and we were introduced to that nineteenth century flute virtuoso Franz Doppler. The performers were themselves virtuosi with the church’s acoustics lending themselves well to the often ear-piercingly high registers of both flute and piccolo.

The penultimate concert in this series will be next Sunday at 17.00 in Diecimo’s impressive pieve (parish church). Again it’s another event not to be missed.

For a relatively small town Bagni di Lucca has its fair share of ‘piazze’ – squares – particularly important in Italian social life. There’s the Terme alla Villa Square, the ‘Piazzetta’ by the Auser second.hand clothes shop, the Post office square, the market square and the Ponte a Serraglio square, not ignoring the squares in front of the churches.

Now Bagni has two ‘new’ squares.

One is the ‘Piazza Varraud’ before the ‘Forestieri’ restaurant, now completely restructured as a pedestrian area and used for special events like last weekend’s antiques market, and the Piazza Giacomo Puccini, the old forecourt of the Teatro Accademico, named in honour of the supreme opera composer who patronised Bagni di Lucca and wrote his ‘Girl of the Golden West’ here. As part of the inauguration a very able foursome played Puccini’s elegaic ‘Crisantemi’ for string quartet preceded by Haydn’s ‘Lark quartet: a fine debut for our latest ‘piazza’.

Here are some pics showing the inauguration of the two ‘new’ squares: