Santa Celestina: a load of hot air?

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Francis

It was over ten years since I last witnessed the launch of Santa Celestina’s balloon. I wasn’t going to miss her this year!

The Balloon of Santa Celestina is made of paper and powered only by hot air. It’s launched every year around September 8 at San Marcello Pistoiese on the occasion of Santa Celestina, patron saint of the Pistoia Mountains.

Celestina was a third century martyr decapitated by the emperor Valerian, notorious for having dispatched more women than any other Roman emperor. Celestina’s remains found their last resting place in Gavinana and in the church of San Marcello Pistoiese, the busy little market town and holiday resort on the ‘high route’ between our Val di Lima and Pistoia.

In 1832 Tommaso and Bartolomeo Cini, during a trip to France and Switzerland, met Elias, son of Joseph Montgolfier, the inventor of the hot air balloon. Returning the visit in 1835, Elias Montgolfier gave Cini, owner of a paper mill of La Lima, a formula for the production of hot air balloon paper and a plan for their construction.

The launch date of the first balloon goes back to 1838 on the occasion of the solemn religious procession in honour of Santa Celestina. The colours chosen for the balloon were those of the Civic Guard flag of which Bartolomeo Cini was commander: green, white and red arranged horizontally (incidentally, the same colours of the Italian flag). These colours are used to this day.

Tradition says that if the balloon goes higher than the church’s bell tower it will be a lucky year for the whole mountain area, otherwise it certainly won’t….

And if the balloon catches fire through the brazier flames then it will be really doom and gloom!

We held our breath in the packed central square. The day was absolutely glorious. The balloon gradually inflated to its full, grand size.

I was allowed to take a peek inside the monster. It was terrifyingly hot in there!

Then the team held onto the balloon’s rim, crouched down, slowly lifted themselves up, held their hands high and…let go.

The moment the balloon left the earth to wend its way up into the bluest of skies felt quite emotional.

Luckily for us, the launch was very successful. The old-timers said it was the best they’d seen for years.

We are, therefore, ensured a prosperous year ahead…at least in our mountaineous part of the world!

Some facts about the balloon for the technically minded:

It’s made of 24 strips of paper glued together. It is 15 metres high with a circumference of 30 metres, a total volume of 450 cubic metres and a weight of about 100 kg.

All Dressed Up With Everywhere to Go

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Francis

There is so much happening in Lucchesia’s summer that it’s difficult to keep up with it all. Not only that, it’s often difficult to find the information until someone tells you ‘wow that was a fab show I went to at blabla’

So what can you to do to keep up with the immense plethora of events in our part of the world?

Take a picture of every poster you find advertising an event.
Visit Bagni di Lucca’s helpful tourist office at regular intervals.
Google for events in the area.
Chat to people about what’s happening.
Decide what you’re really interested in.

There are three main categories of events

Foody ones – sagre, feste etc.
Arty ones – concerts, theatre, shows, palii etc.
Sporty ones – marathons, swimming pools, car rallies etc.

Because the weather is still so lovely, not too brazenly hot and often with a gentle zephyr, there is no excuse for sitting at home meditating on what to do. The world, or at least, the Lucchesia is your oyster! (Which reminds me go to Marina di Pisa for some great ones – oysters I mean!)

Here’s a start….I have already decided on the reopening of Bagni di Lucca swimming pool after extensive refurbishing and the concerts at Villa Bonvisi.

I have also decided to publish all the events I can find in our area on an ongoing way in my facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/fpettitt

This is to avoid clogging up my blog with too many posts.

Lucca’s Saint Zita Converts Flour to Flowers

Posted on April 27, 2018 by Francis

What better idea to have a flower fair than on Saint Zita’s anniversary! Saint Zita is Lucca’s patroness saint and yesterday we spent a colourful afternoon in and around the city’s amphitheatre square – yes, it used to be Lucca’s former amphitheatre and that’s why it’s oval in shape – admiring the flowers and replacing those of our plants (including our kumquat) which had become martyrs to the dismal sun-less, rain-sodden winter-spring we’d experienced here until the other week.

In the great basilica of San Frediano the saint’s body had been hauled out of her side-chapel and placed on display in the main nave. St Zita’s followers bought some white flowers from a desk to the right, touching them against the glass containing her naturally mummified body and a verger gave us a commemorative immaginetta.

Santa Zita, patron saint of that increasingly rare species, the domestic servant (and, perhaps more usefully for most of us to be invoked for help in finding lost keys, thus avoiding that boring dialogue: “You’ve got the car keys”. “No, I haven’t!” “Yes you have.” etc.) was a poor peasant girl born near Monsagrato (where there is a chapel dedicated to her, visited a few years back when it was being painstakingly restored) who was taken into employment by a rich family as a scullery maid? Through plain hard work she became principal housekeeper (St Zita believed that a hard graft rather than prayer was the way to produce results – which I would certainly not disagree with!) She was generous to the poor and needy and on one occasion was accused of having stolen bread to give to them. Zita was strip-searched but instead of the stolen goods they found beautiful flowers in her apron pockets (hence the appositeness of having that market fair on her day).

(Several photos by grateful acknowledgment to Alexandra)

Saint Zita’s flower market has been extended for two more days to create a ‘Ponte’ or bridge to Italy’s next big national Holiday, May 1^st where the main street of Fornaci di Barga will be pedestrianized and blossoming with more flowers. The lovely weather we’re experiencing now must be a welcome reward for all those overcast and gloomy weeks we’ve had to endure….

So today and tomorrow you can still enjoy St Zita’s transformation of flour in flowers apart from having your first really welcome ice-cream of this glorious season!

******

PS There are BIG happenings in Bagni di Lucca too. The schools and colleges theatre season opens with the biggest array of events ever – over ninety in just five weeks plus a great venue in Villa Ada where a marquee has been set up for all sorts of exciting events including circus, acrobatics, music and lots more. Who wants to be anywhere else in the world now that spring is here!

Borgo Blooms Again for its Azalea Festival

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Francis

Borgo a Mozzano’s azalea festival has achieved great fame and I have described it in various previous posts including those at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/legging-it-in-leghorn/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/another-fabulous-borgo-azalea-festival/

It’s a biennial festival (i.e. it happens every two years) but that did not stop Borgo celebrating flowers last year in its May flower festival which I’ve also described at

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/my-flower-is-at-borgo-a-mozzano/

Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day with some of the warmest temperatures we’ve had this year and the Azalea festival was definitely the place to be. The imagination of Borgo’s inhabitants in transforming their ancient high street into a panoply of colour, music, exhibitions and much else with often the most limited resources is remarkable. Everyone joins in from the local schools to the shop-keepers and the commune to make it a great day out.

The entrance to the (free) azalea festival was marked by this burnt out fifties Fiat 1400 with the heading ‘my guardian angel’ on it. I thought of our near miss from being dispatched to the next world in our cinquina last year and felt that we too had a guardian angel watching over us.

There was a fine bonsai exhibition:

Artist and art teacher Simonetta Cassai presented an illustrated book project she’d carried out with nursery and primary school pupils. Because of the dismal weather we’d been having Simonetta explained how colours used can truly help children through often dark times. Red and yellow, in particular, can bring joy and happiness – and blue can calm one down..

Regarding colours in painting and flowers I found this a particularly witty street display:

Students from the Barga catering and hospitality college (Alberghiera) demonstrated some delicious cocktails using chestnuts, wild herbs and flowers.

There were fine art and photo exhibitions:

Animals of various shapes and sizes appeared:

There was the inventive use of QR codes to point to Annalisa’s class project plus, of course, her special handicraft stall:

Music was provided by an excellent folk band called I briganti (brigands) from Partigliano:

There was a nostalgic evocation of an old school room from 1948 (does that date ring bells with some?) complete with original exercise books and a cane.

There were great assortments of azaleas and other flowers from the surrounding nurseries:

… and so much more to make for a most enjoyably sunny day out.

If you weren’t there yesterday I hope you can make it today although clouds seem to menace us with more rain (but without which the azaleas wouldn’t flourish!)

L’Incanto delle Camellie

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Francis

La mostra delle antiche camellie a Sant’Andrea e la Pieve di Compito, ora nella sua 29 esima edizione, è conosciuta mondialmente per la sua suprema bellezza, il suo ameno sito sul Monte Pisano e la sua organizzazione cortese.

Un mio articolo nella rivista ‘Grapevine’ di questo mese celebra questa veritevole ‘camellia all’occhiello’ italiana.

Come si saprà, sono stati gli inglesi che hanno introdotto in Europa le prime camellie trasportate sui loro velieri dalla Cina nel settecento. Il clima del Compitese era idoneo per la coltivazione delle camellie e, in più, una varietà poteva offrire la possibilità di preparare una buona tazza di thè, senza la quale nessun vero anglo-sassone potrebbe mai sopravvivere…

(Non perdere l’occasione di gustare un ‘cream tea’ con i scones nel tea-house del parco di Chiswick)

A Londra esiste una caratteristica mostra di camellie ogni anno a Chiswick park, esibita nella storica serra, lunga cento metri, del Duca di Devonshire e progettata nel 1813 dal architetto Samuel Ware (colui del famoso Burlington arcade).

Di fronte alla serra un giovane Lewis Kennedy disegnò un giardino formale all’Italiana secondo l’ultima moda inglese (mentre, nella stessa epoca, in Italia diventavano pazzi per la naturalezza dei giardini all’inglese!).

Le camellie, tenute nella magnifica serra al riparo contro le intemperie del clima inglese, risalgono alle varietà più antiche e includono delle vere rarità come la ‘middlemist’s red’: i due soli esempi esistono qui e nella Nuova Zelanda.

Le altre varietà comprendono la Variegata, Imbricata, Chandleri, Alba Piena, Pompone, Corallina, e Rubra Piena, tutte risalenti alla collezione del 1828 del Duca.
Dobbiamo ringraziare i volontari che hanno salvato la collezione di camelie, la squisita serra e il grazioso giardino Italiano per le nuove generazioni. Infatti, il lavoro di riqualificazione è stato solo completato nel 2010.

Le camelie si possono visitare fino all’Aprile. Non dimenticate, però, che nello stesso parco di Chiswick è ubicata la splendida villa di Lord Burlington ispirata dai suoi viaggi in Italia e dalle ville di Palladio.

L’Italia in Inghilterra (come anche una dei suoi giardinieri che abbiamo incontrato) come l’Inghilterra in Italia, e, in ambedue le nazione, la Cina con le sue camelie… E’ assolutamente senza dubbio che, assieme alla musica, sono i giardini che aiutano a unire il mondo!

Ps. Parlando di musica ecco i Beatles a suonare nella serra delle camellie, anni sessanta.

Ogni petalo

ci rivela un ricordo

paradisiaco.

Norah Jones and Marcus Miller at Lucca Summer Festival

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Francis

Lucca Summer Festival announces a big double bill for the evening of July 26 with Norah Jones and Marcus Miller.

Norah Jones, one of the most influential American pop jazz singers, winner of several Grammy Awards, returns to Lucca after six years for her third appearance at the Festival. During the new tour the songwriter will play songs from her latest album ‘Day Breaks’ and items from her repertoire accompanied by exceptional musicians like Brian Blade on drums and Chris Thomas on bass.

Marcus Miller has developed a strong relationship with Lucca Summer Festival, where he was also protagonist in an extraordinary jam session with Pino Daniele in 2013, and, therefore, could not return to present his new album ‘Laid Black’, out this spring.
Miles Davis’ bass player opens the evening accompanied by a band formed by the best young talents of the international jazz-funky scene.

Ticket sales at http://www.ticketone.it

Advance Tickets TicketOne – Infoline 0584.46477

It’s Carnival Time in Viareggio!

Posted on January 29, 2018 by Francis

Are you carrying out your New Year’s resolutions and have you decided what to give up for Lent (making New Year’s resolutions?) – those forty days, beginning on Ash Wednesday (February 14^th this year – same day as Saint Valentine’s???) and ending on Holy Saturday which Jesus spent in the wilderness resisting Satan.

Italy celebrates the time before Lenten abstinence by holding carnivals in many towns. The word ‘carnival’ comes from Latin ‘carne vale’ = farewell to meat. That’s why Mardi Gras – marking the last big feast before Lent starts – is the day before Ash Wednesday.

Carnival is a time for letting off steam and reversing traditional roles: subordinates become masters, partners are swapped, rules broken and masked balls take place . A useful Italian word to learn for this time is ‘veglione’ = all-night dance party. The previous way of doing things transforms into chaos and from this disarray a new structure arises, reflecting the burgeoning spring. (It’s no coincidence that ‘Lent’ comes from Anglo-Saxon ‘Lenten’ meaning spring).

Because of the carnival’s R. C. associations there’s been no similar tradition in the UK since the reformation. The North London Notting hill ‘carnival’ takes place in summer and is a misnomer since it’s actually a festival inspired by Caribbean culture. The West Country carnivals are protestant in origin and occur in November, the Guy Fawkes and gunpowder plot month. However, carnivals go back to pre-Christian times: the Roman Saturnalia and the Celtic Samhain.

Italy has its ‘big five’ carnivals which all should try to attend. They are

CARNIVAL LOCATION	FOUNDATION	CHARACTERISTICS
Putignano, Puglia	1394	Papier-Mache allegorical floats and the figure of ‘Farinella’
Venice	Founded 14^th century but suppressed by Napoleon and resuscitated in 1979	Wonderful baroque costumes and masks. A lot of cultural activities: arts exhibitions and music included
Acireale, Sicily	Very, very old.	Lots of fresh flowers decorating the floats
Ivrea, Piedmont	Mediaeval in origin it’s the only Italia carnival with an unbroken tradition.	Teems with folklore and tradition. Battle of the oranges (wear a red cap if you don’t want to get pelted) Particularly rich in Napoleonic costumes. Famous for ‘Mugnaia’. Beautiful floats
Viareggio, Tuscany	Dates from 1873, the time of the town’s expansion as a major seaside resort	World-famous floats designed by some of Italy’s greatest designers. First place to use papier-mâché in 1923. Great political satire. Lots of ‘veglioni’. Absolutely unmissable.

Rome had a carnival once (remember Berlioz’ overture and Goethe’s travel diary?) However, it was abolished in the nineteenth century because spoil-sports thought the horse race down the Corso had become too dangerous. What a shame.

I was at Viareggio’s unmissable carnival last Saturday when the floats made their inaugural parade down the wide seaside promenade. The event was quite stunning and the weather held – important when the floats are made of papier-Mache! There are three categories of floats and each category is separately judged. This gives a big chance for smaller float builders with fewer resources than the gigantic ones built at the ‘Cittadella’, a special site for float construction and exhibitions which opened in 2001.

Viareggio is particularly hot on political satire (even Mrs. Mayhem made an appearance this year), world issues (especially environmental degradation) and social commentary (poor disabled access and smoking are big issues). The first category floats presented the following issues.

Number		Float Title	Issues	Symbols used
CATEGORY ONE
1	In un mondo che prigioniere è (in a world where we are all prisoners)		We are all subject to being punished for freedom of expression	Cell doors, swaddled human figures
2	Fumo negli occhi (smoke in your eyes)		Smoking causes death	Skeleton, cigarette butts
3	Proxima ventura		Towards a better future	Galleon, giraffes, helicopter
4	La pace di cristallo (fragile peace)		Threat of war	Prostrate dove with world figures above it
5	Papaveri rossi (red poppies)		Stop wars	Red poppies, WWI soldiers
6	No tu no (Not you)		Increase disabled access	Pulcinella on wheelchair, barriers
7	Ozio, vizio e vitalizio (Leisure, vice and annuities)		Against political corruption	Cicciolina, Razzi and Berlusconi
8	Aspettando Godot (Waiting for Godot)		We’re all waiting for dreams which never seem to materialize.	Huge tramp and text from Becket’s play
9	E’ come credere alle favole (It’s like believing in fairy tales.)		Fake news	Pied piper and mice

There were five second category floats and nine category three, all equally inventive and dealing with essential issues like plastics waste, political corruption, war-threats etc.

See if you can distinguish which floats are which in my panoply of photos taken last Saturday:

A lot of the carnival fun is also to do with the float actors and their costumes, the public and especially the children who have a real field day at this event!

Wouldn’t it be great if the Italian carnival tradition were brought to the UK, There could be such opportunities to allegorize ‘swivel-eyed’ Conservative in-fighting (to say nothing of Labour) not to mention the political figures who could be wonderfully sent up. In my mind’s eye I’m already imagining a Brexit float shaped like a double-decker filled with the usual suspects … It would certainly help to relieve public frustrations at the tragi-comic mess that is going on in those islands to the distress of the NHS, crime figures and education.

The Viareggio carnival continues as follows:

Seafront parades on:

Domenica 4 febbraio – Ore 15,00

2° CORSO MASCHERATO

Domenica 11 febbraio – Ore 15,00

3° CORSO MASCHERATO

Martedì 13 febbraio – Ore 17,00

4° CORSO MASCHERATO notturno DEL MARTEDI’ GRASSO

Sabato 17 febbraio – Ore 17,00

5° CORSO MASCHERATO notturno

Al termine la proclamazione dei vincitori

Grande Spettacolo pirotecnico finale (ie great final fireworks display)

Bagni di Lucca’s ‘Shelley House’ is No More

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Francis

‘Shelley House’, Bagni di Lucca Villa’s brilliant bookshop run by Luca and Rebecca, is closing after barely two years. This is, indeed, sad news since ‘Shelley House’ was more than just a bookshop; it was a meeting place for poets, authors and all those interested in literature and the arts. Rebecca and Luca organized book presentations, art exhibitions and special events like the Brownings’ evening walk along the Lima river, described in my post at:

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/a-romantic-evening-of-poetry-along-bagni-di-luccas-river/

Luca and Rebecca also organise the well-known Shelley Festival which has received the patronage of the Italian President. They are also publishers (Edizioni Cinque Marzo) for several writers including myself (‘Septet’, ‘Four Kingdoms’).

Strangely enough, I had presentiments, even before the news, that this lovely bookshop in Bagni di Lucca would not last all that long. Encountering difficult moments in their former location at Viareggio, with its sixty thousand plus inhabitants, how could Luca and Rebecca have captured a more receptive market, despite their most valiant publicity efforts, in a town which barely counts six thousand unless they had an immensely strong on-line presence?

Looking at comments in Facebook I see the same thoughts came to the mind of several other persons. Here are some of them:

“It’s sad but, unfortunately, they don’t see a future. They came to Bagni di Lucca full of hope and courage but they had to give up”.

“It lasted from morning till evening. I’m sorry.”

“What a pity!”

“It’s a pity. They did their best for our area even if they aren’t from here. They seemed so interested in Bagni di Lucca’s history, culture and everything to do with it. I’m sorry. Bit by bit nothing will remain for us.”

“It’s a pity but with on-line sales and e-readers this is what happens. And not only bookshops..”

“I’m sorry but I’m not surprised, I would be astonished if the opposite happened…”

“On-line sites are destroying so many high street retail shops. How many people have never bought a book? Let’s add, too, how little Italians read. Even in Lucca famous bookshops have closed. Let’s ask ourselves some questions.”

***

With this sad news about Bagni di Lucca’s only dedicated bookshop let’s look on the positive side of things and note the following new hopes for this town in 2018:

A newly refurbished Corona hotel which will soon open as a ‘boutique’ hotel.
A new greengrocers’ opening at BDL Ponte
A new beauty parlour opening at BDL villa.

However, these are no substitute for the departure of Luca and Rebecca (who had been encouraged to come here by former mayor Betti) from Bagni di Lucca Villa. I, for one, shall miss them and all the activities they dedicated to a place they had fallen in love with for its Shelley connections. The irony is that if the bookshop had been kept open it would have been able to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley to Bagni di Lucca (plus, of course, the anniversary of the first edition of Mary’s novel ‘Frankenstein’).

‘Plus ça change’ in Bagni di Lucca, it seems.

For your reference here are the links, chronologically arranged, to all the blog posts I wrote on the subject of Luca and Rebecca’s Shelley House:

2015

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/08/18/a-romantic-evening-of-poetry-along-bagni-di-luccas-river/

2016

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/two-new-exhibition-spaces-in-bagni-di-lucca/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/bagni-di-luccas-casa-shelley/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/09/loves-philosophy/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/14/cassiopeia-and-the-female-principle/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/16/after-the-world/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/27/septet/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/allegra-con-spirito/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/meet-the-stars-at-bagni-di-luccas-1950s-fashion-show/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/vitalitis-sculpture-opens-at-shelley-house/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/a-plea-for-justice-and-civility-in-italy/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/stunning-photography-at-shelley-house/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/heres-to-will/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/the-beechwood-of-the-black-fate/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/sunset-with-shelley-and-respighi/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/05/27/shelley-at-the-house/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/green-landscapes-in-a-pink-room/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/06/08/on-indian-ink-in-art/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/07/05/nino-chiesas-mastery-of-artistic-techniques/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/infra-red-at-bagnis-shelley-house/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/light-boxes-at-bagni-di-lucca-villa/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/11/19/the-sounding-cataract-haunts-me-like-a-passion/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/shelley-houses-first-birthday/

2017

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/peace-doves/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/yielding-mothers/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/03/15/water-and-life-at-bagni-di-luccas-shelley-house/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/03/20/my-life-as-a-woman/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/04/08/love-of-literature-in-mediaevalle/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/vico-pancellorums-secret-language/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/06/15/cor-cordium/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/of-summer-love-and-death/

https://longoio3.com/2017/07/03/puccini-and-shelley-again/

https://longoio3.com/2017/07/22/an-evening-of-poetry-by-shelleys-house/

https://longoio3.com/2017/08/02/767/

https://longoio3.com/2017/10/14/poetry-please/

Living Cribs at a Home

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Francis

‘Presepi’ (nativity cribs) in Italy can also be ‘viventi’, or living, with people rather than figurines enacting the protagonists in that great happening two millennia ago. For many years we played characters in Equi Terme’s brilliant presepe. One year, for instance, I was a wise man and another year a Roman governor. For more of this presepe do see my following posts:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/no-room-at-the-inn-in-equi-terme/

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/12/15/of-dragons-irises-and-knights/

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/christmas-crib/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/12/28/a-living-crib-is-reborn-at-equi-terme/

Last week-end we visited another living crib: that of Marlia. This was a particularly special crib as it takes place in a’ Casa di Riposo’, a place which in the UK was once called a geriatric institution but now could be described as a rest home.

After a procession from Marlia’s stately parish church (which has been recently well-restored) the participants met before the little stable erected in the home’s main courtyard.

The new-born babe is always the latest to have seen daylight in the parish and the mum was suitably ecstatic.

Of the three wise men, Balthazar, King of Tarsus and Egypt, is traditionally black-skinned and carries myrrh. Caspar, King of Sheba, brings frankincense and Melchior, King of Arabia, gold. In this case Balthazar was someone who immediately recognized my wife as they had recently met on the same train from Lucca.

Inclusiveness was also apparent in the participation of the home’s residents who enacted various occupations like bread-making, wool-spinning, fish-mongering and wood-working.

In the home’s extensive grounds a pen contained some other new births.

Marlia’s living crib has become an established event in the local community’s festivities. I’ve been a few times for medical check-ups at the adjacent heath centre but it was only thanks to Sandra that I found out about the crib. Who knows? Perhaps one day we’ll be enacting parts as inmates of the home….

Of Mediaeval Festivals

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Francis

How many of you knew that there is a masterpiece of Florentine architecture only a half-an-hour’s drive from Lucca? Brunelleschi, famous for designing and building Florence cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore’s cupola, also projected the imposing fortress at Vicopisano just on the other side of the Pisan Mountain. This fortress was built in 1434 after the surrounding Pisan territory had been conquered by the Florentines and has an unique feature – a “rescue” wall descending from the main keep walls down to the river Arno (or where the river used to be as it was diverted to its present course in 1560). This wall enabled the castle to be supplied with food and armaments if besieged or, alternatively provided an escape route for its defenders if the opponents’ siege was successful. The main feature of the fortress is the mastio (or keep) which can be accessed via an aerial staircase – (not suitable for vertigo sufferers!). The views from the top are transcendent.

Vicopisano is also an excellent scenario for its Mediaeval Festa.

With all our once local Val di Lima mediaeval feste gone (there was a time when Casoli, Lucchio and Gombereto all held their own events – Gombereto’s is the last to have disappeared and this year there was no Festa medievale there) one has to go further afield for the experience of seeing mediaeval combat, traditional games falconry displays, fireworks, noble lords and ladies in all their finery, ancient crafts and pastimes and all the other delights of a medieval fair.

The main ones we’ve been to are at:

Nozzano

Volterra – the best so far

Coreglia Antelminelli

Castiglione Garfagnana

All, except Volterra, are within an hour’s drive of Bagni di Lucca and all are promised again during next summer. Of course, further afield there will be magnificent pageants at Arezzo (Giostra Del Saraceno), Siena (Palio), Gubbio (corsa dei ceri) and so forth.

We did enjoy the Vicopisano festa very much and attended it on its best day, last Sunday. The big Saturday evening pageant was washed out because of heavy rain. It must have been so disappointing for all concerned.

To get to Vicopisano is easy. There are two routes. The one via Altopascio takes you across a flat almost fen-like plain (were it not for the sunflowers) . The clouds (as in the fenland) were particularly impressive.

The other route takes one closer to the Pisan Mountain and crosses a delightful area called il Compitese where there is one beautiful village after another. Here are some photos of Castelvecchio perched high on a ridge overlooking the plain formerly occupied by lake Bientina, of which only a small part now remains after drainage. The views of the Apuan mountains from here are pretty impressive too.

Regrettably we weren’t able to stay until the evening so we couldn’t see all the pageants and firework displays. On the other hand, when we were leaving, so many visitor cars were entering the environs of beautiful Vicopisano that we were a little glad we weren’t caught up in the rush. Truly, the high spot of this festa (about one and a half hour’s drive from BDL is in the evening). Anyway, here are a few corners of the festa including the incredibly good English-language speaking Châtelaine of the castle-fortress of Vicopisano: