Moving a Steinway piano into Barga Vecchia

One of the many problems about living inside the walls of a medieval castle is getting goods to your door. The streets are narrow and steep in places as they wind through Barga Vecchia. Most things are carried into the city by hand but moving larger heavy objects like fridges, tv's and furniture all cause difficulties most of which can be solved by the use of the three wheeled Ape or a small tractor but this morning the special goods being moving into Barga presented a far more difficult series of problems. How do you get a 150 year old Steinway piano into the city and then up to the second floor of a 500 year old palazzo in Piazza Angelio ?

The first part was resolved by the incredible driving skills of the piano tuner from Pietra Santa who has been moving pianos in and about of Barga for many years for Opera Barga and various musical events in the piazzas during the summer. So skilled is he that he can reverse a large van in through the narrow streets with literally a few bare millimetres gap between the van and the encroaching walls.

The Giammona Transporto Pianoforte company from Genova supplied the solution for the second part of the problem.

They slung some webbing under the piano which was attached to two shoulder straps and then the piano weighing more than 350 kilos was manhandled up the narrow flight of steps by the combined force of two very strong and experienced men from that company with some guiding help from the piano tuner. 

Within minutes the piano was reassembled in position in the main sala. It will remain there untouched for at least 15 days giving time for the ancient parts of the piano to relax after its momentous journey before the piano tuner will once more bring it back up to perfect pitch.

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4 Responses to “Moving a Steinway piano into Barga Vecchia”

Comments

1. dannyboy Mar 12 2008 / 2am

   As drunken piano mover once told me, “It’s all leverage.” I can also recommend a cool little book called “The Piano Shop on the Left Bank,” which includes a fascinating description of the delivery of a piano up the narrow stairs to a Paris apartment.
2. Deety Mar 12 2008 / 10am

   Io vado piano
   Tu Vai piano
   Noi Andiamo piano piano
   Loro PianoForte
   Si, non fanno un caz.
3. doggybag Mar 12 2008 / 11am

   The piano is a paradox: a percussion instrument that is repeatedly asked to do what it cannot, to sing. The music critic Charles Rosen recently caused much displeasure among musicians in America by pointing out the obvious truth that a pianist has no means at all to control the piano’s “tone”: s/he can only hit the keys with greater or lesser force, play concurrent notes more or less legato, and work the pedals at more or less appropriate moments.

   All the arm-waving and torso-screwing in the world, by your standard melodramatic soloist, cannot alter this simple mechanical fact.
4. Mainer Mar 12 2008 / 9pm

   yah but I like to watch the arm-waving and the torso-screwing, and the shoulder rolling and the head bobbing of the standard melodramatic soloist.

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