Bluesman Geoff Collins -White from Jack’s Pack was there to give the evening that added swing.

Once again as in other years for the past week or so rumours of the start of the porcini season- the local wild mushrooms that grow up in the mountains around Barga - have been percolating around the city.

There have even been a couple of images of newly found porcini seen on a cell phone but today all the rumours became fact when one of the seasoned mushroom pickers walked into Barga Vecchia with a wicker basket across his shoulder containing the first of this year’s precious crop.

So an early start to the season … checking on the archives on the site we find that last year the first mushrooms that actually made their way into Barga Vecchia were also brought in by the same hunter as today but more than a month later - 21st June - (article here)

Porcini (Boletus edulis, the Latin name) is a highly regarded edible mushroom. It has a number of English names, including cep (from its Catalan name cep or its French name cèpe), king bolete and penny bun. A common term in current use is porcini (from the plural of its Italian name porcino).
The scientific name, Boletus, from the Latin stem bolet-, meaning “superior mushroom” and edulis, meaning edible, explains the species’ culinary qualities. This mushroom has a distinct aroma reminiscent of fermented dough. It has a higher water content than other edible mushrooms. source

EDIT: update on this article - the porcini featured on these images weighed just over 1 kg and as often happens they ended up in a restaurant - the L’Osteria in Piazza Angelio (site here) but none of Riccardo’s clients ever got in smelling distance of the precious mushrooms. A porcini sauce was prepared by the chef in L’Osteria but instead of serving it to the tables, Riccardo telephoned down to the Altana restaurant (3D image here)telling them ” we have the mushroom sauce, have you got some home made pasta ? ” upon hearing the affirmative reply the staff at the L’osteria promptly shut the doors and all moved down to the Altana for a shared meal celebrating the first porcini mushrooms of the year.

Today is Father’s Day in Italy, well almost, it’s the Festa di San Giuseppe - St. Joseph’s Day. Traditionally in this area the fathers get to eat frittelle, or even better - frittelle di riso- fried rice fritters and maybe polenta made with chestnut flour, castagnaccio -a cake made from chestnuts or if they are lucky, necci con ricotta - crêpes like pancakes made of chestnut flour cooked between two circular heated plates of metal - the testi or cotte (depending just where you live in the area) Anna Turicchi, the cook at the L’Osteria Angelio in Plazza Angelio in Barga Vecchia prepared for her lucky customers some freshly fired frittelle this evening 

- they went like hot cakes. How it is possible that something as simple as some flour, water, eggs and a touch of salt can be so tasty ?

I Necci o “Nicci”, sono dolci tipici della Garfagnana e si possono considerare gli antenati poveri delle crêpes. La base dell’impasto è composta da farina di castagne, acqua e sale; la difficoltà maggiore è data però dalla loro cottura, per la quale sono necessarie sia una notevole perizia che appositi strumenti, detti “testi”, da mettere sul fuoco del camino, oppure con i “ferri”, che sono dei cerchi di ferro con dei lunghi manici, che vanno messi sul piano della stufa a legna. .

Recent paintings by the Barga artist Alba Calamari can be seen on display inside the L’Osteria in Piazza Angelio.

There are a number of quite large paintings from Alba on the walls of the osteria plus some smaller tiny jewel-like paintings featuring some of the smaller comunes in Garfagnana - look out for the one painted from below the Rocca in Ceserana in the Comune of Fosciandora for instance - tiny brushmarks with a shimmering light flooding up from the valley - classic Alba Calamari.

Simone Franchi is marrying Lucille Heather Hassan
The wedding: Little Manly Point Manly 2095 Sydney Australia at 17:00 pm
Reception: Moson Masonic Center M from 19;00 to 01.00 am…
Party: The Lee’s 01.30 Am (live on web)
That was posted up on the barganews forum this week …and the party just kept on coming. A webcam was set up in the L’osteria in Piazza Angelio in Barga for 30 guest and another in Sydney Australia, this time for 130 guests.

The two groups were united with the images from Australia being shown over a large screen in the L’osteria and the sound of the party on th eother side of the world coming out of the PA system.

more images can be found in the forum

un saluto a tutti i nostri fedeli, arrivederci all’8 dicembre