Book by Antonio Nardini - Affresco by Paolo Maiani

A presentation was held this evening of a new book about the Church and Convent of San Francesco in Barga by Antonio Nardini. He presented his book along with the artist Paolo Maiani who has just finished an affresco on the walls of the Church of San Francesco. The choir from the Duomo, directed by Roberta Popolani sang a number of Francescan songs in the choistro. More images can be seen here

Exhibitions in Barga by Fontirossi and Barsotti

The more the summer goes on, the more the phrase "Barga - city of art" starts to take on more significance. Two exhibitions opened this afternoon in Barga Vecchia. The first was from one of the top painters from Lucca, Roberto Fontirossi who has exhibited in the past here in Barga but only small works on paper... this time a full blown exhibition of his latest wry views on life. Not just a talented draughtsman but also a sure hand with colour can be seen in his exhibition at the Gallery Marzocco. Open until the end of August.



At the other end of the piazza in the Chiostro Palazzo Balduini there was also the opening for the exhibition of new paintings from Marcella Bertoli Barsotti who has made great progress in her work since her last exhibition a year ago in the same Chiostro. Looking forward to seeing what the future holds for her and her work.

Daily Images for JULY from O'Connor

Daily Images from the award winning photographer O'Connor

Since Jan 1st 2000 O’Connor has been clicking away daily amassing a huge database of images about Barga which have now surpassed the one million images mark. Each month he publishes what he considers to be the best images of that month. The images from July are here

printing, fish and chips and classic piano

A rich and varied diet today in Barga which ranged from an exhibition of 3 colour printing, a fish and chip festival and a classical piano recital



An exhibition of multi plate etching to mark the end of year for the Studio of Colour Etching run by Swietlan Kraczyna this evening in Barga Vecchia. Exhibiting their work this evening were; Gail Christie - USA | Katie Stephens - USA | Veronika Matiovska - Rebubblica Ceca | Maya Hardin - USA | Elisa Martini - Italia | Kim Collins - USA | Silvana Roncelli - Italia | Nels Johnson - USA | Ruth Koelewn - USA
More images here

The annual Pesce and Patate Festival kicked off in Barga this evening ....hmm, maybe I should explain what "Pesce and Patate" means .... Fish and Chips. Yes, for 2 weeks every year Barga holds a Fish and Chips Festival.



Past events can be seen here The large Barga/Scottish community has kept this festival going over the years it looks as though it will get even larger as newspapers in Britain have sent some reporters here to find out just what it is all about. The success of Sergio Casci's film "american cousins" which as nominated for a Bafta award earlier this year and has scenes of a Barga family earning their living by frying fish in Scotland, maybe had something to do with the press interest ?



Who knows ? What is known for sure, is that the best fried fish and chips in Italy is here in Barga, ready and waiting over the next two weeks.



The evening was rounded off with a piano concert at the Teatro Dei Differenti by Nebojsa Maksimovic

Nebojsa was born in Belgrade in 1979. He has been playing piano since he was 2 years old. He has played in numerous recitals and concerto performances in all important halls in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and in Thessaloniki (Greece).

Exhibition of paintings by Francesco Vivenzio

Exhibition in the Chiostro Palazzo Balduini by Francesco Vivenzio who lives and works in Perugia. The paintings move from figurative to abstract, from seascapes to images of Barga featuring, of course, The Duomo. He participated yesterday in the 80th birthday celebrations for Aristodemo, where he presented a painting and made a short welcoming speech for Aristodemo.

Opera Barga - Hironao Suzuki

pianobarga2004 - Un gruppo di giovani talenti della tastiera provenienti da ogni parte del mondo, vincitori di concorsi internazionali, in una settimana di grande musica

Hironao Suzuki from Japan playing on the Steinway in the Teatro dei Differenti this evening

Aristodemo celebrates his 80th in style

Aristodemo Casciani is 80 years old today and he celebrated his birthday in style and of course with his beloved music. The Piazza Salvi was full with friends, well wishers and musicians who helped him celebrate his 80th year on the planet with a mix of jazz, light popular italian music and of course,his own version of "aristo swing" Quantities of red wine and the largest birthday cake that has been seen in Barga Vecchia in recent times helped the matters along. Barga Vecchia was in festa! All the staff at barganews would like to join in and wish Aristo many, many more birthdays to come. More images and the full story can be found here

Opera barga - Alexia Muzà

pianobarga2004 - rassegna internazionale di giovani pianisti at the Teatro Dei Differenti - Alexia Muzà

Alexia Muzá è nata ad Atene nel 1989, ha iniziato a studiare il pianoforte con la madre Patricia Arenas. Dal 1998 studia sotto la guida del M° Leonid Margarius e dal 1999 è allieva dell'Accademia Pianistica Internazionale 'Incontri col Maestro' di Imola e dei Maestri Margarius e Anna Kravtchenko. Ha suonato in diverse città della Grecia e in Italia: Imola, Rovereto, Trento e per l'Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna; si è esibita come solista con varie orchestre in Grecia e in Italia con l'orchestra Giovanile di Fiesole al Teatro Comunale di Imola. Ha vinto il 1° premio al concorso nazionale di Grecia "Filona 2002".

Why we were off line today - from the editor

As a good deal of you regular readers to barganews noticed, yes we have been off line for most of the day. It was not a technical failure, it was not a virus attack, it was not even our fault... in fact, if anything, it was all your fault!

There have been a few decisive changes on barganews recently; the updates happening now 3 or 4 times a day, the new super duper whistles and bells calendar, the forums, the blogs coming in from other places on the net and above all the fact that all the articles are interactive with the chance for you to add comments to every article published. All this has meant a surge of interest.

We now have a regular readership of 3000 a day. At some point in August we will reach the 2 million visitors to barganews since January 1st 2000.
The project to build an archive of stories about Barga is continuing. Nothing is thrown away. Every single story, image or sound that we have published over the years is still available on the internet (there is the Google search engine on the front page which will search not just on the net but inside barganews itself.... give it a try) All this data and traffic has been mounting up to make barganews one of the largest sites in Italy, some of the figures are now astronomical... barganews now occupies a staggering 3.5 GB of space on the servers for instance ...and there is our problem. Up until now we had a contract with our servers, which allowed us up to 10 GB's of traffic a month. We went through the 10 GB of traffic in less than 3 weeks this month and so the screens were shut off. We are now in the process of re-negotiating our contract and seeing if we can increase our bandwidth to 15 GB's a month in an attempt to keep up with all this interest in Barga.

I am sorry that the screens went blank for a day. I hope it will not happen again but in a strange kind of way it could be attributed to our success. Thank you people for making this such a successful site.

ciao keane

Barga Jazz 2004 - Andrea Tofanelli Quartet

Borgo a Mozzano, Circolo L’Unione,Andrea Tofanelli Quartet

A Vicenza Jazz 2003 Maynard Ferguson ha insolitamente invitato a suonare nella sua orchestra un trombettista ospite, che ha sparato un assolo ricco di energia e note stratosferiche, prima di andare a sedersi in sezione. Tratti in inganno dalla carnagione scura e dalla corvina coda di cavallo, i critici presenti pensavano a una nuova scoperta della scuola latinoamericana, un allievo di Sandoval o Roditi. Era invece un toscano della più bell’acqua, per l’esattezza di Torre del Lago: Andrea Tofanelli, da tempo prima tromba dell’orchestra di BargaJazz. Ferguson – una delle figure storiche del jazz ancora in piena attività – l’ha addirittura invitato come solista ospite della Big Bop Nouveau Band per un tour americano.

More images here

puppet show causes strong emotions

One of the nice things about reporting on Barga is that I get to see more or less every single event that takes place. .…. every opera, every jazz band, every exhibition. One of the negative things is just that, I get to see more or less everything but after a while it all becomes a blur as I rush from event to event trying to document them all.

Sometimes, just sometimes, it all comes back into focus when I get to see something that is out of the ordinary. Something that shakes my hold on reality for just that split second. Tonight was one of those special moments.

Of all things, it was a puppet show that made all the hairs on my arms stand up, a shiver to run down my back and made me have a quick look round to make sure nobody could see my glistening eyes. Strong emotions and all from puppets no taller than a child’s doll but these were not just ordinary puppets. They were the creations of Amy Luckenbach and they were not in the hands of children but instead in the very capable hands of the Teatro Minimo from Firenze.
A multi media experience in the Teatro Dei Differenti using the minimum of props, some very effective lighting, a very powerful sound track and just the most beautiful puppets I have ever seen
.
A-RONNE - Documentario musicale di Luciano Berio, testo di Edoardo Sanguineti
NOVISSIMUM TESTAMENTUM di Edoardo Sanguineti - Spettacolo per burattini ideato da Amy Luckenbach - Teatro Minimo

Many more images from the barganews award winning photographer O'Connor can be seen here

Piazza Angelio- L'Edicola e Il Coro delle Casalinghe

After the rain washed out yesterday's Ortonovo concert*, all eyes were on the skies this evening in Piazza Angelio... But the moon came out, the stars shone and so did the music; L'Edicola e IL Coro delle Casalinghe took to the stage and held the audience until midnight with renderings of Italian folk and popular music which would now I suppose even be described as "world music" What ever the label you wish to put on it; it was good wholesome stuff.

A MP 3 file of 3 minutes of their music can be downloaded here

*Last year's Ortonovo concert was something to remember. The fact that rain stopped play this year has meant that some people feel slightly cheated by the whole thing.

Festa for Patron Saint of Barga St. Christopher

Grande Festa in Barga tonight to celebrate the patron saint of Barga Saint - Christopher... the high point of the year. This year it had a distinctly Scottish flavour as the Bishop of Glasgow was leading the torch and candle light procession that wound through the town and up to the Duomo The festa was unfortunatly cut short due to the heavy rain but was still well attended this year.

Download an MP 3 file of 3 minutes of the sounds around the Duomo here

Mexican artist shows her work in Barga

An exhibition this evening by the Mexican artist Patricia Cordoba was held in the Giardino of the Studio of Colour Etching run by Swietlan Kraczyna

English Wedding in Barga Vecchia

40 guest, mainly from the UK, were witness today to a moving wedding ceremony in the Palazzo Pancrazi as two new residents to Barga, Helen and Adam, spliced the knot. No newcomers to the readers of barganews though as Adam has been writing about his experiences of leaving England and setting up home here in Barga for most of this winter (his articles are here)All the staff at barganews wish the pair a long and happy life together.

OperaBarga 2004 - Edoardo Sanguineti

A-RONNE - Documentario musicale di Luciano Berio, testo di Edoardo Sanguineti

NOVISSIMUM TESTAMENTUM di Edoardo Sanguineti - Spettacolo per burattini ideato da Amy Luckenbach



- click here for more images and information about this event

A little piece of Scotland in Barga

A new exhibition space was opened this evening under the arches of the Volta del Menchi dedicated to those people from Barga over the centuries who emigrated to other countries.



A distictly tartan affair it was too with the presence of Alex Mosson, ex Mayor of Glasgow and John Bellany, the painter, born in Scotland but now honoury resident of Barga. They were there for the opening of the photographic exhibition "Sull'amicizia Bargo - Scozzese" and also for the showing of the film about John Bellany and his life in Barga shot two years ago by Terry Wolsey. It was in fact Terry who cut the ribbon for the start of the evening.

Speakin' Jazz Project triumph at Barga Jazz 2004

Cecilia Izzi from the Speakin' Jazz Projet

Barga -Piazza Angelio -Sez.D della 17° edizione del Concorso BargaJazz – esibizione dei gruppi selezionati e premiazione del gruppo primo classificato.
Assegnazione del “Premio Luca Flores” al concorrente ritenuto più meritevole tra tutti i singoli partecipanti



Emanuel Castelluccia, the drunmmer with Usa e Jezza Trio

It took the jury nearly an hour to decide just who was going to win this year as the competition was hard fought with some excellent entries but in the end it was The SPEAKIN' JAZZ PROJECT with the supple voice of Cecilia Izzi, with Primiano Di Biase on keyboard and backed up by Roberto Pistolesi on drums and Daniele Basirico playing a fretless 6 string bass who were awarded the Sez. D prize last night in Piazza Angelio.



Donatella Di Paolantonio the vocalist with the Trioart

Walter Beltrami, the guitarist from the WALTER BELTRAMI TRIO took the “Luca Flores” prize for the best individual performance


More images can be seen here

P.S If you are wondering about those umbrella images which keep popping up - then have a look here

BargaJazz | Rochdale Band | Barga Band

Music, music, music !
The evening started with the Barga Band outside the Town Hall to welcome the Segretari Generali delle Camere di Commercio Italiane all'estero who were here for the Meeting 2004



Then it was the turn of the Rochdale Borough Youth Wind Band with a concert on the Piazzale del Fosso






And finally the evenings's main entertainment; the start of Barga Jazz 2004 in Piazza Angelio. Francesco Diodati Quintet - Walter Beltrami Trio - Napoli Project



Walter Beltrami Trio



Francesco Diodati Quintet



Napoli Project

More images and information about Barga Jazz 2004 here

International School of Colour Printing

If you pass by the open door of the The Studio of Colour Etching run by Swietlan Kraczyna this week you will probably be suprised by the amount of activity going on inside. In fact for the whole of this month the studio is host to a group of international artists all working flat out for an exhibition of multi plate etching to be held at the end of their course. More images are here

Gail Christie -USA | Katie Stephens - USA | Veronika Matiovska - Rebubblica Ceca | Maya Hardin - USA | Elisa Martini - Italia | Kim Collins - USA | Silvana Roncelli - Italai | Nels Johnson - USA | Ruth Koelewn - USA

One for the Road get the piazza on their feet

The Barga blues band, "One for the Road" stomped their way through a two hour set this evening and most of the piazza danced along in time with the music. Geoff and the boys have really have come on a long way since their debut on the local musical scene two years ago. The added brass section with Guzzoletti and Rizzardi gave them that added "ommph" and boy did they swing. The tshirt said "Live and Dangerous" and this evening they were.

Michela Lombardi Quintet play some soulful jazz

The start of the Girando alla Tonda - Turn Around music tour opened in grand style this evening in Piazza Angelio with the soulful voice of Michela Lombardi and her compact Quintet playing some very smooth jazz numbers. Michela has been refining her musical instrument, her voice, with more than 15 years of live concerts in the company of some of Italy's best jazz musicians. She works not just in the jazz idiom though but also in other styles, one of her soul songs getting to the 12th position on Billboard in the States in 2001.

Michela Lombardi Quintet are; Michela Lombardi - voce, Piero Frassi - piano, Luca Giovacchini - guitar, Nini Pellegrini - double bass and Riccardo Jenna - drums.

More images are here

Geppo and the Ratband play Piazza Angelio

Geppo and the Rat Band took the Piazza Angelio by the scruff of the neck and gave it a good hard shake this evening. What a voice that man has! The Rat Band have been regular visitors to Barga following on from their musical collaboration with the Barga blues band "One for the Road" In fact it was no suprise this evening when Geoff from the "One for the Road" jumped up on stage for a couple of numbers. A great evenings entertainment was had by all. Take no prisoners.

Antique Bench Crossbow championship

The 3rd Regional championship for antique bench crossbows was held this afternoon in Barga Vecchia. Three cities, Lucca. Pisa and Voltere took part in the championship which was fought out in blazing sunshine on the green between the Duomo and the Museum. The Associazione Contrade di San Paolino Lucca have been organising these events in Barga since 2001 with the biggest so far, being the Italian Championship which took place last year. Many more stunning images from the barganews award winning photographer O'Connor are here

Pinocchio, Soul and Baroque Music

The festa continues in Barga Vecchia. This evening started with the opening of a joint exhibition by Alessandro Reggiolo and Silvia Silvestri entitled "Pinocchio in Barga" a journey through art history using Pinocchio as our guide. He "untruthes" his way, nose getting longer and longer, as a Vincent Van Gogh, a Gustav Klimt, a Jackson Pollock, Joan Miro and even maybe an Antoni Tapies.



Then the music changes!



In Casa Cordati this evening a feast of baroque music with Santina Tomasello - soprano, Gian Luca Lastraioli - liuto, chitarra e pandurina and Ottaviano Tenerani - clavicembalo



Meanwhile out in the open at Piazza Angelio, those Soul Brothers, Mr Pitiful were blasting out some heavy, heavy soul numbers.... they just get better and better.



They call me Mr. Pitiful
Baby thats my name now
They call me Mr. Pitiful
Thats how I got my fame
But people just don`t seem to understand
How someone can feel so blue
They call me Mr pitiful cause I lost someone just like you.

Written by Otis Redding / Steve Cropper

OperaBarga 2004 - La Caduta dei Decemviri

The first offering of the Opera Barga Festival this year is LA CADUTA DEI DECEMVIRI (Napoli - 1697) di Alessandro Scarlatti - Libretto di Silvio Stampiglia Prima ripresa in tempi moderni Direttore – Ottaviano Tenerani Orchestra barocca Il Rossignolo Regia, scene e costumi – Alessio Rosati Interpreti Rosanna Bertini, Lucia Sciannimanico, Elena Cecchi Fedi, Silvia VajenteValentina Coladonato, Nicola Pascoli, Stefanna Kybalova, Ivan Garcia. More images can be found here

Two weeks of art, music, food and festas started tonight

The annual festa season in Barga Vecchia kicked off this evening with the streets full of people enjoying the sights and sounds of art, music and food. An interesting exhibition just as you come into the castle entrance at Porta Reale from Nicola Salotti who this year has brought out not just his paintings but some very nice etchings and prints as well.

Further down, in the Galleria Comunale, two brothers from Lucca, Lisandro and Roberto Rota have a joint exhibition of their work which is showing until the end of the month. Some wry humour in there from Lisandro should make you smile.



The barga band were also in the streets this evening playing traditional pieces and then they could be found at Aristodemo's for a relaxing jam session amongst the hanging salami and stacked cheese



By complete constrast at the other end of the steets there was an entirely different set of cultural values being played out: glitter and henna tattoo's were doing a roaring trade.



The evening was brought to a climax in the main Piazza Angelio by the first of many groups to take the stage over the next 15 days, the eclectic art band Solco Rufiano. One again, no strangers to Barga as they have been playing to enthusiastic audiences at the Barga Jazz Club during the winter.



P.S One of the newer "cultural events" that has been gradually building up over the past couple of years is that of groups of young boys who dress up in the worst taste possible and wander around in the dark trying to frighten as many people as they can find. They only come out when there are festas in the city and always for some bizarre reason known only to them, underpants form an integral part of their disguise.

Barga Jazz press conference

A press conference was held this afternoon at the Barga Jazz
Club to officially start the 17th edition of the Barga Jazz Festival, this year dedicated to the great Italian jazz man Giorgio Gaslini. The dates and places for the Girando alla Tonda "Turn Around" the jazz events in Garfagnana and the Valle del Serchio were also announced along with the new logo and graphics (featuring an old friend of barganews; Nicolao Valiensi)

Operabarga in rehearsals for Scarlatti's Decemviri

The first offering of the Opera Barga Festival this year is LA CADUTA DEI DECEMVIRI (Napoli - 1697) di Alessandro Scarlatti - Libretto di Silvio Stampiglia Prima ripresa in tempi moderni Direttore – Ottaviano Tenerani Orchestra barocca Il Rossignolo Regia, scene e costumi – Alessio Rosati Interpreti Rosanna Bertini, Lucia Sciannimanico, Elena Cecchi Fedi, Silvia Vajente
Valentina Coladonato, Nicola Pascoli, Stefanna Kybalova, Ivan Garcia More images and a small MP3 file of the rehearsals can be downloaded here

Once every 25 years procession with Statue of Mary

Every 25 years the statue of Mary is taken out of the S.S Annunziata church in Barga Vecchia and paraded through the city and around the walls of the castle before once again returning to the church where she will remain for another 25 years before the next outing. That day has arrived. The procession lead by the Bishop of Pisa, Mons. Alessandro Plotti and accompanied by the Barga Filharmonica Band "G. Luporini" passed through the city which had been decorated with candles on almost all the window ledges, doorways and walls. Many more images here

Welcome back Fernando Graziano and Renzo Rovoletto

A welcome return to Barga to the two painters Fernando Graziano and Renzo Rovoletto, who once again this year are showing their latest work at the Casa Cordati.

Daniela Colognori - ceramics exhibition

This afternoon at the Atrio of the Palazzo Balduini in Barga Vecchia, opened the exhibition of ceramics by Daniela Colognori. Deceptively entitled simply "Terre ...Cotte" the Atrio instead is host to series of extremely complicated and thought provoking objects from the capable hands of Daniela. A chance to peek into the mind of an artist working her way through various thoughts and concepts using clay as the means of her expression. Sometimes they are small intimate objects invoking a subject matter from nature but always she returns to the human form and all the complexities that human nature can provide. An exhibition not to be missed. Many more images are here

Italian spoken in Barga Vecchia

It has to be said the irony is not one of the most used or even understood concepts in Barga. It is either brushed off at worst as "sarcasm" or at best a half understood vague blanket term such as "english humour" This morning a piece of paper in a studio window caught the attention and brought forth wails of laughter as the irony behind it bubbled to the surface. Giorgio, a painter who has his studio in Barga Vecchia has put up in his window the following note "Italian Spoken" Wonderful !!!!

54 card players in the swimming pool at midnight!

Torneo di Burraco at the Barga swimming pool this evening. 54 players seated round their tables and playing for all they were worth. This is a serious game. O'Connor the award winning barganews photographer passed by the swimming pool at midnight and was attracted by the lights and the sound of lots of people still sitting around the pool. They will be there next Tuesday night as well and the organisers believe in even greater numbers.

Photographic exhibition at Osteria Angelio

Visioni - immagini - pensieri
The title of an exhibition of black and white photography at the Osteria Angelio in Piazza Angelio which had its inaugurazione this afternoon. Three photographers each taking their own highly personal view on life but united in their want to share this view with the public. A mixed show but well worth the time spent with these images.

Another in the long list of events that the Osteria has put on for its discerning public over the years ."Incontri all'osteria" runs through until the 2nd August.

Bikes, Vintage Cars, Art, Museums and Music

So many things happening in Barga today its been difficult to get round to see them all.


This morning was the morning of the sound of roaring engines, a helicopter buzzing round filming Barga from above, the roar of vintage cars as the 7th Trofeo Biondetti filled up one side of the carpark whilst the other was taken up with the bikes and riders from the Raduno Nazionale Maxiscooter. Previous years Maxiscooter images are here.



The 7th Trofeo Biondetti is an annual event for racing cars from the 20's and 30's ... more images of the vintage cars from previous years can be seen here



This afternoon, it was the turn of the artists to show their stuff: A double exhibition of paintings by Sergio Fini and Luciano Valensin at the Ex Scuole Elementari More images here



A retrospective exhibition at the Fondazione Ricci of the work by Cesare Puccinelli. More images here.



A tiny exhibition tucked in to a small gallery in Barga Vecchia from Giorgione, a painter who came over the mountains from Modena to exhibit in Barga has been overlooked by most of the critics and public. It is a shame as hidden away in that tiny gallery there are some gems. A couple of beautiful paintings that people maybe ought to spend some time with to discover. Hopefully the lack of people at the opening night will not discourage Giorgione from coming to show us his latest work in the future. In the meantime more of his images are here



.... and the evening ended with an open night at the Barga Museum. Here at barganews we have already written articles about this jewel of a museum up by the Duomo. This evening it was open from 9 till midnight with a guided tour and an enchanting mother and daughter keyboard and violin concert outside the main door to the museum

Donatore di Sangue Festa in Barga Giardino

The long hot festa that is going to be summer 2004 in Barga, moved out of the Castle this evening and down to the Giardino area for the Donatore di Sangue Festa (The Blood Donor Festa) Liscio dancing was the order of the evening. Something which is taken very, very seriously.

Cleaning up the streets behind the dogs.

Dogs leaving a mess on the streets is a common problem in most european cities, just spend a day walking in Paris or most of the cities in Provence, France and you will have ample proof of the scale of this problem (I am also inclined to add Helsinki, Finland to this list but only in the spring when the snow thaws and leaves a winters deposits all in one go.)

In Barga there is a movement to stop dogs leaving signs of their presence and even somebody employed to go along and clear up behind them.

Yet another sign of just what an incredibly complex place Barga actually is, she does it whilst out walking her dog.



A larger version of award winning photographer O'Connor's portrait is here

Large crowds for council meeting held in Piazza Angelio

A suprise this evening at the first council meeting of the new administration in Barga as it did not take place in the normal council chambers, the Palazzo Pancrazi but was instead held out in the open in Piazza Angelio. A large crowd sat for the whole event and watched democracy in action in the heart of Barga Vecchia. The Mayor's opening speech, which lasted for over an hour and a half, set the tone for the evening with its main theme being democracy, co-operation and just what being a resident of Barga actually means.