All eyes on the skyline for the double sunset

If the conditions are right and your timing is perfect, it is possible twice a year to see the doppio tramonto - the double sunset.



This is when the sun drops down behind the mountains and then shine through the natural arch of the Monte Forato



Looking at the sun with the naked eye is not to be recommended and so local people have found other methods to get round that problem .... looking at the sunset through the filter of a scarf for instance.

Annual blessing on the Animals

A crisp January morning on the Fosso in Barga and the sound of horses hooves clattering on the tarmac and barking dogs fill the air. It is the annual animal blessing from Don Piero. This year 17 horses and many dogs where lined up on the Fosso to receive their blessing for 2005.

This Christian ceremony may appear strange to some people who maybe think that the whole idea of animals having a spirit, an anima, and therefore needing or benefiting from a blessing is something of an anathema but there is a long tradition of priests blessing not just animals but also inanimate objects, such as new completed buildings, boats being launched and even Harley Davidson choppers ... anybody here remember the event held every year further up the mountain at San Pelligrino ìn Alpe where Don Giovanni stands on the back of a"chopped" Harley Davidson and rides along blessing the assembled motorbikes and their riders ?

The full article and more images can be seen here

Nico Gori + Michele Lombardi at Barga Jazz Club

A packed Barga Jazz Club this evening sat back and enjoyed what must be the best concert of the year so far ... the long awaited evening with Nico Gori and Michele Lombardi.

Wonderful, wonderful music..... Nico Gori on sax, the voice of Michele Lombardi, Piero Frassi on piano and Nino Pellegrini on double bass ... be sure to download the MP3 file (4 mega) of a small part of tonights performance

More images here

Barganews weatherman Jack Nannini in hospital

Jack Nannini the barganews weatherman has had a fall this week in his home and has been taken to hospital in Castelnuovo Garfagnana. Jack was born in 1919, so anybody who is good with arithmetic can work out just what a fall at that age can mean.

Jack has been on editorial team of barganews for a number of years with a wide readership of his column of local affairs.



All of the staff here in the office wish him good luck and look forward to his speedy return to the streets of Barga.



The person who will have been the most affected by his departure will of course be.... the musician from Barga who proudly carries his name ...read the Jack Nannini - live and uncensored blog here

Concerto dei Docenti at the Teatro this evening

Concert this evening in the Teatro dei Differenti by the music teachers of the Associazione Musica Barga. Those who braved the sub zero temperatures to get to the teatro were rewarded with an enjoyable evening with a fine mixture of music which ran from Schubert through to Messiaen passing Grieg and Debussy on the way until finally ending up in an improvised jazz from Piero Gaddi and Alessandro Rizzardi to round off the night. More images here

Marco Bartolini Group at the Barga Jazz Club

Marco Bartolini Group at the Barga Jazz Club

Marco Bartalini - Tromba - Marco Cattani - Chitarra
Piero Frassi - Piano - Nino Pellegrini - Contrabbasso

Wonderful music from the Marco Bartolini Group in a club that was strangely tense for most of the evening as it was the first night that the no smoking ban was actually enforced.(finally images like these are now just a dim memory)

More images of Marco in action are here

La Principessa della Czardas at the Theatre

LA PRINCIPESSA DELLA CZARDAS

Operetta in tre atti di Leo Stein e Béla Jenbach
regia di Antonello Gotta
musiche di Emmerich Kàlmàn
coreografie di Loredana Furno
direttore Paolo Massimini
con Alessandra Cecchetti, Vincenzo Santagata - More images here

NUOVA COMPAGNIA DI OPERETTA MASSIMINI

Free internet telephone software

It is not often that we recommend a software but this one just has to be downloaded and used... it's a free Internet telephony software that actually works. Download the smallish file (5 mega) and in seconds you can speak to your friends on their computers anywhere in the world and in real time, no time lags or broken voices.

How about a conference call with up to 4 people speaking at the same time? We tried it this evening using this software and the computer microphone and speakers... friends in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Britain all able to talk with each other with crystal clear reception and all for free !

But there is more, you can also come off the net and onto the telephone service and dial landlines and cell phones using this software. This part of the Skype system is a pay service but the price for dialing most landlines in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia is an astonishing 1.7 Eurocent a minute (1.7 Euro Cent is approximately the same as 2 US cents or 1,1 pence.)

Download the software here

The offices at barganews are now connected to the Skype network - Skype Username: barganews

That was the week that was - NO SMOKING

10th January 2005
This morning the face of Italy has been changed for ever. From midnight last night smoking has been banned from all bars and restaurants in Italy. Smokers will have to go in an closed room set aside just for smokers if there is one provided or smoke outside. full article here



11th January 2005
To celebrate this brave move which once again puts Italy back on course to taking its rightful place as the country of culture inside Europe, a local artist put up an installation of his work about smoking inside Aristodemo's bar in Barga Vechhia.

Ten year ago he spent months cutting out images from Panorama of people smoking. He assembled a collage of these images and constructed a curtain which was originally designed to hang in a school in the area. It is interesting to note that most adults fail to notice that in all the images there is a cigarette. ... an almost all children note this detail first. full article here



12th January 2005
A far darker note was struck in Barga this week when Barga Vecchia was filled with smoke from a house fire that tragically caused the death of an elderly woman trapped in the flames and smoke. full article here



14th January 2005
To end the week with a small amount of humour: the only place left in Barga where it is possible for smokers to congregate and socialise inside away from the colder winter air, is the Barga Jazz Club. As it is a private club it is still possible to smoke inside. Members where talking about voluntarily dividing the place into a smokers part and a non smokers part but on friday the smokers were to be found in both halves and so a spoof non smokers website was set up, much to the chagrin of many of the (smoking) members. full article here

El Rey at the Teatro dei Differenti

Stirring theatre last night on the stage of the Teatro dei Differenti with the production of El Rey. Regia was Salvatore Ciulla and the protagonists; Guilio Maria Corbelli, Francesco Gerardi, Massimo Orsetti and Carlo Mondatori

Pierino Orsi Quartet at the Barga Jazz Club

The excellent drummer from Camporgiano, Pierino Orsi brought some serious jazz to the Barga Jazz Club this evening in the company of the rest of his esteemed Quartet. More images and a small MP3 file so that you too can join in the fun can be downloaded here

Barga writer published on BBC web site

Deety, one of the barganews.com columnists who has been quietly writing articles about Barga since the year 2000 has finally got some of recognition that he deserves this morning when one of his articles appeared on the front of the widely read h2g2 site on the BBC in London. The h2g2 is an unconventional encyclopedic Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything.



Deety's article is A Motorists Guide to Tuscan Hilltop Towns featuring of course Barga.

Unlike most towns, where traffic lights, roundabouts and parking restrictions are abundant, small hilltop towns in the Tuscan mountains have found other ways of coping with traffic management and road safety.

Aromatic Road Signs

Wreaths and crosses are placed at all major accident black spots. These floral road markings have proved to be much more effective than the standard slow down, danger sign or flashing traffic light.

Speed Management Stalls

To reduce traffic and speed, the local market is held very close to the edge of, or just on, the road. There are no written rules, but every car driver knows that they must give way to shoppers and market stalls on market day. This technique also has the added benefit of keeping cars off the roads because old ladies and non drivers use these occasions to get their own back by purposely having long lingering, strategically positioned conversations in the middle of the road.

On non-market days, the traffic duties of the market stalls and old ladies are taken over by dithering mothers with badly-parked prams and informal mass gatherings, which act as makeshift roundabouts.

Another commonly seen vehicle in Tuscan hilltop towns is the APE, a three wheeled car-like means of transport, close relative to the scooter and best described as the open top transit van version of the Robin Reliant . These vehicles do not require the driver to have passed their driving test, or to have any formal knowledge of road traffic laws. Visitors should be wary, as these vehicles do not follow any specific rules. Local residents are able to identify each individual Ape from its characteristic markings and hence adapt to that particular Ape owner's interpretation of road traffic etiquette

The rest of his article can be found here

Fatal fire in Barga Vecchia

One person died in a house fire this evening in Barga. The house on the main road surrounding Barga Vecchia was easily accessible to the three fire engines who responded to the call to the emergency services and the fire was quickly put out. More images here

No smoking in bars produces art work

Today on the 10th January 2005 all smoking in bars and restaurants in Italy is now only allowed if there is a special room set aside for the smokers. An incredible step forward and one which should be loudly applauded and supported.

To celebrate this brave move which once again puts Italy back on course to taking its rightful place as the country of culture inside Europe, a local artist put up an installation of his work about smoking inside Aristodemo's bar in Barga Vechhia.

Ten year ago he spent months cutting out images from Panorama of people smoking. He assembled a collage of these images and constructed a curtain which was originally designed to hang in a school in the area. The work was removed from the school as some of the images included naked women. His reply that they were all from the magazine Panorama which was freely available and probably in most of the pupils homes was ignored.

The work was removed.

Finally after a ten year gap the work has surfaced once again. It is interesting to note that most adults fail to notice that in all the images there is a cigarette. ... an almost all children note this detail first.

More images of the work are here

No Smoking in bars and restaurants from today

This morning the face of Italy has been changed for ever. From midnight last night smoking has been banned from all bars and restaurants in Italy. Smokers will have to go in an closed room set aside just for smokers if there is one provided or smoke outside.

Some bars in Barga have been no smoking places for a couple of years, such as Aristo's in Barga Vecchia, so his clientele have already had a couple of seasons to get used to the idea of standing outside in the piazza to smoke.

More images and the rest of this article here

"Ieri, oggi, domani"di Giorgio Santarini at the Theatre

A great night out at the theatre this evening in the company of the Contafole theatre group from Camporgiano. "Ieri, oogi, domani" a musical written by Giorgio Santarini

Il Laboratorio teatrale dei “Contafole” Camporgiano, sorto alcuni anni fa sulla scia di una secolare tradizione, si è specializzato nel campo delle commedie musicali e, quest’anno,presenta “IERI, OGGI, DOMANI” musical di Giorgio Santarini Si tratta di una carrellata che attraversa la storia delle commedie musicali dagli inizi fino ai giorni nostri. I brani sono stati tratti da My Fair Lady, The Blues Brothers, Cats, Cabaret, Notre Dame de Paris, Bulli e Pupe e West Side Story Le splendide melodie, cantate interamente dal vivo, le vivaci e suggestive coreografie, rendono questo spettacolo molto scorrevole e gradevole ad un pubblico di tutte le età

More images are here

Tsunami disaster - who is this boy?

Please take a look at the attached picture of this victim (a 2years old boy) from Tsunami.

If you do not know him, please forward his pictures to your friends or organization in your country for further publication. This boy is about 2 years old. Found and taken from Khao Lak Resort Area,the southern part of Thailand.

His parents are missing. His nationality cannot be identified.

Please contact Dr. Anuroj Tharasiriroj of Phuket

International Hospital, +66 76 249-400,

http://www.phuket-inter-hospital.co.th

info@phuket-inter-hospital.co.th

I thank you all for extending kindness to this boy.

With kind regards,

Tess Ruktapurana
Thai Airways International PCL

The Befana dances long into the night

Every year on this day the Befana rides into Barga on her trusty donkey handing out sweets and presents to the waiting throng of children. Then in the evening it was the turn of the adults to have their fun.

It might have been a freezing cold night but that did not stop the befana from dancing in the piazza until well gone midnight. The place was a riot of woollen shawls, wicker baskets, large boots and thick glasses as people arrived to celebrate the Befana all dressed up for a great night out. More images here

Befana rides into Barga on her donkey

Every year on this day the Befana rides into Barga on her trusty donkey handing out sweets and presents to the waiting throng of children. This year was no exception and at 3 pm this afternoon, there she was coming up the road and into the gates of the city

More images here

2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake

Sorry people, as you may have noticed, there have been no updates on barganews all week. This is because the staff of barganews have moved from sitting in front of the monitors watching the disaster as it evolves to getting up out of their seats and trying to help some of these people. We have just not had time to update the site.

We are organising an event here in Barga to take place on the 29th January in the Teatro dei Differenti. The idea is for a Gala Night with an auction of paintings and photographs donated by local artists with music supplied by Coro Alpi Alpuane - a 40 piece male voice choir, Jack's Pack - the Barga blues band and Mushroom Jazz Band.

More details will be released as the picture becomes clearer.