Annual Presepe Vivente

Once again the Presepe Vivente fills Barga Vecchia with a wonderful mix of images from the near past and the far past ... Roman soldiers mixing quite happily with turn of the century farm workers and biblical figures moving through school rooms from the 1930's

The final act of Mary and Joseph arriving at the stable outside the Duomo was made even more poignant this year by the addition of a very much alive infant Jesus .. the latest member of the ever present Cella family to join this well loved annual event.

The award winning barganews photographer O'Connor could be heard muttering under his breath this evening the words "Caravaggio" and "Rembrandt" One or two of the image above seems to bear out his words.

Images from the annual presepe vivente from past years can be seen here; 2003 | 2002 |

Download a small MP3 file of the Barga Band in action this evening at the presepe vivente (there should actually be three trumpets in this piece of music but for some unexplained reason the missing brass section managed to lose their way from Aristo's bar to the piazza ? The music MP3 file is here)