A new look to the bridge joining Barga Vecchia and Barga Giardino this morning as a bright red British telephone box was winched into place and installed in front of a curious group of onlookers unsure as to just what was going on. In fact the telephone box is a gift to Barga from retired fish and chip shop owner Mauro Cecchini – who’s family were originally from Barga but who has been living and working in Edinburgh Scotland for many years.
Mauro bought the K6 cast iron telephone box in an auction back in 1986 and installed it in his garden where he had a working telephone connected to his house so that he could make and receive calls in the comfort of his own home. When he moved to a smaller house without a garden a few years ago he was forced to leave the box behind.
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A chance meeting with the Mayor of Barga, Umberto Sereni and connections with an export/import company in Scotland who moved the 750kgs box for free was enough for the idea of donating the box to the city to pass from just an idea to being a concrete reality – and so this morning the bright red box is now part of the Barga landscape.
The iconic cast iron red painted box with its distinctive small window design, crown and telephone panel, was the idea of noted architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. He was commissioned to design the box in order to commemorate George V’s Silver Jubilee Year, which heralded a policy to install the so called ‘jubilee kiosks’ into every town or village with a post office. The design, which built upon various prototypes from the 1920s became known as the ‘K6’ and soon became a welcome sight at the roadside across the United Kingdom – more information about the K6 design here
Click on the link below for a short interview recorded with Mauro outside his box (in English)
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Let us fervently pray they don’t begin installing UK menus at our restaurants.
Maybe my old memory is playing tricks on me…..was there not an old ‘phone box outside what was then the “Apple Pub” in Fornaci way back in the 80’s. Furthermore the Apple Pub was known for selling small portions of chips with ketchup and maionaise!!!
How does this square with the huge polemic over a wrong shape/color mailbox in Barga Vecchia a few years back? Sure, accept the gift but stick in the corner of a parking lot somewhere.
…not to mention the fact that the red phone box will be able to serve its habitual function in the UK — giving teenage yobs a place to empty their guts and bladders after drinking themselves silly.
Well, that’s an interesting point A. Diner, but I was thinking more in terms of it being a bright red eyesore in our otherwise serene landscape.
Hey A.Diner have you seen this ? – A phone box in Leith
Maybe this location has been chosen deliberately because it was the site of the former “Cesso”.
Whose ridiculous idea was this? It’s a blot on the landscape! Stick it in the camper car park!
Whatever next? A fish and chip shop in Piazz’Angelio, burger vans on the fosso?
WE’RE IN ITALY!!!!
I propose a Barganews poll, asking how how many people have moved here because Barga’s climate, topography, culture, food, architecture or music reminded them of Scotland.
I hope this debate doesn’t lead to a venting of unjust anti-scottish sentiment. I’m sure most Bargo-Scozzese think that this idea is proposterous.
Apart from anything else, it evokes memories of old England and not Scotland (albeit donated by a very misguided Scots-Italian). The problem here is the mayor. He is well meaning but he should have politely refused this gift or, alternatively, it should have been placed somewhere very discreet (although I cannot for the life of me think that it has a part to play anywhere in Barga). As a Scots-Italian and more importantly, someone who cares about Barga, I hope they remove this soon because I for one would be happy to take concerted action to remove this. It will not last long so if they want to save it and remove it to somewhere more appropriate they should do so now i.e. any small town in the UK. Scot-Italians come to Barga to re-live memories from times gone by, to enjoy the local unspoiled culture of their ancestors and relatives, it is totally unfair to blame this monstrosity on Scots-Italians. This is the fault of a mayor who wants to create a photo opportunity from nothing and who is obsessed with the memory of his father who once spent time in Scotland.
…non ci incastra proprio nulla sul ponte! Da adesso tutti gli Inglesi che verranno si sentiranno ancora di piu’ padroni a casa nostra, pensando che anche Barga fa’ parte del “glorioso” british empire… ci si fa’ mangia’ la pappa ‘n capa!!
Sometimes Monacu is too clever by half (or tries to be), and this is one of the times. No offense intended against Scots or Scots-Italians, and none deserved. The point is not Scottishness at all, in truth, but an over-emphasis on the Scottish-Italian connection that verges on the absurd at times, when it is the Italian part of the equation that draws foreign tourists and residents here. Including American me. In which context, it’s bizarrely amusing to imagine the reaction if the Province of Lucca’s U.S. connections were similarly shouted in this miserable era of George W. Bush, Iraq and Afghanistan — the world’s largest chapter of Lucchese del Mondo is in San Francisco, after all, and not Glasgow. This summer I was asked, ad nauseum, why several dozen little American flags fluttered for months on end over Piazza Angelio. I never found out why (although I heard many diverting and utterly unconvincing explanations), but the flag-waving bothered me too. In my personal view, for what it’s worth, all flag-waving is offensive, and all ethnic nationalism leads to places like Bosnia.
“The problem here is the mayor.”
… oh, so you noticed …. !
On the practical side of things here are a few tips on how to answer and speak on the phone.
1. Answering the phone:
Hello, this is Mario Rossi from Barga Speaking. How can I help you?
2. Explaining:
I’m afraid he/she isn’t here at the moment.
3.Tell them why he/she isn’t there
I am in a Red Box, it is very small, so Yes, I am sure he/she isn’t here.
3. Putting someone on hold
Ok, Ok, Could you hold the line, please? I will pop up the hill to see if he/she is there.
4. Taking a message :
No, he is not there, Can I give him/her a message for you?
5. Problems:
I CAN’T ok, no problem, bye bye.
So, any volunteers willing to chain themselves to the box until they take it away?
Or we could find a really ape (the box weighs 750 kg) and have it taken away in a dead-of-night clandestine mission…
On second thoughts, how about a petition?
Any volunteers willing to chain themselves to the box until they agree to take it away?
Or we could borrow a big ape (the box weighs 750 kg) and have it taken away in a dead-of-night clandestine mission?
On second thoughts, maybe a petition is best. What do you think?
I will be over next June to vandalise it. The graffiti in particular should make it look more Italian, y’know, sort of Romanesque.
Or we could borrow a slightly less big ape (he weighs about 75 kg) and have the mayor taken away in a dead-of-night clandestine mission?
On second thoughts, maybe a ‘petition’ is best. Elections are looming over the horizon. What do you think?
Well said Piangrande and Monacu “an over-emphasis on the Scottish-Italian connection that verges on the absurd at times, when it is the Italian part of the equation that draws..”
Ora basta with flogging the Scots-Italian connection ad nauseum. I, for one, am sick to death to death of it. I am also fed up with pipe bands, tartan, Scottish weeks, Ex Glasgow Provosts and a month long fish & chip sagra. If that’s what you want you should come to Scotland.
Lets hope a less egotistical new Sindaco with a large broom is ready to sweep clean.
Scots-Italians dislike the fact that it bears the crown of an English monarch, George V. Anglo-Italians fear it heralds the arrival of vulgar cultural exports they fled Blighty to avoid, from prostitutes’ calling cards in the box itself to burger vans in Barga’s piazzas. Native Italo-Italians are taking a more pragmatic view, merely noting that the ancient structure is bound to fulfil the same practical function it probably sometimes did on Edinburgh’s streets.
The phone box is located on the former site of a much-missed Barga amenity, the orinale, Italy’s al fresco equivalent of the French pissoir.
rimetteteci i pisciatoi con annessi i cesso boys (che ormai non son piu’ tanto boys)
Basta coi gemellaggi nordici e con le fuckin’ bagpipes, gemelliamoci con rio de janeiro!!
From the barganews archives 18th December 1999
Cessoboy – i Ragazzi del Vespasiano
Giampiero Biagioni – Sacco Andrea – Angeloni Massimo – Giambastiani Mauro
Rossi Alessandro – Mattiello Ciampaolo – Galletti Luca – Agostini Nadia – Bertellotti Paola – Giovannetti Letizia – Gonnella Ambra – Mori Andrea – Mencarini Marco – Rocchi Paolo – Adami Alessandro – Galeotti Luca Mori Luca – Gonnella Marco “maggiolino” – Fluperi Paolo – Collini Alessandro – Pellegrini Marco “L’africano” – Bondielli Marco – Lunardi Cesare – Lucherini Nicola – Lunardi Nedo
take a jump back in time here
The bright scarlet edifice was installed at the weekend on the bridge which joins Barga Vecchia, the old walled town, and the newer district of Barga Giardino. It is a gift from one of the town’s vast Scottish diaspora, Edinburgh fish-and-chip shop owner and hotelier Mauro Cecchini, who for two decades kept the kiosk in his garden at Lasswade, Midlothian.
Such has been the degree of immigration that an estimated 60 per cent of Barga’s population boast relatives in Scotland – particularly in Glasgow, Paisley, Largs and Saltcoats. In the summer holiday season especially, the voices echoing through the narrow streets and piazzas of the old town can sound strangely familiar to a visiting Scot.
Among those present at the phone booth’s “opening” ceremony was the town’s mayor, Umberto Seren, whose father used to work in Glasgow’s famous Savoy Café, run by the Pieri family, also from Barga. However, not everyone in this most Scottish of Italian towns is enamoured with the box.
Some have pointed to its British royal crest and asked what is Scottish about it; others object to its prominent situation. “Accept the gift but stick it in the corner of a parking lot,” writes one irate blogger on http://www.barganews.com, the town’s English-language online newspaper. “Whatever next? A fish and chip shop in Piazz’ Angelio?” demands another.
In fact, the folk of Barga don’t turn their noses up at fish and chips, far from it. They hold an annual fish-and-chip festival – the Sagra di Pesce e Patate – in celebration of that alien delicacy which made the livings, occasionally even the fortunes, of so many emigrant families.
Mauro Cecchini, 75, is delighted to see the box, which he acquired for £150 at a Boy Scout auction 20 years ago, installed in the town for which he nurses a huge affection. His family came to Scotland from Barga in the early years of the 20th century, originally to Glasgow. As a child Cecchini was on holiday in Barga when the Second World War broke out, and he was stuck there for the duration. Now retired, he spends up to six months of the year in the town, saying: “Half of me belongs to here.” He insists that the prominent bridge site is the best place for the phone box. “If you put it in the centre of the old Barga, not everybody would see it.”
For many years, Cecchini kept the kiosk in his garden – complete with a working phone connected to his house. “I’ve had good use of it, and I hope Barga does as well.”
Football star Johnny Moscardini is probably Barga’s most famous son. Born to Italian parents in Falkirk in 1897, he was the only Scots-born player to turn out for an Italian national side. Continuing the Scottish connection, a contemporary Barga resident is the renowned painter John Bellany, who has likened the warmth of the locals to that of the fisherfolk of Port Seton, East Lothian, where he grew up.
The town’s most recent Scots resident has been the Dunkeld piper and pipe-maker Hamish Moore, who recently returned home after spending the past nine months as Barga’s musician-in-residence. He described the experience as “one of the most enjoyable and privileged experiences of my life”, although nothing quite prepared him for the old town centre at the height of the summer season. “It’s like walking down Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday afternoon,” he says.
While the town’s latest Scottish import is currently minus a working phone, this could change, says Keane, the enigmatically single-named editor of barganews.com. He explains that it may end up as a direct line to the local equivalent of Santa Claus, La Befana, a kind-hearted witch who brings children presents every 6 January. “During the season here,” says Keane, “an old woman dresses up as La Befana, so the idea is that maybe the telephone box will have a direct line to her.”
Barga’s children, at least, may yet welcome their latest Scottish connection. – source – The Scotsman
Trullala’ Trullala’ Trullala’.
La Befana vien di notte
con le scarpe tutte rotte.
It’s bad enough trying to get some sleep with those Duomo bells, let alone a 24 hour Befana phone answering service. I think it should do like a Tardis … and “de-ma -te-ri-al-ize”
Be forewarned: Alex Salmond will be calling the shots after Dottore Sereni moves on. The phone box is merely the wee end of a Lothian wedge.
In relation to the driving instructions to Barga, you missed the sign saying that it the town is twinned with Hayange and East Lothian. East Lothian has virtually no historical link with Barga at all. It is not even a town it is a district.
Anoni, I agree about the tartan, pipe bands and former provost (he was the provost of Glasgow 10 years ago!!). These things have nothing to do with the long history of chain migration from Barga to Scotland but rather they relate solely to Scotland’s heritage. Above all Barga should remain Italian. However, it is right that there is some nod to the relationship between Barga and Scotland which is about 150 years old. There are a lot of valid things to celebrate there. Barga has given Scotland a lot and in turn much of new Barga is built on Scottish money and indeed the money of economic migrants from Barga to other nations. This is a unique link.
I have to take issue with La Sagra Del Pesce e Patate. This is enjoyed more by locals than Brits. It is a very Italian take on Fish and Chips. It is a valid celebration of an industry which gave employment to thousands of barghigiani throughout the United Kingdom. It has been going now for approximately 20 years and is one of the few open air events that is still held in Barga and enjoyed by young and old. The sound of the fisarmonica and the sight of balla liscio, pensioners and kids on the same dancefloor typifies a summer night in Barga.
There is a huge distinction to be made between, on the one hand Barga’s historic immigration to numerous countries (which is very much an Italian issue and part of Barga) and on the other hand, signs which essentially say welcome to Scotland, Hayange, East Lothian, Tartan, red telephone boxes, pipe bands and ex-provosts of Glasgow, which have absolutely nothing to do with Barga and its history.
I must stress that Barga’s culture should be preserved above all. However, we should not blur the the lines between Barga’s unique history of immigration which has been subtley celebrated for over 100 years and the very recent non-Italian creations of the current sindaco. There should continue to be a small nod to the past immigration such as a the small exhibition under Capretz etc..
Who knows a new mayor may turn out to be extreme in the opposite sense and I don’t think that would be good either given the current make-up of the town (i.e. most people have some link with immigration and a sizeable minority are now foreign e.g. English).
It is worth noting that I think the mayor is in the last year of his final term.
Sono giorni che state qua a discorrere su questa cabina rossa etc.etc….e tutto questo lo fate.. in INGLESE!?!!?!!
siete ridicoli….
allora,se siamo in Italia, sarà l’oretta che lo impariate questo italiano, pure a scriverlo!!!
La verità è che siete un gruppo (quasi sempre i soliti poi..)di polemici, e tutto è buono per polemizzare…oggi è toccato alla cabina rossa…domani??
“Who knows a new mayor may turn out to be extreme in the opposite sense and I don’t think that would be good either given the current make-up of the town (i.e. most people have some link with immigration and a sizeable minority are now foreign e.g. English).
It is worth noting that I think the mayor is in the last year of his final term.”
piangrande – I notice that you have a Union Jack flag next to your name, meaning that your IP address is in the UK, so I expect that you are fully aware that as a Time Lord, the Doctor has the ability to regenerate his body when near death. To date, the Doctor has gone through this process and its resulting after-effects on nine occasions, with each of his incarnations having his own quirks and abilities but otherwise sharing the memories and experience of the previous incarnations:
1. First Doctor, played by William Hartnell (1963–1966)
2. Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton (1966–1969)
3. Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee (1970–1974)
4. Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker (1974–1981)
5. Fifth Doctor, played by Peter Davison (1981–1984)
6. Sixth Doctor, played by Colin Baker (1984–1986)
7. Seventh Doctor, played by Sylvester McCoy (1987–1989, 1996)
8. Eighth Doctor, played by Paul McGann (1996)
9. Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston (2005)
10. Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant (2005–)
on the left you can see lockness lake
Dear Sir,
I am writing to apply for the position of “Call Center Manager” as advertised in “The Scotsman” and on Barganews.com
I am currently self-employed and run a small airborne seasonal delivery service. I have been doing this job for a very long time but in the last few decades the competition from a red coated fat guy has increased drastically and therefore this year I don’t think that I’ll even have enough work to last me the night.
I believe my 300+ years of experience in the field qualify me for consideration. I look forward to meeting with you and discussing my qualifications in more detail.
Yours Sincerely,
Ms Befana.
55051 Barga – (LU)
Italia
Ps: If the call center doesn’t take of, but the deal with the Doctor goes through and hence the Red phone box becomes a Blue Tardis, then can you please consider me for the position of “assistant pilot”.
In risposta a “non ci sono parole”…
tutti qui abbiamo a cuore un comune interesse, ovvero fare ciò che è meglio per barga. La maggior parte delle persone presenti su questo website sono in grado di parlare inglese e hanno il diritto di esprimere la propria opinione riguardo a cosa per loro è meglio per Barga. Coloro per i quali la prima lingua è l’italiano hanno espresso la loro opinione in italiano. Tu sei la sola persona che fa problemi
Si …. è anche vero che chi no conosce l’inglese non ha capito una sega.
Can I add my two lire worth? The phone box obviously strikes a jarring note; but it might be OK if it were only temporary. Trafalgar Square has an empty plinth which has hosted a range of temporary installations of varying artistic merit: some serious and others not. Nobody likes all of them and many people don’t like any; but all disappear before they get seriously annoying. In that spirit wouldn’t it be possible to dedicate the site to a kind of ever-changing gallery of outdoor objects with some connexion (or possibly not) to Barga? If one wanted to stick with the twinning theme one could have something in steel from Hayange to begin with, so the site would become a kind of outdoor galleria comunale. Just a thought…
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has made a U-turn over his support for a statue to military hero Sir Keith Park on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth. Despite backing the campaign to honour the Second World War hero during his election campaign, the mayor has now said he has to withdraw his support for the scheme. Could it just be that once he became Mayor he found out just what is intended for Trafalgar Square’s controversial fourth plinth – a statue of the Queen on horseback to be commissioned after the monarch’s death.
Has anyone considered dressing up the offending telephone box as Spike Lee and allowing those affiliates of the Italian WWII partisans to deal with it as they see fit?!
I feel that the only way to make the offending telephone box really Scottish is to vandalise it by smashing its windows, urinating in it and ripping the phone out of it. As you can guess I do not think that it is apprpriate and does nothing for our heritage. A red Telephone box is much more English , if anything.
“Some have pointed to its British royal crest and asked what is Scottish about it”
“A red Telephone box is much more English , if anything.”
Strange, are there no red telephone boxes in Scotland and did I miss something? Is Scotland no longer in Britain?