In 2008 we published an article about a video that had just surfaced on youtube shot in and around Bagni di Lucca and called “Madonna’s – Miracolo a Bagni di Lucca” (article here) We had no information about just who was the Brigante – barba – nera who had posted the video but with Italy’s blasphemy laws s/he was probably doing the wise thing by keeping a low profile. That video has since been pulled from youtube and is no longer visible. It is unclear if it was pulled because it contravened the blasphemy* laws here in Italy or maybe because it contravened the copyright laws in the USA – it did have a backing track of Madonna singing after all.
EDIT – that video can still be seen on vimeo here
This week another video has just been posted on the net with images once again from Bagni di Lucca, not on youtube but another video hosting service – Vimeo. Again there is a backing track, this time from Fabrizio De André.
We recommend that you turn up the volume on your computer, hit the full screen button on the video and sit back and enjoy a few peaceful moments with a great time lapse video of the skies in this area from Marco Petri.
Fabrizio De André (18 February 1940 – 11 January 1999) was an Italian singer-songwriter. In his works he often told stories of marginalized and rebellious people, prostitutes and knaves. In Italy he is considered a poet because of the quality of his lyrics.
Le nuvole su Bagni di Lucca, omaggio a Fabrizio De André (time lapse Panasonic HDC-sd700) from Marco Petri on Vimeo.
Un piccolo video tributo al disco “Le nuvole” di Fabrizio De André. Time lapse realizzato con videocamera Panasonic HDC-SD700, (1 sec timeframe , 50i) Final cut pro, Magic bullet Mojo, Motion (per la “maschera”), compressor customizzato per vimeo HD: 1280×720, data rate 5000 kbits/sec, audio aac 320 kbps / 44.100 kHz
*Bestemmia – Articles 402 through 406 of the Italian criminal code, reflecting the 1920s concordat with the Vatican, prohibit “offence to religion”, including offence to religion during a satirical or other performance, even where the offending performance was objectively aimed at arousing laughter or amusement.
There is uncertainty whether Italian laws against insult to religion – and the application of the legislation – relate only to Roman Catholicism. Prosecutions over the past thirty years – and administrative action such as hacking by Italian police of an anti-Vatican site in 2005 – appear to have been bundled with restrictions on obscenity as offences against public morals. Article 724 of the criminal code covers the minor offence of “words insulting to religion” (bestemmia).