Scots and Gaelic traditional song, music and dance
once more the sound of bagpipes can be heard in the narrow streets and piazzas of Barga Vecchia
The annual School of Scots and Gaelic traditional song, music and dance, organised by Càirdeas nam Piobairean, Hamish Moore’s fellowship of pipers is once again in full swing in Barga. This evening tutors and students were all assembled at the Locanda in Barga Vecchia for the first of many musical sessions taking place over the […]
Wedding celebrations, kilts and fish and chips
Norman Bradford and Amelia Zambonini
Norman Bradford and Amelia Zambonini were married today in Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia. The bride, groom and family then moved on to the Hotel Moorings to celebrate before finally later on that evening enjoying the traditional meal of fish and chips at the Fish and Chip Festival.
Scottish wedding in Palazzo Pancrazi
Norman Bradford and Amelia Zambonini
Norman Bradford and Amelia Zambonini were married today in Palazzo Pancrazi in Barga Vecchia. The bride, groom and family then moved on to the Hotel Moorings to celebrate before finally later on that evening enjoying the traditional meal of fish and chips at the Fish and Chip Festival (article with more images here)
Scottish wedding in Barga Vecchia
Mairi MacFarlane and Fabio Martinelli tie the knot.
Many kilts, temperatures in the mid 30’s, bright sunshine, the sound of bottles of prosecco corks popping and launching into the blue sky, the swirling sound of bagpipes set against the background sound of the centuries old bells of the Duomo chiming out over the city …. yes, it was a normal July day in Barga […]
Two cabinet ministers from the Scottish Parliament visit Barga
The impact of Brexit is not a distant abstraction for Barga. Its ties to Scotland are powerful, rooted in extensive immigration dating back to the 19th century, and more recently to strong economic links based on tourism. A good example of those ties was yesterday as two people were in Barga enjoying the sun and the […]
The integration game: how Italo-Scots shaped Scotland
The integration game: how Italo-Scots shaped our nation - article by Joseph Farrell in The National newspaper and website in Scotland
The first immigrants from Italy in the modern era arrived more than 100 years ago, a long enough time to allow them to form a community of Italo-Scots, to integrate and make their mark. Theirs is a story of success, but the community has also experienced episodes of intolerance and discrimination, as well as moments […]
Blair Douglas – Italian Chapel Suite
Inspired by the chapel created by Italian prisoners of war that has become Orkney’s most visited tourist attraction
Back in 2009 (article here) Blair Douglas, one of Scotland’s foremost musicians, penned a composition in honour of the Scots- Barga footballer, Giovanni or Johnny Moscardini, who though born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1897, took to the field a total of nine times for ‘Azzurri’ between 1921 and 1925. The tune “Il Saluto di Giovanni […]
Luigi Pierotti – Order of the Star of Italy
The Italian Ambassador will confer on him the honour Ordine della Stella d’Italia, or Order of the Star of Italy in Edinburgh today. Born a Scotsman in Barrhead, he even went to the effort to learn Italian so that he could help the many people from Italy who for generations have lived in Paisley and the West of Scotland, as well as to honour his family’s roots in Barga, Tuscany.
To generations of Paisley families he was known simply as Luigi Pierotti, partner in a number of fish and chip shops in the town and latterly as a newsagent in Rowan Street. But, thanks to an honour that is to be bestowed upon him by the Italian Government today, plain Mr Luigi Pierotti will be […]
Scotland: Music written specially for The Aristodemos
DA ARISTO - Written by Linsey and dedicated to Giovani, Antonella, Lorenzo, Keane, The Aristodemos and all the wonderful people who inhabit this wonderful little bar, the unofficial cultural centre of Barga, the most Scottish town in Tuscany, Italy.
Back in 2014 we published an article about the Scottish folk musicians, Linsey Aitken and Ken Campbell who are regular visitors to the city and mentioned that once again their particular sound was heard in Barga Vecchia as they gave a series of impromptu “mini- concerts” in five different locations through out the city. Why five […]
Golf Club Garfagnana and the Scottish connection
località Braccicorti a Pontardeto, Pieve Fosciana - 6 hole par 3
The ancient origins of GOLF are unclear and much debated. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball. One theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of the continent, during the first century […]
Barga photographic exhibition in Glasgow, Scotland
Images of Barga in an exhibition as part of the Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland
We are extremely lucky in this part of the world to have in our midst, the piazzas – areas of daily transit on foot and places to meet and greet. Since the Italian Renaissance, ideas, concepts, communication and culture has freely moved through these piazzas. Over the past few years, the participants of Hamish Moores’ […]
Arandora Star – the search for a missing mosaic war memorial
James Selbie designed and created the mosaic to commemorate the Arandora Star tragedy.
A mystery regarding a missing memorial to one of the worst shipping disasters of the Second World War has focused on Greenock, Scotland The stone mosaic — which was created in memory of more than 800 people who perished in the sinking of the liner Arandora Star (article here) — was gifted to the town’s […]
