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Tuscany – Colle di Compito Lucca, the “Fiorita”

The “Fiorita” is a decorative carpet created every year to furnish the Sanctuary at Colle di Compito in celebration of Corpus Domini in the Church calendar. This year, i twill remain in place throughout the month of July and until mid August.
As the name suggests, the carpet is mainly made of flowers, but also contains sawdust, seeds and other materials. The tradition of making the carpet had in fact been lost for many years until about eighteen years ago, when some young people in the village decided to revive it.
For their first “Fiorita” tthey used designs from previous festyivals, but as years have passed, their designs have grown more elaborate and original, reflecting much painstaking work.
Each year, it takes over a month to realise the “Fiorita” from the original design stage to finally putting the last flore in place.
The work is carried out by a dedicated team of all ages, from the elderly women who cut the flowers, down to the children who offer their moral support and at the same time themselves learn the techniques which although as simple as the tools used to execute them, require great care and expertise.
Every year, the choice of ever more elaborate designs and the continued search for improvement produces a final result that is even grander than the year before, and which more than repays all the effort involved.
For this reason, the people of Colle di Compito invite everyone who whishes to see “Fiorita” to make their way to the village at this time of the year and ask for the Chiesa dell’Immacolata Concezione at Cima di Colle.
You can ask anyone in the village for directions. As the photographs hint, you will not be disappointed.

From the Via di Tiglio in Lucca, take the Strada Statale SS 439 out of Lucca, signposted towrds Pontedera. You will reach Colle di Compito in around 20 minutes by car, (13 kms from Lucca centre.)

Tuscany – Barga – Sunny side up

Obsiously the name Paolo Nutini is Italian and he is after all, an honorary citizen of Barga but from the opening notes of this album, the singer is unmistakeably scottish.
So, how come a nice italian boy like Paolo Nutini is a native of Paisley is the kind of place which is dimesse by residents of Glasgows its larger, brasher neighbour as “just a wee place outside Glasgow”, but in fact it ha san honourable history of its own, a university, a fine ancient abbey, and at one time Paisly pattern, you remeber? A thread and cloth industry to rival that of Lucca, where indeed the Paisly based Coats thread business still exists as Cucirini Cantoni Coats albeit now in sadly dimished form.
And Paisley has fish and chip shops. Which is the key to why the Nutinis (and indeed the cardini, Valentes, Fuscos, Narduccis, Equis, Castelvecchias et al.) thrived in the west of Scootland. As part of successive waves of emigration from Italy in the early 20th century (and will someone please remind the Lega Nord?) many italians from Garfagnana area come to Scotland to fond work.
perhaps they were headded for the ports where the great Atlantic ships could take them to the promised land of America, and either ran out of money or were seduced by the steady West of Scotland drizzle who knows?
But many stayed. And opened ice cream cafes, wich rapidly diversified into fish and chip shop sto suit the local climate and palate. Which is why there have now been four generations of Nutinis in Paisley, with their origins in Barga.
But anyway, what about the music?
Young Paolo arrived an the music scene in 2006 with his debut album for Atlantic Records, no less called “Theese Streets” which went on to sell over two million copies. Not bad for a 19 year old.
Since then, there have been extensive tours, support acts for Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones and tributes, from Liza Minelli and Rod Stweart, both fans. He is currently Touring in the United States, and Italian fans can look forward to seeing him here in the late autumn.
Launched at the beginning of June, his new album “Sunny Side Up” is refreshingly personal, unprocessed, joyful musicmaking from Nutini and his band the Vipers with a decidedly old-fashioned sound. He claims toh ave been able to do pretty much as he pleased with this album, to enjoy himself and reflect much of the musi che grew up with. One suspects there was a fair amount of Bob Dylan played in the Nutini household, not to mention otis redding and Bob Marley with maybe a wee bit of Lonnie Dinegan and Louis Prima.
Think R & B, soul, reggae and country rock, with a bit of ragtime for good measure.
His voice can be gruff he certainly sounds a lot older than 22 and one on the single “Candy” taken from the album, one reviewer has descrive him as “sounding spookily like a Scottish Bruce Springsteen”.
These days of course an album is scarcely more then a concept, with fans able to download their preferred tracks and ignore the rest. Potentially disheartening for artists, this maybe in fact gives them the freedom to experiment and be themselves, knowing that fans are not now oblie to buy the whole package.
The tracks which are already emerging as favourite are Candy, Tricks of the Trade, 10/10, Growing Up Beside You and (my favourite) Coming Up Easy.
The title “Sunny Side Up” certainly seems to reflect the Nutini philosophy.
No angst here, just positive thinking and a bit of homespun philosophy. And he’s italian at heart, he loves his Mum and Dad.
So what if the lyrics get a title banal sometimes? This is feelgood summer music for bopping to in the open air, while the drinks nare chilling. Enjoy!

Tuscany – Siena countryside, the Abbey of S. Galgano

The Cistercian Abbey of San Galgano is an historically and architecturally one of the most important religious monuments in Siena countryside and, together with the nearby chapel at Monte Siepi, is an important expression of the gothic Cistercian style in Italy.
The Cistercian order was born in Citeaux, Bordeaux, in 1098 as a means of reinforcing the Benedictine order and restoring the discipline which had progressively been lost. Cistercian monasteries were built throughout Europe, primarily along important arteries and roads leading to Citeaux. Construction began on the abbey of San Galgano in 1218 in the vicinity of Chiusdino and Monticiano on the Massetana road and just a short distance from the Merse river.
Architecturally, its severe, rigorously formal design was intended to exemplify the moral rigour upheld by St. Bernard. Not coincidentally, the abbey was built in an area already sanctified by the presence of the chapel at Monte Siepi, built at the end of the twelfth century to consecrate the home of the young hermit Galgano Guidotti, who died in 1181 and was canonized in 1185.
The abbey was consecrated seventy years after the first stone was laid. This marked the onset of frenetic religious activity and of activity in general in an area where the valley is wide-open and sunny. First the marshy fields were drained, and then the river’s flow was harnessed to produce hydraulic energy.
It seems that the original design of the abbey foresaw mills for flour-making and wool processing. But in the end the abbey enjoyed only a brief life. Decline was brought on first by famine in 1329 and then by Bubonic plague in 1348, sealing the fate of this monastic settlement.
In the sixteenth century the structure itself began to succumb, especially once the lead roofing was sold.

Tuscany – Lucca, the endless abyss of the S.Agostino Church

Not far from the S.Frediano Basilica one finds the thirteenth century Church of S. Agostino.
Inside the Church there is the image of the Madonna, with er arms the Holy Child, and on the right shoulder a kind of bruise… at the feet of the Holy Image, a trap closed by a metal grill with a lock. We are talking of the “Madonna del Sasso”., whose name goes back to a dramatic event.
The story goes that a hardened gambler, having lost all his goods and blinded by anger, trew a stone against the holy image. Two simultaneos extraordinary events immediatly occorre: to avoid the Child from being hit the Holy Virgin changed His position from the right arm to the left one and practically at the same time, while Her harmed shoulder was bleeding, an abyss opened-up under the fanatic’s feet that had refused to repent himself and swallowed him.
The two simultaneos miracles were seen by many persons.
The eventi s recalled by a latin inscription whose transaltion says: “the impious person didn’t know the Holy Virgin was about to forgive him if only he had repented himself”.

Tuscany – Florence and the famous Piazzale Michelangelo

Piazzale Michelangelo is a famous square with a magnificent panoramic view of Florence, and is a popular tourist destination in the Oltrarno district of the city. The view from this most famous observation point of the city landscape.
It was built in 1869 and designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi on a hill just south of the historic center, on completion of retraining of the left bank of the shore.
The Michelangelo square, dedicated to the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo, has copies of some of his famous works in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo.
These copies are made of bronze, while the originals are all in white marble. The monument was brought up by nine pairs of oxen on 25 June 1873.
The panorama encompasses the heart of Florence from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce Lungarni through the bridges of Florence and in sequence, especially the Ponte Vecchio, are the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello and the octagonal bell tower of the Badia Fiorentina, without forgetting opposed to the hills north of the city with the center and Settignano Fiesole.
The square can be accessed by car along the tree-Viale Michelangelo, or walk the stairs going up the ramps of the monumental Piazza Poggi Poggi in the district of San Niccolò.

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