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Tuscany – Halleluja! Lucca Gospel Festival 2009

Chorus: Joyful Angels Lucca

Lucca Gospel Festival 2009 is a collaborative project by the province of Lucca and Maestro Vijay Pierallini, creator and artistic director of the Festival. Vijay Pierallini, who has been at the forefront of gospel for over a decade, has created the “Halleluja!”
This year the festival is aimed specifically at Tuscan gospel choruses and ensembles, and is naturally intended for all citizens of Lucca.
The hope i sto enrich the cultural offerings of lucca as a city of music, already host to prestigious musical events ranging from classical to lyrical to jazz by opening the door to gospel, a musical genre until now little know or appreciated in our community.
The world’s economic crisis ha salso affected the province of Lucca, including the bodies which have traditionally financed cultural events. This has meant significant cuts both in the days and number of activities in the Festival. Nevertheless, this year’s Festival will be very exciting. It will take place over two days, entirely within the city walls, at three sites: the ex Real Collegio, the recently rebuilt Chiesa dei Servi, and as in the past the Sala Tobino of Palazzo Ducale, for the concluding event.
Along with “Vijay and Joyful Angels – Lucca Gospel Chorus” which was fonde and directed by Maestro Pierallini, four other groups without a doubt some of Italy’s best gospel choruses will principate: Voice of Heaven (Pisa), Joyful Sin gers (Carrara), For Joy (Florence) and the marvellous Jubilation Gospel Chorus (Livorno).

FRIDAY 6 NOVEMBER
6 p.m. Ex Real Collegio, Lucca
Chorus: Vijay & Joyful Angels – Lucca Gospel Choir
9.15 p.m. Chiesa dei Servi, Lucca
Chorus: Jubilation Gospel Choir – Livorno

SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER

9.15 p.m. Palazzo Ducale
Sala Tobino, Lucca
Chorus: Voices of Heaven – Pisa
Chorus: For Joy – Firenze
Chorus: Joyful Sin gers – Carrara

All concerts are free and open to the public.

Tuscany – Lucca Comics and Games

We are all familiar with the image Lucca normally presents to the world a well-mannered, conservative, medieval city of music and art.
Wall to wall Puccini, lots of old world charm, peaceful, even sleepy, or as forbes magazine (see facing page) would put it, “idyllic”. So can this be the same city that goes a bit mental every October with its annual festival of Comics and Games?
Just when you think the weekend wardrobe of young lucchesi consists entirely of velvet doublets and tights, suddenly the streets are full of ninjas, Goths, cybermen and gorillas.
It’s a very puzzling. So Grapevine talked to Gary Frank, a successful british artist working in the world of comics, who knows Lucca well.
“Comics and Games has now been going for over 40 years, but when i first started coming to Lucca in the early 1990’s, it was still a small affair based at the Palasport outside the city walls”, Gary recalls. “Now is huge the attendante last year was over 150,00 wich makes it closet o being the largest event of its kind in Europe, only just behind the annual festival at Angouleme in Bordeaux.”
Gary i san illustrator, or what’s known in the business as a “penciller”, lite rally drawing in pencil the illustrations for comic magazines, most notably “Superman”, which will later be inked and digitally coloured. He works from a script, in close touch with his writer to tell a story in pictures.
Comics are of course now part o fan industry which spans television, film and video games . They can be a great way of raising brand awareness, introducing characters and therefore making readers more likely to watch the movie and buy T-shirt. And video games would warrant a separate article by themselves.
This is in fact very big business indeed.
The two giants of the industry, both U-based, are DC, owned by Warner Brothers, and only a couple of months ago, Disney Studios bought Marvel Entertainment for a cool 4 billion dollars.
So quite a smart business for Lucca to be in? Certainly, says Gary, “although Comics and Games in Lucca has always been lesso f an industry networking event and more for the fans. It’s the cultural aspect which Italy generally is keen to promote.
And of course for an artist, comics can provide enormous artistic freedom. It costs just the same whether I am drawing a building blowing up or Clarke Kent having a cupo f coffee.
I don’t have an art director telling me there’s no budget for a particolar scene, as can hppen in films. Comics do genuinely provide a showcase for creatività and outlet for story-telling talent”.
For many year, now, particularly in Italy comics have been seen as not just for children, but as “graphic novels”. Gary Frank is in no doubt, and quotes Stan Lee the founding father of Marvel Comics, “Suppose Shakespeare and Michelangelo, were alive today, and Michelangelo said “Hey Bill, let’s do a comic”, the point being the comic book is just as viable a form of literature as anything else”.
So what should we look out for this year? Many of the events will be held in the Palazzo Ducale and for the firts time, the Real Collegio, bringing the Festival right into the heart of the city. Expect to see a strong Japanese influence. L’Area Japan is new this year featuring everything Japanese from manga (comic and print cartoon) to traditional ceramics and cuisine. Let’s hope the sushi doesn’t fall foul of lucca’s ethnic food laws.
There are competions galore for artists, writers and bands ( the winners will get a Mediaset soundtrack contract).
Over the weekend 29 october to 1 november the Cosplay parades organised by the Associazione Culturale Flash Gordon will feature competitors dressed in the costumes of their favourite comic-strip characters. There is not a seamstress in Lucca who is not currently working flat out. On saturdays throughout october a computer games challenge will pit teams representing the Torre Asinello against the Torre Guinigi.
Not to mention the Modding contest apparently it’s all about modifying games software to create new content. So now you know. A bit crazy? A tad alternative for elegant, respectable Lucca? But maybe not so out of place ina “città d’arte”. And the city is after all home to the Italian National Museum of Comics ( the Museo Nazionale del Fumetto e dell’Immagine in Piazza San Romano).
Enjoy the fun. Just watch out fot those gorillas.

Full festival programme on www.luccacomicsandgames.com
More details on the musem at www.museoitalianodelfumetto.it

Tuscany – Greve in Chianti

The old name of Greve in Chianti was Greve, in 1972 the town was renamed after the inclusion in a Chianti area.
It is located about 30 km in south of Florence.
Sitting in the Val di Greve, it is named for the small, fast-flowing river that runs through it, is the principal town in the Chianti wine district which stretches south of Florence to just north of Siena. Until recently it has been a quiet, almost bucolic town because it was, and still is, well off the main roads.

Main sights:
– Franciscan monastery
– The triangular main square, where a market has been running more or less continuously for
– Chiesa Santa Croce which was rebuilt in 1325 after being burned to the ground, along with the rest of the town, by the Duke of Lucca, Castruccio Castracani.
– Montefioralle (surrounding) where there is achurch of Santo Stefano, with a late 13th century Madonna with Child and a 15th century Trinity and Saints.
– Castello da Verrazzano (distance 2 km)
– Panzano, is a little town where there is Pieve of San Leolino, known from the 10th century.

Tuscany – Not just the Leaning Tower (Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa)

Millions and millions of people have walked through the Piazza dei Miracoli in pisa, looking upward to admire the leaning tower and personally acknowledging that yes, it really bends quite a lot.
But for sure not so many have asked themselves how, when and why such a masterpiece was accomplished and what efforts li ebehind maintaining it trhoughout the centuries and for the years to come.
It was the Italian poet gabriele D’Annunzio who coined the phrase “Piazza dei Miracoli” (the square of miracles) to sum up the amazement that centuries of visitors have experienced.
The complex includes the Cathedral, the Battistero, the Leaning Tower, the Monumental Cemetery, and two museums also in the square.
It was built in the XII century by the Opera della Primaziale Pisana, the official institution of the archibishop of Pisa.
The archbishop in 1092 was awaeded the title of Primate, and so the cathedral was labelled as “primaziale” hence Opera della Primaziale Pisana, work of the Pisan Primacy.
This institution is now in charge of the maintenance of the monumental complex and the money raised from entrance fees is used to keep it intact for the centurie sto come.
Throughout the year the Opera della primaziale Pisana organizes many events. The next to come is the famous International Festival of Sacred Music called Anima Mundi. The artistic direcctor is once again Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
Two oratorio will take place in the cathedral on the opening and closing dates: one by handel (tuesday 15 sept) “isrrael in Egypt with Maestro Gardiner conducting the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir and the other by Haydn (friday 9 oct) “The Creation”.
On this latter date Sir John will conduct the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique along with the Monteverdi Choir. These two composer have been chosen to celebrate respectively the 250th and 200th anniversaries of their deaths.
other concerts will take place in the Monumental Cemetery. Let me just also highlight the return to Anima Mundi of the violinist Viktoria Mullova and the Vienna Chorus of Voci Bianche with 500 years of history behind them.
All seven concerts are free and start at 9.00 pm

Tuscany – Montaione

Montaione is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 35 km southwest of Florence.
The town has ancient origins, the town is rich in culture, traditions and history.
In a surrounding area is possible to admire a charming landscape of Tuscany countryside of Chianti hills. Montaione is characterized by gentle hills cultivated with olive groves and chianti vineyards, is an ideal place where to make a travel and to spend a relaxing holiday with nature.