Tag: About Tuscany

Tuscany, Buying a Property

Tuscany, Buying a Property

After you have the imported decision of you choice of property and decided to buy, you can either  sign a preliminary agreement (contratto preliminare) and then sign a deed of sale (contratto definitivo).

Before doing so, however, you lawyer will check that there are no encumbrances (mortgages or loans over the property,for example)and check all entries in the Land Register up the date of the sale.

The preliminary agreement, which is in written form, stipulates the terms and conditions of the purchase and indicates  the contains of the deed of sale and the date for the execution of the deed of sale .

Once the preliminary agreement has been signed ,the purchaser is obligated to buy the property and  the seller is obligated to sell it. If one of the parties doesnt execute to deed of sale, yo can either terminate the contract or go to court.The judge will make an order which will produce the some effects as the deed of sale, unless this possibility has  been excluded  by the preliminary agreement.

A deposit (cappara) is usually paid, the amount being agreed between the parties at the signing of the preliminary agreement. The deposit paid by the purchaser may be a caparra confirmatoria which means that if one of the two parties doesnt execute all the clauses of the contract, the party who has executed all the clauses can decide either to keep the deposit and terminate the contract ask for compensation.

The involvement of a notaio(which is not the same  as a British solicitor ) is not essential for the signing of the preliminary agreement. Here in Italy he must only guarantee that the deed is legal, that the house is in order and that the payment is made in a legal manner.

The property is not transferred with the preliminary agreement but with the signing  of the deed of sale , which must be in written form. The deed of sale requires the payment of the price minus the deposit already paid, and the consignment of the house.

When a  property is sold it is on condition that it is sold in the state in which it was accepted at the time of signing the preliminary agreement. It is  therefore of paramount importance that you check everything properly to ensure that no changes have occurred between signing the preliminary agreement and the deed of sale, e.g. changes due to natural causes.

If something has been changed or damaged or is missing,you must bring this to the notice of the seller. You can come to an agreement for a reduction in the price or, if not, you can apply to the court.

Tuscany, Puccini Happy Birthday

The year -long celebration of the 150th anniversary of Puccins birth is now drawing to a close.

His actual birthday  on 22 december will be celebrate musically  with a concert in the Teatro  del Giglio with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and solo artists.

This has been a remarkable year in Lucca  for Puccini fans, old and new,with the opportunity   to see and hear almost his entire works, including  rarely performed operas such as  Le Villi and Edgar.

However , the Buon Compleanno concert is no so much Saynara as See You  Soon since  this gala event will be fallowed on the first of January  by chamber concert with a hour and a half  of some of his  most celebrate arias as well as music by one of his contemporaries, Emilie Tavan, who composed for silent films. In the afternoon what could be nicer after a Hogmanay party.

The 2008  Puccini Project was orchestrated by a number of bodies not  only to give an overview of his work but to help consolidate and develop the commercial and tourism potential of the maestro for the benefit of the Provincie of Lucca, as  a stepping stone to increasing business for hotels and other tourism-related commerce.

This year hotels and restaurants were given opportunity to buy tickets at 10E so they could offer guests and customers  a special package with significant cultural  highlight. The  aim , also, is to stimulate tourism during the off -season-the New years Day concert is an example of this and intended to be annual event.

Tuscany, Matilde of Canossa

Matilde di Canossa

Matilde of Canossa,Countess of Tuscany, also called “the Church -builder”, was the most influential woman of her time(1046-1115), and probably of any time. She was the sole survivor of a powerful Longobard family.

At the age of 8 she inherited from her father Maurquis Bonifacio 3 vast amounts of Lombardy and Emilia. Her mother was Beatricie of Lorraine ,daughter  of Frideryk II Duke uof  Upper Lorraine and granddaughter of Herman 2 of Swabia.

Matilde  may have been born in  Mantua ,but since her father had castle and country home at  Vivinaja (now Montecarlo ),this is also considered a likely birthplace for Her. Her fathers home at Vivinaja  was a gathering place for the popes and emperors, in this period when Lucca was the Tuscan capital. Matilde had a aristocratic education; she spoke German, Latin and French. She learned to ride horses and use weapons.

Matildes first  marriage was to a pious man with the uninspiring name of Godfrey the Hunchback, who allegedly died  in the Crusades. Later (in 1090 ,when she was 54), she got married for political motives to a younger man, Welf Guelfo of Bavaria.

It is uncertain whether Matildes one child from her first marriage, Beatricie, survived past childhood. Matilde may have been the last for her line. However, Michelangelo claimed to be her Descendent…..This is hearsay. Matildes most potent legancy was spirityal and political.
Matilde wanted to become a nun to celebrate the mass.

This latter is a radical idea even today! According to legend Pope Gregory told her to build 100 churches and then he would consider her request. (For the of her story ,see Andy*rindls  book A Compation to Lucca.) Instead he gave her authority over all of Tuscany.

She become a military heroine,deeply loyal to the Pope during the Guelply-Ghibelline conflict, when the Holy Roman Emperor wanted to assume spiritual  us  well as earthly authority. He  ally in Lucca was Bishop Anselmo. Togheter they gave enormous wealth to the Roman church.

They tried to push back the churchs enemies, but Bishop Anselmo was forced to retreat to canossa ,near near Reggioin Emilia. In Lucca she commissioned the spectacular Ponte della Maddalena, now more  commonalty known as the Devils  Bridge, acros the Serchio. Anselmo become to Canossa a Benedictine monk  and come  to Canossa as Matilde s spiritual advisor.

He died in 1086 ,ten years after one of historys key events, an event whith sealed Matildes name in history.

In 1077,excommunicated Holy Roman Emperor Henry 4 was advancing agains Pope Gregory,who then staying at matildes castle. But Henry had sufferen huge losses. At the  bottom of the hill leading up to the castle, henry knelt in the snow as a barefoot penintent and begged for-giveness, recognizing Papal authority.

Since  then, the expression “going  to Canossa” has come  to mean eating humble pie. Pirandellos play  Enrico 4, inspired by this historical moment, empha-sizes Henrys madnes, re-interpreting the story in a modern context, with Matilde in the role of Henrys wife.

Dantes Paradiso, on the other hand,finds Matilde singing, gathering flowers and moving like a dancer in the lower circle of Paradise. She helps him undergo the penitential cleansing required after loss of innocence by having him taste  the rivers Lethe and Eunoe (meaning “good memory”in Greek) which flow in opposite direcions from the  Earthly Paradise and represent forgetting and remembering.

After this phase  of death and regeneration ,he can then meet his final Guide and Patron, Beatricie.

Dante leaves behind all the bleak characters from his pass, immortalized and entrapped in Inferno  and  Purgatorio.

Dantes vision of Matilde might  have  influenced Shakespeare in Hamlet. OPhelia  tries to lead Hamlet out of his  madness  with her  innocence and love ,but he remains  fixated on avenging  his fathers ghost. Hamlets words recall historical Matildes wish: “Get thee to a nunnery” — though he adds “why wouldest  thou be a breeder of sinners.?” Later  Queen Gertrude rapport’s Ophelia, enveloped in Hamlets madness, dies as a young virgin. Matilde, one of Italys most powerful and evocative woman lives on the legend and literature. She died  at the age of 69 years, after a long and  fascinating  life.