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Tuscany – Suvereto

Suvereto is small medieval village whose origins date back before the year 1000.
The village is rich in history and art, situated on the slopes of the hills overlooking Costa degli Etruschi.
Suvereto ha san enchanting architectural harmony and its ancient walls enclose hold streets with stone house, churches and historical buildings.
The region is rich in farm holidays resorts, wineries, oil mills, agricultural enterprises; you can find and try local products and traditional dishes.
The historic center is very interesting, the Rocca, the castle garrison in ancient times, stands on the hill dominating the town.

Tuscany, Carnival in Viareggio

Carnival is the very old festival that precedes Lent and is traditionally a time for partying and making whoopee. Viareggio’s carnival dates back to 1873 when some young men, all frequenters of the same casino, decided to organise a procession of carriages on Shrove Tuesday evening, with the passengers in fancy dress. It was such a success that it was repente the following year, and, in a sense, every year thereafter (except for the periods of two World wars) growing ever more ambitious and elaborate.
By the end of the 19th century, carriages had been moine by carts drawn by horses oxen, with tableaux made of jute, wood, iron and plaster of Paris, very heavy and therefore very small by today’s standards. These had subjects such as The Little Zulus, The Triumph of the match in honour of the newly invented Cerini maches with wax sticks, and The Goddess of Flowers in praise of unspoilt nature, with prizes awarded for originality, design and ingenuity.
It wasn’t long before Viareggio’s local government began to appreciate the financial advantage of these parades wich attracted people from the surrounding villages as well as foreign tourists, all with money to spend. Public funding of the event began in 1910.
Two principal factors changed the rather earnest character of the event into the wonderfully exhilarating funfest that it is now.
The first was the use of paier-machè, introduced in 1925. This meant that enormous, hollow, lightweight figures could be made and animated by people with ropes and pulleys. The workshops where the’re made are in the purpose-built Cittadella del Carnevale, a multi purpose building opened in 2001 wich now also has a Carnival Museum.
The second was the increasing emphasis on satire and grotesquerie. No public figure, beh e President of the United States or the Pope, is exempt, Indeed, these two are amongst the main targets-what will the designers do with Barack Obama next year, I wonder? This year’s image is almost benign.
In a perverse way, however, being the the object of this savagery i san honour ( or at least a distinction of some kind) and politicians and other kent faces come to the opening Carnival to see how the paier-machè wizards have dealt with them. Before the event begins, the designers’ sketches are published with explanations of their message. The title of the one at the top of the page is “The cow licks and licks.. she ate the calf!!!”
This is the description. “The construction is a biking satire on the economic and political situation in Italy. At the centre of the float i san enormous cow representing our Republic.
She lies sprawled on a huge, wobbly, gilded armchair. She has her tongue hanging out and is guarded by two cavalry officers wearing breastplates. She would love to lick her calf which here represents the italian people, but only a dangling skeleton remains.
There’s nothing left to lick. Today, the builder is warning us, we must pay for everything and life for the people of Italy is down to the bone”.
Carnival doesn’t consist only of the major floats, however. There are smaller floats and lots of lorries carrying associations, school groups and people all dressed up, having fun and/or making a point. Many of the people who come to watch are wearing fancy dress and wigs and carrying spray cans of goo. It’s all so good-natured. There’s also a lot of very loud music.
The setting for the parade is the seaside “passeggiata” where the floats trundle back and forth at walking speed all afternoon till it grows dark. All that commotion and noise under the wide wintry sky, with the sea, the umbrella-less beach, the sagge mountainous backdrop… Magic

Tuscany, Ugolino – a Gruesome Tale

In Lucca it’s a common joke that the mountains between Lucca and pisa keep the people from having to see each other. A tunnel now leads to the Pisa side but the ideological separation is still felt by football fans, graffiti artists and ordinary citizens. In Lucca e read Dante’s story about Count Ugolino della Gherardesca as the potrait of a power-hungry Pisan at his worst. Dante froze Ugolino within the deepest circle of Inferno because he betrayed his homeland and his political party.
In Italy, where peope identify with their hometown very strongly, this story’s theme is not at all archaic.
According to popular legend, Ugolino cannibalized his children.
Archbishop Ruggieri locked the father and sons in the Torre della Muda ( forever after known as Famine Tower ), leaving them to starve to death.
Part of the tower still stands on the northen side of Piazza dei Cavalieri. This is one of Pisa’s most beautiful piazzas and site of Pisa University’s Scuola Normale, where the brightest students are admitted to study.
A corner of the original tower is within Palazzo dell’ Orologio and a plaque on the wall refers to Ugolino. However, scientific literalism demolished the legend in 2002.
A Pisan paleoanthropologist excavated Ugolino’s body and examined some DNA from his ribs which showed he had not eaten meat ( let alone human flesh ) before dying. However, ” truth ” should never get in the way of a good story from history…
Ugolino belonged to an important Ghibelline family. The Ghibellines supported Papal authority, unlike the Guelph city-states Florence and Genoa which favored more local control.
Ugolino was both Podestà ( supreme civil authority ) and Ghibelline leader. During Pisa’s battles with Genoa and other Guelph states, Ugolino aligned with Giovanni Visconti, a Guelph.
The alliance was discovered, Ugolino imprisoned and Visconti exiled.
With the help of Florence and Lucca, however, Ugolino escaped and become a Guelph, again betraying the Ghibellines! In 1284, he returned as head of a Pisan fleet. He again betrayed his countrymen when they were at war with Genoa, feigning surrender and causing their defeat.
When Ugolino returned to power, he gave away Pisan castles to Lucca and Florence as a political expedient. Ghibelline fortunes improved, and Ugolino, then a Guelph, allied with the Ghibelline Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini. Ugolino exiled his Guelph grandson in 1288 and consolidated his relationship with Ruggieri. Soon Ruggieri betrayed Ugolino by inciting the public against him and then ordering the imprisonment of Ugolino, his two sons and two grandsons.
Finally the Archbishop threw away the key and left him and his children to starve to death.
In Canto XXXIII, Dante has Ugolino gnawing on the Archbishop’s head for all eternity. ” You are to know I was Count Ugolino, and this one here, Archbidshop Ruggieri; and now I’ll tell you why I am his neighbor.” For Dante, the concept of neighbor becomes an unholy alliance in the depth of Inferno!
With ambiguous words, Dante ha Ugolino say, ” After they were dead, I called them for two days; then fasting had more force than grief.”
This line may be interpreted in two ways: either Ugolino devoured his offspring’s corpses after being driven mad with hunger, or starvation killed him before he died of grief.
The more ghastly interpretation is more popular and Ugolino was sometimes known as the ” Cannibal Count “. The corpses were buried in Pisa at in the Church of San Francesco.
For Dante, however, eating one’s children may have served an anagogical ( religiously – significant ) purpose.
All the happenings in the Inferno are reverse-images of happenings in Paradiso. The Eucharist ( celebration of the Mass ) thus becomes a horrific reverse Eucharist in the Ugolino scene.
Soon we will visit also Dante’s Paradiso to present a more positive character – Matilde the Church-Builder, Contessa of Tuscany, famous in Lucca for having built the Ponte della Maddalena ( also know as the Devil’s Bridge ) during the Middle Ages.

Tuscany Holiday, Does Planning Your Trip Save Money? Yes.

Every traveller has a preferred travel style. Some prefer to leave nothing to chance. Everything is booked – the hotel, the car, even the attractions – booked and paid for well in advance.

The Tuscan itinerary is clear and everyone knows the game plan.

Then there’s the spontaneous traveller, the one who wants to take what comes along, good or bad.

Most of us fall somewhere in between, isn’t it?

No problem, but the question is: does planning ahead save money? Here are some of the “yes, yes and for sure yes” answers.

Yes – Planning Ahead Saves Money

If you have zero flexibility on dates, there’s no point in waiting for a last-minute deal on anything unless you have a back-up plan. Plan ahead: get the best deal you can on a Villa or an Hotel with cancellation privileges, if (and this is important) you think it’s likely that a last-minute deal will come along. Don’t forget to cancel in sufficient time if you change to the last-minute deal.

True last-minute deals can be very inexpensive, but they come with hidden costs sometimes. For example, how much will breakfast cost in the last-minute hotel as compared to the pre-booked one? Your savings could disappear pretty quickly if the last-minute place is an expensive cab ride away from the main attractions, especially if you could have pre-booked somewhere central.

You can sometimes save money by planning and paying in advance for your non-refundable accommodation. With reputable firms this is reasonable, as you usually get a better rate than if you do not pay in advance. With firms you don’t know, be very careful!

Accommodation is often the most expensive part of your trip. Once you know what it will cost you, you can be quite specific about the other items in your budget. No surprises!

Surprises are the sort of thing that can be costly. No surprises often means no overspending.

Planning ahead also gives you time to really get the value from using a travel agent, should you choose to do so. You can shop around for an agent you feel comfortable with, and then the agent can work for you and your budget. Remember, time is money. If your time is limited, let the travel agent do what they are trained to do, to find you the best value!

More of a do-it-yourselfer? Then give yourself lots of time to shop around for the deals you want, and to become familiar with the market for whatever it is you’re buying. When you buy a car, you typically research how much cars cost, and for a couple of weeks you probably know the value of one or two models fairly well. The same goes for any type of goods or services – if you study the market for a bit, you soon find out what a reasonable price to pay is. Shoes, cars, villas or hotels, the principle is the same.

The biggest benefit of planning a tour or an holiday is that you will know how much is reasonable to spend on each element of your trip and you can lock in savings when you find them.

Tuscany and Lucca’s Luminara

The picture on the front cover is very meaningful for everyone who claims to be Lucchese.
It was taken last year just before the procession of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross started to arrive in the Cathedral of San Martino.
The procession leaves from the Church of San Frediano and retraces the steps of all of the other processions which have traditionally taken place on the 13th of September every year – Piazza San Frediano, Via Fillungo, Via Roma, Piazza San Michele, Piazza Grande, Piazza del Giglio, Piazza del Duomo and Piazza San Martino to arrive at its destination.
When the head of the procession arrives in the cathedral, the last part of it is still waiting to leave San Frediano so this may help you to realise just how many people take part in it.
It begins with archbishops, bishops, parish priests and parishioners carrying banners to announce where they are from, with brass bands playing liturgical music and choirs singing hymns in praise of the Holy Cross, each person holding a candle.
The local councils are well represented as are all voluntary organisations, with local politicians, mayors from the province of Lucca and, of course, the mayor of Lucca.
They are followed by representatives of the Lucchesi nel Mondo Association who are so proud and happy to be present in Lucca on this special evening as a tribute to their Lucchese roots. Last but not least come the historical figures in beautiful, colourful medieval costumes – lords, ladies, children, militia and archers.
So great are the number of participants that I’ve probably not even mentioned everybody.
Seeing is believing, however, because if I hadn’t seen this procession I could never have imagined the greatness of it all.
Although there are hundreds, thousands of onlookers, there always appears to be space for everybody. Along the route, the architecture of the buildings, shops and houses is outlined with countless numbers of little glass holders containing lit candles illuminating the procession, adorning Lucca with an unforgettable sight. The front cover is only a taste of what is to come on the 13th of September.
When the whole procession has entered the doors of the cathedral, the mottettone is sung.
This is a piece of polyphonic sacred church music. In the past it was composed for two organs and two choirs.
In fact the mottettone has always been a characteristic of the Feast of the Holy Cross, so much so that it attracted a great number of music lovers, contributing to the international fame of this event.
After the mottettone, people start moving towards the Walls to position themselves for a great view of the spectacular fireworks that conclude a wonderful evening.