Forget all the old jokes about the ancient rivalry between Lucca and pisa. Not only is it the latest idea to promote both cities as a joint tourist destination, but this year, the annual concert for San Michele in Lucca will feature choirs from Lucca and Pisa combining in harmony.
On 25 September in Lucca, repeated on 26 September in pisa, audiences can hear the Polifonica Lucchese, the Società Corale Pisana and members of the vocal group Stereo Tipi come together to perform Braham’s towering choral work, the Deutsches Requiem
The initiative comes jointly from Egisto Matteucci, musical director of the Polifonica Lucchese and Gianpaolo Mazzoli, maestro of the Società Corale Pisana and also Director of Lucca’s prestigiuos music school, the Istituto Boccherini. In the version of the Requiem for two pianos and timpani, the choirs will be joined by pianists Carlo Palese and Simone Soldati and timpanist David Mazzei. the solo vocal parts are taken by two favourites with Lucca audiences, Korean soprano Hye Won Nam, and lucchese bass Francesco Facini.
First performed in 1868, when Brahams was 34 years old, the Deutsches Requiem, so called because it was written with German (rather than Latin) text, has been variously described as ” a masterpieces of exceptional vision”, a masterful fusion of new and old techiniques and by Clara Schuman as ” a truly tremendous piece of art”. It was dedicated by Brahams to his mother and to Robert Schuman, both of whom had recently died, but also “to humanity in general”.
Concerto per San Michele, at Church of San Michele in Foro, Lucca at 5.30 pm on Saturday 25 September, tickets at the door, euro 10,00. In Pisa on Sunday 26 in the Church of San francesco at 9 pm.
The name refers to an instrument of Cantignano 783 “in Actum Cantinianu” concerning a donation made by a Lombard Lucca for a daughter. The small church dating back to centuries. VII-VIII, with adjoining Benedictine abbey dedicated to St. Saviour seems to have been built on an old Roman building intended to baths, and was subsequently replaced by a new Romanesque church with a Latin cross in the sec. XIII, when the Benedictine monks Camaldolesi took over after the Cluniac reform.
The Benedictines took place first and reclamation of sewage water, thus bringing new land under cultivation, the Camaldolesi is also devoted to the cultivation of land and forestry. This place was given in fief to the bishops of Lucca by Otto with diploma of December 14, 1209, confirmed February 15, 1355 by Emperor Charles IV. The monastery was suppressed in 1419 and then aggregated with his possessions to the church and canons of the Cathedral of Lucca with the obligation to keep a parish priest.
In sec. XVIII The church was converted into Baroque style – eighteenth century, the length was shortened and demolished Romanesque façade. During the years 1965-66 it was restored the priesthood and the apse and there were important archaeological discoveries.Camaldolese the church is still visible outside the apse with pilasters suspended. The bell tower replaced the earlier, smaller, 1898. Inside is a valuable painting by Agostino Marti.
Sitting just to the west of the Italian mainland somewhat south of Pisa lies the island of Elba. It is common knowledge that Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to Elba when nobody in France knew what else do with him but there is much more to this “Toscana” island. So much more that it appears to have multiple personalities, which for the visitor is very desirable.
There is the Elba with umbrella covered sandy beaches, pleasure boat harbors, and crowds of bathers. But there is also the Elba with a quiet rocky coastline, aromatic pine forests, and ancient hillside towns. There is also the Elba of ruins, archeological sites and abandoned mines. Napoleon Bonaparte’s s brief rule over the island in the 1800’s is but a suggestion of the push and pull of past powers.
Elba is ancient and complex geologically as well as culturally. It is fair to say that the mineral riches of the island have lured many throughout ancient times and continues to draw mineralogy pros and amateurs alike up into the hills. Elba has been inhabited since early peoples first learned how to cross the narrow stretch of sea to the island from what is now Piombino on mainland Italy. Stone age tools, some made from stone not found naturally on the island, that have been discovered on Elba attest to this. It was the Etruscans who located and first extracted the mineral wealth of copper and later, the rich iron ore deposits.
Historians believe that the Iron Age in Italy began on Elba. These mineral treasures attracted the Greeks and the Romans along with Spaniards, French and English. Saracen pirates often raided the island and surviving fortifications in Portofarraio and elsewhere stand as reminders of how valuable Elba was. Mining, with various starts and stops due to the demands and consequences of the process (especially to the forests, depleted to fire the smelting furnaces in ancient times) continued through World War II. Elba has since turned its attention to tourism for current prosperity.
Elba is the largest of the Tuscan Islands at about 86 square miles which is quite a bit larger than Capraia. It is large enough to venture out for a day’s exploration knowing that the trip back will not be very long. We stayed on the coast to the west of the town of Procchio, which is centered on the Northern side of the island. Our rented apartment was within a 20 minute walk of Marciana Marina which served as our base for food shopping, dining out, and strolling around in the evening.
This is a lively town that did not feel overcrowded with a good choice of restaurants and interesting small shops. In the evening, craftspeople set up their tables along the waterfront and a pleasant mixture of families, young lovers, and seniors were out enjoying the breeze of a warm July night. By night or by day, Marciana Marina had a nice balance of activity without a feeling of orchestrated tourism.
One issue that bears mentioning is that walking might best be limited to within the towns and along specific trails through the mountains. The roads are narrow and winding, often without shoulders. The drivers were not particularly bad (for normally lead-footed Italians) but there just isn’t much space to walk along the busier coastal roads without having to pay close attention to where you are and what is coming around the bend. Our initial thought of renting bicycles was negated by our first day’s walk to town because the hazards would have made it unappealing at best. Having a car to explore the island is a very big advantage though there are nice air conditioned busses that maintain a regular service around the island.
Above Marciana Marina at the foot of Monte Capanne, the largest mountain on Elba, are two small towns that retain their ancient roots. Marciana Castello is the older of the two and boasts fortifications that resisted attack by Dragut the corsair, one of the most legendary Saracen pirates to plunder the Mediterranean in the 1500’s. With nasty guys like Dragut appearing suddenly into the harbor it makes perfect sense why so many towns along the Italian coast were either perched high on rocky cliffs or sited well above the sea. What appeals to us as charming and picturesque today was a matter of survival when these towns were built. Poggio Terme is also very beautiful and ancient with a small church dating from the 7th century. Above these towns, often with clouds grazing the upper ridge is the granite outcrop of Monte Capanne.
The sea surrounding Elba is clear, clean and easy to get to but it is the diversity of the island that has left a lasting impression and a desire to return. The topography and vegetation varies from one end of this small island to the other with rounded granite outcroppings and low-growing plants to the west, a forested interior of pine and chestnut, and the rugged multi-hued peaks and tree-covered hills of the mining centers to the east. One feels they have traveled far, based upon the views, in only 30 minutes.
The mining history and its remains are fascinating not to mention the fact that the mineral wealth of the ancient rocks of Elba have by no means been eliminated. Rock hunting for Neanderthal stone tools to semi-precious gems is still practiced. Attention to avoiding the well known vipers of Elba needs to be maintained whenever poking around their habitat but that should no more prevent exploration than does the rattlesnake keep people away from the Grand Canyon.
Aside from the ever-present emperor of France, history is softly spoken in Elba but very much alive at every turn. It is said that Napoleon often sat by the sea on the west coast and gazed longingly at the island of Corsica in the distant haze. For those of us that have not lost an empire, reversing one’s view back to Elba is more than enough.
Lu.C.C.A Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Via della Fratta 36 Steve Mc Curry and Pietro Gilardi. Time after Time. Giuliano Ghelli Le vie del Tempo. Otto minuti dal sole, un minuto dalla luna.
Videoart open 10.00-19.00 Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Mondays. Till 5 September.
Puccini Opera Via S. Giustina 16
Various exhibitions at the association’s head quarters.
Puccini e il cinema Posters and rawing relating to films on puccini heroines. Open 10.00-19.00 daily except Tuesdays. Till 1 November. Piatti di Puccini, Richard Ginori ceramics celebrating Puccini’soperas. Puccini mai visto, memorabilia, music scores, rare photos and letters, inauguration 15 September.
VIAREGGIO
Da Fattori a Casorati
Ojetti Collection. Experts have meticulously re-assembled the collection of 19th and 20th century Italian masterpieces dispersed when the Florentine home of the writer and art critic Ugo Ojetti was turned into a hotel. At the Centro Matteucci per l’Arte Moderna, via d’Annunzio 28.
Tuesday-Saturday 15.30-19.30 Sunday 14.30-20.00 closed Mondays. Till 12 September.
Galileo Chini e la Toscana
A collection of the art nouveau master’s ceramics, paintings, stage scenery- At GAMC Modern Art gallery, Piazza Mazzini 22. Open 18.00-23.00 Tuesdays to Sundays. Monday closed. Till 5 December.
BARGA Immagini della Valle del Serchio nella pittura del novecento 20th century landscape from the Garfagnana. Fondazione Ricci Till 5 September.
Surf’s up
At the Pontile, biting salt spray and crashing waves, walls of water, barrels and riptides: riding the giants, dreamin’ California… Forte dei Marmi’s sea like you never seen it: the best place in the world to be. In the tube.
It’s said that caution is a natural human mechanism. Caution, not cluck. And maybe this dualistic thought caution vs fear is what runs through the mind of the surfer riding the Versilia waves.
On that same sea, so safe and welcoming so perfect for kids and families, that canturn into an amazing arena of impetuous sewlls, barreling and mean; waves to catch, attack, caress and follow into whitewater. Pur collective California dream plays out in a bit of versilia’s sea near Forte dei marmi’s Pontile. An expanse of water that has become the Tyrrhenian playground for stoked foam-breathers on bords.
Everything turns on the waves, whenever, wherever: little snappers, crumbly waves, or big, glassy giants, perfect, pitching, peeling. An eternal pilgrimage in search of ideal spot, even if the best spots are right there, around the Forte Pontile and a tad downscaled at Marina di Pietrasanta. The surfer suffering from perennial abstinence thus sets off looking for a nice wave to share with some good friends. Bundled in a wetsuit in winter or reveling in skin-sea contact in a summer.
The rest, all the rest, is an explosion of utter freedom and pure passion. The kind that drives you to frenetically click all the surflines to see where the surf’s up and then “dive” down from the remotest inland sites in Versilia by scooter, Ape, car, bike, VW bus…. any means of locomotion is the right one for getting to the beach or the Pontile, board under arm, and paddling out. This is what it’s all about. Someone defined it “the innermost limits of pure fun”.
A step into liquid time. Momentum. Passion. Passion that takes you, with your board buddies to hangouts like the Nimbus Club. Or to explore the specialized shops – on the increase throughout Versilia. The same passion that, in a business key, has spawned a host of boardshops that build to order (Ola Surfboards of pietrasant, for example).
The sea is an open-air stage on wich the curtain never falls: in winter as in summer, at dawn as at the dusk of a long, long day the blue crush is a never-ending attraction.
A “fatal” attraction, while all around unpredictable and unsettling, the unceasing wind and the whipping sea foam vehemently caress the senses of the surfer on a living curl at the morning of the earth.
