Tuscany things to do | PlanningaTour.com

Tuscany – Festival Puccini Torre del Lago Lucca

The Festival Puccini started in july In Torre del Lago,the town is located between Lake of Massaciuccoli and Tyrrhenian sea, near Viareggio.
The Festival welcomes about 40.000 spectators every year to its open-air theatre, just a few steps from the Villa Mausoleum where Giacomo Puccini lived and worked.
His mortal remains are now in a small chapel inside the Villa.
Torre del Lago is a favourite destination of opera lovers and tourists who wish to visit the places where the most beloved composer of the 20th century lived.
More informations on: www.puccinifestival.it

Program of Festival:
Time: 9.15 pm

LA BOHEME:
10-15-19 july
01-14-21 august

TOSCA:
11-17-26 july
09-20 august

TURANDOT:
18-25-31 july
07-22 august

MANON LESCAUT:
02-08-13 august

Tuscany – The S. Martino Labyrinth, Lucca

Next to well known monuments as the famous Ilaria del Carretto’s sepulchre by Jacopo della Quercia, the S. Martino Cathedral, built during the sixth century, preserves also some “mysteries” which need to be mentioned.
One of these is with no doubt the labyrinth situated outside the Church, carved on the pillar leaning against the bell tower. Of a circular shape it shows on its side an inscription in Latin hexameters whose translation says: “This is the labyrinth built by the Cretese Dedalo, and once inside, no one could get out; except for teseo, felpe for love, by Arianna’s string”. One can ask oneself why a clearly pagan symbol is placed at the entrance of a Christian Church.
The ansie can be found in the nearly certain allegoric meaning given to the same labyrinth as a place of sin from which only the love of Christ and faith in God can free us, just as Teseo found the exit tank to the Arianna string.

Tuscany and women

Women who follow their instict, and strive to fulfil their dreams, who find space and time and come to Tuscany.
Tuscany Welcomes Women is designed to meet the destre of these free, indipendent and romantic women who love travelling and meeting other people, pampering themselves and living themselves a holiday, a moment of pleasure in search of emotion and knowledge.
Tuscany Welcomes Women welcomes you to a region that has come up with this possibility, making made to measure offers for women travelling alone, with children or female fiends.
The women who come here will find the care and attention of selected structures with different programmes and proposing different ideas, with special offers and discounts for beauty treatments, spa treatments and cultural events.
Think of the holiday that awaits you, of what you will experience, get an advance taste of your Tuscan experience by plucking from your imagination a name, a location, a trip, that inspires you and that has drawn your attention. Then forget all the rest.
You can count on the female entrepreneurs who care part of Tuscany Welcomes Women to organise a holiday rich in emotions.
We knew that with their help we would be alble to offer a lot: a rich and open region, welcoming and generous with women who want to communicate and rediscover the things that count.
Besides, with their sensitivity what better approach could there be to the region’s treasures than a woman’s.
You will be able to come in contact with different worlds, from the splendour of the Medici cities to the infinite number of small villages, ridde and enveloped in the charm of a never ending story.
A closely woven fabric, dense in emotions in which art leale room for the countryside and the flavours of the countryside, and the flavours of the cuisine are the cue for getting to know the territory, cultures and traditions.
In the Tuscany Welcomes Women project the rules are changed, another language reigns, the language of relaxation, rest, but also of discovery research, pleasure, all designed to fit in with your desires.

The project is arranged into several themes:
. knoledge and learning
. active holidays
. society life
. well being spiritualità and meditation
. ecology and country life

These themes are basic concepts that can be furtherexplored tank to numerous possible activities designed especially for women.
Let yourselves be guided and you will discover a unique Tuscany where harony and equilibrium reign, the colours conjure up desires and views trigger off sweet sensations.
Against this background you can experience your holiday increasingly in the driving seat, and lessa s onlookers.
Women travelling with children can find ad hoc structures and staff, with ideas designed for children. “pearshaps also in the company of female friends” you can celebrate an event, create a personalized stay, devote your time to shopping and society life, to cultural life and your healt with walking, cycling and horse riding.
The tourist packages of various kinds, from days devoted to relaxation in a spa to visiting a wine cellar with wine tasting, from a course in local cuisine to a walk in the woods or in the regional parks, a dinner in a typical restaurant to taste the flavour of tradition and play at the theatre or in a town square following the “events calendar” for the period and the city you are visiting.
In addition, there are holidays designed for those who want to learn something new: including activities starting in the morning, at a leisurely time, for you to relax and forget the frenetich rhythms of every day routine, until the evening, when you late in the many night spots that offer entertainment of all types together with typical dishes.
Tuscany Welcomes Women provides a welcoming stay in a hotels, period residences, solida farms and bed & breakfast that are taking part in the iniziative. If you want to taste dishes from the traditional cuisine you can have lunch or dinner in the restaurants participating to the project Vetrina Toscana a Tavola.

Tuscany – Lu. C. C. A. The Living Museum

As the designer dresses and killer heels strained to get a closer view of the dignitaries o fan elegant Palazzo a the Madonna dello Stellario on saturday May 9thm any tourists casually bumping into the scene would have been forgive for believing they’d accidentally driven to Milan rather than Lucca. They were in fact witnessing the opening o fan exibition of 1950s italian abstract art, Un Mondo Visivo Nuovo. Origine Balla, Kandinsky e le astrazioni degli anni ’50.
As one of the Regione, Provincia and Comune authorities addressing the crowd honestly remarked: “Lucca ha ricevuto un regalo bellissimo” ( Lucca has been given a magnificent present). And gift it is as the Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, so suitably acronymed Lu. C.C.A. is the private “10 year dream made real” of modern art lover Angelo Parpinelli. Sixteenth century Palazzo Boccella has been given a stunning revamp in which every detail reflects the aesthetic panache of Italian design, from the white windows screens to the Giugiaro fire extinguishers that could easily have been placed on the wall as exhibits. The lounge cafè with is custom designed table tops is a cool place for the happy hour and you must visit all five modern bagni decorated by contemporary artists and aplty re-named, with a clever pun, Bi-Sogni di Artisti.
The juxtaposition of old and new is most tangible in the cantine built on the base of one of medieval wall towers ( you can still see the stones) where modern sculpture stands alongside 16th century frescos uncovered during restoration. And also on the top floor which offers breathtaking peeks of Lucca rooftops.
The high ceilinged saloni on the first and second floor have been turned into sharp white containers to house exhibitions of contemporary art whilst the ground floor hosts a reception area, multi media and video space plus a photographic exhibition area. The gigantografie currently on show document the rise of modern Milan in the economic boom years of the late 50s and 60s. Architect Luigi Moretti who designed many of these modern tower blocks had an intense artistic correspondence with the painters of ORIGINE and shared their vision of urbanology and role of aesthetics in modern life. Sun bounces boldy off geometrical blocks.
It is pure form and line, with all embellishment and ornamentation banished in tune with the spirit of the paintngs upstairs.
The appreciation of contemporary art requires much more of an effort on the part of the viewer than a cursory walk past figurative paintings, and the marking of another notch on the “have done” art tourist stick. Only if you attempt to relate the work sto their sociological background and context in history will you get a real under standing of the unusual meterials, difficult images and colours.
It is 1951, and the atrocities committed by man against man in World War II have robbed artists of the desire to represent the human figure or recognizable objects. A group of psainters, sculptors, and architects with a shared sensivity and a belief in the moral and social mission of their profession, join together in Rome calling their group ORIGINE.
As the word implies a sort of return to primitive forces, to be espresse through primordial form and symbols. Hence Burri’s work in catrame (tar) and Capogrossi’s cave drawing-like ripetitive symbols.
The exhibition provides excellent commentary ( in Italian and English) on each group of paintings and i was particulary struck by the magazinenes and notebooks displayed in the foyer. Here the artists themselves explain what they were trying to archieve, often in severe manifesto style, but sometimes in great simplicity. With a real optimistic sense of starting over Ettore Colla, sculto and painter, records in his 1955 diary ( a handwritten unpublished text from the Colla Archives, Rome).
I you are not usually attracted to modern art, the artists’ intentions may seem utopian waffle, but here is the trump card of this new museum. Purpose built, the size and lighting of the rooms and the way the works are positioned seem to make you actually touch the paintings whose tones and brushstrokes establish physical contact with the viewer’s consciousness-give them a change and they speak. One emerges from Lu.C.C.A. with a clear vision o fan artistic period, and real sensory experience, unlike many an immense gallery which leale on in a state of overdose and confusion.
And to recreate that feeling at home you can buy the specially chosen music and fragrances – they change for each new show – or buy the catalogue on sale in the shop together with art books, high class custom – designed jewellery, and Lu.C.C.A. merchandise.

Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art
Via della Fratta 36, Lucca
Tel. +39 0583 571712
www.luccamuseum.com
Entrance euro 7,00
Open tuesdays to sundays 10.00 – 19.00
Last ticket sale 18.00
Closed mondays.
Baby sitting services on request, art area specially for children upstairs.
The exhibition “Un Mondo Visivo Nuovo” runs till august 23.

Tuscany – The singing of trees

Musical entertainment one summer evening in the Botanical Garden in Lucca.

The Lucca Town Council takes care to the promotion of the town, its beauties, its typical aspects which make it unique, such as the town walls, the point of frequent meetings of both visitors as well as citizens.
Nevertheless, there are still some places of interest that remain almost ridde to tourists and forgotten even by the local people.
With the aim to rediscover and enhance these places, this year we have decided to favour the botanical garden that becomes an excellent space of entertainment and relaxation in the summer heat.
The idea to promote this site where historical background is combined with the beauty and scent of plants has met the enthusiasm of local associations and institutions which have joined the project to bring music to the garden.
We offer a weekly programme of music events ranging from classical music, jazz, up to contemporary one which will accompany visitors during their evening walks where the scenery meets art in a unique attraction.

July 9.00 p.m.
Friday 3: “Musica italiana anni ’50, ’60, ‘70”
Friday 10: “I suoni del pianoforte”
Friday 17: “Suoni tra gli alberi”
Friday 24: “Note tra i fiori”
Friday 31: “Jazz all’orto”

August 9.00 p.m.
Friday 7: “Serata con Vivaldi e Bach”
Friday 14: “Tra Rinascimento e Barocco”
Friday 21: “Una serata con l’opera”
Friday 28: “Sinfonia..all’orto”