€ 2.50 September 2018 Special this month: Buying & Restoring in Tuscany - Part Two for only € 7.50 when purchaEsed with this magazine N IN V E P A R TUSCANY’SG uscany – e in T y did or those who liv or wish the with of the sponsorship gazine f The ma 2018September Contents For food lovers and professionals alike, daily cooking classes: fresh pasta and sauces, fish and seafood, Tuscan specialties, risotto, pizza, focaccia, Art & Beauty Hands-on classes in a relaxed, fun atmosphere. Participants cook the Cartasia 6 dishes themselves, then enjoy these with plenty of wine and home-made liqueurs. Highly recommended by Tripadvisor! Artisans in Lucca 10 Monday to Sunday 10am to 2.30pm. Afternoon classes upon request. Info: www.cucina-italiana.com Direttore Responsabile Traditions & History Via di Sant’Alessio no. 3684, Lucca Tel 0583 329970 – 338 6718641 Giuseppe Brandani The Year 742, The Volto Santo Comes to Lucca 5 Book Review: Il duello 9 La Cantina Di Carignano Restaurant Editor Diana the Mountain Huntress 24 Tasting menus Norma Jean Bishop Open every day for lunch and dinner. Special menus prepared by Chef Paolo Monti for you. Special Dinner with Typical Tuscan trattoria with local specialties: zuppa di farro, tordelli demo in the cooking class Cover: Excursions Musical Reflections lucchesi, wild boar pasta, porcini, asparagus, artichokes. Specialties from kitchen, by reservation only. [email protected] Administration (Lucca) the charcoal grill: Bistecca alla Fiorentina (T.Bone steak), lamb, mixed Silvano Simi Enchanting Elba 20 by Thomas S. England grill. Specialized in seafood dishes, with fresh fish every day! Tuscan Sun Apartments Contributors In the green Lucca countryside, ten minutes from the city center and Food & Drink Helen Askham adjacent to the cooking school, four newly remodeled Tuscan style Buccellato 23 apartments. Terracotta floors, Anna Benedetto wooden beam ceilings, wrought- Norma Jean Bishop Practical iron beds, cooking facilities … but Michael Boyd Chiara Calabrese Buying & Restoring in Tuscany, Book Launch0 4 with all modern comforts: private Readership Survey 04 bathrooms, telephones, air-con, David Collins free Wi-Fi, 32” flat screen TV. Judith Edwards Info: www.tuscansunapartments.com LustrodaLucca Gardens tel 0583 329970 Sue Perry Murabilia 08 Via di Sant'Alessio n. 3684, Lucca Myra Saraev Jenny Schutz Letters 25 Marketing/Distribution N Claudia Casoli IO Diana Gatti Events of the Month 11-18 o f f s e t & d i g i t a l p r i n t i n g UCT Nicola Girolami Markets, Venues, What's On: Music, ANCE Silvano Simi Art & Exhibitions, Traditions, Sports, Luminarprint S.r.l. Via Gramsci, 11 TRUCTION Fornacette di Calcinaia - Pisa EN Children, Cinema, Conferences cell 392 0399800 - 347 0531461 [email protected] INT www.luminarprint.it CONSCONSTRSHOP SHOP Bilingual Crossword 19 MA Properties for Sale 22, 23, 26 POOL POOL Professionals 27 POOL MAINTENANCE VIA ACQUACALDA 192 (opposite the Cantoni factory), tel 0583/496920. House clearance - Removals. Vast selection of second-hand furniture, clothes, toys, videos, etc. Visit our store on eBay and our page on Facebook. Open 10.00-12.30 / 15.30-19.30 CLOSED MONDAY www.mercatinousatolucca.it On-line sales LUNATA - LUCCA tel. 0583.429333 - fax 0583.429158 [email protected] www.systems-pool.com 2 Tuscany’s GRAPEVINE Magazine September 2018 Tuscany’s GRAPEVINE Magazine September 2018 3 Editorial An imaginary text Dear Readers and Friends, inspired by the legend written by Leobinus Bentornati dai giorni spensierati! As we come to the end of this hot season, September brings the promise of The Year 742 fresh fall days, with school openings, harvests, and gatherings such as September Lucchese. (died 557 d.c.) regarding Home and hearth are now more inviting, as we want to load our tables with mushrooms, grapes, olives, and other the Volto Santo’s arrival in Lucca fruits of Mother Earth. For many of us who have chosen to live in Tuscany permanently, it is this closeness to nature and tradition that appeals so strongly. Even if it's too hot in summer and too cold in winter, we can take comfort knowing that we are not exaggerating with electricity, air conditioning, or heating, as in so many more “modern” countries. Looking at longevity statistics wagon pulled by oxen passes along run to call their friends and family who are at for the nations of the world, I find Italy in 10th place among over 200 nations. Is the wine? Is it the Mediterranean diet? The sea air? the simple byways, white with dust work in the fields and are uninformed about Family values? Biking and walking and tending the orchard? Take your choice! All in all, living in Italy is a privilege. and marble fragments, alongside this sensational happening. Peeking inside the Grapevine pages this month, you will find articles about Murabilia garden festival, Cartasia paper art A the river Lucido. These roads lead Pontremoli, Ceretoli, Dobbiana, Bagnone, festival, Lucca's legend of the Volto Santo, and the September Lucchese festivities, which attract Lucca emigrants from near and far from the lands of Lunae by way of the Fivizzano, Regnana, Giuncugnano … each (especially this year, on the 50th anniversary of Lucchesi nel Mondo). There are recipes to try, such as the famous buccellato, or maybe Garfagnana mountains to the swampy Lucca village receives the testimony of the existence just to recall (frogs' legs). A book review by Chiara Calabrese informs us of Bagni di Lucca's past, while the book launch of David plain. The carriage, though poor and simple, is of Jesus, carved from cedar by Nicodemus and Collins' Buying & Restoring in Tuscany (Part 2) will bring time-honoured traditions to our attention. very different from those made in these valleys, by the angels who lowered Christ from the cross. According to the Scriptures , Nicodemus and Joseph were If you haven't had enough vacation time yet, there's still good weather, so consider taking the boat to Elba, as Sue suggests with appearing both modern and primitive, maybe because of its heavy the first to receive the body and the blood, the Chalice itself. her beautiful photographs (pages 20-21). I hope you won't find too much plastic floating in the sea, and I thank those who sent letters iron-ringed wheels, the work of talented smithies, or for the wooden seat, similar to ebony, covered by iron-studded leather. Each village is given a reliquary, a piece of cloth, a bit of (see these on page 25) in response to my comments last month. It is carrying a precious and ancient load, which seems to have wood, a miniature of the statue, a symbol of veneration for those To help Grapevine grow and thrive, will you please participate in the readership survey described below? arrived from the East, belonging to a man who was present at the who come in the future. With thanks and warm wishes, Norma worst crime ever committed. The wooden statue – because this The reliquary is added to or substitutes for the cult objects load was in fact a statue – has been travelling for more than seven present in the church: the foundation stones, the vestments, the hundred years, crossing Persia, Antioch, Magna Grecia, the lands painted and sculpted representations. These signify that only a of Alba (home of the Slavic gypsies), then France, and from there single belief or way exists, esiste un solo corso. Tuscany’s Grapevine Magazine by Grapevine Editions heading towards the Caput Mundi, Rome. It chooses to pause in From the mountain watershed, after leaving the Lunae valley Registered office: Via Guinigi, 22 - Lucca 55100. Visit us at Via dell’Angelo Custode 3A. Mobile +39 333 8617962 - [email protected] - the bishopric of Lunae, to pay homage to a great ancient route, the group descends into the Garfagnana and intermediary www.luccagrapevine.com P. IVA 02416230460 - C.F. BSHNMJ48C65Z404D. Iscrizione CCIAA - LU 223932. Registrazione Tribunale di Lucca n° 4, civilization. valleys: Castelnuovo with its fortresses, beautiful and mysterious 23 Feb. 2016. © Tuscany’s Grapevine Magazine Some say it has arrived by sea, having crossed the Barga, Mozzano and its river, Decimo, Ottavo, Sesto, and finally, © What’s On In & Around. Printed by Luminarprint srl - Calcinaia (PI). Articles/photos for consideration may be submitted to the Editor. Advertising Mediterranean and avoided the pirate attacks and naval flotillas crossing the Auser river at the Moriano ford, to Holy Lucca itself. in editorial form may also be submitted for inclusion. Pages enclosed with a frame contain paid submissions. that preside over this closed and shallow sea. Having passed the amphitheatre, the carriage arrives at the The listings published in Grapevine are taken from reliable sources and reproduced in good faith. However, to avoid disappointment, readers In the nearby and friendly Republic of Lucca, an important city walls to the West. The citizens and lords coming to the market are advised to check information before setting off. autonomous religious and commercial capital, Giovanni, its first take the time to approach the carriage bearing the Bishop's Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor or Direttore Responsabile. Bishop, is alerted about this grandiose occurrence in a dream. So escutcheon, paying scarce attention to the less-than-noble vehicle. he travels to the Apuane valley to carry out the necessary They are still unaware of the immense treasure that is being preparations for this miraculously created icon. The two brought to them. bishoprics are connected like two stars in heaven: Lun and Luk, Next, the cargo is uncovered and unloaded from the carriage. moon and light, moon and sun. The statue's enveloping carpets and embroideries are removed, to It is not purely casual that the crescent shape of Luni's gulf triumphantly reveal it to the Lucca people, who herald it.