There is time to dance and time to grieve
by Carlo Rey Lacsamana These past few days there have been rumors of an impending snowfall. Snow in this tiny corner of Tuscany is as rare as truffles. Not everybody is a fan of snow for it provokes various discomforts and annoyances and the year 2020 had given us a little too much of them […]
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Capitolo 18 – Le nutrie attaccano!
Ei, eccomi, sono CiCi. Dopo aver letto di come Roberto Roberto Guinigi abbia scansato il potenziale disastro del Progetto BRENDA, e di come la sua zuppa speciale di farro abbia risolto la crisi a Madeira, forse penserai: tutti i problemi in questo racconto si risolvono grazie alle geniali capacità di Doppio R Guinigi e del […]
Continue ReadingC’è tempo per ballare e tempo per addolorarci
di Carlo Rey Lacsamana In questi giorni si vocifera di un imminente nevicata. La neve in questo minuscolo angolo di Toscana è rara come il tartufo. Non tutti sono appassionati di neve perché provoca diversi disagi e fastidi e il 2020 già ce ne ha regalati parecchi. Ma nessuno, presumo, possa negare la bellezza eterea […]
Continue ReadingChapter 18 – The River Rats Attack!
Hi, CiCi here. After reading about how Roberto Roberto Guinigi salvaged the disaster that was Project BRENDA, and about how his special farro soup solved the crisis in Madeira, you may be thinking: all of the problems in this story get solved by Double R Guinigi’s brilliant planning and anticipation of obstacles, right? Think again […]
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A Café in Piazza San Francesco
by Carlo Rey Lacsamana In the café eavesdropping becomes permissible as a consequence of hanging out. Various shades of conversations, a salad of issues: politics, love affairs, work, school, passions, ambitions, news, pandemic… Everything is indulged in: the banal, the ridiculous, the cant, the outrageous, the pitiful… No topic goes to waste. Café people’s appetite […]
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COVID o Niente COVID LORO SONO APERTI…
VEDRETE CHE I RISTORANTI E CAFFÈ CHE ABBIAMO RACCOMANDATO offrono piatti odierni per asporto o con consegna a domicilio Le nostre RACCOMANDAZIONI non sono state sollecitate e non sono pubblicità pagata – sono semplicemente le nostre opinioni La Buca di Sant’Antonio EXTRA SPECIALE: I PIATTI D’ASPORTO DELLA BUCA DI SANT’ANTONIO Ora è possibile godersi i […]
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COVID or No COVID THEY ARE OPEN…
CHECK WITH OUR RECOMMENDED Best Restaurants & Cafès for DAILY SPECIALS to TAKE OUT Our RECOMMENDATIONS are: Unsolicited – Unpaid – Just Our Opinions EXTRA SPECIAL TAKE-OUT… La Buca di Sant’Antonio Recommendation Forno a vapore Amedeo Giusti Recommendation Franklin ’33 Recommendation Il Mercatino del Pesce Recommendation Ristorante Il Giglio & Gigliola Recommendation Pasticceria Dianda Recommendation […]
Continue ReadingEXTRA SPECIAL: Take-out from La Buca di Sant’Antonio
Experience Lucca’s most Authentic Food Experience AT HOME TORTELLINI in BRODO announce the arrival of fall — most of all the Buca’s tortellini that are famous for their rich flavor. Follow those with pappardelle in hare sauce or wild boar in umido with olives and polenta, and finish with castagnaccio (chestnut pie) with shepard-fresh sheep’s […]
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A Country Walk: the perfect getaway
Getting far from the hustle and bustle of city life is simple in Lucca – at about a mile down the viale San Concordio is Sorbano del Vescovo, better known as ‘Sorbanello’. There, just off the path under the acqueducts, lies a grass road along the Lozzori River that dives into fields of sunflowers, hay, […]
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UNESCO honors Lucca as “Learning City”
September 26, 2020: With Mayor Alessandro Tambellini’s announcement today, Lucca joins just four other Italian cities recognized by UNESCO for their commitment to learning and growth as communities. As a member of UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities, the city will benefit from policy dialogue and peer learning between member cities. Lucca was chosen because […]
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BASKETBALL in Lucca is back!
As originally reported by Basketworldlife.it on August 24, 2020: a band of Lucca-bred and Lucca-proud basketball fanatics will breathe new life into Basketball Club Lucca (BCL) next season. Following its total shutdown earlier this year thanks to COVID-19, the team has some new staff and high hopes for the season. “We’ve decided to save our […]
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More lovely than ever…
The statue of “la pupporona” as she is fondly referred to by Lucchesi, is now fully restored to her original beauty, according to the city of Lucca. The statue gracing a fountain in piazza San Salvatore, is officially named the Fountain of the Water Nymph but is colloquially referred to as the Fountain of the […]
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A Family Secret
After the war, my zia Gina continued working as a teacher. The handsome South African soldier named Donny with whom she had fallen in love didn’t write as he had promised, so to divert herself she quickly fell for the attention of a puppy whom she called “Bijoux” – zio Carlo thought the name was […]
Continue ReadingThe War
Before World War II started to impact her and her family’s life directly, my Mom finished her teaching degree but unlike her sister, Gina, who went straight to work at a middle school in Garfagnana, Mom continued her university studies. She studied Chemistry at the University of Pisa after receiving an associate teaching degree because […]
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Parishes
In places I have lived in Firenze and Siena, the local church played a massive role in one’s identity as a Florentine or Senese. The parades in Florence for the ancient game of calcio fiorentino pit players from the churches of Santo Spirito, Santa Maria Novella, San Giovanni and Santa Croce in matches which are […]
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Watermelon Square ~ Piazza dei Cocomeri
Watermelon Square ~ Piazza dei Cocomeri, may have been named during the centuries when a fruit and vegetable market occupied the square of St. Michael’s Church ~ Piazza San Michele.
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Capitolo 17 – Crisi a Madeira
– sopra alla quale era stampata la lettera “E” in onore della nave da guerra lucchese, Elsie. Nella lettera c’era scritto: “Il mio guardiamarina Usna ed io pensavamo che il nostro lavoro in Madeira sarebbe stato completato nel miglior modo possibile a bordo piscina presso l’albergo Reid’s Palace, dove potevamo contemplare le previsioni del tempo […]
Continue ReadingChapter 17 – Crisis in Madeira
The breathless messenger bowed in front of Roberto Roberto Guinigi, and handed him a parchment envelope with the seal of Captain Giancarlo Annapoli, in the shape of a three-masted warship on top of the letter E, for the Lucchese warship Elsie. The enclosed letter read as follows: “Signore Guinigi, “Our voyage from Viareggio to […]
Continue ReadingCapitolo 16 – Caos a Lucca
Il Capitano Giancarlo Annapoli, con il suo spensierato mezzo marinaio Usna, e Carlo Pellerini, il capo della spedizione a Madeira di Doppio R Guinigi, si rinfrescavano con un prosecco sulla terrazza dell’Hotel I Principi a Viareggio… dove dalle loro poltrone vicine alla piscina guardavano con interesse la fregata lucchese Elsie che veniva caricata con provvigioni. […]
Continue ReadingAD UN CAFFÈ IN PIAZZA SAN FRANCESCO
di Carlo Rey Lacsamana Al caffè, ascoltare i discorsi degli altri è una conseguenza naturale della frequentazione del locale stesso. Sono varie le conversazioni dei clienti, tanto da dare vita ad una miscela di questioni: si parla di argomenti politici, di affari di amore, di sport, di scuola, di svariati interessi personali, dei fatti collegati […]
Continue ReadingChapter 16 – Chaos in Lucca
Captain Giancarlo Annapoli, his happy-go-lucky midshipman Usna, and Carlo Pellerini, the head of Double R Guinigi’s expedition to Madeira, were sipping prosecco at the fabulous rooftop pool bar at the top of the Hotel I Principi in Viareggio… watching the anchored Lucchese warship the Elsie being loaded with supplies. Early the next morning, as the […]
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