The ancient Masseria Villa Cenci is perched on a luxuriant green knoll in the middle of Valle d’Itria, about 10 Km from the Adriatic Sea. It is surrounded by a large 13 hectares park, ideal for relaxing walks in contact with nature.
Location: Contrada Carperi, Brindisi, Apulia
Why does it deserve a mention?
It is a perfect peaceful oasis, strategic home base to explore the surroundings: Ostuni, Cisterino, Alberobello, Monopoli, Selva di Fasano, Polignano a mare, and of course, Bari. Villa Cenci disposes of just 20 rooms, some of which located in the Trulli (traditional white stone dwellings, characterized by the typical conical roof). The interior furnishings are produced by local artisans according to the traditional style, but they dispose of all modern comforts such as air conditioning and LCD TV; the rooms are a pleasant mix between ancient and past.
The silent position and the friendly service create a relaxing and familiar atmosphere.
If you expect to taste typical appetizing food, you won’t be disappointed: the hotel offers exquisite regional recipes, prepared with products coming from their organic garden or from selected and certificated local producers.
Do you know Villa Cenci? Share your experience with us!
Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland: Emirates New Zealand is the winner!!!
I couldn’t wait until Thursday to inform you that Emirates Team New Zealand wins the second part of the Louis Vuitton Trophy, which has took place in Auckland from 9 to 21 March. The other team having reached the finals is the Italian Mascalzone Latino, which lost 2 out of 3 final regattas. Just recall that ETNZ just won the first part of the Trophy, the Round Robin.
The final ranking:
1 – EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND
2 – MASCALZONE LATINO AUDI TEAM
3 – AZZURRA
4 – ARTEMIS
5 – ALL4ONE
6 – TEAMORIGIN
7 – ALEPH SAILING TEAM
8 – SYNERGY RUSSIAN SAILING TEAM
Next Louis Vuitton date will be in Sardinia, in the enchanting Maddalena Archipelago, starting from the end of May (22 May – 6 Juin 2010). The participating teams have to be confirmed; apart from the 8 Auckland teams, there will probably be Bmw Oracle and Luna Rossa.
In Sardinia, Louis Vuitton Trophy will be based in La Maddalena, in the old port of the ancient Navy. It belongs to La Maddalena Hotel Yacht Club, which has been completely restored and will open on May, 1st 2010.
The style of the Yacht club is modern and refined; the gorgeous project includes 100 comfortable rooms, a 1700 sqm Conference Centre, an equipped Fitness and Wellness Spa centre, a shopping area, restaurants, cafés, cinema…people who decide to spend some days here for the Louis Vuitton Trophy, won’t certainly get bored!!!
Today: Auckland – Emirates Team New Zealand wins Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland
Round robin in the city of Sails: completed.
Waiting for the finals…
Auckland, New Zealand, hosts the second of five match regattas of the Louis Vuitton Trophy. Racing started 9th March; the teams raced four matches a day (for a total of 7 days) in order to complete the Round Robin (RR), before starting the ladder elimination ending in the finals, which will take place on Sunday, 21st March.
Unbeaten until the 5th Race Day, Emirates Team New Zealand lost its first race on Day 6, against the French team Aleph, in the only Regatta of the day: because of the strong wind, the Race Committee decided to stop the race for the day.
On day 7, the last of this round, Emirates Team New Zealand defeat the Russian Team Synergy and gains the first position, while the Italian team Mascalzone Latino gains the second position, defeating first the English TeamOrigin, and then the other Italian Team Azzurra during the rematch.
The Situation after Round Robin is the following:
1) Emirates Team New Zealand (6 points)
2) Mascalzone Latino Audi Team (5 points)
3) All4One (4 points)
4) Azzurra (4 points)
5) Artemis (4 points)
6) TeamOrigin (3 points)
7) Aleph Sailing Team (1 point – The Umpires have deducted 1 point)
8) Synergy Russian sailing team (0 points)
According to the MacIntyre System, the chosen format originally developed for Australian rugby, RR determines a ranking which is used for later eliminations.
During Round 1, competitors sail here a knockout series; the pairing is made using the ranking of RR: 1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th and 4th vs. 5th.
Depending on the RR ranking, in Round 1 the teams will race as follows:
- Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Synergy Russian sailing team (1st-8th)
- Mascalzone Latino Audi Team vs. Aleph Sailing Team (2nd-7th)
- All4One vs. TeamOrigin (3rd-6th)
- Azzurra vs. Artemis (4th-5th)
The 4 remaining teams are paired again and will sail for Round 2, the semi-final and the Sunday final.
In the meantime, waiting for the finals, the America’s Cup trophy returns to New Zealand. The Cup, won last month by the American team BMW Oracle Racing , is arrived today; the public could admire it during the races of the Louis Vuitton Trophy.
I’ll keep you informed of the progress of the races in the next post, we’ll discover the winner team of the Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland!
As every Christian festivity, Easter (Pasqua) plays a central role in Italy: it is the second most important festivity after Christmas.
If you want to understand the reason, just remember two aspects:
1) The historical and cultural importance of the Catholic church in Italy
2) The religious meaning: while Christmas is Jesus’ birth, Easter is his passion, death and resurrection.
So, during the holy week throughout Italy, people celebrate Easter with rituals, processions, and… with more then 3.000 passion plays on Good Friday! On Easter Sunday, after the long Lent period, people celebrate the resurrection. The day after, on Easter Monday (called Pasquetta – the little Easter) is generally dedicated to outdoor trips or picnics, with friends or the family.
This is why I warmly suggest you to visit Italy during this period. I warn you: you have to consider the crowds as the whole country is on holiday, and also high season prices. But you will have the chance to discover the ancient Italian Easter traditions, perhaps less popular than the art monuments or then the beaches, but certainly very appealing. It’s definitely worth to do this experience.
Once you’ve decided to follow my suggestion, the logic consequent question is: where exactly?
Thanks for asking!
I will reveal you a secret: even if, from 1861, Italy unified the territories and became a Nation…. Italians are still not aware of it!
In fact, they continue to maintain regional traditions and dialects as a sort of treasure, proud and jealous of their uniqueness. Even if the religious leading thread exists, every region, every city, every small town celebrates in its own way. (Just one thing is everywhere in Italian Easter: a rich family lunch!)
In Florence, for example, is very popular the “Scoppio del carro” celebration (Explosion of the cart), which dates back about 300 years ago. A huge decorated cart (built in 1679, with some fireworks attached) is dragged through Florence by white oxen decorated in garlands, until it reaches the Duomo (Cathedral).
Here the fireworks are lit, according to an involving traditional rite.
In Sardinia, we recall the traditional Eastern celebration of Oliena (Nuoro), where, on Eastern Sunday, people celebrate S’Incontru (the meet). Two processions (the participants are dressed with typical costumes), the one carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary and the second carrying a statue of Jesus Christ, meet after a long walk through the village’s streets. The curious thing is that, people who don’t participate to the processions are in their balconies and celebrate by shooting in the air, announcing the resurrection.
Always in Sardinia, very fascinating Eastern rituals are celebrated in Alghero. Starting one week before Eastern, a series of traditional rituals and processions take place, among Catalan songs and evocative ceremonies.
Another interesting Easter celebration take place in Sulmona (Abruzzo); it is known as La Madonna che corre in piazza (the Virgin Mary who races through the square) and encloses very strong religious meanings and dramatic shades, also thanks to the personification of the Virgin Mary. She can’t believe in his son resurrection, so first she goes slowly out of the church, but than she catches sight of her son and start running, joyful, to reach him.
Other remarkable rituals take place in Sicily, in particular in Trapani (the longest Italian religious festival and one of the most ancient) and Enna (which rituals date back to the Spanish domination).
A special mention has to be given to the Easter festivals of Procida (dating back to XVI century, one of the most evocative) and Ischia (to be celebrated in the open air, in the squares of the ancient districts, tasting the traditional Mediterranean cuisine).
In these, and in many others ways, Italians celebrate Easter. If you are curios to know more about them, or if you wish to know how Easter is celebrated in another Italian city or region, I will be pleased to satisfy your curiosity!
During my stay abroad, I was often told that Italian language has something musical in its rhythm. True or not, many Italian singers have become very popular in non Italian countries, thanks to their typical way of singing, which generally includes romantic weepy songs. But I have to say that, as often happens, not all good singers have an international success, for many different reasons. Actually, Italy has a wide number of singers and particularly of singer-songwriters which really deserve a mention.
Starting from North Italy and moving to the south, I’ll present you 8 Italian singers, each one representing a region from where the singer comes from. You’ll find some well-known faces, but also some new interesting ones. This collection would be a sort of travel-songs selection, which will be able evocate the region you’re visiting and will accompany you during your next holidays in Italy.
LIGURIA
The third smallest region in Italy, Liguria, is a strip of land stretching from Tuscany to the border of France. The singer-songwriter I’ve chosen to represent this region is maybe not very popular abroad, but in Italy many consider him a poet besides a singer: after his premature death in 1999 at the age of 58 years old, some of his songs have been introduced in school anthologies of Italian Literature. The songs of Fabrizio de Andrè often told the story of marginalized persons and rebels; they will go with you during your holiday, sometimes just telling you something, often unmasking the weaknesses and hypocrisies of human beings.
The chosen song, CREUZA DE MA, entirely sung in the dialect of Genoa, has been considered one of the most important songs of the ’80.
EMILIA ROMAGNA
The second region we cross during our tour is Emilia Romagna, native land of the worldwide famous Tortellini. The singer, singer-songwriter and musician who represents this region has been nicknamed, during a Tv-programm in England,the italian mad hatman, because he is in the habit of performing with a hut (of which he has a big collection!). His name is Adelmo Fornaciari, stage name Zucchero (Sugar). He’s the black voice of the Italian music, and he has co-operated with many international artists, such as Paul Young, Joe Cocker, Luciano Pavarotti, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Bono Vox, The Scorpions, Sting and many others.
The chosen song is IL VOLO (The Flight)
TOSCANA
From Emilia Romagna we arrive in Tuscany, one of the most popular Italian regions due to its cultural, artistic and landscape estate. I am pretty sure you already know the chosen singer and tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Here one of his best successes: CON TE PARTIRO’ (Time to say Goodbye)
LAZIO
From Tuscany to Latium, which capital is Rome, where we find another Italian popular singer-songwriter: Lorenzo Jovanotti (birth name: Lorenzo Cherubini). He started his career with Rap songs, but his musical evolutions approached him to the world music style (a kind of contamination between pop and ethnic music). The themes of his songs gradually involve philosophic, politic, social and religious themes. Pacifist, he co-operated with important international societies such as Emergency and Amnesty International.
The chosen song, SAFARI, is representative of his style
CAMPANIA
Latium borders to the south on Campania, the second most populous Italian region, which capital is Naples. The Neapolitan music is popular all over the world (who doesn’t know O Sole mio?) and many Neapolitan artists left a mark in the Italian music. The singer (singer-songwriter, of course) I’ve chosen to represent Campania is Pino Daniele. TERRA MIA, the solo debut, is the first example of what he called Taramblù, a mix of Tarantella, Rhumba and Blues.
PUGLIA
Puglia (Apulia) is the heel of the Italian boot, well-known for its beautiful landscape and coasts. The singer-songwriter I’ve chosen comes actually not from Apulia, but in 1998 he created the Taranta power, a musical and cultural movement in order to promote Tarantella (a folk dance typical of south Italy) through motion-picture, musical and theatre activities.
The song we present you is GRANDE SUD (big south)
SICILY Our tour comes to the biggest Italian island: Sicily. This region is represented in this selection by a skilled singer-song-writer, the only woman in this selection: Carmen Consoli. She is appreciated for her melodious and interpretative skills, for her determination and passion in singing.
She sings both in Italian and in Sicilian dialect, as the following song shows: A FINESTRA (The Window)
SARDINIA
From island to island, here we are in Sardinia, our next stage through this songs-travel-selection. The group I’ve chosen, Tenores di Bitti, is representative of the Cantu a Tenore, a typical style of polyphonic folk singing, one of the most important in the Mediterranean, characterized by a group of four (male) singers each of whom has a distinct role. In 2005, the Cantu a Tenore has been classed among intangible world heritage by Unesco. Here below the BALLU LESTRU (the quick dance, in Sardinia language)
As you noticed, this selection underlines how Italian regions are different from each other, and how each one is deeply connected to its own traditions. If your favourite Italian singer one doesn’t fall in this selection, feel free to share your opinion with me!
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