Andiamo In Italia - Lets go to Italy - to Puglia

Reading a recent article that explores the roots of the tarantella reminded me of the first time we experienced this stirring southern italian music and dance. I've never really been a fan of folk or country music and visited my first local festa somewhat reluctantly back in 2006. Despite my misgivings I could not fail to be impressed by the efforts the locals had made to celebrate their saints' day in style and full color.

Apart from the religious procession we were treated to marching bands, market stalls, local food and drink of all descriptions and a  multitude of happy faces.

Two things impressed me most and remain with me now :

The superb music and dancing provided by local entertainers culminating in a stirring performance of the tarantella, more about this later, and

The sheer enjoyment of youngsters from 4 or 5, early and mid teens and up, all of whom knew the local dances and songs and were not embarassed to get up and show off their skills.

Here in Puglia, ancient traditions remain alive and the local people are proud of their ancestry and culture which continues to be passed on to the younger generations. Sometimes it seems time really has stood still.

The Tarantella

Tradition has it that the Tarantella is a dance performed by young women who have been bitten by the tarantula spider whilst working in the fields. The frenzied dance was supposed to enable the inflicted person to dance out the poison of the spider. Whatever it's roots, the tarantella continues to be a stirring performance, usually performed by a couple or two women it is often interpreted as a story of love and desire. Accompanied by the music of the mandolins, tambourines and castanets, the woman tries to entice her partner who responses with tenderness, charm and elegance. As the dancers unite only to separate and return, flying into each others arms only to separate again their movements can be seen to demonstrate many stages of a love affair.

Whatever the truth behind the tarantella if you are visiting Puglia it is well worth the effort to spare the time to see a performance of the traditional tarantella. As Alessandra Belloni says of the souhern italian tarantella in the piece that provoked my thoughts and this article
"... the tarantella you see performed is the real thing. In America, it became this very washed-out version."

Definitely not to be missed!

Read the article here ......................... Edgewater's Alessandra Belloni explores the tarantella's colorful roots, NorthJersey.com

Read Escape-Artists.com account of Padre Pio, and you will see that the Shrine of Padre Pio, in San Giovanni Rotondo, Puglia, is the second most visited Catholic Shrine in Puglia. We haven't visited this one, San Giovanni Rotondo is in the north of Puglia, too far for a day trip for us, but there are many many Padre Pio statues throughout Puglia. 

I  had forgotten until I read this article that, rumour has it, Santa Claus originates from Bari, here in Puglia. 

"So, My attention has turned to Jolly Old Saint Nick. Actually Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myrna and Patron Saint of, Bari, and the surrounding region, Puglia, Italy. Yes, there is a REAL Santa Claus, and the portraits of him painted in life, depict a man dressed in gold colored robes, with a very dark complection, and a thick black wavy beard. But, with the passage of several centuries, he has faded a lot. He has also gained a lot of weight if the present day portraits are to be believed. Nicholas is the patron of Children, Maidens, Seafarers and appropriate to the season of excessive spending, Pawn Brokers."

Read More ........Karl Leuba

More Links:

St. Nicholas Center - discovering the truth about Santa Claus

The Man Behind the Story of Father Christmas/Santa Claus

Santa's Origins and FAQs

Sadly the 5 whales found stranded off the coast of Puglia have died.

Links

Five Whales Die After Rare Beaching Off Italy
The whales, measuring up to 10 metres long and weighing several tonnes each, were found stranded off the coast of Puglia on Thursday, the environment ...

Sperm whale pod beached on Italian shore; 5 die
(AP) – 1 day ago
ROME — A pod of sperm whales beached on Italy's southern coast and at least five died in what experts said Saturday was a rare and puzzling mass beaching for such a large species.

In 2009,  the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) signed agreements with the regions of Calabria, Campania, Puglia, Sardinia and Sicily  concerning the investments on works to upgrade and strengthen airports. The  ENAC president, Vito Riggio is now requesting that the funds be released as soon as possible to allow  Southern Italy, a strategic area in the Mediterranean,  to have a competitive airport system.

Read More ........... AvioNews

Great descriptions of Puglia from the bicycle seat ...

"View from the saddle: The "heel" of Italy boasts sunny skies, balmy temps, spectacular beaches and drop-dead-gorgeous cycling roads rimmed by the Adriatic Sea to your east and the Ionian Sea to your west. Secret is right! You'll be glad you discovered this corner of Italy as you cruise along panoramic roads past sun-splashed fields of grain, catch some shade under endless groves of olive trees and peer down on vineyards that drop to weathered cliffs riddled with sea caves and blinding-white beaches."

Read More ...........................The News Tribune

"Italy's national anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso smiles during a press conference announcing the police break up of a major mafia clan, in Bari, southern Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009."

Read More ...................Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

More links

Italy: Mafia raids target three cities in south
More than 100 people were arrested in the southern Italian city of Bari early Tuesday in a bid to dismantle a mafia cell in the region of Puglia. ...

£200m Parisi mafia gang 'ran betting operation from London

Italy: MP probed for suspected mafia link

Italian police arrest politicians and businessmen in anti-mafia sweep

 

 

 

EU to provide funds to help fight against organised crime in. Its chief aim is to strengthen security in the four regions of southern Italy (Calabria, Campania, Apulia and Sicily). 

"One of the major impediments to economic development in parts of the Mezzogiorno is the all-pervading shadow of organised crime. I am proud to show the other side of the story – that of how backing from EU funds is helping Italy to support initiatives to transform seized assets, creating new jobs, particularly for young people, and providing hope in areas long blighted by high unemployment and criminality," said Pawe Samecki, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy.

Read More ........... Penki News

Puglia continues to be a hot bed of solar power activity and there have been a lot of press releases / news in the media in the last couple of weeks. Here is a round up :

Premier Power begins construction on 1MW solar project in Italy
The project is located in the Puglia region of southern Italy and is part of the series of solar projects, valued in excess of $100 million that are being ...

Kerself Ramp up of First 4 Fortesa Sites with Related Funding
Three of the fields are in the region of Apulia, the fourth, using a tracker system, is in Sicily. By the end of December 2009 worksites will be ready for ...

Italy's solar power capacity rises to 700 MW: GSE
The southern region of Puglia, with 96.6 MW of installed capacity, is Italy's leader by PV capacity, while the northern region of Lombardy has the most ...

Sunpower Announce Solar Farm Projects
... and and SunPower Corp. recently announced an agreement to build four solar farms, totaling four megawatts, in the Puglia region of southern Italy. ...

Italy's Installed Capacity From Photovoltaic Tops 700 MW
... facilities in the country, said the GSE in a statement. The region with the biggest installed capacity is Apulia in the south of the country, with 96.6 MW.

Project Focus: Silfab talks turnkey as Italian plants reach 60MW ...
With four new solar plants coming on line by the end of this year in the Apulia province of Bari, the company's plans up to the end of 2009 will set the ...

Ultima raises 1m to build Italian solar park
Ultima is planning an initial 1MW solar park in the Puglia region. As well as the placing funds, it intends to put in place debt financing of about 3m and ...

Silfab opens five new solar pv farms in Southern Italy
By the end of 2009, the company is slated to complete four additional solar plants in the Apulia province of Bari for an overall investment of almost 40...

a+f to build another eight solar parks in Italy worth €43.2 million
The new plants will be constructed by a+f over an area of 40 hectares in the Apulia region of Italy and will be capable of supplying 4100 four-person

I hate it when hunting time comes around and we see the men and their dogs, and hear the sound of guns. So I welcome the European Commission's call on the European Court of Justice "to issue an injunction against Italy to prevent the hunting of protected bird species in the Lombardy region". In the same article Puglia is named as one of seven Italian regions that permit the hunting of the birds. Let's hope this goes somewhere.

Read More ....... Times of Malta

Puglia continues to be the place to be for Solar Plants ..... construction of four more one megawatt solar power plants will begin next month. Now I know I'm in the sunniest part of Italy!

Read More ...... Epoch Times

We often see the local shepherd herding his flock, with help from his dogs, along the local roads as he moves them from grazing area to grazing area. So I was interested to read this article, and see the great photos, of this 150 mile journey from L'Aquila to Puglia.
"The flock was organized, if one can say so, by Tracturo 3000, a small group of local activists, animal-lovers and dreamers to celebrate an ancient tradition in the rugged central Abruzzo region: the annual migration of the flocks from summer pastures in the central Apennine Mountains east to winter pastures in the Puglia region on the Adriatic."

Read More ........ New York Times

And see the photos ...... New York Times

"The region of Puglia in south-eastern Italy, which in 2007-2013 is set to receive €2.6 billion from the European Regional Development Fund, has been has been marked down for both its failure to report and correct errors."

Read more ......... Valentina Pop, Business Week

"Meanwhile, Sajid has just completed an extensive shooting spell in the breathtaking beach backdrop of the Apulia region of Italy for his next film Housefull starring Akshay Kumar. For Akshay, too, it was a second stint in Italy within a year. This sparsely populated Italian town does not have many Asians living there. But once the shooting started and news spread, Asian fans from all the neighbouring areas rushed over. And Akshay would regularly take time off in between shots and meet and greet them and sign autographs. "

But what was the name of "the sparsely populated Italian town"?

Read More ....... Times of India

This one has passed me by .... I didn't know there was an oilfield off the coast of Puglia, but it seems there is! I haven't been able to ascertain exactly where it is, maybe on the Ionian side?

"Petroceltic, one of the biggest companies on the Alternative Investment market, is looking to for a partner for an Italian oilfield.

The Dublin-based company is looking to start production at the Elsa field off the coast of Apulia, the heel of the Italian boot, in the third quarter of next year. Petroceltic, which has a market capitalisation of £240m, needs a third party to help finance a deal."

Source ..... Independent on Sunday

"Giro d'Italia race director Angelo Zomegnan presented the official 2010 race route today in Milan, Italy. The three-week race, May 8 to 30, will start in the capital of The Netherlands, Amsterdam, and will end in Verona, Italy."

Stage 10 on Tuesday May 18th,2010, will see the race arrive in Puglia, with a stage finish in Bitonto (from Avellino in Camparia), in the Bari region of Puglia. On Wednesday May 19th, there is a stage start from Lucera in the Foggia region of Puglia, heading back north to L'Aquila.

"The Giro d'Italia pay respect to victims of this year's earthquake in Abruzzo's L'Aquila, with a stage finish (from Lucera) and a stage start (to Porto Recanati)."

Read More .......... CyclingNews.com

Amazon are promoting a new book on Puglia with a 10% discount offer. The book, Old Puglia (Armchair Traveller) by Desmond Seward provides an introduction to Apulian History.

Amazon Product Description

"Puglia is the heel stretching down from the spur of the Italian boot. It boasts very beautiful landscapes, wonderful old cities with Romanesque cathedrals, Gothic castles and a great wealth of Baroque architecture. And yet, though far from inaccessible, until quite recently it was seldom visited by Western tourists. Today, however, Puglia is becoming fashionable as an alternative Tuscany . There are radio and television features on it, travel supplements which describe its beaches and cooking, and supermarkets stock Apulian wine, oil, bread and pasta. Yet almost nothing about the region has been published in English since the days of Norman Douglas and the Sitwells. One can find holiday histories of Tuscany, but there is no popular introduction to Apulian history, not even in Italian. This book has been written to fill the gap by providing a simple, readable study of the region."

"Simon Thornton came into the Italian Federation Cup in need of a big performance, and the Irishman duly got off to the perfect start with a round of 65 to grab the lead on the opening day of the €150,000 event.

With over 100 players jostling for the 45 places available at next week’s season-ending Apulia San Domenico Grand Final, the pressure is on at Olgiata GC in Rome, Italy.

Read More ....... EuropeanTour

Nice description of Salento region of Puglia, travelling from Lecce, "the gateway to Italy's heel", and travelling on the "Heel Round Tour" ........

Take the tour ...... Earth Times