A new book has just appeared in the local bookshops, entitled Tuscan Capers and is the latest work from the writer, George Tabor. From the back cover we can read the following:
A wide ranging saga of little known parts of northern Tuscany on a round trip by rail from Pisa. This journey through history travels from the foothills of the Apennines up into the Apuan Alps and down to the marble coast. The time scale runs from mediaeval times to the present day. It spans the years of the feuding city state of Pisa, Lucca and Florence, to the days of the grand Duchy of Tuscany under Austrian rule. It follows the British Romantic poets such as Byron and Shelley on their grand tour. It tracks the arrival of the railways which brought prosperity to a divided Italy, and it confronts the fortunes and mishaps of the tenacious mountain folk who faced the horrors of war on the Gothic line in World War II.
With his acclaimed book “The Cape to Cairo Railway and a River Routes” , George Tabor established himself as a leading writer on the history of travel and the British influence abroad. He writes feature travel articles, and lives in London and Northern Tuscany.
So, the book is about northern Tuscany but Barga takes up a central position in the book with over 40 pages dedicated to the city and its inhabitants. George called into the giornaledibarganews office earlier on this month and recorded a short interview which can be heard at the end of this article. Aristo’s famous bottle collection, mentioned in the interview can be seen here
Music was in Aristo’s blood. In perfect harmony, deft fingers that had just drawn the wine from the flagon turned to a light leisurely flourish across the keyboards of an electric organ and piano. He struck up an Italianised rendition of the “Spanish Eyes”. This performance was punctuated by various asides to nearby patrons and accompanying banjo, mandolin and guitar players. Aristo was multilingual and sometimes monosyllabic. He drew the rapturous audience into the rhythm. All were seduced by the atmosphere. He was no mean bottle player. The maestro demonstrated his expertise. He grabbed a couple of long metal dessert spoons and standing behind the counter, proceeded to ring the tones up and down the bottles ranged along the shelf. He harmonised his light voice with the timbres on the prearranged glassware. Those in the middle had deep tones, those at the end were of a lighter key. Bottles of Gancia and Vecchia Romana had a note of B sharp and E flat about them. The almost empty bottle of Ramazzotti had a tremolando that sounded slightly off key and looked off colour.
As Aristo pranced up and down, playing the scales and singing widely, the rhythm increased. This feisty gig continued with a kick like a chorus line. His vocal accompaniment gained new heights. “La Paloma” had never been rendered with such gusto and agility. All in perfect harmony, the strident tones of this “fantasia on bottles” reached a crescendo with a resounding crash on the Gambarotta. The bottle cracked. It was a very rare vintage. Aristo beamed with toothless delight.
The book can be bought on line at AMAZON here or in any of the shops selling books in Barga.
Aristodemo Casciani died last year, leaving Barga a much poorer place for his passing but his spirit still lives on loud and proud in Barga Vecchia. Aristo was the rock on which Barga Vecchia depended upon and his bar was the unofficial cultural centre of Barga where even today it is still know as Aristo’s or Casciani’s. He appeared many, many times on barganews — in fact he has his own category here on the site, his own comic strip DA ARISTO here and even a group playing Italian swing from the 30’s, 40’s and 50′s named in his honour — Emma e gli Aristodemo’s here
