One minute it’s winter and the next the spring is here in all its glory. Swallows diving around in the sunshine under a bright blue sky on a perfect first week in May. Spring is also the start of the wedding season here in Barga and this weekend Barga was host to a wonderful mix of cultures, colours and ideas as a couple from Northern Europe were joined in matrimony in a sunlit Southern European ceremony.
Dominic William Moore from England and Tychè Pas from Holland joined hands and exchanged rings and promises with each other in front of the Mayor of Barga, Umberto Sereni and more than 60 guests in the Palazzo Pancrazi.
It was not the first time in Barga for the couple as Dominic has relations here with the Morganti family and has visited many times. They decided that Barga would be the perfect place for their marriage ceremony.
Upon leaving the Palazzo Pancrazi they called in to Aristo’s bar to be serenaded by the maestro himself before moving on to a quick photocall in the evocative Altana painted by Bruno Cordati on top of the Palazzo Cordati and then finally to the premier wedding destination for many visitors to Barga – the Villa Moorings. As temperatures rose into the high 20’s swimming pool at the Villa was put to use for the first time this year (but it has to be said by the youngest guests at the wedding ceremony)
The chef Gabriele Da Prato pulled out all the stops and prepared a wedding feast fit for a king (and queen). The wonderful mix of habits and cultures was never more present than at the table where the Dutch guests were used to sitting down to eat sometime around 6 p.m. – the Italian guests a good two hours later.
Traditional beer drinkers meet wine tipplers.
The numerous courses which are quite normal at a traditional Italian wedding caused some of the Northern European guests a little difficulty in surmounting. There were one or two gasps of astonishment as the main meat course was carried to the tables sometime around 11pm.
The cultural mix continued when the live band of musicians mainly from the Lucca area handed over their instruments just before midnight to a group from Holland made up from the wedding guests and featuring none other than the bridegroom Dominic Moore on lead guitar.
Click on the link below to hear the wedding ceremony in Palazzo Pancrazi
[display_podcast]
