"The music of Lugo" di WILLIAM WALL

William Wall è stata ospite del Caffè Letterario di Lugo venerdì 21 ottobre 2022 per presentare il suo romanzo “La ballata del letto vuoto" edito da Nutrimenti.

I think of Lugo as a city of music. First impressions are of the musical romagnolo voices calling, joking, greeting in the beautiful porticoes of the market square, built in the 18th century mainly for the silk-trade a subject close to the heart of what were then the rulers of the Romagna in the Vatican, or on the quiet residential streets or near the fortress of the Rocca Estense, now the centre of the the communal administration. In the evening young people congregate around the monument to the airman Francesco Baracca which, together with the Rocca, dominates the centre of town.
But there is more of music. The Teatro Rossini, built in 1759 and lovingly maintained and restored over the centuries, is a jewel among theatres. The acoustics are near perfect, the setting is like something from a period drama, the location right at the heart of the town opposite the market square. And Rossini in fact spent some years of his youth in Lugo where a little museum is dedicated to his memory. The conception of the museum is beautiful. Often museums to great writers are concentrated on artefacts – sheet music, instruments, clothes, paintings, writing desks, chairs, programmes etc. But here the concentration is on the music itself with exhibits dedicated to different pieces – overtures, arias, sonatas. In one room a person may create their own version of Rossini’s first sonata – reputedly composed at the age of twelve – by bringing the instruments in in whatever order they wish. Rossini probably began his true musical education here under the guidance of Don Giuseppe Malerbi whose library contained works by Haydn and Mozart.
But Lugo is also a town of words and of literature. At the beautiful Hotel Ala D’Oro there is a regular Caffe Letterario which over the years has hosted the most important writers from Italy and abroad. The events are extremely well-attended. The hotel itself is a piece of art, with rooms dedicated to each of the great writers and a fine art collection. Perhaps best of all, it has an excellent kitchen and dining room. Lugo is but half an hour’s drive from the beaches of the Adriatic and makes an excellent base from which to visit the mosaics of Ravenna or the  salt marshes of Comacchio or to visit the vast array of cantinas that stretch between Bologna and San Marino that make wines like Sangiovese, Albana or Trebbiano.