Strange Tables

Strange tables in Piazza dei Domenicani.
Strani tavoli in piazza dei Domenicani.

Swim Goggles

“Battista Sforza” by Piero della Francesca, according to Blub, Via del Forte San Pietro.
“Battista Sforza” di Piero della Francesca, secondo Blub, via del Forte San Pietro.

The Parrot

A parrot, Scali del Vescovado.
Un pappagallo, scali del Vescovado.

Hearts and Tops

A few more “leftovers” from Effetto Venezia 2015, probably the last ones.

The same craftsman who makes these wooden hearts ...

... displays this impressive assortment of spinning tops. 

Effetto Venezia 2015 - Luminarium Miracoco - Playing for Change 2015 - Mangiafuoco

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See also: Effetto Venezia
External links: Top (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Effetto Venezia

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Mangiafuoco

Some “leftovers” from Effetto Venezia 2015: this guy looks like Mangiafuoco ...

... but I can't really explain the rest of the props. 

Effetto Venezia 2015 - Luminarium Miracoco - Playing for Change 2015 - Hearts and Tops

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External links: Mangiafuoco (Wikipedia)
See also: Effetto Venezia
Search labels: Effetto Venezia

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Playing for Change 2015

I have grudgingly to admit that I liked at least two events of this year's edition of “Effetto Venezia”: the Luminarium Miracoco and the second Livornese concert of the Playing for Change band. Sorry for the quality of these photos, but I had to take them from about 40 meters, at night. A few more shots on this Facebook album.

The Livornese guitarist Roberto Luti, Clarence Bekker, Pablo Correa, Titi Tsira

Tal Ben Ari, Juan Carlos Portillo, Jason Tamba	The Livornese saxophonist Dimitri Grechi Espinoza

Keiko Komaki, Grandpa Elliot

Effetto Venezia 2015 - Luminarium Miracoco - Mangiafuoco - Hearts and Tops

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More photos: Playing for Change (Facebook album)
External links: Playing for Change (Official Website) - Playing for Change (Wikipedia)
See also: Gimme Shelter - Playing for Change - More Playing for Change

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Luminarium Miracoco

I knew nothing of Architects of Air and I had no idea what a luminarium was about.
It is easy to say that this is the first thing, of many editions of “Effetto Venezia”, I did quite like.

A luminarium is a large inflatable structure where visitors enter through an airlock. Once inside they can wander freely and enjoy the experience. The ‘pneumatic sculpture’, as its authors call it, was placed on the grassland on the east side of the Fortezza Nuova for the duration of the festival.

Effetto Venezia 2015 - Playing for Change 2015 - Mangiafuoco - Hearts and Tops

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See also: Effetto Venezia - Fortezza Nuova
External links: Architects of Air - Luminarium Miracoco (Architect of Air)
Search labels: Effetto Venezia - Fortezza Nuova

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Effetto Venezia 2015

My affection for “Effetto Venezia” is decisively scarce, but I always go around there to take some photos.
Venezia is a quarter of Livorno: I usually roam its streets before dark, trying to avoid the worst of the crowd.

It is always funny to find some attractions still ‘unattended’...

Luminarium Miracoco - Playing for Change 2015 - Mangiafuoco - Hearts and Tops

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See also: Effetto Venezia
Search labels: Effetto Venezia

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Theme Day: Best of 2014

My real favorite would have been “Mediterranean”, but I posted it only a few days ago and, furthermore, it is an old 2012 photo. Then, my choice is this picture taken at “Effetto Venezia”, the more recent of a “from behind” series.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Happy New Year to All of You!

See also: Theme Day: Best of 2009 - Theme Day: Best of 2010 - Theme Day: Best of 2013
Search labels: from behind - Effetto Venezia

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Effetto Venezia and Gaza

One of the treats of my “beloved” Effetto Venezia was this banner, put on display by some groups of the far left: “Fermare il genocidio a Gaza, Israele vero terrorista” (Stop the genocide in Gaza, Israel is the real terrorist). Our Jewish community protested in vain with the mayor, who also received a letter from the Israeli ambassador in Italy. The story is now national news, while on Thursday the city council has also debated a proposal for a twinning with Gaza. At last, the banner was removed yesterday.

External links: Livorno, lo striscione anti-Israele che il sindaco non vuole rimuovere - Striscione a Livorno anti-Israele: Sindaco: «Solo una frase generica» (Corriere della Sera, in Italian)
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Empty Chairs

There is a time of the day when I almost like Effetto Venezia: it is around 8 PM and there is not much people around. Maybe they are still deciding where to wait two hours for a not-so-good pizza or where the pungent smell of the canals mixes better with their food...

I found a lot of empty chairs: twenty in Piazza dei Domenicani.

Seven more on Scali Finocchietti.

Not far, a young violin player was rehearsing in front of a few rows of empty chairs.

Search labels: Effetto Venezia - chairs
See also: Effetto Venezia

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Effetto Venezia 2014

Misfortunes never come alone and after the White Night we have the unsinkable Effetto Venzia for a week: a country fair with a very thin layer of culture badly sprayed on it. We all know that it is mostly about dining out al fresco, which is usually sticky hot. They even got some rain this year, which really breaks my heart...

Every show has its public: above in Piazza del Luogo Pio and below on Scali Rosciano.

See also: White Night 2014
Search labels: Effetto Venezia - from behind

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Mart in Venice

One of the really few interesting things at the last Effetto Venezia was an exihibition of the works of Mart.

We do not know much of Mart, but we have seen several of his works all around town.

As you can see the artist is on his way to improve a few works of the some important masters.

Search labels: Mart

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Rigoletto

In Italian “sparare alla Croce Rossa” (shooting on the Red Cross) is usually said when you abuse of an easy target. I won't do that with this “Rigoletto”: the opera closes “Effetto Venezia”, which is a good thing per se.

You are probably aware of the rethorical device of apophasis (or praeteritio), which is often used to call attention to something, while remaining apparently detached from it. So you will not be surprised if I go on saying that listening to an opera in a city square amid barking dogs, shouting children and passing vehicles is pure folly. Badly amplifying the voices and the music won't amend it at all.

If our administration feels necessary to offer an opera to a few hundred of its citizens, it would be more reasonable and absolutely cheaper to bus them to some quality performance outisde Livorno. The Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago comes to mind...

See also: Caballeria Rusticana - Το ελιξίριο της αγάπης
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Clet Abraham's Exhibition

We deserve your eternal gratitude for venturing through the smelly and sweaty heart of “Effetto Venezia” to explore an exhibition of some of Clet Abraham's “improved” traffic signs.

This was perhaps the only still unreleased (on this blog) sign on display. You can see all the others here.

Search labels: Clet Abraham - Effetto Venezia
External links: Clet Abraham (Wikipedia, in French) - The language of the street signs by Clet Abraham (Abitare)

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El Greco

The Spanish Renaissance master El Greco in “Viale Caprera”
(Effetto Venezia 2012)

Search labels: Effetto Venezia
External links: El Greco - Spanish Renaissance (Wikipedia)
“Portrait of a Man” by El Greco (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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Maria Callas

The New York born soprano Maria Callas in “Piazza XX Settembre”
(Effetto Venezia 2012)

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External links: Maria Callas

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Το ελιξίριο της αγάπης

With last Sunday “Effetto Venezia” is finally over, at last. It usually ends mistreating an opera in “Piazza XX Settembre”: in 2010 we had a “Caballeria Rusticana”, a production of the Mascagni's opera with the action set in Spain instead of Sicily, while last year's “La Traviata” was lucky to be left in Paris, because the theme of “Effetto Venezia” 2011 was France.The story of “L'elisir d'amore” (The Elixir of Love) by Gaetano Donizetti traveled from a hamlet in the Basque Country to a Greek seaside village, becoming Το ελιξίριο της αγάπης (an uneducated guess of mine).In Dulcamara's “Udite, udite, o rustici” (Listen, listen, o peasants) they even made a clumsy effort to make the Greek setting more believable changing the price of the quack's concoction from “scudi” (shields) and “lire” (pounds) to drachmas. They missed the fact that a “scudo” was three “lire”, so the price at the end of the aria fluctuates erratically, but I was probably the only one who noticed.On Saturday, the night before the representation, I watched part of what would have been the dress rehearsal, but, as you can see, the costumes weren't obviously there. Opera is born for theaters and the poor acoustic of the square was enhanced quite badly with the use of electronic amplification. This didn't bother much the audience at the actual performance: most of the presents clapped hands frantically at every possible occasion and this says more of the kind of operagoers we have than of the execution (a perfect term) of the opera itself.

See also: Caballeria Rusticana
External links: The Elixir of Love - Gaetano Donizetti (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Effetto Venezia

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The Fox and the Grapes

Last year the same guys built a Moulin Rouge around a window to celebrate France, now they have put a temple-like facade on their front door to honor Greece. By the way, the name of the place, “La volpe e l'uva” (The Fox and the Grapes), comes from one of the most famous Aesop's fables.

Search labels: Effetto Venezia
External links: The Fox and the Grapes - Aesop

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Under the Table

A few days ago checks on eight restaurants at “Effetto Venezia” have found 22 workers “paid under the table”, some of then minors. Fines amounted to 55 thousand Euro and five businesses were immediately shut down. Four of them were able to reopen after paying up front a first fine of 1500 Euro.

Search labels: Effetto Venezia
External links: Effetto Venezia, scoperti 22 lavoratori al nero (Il Tirreno, in Italian)

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