The Franco's Estasi wines

A couple of months ago, soon after having written about Trani, I got a call.

“Good morning, am I speaking to Mr. Antonio Esposto?”.

“Yes” I reply, pretty curious to know with whom I was speaking to.

He adds: “My name is Franco, Franco Di Filippo. I am calling from Trani”.

Franco had red In Apulia, in which I described Trani and the amazing Passito wine made there.

“I am a wine maker. I make Passito wine and Spumante. The set of my wines is named Estasi”.

“Estasi?” It seemed to me like if I was talking with an angel, or someone from the Paradise.

“I’d like to ask you if you have had chance to drink my wine in Trani.” He said.

I got fascinated by the way he spoke, calm and slow.

“Frankly, I don’t remember what kind of wine I had drunk”. I admit.

Franco and I talked for almost half an hour on phone.

I close the conversation saying: “I promise you to come to Trani and interview you. I am keen to find out more about you and your wine”.

In one of my tours across Apulia, I manage to arrange an appointment with Franco.

He is a skinny man, with blue eyes, I guess over 50.

Franco, as Virgilio did with Dante, took me on a tour across Trani and the Moscato wine.

Trani was synonymous of wine-shop in Milan. 

Indeed, Giorgio Gaber wrote a song named Trani a gogo.

Moscato reale is a typical wine variety ("vitigno" in Italian) from Trani.

The legend says that Moscato reale was brought in Italy by the Greeks (“thank you Greeks!”).

Since the middle-age, the Venetians used to trade the Moscato reale made in Trani.

The Venetians found it so profitable, that some of them even relocated to Trani with their own families.

Franco had inherited three hectares of vineyards from his father.

Franco used to harvest the grapes and sell it to the national wine makers.

This went on till the 2005, when the prices fell down. 

In other words, Franco got paid 30 euros for 100 kilos of grapes. It was not worth it anymore, Franco thought.

Nevertheless, Franco is a visionary. So he begun to make his own wine in his own way.

Franco make the harvest every year at the end of October which is madness, but it works.

Recently, the Passito di Pantelleria has become world heritage, according to the UNESCO.

Franco is a strong believer. He is very gentle.

He lost his mum when he was a kid.

“I thank the Divine Providence for what I do, and for what I can’t do” Franco says.

Franco does not make wine just for profit.

He is very satisfied when he gets feedback form those who tastes his wines.

Like for example in Piacenza, during a wine exhibition, a lady confides: “Franco, I wanna kiss you, I wanna hug you”.

Franco sells the 85% of his production in Italy. The remaining 15% between Germany and Belgium.

A bottle of Passito Estasi (here is the link to the website) costs in Italy € 18. 

A bottle of Spumante Brut € 30.

Salute Franco!

If you wish to view more pics of Trani, please click here

Basilica di Santa Caterina di Alessandria

Yesterday, on Saturday evening, I went to Galatina to see the Basilica of Santa Caterina di Alessandria.

This Basilica is a pure artistic jewel set in hearth of Salento.

To describe the immense beauty of this church, the local Municipality has invited Philippe Daverio, an acclaimed art critic.

Philippe Daverio has become famous since his TV format called Passepartout, in which he travels around Italy and the world talking about art.

Philippe Daverio was invited yesterday to hold a lectio magistralis.

The art critic spoke yesterday in a crowded church.

Actually, I have listened to him outside the church with 200 more people. Fortunately, loud speakers had been set.

"We care for our cultural heritage much more than we did 30 years ago" Philippe started off.

"This Romanic-Gothic church has unique frescos. Artists from the north of Italy, mainly from Tuscany have come to Galatina to fresco the French illuminated manuscripts." 

"Some of those artists were inspired by the Giotto's principles, then applied to the Basilica di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria".

In terms of vastness of Middle-Age frescos, the Basilica di Santa Caterina is second just to the
Basilica di San Francesco d'Assisi

The Basilica was commissioned by Raimondo Orsini del Balzo, after having returned from one of his several crusades.

The church has been built up at the end of the 13th century, on a preexisting Byzantine church.

Raimondo Orsini Del Balzo supported the Angevins (French), who ruled the Vatican and the South of Italy.

Philippe Daverio said yesterday: "Europe should be more aware of the importance played by Italy within the Mediterranean scenario. The Basilica di Galatina is just suggesting us that the European foreign policy should be modified."

In other words, Apulia as well as the rest of the Bel paese, has since forever been in touch with the North Africa and the middle East.

Therefore, please let's be aware once for all, that the Apulian cultural heritage belongs not just to Italy, but to the entire world.

By the way, the etymology of Galatina comes from the Greek gala-galactos, which means "milk". This etymology probably originated from the local milk and cheese production. 

I have ended up my Saturday night in Galatina coming accross an old friend of mine, Gianni, and his wife.

Good art to everyone

Ciao

PS.

Should you wish to view more pics, please click here

Fernando di Leo and his "Milano calibro 9"

Fernando di Leo was an Apulian film maker.

He was born in San Ferdinando di Puglia (1932), north of Apulia.

Fernando belonged to a family of lawyers.

Indeed, he went to Rome to study law.

However, he quit it soon because his true passion was cinema.

Therefore, he attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome.

Di Leo started his career writing scripts for spaghetti westerns.

So, he contributed to write the script of the Sergio Leone’s a fistful of dollars, without getting any credits though.

Additionally, Di Leo wrote the script of for a few dollars more  almost by himself, again with no credits.

After having written other scripts of spaghetti westerns such as Il ritorno di Ringo and Navajo Joe, he begun to work on his own projects.

I believe that Di Leo has achieved his greatest results by making noir cinema.

During the 70ies, in Italy there was so much violence going on.

Political demonstrations often ended up in riots and clashes with the police.

Beside that, the Italian society was rocked by the spreading of Mafia in the north of Italy, mainly in Milan.

Whereas at that time, some politicians and priests used to deny even the presence of mafia in Sicily. 

Fernando Di Leo was a leftist intellectual, who had absorbed a lot from the society of that time.

Then, he was great to dramatize those inputs.

This is one of the reason for which Fernando Di Leo may rightly be considered the finest film maker of Italian noir cinema of 70ies.

The New York Times wrote about Mr. Di Leo: 

"Mr. Di Leo is fascinated by structures of power, carefully describing a hierarchy of authority that ranges from the lowliest mafia foot soldiers, through the midlevel gang bosses and princely godfathers who control them from lushly upholstered offices, to the cops and commissioners who have profitably learned to look the other way, and finally up to the unseen deputies and ministers who sponsor and support the entire system. Italy may be a republic in name, Mr. Di Leo suggests, but the country still functions as a feudal society."

From my point of view, his best film is Milano calibro 9, the first of the so-called trilogia della mafia, with La mala ordina and il Boss.

Milano calibro 9 is based on one of the Giorgio Scerbanenco's novels.

The movie has a fantastic soundtrack composed by Macalov, and perfomed by the Osanna, an Italian rock progressive band.

QuentinTarantino has openly declared that he got inspired by Milano Calibro 9.

The cast of Milano Calibro 9 was awesome: Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy and Gastone Moschin.

The sequence where Barbara Bouchet is lap dancing is just amazing.

Milano Calibro 9 sparked controversy because the movie alludes to pork-barrelling and to politicians who make deals with Mafia.

It is a disgrace that Fernando di Leo had been neglected for decades.

He died in 2003.

He stopped to make movies since the beginning of the 80ies, when television has killed the radio stars as well as the cinema stars, paraphrasing a well known song.

The magazine Nocturno, has contributed a lot to reconsider Fernando Di Leo as an absolute outstanding film maker.

Otranto, the mystery of the Pantaleone's mosaic

Otranto is a border town.

Otranto is the most easterly town of Italy.

I visited it few weeks ago. 

Otranto is one of the tourist capital of Apulia. 








And I would add that it fully deserves to be considered like that, both from an artistic and historical points of view.

So, I leave Brindisi early in the morning. 

However, I plan to stop by Torre dell’Orso, few miles before Otranto.

Torre dell’Orso, is one of the most amazing beach of the Adriatic sea.

So after having been there, I definitely endorse this belief.

Therefore, I strongly recommend you to visit it. 

Of course, not in July or August, unless you like to stay squeezed like a sardine.

Torre dell’Orso has a fantastic sand. 

And the sea…what a beautiful sea, so transparent, so clear.

I have been swimming there for 15 or 20 minutes. 

While swimming, a miracle happened: I saw underneath me a pod of huge sea basses.

I am not used to swim among fishes, so I got so full of energy and surprise that I yelled: “Yeeaahhhhhh”. 

At around 4 pm, I quit Torre dell’Orso. 

The journey resumed.

I remember that it was just so beautiful to drive along the way to Otranto. 

I passed by Laghi Alimini, another wonderful area of Salento. 

Finally, I arrive in Otranto.

I park the car outside the city center. 

I walk for ten minutes before seeing the seafront.

I desire to see l’albero della vita (the tree of life), a mosaic devised by Pantaleone, an Orthodox Basilian monk.

The mosaic is held in the cathedral. It is the biggest mosaic in Europe. It was realized in 1163. 

The tree contains a welter of images such as Adam and Eva, Solomon, Noah etc.

However, there are other images that one would not expect to find in a Christian church such as King Arthur, images from the game of chess, from Scandinavian mithology,  and so on.

What did Pantaleone mean through the mosaic? It is still a mistery.

At that time, a couple of miles from Otranto there was the Monastero di San Nicola di Casole, which hosted one of the biggest library in Europe. 

Pantaleone was settled there.

The mentioned Monastero was a Theological laboratory where Greek and Latin rites coexisted, with mutual respect and dignity.

Probably, what Pantaleone meant by the mosaic is that "the tree of life" sucks sap from any the culture.

This reflects the fact that Otranto was a junction of cultures and religions.

Most of the themes depicted in the mosaic have been represented in the Holy Comedy. 

As the mosaic is prior the Dante Alighieri's book, some researchers have supposed that Dante had studied the tree, or at least had spent some time at the Monastero del Casale.

In the 12th century, Otranto hosted one of the biggest Jew community in Italy. 

There were around 500 Jew families.

Otranto is famous on worldwide basis due to the 800 martyrs.

In other words, in 1480, an Ottoman fleet of 10.000 soldiers reached Otranto. 

Then, after two weeks of siege, Otranto had been conquered.

The Ottomans kidnapped 813 native men, ordering them to embrace the Muslim religion. 

At their denial, the Ottomans beheaded all of them, a praxis which nowadays is sadly notorious.

Due to this sad event, Otranto has been declared by UNESCO as Site Messenger of Peace.

Another good reason to visit Otranto, is due to the Carmelo Bene's choice of living there.

Carmelo Bene used to say about Salento: "Tutta la terra d'Otranto e' fuori di se'. Se ne e' andata chissa' dove. E' una terra nomade, gira su se stessa. A vuoto".

Carmelo Bene was the main Italian exponent of the Italian avant-garde theater and cinema.

I would encourage you to watch Nostra Signora dei Turchi (Our lady of the Turks). 

The title re-calls in a way the tragedy of the 800 martyrs.

Indeed, in Otranto it is going to be established a Museum entirely dedicated to Carmelo Bene. 

The museum will open in 2015.


Ps. Click here, should you wish to view more pics.

The Apulian guitar of “Spaghetti western”

In 1964, the audience of the Sergio Leone's for a fistful of dollars heard something original: the electric guitar.

For a fistful of dollars was a low budget movie of the so-called dollars trilogy.

The innovation introduced to the western movies is due to the maestro Ennio Morricone and to the guitar player Pino Rucher.

Pino Rucher was a talented guitarist.

He was born in Manfredonia, Apulia.

In 1933, his father, back from the States, presented a guitar to Pino.

Between 1943 and ’46, Pino Rucher joined several Allied Army orchestras which held concerts in Manfredonia and all around Apulia.

Therefore, he had chance to get familiar with jazz, improving a lot as musician.

Pino was a permanent musician of the Angelini band.

Additionally, he played guitar for so many editions of Sanremo festivals.

However, in this article I am going to write about the Pino Rucher’s contribution to the cinema.

He played guitar for soundtracks of the Italian cinema from the late 50ies till mid 70ies.

He worked with orchestra conductors such as: Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Luis Enriquez Bacalov

       

                                                                           

                                       

He worked for more than 200 movies.

Let me just point out those movies which for me are the most representative of the Italian cinema of those years: La Grande Guerra,  Otto e mezzo and Il boom