REAL COLLEGE behind San Frediano Church, Piazza del Collegio 1. Il Desco Market and exposition of Lucca prod- ucts and crafts, with 100 stands, cooking displays, tastings, cultural events and local products. 4 weekends between 19 November and 11 Decem- ber. Call the APT for more information, 0583 919927 or see the Desco site, www.ildesco.eu See more details on page 24.

FONDAZIONE RAGGHIANTI San Micheletto, Via Elisa. Ritmi Visivi. Luigi Veronesi nell'astrattismo europeo (Visual rhythms. Luigi Veronesi in European abstraction) 9 October to 8 January. The Foundation contains a rich collection of pho- tography and art books. 10 am to 1 pm, 3 to 7 pm Tuesday to Saturday. Free entrance. Tel 0583 467205 www.fondazioneragghianti.it

LUCCA DIGITAL PHOTOFEST 19 November to 29 January. 7th international photographic and video - art festival, among the most prestigious in Europe. Exhibitions, workshops, lectures by famous photographers, awards in various loca- tions. Palazzo Ducale in Piazza Napoleone, Palazzo Guinigi, Chiesa dei Servi, Chiesa dell'Alba, Ex-Manifat-tura Tabacchi, Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art.

Full programme on www.lupf.it LU.C.C.A Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Via della Fratta 36. “Revealing Papers” – Thanks to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, this exhibit shows a selection of works by some of the most impor- tant artists of the XX century: Alechinsky, Arp, Calder, De Kooning, Ernst, Fontana, Hundertwasser, Kandinsky, Kupka, Man Ray, Masson, Matta, Mondrian, Moore, Picasso, Richter, Rivera, Sironi, Tancredi, Tanguy, Tobey e Vedova. Some of these works where displayed at the Biennale di Venezia of 1948, some works are showed for the first time at this exhibit at the Lu.C.C.A Museum, 18 Sept. 2011 – 15 Jan. 2012.

Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 7 pm. Guided visits upon booking (for groups and schools) €50. Baby-sitting service and di- dactic laboratories upon booking. Tickets €7 whole, €5 reduced, www.luccamuseum.com (See the article in October Grapevine, on-line at www.luccagrapevine.com).

MUSEO DI VILLA GUINIGI Via Quarquonia. 8.30 am to 7.30 pm, also open on Sundays. www.lucca museinazionali.it CASERMETTA (Gatehouse) del Museo di Villa Guinigi.

LUCCA SAN GIOVANNI CHURCH Piazza S. Giovanni, until 15 November, after which the concerts will be held only on Fridays and Saturdays at the Oratorio di San Giuseppe next to the Museo del Duomo, San Martino.

Puccini Recitals: A Night at the Opera. Puccini and Neapolitan Song. Every evening at 7 pm (until 15 November).

On 29 November, a special concert for the anniversary of Puccini’s death. Full programme on www.puccinielasualucca.com

PIAZZA DEL SUFFRAGIO AUDITORIUM Istituto Musicale Boccherini Inaugural orchestral concert for the academic year, 19 November 6 pm. Chamber concert with music by R. Schumann and Dvorak, 29 November 9 pm. Tel 0583 464 104, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it -www.boccherini.it

TEATRO DEL GIGLIO Piazza del Giglio. La Bohème by Puccini, 19,20 November. Sananda Maitreya (ex Terence Trent d’Arby). First event in Winter Festival! 23 November 9 pm Tel 0583 456320 www.teatrodelgiglio.com

MUSEO DEL FUMETTO E DELL'IMMAGINE Piazza San Romano 4. The museum is open 10 am to 6 pm. Closed Mondays. Tel 0583 56326, www.museoitaliano delfumetto.it Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg with Paolo Ardinghi (violin) and Leonardo Cartelloni (piano), 6 November. Poetic and musical creations by Claudio Valenti, with C. Valenti (viola) and Piero Nannini (reciting voice). 13 November. Tel. 0583.465320, or 0583 467521 (to use a credit card). www.teatrodelgiglio.it

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HOTEL UNIVERSO CULTURAL ASSOCIATION Piazza del Giglio. Festival dedicated to Michel Petrucciani and 80th anniversary of Chet Baker's birth. Jazz concert 12 November Peter King (saxophone) with Daniele Gorgone, Massimiliano Rolff, Adam Pache. Future concerts: 17 December, 7 January, 18 February, 24 March. Aperitif at 20.00 for members only (€10 enrollment), followed by concert at 21.30 (€10). tel. 0583 493678 info@universojazz club.com -www.universojazzclub.com

BAGNI DI LUCCA TeatroAccademico – Piccola Stagione. La Traviata with Simona Parra as Villetta and Paolo Morelli as Giorgio Germont. Narrrated and semistaged opera. 6 November 5 pm. Violini, principesse e … champagne, Gran Gala dell'Opera with selections from Cin Ci Là, La Duchessa del Bel Tabarin, Il Paese dei Campanelli and La Vedova Allegra. Directed by Viviana Larice. 13 November 5 pm. Madama Butterfly with Chiara Panacci and Leonardo Sgroi. Narrated and semistaged opera. 20 November 5 pm. Tel 0583 867715.

PIETRASANTA TEATRO COMUNALE Prose season. La Verità by Zeller with Massimo Dapporto 7 November. Mercadet L'Affarista by Balzac 21 November. Tel 0584 795511, www.laversi lianafestival.it

BARGA TEATRO DEI DIFFERENTI Italian prose theatre. Il Nipote di Rameau (Rameau's Nephew) by Diderot, with Neapolitan actor Silvio Orlando. A play about the intellectual's role in the modern world. 13 November 9.15 pm. Appuntamento a Londra by Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa (2010 Nobel prize winner) with Pamela Villoresi and David Sabaati, 30 November 9.15 pm. www.comunebarga.lu.it Tickets €10 to €20, also season tickets. Season ends 24 March; see on page 15 “Coming Up”. Box office: Ufficio Cultura, via di Mezzo 45, Barga. Tel 0583 724791, 724770.

The vendemmia has now been completed, with the grape juice now fermenting in the 54 litre demijohns.

Thanks to the good weather, and despite the occasional visit from the caprioli (deer) into my small vineyard, I had a bumper crop – some 600 litres compared with 250 litres in previous years. Quinto, the previous owner of some five years ago, showed me the basics of how to make wine.

Mind you, they were the basics. Everything went into the vat, stalks and all with little or no decanting the juice off the lees (dead yeast).

No wonder it tasted and smelt like rotten eggs. However, after a little research I have refined my techniques, if only to show that the English can also make good wine. Had a little accident though.

Eddie, the newly acquired cat, fell into the partly full vat where my wife was crushing the white grapes.

Apparently he leapt out almost as quickly as he fell in. She did ask me if we ought to throw away the 50 litres of juice and start again. To which I immediately pointed out that he had not been in the vat long enough to add to it.

On the contrary, he took juice out. Fortunately he is still only a kitten, a short haired one at that, so I probably only lost half a litre. Had he fallen into the red grapes, he would have come out looking like four sticks of candy floss.

I suppose we ought to pay more attention to Health and Safety matters, as well as Public Health.

However, the wine is only consumed by us; together with family and a few special friends and they are not likely to know about Eddie's dip in the vat.

Eddie is so named because he was abandoned in the local edicola. He was only about ten weeks old then, but still managed to climb behind the paneling above the bookshelves, where he spent one night trapped. My wife, with the assistance of Brid, the owner, had to take down some of the boarding to retrieve him.

We didn't intend to keep him; however, little kittens do look cute. It's only afterwards when they start to cause havoc that we question the wisdom of adding another cat to the two we already have.

Although he is still only five months old he has already used up two of his lives.

People often ask me what on earth I do with all the wine. Well, Quinto always had a recycled plastic water bottle full of his wine when he came to show me the ropes some four years ago, and he is over eighty years old and going strong.

He always pointed out that the vino was not strong, which was his excuse for drinking it all day long. He is Italian, of course, but it might just work on the English.

Festa della Zucca (pumpkin) Piegaio (Pescaglia) 2 October.

Festa della Castagna Trassilico (Gallicano) 9 October.

Rassegna del Fungo, tartufo e castagna (mushroom, truffle, chestnut) Castiglione di Garfagnana 9 October.

Festa del Vino Riana (Fosciandora) 16 October. Castagnata (Chestnut Fair) Castelnuovo Garfagnana 16 October.

Castagnata Cascio di Molazzana 9 October.

Mondine nel Borgo Antico (roast chestnuts) Colognora (Pescaglia) 23 October.

Festa della Castagna Careggine 23 October.

Mondinata Alpina (more roast chestnuts) Gallicano 23 October.

Treno dei Sapori with vintage steam locomotive, leaves Viareggio to visit the Poetry Festival in Castelvecchio Pascoli and the Wine Festival in Fosciandora. Telephone 800 533999 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.pontineltempo.it

BORGO A MOZZANO Halloween 16th edition of the original and largest Halloween celebration in Italy. Fireworks L'ira di Lucifero on the Serchio river. Horror contest. See full programme on www.halloweencelebration.it.