Lucca Comics and Games brings us Cosplay – a costume competition, parade, fantasy experience – on Saturday and Sunday, 29-30 October. Not to be missed unless you're al- lergic to crowds! Want to take part?

To participate in Cosplay, sign up on-line at the Lucca Comics and Games site.

Costumes must refer to animation, cartoons, cinema, tele-films, music, videogames, roleplaying or books.

No original characters will be accepted this year.

Registration is for one day only; for both days, two costumes are required. Groups can have up to 50 members, but each member must sign up individually. The parade is in or- der of sign-up, and you must arrive ON TIME.

All weapons (swords, spears, ...) must be declared to the Questura. For sound tracks, MP3s should be submitted at registration. Access to the stage will be controlled.

No flames, spewing liquids, sprays, smokes, explosives, or launching of heavy or dangerous objects. Confetti okay. No animals, live or dead, permitted. Stuffed animals and re- productions okay. No vulgarity, obscenity, lewdness, or offences to religion.

On stage, each actor or group, if they wish, may present a brief scene, a parody, or a speech representing their characters.

Depending on the number of performers, they have from one to five minutes on stage.

This year, in addition to the Lucca Competition, there is a chance to be selected as Italian representative to the Second European Cosplay Gathering (ECG) for Japan Expo 2012 in Paris, France.

Only Italians over 21 years of age, with individual entries or groups of 2 to 3, can enter this competition. Costumes must be handmade. No crossover costumes. No non-Japanese video music artists. (No Lady Gaga!)

Interest in ECG selection should be indicated when registering for the Lucca competition. Send an artwork (photo, sketch) of reference in order to be identified by the Jury, or if you prefer, send up to three photos of the work in progress.

The final selection of the Italian representative to ECG will be made by the Jury, together with the Japan Expo delegate. The winner/s will receive a trip to Paris for the European Cosplay Gathering. Zounds! (Or as we say in Italy, Caspita!) Telephone 0583 48522 or 0583 462200, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it www.luccacomicsandgames.com

LUCCA TEATRO DEL GIGLIO

Piazza del Giglio. Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci Mascagni/ Leoncavallo, 22-23 October.

Ticket Office open 10.30-13.00 Tuesday- Saturday, 15.00-18.00 Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Credit card purchase by phone 0583 467521 from 15.00 to 18.00 Tuesday and Wednesday.

Online www.teatrodelgiglio.it and www.boxol.it

CHIESA DI SAN GIOVANNI Puccini Recitals A Night at the Opera. Puccini and Neapolitan Song. Puccini and Mozart. Performances start every evening at 19.00. Full programme on www.puccinielasualucca.com.

HOTEL UNIVERSO CULTURAL ASSOCIATION Piazza del Giglio. Festival dedicated to Michel Petrucciani and 80th anniversary of Chet Baker's birth. Jazz concert by Steve Grossman (sax) and Andrea Pozza (piano). Aperitif at 20.00 for members only (€10 enrollment), followed by concert at 21.30. BOCCHERINI AUDITORIUM Piazza del Suffragio. Boccherini Open Performances, 14,20,27 October. Free admission. www.boccherini.it.

PISA TEATRO VERDI Via Palestro 40. European Union Baroque Orchestra 18 October.

Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci.29 October. Ticket office tel. 050 941188. Open Tuesday-Saturday 16.00-19.00. Mornings 11.00-13.00 on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Tickets also on sale one hour before performance. Online purchase at www.green ticket.it More info www.teatrodipisa.pi.it

Every year on September 13,
Lucca re-enacts a ritual that
dates, in some form, from the E8th century. The holy candle-lit procession known as the Luminara solemnly winds through Lucca's streets, from San Frediano to San Martino, with a participation so complete that the entire Centro Storico fills with people. Lucca's "pilgrims" follow the labyrinthine route, led by the Archbishop and the holy image of Christ.
According to legend, the Volto Santo was made by Jesus' follower Nicodemus after the Crucifixion, and so this is considered a direct representation of Christ. Nicodemus set about carving the life-sized Christ on the cross. Awed by the task of creating Christ's face, he fell asleep and awoke to find it miraculously completed by angels.
The Volto Santo remained hidden for centuries after Nicodemus' death, until an Italian bishop, Gualfredo, found the sculpture on a visit to the Holy Land, its location revealed to him in a dream. The bishop loaded it onto a boat, which without sails or crew headed miraculously to Luni, a Roman colony and early commercial rival of Lucca, near present-day La Spezia. The boat didn't make landfall until Lucca's bishop, inspired by a dream, travelled to Luni and attracted it to shore. After offering Luni's bishop a phial of Christ's blood (found inside the carving, at the back of Christ's head), he loaded the wooden carving onto an ox-cart. The untamed oxen, again miraculously, went to San Frediano Church in Lucca. According to some versions of the legend, during the night the Volto Santo transported itself from San Frediano to the Duomo; this is one reason for the annual re-enactment. But Lucca's pilgrims return to Nicodemus’ creation, winding their way, as in a vortex, towards the Duomo. Here they find (on the pillar to the right of the en-trance) a labyrinth recalling the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. They may mentally retrace their path by fingertip, from San Frediano, along the arching Via Fillungo, to Chiesa San Michele, into Piazzas Napoleone and Giglio, and finally to San Martino. Medieval maps had a similar pattern, with Paradise at the center, reached either by the straight route or by circling paths. For Lucca’s inspired pilgrims, wanderers and seekers, the labyrinth indicates the way Home.

Il Ciarlatano music by Domenico Puccini, director Gabriele Micheli, stage director Edoardo Zucchetti. 15 September, 9 pm.

PIAZZA CITTADELLA Brass band Filarmonica Gaetano Luporini, director Giampaolo Lazzeri 13 September.

PALAZZO DUCALE
Festival di Musica da Camera "Città di Lucca"
Giovani musicisti Lucchesi – Gianni Bicchierini (piano) 1 September 6 pm; Gabriele Lanini (guitar) 2 September; Alberto Bologni (violin) and Carlo Palese (piano) 3 September 9.15 pm; Albero Bologni and Luca Celoni (violins), Antonello Farulli and Caterina Mancini (violas), Massimo Maffei (cello), Mario Ancillotti (flute) and Gabriele Michele (harpsichord and piano) 5 September
9.15 pm; Giovani Talenti 8 September 9.15 pm; Alina Company and Enrico Bernini (violin), Antonello Farulli (viola), Andrea Nannoni (cello), Gabriele Ragghianti (double-bass) and Gabriella Dolfi (piano) 9 September 9.15 pm. Tel 0583 312052, www.scuolasinfonia.it and www.boccherini.it.

MUSEO DEL FUMETTO E DELL'IMMAGINE Piazza San Romano 4. Afternoon chamber music concerts 3 to 11 September at 6 pm. The museum is open 10 am to 6 pm. Closed Mondays. Tel 0583 56326, www.museoitalianodelfumetto.it

TEATRO SAN GIROLAMO Via San Girolamo. Concerti-aperitivo Concerts followed by drinks, in collaboration with Istituto Musicale
L. Boccherini.
Alberto Vannucci (piano). Programme: J.
Brahms (1833-1897), Klavierstücke op.118, F.
Chopin (1810-1849), Scherzo in B minor op.
20 n. 1, C. Debussy (1862-1918), Images
Première Série, A. Scriabin (1871-1915),
Sonata-Fantasia in G sharp Minor op.19 n. 2.
18 September, 11.30 am.
Trio Maffei (Claudio Maffei, violin, Massimo
Maffei cello, Stefano Maffei piano): Franz
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Trio Hob XV/16 in D Major, Robert Schumann (1810-1856) Trio op. 63 in D Minor. 25 September, 11.30 am. Tickets €6 Tel. 0583.465320, or 0583 467521 (to use a credit card). www.teatrodelgiglio.it.

FESTIVAL OF LUCCA VILLAS AND THEATRES
TEATRO DEL GIGLIO Domenico Puccini: Il Ciarlatano, opera buffa (in concert form). 27 August and 15 September, €20 whole; €15 reduced; for students under 24 years old and adults over 65, €10. 15 September, 9 pm. Info Accademia italiana del Canto, tel 0583 370015, 388 6061311, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it – Villa Oliva, 0583 406462, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

RISTORANTE PUCCINI Corte San Lorenzo (in front of the Casa Puccini Museum). Puccini Cene di Note e Dintorni Paola Massoni artistic director. Jazz from Puccini to the Beatles. 7 September, 8 pm dinner, 9 pm concert. €35 dinner and concert. 0583 316676, 340 5599292, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

PIAZZA DEL SUFFRAGIO AUDITORIUM:

Boccherini Open The season of concerts and workshops starts in late September. Orchestra dell'Istituto Boccherini: Anselmo Simini and Cristiano Rossi (violins), conductor Giampaolo Mazzoli. Music by Wieniawski, Bizet and Mendelssohn. Tel 0583 464104, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , www.boccherini.it