KEEP CALM AND POTA

KEEP CALM AND POTA

Apr 13, 2024 | ART, ART, CULTURE, CULTURE, WOMEN, WOMEN

Keep calm and pota!

Don’t say you’re not already smiling thinking to Keep calm and pota.

I immediately lit up, also because Keep calm and pota is curated by Piöcc’s Café.

Café! A coincidence, or rather, I would directly say a sign.

A sign that I immediately grasped when I contacted the Teatro Centro Lucia in Botticino Sera.

Yes, you read that right: theatre.

Elena kindly explained that their artistic direction in recent seasons has been proposing a review of dialectal comedies from the Brescia area entitled ‘Èl bel del dialet a teàter’.

As I have already mentioned, I am very fond of dialect. 

Keep calm and pota is therefore a dialect comedy, and Cafè di Piöcc a theatre company.

Elena also helped me contact the director: Manuela.

In two words: a revelation!

Quoting Queen Agatha:
A clue is a clue, two clues are a coincidence, but three clues make a proof.

Keep Calm, Coffee and Friendship. 

The founders of the Café di Piöcc are three friends who meet in the parvis of the cathedral church in Montichiari.

Money is tight and friends watch the gentlemen eat pastries and drink wine, but they can only afford water from the fountain: the Café di Piöcc then, that is, the poor man’s café.

At Cafè di Piöcc, stories, gossip and historical facts are told.

From these tales, one of the first theatre companies in Brescia was born in 1970, a troupe that was also the subject of a university thesis.

Manuela joined the company, gradually performing various tasks: props girl, prompter, actress with a small part, assistant director.

Until one evening in the rehearsal room she picked up a book from which an envelope came out with a letter that no one had ever seen.

Destiny, magic, what would you call it?

In this letter, Beppe Boschetti, one of the three founding friends, had expressed his wish to leave the company in Manuela’s hands.

A story made up of people, a long journey made up of extremely remarkable theatre works such as I tre innocenti (The Three Innocents), inspired by news events, or Semplicemente donna (Simply Woman): a red chair and 49 changes of clothes representing the stages of life up to menopause.

And yet settings and periods vary while the common denominator remains the titles that are idioms, e.g. Petost che peji l’è mei insi or Ogné come la sàpes stada.

All the way to Keep Calm and pota.

Pota is the word that unites Brescia and Bergamo, an intercalary that, pronounced with the typical accent, is always very nice.

The author had the intuition to combine pota with the expression keep calm, linking up with Freud’s truth, the female Ego interjecting itself with the Super Ego, and communicating a message: love wins.

Speaking of messages, the Cafè di Piöcc also collaborates with the municipality of Montichiari for social work with the Legality in short project. 

It can therefore be said that Cafè di Piöcc keeps calm but is unstoppable!

Many many compliments and a special thanks to Manuela Danieli.

I HAVE SEEN HER

I HAVE SEEN HER

Mar 9, 2024 | A COFFEE WITH, WOMEN, MUSIC, MUSIC, A COFFEE WITH, WOMEN

I saw her win it …

And “it” is the BB Global Force award presented by Billboard magazine during the BB Women in music ceremony. 

Global Force as an award given in recognition of a woman in the music industry who has made a significant contribution to the business and who, through her work and continued success, inspires generations of women to take on increasing responsibilities in the field.

The Women in music event celebrates women at the forefront of all fields of music from composers and songwriters to educators and all other music professions.

I saw her …

She needs no introduction: Annalisa, @nali is Global Force.

I did not follow her debut, and the first time I heard of her was in the measure of “good but second best.”

Until during a play organised by the middle school my son attends, a pupil struck me by singing about a blue cat. 

I then went to research and discovered that the song was by Annalisa.

Annalisa who for all these years has continued undaunted to be “good, but in second place”.

And yet there is not a person who does not know her ‘I saw her …’.

Despite having my radio perpetually on the frequency of Virgin, a radio that only plays rock music, without really knowing how or why, I have found the refrain of Mon amour in my head.

And ‘I saw her…’ has officially become part of my way of speaking: when I find myself describing something mixed, tangled, entangled.

Physics graduate Annalisa Scarrone, Nali, teaches us how to chase dreams and show the world the Global Force.

Did you see her win?

I dedicate this photo to Tony: ultimate Katy Perry connoisseur.

LIKE THE BIRDS OF CINDERELLA’S DRESS

LIKE THE BIRDS OF CINDERELLA’S DRESS

Jan 20, 2024 | MOVIES, WOMEN, MOVIES, WOMEN

Like the birds of Cinderella’s dress … is the comparison Sabrina Impacciatore used during an interview at the Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Listen:

I really like this way of her being ironically crazy.

This attitude of laughter brings good humour, don’t you think?

The perfect friend for messing around …

Speaking of friendship … have you ever seen “Amiche da morire – Friends to Die For?”

I would say that Sicily is a congenial place for Sabrina: the season of The White Lotus for which Sabrina received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series is filmed in Taormina.

In the interview Sabrina tells that her dress was fitted the night before by tailors like the birds of Cinderella’s dress, and also declares that her victory is to be there, but we can say that another great shot is her participation in the upcoming film In the head of Dante with Al Pacino and John Malkovich.

Who knows, maybe the Fairy godmother has a hand in it… 🙂

And you? Have you ever lived a fairy tale?

I could tell I live perpetually in the mess, but isn’t it the real fairy tale?

Gianni Rodari wrote:
Where are the fairy tales?
There is one in everything:
in the wood of the coffee table,
in the glass, in the rose.

Where can you see the fairy tales?

PIAZZA DUCALE COVERED

PIAZZA DUCALE COVERED

Dec 2, 2023 | ITALY, WOMEN

I already told you about the Piazza Ducale in Vigevano: together we discovered the traces of Jewish presence, starting from the past to arrive at the present of the smart city version. 

We saw it as a coffee lounge but also as a setting for cosplayers of Star Wars characters.

I wish you wouldn’t miss the Piazza Ducale “covered” version.

Suggestive, isn’t it?

Impressive.

At dawn

and sunset of a whole day dedicated to sharing.

These beautiful coloured blankets are all made of four knitted or crocheted squares joined together by a red thread as a symbol of relationship and union.

For months, many women worked to make these blankets with multicoloured wool and lots of imagination.

Some alone, like Betty during convalescence, some in groups, like Carola’s mother during the weekly meetings based on chatting, knitting and good things to eat.

And more blankets arrived from all over Italy, answering the call of Viva Vittoria. 

Viva Vittoria is a relational work shared by women for women.

Knitting is understood as a metaphor for self-development and conveys a message of awareness: we are the creators of our own existence.

If we are able to bring about change in ourselves, change can also take place in society as a reflection.

The idea of bringing these blankets from moments of aggregation was born in Brescia in 2015 and the proceeds of the sale are used for charitable purposes.

In Vigevano, three thousand blankets were adopted in Piazza Ducale in a few hours, the sum collected will be donated to the association Kore alongside women victims of violence.

THERE IS STILL TOMORROW.

THERE IS STILL TOMORROW.

Nov 4, 2023 | MOVIES, WOMEN, MOVIES, WOMEN

There is still tomorrow which sees the directorial debut of Paola Cortellesi is the film that won the Audience Award, Special Jury Prize and Mention as Best First Work at the Rome Film Festival. 

Paola Cortellesi doesn’t need to be introduced, I always remember one of her gags in which she ironically listed all the things she has done, which are really so many and very different from each other, but which have the same feature in common: they are all done well.

I thank Elisa and her proposal: we went to the movies together fearing that we would have to use tissues to wipe tears and instead we mostly surprised ourselves.

The Friends.
In the movie: Delia and Marisa.

Emotion, however, was not lacking.

I, for one, was moved by the portrayal of a mother’s love for her daughter, who is played by Romana Maggiora Vergano in the film.

A love above all things, a love for which nothing is impossible, a pure and unwavering love.

Fragility and strength in a maelstrom of endurance and determination in which the ability to carry the crushing weight of a long interminable series of verbal and physical injustices and bullying, is catalyzed in the resolute will to seek a better destiny for Marcella.

Mother and daughter.

A crushed mother and a model daughter who does not understand Delia’s submission.

Succumbing and resisting at the same time, in a dance that is broken melody, is rock, is hip hop rap, is retro.

Marcella does not understand, but she will.

Marcella will look at her mother Delia and see the affirmation of a seemingly simple but extremely important gesture as a right, as a beginning.

Every change has a beginning.

There is still tomorrow represents “the music that changes” in a literal sense: I cannot fail to mention the repertoire songs from the soundtrack:
Aprite le finestre Fiorella Bini
Nessuno Naked Music
Perdoniamoci Achille Togliani
A bocca chiusa Daniele Silvestri
M’innamoro davvero Fabio Concato
La notte dei miracoli Lucio Dalla
Calvin The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
B.O.B. – Bombs Over Baghdad Outkast
The little things Big Gigantic featuring Angela McCluskey
Swinging on the right side Lorenzo Maffia and Alessandro La Corte
Tu sei il mio grande amor Lorenzo Maffia, Alessandro La Corte and Enrico Rispoli.

Surprising, isn’t it?

Surprising as what you don’t expect from There is still tomorrow: the ending.

Indeed, in my heart I hoped that Delia’s project would not be the obvious one, but at the same time I would not have guessed an epilogue like the one with which Paola Cortellesi invites everyone to a beautiful reflection.

Light yet explosive, simple yet disruptive, just like Delia, just like Paola.

Yes because Delia is Paola, she is Marcella, and she is our grandmother.

Delia is so many lives of giving up, Delia is so many years of suffering.

Like nothing at all.

A POSTCARD FOR PATRIZIA

A POSTCARD FOR PATRIZIA

Sep 5, 2023 | WOMEN, WOMEN

I share from the blog ESCAPE FROM POLIS.

Why a postcard, and who is Patrizia ? Let’s start with the important things:

Patrizia is the wife of our Andrea “Kikkakonekka,” so we can refer to her as “our” Patrizia. In email conversations with Andrea, I learned that they are going through a delicate and difficult time, for both of them, and that the period in question is one of those-which sooner or later in one way or another touches everyone-where every little positive “input” from the outside world can help to lighten the difficulties, to generate a smile, a nice thought, in short, to feel less alone in the difficulty.

Andrea thought (and I fully agree) that it would be nice if all of us Friends (even if virtual, here on FdP we are Friends) could send at their home address a “old-fashioned” postcard, from all the places where we are at the moment, with a greeting to Patrizia, handwritten on paper, like in the old days. A way of making “real” the “virtual.” 

I think this is a very shareable thing: I make it my own and personally request to all of you to participate, in the full spirit that has always animated this Blog. I know that it requires a minimum of effort (it may sound strange, but I realize that nowadays it is easier to do something online than to write a postcard, stamp it and physically mail it), but I ask you within the limits of what is possible to do it, this “effort.”

For clear reasons of expediency, the mailing address to send the postcards will not be posted here (as it is their home address), but if you would like to participate you can ask Andrea or me directly by email. The addresses (which I write cryptically to avoid “bots” that steal emails from sites) are as follows:

For Andrea: kikkakonekka [at] libero [dot] it

For me: albert-1 [at] virgilio [dot] it

Key thing to know: this whole thing, for our Patrizia is a surprise, and she reads Andrea’s Blog. So, please don’t mentioned it on his blog. All communication, questions and comments should be made exclusively by email or on FugaDaPolis.

Andrea also wanted to share some of his feelings on his Blog, find his article from last Friday here.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation, I know things on FdP work well because we are cool people, so I expect massive participation. It is important, please do your best !

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