Italy tour blog - Musical Magic and Monumental Marvels
November 2022

The show in Rome
Photo © Marco Bozzato

Steve at Longiano Castle
Photo © Jo Hackett

Jo and I enjoyed a couple of days hosted by our wonderful Italian friends Sergio, Patty, Vania, Raffaella and Massimo in and around Cesena, Italy before joining the tour. Vania took us to the atmospheric old hilltop Longiano castle shrouded in mist, and then a group of us visited the ancient city of Ravenna to see the stunningly beautiful mosaics of the early Byzantine churches. Here the Romans ruled after the sack of Rome within a labyrinth of waterways which the 'barbarian' tribes stuggled to negotiate.

We then made the journey through the heart of Italy from Ravenna to Rome, where we joined the band to play the first show. Passing through the massive Vatican walls, we reached the Teatro Conciliazione. The band played a fabulous gig and the audience went totally wild!

On from Rome to Bologna, followed by Turin and Milan, we played to equally fantastically ecstatic crowds. We were all inspired and elated with the incredible reception we received everywhere. Foxtrot holds a special place in peoples' hearts, and the band were totally on fire, bringing the music back to life with renewed vigour...

Then came a special surprise for Jo and me... On the way from Milan to Padova we stopped off in Vicenza, where we were met by the mayor. Then promotor Claudio Canova showed us into the most extraordinary place... the indoor Teatro Olympico built in the style of a Greco-Roman theatre in 1580, the time of Shakespeare. He would have loved this incredibly old surviving theatre... a magnificent setting for the creation of dreams!

In Padova itself thanks to Raffaella, along with an interesting visit to the impressive Medieval Palace of Justice, we were shown around part of the old university... There we stood beside Galileo's rostrum from which he shared his discoveries. Copernicus was there for two years too and it was the first university to give a woman a degree... a groundbreaking place for its time. Here was the quickening of the spirit which finally came into its own with the Renaissance.

Filled with the wonder of these marvels, I felt even more uplifted playing at the Padova show that evening in front of a fabulously appreciative crowd of over 2000 people. The final show in Legnano was equally thrilling.

Italy is such an amazing country and this was yet another fantastically enjoyable tour. Many thanks from Jo and me to Sergio, Patty, Vania, Raffaella, Massimo, Manuel, Alessandra and all the Musical Box 2.0 team, as well as John and Flo of Solo, Brian, Adrian and everyone in the Hackett Team on the road...