Skip to main content

THE WEEKEND IN SIENA: JAZZ, FILMS AND HALF-PRICE CHAMPAGNE


Riccardo del Fra with Roy Hargrove
Tribute to Chet Baker


Siena Jazz always manages to take me by surprise. This week with their tribute to French Jazz that brings double bass player Riccardo del Fra into town. The Italian musician has played and recorded with Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Enrico Pieranunzi and Roberto Gatto, but he is also behind one of my favorite contemporary Jazz records - Soft Talk - which he recorded in 2000 together with French pianist Michel Graillier. He plays in Siena for free. So you better show up early at Circolo La Tuberosa (via Vallepiatta, 10). 


FESTIVAL SUONA FRANCESE (Paris - Siena), Friday 19th of April 2013, 9.30 pm


RICCARDO DEL FRA - contrabbasso

TIMOTHEE QUOST - tromba
OLIVIER CHAUSSADE - sax tenore
NOE’ MACARY - piano
ARIEL TESSIER - batteria
ACHILLE SUCCI - sassofoni
CAMILLA BATTAGLIA - voce
SILVIA MANCO - piano
FRANCESCO FIORENZANI - chitarra
GIOVANNI MIATTO - basso elettrico
CARMINE CASCIELLO - batteria


If you understand a bit of Italian, you may want to continue your cultural weekend in Siena with watching one of the films that are on show during the CAMPO & CONTROCAMPO film festival. The title of the 2013 edition is Corruzione e Potere (Corruption and Power) a topic that definitely comes at the right time, considering Siena's Monte dei Paschi crisis which continues to go from bad to worse. 

Not in the mood for culture, art & co.? Just wanted to drown your worries in a bit of alcohol? Try Un Tubo's Laurent Perrier night on Friday then (be sure to make a reservation). Buffet and two glasses of bubbles for 25€. And every extra glass of vintage Champagne for half of the price the whole night long. It won't be cheap, but it was your decision to skip the free Jazz concert in town. 

Popular posts from this blog

BEST BIKE RENTAL IN SIENA

Villa Catignano: one of the many beautiful places an e-bike can get you to from Siena A few years ago, I interviewed an American writer , who during her month-long stay in Siena whizzed through the city on a bicycle. This was an unusual sight - vespas are the two-wheelers of choice in Siena's hilly town center, not bikes like in mostly flat Florence.  But the invention of e-bikes is about to change this. The city of Siena has installed an  electric bike sharing program which is functioning well. However, it's mostly aimed at locals and residents, as its set-up is a little complicated for visitors who only stay a couple of days in town. Hence, for tourists, the best bike rental options in Siena are with the privately owned shops which supply bycicles of every size and type for a day or two or an entire week.  Giulia from Julskitchen.com cycling through the hills of Siena Siena Bike Shop rents out racing bycicles, hybrid and e-bikes and is a great optio...

Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes and paintings

From toddlers to octogenarians, when in Siena I schlepp everybody to see Ambrogio Lorenzetti's 'Buon Governo'. The long title of the painting is 'The Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the City and the Countryside' and it is exactly that - namely an accurate depiction of daily life in medieval Siena. The detailed and elegant fresco cycle is a rarity not just in regard to Lorenzetti's style and technique, but mainly due to its subject matter. In the 14th century, paintings and frescoes focus on stories and characters from the old and new testament and  not on the day-to-day tasks of builders and farmers.  Medieval Siena depicted on one of the walls of Ambrogio Lorenzetti's fresco cycle in the Palazzo Pubblico (©Wikipedia) And this is exactly why it's so much fun to spend some time in front of the fresco cycle in the  civic museum in Siena's Palazzo Pubblico. Whether its kids  - or meat lovers - looking for the famous Cinta Senese pig  ...

NINA ZILLI CONCERT IN PIAZZA DEL CAMPO

Whatever the exact financial situation of the city of Siena and its famous nearly broke bank - the fact that free concerts are back on Piazza del Campo is a promising sign! In the summer of 2012 ,   Patti Smith  sang 'People have the Power' on Piazza del Campo. The song and her fabulous concert in Siena feature in the book soundtrack - and hopefully also in the future film adaptation - of my memoir  Across the Big Blue Sea .  But while a spectacular full moon rose behind Torre del Mangia the night of Patti's concert, the city itself had just started its descent into a longlasting financial nightmare. The Monte dei Paschi bank -  founded in  1472 it is the world's oldest continually operating bank -  turned from  prodigy into Italy's problem child (more about this here ), and with the bank's debacle, the free concerts on Piazza del Campo had lost their main sponsor.  Nina may not be a world-star, but she's definitely one of th...