My Land:

my Marche

My Marche is the home of those two ficus ruminalis (ruminal figs) found in the traditions of Marche: that of the legend of Monte Sibilla, where the Saltarello was born when fairies danced with clogs made of fig wood on their feet, and that legendary one from Castelfidardo, known in ancient times as Waldum de fico (the Wood of the Fig Tree), where, in 1863, the Italian accordion industry began. This instrument first turned the traditional music of the region on its head and then, that of the entire peninsula, which at the same time, and thanks to a battle fought in the same places, became unified politically with the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy.

My Marche is that of tradition and at the same time that of history, myth, legend, spirituality, fantasy, enchantment, nature, art, beauty, music, man and God.

My Marche is that of the ver sacrum (Sacred Spring), of the Picentes, of Brennus and the Senones, the Battle of Sentinum and the ritual sacrifice of plebeian Roman consul Publius Decius Mus; it is that of Pompey the Great (Rome's own Alexander the Great), and his Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse (To navigate is necessary, to live is not); it is that of Totila and Narses, the Gothic war, the Lombards, and the Franks.

My Marche is that of the books La Scoperta di Aquisgrana in Val di Chienti (The Discovery of Aquisgrana in Val di Chienti) by Giovanni Carnevale and Carlo Magno. La Controstoria (Charlemagne: The Lost History) by Elisabeth de Moreau d'Andoy; so my Marche is that of Pepin the Short, Charlemagne and the Carolingians, the Vidoni of Camerino and Empress Ageltrude, my "Madonna de Rambona"; it is that of the Holy Thorns, the Holy Lance, the Crucifix of Numana "commonly called that of Sirolo", and the Black Madonna of Loreto replacing Bona, Cupra, Isis and other sacred feminine figures of the past; it is that of St Romuald, St Peter Damian, of wonderful abbeys, of Fonte Avellana, of Frederick Barbarossa, of the pride and courage of the martyr Stamira, heroine of Ancona and its maritime republic.

My Marche is that of Frederick II Stupor Mundi and of the Rex Versuum Guglielmo Divini who became the Fra' Pacifico of the "Canticle of the Sun", but also that of the jester Scatuzzo da Recanati, the Canzone del Castra and the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio.

My Marche is that of Menahem ben Benjamin Recanati and his Kabbala, of Cecco d'Ascoli, of the ghost pirate Charon, of Antoine de la Sale, of Guerrin Meschino and knights on pilgrimage to the mountain grotto of Queen Sibyl, sometimes lost in it and other times initiated by this experience.

My Marche is that of the Renaissance town Urbino, the ideal city, with Federico da Montefeltro, his "brother" Ottaviano Ubaldini della Carda, and their great dream; that of Ludovico Lazzarelli, Olimpo da Sassoferrato and his love poetry: “se amor non fusse el mondo non sarìa” (if there were no love, there would be no world).

My Marche is that of the art of Gentile da Fabriano, the Salimbeni brothers, the Crivelli brothers, Giovanni Santi, Raffaello and Lorenzo Lotto; it is that of San Ginesio, the mime and musician and his festival, to which artists flocked from everywhere in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the town that bears his name.

My Marche is that of the music and dance of Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, (William the Jew of Pesaro), the portative organs (organetti) mentioned or depicted in many works, of Francesco Spinacino, of the Cordiform Codex of Pesaro, of Ottaviano de' Petrucci da Fossombrone, of the Tablature of Ancona, of the great international stars Pergolesi, Spontini, and Rossini, and the masters of our popular tradition from whom Giovanni Ginobili and Lino Liviabella drew inspiration; my Marche is that which cannot be ignored to truly understand Giacomo Leopardi and Beniamino Gigli, Recanati as the home of master craftsmen such as the Castagnari family, who have been great contemporary makers of diatonic accordions for over one hundred years.

The Lucanero family comes from Recanati. Our family name is now more widespread in Argentina than in Italy, where it is only found between the towns of Recanati and Porto Recanati in Marche.

My Marche is more than just this and, Marche, taking away the "my", is also much more. Everything I have mentioned above is sure to be found in my music in one way or another.