Claudia's
Friends!
My best friends
Well my best friends are quite definitely Ferdy (in the picture near me) and Biba. Ferdy
wants to play the American girl and she's been living in South Carolina with her
husband Antonello for quite a few years. They are esteemed engineers, why should they want to stay
here? Biba, my "adoptive sister", found her soul mate, Alessio, thanks to me and now, with Guendalina and Matilde, they have a wonderful family.
Journalists and Co
Biba works at "La Provincia", our local newspaper,
and thanks to her I have met many great people, among whom Carla and Vittorio,
cheerful companions of many dinners and parties. Then there's Enrico, Dario,
Guglielmo, Umberto (Bumbi) and Alessio Brunialti.
Paolo Moretti writes for the competing newspaper in Como but he's nice all
the same! Lorenza is at "La Repubblica" and
that's lot! It is thanks to her little house in the country if May 1st
has become a special holiday for us. The gang also includes some who are
not journalists; Fabio (Fattorini) for example. Who brings the wine if
he doesn't come? But there is also Alessandra, Vittorio's wife, Marisa,
Umberto's wife, the two Cristinas, Paolo and Dario's wives or Paolo (Favettha,
Biba's brother) and Paola with their little ones (aunt Biba's pride and joy),
or Marti and Milly, Marina with her own Paolo, Daniela, Massimo. I have even
found an "adoptive mum" in Muzzi, Biba's mother. And how can I forget Piera
and Angelo (buy books at "Libraccio"!!!)?
The committee
When
we were all "spinters" (oops, sorry, single) Biba, her sister Monica, Anna
and I founded the "committee". Our aims? None in particular, only being together
and having a good time, sharing some of every day problems and joys. Two
of us now have a family, Biba of course and Monica with Franco and Francesca.
But the group still hasn't dissolved, on the contrary, we have two junior
members! In the photo there's Biba, Anna, Monica and I.
Adoptive nephews
With so much of my family living so far away, what better idea than to "adopt" some nieces and nephews? With worthy parents, of course, some of whom I met when the kids were not even an idea! So I have Mattia and Federico, Silvia and Luca's children, Chiara, Tommaso and Pietro, Cristina and Gabriele's children, Matilde and Francesca...
The Florentines
There
are those who are Florentine by birth and those who are by choice! Of course
it is difficult not to lose one's head for that city and its inhabitants.
This is what happened to Claudio, who, up until a few years ago, was my favourite
next-door neighbour. Now he's not physically so close, since he moved to Florence with
his beloved Rosanna in the year 2000. But this is an excellent excuse to go and visit them!
And of course Rosi's friends, Angela, Patrizia, Andrea, Alberto, Marcello,
often make the journey all the more pleasant. In the photo we have Alessio,
Biba and Matilde, Guendalina, Rosanna, Claudio and Ale.
Lorient Express
I went to the Lorient Interceltic Festival five times (1996, 1999, 2000,
2001 and 2003) and the number
of Italian and foreign friends did nothing but increase! The Milanese first
of all: Michele, Katia, Marzia, Giovanni, Simona, Giustino
and Muriel, Giorgio and Daniela, Claudio, Alberto, Giancarlo.
Lorient was
a bit like returning to summer school when I was young. 
Going back
meants finding the same friends and of course meet new ones. I'm thinking of Oscar,
Loïc, Valérie
Anne, Neil, Michel, Arnaud, Lizardo, Didier, Angel, Isabelle.....What better
chance to practise foreign languages?
Music
Much
of my love goes to those who were part of Witch's Brew: Ettore, Nino, Lucio,
Aldo e Alessio and to their families, though I've lost touch with most of
them. Here we were in 1996.
Through Alessio I have met another two nice musicians, Sergio and another Pisces like me, Duilio.
More recently, thanks to Franco-Tatti, I had a brief experience with a band where I met Roberta and found Giulia after many years.
A talented companion for a "live" evening in November 2001 but above all for many coffees and chats was Alessio Brunialti. But what's he doing now?
A new musical adventure with Nino and Beppe (a really good guitar and keyboard player but above alla great person) started in April 2005 but is already on stand-by. We'll see what happens.
Many years ago at an F.C. gig I met Massimiliano, from Seriate (BG); if it hadn't been for him I would never have met all the musicians I know now, including F.C. It was him who introduced me to Gigi, the great promoter. Thanks to Massimiliano 10 years ago I also met Giulio Bianchi, important for having organized some of the best concerts of the Como area. And I can't forget Alfredo who writes about music, now as a free-lance, and who has been my pleasant companion at many festivals and concerts (as well as sharing some difficult moments...).
I have really met a lot of... important musicians....great people most of
all: Fairport Convention (in the picture I'm with them in 1997), John Renbourn,
Amazing Blondel, Lùnasa,
Mike McGoldrick and band, Shooglenifty (I love them...), Old Blind Dogs,
Lia Luachra, Craobh Rua, Edward II (now E2K), Deaf Shepherd, Raj, Victoria
Williams etc. etc.. And anyway what would bands be without their fantastic
sound-engineers behind them, people that you can actually talk to before,
after AND during the gig? Rob (F.C.), Neil (Shooglenifty), John
(the Scot) , Jon (E2), Ed (Lunasa), Kevin (Capercaille) ....
Without having to go too far, I spent many pleasant moments with some Italian bands, first of all the old De Sfroos. I have much affection for Davide "Van DeSfroos" and his beloved wife Paola, for Marco and Gloria (who managed to reappear in the strangest places throughout my life!), for Lorenzo, Maria and their family (check out Needlecase if you're in the area). More recently there were all of Sulutumana. And further south, in Arezzo, there's another favourite band of mine, Ductia, with Stefano, who I don't see all that often but who made me laugh so much!
Then there are those I met at All'unaetrentacinquecirca, Carlo (the boss) and Patti, and Maurizio of course, who I rediscovered after many years of chance meetings downtown and short e-mails and who was a favourite concert companion for a while. And I'm happy I have met his new beautiful partner, Samuela.
And where do I buy music? Well of course mostly at Casa del Disco di Como, where Mimmo works and is always happy to help.
Internet
I never was a fan of meeting people through the Internet. I subscribed to
various "matching" services in the past ,
sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of desperation, but then did not
reply to messages or interrupted communications soon....
Then I met someone who is really special . Someone that will be something in the future. He doesn't live exactly near me but not even impossibly far and for the moment he makes me laugh, he makes me curious, he makes me feel good and stimulates me... He has some passions in common with me but above all the same attitude towards them. Dear V we'll have to just wait and see.
School-mates, colleagues and students
My
school-mates were very important for my personal growth and they are still
part of my life : Cristina who was ALWAYS with me at school, Manu, who, together
with me, holds the singles' banner high, Paola, whom we have just found again,
Christine, Monica (Cicci) and all the others. (In the photo Paola, Cristina,
me and Manu in 2004).
There were many people that I studied with when I was at university. We met in the local library, we studied, studied and studied and then we went to the bar for breaks. I saw them daily then; but I still see them occasionally Paolina, Wilma, Carla, Massimo, Paolo, Luca, Michele.
Among the colleagues of the "Pessina-Magistrali connection" there's the wonderful Rossana - Silvia - Tilla who become colleagues and then ex-colleagues with great ease! At Pessina, my school, among all the teaching and non-teaching staff, my heart belongs to Marisa, Simona, Paola, Ornella, Raffaele, Antonio and Luca; they were the people I worked better with and who I sometimes opened my mind to! Some colleagues left that school before me but we're still fond of each other: Antonietta, Grazia, Lucia, Tilde. And many thanks to Carlo of CSC too; if it wasn't for him I would have kicked this computer many times!
In 2004 we had a great loss, our Principal, Annamaria Iabichino. I hope she's taking care of us from wherever she is...
My students too sometimes become friends! Well, maybe not the type you hear from every day, but there is a deep bond with some of them, especially those of the two final years of 2002 , 2003, 2005 and 2006. No names because there would be too many!
Last but not least I'll mention the project Open Doors on the Web, which really changed my life starting from March 21st, 2003. This is not just because I've had the pleasant feeling of learning new things and of growing technically but also because of the wonderful people I've met: Laura, Alberto, Demetrio and ALL the members of the mailing-list.
Folk-dancing
Luca, my colleague not only had the merit of making me laugh when I needed to, he also introduced me to the world of folk-dancing!
At
courses, folk-dancing nights and parties, I have become friends with
many nice people, among whom Grazia, Luca e Antonella, Silvia, Daniela, Matteo
and Ilaria, Sabrina and Ivan, Giovanni, Marco, Simona (our teacher), Oscar
and Sabrina, Alen and Barbara, the band Spakkabrianza,
Otto, Gianni and all the others.
More recently I have met Barbara, Mirella, Marta, Davide, Orietta, Raffaella.... Fun to be with even when we are not dancing!
Islanders
When
I started going to summer school at Rye St Antony, Oxford, in 1979, I never
imagined that 3 fellows, Paul, Keith e David living just outside the school
would be in the list of my dearest friends 25 years later. In the picture
Keith, Paul, David and I in 2005.
The
Matthews, on the other hand, were like an adoptive family for me and my sister
in many occasions! Mary, the mother, Joe, the father, who is not with us
anymore, and their 6 children, Tricia, my friend, with her husband Damian
and Josh, and then Frances, Christina, Maureen, Brian e George with their
respective (sometimes big!) families. In the picture there 's Damian, Tricia, Mary and little Josh.
It's once more thanks to RyeStAntony if I met another splendid family. Hal was my teacher in ' 81 and '82; I only met his "women" Alix, Nicola Rose and Gabrielle much later! But I have a lot of love in my heart for them!
Then there's Alistair and Hazel who are waiting for me in Scotland like I'm waiting for them in Italy! Ah yes! I met Alistair at Rye in '84...Time doth fly but the strongest bonds never break!
Finally there is Sharon, with Robert and Kathryn; I met her on a students'
exchange in Somerset in the year 2000, we have kept in touch and I hope we
manage to see each other again soon!