CORTONA

Anyone who has read my book “SWING” knows that I am Italian by birth.  Perhaps that can (somewhat) explain my fascination and adoration for the Tuscan town of Cortona.  Cortona was made famous by author Frances Mayes who wrote “Under the Tuscan Sun” and by the movie of the same name.

My family and I came across Cortona quite by accident a few years ago.  We were going to Italy for a family vacation that began in London.  I went to the TripAdvisor website to find a Bed and Breakfast in Tuscany and came across Casa Portagioia, the highest-rated B and B in the Tuscan region.

Casa Portagioia is nestled in a Tuscan valley miles off the beaten path.  During our stay there, we made the 25-minute trek to Cortona on the advice of our proprietors, Terry and Marcello.  Cortona is near the top of a Tuscan hillside and overlooks a beautiful valley below.  Warm and inviting, it welcomes tourists but is not on the list of most popular tourist destinations.  We fell in love.

The following year, I learned of the Tuscan Sun Festival, which was celebrating its 9^th year in Cortona.  It was an 8-day event that featured classical music performances each night in the charming Teatro Signorelli, an ornate 160-year-old theatre.  I made reservations for the performances and for another stay at Casa Portagioia… this time just for my wife Ronni and me.

There is much to be said about being a “tourist” and experiencing new places.  But we found it even more satisfying to find a place like Cortona and immersing ourselves in the culture, the food, the drink and the people… not to mention the wonderful music.

The festival’s schedule included an Italian cooking class… winery tours… tours of Cortona’s museums… and even a yoga class with Sting's wife, Trudy Styler.  (By the way, Ronni was most impressed that I could last and hour and a half of twists and contortions in that class.)

The evenings were heavenly! Pincus Zuckerman and his quartet performed one evening.  Another night was devoted to the composer Frederic Chopin.  While a brilliant pianist played Chopin compositions, Jeremy Irons (taking on the role of Chopin) and his wife, Sinead Cusack (playing the writer George Sand) read their character's love letters to each other with Chopin’s music filling the 350-seat theatre..  It was magical.

Of course, Frances Mayes was in the audience as was Colin Firth and Neve Campbell, who could enjoy the program far from the glare of the paparazzi.

Ronni and I vowed to return for the 10^th anniversary of the Tuscan Sun Festival the next year only to find that a rift had developed between the festival and the town of Cortona.  The Tuscan Sun Festival chose to move its venue to Florence (about an hour north of Cortona) rather than remain in Cortona for its 10^th anniversary.

Florence is one of Italy’s treasures.  It is home to some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.  It is also a city bustling with tourists, and so it’s not a venue for relaxation and bonding with the locals.

We love Cortona so much that we were devastated at the turn of events.

Fortunately, Cortona fired back with the Cortona Mix Festival.  It doesn’t rely as heavily on music but includes art, photography, and literature along with musical performances AND that Italian cooking class!   So Ronni and I are hoping to return this summer and we hope, once again, to experience the charm of Cortona and its people.  But please don’t spread this story around too liberally.  We don’t want to see hordes of tourists descending on Cortona and turning our beloved Tuscan hillside town into a proverbial tourist trap.

 

Sidney Poitier Up Close and Personal

My previous post discussed my meeting with Bill Cosby while I was on tour with the musical "No Strings" starring Diahann Carroll during the summer of 1964.

A few weeks after being entertained my Mr. Cosby, I was supervising the "strike" of the sets for "No Strings" at Shady Grove Music Fair just outside of Washington, D.C.  Shady Grove was a tent theatre in the round that seated several thousand people.  I was standing about half-way up an aisle and shouting out orders to the stagehands who were dismantling "set pieces" and packing them in the truck to be driven to the next theatre in our schedule.

As I was focusing on the scenery, I became aware that someone was standing alongside me.  I looked to my left... and then looked up to note this gentleman's face who stood much taller than me at 6' 2".  It was Sidney Poitier!!!  As was the case with Bill Cosby, Mr. Poitier was there to take Ms. Carroll to dinner after the show... and he was passing time as he waited for her.

I was AGOG!!!  Sidney Poitier had just won an Academy Award for "Lilies of the Field."  I was in the presence of this great actor, a veritable God-like figure to me and to legions of fans, and I was unable to formulate a coherent sentence.  I wanted to heap praise on him and ask him about his incredible talent, but I was reduced to jello.

No problem.  Mr. Poitier was truly fascinated by what I was doing and he began asking me questions about how we created the scenery and moved it about the stage at the right times, and how I coordinated all the tricky scene changes.  Here was this magnificent award-winning actor quizzing ME about MY job!!  What a turnabout!!  What an exciting moment!!  I answered his questions over and over again and he seemed genuinely interested in everything I told him.  But then Miss Carroll was ready for dinner and the two of them headed out, but not before Mr. Poitier thanked me for educating him about the backstage workings of live theatre.