The Filarmonica Alpina of Castiglione di Garfagnana

Castiglione di Garfagnana

Castiglione di Garfagnana is a medieval walled town and comune of 1,878 inhabitants in the province of Lucca.It sits on a hillside above the river Esarulo, a tributary of the Serchio....

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 is a music company associated with the Garfagnana

Garfagnana

Garfagnana is an historical region of Italy, today part of the province of Lucca in the Apennines, in northwest Tuscany, but before the unification of Italy it belonged to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, ruled by the Este family. For a short time, in the 16th century, it was governed by the poet...

 region.

History

The company was founded in 1858 as the "Fanfara Popolare" by a group of musicians with the purpose of playing music at special events. Such events as religious processions, civil parades, and private functions. Later, in 1874, it became a communal band

Community band

A community band is a concert band ensemble, generally sponsored by the town or city in which it is located and consisting primarily of amateur performers...

.

The Filarmonica Alpina was inactive throughout World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, it reformed afterwards and has continued uninterrupted ever since. The Filarmonica Alpina represents one of the many living traditions of the Castiglione di Garfagnana and is present on many important occasions in the life of the community. Today the musical group is composed of seventy elements and directed by Silvano Marcalli and its chairman Vittorio Pieroni.