Theater performances, concerts, cabaret, great entertainment events for young and old, meetings with authors, nature hikes and lots and lots of fun. There are dozens of appointments that make up the calendar of “Eppi Sammer 2018,” the great festival of events organized by the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Municipality of Loano ahead of the summer season that has just begun.
“Once again in this 2018,‘ explains Loano Mayor Luigi Pignocca, ’our administration has managed to prepare a very rich and varied program of events that, as they always say in these cases, will be able to please all tastes and all types of audiences. This year the summer of fun of Loano will continue well beyond the month of September, even reaching the last days of October. A much wider calendar of events than usual thanks to which we hope to give our fellow citizens and guests the beautiful ”memory of a summer at Loano' among relaxation and fun for all. We are sure that the people of Lovran and the tourists who will choose our town as their vacation destination this year will appreciate it very much.".
“The Loano tourist village is always open and ready to welcome its guests,” adds Tourism, Culture and Sports Councillor Remo Zaccaria. "Thanks to the usual efforts of our offices and the collaboration with Dimensione Eventi and the many realities of our territory, this year again we have managed to organize (among large and small) dozens of events throughout the period from June to October. I believe that in the panorama of our region very few municipalities can boast such a calendar.".
As every year, the heart of summer events will be the summer arena in Prince's Garden, on whose stage concerts, theater and cabaret shows and a wide variety of other events will be staged. The “Dreams Festival” organized by Dimensione Eventi with the artistic direction of Ivan Fabio Perna will bring to Loano musicians, bands and artists of the caliber of “Le Orme” (July 15), Uto Ughi (July 19), Giovanni Allevi (August 4), Amedeo Minghi (August 8), Anna Oxa (August 10) and Roberto Vecchioni (August 23). On July 29, space will be given to women's music with “Sounds of Summer,” a show in which the sweet music of the piano played by Roberta di Mario and Valentina Colonna will give way to a rockier melody made by Micol and her harp.
But this summer at the Prince's Garden there will also be plenty of room for laughter and cabaret. Opening the “dances” will be Giobbe Covatta (July 22) followed by Biagio Izzo (Aug. 16). Closing the season of Lovran laughter will be Beppe Grillo (Aug. 18).
As every year, summer 2018 will feature national “premieres” of many plays on the summer arena stage. On July 4, the Lewis&Clark Company will perform Neil Simon's “The Odd Couple.” On July 12, Compagnia Masaniello will stage “Miseria e Nobiltà” by Eduardo Scarpetta. On Wednesday, July 18, again the Lewis&Clark Company will re-enact one of TV's most beloved and well-known detectives with “Lieutenant Columbo - Prescription Murder” by Richard Levison and William Link.
Reserved for “children” from zero to 99 years old is the show “The Miraculous Water” by the Niemen Puppets, scheduled for July 24. Dance will be the protagonist on Tuesday, July 31: the Ballet of Siena will stage “The Great Pas de Deux,” the great pas de deux excerpts from the most famous ballets of the classical repertoire. On Aug. 3 on the stage of the Prince's Garden, tango will take center stage with the extraordinary dancers and musicians of “Abrazos De Tango.” On Aug. 11 it will be time for the big musical with the show: ’10toBroadway.“.
VB Factor, the competition aimed at singers and dancers of all ages that sells out every year in terms of spectators and participants, will stop at the summer arena on June 30.
In the Prince's Garden summer, ample space will be given to programming for children and families, with eight evenings of theater for the youngest (July 7, 16, 23 and 30 and again Aug. 2, 6, 12, 19) completely free of charge. Tales and fairy tales will take center stage, inviting children to never stop dreaming. Among the initiatives dedicated to the whole family should be mentioned the evening show with the awards ceremony of the “Budding Architects” competition (July 11, with competitions on the beach on July 10).
Major events that will enliven the city include the Carnevalöa Summer Edition (July 28) organized by the Vecchia Loano Association and the “Festa delle Basüe” (August 13) organized by the Loano Multipurpose Cultural Center Association that will close with fireworks (August 13).
From July 4 to 8, Marina di Loano will host the Pre-Meeting of Loano, the event curated by the cultural association ’Cara Beltà“ that anticipates the themes of the Rimini Meeting, the kermesse organized by the ”Friendship Among Peoples“ Foundation that has been held every August in Rimini since 1980. This year the event takes its cue from a famous phrase by Don Giussani: ”The forces that move history are the same that make man happy.“ The Loano event will be preceded on July 3 by a concert featuring Walter Muto's ensemble in Orto Maccagli.
Every Tuesday in July and August, the Prince's Garden Redoubt will host the seventh edition of “Culture Tuesdays,” the summer festival dedicated to books, poetry and music organized by the Tourism, Culture and Sports Department of the City of Loano in collaboration with Dimensione Eventi and the Mondadori Bookstore of Loano. Conducting the meetings with authors will be Graziella Frasca Gallo, accompanied by musical notes performed by maestro Roberto Sinito.
It begins on July 3 with Giorgio Genta and his “The Resilient - Stories of Caregivers.” In his volume, the author recounts the difficulties of life with his usual style that mixes irony and seriousness (all for a noble cause). On July 10, Antonio Capranica will present “Royal Babies. Magnificent and Spoiled Lives of the Heirs to the Throne.” What does it mean for a child to be the heir to the throne? On the surface only unattainable privileges, but in reality there is much more. On July 17 Claudio Paglieri presents “Crime and Backhand,” a detective story featuring a former commissioner investigating the gilded world of tennis, which promises fame and success, but not only that. On July 31, Franco Faggiani will present “Maintenance of the Senses,” a novel about change and fatherhood, in which father and son find the truest dimension in contact with the beauty of nature.
On Aug. 7, Enrico Galliano tells “All the Life You Can”: three boys, 24 hours, a stolen car, an escape and a promise; there are moments that contain a whole life. Aug. 14 will be a “Culture Tuesday” dedicated to poetry and music featuring various authors, classical, modern and local. On Aug. 21 Marco Balzano will present “Resto qui,” the story of a community in Alto Adige, is dispossessed by a useless dam; a text full of true poetry. It closes on Aug. 28 with Alice Basso and her “The Mystery Writer,” which sees the return of her heroine Vani and books as a means of salvation.
The “Culture Tuesdays” will be joined by the “Culture Wednesdays” organized by the Libreria del Conte, which every Wednesday will bring to Orto Maccagli some very important authors from the Italian literary scene. After the July 4 opening, the program includes on July 11 Alice Zannoni with ’Contemporary Art Explained to My Grandmother“; on July 12 Armando D'Amaro with ”The Second Investigation of Commissioner Boccadoro“; on July 18 ”Don't Bind Your Heart. My Persian Story Between Two Countries and Three Religions“ by Farian Sabahi; on Aug. 1 Ilaria Caprioglio with ”Infedeli intrecci“; on Aug. 8 Achille Maccapani with ”The Soda Seller’; on Thursday, Aug. 16 Tiziano Fratus with “The Forest is a World”; on Aug. 22 Francesca Genti with “Poetry is a Unicorn”; on Aug. 29 Claudio Vercelli with “Israel: 70 Years.”.
Summer appointments with books will be enriched, this year, by some events related to “LOA Reads in Every Corner,” the large event entirely dedicated to reading organized by the City of Loano. On August 24, Borgo Castello will be transformed into “The Poets” Village“: Alessandra Munero, Vera Bonaccini, Valentina Zingaro and other narrative poets will try to answer the question ”will poetry save the world?“ On August 31, again Borgo Castello will come alive with ”InCanti di Letture,“ read aloud with musical accompaniment by Simona Briozzo and Marco Cravero. On Sept. 7 at the gardens on Via Ricciardi will be ”Reading Beauty: words, emotions and song" with readers Tina Milazzo, Graziella Ghezzi, Susy Minutoli, Anna Cossetta, Paola Paolino, Monica Maggi and many others. Special guest will be vocal coach Silvia Palazzini.
Numerous events will be organized in collaboration with Loano associations: the “Suddenly You” evening (July 6) curated by the Modern Jazz Dance Academy; the 27th “E. Garassini” (July 21) and “Music in the Square” (Aug. 9) organized by the Associazione Musicale Santa Maria Immacolata; the “Torches in the Night” event (July 24) promoted by the Marine Baths Syndicate with rescue trials with dogs, surfboards, jet skis and finally the traditional torchlight procession at sea; the “Concerts of the Turchini” organized in the Oratory of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (Aug. 17, Sept. 16 and 22) by the Brotherhood of the Turchine Chapels; the concerts of the Loanese Music Association at the former convent of St. Augustine (June 30), the oratory of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (July 30) and at the oratory of the Confraternity of the White Chapels (Sept. 1); the Ligurian folk music concerts (July 19 and Aug. 30) with “U Gunbu de Löa-Verzi” in Orto Maccagli; the beauty contests of “Miss Pro Loco” (Aug. 19) organized by Pro Loco Loano and “Miss Riviera delle Palme” (Aug. 26) promoted by the Old Loano association.
From July 23 to 27, the sounds of tradition will be featured in the “City of Loano National Award for Italian Traditional Music.” For three days, popular music will take center stage with meetings with musicians and journalists and concerts in Orto Maccagli, Narriya Fallen Gardens, Prince's Garden and St. Augustine's Cloisters.
Also confirmed in the summer of 2018 is the “Finally Friday” music festival, which in recent years has been very popular with audiences. It starts on July 6 with the opera concert “Notes on the Sea” with soprano Melissa Briozzo, mezzo-soprano Aviva Manenti, ternore Rino Matafù accompanied by Stephane Eliot's electone. On July 13 it will be the turn of “Stavolta mia moglie mi mandare a funk” in favor of the “Basta poco onlus” association, while on July 20 the Mimmos will perform. On August 10, “Pink Night” will be held with the “Solidarity on the Catwalk” parade in favor of Telefono Donna. On Aug. 17 the festival will feature a tribute to Max Pezzali while on Aug. 24 the band Rumors will perform. “Finally Friday” will conclude on Aug. 31 with a concert by “Those of the Sixties.” All evenings will take place in the Maccagli Garden.
Loano's summer will have no shortage of charity events benefiting voluntary associations. On July 5, students from the Attimo Danza civic school, directed by Lorella Brondo, will tread the stage at the Prince's Garden with the “Dance Gala” in an evening benefiting Admo. On July 14, the Prince's Garden will host a benefit for the Loano committee of the Italian Red Cross. Elena Ballerini, Rai anchorwoman, singer and imitator, will be the “mattatrice” of an evening of variety show featuring an Italian comedian (about whom strict confidentiality is in place for the moment). The evening is organized in collaboration with the Eccoci Eventi agency. On August 9, however, the usual appointment with “A parade of ... laughter,” the evening of fashion, cabaret and variety organized by the Down Savona Onlus Association, will return. The evening's proceeds will be used to fund Adso Association's projects. On August 20, the traditional event will return with “Loano and the Voice of the Sea,” an evening of variety with the students of the Attimo Danza Loano School and the Modern Jazz Dance Academy, which aims to raise funds for the Sea Museum and to raise awareness of the history of the Loano seafaring industry.
In the Kursaal Palace throughout the summer you can visit the exhibition “Loano for the Sea.” In the central hall of the Kursaal Palace you can admire the most significant pieces of the collection dedicated to seafaring in Loano and the province of Savona, which the Lodanum maritime cultural association has carefully preserved in the small museum.
Once again this summer, the Mosaic Hall of Palazzo Doria will once again become a true “art gallery” hosting various exhibitions and cultural events: from July 1 to July 15, shots by photographer Tommaso Marinelli will be on display; from August 8 to August 26, there will be a painting group exhibition by the ’Lo Schizzo“ association; from August 29 to September 13, Giovanni Donato's painting solo exhibition will be on view; from October 12 to October 21, there will be an exhibition of posters by the Anpi ”Renato Boragine“ section of Loano; and from October 24 to November 11, Roberto Oliva's photography exhibition.
On July 2, the procession of the feast of Our Lady of the Visitation will be held, organized by the confraternity of the Cappe Turchine: from 8:30 p.m. in the streets of the center there will be a procession in which confraternities from all over Liguria will parade.
A meeting on “Ancient Salt Roads” organized by the St. Francis Mary Solidarity Bank of Camporosso will be held on June 28 at the Capuchin Theater on Manzoni Street: Gerry Delfino will be the speaker of a lecture on “The Salt Roads (between history and legend).” This will be followed by a guided tour of Renato Bonfanti's photography exhibition. On July 1, a performance by the Flag-wavers of Fossano will take place in Piazza Italia. The historic group of about 60 elements including flag-wavers and musicians will bring the ancient art of flag-waving to the squares and streets. The Vocal Camp 2018 concerts will be held in Orto Maccagli on August 3 and 4. The second day will have RAI anchorwoman Elena Ballerini as the guest of honor. On July 7 in Orto Maccagli will be held “Songs and images of sea, mountains and beyond” by the Cai section of Loano with the participation of the musical group “U Gunbu de Loa-Verzi.” On August 11 in Orto Maccagli evening of cabaret and entertainment from the 2018 Summer Tour. On July 12 (with a repeat on August 23) in Rocca Square ’Bala in riva a u ma“ returns. On July 14 at Bagni Medusa the third edition of ”Bau Bau - Let's Parade,“ a dog parade with children's entertainment and final barbecue. On July 20, ”La Svolta Parrucchieri“ will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a vertical dance show in Piazza Italia.
On August 3 in the church of San Damiano classical music concert with maestro Riccardo Pampararo. On Aug. 14 also in Orto Maccagli concert by the group “Progetto Festival.” On Aug. 26 at Bagni Medusa returns “Balla con i bagnini” event with live music and barbecue organized in collaboration with the Bagni Marini association of Loano. On Sept. 11 in Rocca Square concert ’Waiting for September 12“ by the Santa Maria Immacolata music association.
The traditional historical reconstruction of the Napoleonic battle of 1812, organized by the 51eme Demi Brigade de Bataille association, will be held from October 5 to 7 at Loano. Figurants from all European countries will reconstruct the fighting that took place on May 9, 1812 when the British fleet chased 18 French boats, which found refuge in the Gulf of Alassio. The re-enactment event will be preceded by another “Napoleonic” event to be held in the Mosaic Room of Palazzo Doria from Oct. 1 to 8 and a ’dinner and dance’ with a Napoleonic flavor scheduled for Oct. 5 and 6, also at Palazzo Doria.
Also continuing throughout the summer will be the hiking appointments of “Loano not only sea,” the program curated by the Loano section of the CAI to promote hiking as an opportunity for socialization, personal well-being, and knowledge and appreciation of the area. Appointments in contact with nature will be enriched by “Waiting for Green September at Loano,” guided naturalistic “Trekking” excursions that will stop, among others, at the sanctuary of Mount Carmel, the hamlet of Verzi, and Santa Libera. Then, on September 2, there will be a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Carmo hut organized by the “Amici del Carmo” association. In the marine sphere, on the other hand, Bagni Lampara has organized an “ecopinneggiata” (July 16) and three naturalistic snorkeling outings (July 22 and Aug. 6 and 20) for children and adults.
Every second Sunday of the month the arcades of Corso Europa and the “Bestoso” gardens will host the usual appointment with the “Antiques and Collectibles Market,” organized by the E20 Free Cultural and Recreational Association. Every Friday from 6 p.m. to midnight, on the other hand, Piazza Massena will host the “Handicraft Market” organized by the association Artigianalmente (from October the market will be held on the second Sunday of the month, in conjunction with the “Antiques and Collectibles Market”).
In the Loano summer there will also be no shortage of gourmet events, with festivals and celebrations dedicated to the best specialties from Liguria and beyond: on June 29 and 30 in the courtyard of the church “dei Cappuccini” will be held the festival “Alla ricerca degli antichi sapori sulle vie del sale” organized by the Banco di Solidarietà San Francesco Maria da Camporosso; on July 6 and 7 always in the courtyard of the parish of Santa Maria Immacolata will return the “Festa della birra” of the association Focolare Francescano; July 20-21 (with the possibility of continuation to July 22 in case of bad weather) at the Casetta dei Lavoratori del Mare on the seafront promenade there will be the “Festa del mare” with the traditional “muscolata” by the confraternity of the Cappe Turchine; on July 27 and 28 at the Casetta there will instead be the “Sagra della Cri” with fish fry organized by the local committee of the Italian Red Cross.
August will open with the traditional “Sagra della Trenetta” scheduled from Aug. 1 to 3 in the courtyard of the church of Santa Maria Immacolata; from Aug. 16 to 18, however, the same parish has organized the food and wine festival of ’Quello cu passa u cunventu.“ From Aug. 21 to 24, the usual summer food and wine festival will be held at the parish of St. Pius X; from Sept. 6 to 8, the ”Sagra dell'Otto’ organized by the Verzi Group association will be held in Verzi. Also organized by the Verzi Group is the “Sagra di Santa Libera” scheduled from Sept. 13 to 15 in the Loano hamlet.
Sports will be featured in the Loano summer with international events, national competitions and regional matches. From July 6 to 15 at the Loano Tennis Club the 4.1 limited tennis tournament is scheduled, while on July 14 the Asd Centro Arti Marziali will present the martial arts evening “Kung Fu sotto le Stelle” in Orto Maccagli. From July 20 to 29, tennis still stars with the men's and women's open singles tournament being held at the Tennis Club. Also on the Tennis Club courts from August 10 to 18 is the traditional “Ferragosto Giallone,” a tennis tournament, doubles with draw, held at night.
On Aug. 18 within Loano Marina will hold the “Marina Classic,” a non-competitive 5-kilometer free-pace running race open to all, organized by Run Riviera Run in preparation for the RunRivieraRun International HalfMarathon to be held on Oct. 28 on the very streets of the Riviera. On Aug. 23 there will be a non-competitive 6- and 2-kilometer run organized by St. Pius X Parish. On Aug. 24 and 25, the LoaBikers organized the “Prologue of the Amateur Tour of Italy” cycling race. From Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, the Tennis Club of Loano will host another limited 4.1 tournament.
An appointment of the highest level are the National Youth Doubles Championships scheduled for Sept. 5-9 in the sea of Loano and organized by Circolo Nautico Loano, by proxy of the Italian Sailing Federation, in collaboration with Circolo Nautico del Finale, Cnam Alassio, Lega Navale Italiana Ceriale, Circolo Nautico Albenga, Circolo Nautico Andora, Circolo Velico Ventimigliese and with the collaboration of the 1st Zone Fiv Committee and the Municipality of Loano.
From Sept. 14 to 16, the “Twinning Basketball Tournament” organized by Polisportiva Finale Basket will be held at the PalaGarassini on Via Matteotti. Basketball will be back in the spotlight on Sept. 21 and 22 with the “Rino Rigardo Memorial,” a tournament organized by Asd Basket Loano Garassini, while on Sept. 29 and 30 PalaGuzzetti and PalaGarassini will host the “Volleyball Futuro Tournament,” a national youth competition organized by St. Pius X Volleyball. The ninth edition of the Loabikers“ ”Gran Fondo On Energy“ will be held on the same days. From Oct. 12 to 21 at the Tennis Club is the Asd Tennis Club Loano men's and women's open singles tournament. On Oct. 14, however, the twelfth edition of the ”Tour of the Walls" organized by Asd Runners Loano will be held in the historic center area.
On Oct. 21 at the Fei locality sports hall, the “Garassini Tournament” organized by Asd Basket Loano Garassini is held. On Oct. 28, also at PalaGarassini, an “Afternoon in Pink” dedicated to women's basketball is staged. The month of October will close, also on Oct. 28, with the RunRivieraRun International Half Marathon, the RunRivierarun half marathon starting from Varigotti and finishing at Loano.
