NB: Participation to the event is free, but given the limited space and the possibility of “jazz improvisation” in parts of the schedule please write in advance to info@pibinko.org or +393317539228 to let us know when you may show up.

The pibinko.org network, in collaboration with Hotel Lombardi is organizing on Feb 22, 23, and 24 a set of experiences in Florence which will introduce you to a lesser known group of subjects operating since 2007 via the integration of rural issues, social innovation, communication technologies, and art.

If all this sounds strange, you can start “The Seeker” by the Who,
“Vedi cara” by Francesco Guccini, or Supermarket covered by the Metalliferous Hills ione della Jug Band dalle Colline Metallifere. Once the soundtrack is running, you can visit random sections of the pibinko.org site, with news, project summaries, media coverage and more. Or you can give ten minutes of your time to read the pibinko.org network 2018 activity summary (see link).

This is not the first time that we are showing up in Florence. With some 130 presentations since 2008, we counted six or seven between Fortezza da Basso, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, the Oblate Library, and the Casa della Creatività. However, this is the first time we will be bringing products, offers of services, and people to represent them.

The breakfast room at Hotel Lombardi will become the set for a “micro-museum” with articles and works kindly lent by different subjects, listed below in stream of consciousnessmode:

Antica falegnameria di Roberto Serragli, Scalvaia (SI), Birrificio 26 Nero, Poggibonsi (born in Scalvaia), B.M. Mechanical Works, Torniella (GR), Pietro Crivelli painter, decorator, and guitarist from Piloni (but born in Florence), Az. Agricola Ixtlan (Tatti, GR), Az. Agricola Pacha Mama (Tatti, GR), Farma Valley and Tatti community maps, citizen science with BuioMetria Partecipativa, Picasso Viaggi (Venturina Terme), palla a 21 (o palla eh!), the game of panforte, the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band, IRIS Ambiente from S. Casciano V.P., hand-made prints and bread by Tattistampa, Etruschi from Lakota, Tana del Bianconiglio, Az. Agricola Loriano Bartoli (Pian d’Alma, Scarlino), Fabio Bettio from the Centre for Research, Development, and Advanced Studies in Sardinia, Bar Moderno Roccastrada, ASD Boxing Club Firenze.

A “linear” version  of the same items will be the core of the pibinko.org presence during the fifth edition of TourismA . This is a national exhibition about archaeologic and cultural tourism, being held in the same days at the Florence Convention Centre. On the morning of Friday 22 pibinko.org will attend as a seller the “Buy Cultural Tourism” B2B session. On Saturday afternoon, pibinko.org will represent the network in a session on community-based management of cultural heritage. With these subjects, since 2007 we have been working to promote and protect various lesser know assets, leading to interesting results in the combination of socio-economic impact, media coverage, and international research and technology transfer collaborations.

The most progressive part of the event will in fact be held outside of TourismA, at Hotel Lombardi. This is run by Vincenzo and Valeria Albanese, originally from Torniella (one of the villages involved in our network), and is just a few steps away from the Florence Convention Centre. The hotel will serve for a couple of days as a demonstration and tasting space, allowing the public to learn about a series of experiences and subjects which are very difficult to meet, unless you are willing to dedicate several full days to explore a remote part of Tuscany (having in parallel the possibility of learning about connections of these places to Sardinia, Milano, free-open source geomatics and rock blues).

This initiative is intended to re-propose in Florence the third Farma Valley Winter Fest, held on Dec. 14-15-16 2019 in Tatti, Piloni, Torniella, and Scalvaia, integrating it with the presence of additional subjects from the Florence area.

Below is a schedule summarizing options to make contact with the pibinko.org network.

• Fri. 22: PM in the TourismA space. Evening: Hotel Lombardi
• Sat. 23: until 6PM in the TourismA space. From 6PM to 8PM at Hotel Lombardi, with some tasting of typical Southern Tuscany products (reservation required at info@pibinko.org or +393317539228 ).
• Sun. 24: in the TourismA premises or at Hotel Lombardi

Participation to the event is free, but given the limited space and the possibility of “jazz improvisation” in parts of the schedule please write in advance to info@pibinko.org or +393317539228 to let us know when you may show

Between Dec. 14 and 16, 2018, the third Farma Valley Winter Fest was held in Southern Tuscany, in four hamlets halfway between Siena and Grosseto (Piloni, Torniella, Scalvaia, and Tatti).

The motto for the initiative was “three days of pici, love, and music”, recalling the Woodstock festival and a typical pasta from Southern Tuscany. The festival was launched in 2016 as an original way to animate a scarcely populated area (some 400 residents in 120 square kilometres) which in the Winter months is essentially seen as a wild boar hunting ground (which is ok, but may be integrated by other ideas). The festival is raising increasing interest, and in 2018 it saw the addition of a new location out of the valley: the village of Tatti, which in fact is related to it as it is just by the Farma creek springs.

On Saturday, Feb. 23, at Hotel Lombardi in Florence, via Fiume 8, the organizers of the Winter Fest, collaborating with some subjects from the Florence area, will propose an adaptation of the mid-December event, tailoring it to the size of a budget hotel close to the Santa Maria Novella railway station, and fitting to an eight-hour schedule the program which in the Farma Valley was proposed in three days.

Attendance is free, but to you need to register in advance by sending an e-mail to info@pibinko.org  or calling +393317539228 by Feb. 20, 2019.

During the event it will be possible to review the pibinko.org network activities held in 2018, and to brainstorm on new projects being developed for 2019, especially in relation to the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band and PORGEP 2019. We can do this in Italian (if you speak it or would like to improve it), English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish (for a start).

Coming to the Florence event will enable you to (1) help compose the free/open source community maps of the Farma Valley and Tatti, (2) play “panforte”, (3) see the rendering of prehistoric Sardinian monuments, (4) dance some twist, (5) try to rock-made nutcrackers, (6) learn more about prehistoric quarries, medieval iron works, protected and non-protected species; (7) get acquainted with night sky promotion and protection initiatives where rural bartenders are co-authors with senior researchers in international publications; (8) use ancient carpenter tools, (9) listen to some badass riff played with a vintage Eko guitas (or play it directly, if willing and able). But, most of all(10) try to play with the ball of an ancient game, forbidden by Florentine laws in the 13th century, but still routinely played in our home locations.

…this is just to mention the main attractions which will be presented. If you then browse the News section for pibinko.org, you may review what happened at the last Winter Fest and get an idea of what may occur in Florence in a few days. For this we are redirecting you to the Italian version of the pibinko.org site, since things were spinning so fast that we could not handle the real-time translation of our material: http://www.pibinko.org/tag/fdi-vdf/ and you can then switch to the English version again.

How will all this fit in a 25-square metre breakfast hall and one single room? This is our part of the business. You can start by saving the date: “Florence, via Fiume 8” for Feb. 23. We are working on the hours of the event in the meantime. The core happening will be between 6 and 8PM. You should expect to find an exhibition and some information material starting early PM. Next Monday we expect to issue a more detailed schedule.

The Farma Valley Winter Fest in Florence is an idea by pibinko.org in collaboration with Hotel Lombardi, and various partners…a full list will be provided at the end of the event since it is in a very lively state during the preparations.

The Feb. 23 event also reconnects to a preview of the festival given in the same location on Nov 15, 2018 (article in Italian, with photos).

If all this is enticing you and you want to learn why/how this is happening, feel free to browse the pibinko.org org site, send an email to info@pibinko.org or call +393317539228.Informazioni e contatti stampa: Andrea Giacomelli – info@pibinko.org – 3317539228

Non ci resta che leggere is a periodic event promoted by the Massa Marittima, Southern Tuscany, public library to propose reading recommendations. There is a keynote presenter, and then anybody (who has made a proposal in advance) is allowed three minutes to present a book of his/her preference. pibinko.org will be proposing a book which I am systematically proposing to people since 2014.

A two-page summary presenting the 2018 pibinko.org network activities is available (download PDF).

The same document provides a brief presentation of the network, and of how this developed starting from 2006, in the combination of urban sprawls, rural areas, ancient games, post-modern technologies, tattoos, covers of 1911 blues songs, sandwiches with marinate anchovies, beatboxing, boxing, and…

…know-how and expertise which apparently has a certain level of inspiration, as demonstrated by various testimonials and the media coverage concerning our stories.

It will help to complement the report with

• the presentation of the Metalliferous Hills Jug Band project, for its “geomusical” aspects.
• A review of the characters you will find under the pibinko.org “Collaborations” section
• the pibinko.org homepage: each time you load this you get ten random posts from our blog (with over 1000 posts), if you would like to follow on of our stories, but don’t know where to start from

For more information, or inquiries: info@pibinko.org or +39 331 7539 228