Category Archives: Compositions

German “Pàradàis”

Compositions, Senza categoria

This one is for those who struggle as residents in amenity destinations. The first two stanzas were written sometime around 2022, and the rest was developed more recently.

The lyrics further elaborate on why people go places, on the relationships between “norths” and “souths”, etc. In this case we deal with German-speaking tourists, but we can apply the same to folks from other northern-language areas (and, always, without generalizing). The lyrics work on the base of a very “mean” Nineties tune. For more lyrics and songs on the same topic:

Chords: Ab, F, G, Cm (they never stop), and you have the video below to give you the groove. For more information, comments, details, and booking: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

German Pàradàis

Sono un tedesco | sono nato in germania – I am a German guy I was born in Germany

e da quando ho 12 anni | di viaggiare a sud ho smania – And since I was 12 I craved to travel South

ho girato per la Spagna | ho girato la Croazia – I’ve been wandering in Spain, I’ve been wandering in Croatia

ma è solo qui in Toscana | che il mio spirito si sazia – But it is only in Tuscany that my spirit is satiated

si sazia di tortelli | di paesaggi ed aria fresca – it gets satiated by “tortelli”, landscapes and fresh air

e non vado mai a caccia | ogni tanto forse a pesca – and I never go hunting, occasionally I might go fishing

io non cerco troppa gente | sono un tipo riservato – and I don’t go looking for too many people, I am a reserved type

spesso compro vecchie case | in un villaggio abbandonato – I often buy houses in abandoned hamlets

con l’estate si viene sai | a visitare il German Paradise – In the Summer we come you know, to visit the German Paradise

con la bici a ruote grosse | a me piace pedalare – I like to cycle with my bike with big wheels

ma se non sto molto attento | rischio poi di rotolare – but if I am not careful I might by rolling down

giù da un poggio o da un crinale | tutti posti molto ganzi – down from a hill or a ridge, all very cool places

dove spesso va il turista | alternando cene e pranzi – where tourists often go, between dinners and lunches

non pensando ad operai | contadini e muratori – not considering workers, farmers and builders

che mentre lui pedala | sono presi dai lavori – who, while he is pedaling are busy on their jobs

I lavori da cui lui | ha preso una vacanza – the jobs from which he took a break

e mentre sta in Toscana | vede il cielo in una stanza – and while he is in Tuscany, he sees “the sky in his room”**

con l’estate si viene sai | a visitare il German Paradise

Ho dipinto questo quadro | ma non devo criticare – I painted this picture , but I don’t mean to criticize

il grande indotto commerciale | lo sviluppo immobiliare – the great business revenue, the real estate development

garantito dal turista | quando vien dal settentrione – guaranteed by the tourist when he comes from the North

con i grandi portafogli | che ci lascia la pensione – with his big wallets he leaves his retirement pension here

derivata dai mestieri | degli stati protestanti – deriving from jobs in the protestant states

mentre noi si sta col Papa | la Madonna e tutti i santi – while we are here with the Pope, Mary and all the saints

a curare tutto l’anno | questo caro territorio – taking care all year long of our dear territory

che lui visita col sole | ma d’inverno è un po’ un mortorio – which he visits when it’s sunny, while in the winter it’s not very lively

(continua…) – (to be continued)

** Il cielo in una stanza is a citation from a famous Sixties love song (https://www.pibinko.org/cielo-in-una-stanza/):

BuioMetria Partecipativa 2026: Who goes first?

Compositions

With January’s waning moon here we go with the next BuioMetria Partecipativa (participatory night sky monitoring), campaign, turning 18 on June 9.

With the coming of age of our project we will be conducting, together with those who want to join, measurements of night sky quality with the “buiometro” (dark-sky meter), and other observations to better understand how light pollution works, how it can be reduced (without worsening our lifestyle), and how to use light in a more aware way.

The activities for this year are part of the course on “Nightscapes and dayscapes (link in Italian) by uni*rural*. This is the non-formal education program by the pibinko.org network, in collaboration with various partners. Active participants will be receiving educational credits which in some cases may be “spent” with your education institutions.

To start building our new team in the past months we have already contacted some wannabee “buiometristas”, especially in the southwestern quadrant of Tuscany (Pisa, Leghron, Grosseto). Then as you know, with the pibinko.org network we are open to contacts from any land, so please contact segreteria@unirural.org or +393317539228 if you are interested.

For all the BMP “files”: https://www.pibinko.org/buiometria-partecipativa-2/ …but please see below for an educated summary.

A little bit of history

In February 2008, over a phone call between two environmental engineers about options for an amateur astronomer holiday in Southern Tuscany with a territorial marketing plan based on lesser-know aspects of the same region, the BuioMetria Partecipativa (or BMP) project was conceived.

At the time the project was the second globally (and the first in the western hemisphere) to propose lending to citizens sensors to conduct night sky quality measurements. Without initial external funding (and, in fact, never with a lot of external funding), the project initially had a significant media impact in Italy (RAI Radio 2, TG2 Costume e Società, Mickey Mouse magazine with a “Speciale Cacciatori di Buio” ecc.) and started to develop collaborations with numerous sectors of society (see this summary from 2017)

In the winter of 2010-2011 BMP promoted the creation of the first national coordination for the collection of light pollution data from fixed monitoring stations. This happened in collaboration with Veneto Stellato, Università di Roma Tre and various amateur astronomer associations. Namely, the BMP team, after launching the idea, took care of writing the code to handl the data harvesting from stations which were using different communications protocols, the aggregation of all monitoring data in a web database, and an online query/reporting interface. The system was active between 2011 and 2019 and in its peak phase was providing data from ten stations from different Italian regions.

The European dimension

Between 2013 and 2016 BMP also had a liaison role between Italian actors and European research on light pollution issues. Andrea Giacomelli was appointed as the primary point of contact for Italy in the “Loss of the Night” project in the COST research exchange program. In the same period formal collaborations were started with the University of Pisa and the National Research Council’s Institute of Biometeorology (now Bioeconomy) in Florence. Between 2016 and 2018 BMP also had collaborations with the Stars4all HORIZON project.

Awards and recognitions, in Italy and abroad

The first award recived by the BMP project was in 2009. This was for a national contest called “La Seconda Luna”, and BMP came in fourth out of 120 applicants, curiously with a prize for a category which did not exist in the contest rules. In 2015 the project was invitated for a presentation at the Eye on Earth conference in Abu Dhabi (where it turned out to be the only Italian project out of over 600 participants). In 2019 Andrea Giacomelli was awarded the title of “dark sky defender” by the International Dark Sky Association, for the dissemination and awareness work done in the previous ten years.

Apart from “serious” recognitions, BMP also had an impact which we may define “emotional”. For example, in 2020 a book of short stories about darkness “Il Buio” (Erasmo Libri) had a story inspired by the BMP project (and the story actually won a literature award).

BMP, regulations, and policy

BMP in time also had an active role in governance support (maybe this is not by accident, since one of the two founding engineers has also been part of the drafting team for a European Directive). In 2012 BMP sent eight comments to the revision of the Piano Ambientale ed Energetico della Regione Toscana (the Tuscan master plan on environment and energy). Five of these observations, including the one which led to declaring the night sky as a tourism resource, were accepted. Furthermore, the BMP experts have periodically been invited to provide advice on lighting and energy efficiency issues on various administration levels.

In 2018-19, following the “Capraia Night Sky” symposium (co-organizzato with UNIPI and CNR IBIMET), BMP proposed once again the idea of a coordinating body across various subjects involved in outreach, administration, and research. This did not go forward, but it would not be complicated to reboot the process.

Since 2020

The 2020 pandemic gave a severe blow to participatory activities: it would have been very difficult to run a project involving hand-to-hand instrument logistics. However, the core of the BMP engine was adapted to operate in strict lockdown mode, with the Participatory Lithology project, which also led Andrea Giacomelli to be invited to be an alumnus of the Robert Bosch Foundation.

In the past five years the BMP project has essentially operated as an “on-call” project, however our effort in weaving connections across subjects who ofter operate independently (but live, in any case, under the same sky) has not stopped. In particular, we have consolidated the use of music, in addition to photography, as a means to facilitate the dialogue among different parties, and always using maps as a minimum common denominator for analysis and communication. We also got to observe the Milky Way by day, as shown in the video below!

Educational credits

Over all this time, BMP also had a practical role in the educational field. We have covered primary, secondary, and high schools, universities (including lectures and tutoring for ERASMUS students), and professional charter organizations (architects, engineers, environmental guides). To learn more on how to acquire educational credit with the BMP project: segreteria@unirural.org or +393317539228

Countries from which pibinko.org Network stories have been followed in 2025

Compositions

After publishing our “year in review” article (see link), in preparation for our upcoming initiatives we are giving you a few more statistics on our web presence. Here you can see as a list (or in the header image as a map) an overview of the countries from which somebody have seen at least once of our blog posts over the past twelve months, in alphabetical order:

Afghanistan,Albania,Algeria,Andorra,Argentina,Australia,Austria,Bangladesh,Barbados,Belgium,Belize,Bolivia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Brazil,Bulgaria,Canada,China,Colombia,Croatia,Cyprus,Czechia,Denmark,
Egypt,Estonia,Finland,France,Georgia,Germany,Ghana,Greece,Guatemala,Hong Kong,
Hungary,Iceland,India,Indonesia,Iran,Ireland,Israel,Italy,Ivory Coast,Japan,Jordan,
Kenya,Kosovo,Liechtenstein,Lithuania,Luxembourg,Madagascar,Malaysia,Malta,Mexico,Moldova,Montenegro,Morocco,Nepal,New Zealand,Nigeria,North Macedonia,Norway,Pakistan,
Philippines,Poland,Portugal,Puerto Rico,Qatar,Romania,Russia,Saudi Arabia,Senegal,
Serbia,Singapore,Slovakia,Slovenia,South Africa,South Korea,South Sudan,Spain,Sweden,Switzerland,Taiwan,Thailand,The Netherlands,Tunisia,Turkey,Uganda,
Ukraine,United Arab Emirates,United Kingdom,United States,Vietnam

If we extend the analysis to all of our logs (which start from 2019, even though the web site is on since 2006), to date in the world there are only a dozen countries from which our stories have not been seen.

Reducing New English Translations for Material in the pibinko.org Network (and related projects)

Compositions

Since the very first online moments of the pibinko.org network (the first web page written by pibinko is dated 1994, and the first site un pibinko activities was launched in 2006) we have proudly maintained our contents at leat in Italian and English (please note that on our sites we have around 6000 articles.

Summing these contents with those on jugbandcm.it (since 2019) and the very recent unirural.org and mappare.org, there is quite a bit of stuff: in practice around one million words** (to which you should add images, audio recordings, video, etc.). All of this material is produced without generative AI, and sometimes with interesting localization and transcreation exercises (e.g. https://www.pibinko.org/sharing-the-perception-of-credibility-in-participatory-investigation/ versus https://www.pibinko.org/condividere-la-percezione-della-credibilita-nelle-indagini-partecipative/, or the “Rosetta Stone” transcript for the concert/interview by the Jug Band Colline Metallifere on Radio Deejay Fox in 2021: https://www.pibinko.org/the-rosetta-stone-style-transcript-of-the-live-motel-show-dec-17-2021/).

For our first tour in Germany with the JBCM we actually started a line of articles in German, with Wolfgang Scheibe providing the translations in addition to hand-made prints and one-string basslines. After the months we looked each other in the eye and said “Really?“.

Translating has never been a technical issue (pibinko also works as a translator and reviewer for international companies). However, with the launch of the uni*rural* (and after publishing a couple of months ago an announcement for translators) we start with the following line, considering the significant amount of material we expect to write:

  1. We will be stopping the creation of the English versions of our articles (unless this is required by a customer or has a specific value for the network).
  2. If you have issues reading our material in Italian, feel free to try your favourite translator (just reminding that, with the online ones there is a history of mistakes made on pibinko text))…
  3. If, at any moment, your favourite translator will not suffice, we are available to provide clarifications and further information.

Otherwise, we will end up spending more time translating than doing the things we write about! Thank you for your understanding, and good luck with the improvement of your Italian on the pibinko.org sites! We will be re-assessing the case at the end of May 2026.

To support pibinko.org activities: https://www.pibinko.org/sostieni

micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228

sigla:

(**) Per la precisione bisogna escludere testi di canzoni di cui abbiamo curato la traduzione et similia, che comunque sono una quota trascurabile del totale

Our AI generated a professional podcast of your paper…

Compositions

I am receiving around one e-mail per month, at least, with this subject. So the question is once more raised…why, as a professional and a researcher should I be interested to “preemptivee generation” of a random article from my scientific literature body of work?

In addition to not wanting this, and getting mildly irritated (but this is my fault), I also need to spend unwarranted time and energy to interrupt this sterile flow of information. Why? Because in order to do this I need to log in in my profile on this prestigious platform for the promotion of academic content, and toggle off an option which I never toggled on in the first place. In the meantime, people are suffering, and the ice caps are melting (o vice versa, you choose the order).

If you know of a valid reason for which, in a professional space, the preemptive generation of podcasts based on your original content makes sense, please let me know at micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228. I will be glad to buy you a drink the next time we meet.

p.s. clearly – is it worth to unsubscribe from the prestigious platform and then risk being told by fellow scientist “hey, are you not on ABCDEFGXXXX? come oooon” (choose your favourite accent)

Lastovo 2013 – How did it go?

Compositions, Photos

In 2013 I was invited, as the Italian point of contact in the European “Loss of the Night” research network (LoNNe) with BuioMetria Partecipativa, to the first night sky monitoring campaign for this project. This was in the island of Lastovo, Croatia.

This experience spawned the proposal to repeat the monitoring campaign the the Farma Valley, Southern Tuscany (with activities in Torniella, Belagaio, and Sesto Fiorentino) in 2015 (see https://www.pibinko.org/official-report-on-the-lonne-intercomparison-campaign-in-tuscany/)

For more information and anecdotes on this mission: micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228.

The renovation of the Fonte delle Tanelle in Tatti, Southern Tuscany, has been completed

ASBUC, Compositions

The renovation of the ancient Fonte delle Tanelle in Tatti, Southern Tuscany, and of the adjacent washhouse, has been completed. The works have been supported by the Amministrazione Separata Beni Usi Civici (ASBUC) di Tatti, in the context of the activity it manages to benefit the local population.

If you are not from Tatti: in the map below you may see thee location of the fountain, together with a suggestion by ASBUC for a light hike (3.7 km) around the village, with the fountain as a mid-point for a stop and a snack along the way.

Photo credits: ASBUC Tatti

A Survey of Street Names dedicated to non-classical musicians

Compositions, Interactive Maps, Maps

The Italian statistics institute (ISTAT) as of August 2025 provides a list of streets, avenues, squares which have been named in time. There are a little over 1.2 million names. The top street names as “Roma”, “Giuseppe Garibaldi” (the national hero for the unification of the country in the 19th century), “Dante Alighieri” (the author of the Divine Comedy) etc….but there are a lot of lesser known street names which turn out to be curious.

As an example, we started looking for streets and squares dedicated to singers/songwriters. In the map below you can see the ones for Lucio Battisti (the green circles), Rino Gaetano (the yellow diamond), Luigi Tenco (the blue triangle). The size of the symbol is related to the size of the street or square, and clicking on a symbol will show the name of the municipality where it is located*.

If you live in Italy, you know of a street or a square dedicated to a singer/songwriter, and you would like to add to the map the distribution of that name, please write to micalosapevo@pibinko.org. Also, if you know of streets or squares named after singers, songwriters, and musicians in other countries around the world, please let us know! NOTE: this is not a hit parade!

For more maps in the pibinko.org network since 1994: https://www.pibinko.org/maps/

If you like the mapping initiatives by pibinko, you can support them (please contact micalosapevo@pibinko.org or +393317539228 for more information on how to do this).

  • Data source: Stradario ISTAT 4-8-2025
  • Photos: Wikipedia
  • Base map: OpenStreetMap

[1] Please note tha the locations used are the centroids of the municipal territory, since a given street or square may not just be located in the

No AI was involved in the creation of this article

The JBCM Jubel Tour (June 19-29, 2025). A photo-summary

Compositions, ,

The Jug Band Colline Metallifere, the inter-generational and international collective created in 2018 in Southern Tuscany to convey music and territorial issues has just returned from its fourth tour in Germany.

Thanks again to Huober Brezel, Thomas, Gerhard S., Gerhard G., Tatti Stay & See, Paul, Erika, Samuel, Luca & Cristina, Crissi, Florian and several other folks who helped to make this a successful mission. Ten events in ten days between Munich, Stuttgart, and its surroundings. Some friends from past years, as well as new situations. All of which very interesting and animated.

With Simone Sandrucci’s mobile studio we recorded various sets and in the coming weeks we will be selecting some material. To see all of the Jubel Tour articles in this blog: https://www.pibinko.org/en/?s=jubel+tour. Should you happen to have photos or videos of the events and you would like to share them, please write us (contacts below).

For more information and booking: http://www.jugbandcm.it, jugbandcm@pibinko.org or +393317539228

Photo credits: all photos are by Jug Band Colline Metallifere, except those by Marden Smith (Simone Sandrucci on the couch, the band on the Midnight Bazar stage, second last row , Jack O’Malley on drums, and Dario Canal + Simone Sandrucci at Vits Café…line 6), Gerhard Geerling (the band after the Tatti Stay and See concert, last row), Crissi Mosselman (the band in the market square in Ludwigsburg).