Festival Italiano - Sunday 25th October MMXVI
The Romans helped celebrate the famous Festival Italiano of Newmarket which is hosted by the Auckland Dante Alighieri Italian Society. Despite the rain, the festival was a great success! The Legio VI Ferrata marched around Newmarket through the train station and main shopping district into the Rialto Centre (named for the riverbank of Venice). The crowds were fantastic and everybody had a grand time sampling Italian food, drink and culture. You can keep up to date with the latest Italian news on the Festival Italiano facebook page.
The Romans were hosted by Fiona Cable at her famous Railway Street Studio art gallery, where they were called on to assist artist Prue MacDougall with her printmaking demonstration. As Maximus once said: "The paint - sometimes it makes the roller stick!" But nothing that the pointy end of a gladius couldn't fix. The Romans are known for admiring great artworks from all around the world, and taking them home. You can keep up with upcoming events and chat on Railway Studio's facebook page.
The Festival Italiano's many events included some stunning classical music performances, where they kindly hosted the Romans as invited guests. These included "Il Raccolto", a miscellany of music from the Italian Baroque, featuring concertos for recorder and cello by Vivaldi, in addition to works by Tromboncino, Biagio Marini and others. Turns out to be a small world, because Jason already knew Flavio Villani, the leader of the Villani Piano Quartet that played music by Brahms and Mahler at St Lukes cathedral. We were hosted by All Black legend Sir John Kirwin, the President of the Auckland Italian Society.
