Francesca Maresca

Francesca Maresca singing with The Mass Que Tango Project, Piazza Sant'Agata sui Due Golfi

We bought tickets for the Sunday excursion to Pompeii and Herculaneum. We were given this in-ear audio receiver to hear what our guide had to say. That chap knew his stuff down to the finest detail and was well worth listening too. It was also extremely handy for detecting where my tour party had gone too. Persistent interference meant they were long gone. Diminishing interference meant you were zeroing in on them. See, once we had entered a room let's say, he'd deliver his explanation of this that and the other, and then move on. But I'd stay put so as to (pretend to) make glossy, guide book quality images of the place, unencumbered by bods walking in and out of your frame. Think about it, I'm in the private living quarters of some major Roman dude who came to a sudden and sticky end two thousand years ago, and I've got it all to myself until the next bunch of tourists hustle me out.

I had discovered that evening there was to be a show in Sant'Agata village from an outfit called 'Mass que Tango'. Electric piano, accordion, upright bass, and drums. Just right for a piece of Piazzolla. The stage was constructed slap bang next to the church front entrance, on the top level step. I watched the band rehearse/jam from a left hand side front seat as the sound and light crew tinkered. Seats to the right were reserved for the hoity-toity.

The show opened around 9:30 and after a couple of instrumentals, this lady took the stage.

[A change from the blip taken earlier in the day at Pompeii]