Italy -- Upcoming Lakota Event in Florence

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I'm back from 3 very busy months in the United States -- on a fellowship, visiting family, giving a lecture tour -- and will be able to post more... To start off, here's information about Wolakota, a nine-day event and exposition on Lakota Sioux culture to be held in Florence April 11-20.

With sponsorship from the regional authorities in Florence, Wolakota will feature lectures, films and round-table discussions, with a main event on April 16.

Italy -- Line Dancing and Imaginary Wild West near Rome

Just in time for my lectures in LA next week, I've found out about some Line Dance and imaginary wild westers in Italy. These include Etna Country Style and Tweety Country in Sicily, which have ample youtube sites with lots of videos.

There's also "Wild Country Roma" --  line dance and imaginary wild westerners based near Rome.... the line dance movement in particular is spreading now to "il bel paese", it seems.....

Will have to check the out when I get back from the Real American west.

Oh -- and I found out about  Wild Country Roma  from a country music Facebook friend in France.... and here they are in a Line Dance competition in Spain....

Italy -- Italian country-western: George McAnthony, the Cowboy of the Alps

George McAnthony, the "Cowboy of the Alps," was, if I recall correctly, the first European I met who was involved in the country scene. I first saw him perform in, I believe, 2002 -- at a rural inn in central Italy that was sponsoring a “Country Festa” at which guests sported paper Indian headdresses and called each other “pardner.”


His 14th album, "Dust off My Boots" was just released; recorded in Nashville.




McAnthony was born Georg Spitaler in 1966 near Bolzano/Bozen in the Dolomite Mountains of the mainly German-speaking South Tyrol (Alto Adige) region. He grew up an avid fan of the European-made western movies based on the popular “Winnetou” novels of the 19th century German author Karl May.

As a little boy, he was photographed dressed up as a Native American. He wore a fringed leather costume and feathered headdress, had “warpaint” on his face, and was beating a drum slung around his neck.

When Georg was a teenager he fell in love with American country-western music and began roaring around his village on a motorcyle, blasting country music from its loudspeakers and wearing a cowboy hat and boots.

More than 20 years ago, after working as a carpenter and spending a couple years as a volunteer aid worker in Ethiopia, Georg reinvented himself as George McAnthony and went on the road fulltime as a country-western singer. He chose McAnthony as his stage name in honor of his late father, Anton. “I wanted a name that sounded American,” he told me, “and this made sense.”

McAnthony tours Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland as a "country one man band," complete with black Stetson, leather fringes, painted stage backdrop of Monument Valley and a souvenir stall selling cheap turquoise jewelry, “George McAnthony” bolo ties, cowboy hats and his own CDs. He plays street fairs, horse shows, beer festivals, and outdoor summer fêtes in medieval village piazzas.

McAnthony writes much of his own material, in English, and his songs stress what he describes as socially engaged, “positive images” – racial harmony, animal rights, world peace and safeguarding the environment. “I live the country way of life, and I love country music, and this is the way I do it,” he sings, with a distinct non-native accent, in his song “Country Way of Life.” He goes on, “You don’t have to kill the Indians, or the people of Africa...”

Italy -- OWSS convention video

 By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I shot this little video at the Cowboy Action Shooting match during the Old West Shooting Society convention October 10-11 at Boario Terme, Italy. The theme of the match was "Smoke in the Rocky Mountains."

Italy -- Old West Shooting Society (OWSS) Convention

OWSS competition, Boario Terme, Oct. 09. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I travelled to northern Italy last weekend -- to the spa town of Boario Terme -- for the annual convention of the Old West Shooting Society, the Italian branch of the American SASS -- Single Action Shooting Society. I went to the Convention last year -- see my blog post about the experience -- and have since become a member -- my OWSS/SASS name is "Miz Flora," in honor of my Texas-born grandmother.

I arrived at the Hotel Castellino just in time to change into my "wild west" duds -- not a very elaborate costume, compared to some: mainly a slightly old fashioned fitted black linen jacket with leather buttons, over a long, off-white linen skirt, with a lace hairband, cameos, and cowboy boots.

There was an awards ceremony, presenting prizes for the Cowboy Action Shooting competitions throughout the past year, and then a four-hour dinner with more courses than I can remember to count.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Part of the evening was devoted to remembering the former president of the OWSS, who died suddenly this year when at a SASS international gathering in the US.

Dopo cena... Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

At dinner, I sat next to Federico Polidori (AKA Frederick Holstermaker) -- an artisan in leather, based in Rome, who produces beautifully tooled holsters, bags, saddles and other goods.  I had known him in Rome in the 1980s, and had encountered him for the first time since then at the OWSS convention last year.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

On Sunday morning, as last year, there was a Cowboy Action Shooting competition -- at a gorgeous firing range set high up a mountain slope above Boario. I could only stay briefly, as I had a long drive home -- and also, I had forgotten to bring earplugs. Those guns are loud!

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

Italy -- and "Dallas"

The iconic TV soap Dallas, with its Southfork Ranch, was a big influence in how many Europeans viewed the West -- and it, of course was a figment of the Imagination. Not long ago Larry Hagman, one of the stars of the show, was guest of honor at the big Mirande country music festival in France.

This blog post -- Ferragosto -- Southfork Style -- recalls how some people in Italy thought it all was real....

When I would travel to Italy in the 1980’s and 1990’s, when the Italian winemakers found out I lived in Dallas, their mom or aunt would always ask me how Sue Ellen was or if I knew J.R. So real was that show to them, especially in Sicily and Calabria, that I didn’t have the heart to tell them that I never met them. But I told the aunts and the moms that the Ewings were doing just fine. “Well, you tell J.R. to treat Sue Ellen better,” one would say, or another would comment, “Sue Ellen, she needs to drink less whiskey and more wine, we worry about her.” I kid you not.

Read Full Post on the On the Wine Trail in Italy blog

Bluegrass -- EWOB report

The European World of Bluegrass has come and gone (last weekend) and, as I reported earlier, I was unable to attend because of other commitments...

But -- you can see pictures and a report at the EWOB web site and also at the EBMA blog.

Organizers say there was perfect weather and record attendance this year.

Winners of the band competition and fan vote were:

#1 European Bluegrass Band 2009:
1. Downtown Ramblers, Sweden (www.downtownramblers.com)
2. G-Runs ‘n Roses, Czech Republic (www.g-runs.com)
3. Kreni, Czech Republic (www.sweb.cz/bgkreni)

Audience Popularity Award 2009
1. Blackjack, CZ (www.blackjackband.cz)
2. Bluegrass Stuff, Italy (www.bluegrass.it)
3. Sunny Side, Czech Republic (www.sunnyside.cz)

I've heard most of these bands perform at other festivals and have interviewed some of their musicians. As usual, the Czech bands demonstrated -- with their popularity, prowess (and sheer number, I guess) -- how deeply rooted bluegrass is in CZ.

Here's a picture of Sunny Side in action -- at the Caslav Banjo Jamboree a couple years ago:

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber

"Wild West: Simulating a True Style" Emblematic Slogan

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2009

I found this toy set for sale in the bar in Collelungo, a small village in Umbria, Italy (which has the best chocolate ice cream in the immediate area). The slogan speaks for itself. And it sums up so much.

Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber, 2009

Italian Cowboys

I had hoped to be able to report today on the Rodeo held this weekend at the Cowboyland-Cowboys' Guest Ranch, a Wild West theme park in northern Italy, outside the town of Voghera.



Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to the weekend extravaganza due to other commitments (and also the fact that I did not feel like driving for four hours in bad weather).

I am eager to visit the Ranch, though, and am hoping to set up a visit in advance so that I meet with the management and get a feel for the place -- I have already spent time at Wild West theme parks in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. They all are very similar -- but quite different at the same time. And in Italy, I wonder, will there be any mention at all of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand -- the western heroes created by the German writer Karl May that are universally known in Germany and other central European countries?

There are several other Rodeos scheduled for this summer and fall at Cowboyland, plus other events.

For Italian readers, here's what the park's homepage has to say:

Welcome to Cowboyland, l’unico parco a tema western in Italia. Siete pronti per scoprire il vecchio selvaggio west ?
Cowboyland è un luogo ideale per la famiglia dove trascorrere un intero giorno tra le divertenti attività dedicate soprattutto ai più piccoli.

Cowboys e Indiani saranno in vostra compagnia per una serena gita all’aria aperta a contatto con la natura.Una straordinaria occasione per conoscere da vicino anche molti animali che popolano le praterie e i ranch degli Stati Uniti d’America.

Il parco si sviluppa su un’area di 30.000 mq., ma orientarsi non è mai un problema. Strutturato in modo semplice per agevolare i piccoli ospiti, comprende una sola strada principale di collegamento fra tutte le attrazioni e costruzioni realizzate con materiali naturali. Numerose le zone picnic dove poter consumare uno spuntino o più semplicemente riposarsi all’ombra.
“Cowboyland” ha studiato e sviluppato una serie di attrazioni nel più caratteristico “stile western” pensando al divertimento dei bambini senza, ovviamente, trascurare tutta la sicurezza necessaria.

Molti dei bambini che ospitiamo non hanno mai visto una mucca, un asinello o un tacchino ! A “Cowboyland” potranno finalmente vedere da vicino moltissimi animali, comprese diverse specie che vivono oltre oceano e contemporaneamente imparare come e dove vivono. Inoltre, assistiti dallo staff e con l’aiuto di una serie di cartelli descrittivi, scopriranno vita e tradizioni degli indiani ed i cowboys unitamente alle leggende del vecchio, selvaggio west.

Tutti in sella…inizia l’avventura !

OWSS in Trevi -- Gunfight at Fort Alamo

OWSS match, Trevi. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber

I spent much of the weekend at a shooting match of the Old West Shooting Society, the Italian branch of the U.S. Single Action Shooting Society (SASS), which I joined last month. (See my post about it.)

This time, the match was held at the shooting range in Trevi, a gorgeous hilltown in Umbria between Assisi and Spoleto. It's an olive-oil zone, and the town sits proudly on a steep slope covered with thousands and thousands of olive trees -- in my area of Umbria most people I know, including myself, finished our harvest last month, but many trees are still loaded around Trevi, and harvesters were out working. This was, in fact, the first good weather for days...

Trevi, amid olives. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber

The Trevi shooting range dates from 1883; it's an indoor facility, located above Trevi in a grove of trees near the town cemetery -- there's lots of green-painted wood, and you stand in a protected area to shoot at targets that are set up in the open.

The weekend match was based on the Cowboy Action Shooting "scenario" called Gunfight at Fort Alamo. Participants, all dressed in cowboy or Old West attire, use a pump-action rifle, two revolvers and a shotgun -- all replicas of 19th century Wild West weapons -- to shoot, in specified sequence, at three sets of targets, set up at various distances. The object is to hit all the targets, in the proper sequence, with the correct weapon, in the shortest time. So it's accuracy plus speed. The sequence is meant to recall (or invent) a situation that supposedly took place during the defense of the Alamo. (To see the full instructions, in Italian, click HERE.)

Trevi, OWSS match. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber

I had been told that the event took place both Saturday and Sunday, so I drove over to Trevi (about 65 km from my house) on Saturday morning, but I only found a couple people there, including Stefano (AKA Marshal Steven Gardiner, his OWSS nickname.)

There were too few people to compete, but again I was able to get a little lesson in shooting -- this time I hit the target with (I think) all my shots, from both the revolver and the rifle.


Today (Sunday) I returned for the match proper -- the other competitors had arrived Saturday afternoon and evening. There were, I guess, 12 or 15 competitors, some of whom I had met last month at the OWSS convention. People had come from as far away as Treviso, in the Veneto region -- 500 km. Except for the wife of one of the contestants, I was the only woman there.


It was fun to watch and to shmooze with some of the guys, but I didn't take part in the match -- I'm not yet at ease enough with the weapons. But I do intend to compete when I feel a bit more confident. Particularly as the level of skill among the contestants was quite varied -- there were a couple of really good, smooth marksmen, but a couple of the others would never have come out of a High Noon shoot-out alive...

Tex Willer -- Italian Cartoon Cowboy Turns 60

This year's "Romics" Festival of Cartoons and Animation , held in Rome Oct. 2-5, is featuring celebrations to mark the 60th "birthday" of Italy's longest-lived cartoon/comic book hero -- the dashing Wild West ranger Tex Willer.

Back in March, I linked to an exhibit at the Comics Museum in Lucca ("...When the West Arrived in Italy") that celebrated Tex but also centered on Italy's Wild West cartoon heroes in general.

The first comic featuring Tex Willer appeared Sept. 30, 1948 -- and he is still going strong. A Tex Willer comic book is published each month by Sergio Bonelli Editore and appears in various languages.

Tex's 60th birthday is being marked by Issue 575, called "Sul Sentiero Dei Ricordi", or "On the Trail of Memories."



Tex was created by the Italian comic book writer Gianluigi Bonelli (father of the current publisher) almost a generation before the “spaghetti westerns” were produced, at a time when the mythology of the Old West in Italy was still based largely on Hollywood movies. Tex Willer was the first Italian western hero to incorporate the point of view of Native Americans. His philosophy was (and remains) simple: to fight against all kinds of injustice and defend the rights of the Navajos and of all oppressed individuals. In addition, the Tex Willer stories blend classical Western themes with subplots verging on horror and the fantastic (alien space ships in Arizona, voodoo sects, mad scientists and above all Tex’s arch enemy, the diabolical Mefisto).

Tex’s "maverick" attitudes opened up a new and broader horizon for the post-war reader's imagination and enabled the comic, its characters and its self-contained universe to achieve a pop cult status that endures to this day.

In an interview some years ago, Bonelli (who died in 2001) discussed the unique traits of his hero: “In my Tex there's a strong reaction against injustice, ill-treatment, abuse of power. And when the so-called ‘bullies’ are whites moving further and further towards the west, then you do also find a reaction against genocide and against racist intolerance. However, I have always considered the struggle against discrimination within the wider context of rebellion against any form of oppression. On the other hand if you consider the atmosphere of the period in which Tex was born, then my choice has to be seen as a reaction against the prevailing conformism of that time. But why was I that way whereas other people weren't? Well, even at that time I used to read a lot of books about the Native Americans and I'd learned to respect those indomitable peoples.” (Click HERE to see the full interview.)

Cowboyland -- Italian Wild West Theme Park

OK -- Here's the link to Cowboyland, billed as the only wild west theme park in Italy. I can't wait to go, and I'll try to do so soon, if possible. It seems to be open every weekend in October.

It is located outside Voghera, and seems to be associated with the Cowboy Guest Ranch, also near Voghera, which hosts a variety of activities -- including a big rodeos -- the next in Oct. 12-13. The western scene in Italy is centered on horses and western riding. Country music (and trucks....) play only a marginal role.

There is (or was) a magazine called WesternSide that chronicled the scene (the web site is somewhat out of date) and I've attended several editions of "western games" at the ranchlike Tenuta Santa Barbara near Lake Bracciano near Rome, which included rodeo-style riding competitions as well as a variety of exhibitions, stands, etc. It's not clear from the web site if these are still going on.....

New or Newish Italian Wild West Themepark

Saw a big advertisement for a new wild west theme park in Italy. Or at least I think it's new. I may have heard about it earlier this year. It seems to be open into the fall, on weekends, so I'll try to get there -- the northern city of Voghera -- and report. Meanwhile we can all visit the website -- www.cowboys.it (am having trouble posting the link....).