The Beautiful Dancers at the Gala for Alessia

More on the Gala for Alessia.  

The brilliant young dancer and choreographer, Cristiano Principato, whose photo appears in the top left hand corner, has persuaded 11 of his chums to come to Trecate in North West Italy to dance in a gala to raise funds for the Casa Alessia to carry out reconstruction work in Burundi (see Principato's Project 7 April 2016).

Casa Alessia is a charity established in memory of a remarkable young student called Alessia Mairati who had intended to work for those less fortunate than herself. Alas, she died in an air crash before she could do any of that work but her father set up the charity to do some of the work that she would have carried out. It is a very sad but also very beautiful story (see Some More Information on Alessia 30 April 2016).

Every year a fund raising concert takes place in Novara in which Cristiano had always hoped to participate. He could not do so while he was at ballet school but he can now. He has brought all those excellent young dancers from the Dutch National Ballet, La Scala ballet, the Vienna State Ballet and Jas Arts Ballet to the Silvio Pellico Theatre in Trecate for a splendid show.

The programme will begin with Tempo which Cristiano has choreographed for himself and will include extracts from Swan Lake, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty and The Pharaoh's Daughter which we don't see very often in England. There will be another work from Cristiano called Paladio which he has created for the Dutch National Ballet and will end with Ernst Meisner's beautiful short work Embers which is one of the best I have ever seen.

Where us Trecate? I hear you say. It is about 15 miles south of Milan's Malpensa airport which is well served with flights from all major British airports as well as Budapest (if Mel or Ryosuke are interested), Oslo and Stuttgart. Trecate is just outside Novara on the railway line and near the motorway between Turin and Milan. Although it is very close to the airport it is rather awkward to reach by public transport which is why Holiday Taxis, easyJet's partners in Milan, had the cheek to quote me an exorbitant £120 for the 30 mile round trip. Don't pay it folks! The chaps in Burundi need your money rather more. Put at least some of that dosh in the collection when Cristiano passes round the hat at the end of the show. There is a bus from Malpensa airport to Novara which stops at Novara railway station from where there are frequent trains to Trecate (see How to get to the Gala for Alessia 4 May 2016).

By bringing the ballet to Trecate Cristiano will give his dad an opportunity to see him dance. Mr Principato senior has been unable to travel long distances for medical reasons. He has only read about his son's triumphs in Amsterdam, London and other places up to now. On 28 June he will see not only his son but some other fine dancers who like Cristiano will be big box office in a few years time.

The Silvio Pellico Theatre is at 24 Piazza Cattaneo in Trecate and the Macri restaurant is at number 20 where I shall be in the chair from 19:00.

How to get to the Gala for Alessia

The Gala for Alessia which I have mentioned in Principato's Project 7 April 2016, Update on the Trecate Gala 28 April 2016 and Some More Information on Alessia 30 April 2016 as well as on BalletCo Forum and in the London Ballet Circle newsletter takes place at the Silvio Pellico Theatre at 24 Piazza Cattaneo, Trecate, 28069. Trecate is about 5 miles east of Novara, 28 miles West of Milan and 15 miles due South of Milan's Malpensa Airport.

It is a very, very, very long time since I studied Italian and like all Brits I am rubbish at modern languages so please don't quote me but I seem to remember that "mal" meant "evil" and "pensa" meant "thoughts". When I tell you that Holiday Taxis, easyJet's transfer company, quoted me £120 to drive the 15 miles from Malpensa to Trecate which is far more than easyJet charged for the flight from Manchester to Milan you can imagine all the unladylike expressions that passed through my mind. Clearly, Trecate is the Lombard cabbies' equivalent of "saarf ovva rivva darlin'" ("South of the River Madam"). I would much rather spend that kind of moulah on the folks in Burundi.

Happily there is a bus between Malpensa and Novarra which is operated by the bus company STN. It stops at Novara station as you can see from the timetable and there are plenty of trains between Novara and Trecate. Google maps and most of the guidebooks advise taking a train from Malpensa to the centre of Milan and then another out to Trecate but that would be like going from Loughton to Dartford by way of Ealing.

There do not appear to be many hotels in Trecate. Booking.com had only one property on its books yesterday and I nabbed it. But there are quite a few decent looking establishments in Novara and loads in Milan.  There is however an eatery called the Macri almost next door to the theatre and I will be there from 7 pm if anyone wants to meet me.

Milan is the same size as Manchester and reminds me very much of my city. There is the same kind of buzz about the place. However, although we have lots to offer tourists with the Bridgewater Hall, The Hallé and our unique collection of the Manchester Impressionists in the City Gallery they have La Scala with its magnificent museum, the Brera, The Last Supper and a magnificent Gothic cathedral on a classical base.  Also, and, I am sorry to have to admit this, but the Victor Emanuel Galleries beat the Arndale Centre into a cocked hat.

There are cheap flights to Malpensa from London and Manchester with and even cheaper ones with Ryanair to Bergamo.  There are also some good deals from Budapest with Wizzair if Ryosuke and Mel want to see a really good show with a really good crowd for a really good cause.