Activities and News
Visone in Jazz is an annual music festival, created to celebrate and promote the legacy of the well-established Jazz Club Visone, known nationwide and active in the village of Visone since the 1970s.
The Jazz Club Visone achieved an unexpected level of success in the north-western Italian music scene of those years, so much so that it was even mentioned in La grande enciclopedia del Jazz, published in 1982 by Adriano Mazzoletti. It involved great artists of national renown, including Paolo Conte, Massimo Urbani, Nicola Arigliano and Tullio De Piscopo, and international stars such as Bob Wilber, Barney Kessel, Joe Newman, Ralph Sutton, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Lee Konitz, Bud Freeman, Kenny Drew, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Chet Baker.
The Municipality of Visone and the Ecomuseum are committed to sustaining this special tradition and to promoting the intangible heritage of which the veteran members of the Jazz Club are still witnesses and spokespeople.
The artistic direction of recent editions is entrusted to Maestro Enrico Pesce, an eclectic pianist, composer and arranger living in Visone, supported by the flawless organisation of the Visone Pro Loco Association and by a network of collaborations with musical institutions such as the “A. Vivaldi” Conservatory of Alessandria and the Nuova Terzo Musica Association.
Through the Ecomuseum Network of the Piedmont Region, several Visone in Jazz events have been included in the programme of Ecomusei Palcoscenico Naturale, an initiative of Fondazione Piemonte dal Vivo, Abbonamento Musei and Torino Jazz Festival.
Come and visit us at visoneinjazz.it
The festival began in 1936 to celebrate spring and is held on the last Sunday of May.
It is the village's main festival, the one in which the whole community takes an active part, recognises and identifies itself.
Busìe — not to be confused with bugie, the well-known Carnival sweet — are fritters typical of Visone which take their name from the carpenters' “busìe”, that is, wood shavings, thus referring to artisan trades. Visone busìe have been certified as a De.C.O. product (Denominazione Comunale di Origine — Municipal Designation of Origin) and the festival is part of the regional network “Fieramente in Piemonte: piccole sagre, grandi prodotti”.
Besides the cooking, packaging and distribution of the traditional sweets prepared by the community, the festival includes the promotion of local food and wine products, together with craft, antiques and hobby stalls.
Ancient Fair of Our Lady of the Rosary
The fair, held annually, revives the tradition of displaying farmyard and stable animals, together with agricultural products and tools. In the past it was the occasion for the village's farmers and breeders to take stock of the past season, buy and sell livestock and prepare for the following year's activities.
For the occasion there is also a historical re-enactment of ancient trades in collaboration with specialised cultural associations, with educational stands. The performers, in traditional costume, revive the skills of now vanished artisan trades, playing spinners, basket weavers, blacksmiths… The re-enactment of the transhumance of the marghè, with flocks of sheep and goats, also takes place.
At the same time, markets and small concerts with bands are held in the village streets.
It takes place in the first week of October, coinciding with the feast of the Madonna del Rosario.
For the occasion, sites of cultural interest, such as the Medieval Tower, are opened to the public.
Intangible heritage
The “Custodi del Tempo” (Keepers of Time) project
Since 2023 the Ecomuseum has been carrying out the “Custodi del tempo” (Keepers of Time) project, which involves planning and producing video interviews with people who carry the oral testimony and traditions of the village of Visone.
In particular, interviews have been made with people who have contributed to handing down the history, traditions and knowledge typical of the area:
- Mr Antonio Antonucci, a former worker at the Visone Quarries with the Canepa firm, recounts work in the limestone quarries, the lime production cycle and the operation of the kilns, in particular the one in the Groppi district;
- Mrs Maria Rosa Zanoletti, born in 1940, daughter of the owner of the Zanoletti lime production firm;
- Mrs Maria Clara Goslino, a former primary school teacher, local historian and expert on dialect and folk songs. Besides general topics, she describes her family's old business, a historic printing house;
- Mr Giovanni “Nani” Verdese, the over-ninety-year-old owner of the “Canelin” pastry and ice-cream shop, active in Visone since 1864, an artisan pastry chef still at work and keeper of the historic recipe for Visone Torrone (nougat). Handed down over time, the torrone has become a symbol and typical product of the area; in 2020 it was awarded the De.C.O. (Denominazione Comunale di Origine) designation, is mentioned in the Gambero Rosso guide and has been awarded the Villani Prize, conferred by the Italian Academy of Cuisine;
- Mrs Angioletta Belloni, widow of the village blacksmith, who has left the historic workshop intact and now makes it open to the public;
- Mr Stefano Robiglio, the new blacksmith and wrought-iron artist, who carries on that legacy.
The videos are made by videomaker Valerio Marcozzi of Acqui Terme.