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I totally agree with Carole, you need to lodge a complaint as the animal is obviously unhappy and this person does not know the basic rules of living in a community.Good luck and keep us posted.

Grazie, Marcella. Ferragosto is a big festivity for women. Here is a thread that I published in the old Forum for those who were not very familiar with the festivity:QUOTETomorrow is one of Italy's most important days: Ferragosto or the Day of Santa Maria Assunta.Every town has its own way of celebrating this festivity and particularly when the local parish church is named after the Virgin Mary. You can expect solemn masses, processions, etc. But this festival really has pagan origins, the Feriae Augusti, celebrated by the Romans.It is a day dedicated to women, so girls, use your rights! Go to the restaurant, the beach, get yourself something nice.... if you can find a shop open..... have a ball!If you want a bit of extra information about the Pagan-Catholic link, have a look:UNQUOTEBuon Ferragosto!

Hi Brian and Aileen and welcome. Best wishes regarding all your plans. Lunigiana is a beautiful region.

Hi Adri and welcome to the Community. Liguria is a beautiful region that I try to visit as often as possible.

Hi Geoff and welcome. Great to hear from you and all your interests. Enjoy the Community!

Great idea, at least they are tangible assets and far much more valuable than bank statements and certificates. A bit difficult to carry, though.... As they say in the article it is going back to the Middle Ages and who can say that their systems were not better than our present ones?

Ciao Gina and welcome to the Community. Good to hear from you and your plans.Lucca is a very good city to use as a base for Tuscany. The city itself is beautiful and an absolute delight. The train station is easy to reach and there are good regular services to many places from there. It is less crowded than Florence.

There are several studies made in Australia on the subject, even a recent "miracle wine" created by an Australian doctor: From my personal experience, I can tell you that in the 90´s, a well known private hospital in Queensland (Australia), started serving a small glass of wine to their patients together with their meals when they were convalescing. Both my mother and myself were patients there at different stages and we saw it happening. Doctors and nurses were convinced that this had a very beneficial effect on convalescents. Certainly, some people were not part of this experiment because of other health problems, but overall it was a great initiative and they noticed that the patients were asking for less sedatives after their small drink.Regarding how you feel thirsty the following day after drinking..... alcohol, particularly in excess, causes dehidration. It is always a good practice to drink lots of water to counteract.As for olive oil.... yes, it has great beneficial effects, particularly if you compare it with other oils, but we should remember that it is still a FAT. All in moderation... That´s the key word.

Sorry Andrew, no offence intended, but I do not need a medical degree to diagnose that you suffer from the "doubting Thomas syndrome". The benefits of wine in moderation have been explained by a variety of professionals throughout the media. If you are a person who reads papers, watches news and tries to keep up to date with information, you must have seen and heard hundreds of positive comments about this matter;  however, if you are still have doubts, here is an article from a qualified nutritionist which may help you:By the way, our family doctor has always recommended us to have a glass of wine with our meals. Anyway, if we have to show our credentials each time we give an opinion about any subject, this would be a very boring and empty place.

Thanks for the info, Gromit. I am glad that they have at least one roulette table as I was fearing that it was going to be all slot machines and, bearing in mind that the roulette game was invented in the old Bagni di Lucca casino, they had to have one. A pity that we cannot be there for the opening because it must be an interesting event to attend.I believe that moving the Tourist Office to a place near the Comune is a good idea. It was a bit lost at the old Casino. Certainly, they will not have room for it now as the building is not very big and the new casino will be taking up all the space available.It will be interesting to watch how it all develops.