Sir Almaviva
@ilcontealmaviva.bsky.social
Lover of trams, classical music, maths, tea and cats. Member of the cycling lobby. 🇮🇹 immigrant in 🇬🇧. Refugees are welcome, racists are not.
Lover of "Italian Effeminacy and Italian Nonsense" (i.e. opera, according to Jonathan Swift)
Lover of "Italian Effeminacy and Italian Nonsense" (i.e. opera, according to Jonathan Swift)
Pinned
Let's see if I can keep it up, but I am going to try to do a thread with all the books I read in 2025, starting from the following post.
Idea for a book that I — and maybe ten other people — would buy: a collection of all plays, from Shakespeare and Schiller to Hugo and Gutiérrez (and all the others), the inspired Giuseppe Verdi's operas.
January 4, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Idea for a book that I — and maybe ten other people — would buy: a collection of all plays, from Shakespeare and Schiller to Hugo and Gutiérrez (and all the others), the inspired Giuseppe Verdi's operas.
"This is not the time to comment on the legality of the recent actions" what the hell
This is PM of Greece.
Greece is an elected member of the UN Security Council.
Greece is an elected member of the UN Security Council.
January 4, 2026 at 11:16 AM
"This is not the time to comment on the legality of the recent actions" what the hell
👇
"It’s not for politicians to make judgments around international law"
and yet they can't shut up about international law when it's about immigration
and yet they can't shut up about international law when it's about immigration
January 4, 2026 at 10:54 AM
👇
This is great! If only we could join all the good bits of cycling infrastructure in Greater Manchester and have a proper network.
2025 annual summary for the Oxford Road Cycleway
*drum roll*
Another record-breaking year! Overall 3% growth, with new monthly records for six months, and a new daily record (7,527).
Total recorded trips: 1,403,829!
We're going to need a new scale for the counter displays.
*drum roll*
Another record-breaking year! Overall 3% growth, with new monthly records for six months, and a new daily record (7,527).
Total recorded trips: 1,403,829!
We're going to need a new scale for the counter displays.
January 4, 2026 at 10:26 AM
This is great! If only we could join all the good bits of cycling infrastructure in Greater Manchester and have a proper network.
If you want something nice, watch this short video where Pavarotti talks about Tito Schipa (in English) — today we would say he 'reacts' to some Schipa recordings.
Pavarotti in admiration for Tito Schipa, footage.
YouTube video by Jozef Sterkens
www.youtube.com
January 4, 2026 at 9:12 AM
If you want something nice, watch this short video where Pavarotti talks about Tito Schipa (in English) — today we would say he 'reacts' to some Schipa recordings.
"Captain Corcoran, it is one of the happiest characteristics of this glorious country that official utterances are invariably regarded as unanswerable."
January 4, 2026 at 9:04 AM
"Captain Corcoran, it is one of the happiest characteristics of this glorious country that official utterances are invariably regarded as unanswerable."
I have just read Meloni's statement, saying that the US carried out a "legitimate defensive (!) strike". Shameful.
January 3, 2026 at 9:35 PM
I have just read Meloni's statement, saying that the US carried out a "legitimate defensive (!) strike". Shameful.
Reposted by Sir Almaviva
In 1955, 19-year-old Luciano Pavarotti competed in the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. Recordings just released. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Pavarotti's Llangollen concert given new voice in lost recording
Pavarotti widow says she is delighted that lost recordings of his return to Wales are released.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 3, 2026 at 7:29 PM
In 1955, 19-year-old Luciano Pavarotti competed in the Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod. Recordings just released. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
"Opera is not cricket, after all; mostly it is foreign; sometimes even worse than that."
[Anon., quoted in "Someone else's music" by Alexandra Wilson]
[Anon., quoted in "Someone else's music" by Alexandra Wilson]
January 3, 2026 at 6:03 PM
"Opera is not cricket, after all; mostly it is foreign; sometimes even worse than that."
[Anon., quoted in "Someone else's music" by Alexandra Wilson]
[Anon., quoted in "Someone else's music" by Alexandra Wilson]
Difficult times for those of us who believe that you should follow national and international laws even if people are bad, from debates about stripping citizenship from people, to attacking other countries. But we need to uphold these principles, which are already very much under threat.
January 3, 2026 at 12:04 PM
Difficult times for those of us who believe that you should follow national and international laws even if people are bad, from debates about stripping citizenship from people, to attacking other countries. But we need to uphold these principles, which are already very much under threat.
Pathetic stuff, honestly.
I have spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and our Ambassador in Caracas. The EU is closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela.
The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. (1/2)
The EU has repeatedly stated that Mr Maduro lacks legitimacy and has defended a peaceful transition. (1/2)
January 3, 2026 at 11:14 AM
Pathetic stuff, honestly.
"Contrary to international law BUT"
January 3, 2026 at 11:07 AM
"Contrary to international law BUT"
Oops, I've done it again!
January 3, 2026 at 9:46 AM
Oops, I've done it again!
"Art is not really the icing on the cake; it is more like the yeast in the dough. The true artist, when we have understood him, has immensely enriched our lives, sharpened our eyes and ears, broadened our sympathies, quickened our imagination, enlarged our experience" (J. B. Priestley)
January 2, 2026 at 10:10 PM
"Art is not really the icing on the cake; it is more like the yeast in the dough. The true artist, when we have understood him, has immensely enriched our lives, sharpened our eyes and ears, broadened our sympathies, quickened our imagination, enlarged our experience" (J. B. Priestley)
I have not seen proof of this, but the more I listen to 'Falstaff' the more I am convinced that when creating the scene in Windsor Park in Act 3, Boito & Verdi had in mind the Act 4 finale from 'Le nozze di Figaro' (and "pizzica, stuzzica" in Falstaff reminds of "mi pizzica, mi stuzzica" in Figaro)
January 2, 2026 at 9:20 PM
I have not seen proof of this, but the more I listen to 'Falstaff' the more I am convinced that when creating the scene in Windsor Park in Act 3, Boito & Verdi had in mind the Act 4 finale from 'Le nozze di Figaro' (and "pizzica, stuzzica" in Falstaff reminds of "mi pizzica, mi stuzzica" in Figaro)
Definitely not today.
January 2, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Definitely not today.
I listened to this today and it's pretty good! I will listen to it again.
Now listening to Ullmann's remarkable chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis, which he composed in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Viktor Ullmann born on this day in 1898.
January 2, 2026 at 6:52 PM
I listened to this today and it's pretty good! I will listen to it again.
At some point I will stop (for a bit, not forever) listening to Falstaff, but not today.
January 2, 2026 at 3:51 PM
At some point I will stop (for a bit, not forever) listening to Falstaff, but not today.
The great Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős said God* has a book ('The Book') with the most beautiful mathematical proofs.
This book is a collection of proofs that could be in the Book.
*he didn't believe in God, but said you should believe in the Book nonetheless
This book is a collection of proofs that could be in the Book.
*he didn't believe in God, but said you should believe in the Book nonetheless
January 2, 2026 at 1:49 PM
The great Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős said God* has a book ('The Book') with the most beautiful mathematical proofs.
This book is a collection of proofs that could be in the Book.
*he didn't believe in God, but said you should believe in the Book nonetheless
This book is a collection of proofs that could be in the Book.
*he didn't believe in God, but said you should believe in the Book nonetheless
Reposted by Sir Almaviva
There are enough British people who are either disabled, LGBTQ or immigrants - or who have people close to them who are - who are going to dislike Starmer’s stance because it affects them *materially*. It isn’t just vibes or aesthetic.
January 1, 2026 at 5:37 PM
There are enough British people who are either disabled, LGBTQ or immigrants - or who have people close to them who are - who are going to dislike Starmer’s stance because it affects them *materially*. It isn’t just vibes or aesthetic.
The first thing I cooked in 2026 was risotto with shrimp, and I was quite happy with it.
January 2, 2026 at 1:02 PM
The first thing I cooked in 2026 was risotto with shrimp, and I was quite happy with it.
I'm not the kind of Italian who fights over food, and everyone likes what they like, but this almost makes me want to do that (as a northern Italian I am 23% made of risotto)
The reverence in which risotto is held is perhaps the most egregious example of everyone else's culinary cringe with respect to the Italians. It's baby food for adults.
January 2, 2026 at 12:56 PM
I'm not the kind of Italian who fights over food, and everyone likes what they like, but this almost makes me want to do that (as a northern Italian I am 23% made of risotto)
I am one of those people who became a British citizen in 2024.
The citizenship ceremony was quite moving and I loved seeing all the other people becoming citizens at the same time as me, from all over the world.
I really don't like the way the right is now talking about us naturalised citizens.
The citizenship ceremony was quite moving and I loved seeing all the other people becoming citizens at the same time as me, from all over the world.
I really don't like the way the right is now talking about us naturalised citizens.
Paragraphs like these reflect a frankly evil political outlook on Britishness, citizenship, and national identity, and I find it chilling that they now just casually appear in supposedly mainstream conservative publications
January 2, 2026 at 11:45 AM
I am one of those people who became a British citizen in 2024.
The citizenship ceremony was quite moving and I loved seeing all the other people becoming citizens at the same time as me, from all over the world.
I really don't like the way the right is now talking about us naturalised citizens.
The citizenship ceremony was quite moving and I loved seeing all the other people becoming citizens at the same time as me, from all over the world.
I really don't like the way the right is now talking about us naturalised citizens.
I have spent two and a half years of my life in Hull and I have good memories of it. It has a bad reputation in the UK which I think it doesn't deserve. It has its problems, that's undeniable, but also has positives.
'A combination of a world record-breaking trawler, a floating lighthouse and a dizzying array of maritime objects that include a stuffed polar bear called Erik are all helping to make Hull one of the top 25 places in the world to visit in 2026.'
Hull’s maritime history thrusts city into world’s top places to visit in 2026
Historic trawler and floating lighthouse among East Yorkshire city’s attractions as it gears up for tourism boost
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:23 AM
I have spent two and a half years of my life in Hull and I have good memories of it. It has a bad reputation in the UK which I think it doesn't deserve. It has its problems, that's undeniable, but also has positives.