Under the last rays of a triumphant sun, the castle gates opened and the first revellers began to trickle into the castle's courtyard. A small stage was being set-up beside the main door, surrounded by tables and chairs and in another corner of the courtyard a few stalls proposed records, jewellery, clothes, candles, tarot readings... The castle is now an art gallery, and for the occasion it hosted an exhibition of copper masks designed by the Italian sculptor Angelo Zanella. These ancient settings gave a sensation of timeless tranquillity to the proceedings, and helped create an ideal mood for the celebration of the Summer Solstice...

Parched by the heat, my companions and I decided to take a seat near the stage to enjoy a few glasses of the local wine. Thus seated, we were able to follow the sound check of both bands. A pleasant way to start this festive night...

As the sun finally set, Lia Fail, a band totally unknown to me, took the stage. Combining acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards, a variety of percussions and male and female voices they played a handful of songs mixing neofolk, heavenly voices and gothic/cold wave influences. A genre I'm not particularly fond of...

The band played with application, but the lengthy instrument changes between songs broke the flow of their set that ended on an interesting instrumental piece played on the percussions and a cover of 'Corpo Ed Anima' with Corrado on vocals. A transition of sorts...

The highlight of the evening was, without any doubt Argine. I had already seen them on stage in Switzerland, and I was expecting a calm but captivating performance, ideal for this summer evening. How wrong I was...

Bursting with pent-up energy, they kicked off the concert with a fast and tense version of 'Vene d'Acero' followed by a blistering 'Corpo Ed Anima'. Surprise! Argine had decided to play neofolk 'n' roll. An impression highlighted by the antics of the bassist and the violinist, who postured and jumped around throughout the set. The band maintained this pace for a few more songs, treating the audience to fiery versions of 'Arm', 'Urla', Eterno Occidente...

For an over an hour played a selection of songs drawn from their two albums. The taught bass, the flowing, spiralling violin and the tense, clear notes of the guitar adding an edge to songs full of warmth and emotion.

The band played with their heart and treated the audience to intense, impassioned renditions of 'Distacco', 'Come Un Servo Da Mantice', 'Dolmen', 'Rifrazioni'... and a new song, 'Von Aschenbach', built around a spiralling violin and a superb combination of Cecilia and Corrado's vocals.

Finishing their set with an encore full of energy, they played a frenzied version of Memorie and two, perhaps three more songs before time put an end to the performance. A marvellous ending for such an intense performance, played with guts, passion and pleasure...

But this wasn't the end of the festivities, planned to last until dawn... Inside the castle the darkwave, neofolk, gothic, industrial party, hosted by DJ Nuancenoire and DJ Mask, had just began. The music spilled out into the courtyard, making it a pleasant place to linger and enjoy the atmosphere of the place, before embarking on the long road home...