Visitors walking through Jesmond Community Orchard last week may have enjoyed the sound of birds tweeting, bees buzzing… and maybe even a verse or two of some Italian poetry.

Jesmond Community Festival brought a day of Italian poetry to the orchard on Tankerville Terrace, courtesy of Antonella Rea who teaches Italian language classes in Newcastle and Northumberland and has been organising cultural events like this since September 2017. A nature enthusiast, Rea told JesmondLocal that she always wanted to amalgamate the beauty of the Italian language with nature, which so often acts as a muse to literature.

Attendees of the free event, which began in the early hours of the morning on May 8th, were able to take part, reciting poetry in both Italian and English. Martin Hopper, one of Rea’s students, recited a short self-composed poem in English.

Watch this video summary of the event by Oliver Ross Assogna