Carla Fracci frolicking in the sea at 77 and returning on stage

Carla Fracci will be 77 on Tuesday, but seemingly nothing can hold her back. A couple of days La Nazione newspaper photographed her frolicking in the sea with her two grandchildren. Paparazzi shots, without Photoshop or clever lighting, make-up or posing. Fracci was spending a couple of days with her son Francesco and his wife Dina, together with their two children, at one of Italy's most glorious seaside resorts at Forte dei Marmi.

Then there's work. At the beginning of November La Fracci will be on stage at Naples' Teatro San Carlo for Das Marienleben (The Life of Maria), Paul Hindemith's cycle set to Rainer Maria Rilke's verses. The ballet is one of her many collaborations with husband Beppe Menegatti, the Italian director, and she will be joined on stage by Alessandro Macario from the theatre's ballet company, and Vito Mazzeo, the San Francisco Ballet principal who has just joined The Dutch National Ballet.

Life begins at 80? We'll see…

Photo by Riccardo Dalle Luche, Lapresse

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.