Guidebooks and other works Pierluigi Bragaglia has lived in Flores for twenty years or so, an Italian author who has published 7 books in Portuguese - an eclectic collection of works sharing a common historical background. Today a member of the Portuguese Authors' Society, his first book, published in Milan (1988), was the first guidebook to the Azores in Italy, consisting of 150 pages annexed to the Mainland Portugal Guidebook that he had also completed. Before this travel guide, any book in Italy that referred to the Azores never dedicated more than a couple of pages to the whole archipelago. Already the author of the Portugal-Azores guidebook and former Yugoslavia guidebook (6 Republics and 2 Autonomous Regions), both published in Italy, Argonauta’s founder and operator, Pierluigi Bragaglia, in cooperation with the Flores administrative authorities wrote 3 Historical & Walking Guides to the island, first splitting its territory between the two counties of Lajes and Santa Cruz then publishing the Flores Island’s historical and walking guidebook in 2009. As well as these three guidebooks, the author has published a fourth book on the 20th century Dairy History of Flores Island plus his recent collection Flores: Folhas, both referred down below. These works are essential for a deeper understanding of all Atlantic islands and are detailed with practical information to help visitors spend unforgettable days on Flores. Flores, Azores – Walking through History – A guide to the island’s paths and past (Portuguese text, English text review, Photos, Graphic Selection), 383 pages. The author’s most recent work, self-published in 2009, it’s a heavy guidebook aiming to be a tool which provides both a new historical insight and a roadmap for over thirty of Flores Island’s stunning footpaths, plus indications about many other trails. You’d think there are too many pages just on Flores but in fact you could read them anywhere at anytime!... The former two municipal editions converged into this new guidebook whose content has been considerably enriched. For the first time, all descriptions of Santa Cruz territory (the North of Flores) have been translated into English and there are new colour pictures and maps. Flores, Azores – Walking through History… is currently available and can be sent anywhere through our website. Flores: Folhas - Algumas folhas de uma ilha com muitas flores (Portuguese Text, Photos, Graphic Selection) 214 pages. The author’s second last work, self-published in 2005, it's a collection of short essays on Flores Island covering History, Genealogy and Tourism, some of which previously unreleased and aiming to lead readers towards a better understanding of the Azorean reality and the Azorean heritage throughout the Seven Seas. Flores: Folhas… is currently available in Portuguese and can be sent anywhere through our website. Walkers' Guide to the Old Footpaths of Lajes- Lajes das Flores - Azores (Portuguese Text, Photos, Graphic Selection & English Translation) 174 pages edited in 4 languages (Portuguese, English, German and French) by the Lajes County Council in 1995 and which are now a rarity. This book offers 26 walking itineraries complete with maps, historical & practical information. We must emphasise the opportunity to walk along the Great Western Route, or the whole western coast of Flores Island, which can be done virtually without setting foot on a road, and which passes through a magical landscape: deep lakes inside vast craters, volcanic peaks covered in velvet pastures and flowers, streams and waterfalls descending to the ocean shores. You feel both the gentleness and the ruggedness of the Florentine people, who have been isolated from the rest of the planet for centuries by their own conviction and determination. They are a people who carry memories of pirates and shipwrecks, of the whaling epic and of the clandestine emigration to new found lands of El Dorado within themselves and their folklore… Santa Cruz das Flores County: Historical and Hiking Guidebook (Text, Maps, Photos & Graphic Selection) 268 pages edited in Portuguese only by the County of Santa Cruz in 1999. Bragaglia wrote this book with the aim of combining the 2 county guides into one whole island guidebook, so that Flores Island can have an updated historical, sociological and natural introduction to its Atlantic landscape, as well as a practical "User's Guide" to its territory. Readers will find all the necessary information for safe walking along 27 spectacular Santa Cruz footpaths, whether in the latest Goretex trekking boots or barefoot like the old Florentines. On an island where only three decades ago roads barely existed, these old paths are some of the most valuable treasures of the crown. Practical information includes distance and degree of difficulty, both within towns or any other parish. Currently sold out and unavailable. A History of Flores Island Dairy Products A Historical Outline of Island Pioneer Cooperativism, Production & Exportation of its Dairy Products in XX Century Flores. (Text, Photos & Graphic Selection), edited in Portuguese by Lajes County Council in 1997, 330 pages. This work is a Contemporary History of Flores Island viewed through the dairy business, but with a particular sociological stress on cooperativism, economics and biography. It is possibly available at Lajes das Flores town hall. Portugal-Azores (Text & Cartography), ed. by Sugar Co, Milan, 1988, 415 pages in Italian. This is the world's first historical and tourist guidebook to the Azores in Italian. It is annexed to an exhaustive "radiography" of the whole of mainland Portugal and a brief "Identity Card" of Madeira, completed with hundreds helpful bits of information. Up until the first half of the Nineties, the guidebook was considered to be the best on Portugal by the specialised press in Italy, where it is presently sold out and out of print. Yugoslavia (Text & Cartography), ed. by Sugar Co, Milan, 1989, 398 pages in Italian. Last European historical and travel guidebook to the former Yugoslavia, it is structured in thematic chapters about each Republic. The book is presently sold out in Italy. Lucas and the Cacenas-Genoese Merchants and Navigators in Terceira (XV-XVI centuries) (Text, Photos and Graphic Selection), 70 p. in Portuguese. This essay was recommended by the jury of the Azores/92 Literary Contest, and edited in 1994 by the Regional Board of Culture in Angra do Heroismo. This is the author's first Portuguese book in which he tries to reconstruct the possible biography of Luca di Cassana ("Cacena" in Portugal), a powerful Angra trader who came from a wealthy Genoese family in the Age of Discoveries. Cassana was a personal friend of Cristopher Columbus and a leading figure of some the sailing argonauts who were searching for new lands across Azorean seas. Club Sport Maritimo: 85 Years of History (Text & Graphical Selection), 175 pages in Portuguese, ed. by C.S. Maritimo, Funchal (Madeira Island), 1996. This is the official history of this Funchal sports association and mainly of its soccer team. Always in the first league in Portugal, it’s one of the best island teams of Europe and was the Champion of Portugal in 1926. Azores: A Paradise for Handicrafts (Port. Text, Photos & Italian Translation). The official government brochure on Regional handcrafts, edited in 5 languages by the Regional Board of Youth, Employment, Trade, Industry & Energy (1995) and now included into the author’s work Flores: Folhas... Essays and Other Articles: Pierluigi Bragaglia has written several essays and articles, published here and there in Italy and Portugal. Two of his contributions to the history of Flores Island: Cuada and Caldeira: Remote Echoes from the European Far West, and The Other Flowers - Nusa Tengara, Indonesia: from European Far West to the Far East, Acknowledging the Homonimous Island, both published in Portuguese in the Town Hall Review n.º 2, Lajes das Flores, 1997, are now included into the author’s book Flores: Folhas – Algumas folhas de uma ilha com muitas flores. Handicrafts The owner of Argonauta is registered at the Regional Board of Economy as a part-time Azorean Craftsman. This work is only occasional, amongst many other possible wintertime activities, as the temperature is always warm. Pierluigi Bragaglia shapes curious lighter-holders in PVC material and hardens them in the kitchen oven. If this is a kind of modern object, the artist seeks to adopt and reinvent traditional figures; Pirate Captain Flores was granted an official certificate at the IV Regional Handicraft Contest in 1998 and pictures show the Cows, with the Pirate Cow in the limelight. They have fluorescent eyes and teeth which give them an unusual appearance when exposed to black light. | Home | Location | Facilities | Services | Prices | Reservations | Guidebooks | E-mail |