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In pictures: Italian town stages Scots celebration

BBC A pipe band marches through the Tuscan town of Barga with rolling hills in the background and glorious sunshineBBC
The sound of the bagpipes echoed through the Tuscan hills at the weekend. All pictures by Terry Boyd

The streets of an Italian town were filled with the sound of bagpipes at the weekend.

It was the annual Barga Scottish Festival when the Tuscan town celebrates its links with Scotland.

Many people from the area emigrated north in the early part of the 20th Century.

It has led to it being called the "most Scottish town in Italy" and it hosted a weekend of celebrations.

A group of people cutting a ribbon at the start of Barga's Scottish Festival
The Lord Provost of Glasgow and the Mayor of Barga helped get proceedings started

Among the guests this year were the Isle of Skye Youth Pipe Band and Skye Highland Dancers who helped kick off the festival on Friday with a parade.

Many restaurants and cafes also got in the spirit by offering traditional Scottish fare such as fish and chips and steak pies.

A first edition of the Barga Highland Games and a number of talks and presentations were also among the events on offer.

The festival drew to a close on Sunday evening with a gala concert.

An Italian food store with Lion Rampant, Scotland strip and other Scottish items in the window
Local shops decorated their windows for the weekend
A pipe band walks uphill on a wide road through a Tuscan town surrounded by trees
Proceedings started with a parade through the town
A Scottish and Italian flag on a lamppost in a Tuscan town
Many emigrants left Barga for Scotland in the early part of the 20th Century
Four people holding up pints of beer in front of a tartan stall saying Taste of Scotland
A market with Scottish produce was part of the festival
A man sticks his head through a cut out figure of a ginger-haired Scotsman in a kilt playing the bagpipes
Barga has been described as the most Scottish town in Italy
A young woman playing a drum with Youth Pipe Band written on the side of it
The event took place over three days from Friday to Sunday
A man with a bald head in a T-Shirt saying Barga Scot and wearing a kilt
Residents of Barga are proud of their links with Scotland
A woman with her back to the camera takes a picture of a pipe band walking through the streets
The pipe band proved a hit with locals