Lecco is not that far from Como (where I live), but it takes a lot to get there by public transports! First I caught the bus, then I waited for the train, and I have to say I was a bit worried because I didn't know where the ice rink exactly was! Luckily when I arrived at the station of Maggianico I found someone to ask, and in 5 minutes I was there, yeah ^^V First, I tried to phone Silvia, but her mobile was off... ok, I had to find out myself how to get in and where she was! I have to say this ice rink is very nice, the seats are near the ice level, but unfortunately there are not many, only along one of the longer sides. As I entered the rink I almost immediately spotted Silvia and Filippo, sitting near Roberto Pelizzola and Maurizio. I joined them and after a few seconds I had already took my new camera out of my bag, to show it to Silvia, who had to help me to find the right settings for skating photos ^^
The competition started with the Synchro Short Program, both Junior and Senior. There I got to see Luciano Milo skating again, I think it's a pity he's doing synchro skating now, he's so talented... The Men's Short Program opened the second part of the competition, I admit I was more concentrated on taking pics than on the actual skating, so here I'll just write the marks and very few notes.
The first one on the ice was Fabio Mascarello, he had a problem with the music, which didn't stop at the end of his program! The marks:

4.0	4.0	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.1	4.1
4.6	4.6	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.6	4.6

Karel Zelenka was next, and according to Filippo's notes he did a 3lutz, 3toe (two footed), 3flip, 2axel. The marks:

5.3	5.3	5.1	4.8	5.2	5.2	5.1
5.4	5.4	5.3	5.2	5.2	5.4	5.3

Then Daniel D'Inca, last year at Nationals surprised everyone with a 3A (but then fell on all the other jumps =P), and this time too he didn't skate well, having 2 falls:

4.2	4.2	4.1	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.7
4.5	4.9	4.9	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.5

The marks for Paolo Bacchini (he had a costume that, I don't know why, remembered me of Dambier!):

4.3	4.5	4.0	4.1	4.4	4.4	4.1
4.4	4.8	4.4	4.9	4.9	4.7	4.7

After the men there was the Ladies Short Program, and I was looking forward to see Carolina Kostner skating live for the first time, as I heard she had very good results this season so far. Giorgia Carrossa was the first of the group, her marks:

3.8	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.7	3.7	3.8
4.6	4.8	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7

The second was Carolina Kostner, to a piece of classical music, she did 3ritt, 3lutz, fell on the other jump of the combination :( and then 2axel. I enjoyed her soft skating, and I also managed to take some nice shots of her spins! The marks:

5.3	5.2	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.2	5.2
5.6	5.6	5.5	5.6	5.6	5.7	5.6

After another ladies that skated pretty awfully (she even got a 2.1 for required elements!) there was Vanessa Giunchi. Her music was rather strange, like percussions but also with something "arabian" in it. Her jumps were a 2lutz, 3flip (she fell, no combination), 2axel, and the marks:

4.2	4.3	4.1	4.5	4.4	4.5	4.4
5.0	5.3	5.1	5.3	5.4	5.5	5.1

Lea Bottacini was next, one strange thing I noticed is that she stopped almost completely before doing a jump! The marks:

3.4	3.7	3.3	3.3	3.2	3.3	3.4
4.3	4.6	4.4	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.4

At the end of this group I was happy thinking that now I was going to see ice dance, eventually, but noooo, I was wrong, there was another ladies group!!! From the marks I think you can understand how boring the competition was, apart Kostner and Giunchi... so this time I didn't even write the marks, just those of Claudia Di Costanzo:

3.0	3.2	3.1	3.0	3.0	3.3	3.4
4.2	4.6	4.7	4.6	4.6	4.6	4.5

After the resurfacing of the ice it was the turn of the Junior Original Dance, yeah! ^^V
Barbara had arrived too, to see the couples she helps to coach, and was now standing near the boards with Brunilde Bianchi. Oh, she had a beautiful fur coat, so I wondered if she's starting practicing to become a "perfect Tarasova"! ^_- When this summer my friends and I went to Piazzatorre we saw many of these junior teams in practice, so now I noticed how much they've all improved in this months, especially in the linear step sequence. Aureli & Vaturi of course were the best, I think they're ready to compete at the senior level, but I also liked Cappellini & Zanni, they're elegant, and she in particular is very talented. Aureli & Vaturi had some problems with the music, the one of their FD was played instead of the OD, and it doesn't sound exactly like a waltz! I'm sorry I can't give you many details, but I was concentrated on taking pics and trying not to have in the photos the heads of some people in the row below ;-) There were only 5 judges, and these are the marks:

Solengi & Garavaglia

3.3	3.5	3.4	3.2	3.5
3.8	3.7	3.8	3.8	3.8

Paiardi & Caruso

3.0	3.6	3.2	3.4	3.2
3.6	3.8	3.6	3.9	3.7

Guarnieri & Caspani

4.5	4.0	3.6	3.9	4.2
4.8	4.1	4.0	4.1	4.2

Alessandrini & Mattucci

3.0	3.4	3.3	3.1	3.1
3.5	3.4	3.7	3.1	3.2

Aureli & Vaturi

5.0	4.4	4.4	4.8	4.4
5.4	4.7	4.7	5.1	4.7

Spelta & La Notte

4.9	4.1	4.3	4.7	4.4
5.0	4.2	4.5	4.8	4.5

Cappellini & Zanni

4.9	4.2	4.4	4.8	4.4
5.4	4.4	4.6	5.0	4.6

And finally the Senior Original Dance! Paoletti & Pedrazzini skated really a lot better than in Gelsenkirchen, but that's quite normal as at Bofrost Cup it was only one month that they were practicing together after Fabrizio's injury. We didn't notice any major problem, even if later Fabrizio told us he couldn't catch Marta's hand a couple of time (very bad explained I guess!) and so had to invent "new choreographies" to mask the mistakes ^_-

5.5	4.9	4.9	4.9	5.0
5.5	5.1	5.1	5.1	5.2

Then Faiella & Scali, definitely the highlight of the day! They were both very elegant, Federica's dress was really beautiful (see the pictures!), I love their OD because it's soft, fluent, they have a difficult step sequence and nice lifts. I couldn't take many photos as the card was almost full, but luckily I think these were the best of all the competition ^^ Their marks:

5.7	5.6	5.8	5.6	5.6
5.8	5.8	5.9	5.8	5.8