Talking Italian as Leighton-Linslade investigates possibility of new twin town

Leighton-Linslade is already twinned with Coulommiers, a town about 40 miles east of Paris and also with Titisee-Neustadt in the Black Forest region of Southern Germany.

But now the suggestion has been made to form links with Pianoro, near Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy.

Leighton-Linslade Town Twinning Forum chairman Anne Guess recently gave a verbal presentation about a possible link with Pianoro.

The Twinning Forum had written to contacts in Italy about the idea. Any formal twinning agreement would need to be approved by the councils of both towns.

Mrs Guess said: “The town we put forward to twin with is Pianoro in Italy.

“T M G Marchesini UK Ltd, based in Pianoro has a factory in Cherrycourt Way, Leighton Buzzard. The proposal had been put forward by a local employee.

“They mentioned the potential benefits to each town, including encouraging language learning and links with schools, clubs and organisations, and possibly businesses.

“We went to a small council meeting and spoke about the idea, were told to do more research and then go back to them.

“There is no update yet, I think it will be a good town to twin with.”

Town Clerk Mark Saccoccio said: “It is still early days, we have asked them to come back with more details, it is currently a work in progress.”

> Pianoro is in the hills of the Tusco-Emilian Apennines.

> It is 660ft above sea level.

> There is a local railway station with connections to Florence and Bologna.

> Industries located in the area are primarily chemicals (Sayerlack S.r.l.) and mechanical engineering (MG2 and Marchesini Group).

> The town has an estimated population of 17,537.