Carinthia in Aulla

Anyone who had read that delightful memoir “A Tuscan Childhood” by Kinta (actually, Carinthia Jane) Beevor will want to visit the Fortezza Della Brunella near Aulla. My first visit to the fortress was in November 2005 when the following photographs were taken. One can get to it by train from Bagni di Lucca but on that occasion I travelled on my scooter, which is certainly not preferable as the road is long and becomes very twisty.

Brunella is, indeed, of a grim appearance and is similar in architecture to those other impregnable Medicean fortresses like Fortezza di Basso and Poggibonsi rather than any turreted fairy-tale castle. This is because it was built in the sixteenth century when fire-power had already come onto the battle scene and walls needed to be low, very thick, and windowless – rather like Lucca’s walls, in fact. It saw action more than once, most recently during the war of Polish succession in 1733 when it was conquered, after a three-week siege, by Spanish troops who had landed at La Spezia under Francesco Eboli, Duke of Castropignano.

Kinta’s mother was Lina Waterfield who also wrote a memoir, this time called “Castle in Italy” and describing, too, her time at La Brunella. But, Kinta’s memoir is much more spontaneously written, depicting her unusual home from the viewpoint of a girl growing up rather than a society lady. The book contains mouth-watering descriptions of food the house-keeper prepared for her which Kinta contrast very unfavourably with  the boarding school gruel she had to eat in the UK. In the obituary for Kinta (1995) she is praised for her cooking skills learnt in Italy and especially for her “particularly good” quince jam.

This memorial plaque not only commemorates the Waterfield family but recognizes all those locals who helped to maintain the fortezza for them:

Kinta’s mother Lina, incidentally, was the daughter of Florence’s grand-hostess “aunt” Janet Ross’s sister-in.-law and, thus, grew up in the midst of artistic fin-de-siècle Anglo-Florentine society. She also was a co-founder of the still flourishing British Institute of Florence and wife to Aubrey, a retiring painter thought good enough by the likes of Sir Kenneth Clark. (I have yet to discover any of his paintings anywhere, however).

Together, the Waterfields did their best to make the uninviting Fortezza into an attractive home. They placed large windows on one side of the walls and even had Bernard Berenson design an attractive garden entrance. This is the interior of that part of the place as it was then and now.

The glory of the Fortezza was its roof garden, no trace of which, regrettably, exists today. Indeed, in her book Kinta is scathing about the subsequent attempts to “restore” the structure to its original historical appearance after they sold it to the Italian state in 1977. There are some old photographs, however, showing, how it used to look and the views of the northern Apuan mountains from this part of the fortezza are quite stunning.

Very little trace remains of the domestic atmosphere of the Fortezza and it has now been converted into a quite well-laid-out local natural history museum and council offices. Very little, too, remains of the old Aulla as it was largely flattened in the last stages of World War II.

Certainly, the Fortezza Della Brunella is worth visiting, just for its military architecture but if one wants to recapture the life the Waterfields once led there it is a somewhat sad experience.

Incidentally, it’s interesting to note that Kinta’s son, Anthony, is a distinguished military historian. I wonder if growing up in la Fortezza Della Brunella had anything to do with it…

Back to the Iron Age

Like branches from a tree trunk valleys run off from the main Serchio river valley and each one is quite different, both scenically and socially, presenting very varied characteristics.

The Val Pedogna starts from where the train stops at the Diecimo-Pescaglia station and contains many interesting sights, several of which have been described in my previous posts.

Among its principal highlights are:

– Diecimo with its magnificent Pieve

– The village of Colognora with its chestnut museum.

(See my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/old-chestnuts/)

– The village of Vetriano with one of the world’s smallest theatres.

– The village of Celle with Puccini’s family house.

(See my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/celle-dei-puccini/)

At the very end of the valley, beyond Piegaio, is one the last traditional ironworks in Tuscany. It belongs to the Galgani family and the old boy in  charge of it carries on a trade which dates back to at least the sixteenth century when immigrants from the Bergamo region of northern Italy came here to exploit the rich metal ores of the mountains and set up smithies and forges. Indeed, traces of the Bergamasque dialect still exist in the locals’ speeches.

The last ironworks in Piegaio was closed twenty years ago,so the Galgani ironworks (or “distendino” as it is locally known since it distends or melts metal ore) is living history. Much of the equipment dates back to the eighteenth century including the bellows.

The forge is next to a fast running stream and is a quiet and picturesque spot. Mr Galgani will carry out any commission asked and will also repair your existing iron and metal tools. To step into his workshop is to truly enter into a past age antedating the industrial revolution. I just hope one of his nephews will carry on the business as Mr Galgani told me none of his sons are interested in iron-smelting…

Incidentally, the Galgani is one of the last three ironworks remaining in the Apuan Alps, together with those of Gragliana Graziani (Val di Cava Turrite) and Barsi of Candalla (Valle del Rio Lombricese).

There are umpteen more things to see in this valley, including the spectacular road across the Lucese pass. And this is just one of umpteen valleys in this region!

Medici Marble

 

On 23 June this year (2013) all twelve of Tuscany’s surviving Medici villas and two of their gardens were declared a UNESCO world heritage site. The beautiful villas built by the famous dynasty are largely located in the Arno valley. The most magnificent of these renaissance equivalents of the English country house is that at Poggio a Caiano with its surprizing frescoes by Pontormo and Allori.

If you go to the Firenze com’era museum (Museum of Florence as it was) in Florence you’ll be able to see the celebrated lunettes depicting all the original villas, painted by Giustus Utens.

(Palazzo di Seravezza)

The full list of today’s remaining villas and gardens is as follows:

Gardens:

Giardino di Boboli (Florence) and Giardino di Pratolino (Vaglia, Florence); V

Villas:

Villa di Cafaggiolo (Barberino di Mugello), Villa Il Trebbio (San Piero a Sieve), Villa di Careggi (Florence), Villa Medici di Fiesole (Fiesole), Villa di Castello (Florence), Villa di Poggio a Caiano (Prato), Villa La Petraia (Florence), Villa di Cerreto Guidi (Florence), Palazzo di Seravezza (Lucca), Villa La Magia (Quarrata, Pistoia), Villa di Artimino (Carmignano, Prato) e Villa di Poggio Imperiale (Florence).

In this impressive list there is, however, a Medici villa which stands apart by its distance and indeed, is the only one located in Lucca province. This is the Palazzo di Seravezza situated in the municipality of Seravezza at the foot of the Apuan Alps and at the confluence of the Serra and Vezza rivers. The palazzo houses, in addition to the town’s Library and archives, the Museum of Popular Traditions of Historical Versilia. Next door to it are the Ducal Stables, restored in 2006, and now home to temporary exhibitions.

The villa was built by Cosimo I between 1560 and 1564, and the architect is either thought to be Ammannati, or Buontalenti.

The palazzo di Seravezza was originally built not so much as a summer retreat from the torrid heat of Florence, or to supply food produce and wine for the grand ducal household, but for strategic purposes. The area surrounding it was contended for centuries between the Republics of Pisa, Lucca, Florence and Genoa itself, and the villa’s compact shape with its musket and crossbow apertures on the ground floor could be easily defended as a military outpost.

I’m sure that the villa must have also served as a hunting lodge since the surrounding forests are rich in fauna like wild boars and roe-deer. When the times became more peaceful it was also a vacation home for the family of the dukes of Tuscany who also added a beautiful geometric garden which, alas, has not survived.

Among the guests who spent long periods there was the mistress and then second wife of Francesco I de ‘ Medici, Bianca Cappello, and Christina di Lorena, wife of grand duke Ferdinand I.

Seravezza also had another important strategic purpose since it was close to marble quarries and iron –ore and silver mines which the dukes wished to develop. There is also a rare type of marble called mistio or peach blossom or Breccia Seravezza which is still quarried.

With the death of the last Medici the villa passed to the Lorraine dynasty until, in 1864, the new Italian State took possession of it  and handed it over to the town of Seravezza who first used it as a prison and then as its administrative headquarters,

Today Seravezza is home to the truly beautifully displayed and documented museum of local traditions and crafts. We were impressed by its layout and the helpfulness of the staff.

The museum was opened to the public in 1996 and documents work activities in the area and their historical development. Prime importance is given to the extraction of marble from the nearby quarries of Monte Altissimo (where Michelangelo got his raw material from) and this is illustrated by the exhibits of equipment used through the ages and the different techniques of excavation, transport and processing.

Poor oxen! There are also very interesting sections dedicated to iron-ore mining and metal processing.

Furthermore, there is a part containing exhibits related to domestic activities such as weaving, agriculture carpentry and leisure activities.

I thought the section on toys was particularly charming.

The museum is usually open throughout the year (except on Mondays, as is the case with most other museums in Italy) but it is worth checking beforehand as, unless you are already at Viareggio, it’s a relatively long way from this side of the Apuane to make a mistake!

Our photographs were taken in October 2005. How time flies…it seemed just yesterday that we were at this enjoyable and instructive villa-museum.

Address and contacts for museum are:

District/Locality: Seravezza
Address: Palazzo Mediceo, Via del Palazzo, 358
Phone: 0584-756100
Fax: 0584-756100
email: upr@comune.seravezza.lucca.it

Old Chestnuts

The continuing refugee crisis affecting what Churchill termed “the soft underbelly of Europe”( i.e. Italy) and, in particular, the island of Lampedusa – that ancestral territory of the writer of one of the greatest novels this country has produced, “The Leopard” (who doesn’t remember the film version starring Burt Lancaster?) – was evidenced on a large scale among these mountains almost seventy years ago when “gli sfollati”, those fleeing from the bombing of war-torn cities like Pisa and Pistoia found a temporary refuge among the villages and forests of the Val di Lima.

Even in Longoio, the area between my house and La Serra had large camps set up according to eye-witness accounts. But how could these refuges feed themselves in the midst of the devastating poverty that was once so prevalent in Italy and was now exacerbated by an increasingly bloody civil war?

The bread of the poor, the majestic chestnut fed them with its fruits for without the chestnut’s support there would have been famine on a huge scale. We are not referring just to caldarroste (roast chestnuts): the chestnut was harvested, peeled from its spiky case and dried in a special building called metato to then be milled to produce flour which could be used to produce anything from necci (pancakes) to bread.

Nearby Colognora in Val Pescaglia has a fascinating museum dedicated to the chestnut illustrating the importance the tree has had in the life and culture of this part of the world.

The chestnut museum was set up with the aim of collecting, studying and informing the public about everything connected with the precious chestnut, now so sadly threatened by disease and wholesale neglect.

The museum occupies seven rooms of an old building at the entrance to the village and also includes a thatched charcoal burners’ hut in the forest.

To visit the museum you should phone up beforehand on 0583 358159 or 0583 954465 (or send an email to info@museo-del-castagno.it) to confirm it’s actually open.

I could describe what’s in the museum but I think it’s best if you see the photos I took of its exhibits, which include not just objects related with chestnut cultivation and flour production but also many items dealing with domestic rural life and crafts.

Colognora is worth visiting just for itself and its highly picturesque location and atmosphere. The borgo’s origins  date back to the second century BC when Roman army ex-legionaries settled in the territory of Lucca. The name “Colognora” indicates a clear Latin origin (Coloniola = small colony). The oldest historical reference to Colognora is dated 29 August 828 and is preserved in the archives of the Archbishop of Lucca.

The village houses are characterized by arches, terraces and loggias that together create a unique atmosphere. No wonder Colognora was specially chosen by film director Spike Lee, for the setting of his film Miracle at St. Anna (2008).

Now’s the start in this part of the world for the castagnate, the chestnut festivals which evoke old times and celebrate the wonderful chestnut forests. We’ll be definately going to some of them – my particular favourite is the one at Lupinaia, but all the festivals have something special to offer and are real fun.