Good News at Borgo a Mozzano

Yesterday evening, at the ex-convent of San Francesco of Borgo a Mozzano,there was a Christmas concert,

It was organized and produced by the vocal group “I Stereotipi”  with the participation of the scuola civica di musica di Borgo a Mozzano and the “Progetto in la minore”,, took place for the third year running.

Last Christmas the concert  was televised on Sky. This year’s event was almost cancelled due to shortage of funds but, very  luckily, was reprieved at the last moment.

This was the programme:

Our choir of Saint Peter and Paul of Ghivizzano took part in the evening’s proceedings as it did last year. Our two pieces were composed by Pitoni, the great choral composer of the Roman baroque school, and Bargagna respectively.

Since contemporary composer Bargagna may not be familiar to many people here are some details about him:

Marco Bargagna completed his musical studies at Florence’s “Cherubini” Conservatory, graduating in piano, composition, choral music and choral conducting. He has worked as choirmaster and director in various Italian theatres such as the Arena di Verona , Florence’s Teatro Comunale, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Pisa’s Verdi, Lucca’s Giglio etc.

Bargagna’s compositions include three operas, chamber music and a considerable quantity of sacred music, among which are the oratorio “Augustine of Hippo ” three cantatas for chorus and orchestra, twelve Masses and numerous motets. Bargagna has also edited music of the eighteenth century Pisan composers Giovan Carlo Maria Clari and Filippo Maria Gherardeschi. He is currently chief conductor of the choirs at the principal opera theatres in Pisa, Lucca and Livorno.

The evening’s concert opened evocatively with the Stereotipi, singing in candlelight from the organ loft, a beautiful modern composition O Nata Lux by Lauridsen, a mainly choral composer born in Denmark but now living in the USA.

An instrumental ensemble accompanied the S. Cecilia choir from Diecimo conducted by the Borgo a Mozzano’s music school choir director Lia Salotti in Faure’s ravishing Cantique de Jean Racine.

This was followed by Perosi’s Magnificat:

The children from the choral class of the school were great in the Russian carols.

Our choir then concluded the first part of the concert.

The second part was completely taken up by Fabrizio de André’s La Buona Novella. De André is one of Italy’s greatest cantastorie (folk singers) sadly no longer with us. The “Good News” narrates the life of Christ concentrating on his youth and his last journey to Calvary.

The idiom is eclectic introducing traditional folk rhythms and a Capella singing. The performance by an ensemble which included choir, percussion, guitar, flute and keyboard was quite electric and the performance concluded with a heart-felt applause from a captivated audience.

Long may Borgo a Mozzano’s Christmas concert tradition continue! It’s magnificent how small communities in this mountaineous region of Tuscany can get together and produce results which are more than worthy and touch inspirational qualities. My wife and I are truly proud to be able to play a little part in these uplifting events.

A Walk in the Constellation of the Owl

The Sentieri Della Costellazione Del Gufo (footpaths of the constellation of the Owl) are a collection of short-to-medium-length signposted paths developed by a forestry consortium whose aim is that of helping walkers rediscover largely extinct traditions in the Garfagnana.

I’ve done several of these delightful walks: the path from the village of Cascio to the town of Molazzana is particularly interesting as it concentrates on the once widespread cultivation of chestnuts, their drying and their milling into chestnut flower.

There are also explanatory signs about olive groves which here reach their highest cultivable extension.

This is a great walk to do in the height of summer as most of it is under forest cover.

Much of Molazzana looks quite new, although with a scale very much in keeping with Garfagnana’s old buildings and Cascio, too, has quite a few new buildings in addition to its rather battered castle. This is because both settlements were on the re-drawn gothic line in late 1944 when Gerry withdrew further north and abandoned the official one (See post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/07/olive-oil-persian-cats-and-the-gothic-line/ for more on the gothic line) and suffered considerable destruction in the fighting which eventually brought allied troops to Aulla.

For those who do not want to spend ten hours walking, the Sentieri Della Costellazione Del gufo are great paths to do, especially in the short winter days since they usually don’t take more than two or three hours to finish.

I often feel that the Garfagnana administration has rather more initiative than that encountered in the Mediavalle where we live. I’m sure there are many footpaths around here that would gain by being properly signposted and documented and give added pleasure and interest even to occasional visitors.

The following photographs date from December 2007 and show several features encountered on the path including mills and a metato (chestnut drying house).

Wuthering Heights Longoio-style

A wind stronger than any we have felt for some time accompanied us home at dusk yesterday together with a fall in temperature of more than ten degrees. We felt we were driving through what is called  here a “tromba d’aria” or wind trumpet – a good name since not only did the wind proceed in a circular motion like a trumpet’s bell but it produced a loud, eerie howling rather like that “wuthering” described in Emily Bronte’s famous novel where she writes:

The wuthering heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff‘s dwelling. ‘Wuthering‘ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.  Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all times. Indeed, one may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun.  Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong:  the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.

Well, we had certainly had pure bracing ventilation and the north wind, here called Tramontana, was indeed powerful. Happily too our house’s unknown architect built it strong and so we had no damage at all although one person was sadly killed in our region…

Yet a few thousand miles away in the Philippines the worst tropical storm on record has killed tens of thousands of people and wrecked lives. Listening to the BBC appeal we shall clearly  do our little bit to contribute as, indeed, is the Philippine community in Italy which counts almost 150,000 people largely working as carers, restaurateurs and builders, with over 10,000 in Tuscany alone.

The most immediate effect of this storm, apart from strewing the roads with twigs and branches was fact that our electricity was cut off, (causing us to have no alternative to a romantic candle-lit dinner) and, at the moment of writing this post the following morning still is.

Although not completely unprepared we have decided to compile a check-list of items required in the eventuality of a power cut.

1. Make sure the torches are always in the right place.
2. Ensure there is an adequate supply of candles and know where they are.
3. Ensure these candles can burn in safe glass-fronted lanterns.
4. Have a wired-up fixed line phone in addition to the cordless ones.
5. Make sure you have plain batteries in addition to your rechargeable ones.
6. Have a whistling kettle handy.
7. Make sure you have a normal safety razor in addition to your electric one.
8. Make sure you have a portable radio with a good supply of batteries.
9. Allow your cat to sleep on your bed in cold weather as the electric blanket won’t work! (PS If you haven’t a cat use a hot water bottle (or sex)).
10. Check items in dysfunctional fridge which might need to be eaten straight away e.g. ice cream…)
11. Make sure you have alternative cooking facilities like gas or wood stove or methylated spirits stove.

Any more suggestions would be welcome. We know that this morning we shall buy a wired up fixed-line phone first thing!

Electricity only came to this part of the world less than fifty years ago yet what fuss we create when it’s cut off today…

And if anyone says that global warming is not a fact now they must be bananas – the difference in the temperatures between artificially heated and cold air currents when they collide and create a storm is getting more and more extreme and its effect ever more violent and unforeseen.

Pumpkins and Puppets

Week-ends here are so packed with events that one is truly spoilt for choice. Chestnut festivals are definitely October’s flavour of the month and abound all the way from Piazza al Serchio to Lucca (and beyond). Even Bagni di Lucca had its own Festa yesterday in the gardens of Villa Fiori, a grand mansion now the property of the comune and in sore need of generous hands to restore it to its former glory.

Despite the recurring drizzle the Festa, which is covered in more detail in Debra Kolkka’s blog at http://bellabagnidilucca.com/author/bagnidilucca/, was quite well-attended and there was a good spread of activities, stalls and traditional chestnut-based goodies to eat.

I was particularly taken by a stall raising funds for a local child suffering from that terrible rare syndrome: Batten’s disease.

The models of traditional houses were also brilliantly done.

From the Villa Fiori we headed for the Pumpkin festival at Piegaio in the Valdottavo. We’d never been to this Festa before and found it extensive, well-organized and full of interesting things. For a start I’d never seen pumpkins grow into such weird shapes! Here are some pictures of the event which happily wasn’t rained off, although probably it would have got more visitors if the weather had been more clement.

Pumpkins have a long history of use in Italy and not just as an American import for Halloween. They make good soup and can be used for bread-making. Their skin will make containers of every shape and size and they form excellent sound-boards for musical instruments.

Children and artists also contributed to the delightful Piegaio Pumpkin festa.

We’d had an invitation to attend a puppet show in Pisa by Piero Nissim, the song-writer and performer who had contributed so well to our evening at Gombereto’s little church and described in my post at: https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/an-international-language/. So that was our next stop…

It was a little sad to see many of the beautiful plane and lime trees lining the avenue leading into Pisa from Lucca hacked down because of tree-disease. I do hope that a replanting programme will start soon.

Part of the evidence that one is a reasonably long-term resident in this part of the world is that we go to Pisa no longer to visit the leaning tower but to attend a local marionette show!

The performance took place in a children’s playground open space recently retrieved from an old factory. Nissim’s approach to puppeteering is original and he calls his concept “marsupial theatre”. It is truly a portable spectacle and Piero even carries the stage by wearing it on himself like an apron (or “marsupio” – meaning either the name for a bum-bag in Italian or a Kangaroo-type animal).

The show itself was calculated to amuse the young audience (and us too) and included a variety of songs and fairy stories including a Red Riding Hood which had the children ear-splittingly screaming against the fearful wolf.

Piero will also run a children’s workshop in puppeteering at the same park.

In Pisa it hadn’t rained at all but by the time we returned to Bagni di Lucca the roads had turned wet again although temperatures remain surprisingly mild for this time of the year, hovering around twenty degrees centigrade.

Another nice Sunday had passed and I hope that even when I fully retire I won’t forget the lovely feel of those week-ends coming along…

Brothers and Sisters of Mercy

The inauguration of two additions to the fleet of ambulance and medical emergency vehicles of Borgo a Mozzano’s Misericordia last Sunday is an occasion for celebration Italian-style!

In Borgo’s main square Misericordia squads from every part of Tuscany and beyond, with some arriving from as far afield as Avellino near Naples, congregated for speeches, the national anthem and ribbon-cutting.

The new vehicles were charmingly covered with blue and white balloons which were lifted off when officially admitted into Borgo’s Misericordia fleet with the blessing of the parish priest.

At this stage an almighty noise started up when the ambulances driven by representatives from the other Misericordie switched on their sirens! It was an example of “concrete” music if there ever was one and temporarily deafened most of us. It reminded me a little of the unison of ships’ sirens we used to hear from the Thames at our feet when London was still a port city.

I was glad I’d come to Borgo’s festivity – after all it was a Misericordia ambulance which saved my life after that dastardly hornet attack mentioned at:

I was so pleased to be able to spot the team which came to my rescue and personally thank them!

The cortège of local dignitaries, the new ambulances, the local band etc. made its way to the old ex-convent of San Francesco on the nearby hill-top for refreshments. And what refreshments they were too! The piping-hot lasagne were among the best we’d ever tasted and these were accompanied by focaccie, panini, salamis and many other dainties. We thought that was it and gorged ourselves on two helpings of the lasagne, of which new trays were constantly arriving, washed down with red wine and prosecco. But then the cakes followed: chocolate cakes, rice cakes, apple cakes, fruits-of-the-forest cakes….

The convent, incidentally, is a very beautiful building consisting of a single-nave church – the venue for our splendid Christmas concert with the Ghivizzano choir and the Stereotipi vocal group last year when we sang Michael Haydn’s Missa Sancti Gabrielis – and a cloister with quaint lunette frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Saint Francis. An on-going project is restoring the frescoes and their before-and-after difference is quite astonishing.

Now the convent is converted to an old folk’s home and it provides solace for the last years of many people’s lives. The garden, with its kiwi-fruit avenue is especially beautiful. Unfortunately, the accomodation price-tag is somewhat prohibitive, unless you are on a low income and can avail of subsidies.

We finally managed to tear away from this gargantuan culinary display to head towards one of the several chestnut festivals which take place at this time of the year. Two thoughts entered our minds, however. One, we hoped that no major emergency would be taking place in Avellino or Stia or Colle di Val d’Elsa or any other place from where the Misericordia groups had come from. Two, we couldn’t think of ambulance services in London putting on such a feast for its new vehicles.

The point, however, is that the Misericordie are voluntary bodies dating back centuries – the one in Borgo a Mozzano has a particularly distinguished past recorded in a lovely book written by the mother of the husband of the lady who sold us our house in Longoio – and depend entirely on volunteers’ time and voluntary contributions. So, this delightful send-off for the new vehicles and the sumptuous repast was a way of thanking all those who contributed to the Misericordia, and the invitations to representatives from far-afield was another way of affirming solidarity within the national bounds of this very worthy institution.

Clacton or Crotone?

The books that finally got me to live in Italy are the ones I now try to avoid like Maremman malaria. You know the ones: those with titles like “Under the Garfagnana rain”, “Converting a stone ruin into a financial one”, or “Enjoying Florentine tripe with a glass of Cynar”.

There have, of course, been take-offs of this kind of book which, having created its very own inflated niche is now cursed by estate agents selling la not-so-dolce vita. A local (to us) English writer and journalist has written an amusing article on this phenomenon at http://journalisted.com/article/7ily

Recently, however, my attention was taken up by a book re-tracing D.H. Lawrence’s itinerary described in his marvellous travel book “Sea and Sardinia”. With the utmost diligence the author adhered as closely as possible, even as far as the time-scale, to the incomparable Eastwood author’s peregrinations.

Niall Allsop’s “Keeping up with the Lawrences: Sicily, Sea and Sardinia revisited”, with stunning photographs by his son Graham, is a highly enjoyable read.

Who is Niall Allsop? Born and educated in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he started out as a primary school teacher in London and eventually became a headmaster. This background should have given Niall more than ample preparation to face any local Calabrian brigands but, evidently, he didn’t really need to use his Ulster life experience there at all (much). In 1981 Allsop left teaching and became a freelance photographer specializing in Britain’s inland waterways. Later he took up graphic design.

2008 was the turning point in Niall’s and his wife Kay’s life when they moved to Calabria to retire. Having heard about dark-glassed, white-suited and steel-toe-capped booted men in flash cars parading on the Calabrian shoreline from unfortunates I felt even more blessed in settling in an unorthodox part (Mediavalle) of an orthodox region (Tuscany) of Italy.

Full marks for a couple who chose not to retire to Clacton-on-Sea or even Tuscany! The fact is that they are having to struggle with two languages – not just Italian but the local dialect which even I, though reasonably fluent in Dante’s tongue, only understood about 1 per cent of when I was last there (sheltering, as a teenager, from a hotel-less night in a disused filling-station kiosk surrounded by both two and four-legged varieties of wolves).

Wonderful books have been written about Calabria by great authors of the past: Norman Douglas and George Gissing come to mind. But present-day, estate-agent engaging, literature on this extraordinarily beautiful part of Italy is miniscule when compared to the volumes (often) wasted on Tuscany.

Two other books by the indomitable Niall Allsop tell you how they got to where they are living now and what their life is like there. The book titles are: Stumbling through Italy: Tales of Tuscany, Sicily, Sardinia, Apulia, Calabria and places in-between and Scratching the toe of Italy: Expecting the unexpected in Calabria.

I admit I thought I wasn’t going to empathise with the stumbles when, after a few pages, the Allsops gave the ineffable fresco of the pregnant Madonna by the supreme Piero Della Francesca at Monterchi a miss. I do enjoy my art in Italy and for someone to be so insensitive to this masterwork, which I travelled a thousand kilometres to see on my saddle-soring motorbike way back in 2007, was inexplicable to me.

I read on, however, and began to thoroughly enjoy the almost-pooterish humour of the book and its completely unaffected style. Niall gives a quite different picture from the Calabria as inhabited by hoards of  ‘ndrangheta henchmen. (Incidentally, the word ‘ndrangheta derives from the ancient Greek-based local dialect andragathía, meaning “heroic defiance”). Find out for yourselves!

We don’t always need Italy-niched books by pretentious ex-executives from across the pond or by escapees from Milton Keynes. It’s highly refreshing to read something about two reasonably normal people who treat their living experiences in a relatively unknown part of Italy in the same nonchalant way as they would a roundabout on the Guildford by-pass.

The rewards are, of course, that at this moment in time when here we are suffering from further waves of that wet stuff sweeping over us, lowering the temperatures and making us feel even more lousy, the happy couple are probably enjoying a sun-tanned afternoon on an idyllic beach free of tourists, hawkers and (hopefully) Ndrangheta gangs – just as one of my students enjoyed when he regaled me with stories from the deep south from whence he’d recently returned.

Ah well, Pisa and Ryanair, here we come – a one-way ticket to Lamezia Terme if this bloody weather doesn’t stop!

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

Between Sea and Sky

Yesterday was a day that promised rain but delivered it with sunshine too! One of the pleasures of this combination was the appearance of rainbows in unexpected locations and times. I spotted this one on my way to Lucca from Porcari. That pot of gold seemed so very close at hand!

In Lucca, among other activities, I wandered up the Via Santa Croce to the Millennium Caffetteria to see the exhibition of Kety Bastiani’s pictures which had opened yesterday with a little help from the Vicaria Della Val di Lima.

I have already described the qualities I like in Kety’s pictures at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/ketys-angels/

But, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

There are some pictures from previous shows plus some I hadn’t seen before.

Kety’s creations are permeated with evocation, dreaminess, yearning longings and beauty. Each picture has a title but perhaps an intereresting game here would be for you to think out your own and then go to the exhibition and see what the actual ones are!

The title of the whole exhibition, which is on until November, is “Tra Mare e Cielo” between Sky and Sea  and well sums up the sensation that permeates these lovely pictures.

The coffee at Millennium is pretty good too!

The Pass of the Mysterious Cross

The Passo Della Croce Arcana was my gateway into the enchanted world of the Val di Lima when I first came here in 1997 on my Honda Transalp all the way from Woolwich, London. I’d been trying to escape the torrid heat of Florence and decided the best way to do it was to go up, which I did on most days.

I returned to the pass in 2005 and again in subsequent years. In 2005 we met up with a party of hang-gliding enthusiast who had locked their car door by mistake and left the key inside. My wife suggested that they try our scooter key, which I thought an absurd suggestion. The hang-gliderists, however, took the key and found, much to everyone’s surprise, that it fitted!

That says a lot about vehicle security… It also says something about hospitality as we were immediately invited by them to a picnic lunch of panini and vino which had been stored inside the car.

The views from the pass are extraordinary and what is even more extraordinary is the way the whole mountain acts as a drum if you beat upon the peaty turf. The ground under you is actually hollow and echoes when you hit it.

There are many wonderful walks you can do from here – to Monte Cimone, to Hannibal’s pass but we were just happy to be there and soak in the panorama.

But exactly where is the Passo Della Croce Arcana? It’s in the Tuscan- Emilian Apennines, at an altitude of 1669 m (5476 feet) above sea level, in the Province of Pistoia and in the municipality of Cutigliano. The pass is crossed by an unpaved road that goes through Cutigliano and Doganaccia and leads to Fanano, in the Regional Park of the High Apennines of Modena.

The Passo Della Croce Arcana (which means “The pass of the mysterious cross”) is characterized by high-altitude moorland very similar in some ways to that encountered in Snowdonia, rocky outcrops, and has magnificent 360-degree views on fine days extending not only to the Apuans but to the Alps themselves!

Where does the pass get its name from? It was a pilgrims’ route until the late Middle Ages and used to cross the Apennines from the Po valley to Tuscany and, beyond, to Rome itself, although it was always less popular than the Via Francigena, which crossed the Northern Apennines further west and which I mentioned in my post on San Pellegrino (see my post at  https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/10/03/praise-to-the-holiest-in-the-height/).

The oldest documents mentioning the pass date back to the Lombard era, when Pistoia had become a royal city and the Byzantines had gradually withdrawn to the east.

After 1000 A.D. with the emergence of free communes, pilgrims and armies were joined by merchants and their wares: long trains of mules carried wool stuffs, silks, tapestries, lace and fine fabrics between Florence, Prato, Lucca, Pistoia and other Tuscan towns on the one side and Milan, Venice, Paris, Flanders and London in Northern Europe on the other .

The intense traffic explains the presence of hospices run by religious orders to shelter and protect the travellers crossing the Passo Della Croce Arcana. On the Emilian side in 749 AD, St. Anselm, before moving to Nonantola to found the famous abbey, had obtained from the Astolfo, King of the Lombards in Val di Lamola, near Fanano, Emilia, to build a hospice for pilgrims.

On the Tuscan side, too, the Knights Templars built a hospice for pilgrims at the Croce Brandegliana (hence the arcane cross), at the spot where the village church of Prunetta now stands.

Because of climate change (it actually became colder- the so-called mini-ice-age) the Passo Della Croce Arcana, in later centuries became less, used as snow lay on it for over six months of the year.

Furthermore, in 1781, by order of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Duchy of Modena, the Giardini- Ximenes road through Abetone (now renamed the strada statale no 12 and known as il “il Brennero” as it eventually crossed into Austria via that pass) was constructed – a true engineering feat and work of art for those times that quickly eclipsed the Croce Arcana road since it was less likely to be closed by snow.

The whole area is a great ski-ing resort and it attracts many skiers (including us) to Cutigliano where accommodation can be found in the delightful mediaeval town below it and which boasts a mini-version of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio.

Cable cars and ski-lifts can take one up to a height of 1720 metres and one has an embarrassment of choices between different grades of pistes besides Nordic skiing.

There is also a war memorial with an old gun at the top of the pass since on the night of the shooting stars (San Lorenzo – the 10th of August) regiments of the Alpini meet here to commemorate those who did not return from the battlefields.

What a great place to be at whether on a motorbike, scooter, foot, skis or snowboard!

What’s behind Viale Europa?

The hill and mountain villages of Lucca province are clearly the ones that appear most attractive to us for a visit. They stand out like little fortresses and look out on to the most marvellous views. Who want then to arrange trips to the borghi scattering the flatness of the piana di Lucca, which increasingly is being transformed into a giant semi-industrial conurbation, especially to the east of the city?

How many of us have driven down that tedious road called Viale Europa which links Marlia with Porcari – a long, straight, traffic-ridden ribbon-developed segment, neither country nor town? But how few of us have decided to take a right or left turn and see what lies behind it?

I decided to turn left from the Viale and give Marlia a look yesterday on my way to the paint factory.

Marlia is one of the areas that make up the comune of Capannori. Here is a map of the comune showing all the frazioni.

People visit Marlia because within its confines is the Villa Reale with its beautiful landscaped garden and once the summer residence of Napoleon’s sister, Elisa Baciocchi, but few people explore beyond that.

There is a considerable quantity of churches from the early middle Ages in the territory of Marlia: S. Giusto, the oldest among the rural churches of Tuscany, and St. Martino in Ducentola, with wall hangings and ornaments of the Lombard period are just two of them.

The biggest church in Marlia (indeed one of the biggest in the whole province) is its parish church dedicated to the Virgin and to St. John the Baptist and first mentioned in a document of 918. The present church is the third building and was completed in 1844. The facade is impressive with its columns and statues representing the Theological Virtues. I loved the arched passage through the belltower. Looking at the exterior stonework I could see those parts belonging to the earliest church here:

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get far into the interior as it was being restored after some earthquake damage but I especially liked the neo-classical style and the curve of the apse (which so reminded me of Rennes cathedral in France).

There is a fine Serassi organ (the Serassi makers, originally from Como, made organs from 1720 to 1895) I don’t know what condition it’s in.

In front of Marlia’s parish church is a recently rearranged square which has restored the area to pedestrians. To one side I decided to sample the forno (bakery) and found its cheese focaccia and Farro (spelt) bread absolutely delicious. I’ll certainly be back again and revisit this stylish place.

There is also a plaque displaying specialist shops (botteghe) in the area.

Sir Richard Burton, Capannori, Marzabotto – what is the connection between these three? Is there a connection?

Burton, wearing his archaeologist hat, dug at the Etruscan city of Misa near Marzabotto (which we visited during the summer at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/etruscans-v-celtic/) and helped lay out the Bologna Archaeological museum. In Capannori, where Marlia is situated, parts of an Etruscan road were discovered in 2004 dating back to the sixth century BC which linked up with Misa (otherwise known as Kainua) and the Etruscan ports at Spina and Pisa the two great commercial emporiums located in opposite sides of the Apennines.

This super highway of the distant past was used to transport materials such as iron ore, copper and silver – of which this area was once rich – to and from ports and mining areas and appears to be the oldest paved road in Europe. According to the ancient Greek historian Scylax one could get from Spina on the Adriatic to Pisa on the Tyrrhenian in just three days using this road and river communication!

I think I’ll give myself just a bit more time to do the boring stretch from Marlia to Porcari in my journey in future and explore a few more of the hidden wonders of this seemingly featureless and neglected area. It’s quite amazing what one finds out!