In Italy there are many sites where rock carvings have been discovered. The Val Camonica in Brescia province, for example, contains the largest number in the world of such carvings: over 140,000 have been found so far!  I have not yet visited the area but a trail has been laid out for people to find the most significant of these carvings, or petroglyphs as they are more accurately termed.

It’s not an easy thing to date the petroglyphs but, on the evidence of Stone Age flints and bones, some of them must have been carved thousands of years ago.

More recently petroglyphs have been discovered on our own Val di Lima’s Monte Limano and last year some amazing finds were made on the rocky slopes of Monte Prato Fiorito known as ‘le ravi’.

On Saturday 16 June, at the Sala Rosa of the Circolo dei Forestieri in Bagni di Lucca, I attended a fascinating conference on the new finds given by Giancarlo Sani who has already written two books on the subject and is an eminent researcher of petroglyphs. The conference was illustrated with photographs by David Bonaventuri, well known for his sports and nature pictures.

Thousands of carved signs and symbols have been discovered. They can be divided into three groups: symbolic carvings, most importantly the circle of life or the sun, pictographic signs such as face silhouettes, and names and dates.

The important thing about these signs is that they reveal something of the world of shepherds who were plentiful on the mountain slopes within living memory (there are still a few left, Erica, for example). They were people whose life was spent largely in solitude with their flocks but who were also determined to leave some record of their presence, of their religious beliefs and, for many of them, of their ability to write their names and dates.

Clearly the symbolic signs are the oldest and quite a few of them were vandalised in a later age when Christianity saw them as symbols of pagan cults. The signs with names and dates are rather later and the oldest of these has a date placing it in the seventeenth century.

Astonishingly one of the names appears to spell ‘Byron’ and bears a surprising similarity to the romantic poet’s signature.

It will be remembered that Byron visited Bagni di Lucca as guest of John Webb, the then owner of the Villa Bonvisi, and loved walking around the surrounding hills. It is, therefore, quite possible that it was Lord George Gordon who ‘vandalised’ a part of the Prato Fiorito! After all, he also left his name on at least one Greek temple – at Sounion and also at the Chateau de Chillon where he wrote that haunting poem ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’ narrating the  imprisonment of a François Bonivard, a Genevois monk:

A book was promised on the petroglyphs of our Prato Fiorito at the conference held in June last year in Bagni di Lucca’s Sala Rosa and there will certainly be a lot more research by Sani and his devoted team.

Last week the book finally came out. It’s a handsome volume illustrating and explaining in some detail the Prato Fiorito inscriptions.

Presented before a packed audience at the Sala Rosa of the Circolo dei Forestieri, the guide-book will add to the many unique charms that Bagni di Lucca has to offer its visitors.

Moreover, the discovery of the inscriptions of the Prato Fiorito and the book dedicated to them go hand-in-hand with a new itinerary called ‘Il Sentiero alto dei pastori’ (the shepherd’s high-way) which has been reclaimed from the encroaching vegetation by a group of dedicated volunteers. The newly signposted footpath will be formally inaugurated at 11.00 on Sunday May 5th at San Cassiano.

Who knows, more light could even be shed on the ancient witches Sabbaths that used to be held on the sacred mountain of the Prato Fiorito.

PS In case you weren’t sure the Sabbaths or sabbats are still held by members of the Wiccan cult on the following dates

• Yule, Winter Solstice: December 20, 21, 22, or 23
• Brigid, Imbolc, Candlemas, Imbolg, or Brigid’s Day: February 1 or 2. …
• Eostar, Spring Equinox, Ostara, or Oestarra: March 20, 21, 22, or 23. …
• Beltane, May Eve, Beltaine, Bealtaine, or May Day: April 30 or May 1.

So, as today is May 1st, how are you going to celebrate Beltane? We know how…watch this space!