The upper reaches of the river Serchio valley are served by two hospitals, one at Barga and the other at Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. Both were founded over fifty years ago and each has specific departments which don’t always overlap.
Last Friday I had an appointment at Barga hospital for a checkup since I was feeling increasingly puffed out. I thought it was bronchitis. The doctor, however, thought otherwise and before I realised what was happening found myself strapped in a trolley, wheeled into an ambulance which pelted at breakneck speed through the mountain roads with sirens blaring away towards Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.
The view from Barga hospital over the Apuan alps is quite stunning with the majestic Pania della Croce massif lording it over the range.
By the hospital entrance is the ancient convent of Saint Francis whose church has some exquisite Della Robbia terracotte including this one of the Nativity.
At Castelnuovo hospital I was admitted to the cardiology department where I was administered various tests and scans and given a bed in a two-place ward.
This Monday I shall be ambulanced to the region’s big hospital, San Luca at Lucca, where I will undergo a coronarography.
The Italian National Health System has been voted the fourth best in the EU, beating even the UK’s NHS. It’s the second time this year it has rescued me (see my post on the Urology section of Lucca’s Barbantine clinic) and I feel I’m very lucky to have been treated in this country.
Around 2011 there was talk of combining Barga and Castelnuovo hospitals into one new complex to be built at Pieve Fosciana. I’m glad this project has been shelved and that, instead, money has been used to improve facilities at both sites. This year, for example, a new maternity unit has opened at Barga and a new A and E centre is planned for Castelnuovo.
Like Barga, Castelnuovo hospital has views which would be the envy of any Swiss sanatorium.
Around the hospital, which dates from 1959, is a nice bar, a car park with canopies supporting solar panels and a set of abandoned buildings which once housed an admin block and a chapel of rest.
It would be good to bring these fine examples of post-futurist buildings back into some kind of use.
Anyway, let’s make the best of where we are and enjoy the surrounding freezing temperatures from the comfort of a warm hospital ward!
. I have been following your blog for a number of years, and they are always so interesting and the photos so beautiful, I am sorry to hear that you are unwell and I wish you all the best for your coronarography on Monday and also a speedy recovery. Also wishing you and your wife a very happy New Year.
Regards. Isabel
On Sun, 29 Dec 2019 at 08:28, From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Three wrote:
> Francis posted: “The upper reaches of the river Serchio valley are served > by two hospitals, one at Barga and the other at Castelnuovo di Gargagnana. > Both were founded over fifty years ago and each has specific departments > which don’t always overlap. Last Friday I had an ” >
Thanks very much for your good wishes Elizabeth. Glad you enjoy reading my blog.
Hope everything is fine, Francis! Sending wishes and prayers from this part of the world
Thanks Ishita.
I am truly under so much stress as I too had the same test but luckily was not ferried off for further tests but will have to do the bicycle test etc. eventually. Quite frankly I am unsure if I am coming or going at present somone wisely suggested we get a bed side by side too tragic in my view. Despite the urgency we managed to the amazement of some staff to do a good walk in the fresh air and sunshine much healthier in my view.