This month the fascinating photographic exhibition at Ponte a Serraglio’s casinò is due to finish so see it while you can! It consists of a collection of photographs taken at the inauguration of the Susie Clarke Poliambulatorio (Health Centre) in 1962 and is brilliantly curated by local man Sergio Garbari, official photographer of Florence’s Uffizi gallery, who rediscovered and meticulously restored the original negatives.
(Above photos from the inauguration with Bagni di Lucca Mayor in 1962, Mario Lena, speaking and presenting flowers to Frances Clarke).
I quote from the notes to the exhibition:
“The photos come from film negatives from the Elio Allegri’s archive, a photographer who, with the shop associated with that of his brother Gualtiero a barber, exercised and documented life in Bagni di Lucca from 1950 to the early 1980’s.
Sergio Garbari photographer of the Uffizi’s Photographic Cabinet in Florence has recently acquired the entire archive of negatives.
The photos shown here represent a selection from this archive and relate to the inauguration of the clinic named SUSIE CLARKE, with her sister Frances present, who donated it in 1962 to the Municipality of Bagni di Lucca.
In the images you can recognize numerous personalities that many will remember and perhaps will recognize.
The badly damaged negatives were painstakingly and partially restored, scanned and printed.
Year l962
Film n.: 421 A, 421 B, 464,491
in case of publication, credit line: © Sergio Garbari / Archivio Allegri email: sergarbari@tiscali.it”
I add that I availed myself of the Susie Clarke Health centre some years ago to obtain relevant vaccinations before travelling to Vietnam and was very satisfied with the service provided. Today such injections to exotic locations are no longer available there and one has to go to Lucca’s new San Luca hospital.
Why is the health centre called ‘Susie Clarke’? It’s because Frances and Susie Clarke were wealthy sisters originally from Minnesota (USA) who bought a large manor house in the Bagni di Lucca area where they would spend their summer vacations. In the years following the purchase the older sister, Susie Clarke (who died in 1932) restored the property, expanding some buildings, building new ones and substantially modifying the architecture of the manor house.
The sisters realised that health care was lacking in Bagni di Lucca (as it was in so many rural locations in Italy) and invested into improving the sanitary conditions of the local inhabitants in much the same way as Russian Count Demidoff did with his hospital (now a holistic health centre) at Ponte a Serraglio.
Looking at the photos which included the then mayor of Bagni di Lucca and fine poet Mario Lena, still very much alive in his nineties, I was flabbergasted to find that Frances Clarke herself was a chain smoker and was rarely seen without a fag in her mouth. Indeed, I was told by Valerio Ceccarelli, who is safeguarding the exhibition, that as soon as she had reached the end of one cigarette she would use it to light another one!
Susie Clarke’s fine manor house at Bagni di Lucca can be seen lording it over the avenue of plane trees connecting Fornoli with Ponte a Serraglio. It’s now an agriturismo called “La Torre,” offering rooms and apartments, a restaurant, and an ideal location for wedding receptions. Further information about La Torre and booking details can be found on its website at:
http://www.latorreagriturismo.com
La Torre remains an ideal venue to arrange wedding receptions through Lisa Redgrave’s brilliant company whose details may be found at: https://www.hitchedinitaly.com/