An afternoon sortie to Montefegatesi in weather struggling for sunlight. The almost two hundred presepi brought welcome piquancy to Dante’s village.

Finally made it to Lucca to enjoy the Christmas lights and the presepi. So good to see them back!

Last Sunday before Christmas day and Bagni di Lucca celebrates a fun afternoon with stalls, street band, fire acrobats , a fine presepe at Villa Webb and ..Santa Claus himself

We were at Gallicano’s traditional Christmas torch-light procession last night which returns after two years pandemic absence. It was a most convivial and jolly occasion although thoughts were given to those martyred Ukrainian cities forced to be in darkness because of the continuing action of a psychopath.

The fiaccolata dates back to 1980 and has undoubtedly entered the tradition and history of the Serchio Valley where Christmas would not have its usual taste and attraction without this event in which the town’s street lighting is switched off for the duration giving added charm to the torches’ lights.

The procession wended its way through the streets of the town with its long line of torches that lit up the Borgo bringing a message of hope and solidarity which is the main purpose of the initiative.  We discovered many picturesque corners of Gallicano which we had previously regarded as largely a modern shopping centre. The procession finished near the town’s beautiful town hall in a square occupied by food stalls and, of course, the Christmas tree!

See that little yellow rectangle on the mountain side in the centre of this photo? That’s our house emerging from the rainy mists we’ve been having for the past several days and hopefully receiving that blue sky at last. (Photo courtesy of our neighbour on the opposite side of the valley).

Granaiola 2022: Our local village’s ‘Presepe Vivente’ (living crib). So lovely for it to be back after COVID and so well presented. An absolutely successful way to feel truly Chrismassy!

The three villages of Granaiola, Monti di Villa and Pieve di Monti di Villa have for some time got together to present a circulating version of the ever popular ‘Presepe Vivente’ (living crib) The last crib before the pandemic was at Pieve di Monti di Villa in 2019. Next year it will be Monti di Villa’s turn.

Last week I was admitted to Lucca’s asylum for the mentally insane – as a visitor, of course since the institution closed in 1999. Before becoming an asylum at the start of the nineteenth century it was a monastery. Mario Tobino was one of its most noteworthy directors and he wrote sympathetically about working there in an age when Lagarctol had not been discovered yet. His book ‘The Free Women of Magliano’ is an amazing read in the world of psychiatry as it evolved towards a psycho-pharmaceutical revolution.

It was, in fact, my third admission to the ‘manicomio’ of Maggiano. The first visit was quite by accident as we were keen to find out what a vast and dilapidated pile on top of a hill had been used for. The second visit was specially booked and I have written extensively about that one at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/luccas-very-own-snakepit/.

Several years had passed since that visit and I was keen to see what progress had been made in the upkeep of this monument to a former age of mental therapy. Part of the building had been restored into a bookshop and museum but little had changed to the rest of the complex except for an increasingly difficult struggle to keep the roof from leaking or even collapsing. Indeed, the part we did not see, which are two very long wings one on each side of the central buildings, show roof collapse as I was able to exam them on Google Earth.

The structure is placed in the delightful country of the Lucca hills and, were it not for its past use the place would have the most delightful prospects. Indeed, several lunatic institutions in the UK are similarly placed in the charming hills of Surrey and have now been converted into most desirable residences.

The main building has two cloisters: one for male inmates, the other for female inmates. There is a lovely chapel which had been used by the former monks there.

Here is a selection of photographs I took on that recent visit:

Doctor Mario Tobino thought the same about the hospital’s delightful location and even after his retirement retained his residence there:

Doctor Tobino’s innovations during his tenure at Maggiano included art and music therapy. Indeed, until the hospital closed it held an annual song contest open to all.

Here is a further collection of photos I took of different wards and treatment centres:

The band of volunteers who are keeping this building open to the public are doing a very worthy job. We should not forget these places of suffering and of hope in equal measure.

Our brave garden flowers are still blooming with less than three weeks to the year’s shortest day…