Milling around in Lucchio

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Francis

We first encountered the concept of alternative energy some years ago when we visited the Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth in mid-Wales. Here one can find Europe’s steepest water-balanced cliff railway and a fascinating panoply of machines powered by wind, water and the Sun.

The Lima valley, where we have a house, has a long history of water mills. Unfortunately there are very few of them left in working order today: I can only think of one at Pieve Fosciana and another at Fabbriche di Vallico.

The stratospheric village of Lucchio in the Lima valley has its houses perilously hung on a steep cliff, almost defying the laws of gravity. Indeed, an old saying remarks that the hens of Lucchio have to wear knickers else their eggs would immediately roll down to the valley floor!

Lucchio is crowned by the ruins of its castle which was once used as an outpost defending Lucca’s frontier against its warlike neighbour Pistoia. The views from the castle are quite spectacular.

Every summer for several years there has been a very entertaining and instructive tour of Lucchio’s water mills by Graziano Serafini, a local man whose many achievements include beating the draisine world record in 2016.

What is a draisine? Better known in the UK as the hobby-horse it’s a primitive bicycle invented by Baron Karl Von Drais in 1817. Made of wood with, as yet, no pedals to turn the wheel it’s pushed along by one’s legs. Graziano Serafini broke the Guinness world record for one mile with a copy of the draisine built by him; he dedicated the event to the memory of his son Massimo, who had sadly died three years previously. The proceeds were generously donated to a children’s charity in Lucca.

Graziano Serafini is an expert on wind and water mills, particularly those of Lucchio. Passionate about industrial archeology, he has constructed a series of scale models, showing the mills’ interiors with their system of gears and stone grinders.

In the Bagni di Lucca area, the eighteen main tributaries feeding into the Lima were for long the main force in operating factories, silk factories, paper mills, and flour and chestnut mills.

I have attended Graziano’s tour of the Lucchio mills on a number of occasions but none were as striking to me as the first time I joined his mill explorations group in the summer of 2005. We delved deep into the valley floor and from the undergrowth emerged Lucchio’s ancient mills – testimonies of a time when the environment was treated with rather greater respects by people.

Here are some photographs from that tour:

Graziano also pointed out the ridge where the remains of Lucchio’s only wind-powered mill are sited:

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Il Castello del Conte di Arundel

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Francis

Uno dei più grandi paradossi della nazione paradossale del Regno Unito è che il cugino della regina, il Conte di Arundel, duca di Norfolk e primo Lord della Regina – che è capo della Chiesa protestante Anglicana – è cattolico e lo è sempre rimasto anche dopo il grande schisma del Re Enrico Ottavo che, con Lutero, divise L’Europa nei due campi opposti: protestanti e cattolici.

Questa situazione dei Cattolici inglesi, opposti alla fondazione della ‘Church of England’, creò gravi problemi, anche se si era un potente nobile. Infatti, Philip Howard, il ventesimo conte di Arundel, fu imprigionato a vita nella Torre di Londra, quasi decapitato e morì con solo il suo cane per tenerlo compagnia. Fu fatto Santo da Papa Paolo VI nel 1970 e divenne uno dei ‘quaranta martiri dell’Inghilterra e del Galles’.

Il santuario di Saint Philip, col suo fedele compagno a quattro zampe, si può vedere nella magnifica cattedrale di stile ‘flamboyante’ di Arundel.

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Inoltre, il Conte di Arundel possiede anche il titolo di Duca di Norfolk, e, come ‘Earl Marshall’ si occupa di tutte le cerimonie imponenti del sovrano: dalla sua incoronazione, alla sua morte e dai matrimoni ai battesimi e l’inaugurazione del nuovo parlamento.

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(I figli del Duca in attesa di Sua Maestà all’inaugurazione del Parlamento)

La ridente cittadina di Arundel si trova presso le gentili pendici dei South Downs, che riflettano, con la loro geologia di gesso, le North Downs al sud di Londra. Arundel è piena di caratteristiche case antiche a graticcio, cioè con strutture fatte di travi di legno. La ‘High Street’ ha seducenti negozi, specialmente quelli di antichità e librerie. Fu al ‘House on the Hill’ in questa via che abitarono i novelli sposi Dino e Elia, genitori di mia moglie Alexandra. Andavano a prendere il latte alla latteria del castello che possedeva a quel tempo una mandria di mucche.

E’ il castello, però, che domina Arundel, in una maniera spettacolare. La dimora del duca di Norfolk (del quale i Verdiani ricorderanno che Falstaff, ora vecchio e obeso, fu una volta paggio:

Quand’ero paggio
Del Duca di Norfolk ero sottile,
Ero un miraggio
Vago, leggero, gentile, gentile.
Quello era il tempo
Del mio verde Aprile,
Quello era il tempo
Del mio lieto Maggio,
Tant’ero smilzo, flessibile e snello
Che avrei guizzato attraverso un anello. )

Assume il castello, con le sue massicce torri e gli imponenti muraglioni, possesso del paese in una maniera che ho visto raramente negli altri ‘città castello’ inglesi. (Forse Carnarvon e Conway nel Galles si avvicinano a questa imperiosità).

La nostra mattina fu passata nell’esplorazione del castello. Prima ci siamo avviati nella parte più antica, il mastio, che risale al secolo undicesimo. Infatti, il castello fu fondato il giorno di Natale del 1067 da Roger di Montgomery, il primo conte di Arundel.

Il mastio ha panorami mozzafiato su l’idillica campagna della contea di Sussex e sull’incantevole borgo di Arundel.

Nella 1643, durante la guerra civile inglese, il castello fu assediato per diciotto giorni e molto danneggiato. Fu l’unica volta che fu messo alla prova.

Cominciando dal secolo XVIII, i conti di Arundel iniziarono a restaurare la loro dimora prodigiosamente tale che quando la regina Vittoria fece visita nel 1846 scrisse nel suo diario che un castello cosi bello non l’aveva mai visto.

Il castello possiede la sua cappella.

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Una grande sala per ricevimenti:

Una squisita biblioteca:

Delle camere carine per gli ospiti:

Il gabinetto usato dalla regina Vittoria:

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Il salotto per i banchetti:

E molte altri vani prelibati:

Mi sento quasi un ‘castellano’ nel numero dei castelli che ho visitato. Questo di Arundel, rimane, uno dei più magnifici e monumentali nel Regno Unito che abbia mai visto ed è tenuto a perfezione poichè rimane sempre la casa principale del conte e della sua famiglia.

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(Il Conte di Arundel in visita a San Giovanni Paolo II)

Per parlare, in seguito, dei castelli francesi, quelli tedeschi, quelli giapponesi e, specialmente, quelli italiani – ognuno ha le sue caratteristiche, i suoi tesori, i suoi angoli emozionanti. Forse il più bel castello che si possa visitare è quello che si costruisce nell’immaginazione, che è fatto di pane pepato, che trattiene una bella damigella con i capelli lunghissimi in una torretta e che vola sulle nubi.

Nei nostri sogni

castelli della mente

aprono soglie.

A Castle, a Castagnata and a Countess

Posted on October 28, 2018 by Francis

The chestnut festival season is in full swing in our part of the world. I’d written a post listing all the main ones within easy reach of Bagni di Lucca at https://longoio3.com/2018/09/21/nuts-about-chestnuts/ .

We went to the castagnata at Lucchio last weekend. Quite a small affair it was delightfully intimate and the setting of the hill-town, which seems to hold onto the precipitous slope for dear life, was spectacular.

We first visited the rocca, or castle, which acted as the last defence post of the republic of Lucca for several centuries. It must have been massively impregnable at its height, enough to frighten away any enemy whether Florentine or Pistoian and even today, in its ruinous state, it presents an impressive picture. The views from the castle are to die for: one can see the whole length of the Lima valley and beyond with such mountains as the Balzo Nero and Monte Giovo.

For the castagnata, the castle was newly assaulted, this time, however, by a merry group of young people who were having great fun with a somewhat noisy drone.

We weaved our way through the precipitous streets to reach the village’s parish church of San Pietro, a sweet building largely reconstructed in the late nineteenth century.

Here the main event was taking place. We treated ourselves to necci con ricotta (chestnut pancake filled with cottage cheese) and a glass of vin brulée which was definitely needed now that the evenings are becoming ever chillier.

In the adjoining church hall there was an interesting exhibition which included a slide show on different types of mills.

There was an example of a necci toaster.

The chestnut pancakes are cooked between heated stones in a pile – most ingenious..

It was a lovely way to spend an afternoon in convivial company and a good excuse to visit a village which, despite the difficulties of living there, still retains forty permanent inhabitants and in summer is filled with emigrants (largely to France) returning to their ancestral roots.

On the way out I glanced up at the mansion, perched on a hill at the entrance to the village, which was once Lady Anna Harley’s, Countess of Oxford, summer residence and dates from the 1840’s. The ‘Villa San Giorgio’ is now in a ruinous state, abandoned by its subsequent owners, but there are plans for restoring it.

I have managed to find out the following about Lady Harley. She was born in 1803, the fifth child of Jane Harley, Countess of Oxford, who became Lord Byron’s mistress in 1811. Lady Anne Harley married Signor Giovanni Battista Rabitti, Count of Saint George and thus was titled ‘Contessa Anna Harley Rabitti di San Giorgio’. Her husband died in 1845 leaving the countess with three children.

This gelatine photograph shows Anne Harley together with them. I estimate it must date from the 1860s. But is it really a photograph from life or a photograph of a lost painting?

Anne published a ‘Catalogo Poliglotto delle Piante’ in 1870. It’s a glossary of plant names with their equivalent name in several, mainly European, languages.

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Do note the dedication to George Bentham by the author. George Bentham, CMG FRS FLS (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884), was an English botanist, described by botanist Duane Isely as “the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century”. He was also a distinguished researcher at Kew gardens; the dedication to him by the countess just shows what important academic links she maintained. I wonder if that amazing botanic artist who travelled the world and whose pictures are collected in a custom-built gallery at Kew, Marianne North, knew both George Bentham and Anne Harley?

As the introduction states:

“Lady Anne Harley has spent many years in the compilation of this volume, which, we think, may prove useful to travellers on the Continent, and indeed, might even be made the means of instruction in our public schools. As an example, we select the Bellis perennis, which, a native of Europe, we find is, in English Daisy; French, Paquerette, Marguerite vivace, Fleur de Pâques; Italian, Pratolina, Margheritina de Prati; Spanish, Maya, la Margarita; German, Masslieben Gänse Blümchen, Angerblume, Osterblümchen. But we find not only the European names of a large number of plants given, but even in some instances, the Sanskrit, Bengal, Hind and Tamul names are also appended.”

Here is a entry dealing with dandelions from the volume. I’m grateful to my friend Marco Barsanti for sending me a link to download it.

2639. leontodon officinalis vide Taraxa- cum dens Leonis. — Eng. Dandelion common. —
Fr. Dent de Léon. — Ital. Dente di Leone. Radicchio.
Capo di frate. Soffione. Stella gialla. — Esp.
Amargon. Taraxacon.
2640. leontopodiuin alpinum ^ Eur.
Sibir. syn. L. vulgare. — Eng. Lions’, foot alpine. — Fr. Pied de Lion des Alpes. — Ital. Piede di Leone alpino. — Esp. Pie de Leon, alpino. — D.
G. All. Lòwenfuss, alpen.

Clearly the countess fell in love with the Lima valley and its villages and, as a naturalist, contributed significantly to the classification and collection of flora and fauna in this part of Tuscany. She must have been a very enterprising woman to come to these parts especially in an age when women were supposed to lead subservient and conventional lives. Anne died in 1874 and I just wish I could find out more about this remarkable person.

One of the people we met in Lucchio was Daniela (or Danièle) who lives in Paris and comes to Lucchio for her holidays. She is very knowledgeable about the village and we gathered this story about ‘Mariona’s doughnut’ from her.

At that time, the countess Anna’s beautiful villa, like other houses in the village, had no running water. People would go to the “Old Fountain” to get water and wash their clothes.

The countess brought with her as helpmate a young girl called Marie, who was nick-named Mariona.

One day, the girl brought a recipe for a cake that her mother was preparing for her to bring to the countess. Lady Harvey called this cake “Mariona’s doughnut”.

This is Mariona’s doughnut recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

– 500 g of flour

– 400 g of sugar (300 g are sufficient)

– 4 eggs

– 50 g of melted butter

– 1 packet of brewer’s yeast or 1 of dried yeast

– a pinch of salt

– 2 glasses of milk

– 1 small glass of cognac

– 1 glass of anise liqueur (pebble or other)

– Italian baking powder like ‘Pane degli Angel’.

PREPARATION:

In a container, mix the flour with sugar, yeast and a pinch of salt. (If you use brewer’s yeast melt it in some milk or water)

Add the egg yolks (keep the egg whites) then gradually pour in the milk, melted butter, cognac and aniseed liqueur, stirring well to avoid the formation of lumps.

Finally add the egg whites, stirring in gently.

If you use brewer’s yeast, let the dough rest for 1 or 2 hours in a cool place.

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C

Place the mixture in a mould from 23 to 26 cm, wide (preferably with a hole in the centre) and bake for about 45 minutes.

Allow it to cool before removing it from the mould.

Enjoy at tea-time or as a dessert.

PS As I still have to get the cognac I haven’t tried this recipe yet. Anyone who does is welcome to send me a photo of their efforts and I shall be glad to publish it in my blog.

PS If you haven’t been to a castagnata yet you’re still in time for the one at Barga from the 2nd to the 4th November.

Hell on Earth near Pisa

Posted on October 1, 2018 by Francis

Today it’s raining and that’s a real blessing for our part of Italy which has received virtually nothing from the heavens for over a month. The extreme dryness spreading over the land has made the risk of forest fires very real and the greatest conflagration in local living memory broke out over the Pisan Mountain on the 24^th of September. It spread rapidly, fuelled by strong winds, and was not finally extinguished until the 28^th.

(Photographs courtesy of Tuscany Fire-fighting service)

By that time the appearance of large tracts of the Monte Pisano, which separates Lucca from Pisa, had changed from a deep green autumn colour to a hellish grey desert.

(My photographs)

Over 1400 hectares of forest were destroyed, many houses were devastated out, damage to olive groves hundreds of years old was extensive, both domestic livestock and wild animals were burnt alive. An artist friend living in Pisa noted that the first she knew about any fire was when her and her neighbours’ houses were suddenly invaded by hordes of flying insects fleeing from the mountain fires. This is, indeed, a well-documented phenomenon.

Fortunately there were no human victims but hundreds of people had to be evacuated and many livelihoods destroyed.

It’s a sad fact that the Monte Pisano does suffer from fires at regular intervals. But the last major fire in September 2009, with 120 hectares burnt, hardly compares with the present catastrophe.

One of the families affected by the inferno and one of many having to suffer a ‘notte bianca’, i.e. a ‘white night’ of sleeplessness, was that of our friend Piero Nissim who lives on the route above Calci leading to Buti (still closed because of the wild-fires). Piero is a world-famous writer, poet, playwright, composer, singer-guitarist, master Esperantist, puppeteer and documenter of the Nazi-fascist atrocities perpetrated in the last war, particularly against the Jewish people. (Piero’s mother was from a Lithuanian Jewish family and his father, Giorgio Nissim, was an Italian Schindler-like figure who saved thousands from the death camps and was awarded the Italian gold medal for civilian valour). I have mentioned the multi-faceted Piero in my posts at:

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/a-plea-for-justice-and-civility-in-italy/

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/10/28/pumpkins-and-puppets/

We visited Piero’s family just after the fire – the visit had been organised before the conflagration – and Piero gave us a hair-raising account of the terrible, sleepless night of the 25^th when evacuation and the destruction of their exceptionally interesting house with its art works, puppets and books were so perilously close.

(From left to right: Piero’s wife, Claudia, Sandra’s mum Elia, Piero’s daughter Miriam, Sandra, me, Piero Nissim)

Fortunately the flames didn’t reach them although they saw them rising hundreds of feet in the air just a few yards away. What saved them were the mountain stream and the road which separated their house from the main fire.

(Piero’s ‘white night’)

Now with the rains do not believe that things will come back to normal. Without the trees the steep slopes of the Pisan mountain will be subject to landslides and massive earth movements. For this reason, after the fire-fighters, with their Canadair planes and helicopters, the channel excavators have moved in tracing ditches which will hopefully allow the rain water to be diverted into conduits and not further devastate the hills.

The Pisan Mountain, scene of some of my most enjoyable walks, will never be quite the same again. True, the damage could have been far worst for even the splendid Charterhouse of Pisa at Calci with its priceless museum and monastery was threatened.

The fortress at Vicopisano, designed by Brunelleschi and curated by another friend Giovanni Ranieri Fascetti, was also dangerously close to becoming another victim:

(Talking of Vicopisano, there’s going to be a castagnata or chestnut festival there this October 4th in the late afternoon).

Forensic investigations now point to the fire as a deliberate act of vandalism. Why? There’s no reason to set alight a mountain which is a national park and protected from any illegal building.

Yes, these scars will last throughout our own lifetime and only disappear with new generations who, hopefully, will have greater regard for Mother Nature and her irreplaceable wonders.

The Castle of Controni

Posted on February 9, 2018 by Francis

I confess that some of my favourite childhood reading included Enid Blyton’s books. Not so long ago I had to rebuy her ‘Bedside book’ just out of nostalgia. However, my favourites from this prolific author were her ‘Adventure’ series. In particular I was bowled over by ‘The Castle of Adventure’ and decided that it was unfair my life should be so dull while Jack, Lucy, Dinah and Philip appeared to be having such thrilling adventures regarding a mysterious castle.

However, in 2008 I was given the chance of discovering my own ‘castle of adventure’. It’s situated on top of the hill that rises above the four villages of San Gemignano, Gombereto, Pieve di Controni and Guzzano.

The hill is best reached in winter since there is no clear path to the top and the vegetation is Mayan-jungle-like.

What remains of the castle are some massive stone walls which may be higher than they look since the earth is built up at that point.

Unfortunately part of the site is occupied by an unattractive water tank.

Controni castle was part of an extended defence system which included castles at Lucchio, Casoli, Limano and Benabbio. Its purpose was to protect the area from incursions by the aggressive Pistoiesi.

Unlike the castle at Benabbio – see my post on it at

https://longoio3.com/2017/08/14/the-wolfs-lair/ –

nothing has been done here regarding archaeological investigation, access facilitation or publicity. This is a real pity as the views from Controni castle are lovely and it could be made part of a special castle trail throughout our commune.

Incidentally, in 1990 Blyton’s ‘Castle of Adventure’ was adapted as a TV series and even starred Brian Blessed. Interestingly, the TV series was filmed at Saltwood castle, Sir Kenneth ‘Civilization’ Clark’s and his philandering son’s family home. I have not seen the television series but have found that it is on YouTube at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL4d3Pmpg7g&list=PL6fJmjt84zZiMl2pO6ioW8kUsPz7GR0IU

No matter; my childhood’s recollections of the book must surely be more vivid than any television version. That is usually the case…

The Flying Mule Track

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Francis

Today the time of living within a drizzly cloud has finally vanished and blue skies and sunshine have returned. An occasion perhaps for re-savouring the pleasures of hillwalking? In the meanwhile, casting my eyes back to January 2008, I came across this incredible walk in neighbouring Lunigiana which takes one down from the village of Vinca to Monzone.

I have already written a post about this walk in June 2013 when I did it a second time with two friends, both of whom are no longer with me in our area: one friend has returned north and the other has gone further afield to the land where none return. The full account of that memorable time on this walk is in my post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/magical-mulattiera/ and it cannot be bettered.

Originally a mule-track between Aiola (alt: 90 metres) and Vinca (alt: 900 metres), path no 39 traverses alp-like pastures, birch forests, exposed rocky outcrops, and chestnut woods to finally enter the cultivated areas of the Lucido valley villages. In addition, along the path one can meet with a sanctuary, several Maestà (little shrines), the ruins of an ancient church, a remote hermitage and a mysterious castle watch tower buried deep in the forest. This truly is a path to experience, although it requires some fitness, a good sense of balance, keenness and perseverance.

The footpath starts from the little village of Vinca which is nestled below 5850 foot high Monte Garnerone.

It first traverses a forest through whose barren winter branches we could see weirdly-shaped exposed rocks. What wonders were around us: the wild crags of the Northern Apuans and the extensiveness of views over the Lucido valley, the timelessness of it all…

Our way then ‘flew’ over an amazing little viaduct .

Round the corner was the ruined chapel of the ‘Madonna Vecchia Di Vinca’ which still has traces of painted decoration on the wall. Under the shadow of a projecting rock, the chapel made a welcome stop and shelter. A legends say that here the Madonna summoned a fountain from barren rocks and, indeed, there is still a trickle of water by the chapel. Other stories relate that the chapel was gobbled up by ants and that the only animals that could pass it were dogs as all other creatures were considered inferior.

The path continues on a metal gangplank across one stretch which has fallen down due to a landslide. Holding on for dear life to an iron chord against the rock face, we negotiated this stretch without difficulty (just didn’t look down!)

On both occasions I undertook this walk by the time I’d reached the sign indicating a detour to the ‘Eremo di San Giorgio’ I was too tired to add the extra mileage. Will there be a next time when I will make it there? The remains of the hermitage are on top of a ridge around 2950 feet high. It was built in the seventeenth century but was abandoned in 1779 when the order was dissolved by order of the grand duke of Tuscany. The hermitage appeared to be a substantial construction with two stories, a church, bell tower, refectory and twelve friars’ cells. Now, however, I am told little remain and the hermitage is being dissolved into the encroaching ravages of vegetation and time. I wonder what it must have been like to be a friar there?

Path no 39 now becomes tamer and enters a thick forest in the centre of which we could see the ruins of what seemed to be a castle keep. In fact, ‘Il Castellaccio’ was a defense watch-tower for the Vinca valley and, despite my best attempts, I was unable to find a way past the surrounding walls into the tower itself.

The last part of this stupendous walk brought us to Aiola and thence to Equi Terme railway station.

PS Dear reader I hope that by this time you’ll have realised it wasn’t the mule that was flying but the mule-track!

Of Mediaeval Festivals

Posted on September 5, 2017 by Francis

How many of you knew that there is a masterpiece of Florentine architecture only a half-an-hour’s drive from Lucca? Brunelleschi, famous for designing and building Florence cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore’s cupola, also projected the imposing fortress at Vicopisano just on the other side of the Pisan Mountain. This fortress was built in 1434 after the surrounding Pisan territory had been conquered by the Florentines and has an unique feature – a “rescue” wall descending from the main keep walls down to the river Arno (or where the river used to be as it was diverted to its present course in 1560). This wall enabled the castle to be supplied with food and armaments if besieged or, alternatively provided an escape route for its defenders if the opponents’ siege was successful. The main feature of the fortress is the mastio (or keep) which can be accessed via an aerial staircase – (not suitable for vertigo sufferers!). The views from the top are transcendent.

Vicopisano is also an excellent scenario for its Mediaeval Festa.

With all our once local Val di Lima mediaeval feste gone (there was a time when Casoli, Lucchio and Gombereto all held their own events – Gombereto’s is the last to have disappeared and this year there was no Festa medievale there) one has to go further afield for the experience of seeing mediaeval combat, traditional games falconry displays, fireworks, noble lords and ladies in all their finery, ancient crafts and pastimes and all the other delights of a medieval fair.

The main ones we’ve been to are at:

Nozzano

Volterra – the best so far

Coreglia Antelminelli

Castiglione Garfagnana

All, except Volterra, are within an hour’s drive of Bagni di Lucca and all are promised again during next summer. Of course, further afield there will be magnificent pageants at Arezzo (Giostra Del Saraceno), Siena (Palio), Gubbio (corsa dei ceri) and so forth.

We did enjoy the Vicopisano festa very much and attended it on its best day, last Sunday. The big Saturday evening pageant was washed out because of heavy rain. It must have been so disappointing for all concerned.

To get to Vicopisano is easy. There are two routes. The one via Altopascio takes you across a flat almost fen-like plain (were it not for the sunflowers) . The clouds (as in the fenland) were particularly impressive.

The other route takes one closer to the Pisan Mountain and crosses a delightful area called il Compitese where there is one beautiful village after another. Here are some photos of Castelvecchio perched high on a ridge overlooking the plain formerly occupied by lake Bientina, of which only a small part now remains after drainage. The views of the Apuan mountains from here are pretty impressive too.

Regrettably we weren’t able to stay until the evening so we couldn’t see all the pageants and firework displays. On the other hand, when we were leaving, so many visitor cars were entering the environs of beautiful Vicopisano that we were a little glad we weren’t caught up in the rush. Truly, the high spot of this festa (about one and a half hour’s drive from BDL is in the evening). Anyway, here are a few corners of the festa including the incredibly good English-language speaking Châtelaine of the castle-fortress of Vicopisano:

I wonder what festa medievale we’ll plump for next year?

Montagnana’s Magnificent Walls

Posted on August 27, 2017 by Francis

Why are there so many magnificent fortified towns in the Veneto region? In our previous posts we’ve mentioned our visits to Castelfranco Veneto, Monselice and Este, quite apart from the several others we’ve seen but not yet written about.

The answers are easy to see. The Veneto region lies at the crossroads of three major invading powers: the Saracenic, the Hapsburg and the north Italian Visconti and Sforza. Venice itself, it will be remembered, was founded on the natural defences of lagoon islands by fleeing refugees as a protection against invading goths. When Venice developed and expanded its maritime republic, its outposts away from the seashore needed to have equally strong defences – especially if they were situated on a vast flat alluvial plain with no protective hills on which to perch fortifications.

It would be difficult to say which are the finest fortifications in Veneto but the detour to Montagnana suggested by guests from that same town was more than worth the extra time added on our journey.

Imagine an almost Disneyland-like walled mediaeval town and there, in Montagnana, you have it for real.

It’s no wonder Montagnana, part of the Venetian republic until 1797, was never conquered!

Enclosed in a quadrilateral 600 by 300 metres, giving a perimeter of two kilometres, Montagnana’s walls are clearly not as extensive as Lucca’s but they are much older, dating from the fourteenth century and, thus, before the development of firepower changed the whole logistics of city fortifications.

Montagnana’s walls are eight metres high and a metre thick and are fully battlemented, so that archers could protect themselves from one arrow launch and the next. Every 60 metres there is a tower around 19 metres high. There are 24 in all! Encircling the walls is a vallum, or moat, over 30 metres wide, much of which is still filled with water from the river Frassine.

Within the walls are launching areas for catapults, armament storage depots and accommodation for the military. There are even extensive vegetables gardens, essential for withstanding a long siege.

Even if the invading forces managed to get anywhere near the magnificent Montagnana walls they would have had to go past four outer bulwarks and, if that wasn’t enough, wade through malaria-infested swamps and flooded fields.

Entry to the town is through the gates of San Zeno castle, controlling the route to Padua, and the Rocca degli Alberi, controlling the westward route to Verona. Later gateways were opened much later when the railway was built…

We didn’t have much time to visit the town enclosed within these superlative walls. But it looked architecturally rich with fine palaces and glorious churches, some of which contained paintings by such greats as Veronese.

I think we’ll definitely have to return to the area for there is still another extraordinary walled town we have to visit, Cittadella.

I’d never imagined such glorious wealth of walled towns in the Veneto region of Italy. I should have known better of course. After all who hasn’t delighted in such places as Verona and Padua? The difference here, however, is that the walls stand clear in their own ample ground, (rather like Lucca) and are not smothered by later accretions.

O for a time when the ultimate development in defence technology were such things. Could there possibly be anything approaching such beauty when talking about nuclear bunkers or missile stations

Italy’s Most Picturesque Town According to Ralph Waldo Emerson

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Francis

Visitors to Italy always make a bee-line from Bologna to Venice, thereby missing out some of the country’s most exquisite towns en route. Padova is increasingly recognised as a worthy neighbour to ‘La Serenissima’, especially with regard to its Giotto frescoes, Saint Anthony’s tomb and the fascinating historical centre. We described Padova (Padua in our post at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/why-dont-all-bankers-behave-like-this/ et sequitur.

To the south of Padua are the lovely Euganean hills sung by Shelley in the midst of which is the house where Petrarch lived his last days. This is also described in my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/italys-second-prize-winner-for-best-village/

There’s a lot more to feast the eye if one wanders a few miles off the Ferrara- Padua autostrada. One of the places we looked at was Monselice described by the great American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson in his journal of 1833 as

the most picturesque town I have seen in Italy. It has an old ruin of a castle upon the hill and thence commands a beautiful and extraordinary view. It lies in the wide plain – a dead level – whereon Ferrara, Bologna, Rovigo, Este, Padua stand and even Venice we could dimly see in the horizon rising with her tiara of proud towers. What a walk and what a wide delightful picture. To Venice 38 miles.

We didn’t actually walk to Venice – our little Panda car took care of that nor were we able to climb the castle as all we stopped at Monselice for was for a bite to eat – singularly unsuccessfully as there wasn’t a place open! All closed for the holidays… However, we could easily see why Emerson loved the place. The town’s almost deserted streets with little porticoes shading one from the relentless noon-day sun were supremely picturesque. Monselice surely deserves a lot more time than we gave to it. Next time we’ll want to climb to the top of the castle keep crowning a perfect volcanic hill and appreciate the view that so enthralled Emerson. We shall also visit one of Europe’s finest armoury collections at the Castello Cini, the Romanesque church of Santa Giustinia, the Seven Churches Sanctuary by Palladio’s pupil, Scamozzi, with paintings by Palma il Giovane and also the Villa Duodo another of Scamozzi’s most original works.

However, we were keen to fill our stomachs and our recent peregrinations took us to two further towns, Este and Montagnana, which completely magicked us – but that must take up another post or two to describe those quite astonishing places.

The Wolf’s Lair

Posted on August 14, 2017 by Francis

The Val di Lima abounds in castles as befits an area which is at the boundary between one former power and another. Pistoia, Florence, Pisa and Este have all fought over this area in the past. ‘Limes’ is Latin for boundary and, apart from the name of our river, its root forms the basis for at least one local village name, for example, Limano.

The problem is that the majority of these castles lie in ruins and are often overgrown so that one has to tramp through spiky undergrowth to reach them. The only truly visible castle is that at Lucchio and even Lucchio is largely ruinous. To see completer defences one has to travel up the Serchio valley. There one came come across such marvels as Verrucole castle and forte Mont’Alfonso.

We have to distinguish between castles and forts. The definition of a castle is that of a defensive building erected before the advent of firepower with high walls, bastions and machicolations. A fort, on the other hand, doesn’t date much earlier than the sixteenth century and has lower, thicker. more slanted walls, no machicolations and is built to resist canons and muskets.

There are remnants of other castles in the Val di Lima, for example at Casoli and also on the hill above the Pieve di Controni but do not expect Italian versions of Caernarvon castle. The most you’ll come across is remains of cyclopic masonry which are often incorporated in more recent dwelling.

Benabbio’s castle has been the subject in recent years of considerable archaeological research by the University of Pisa. It was, therefore, with great interest that we participated in an open day at the castle yesterday.

There are two ways to approach the castle. First there’s a steep footpath which takes one through Benabbio village and into the chestnut forest above. Second there’s a do-able track on a 4 X 4 vehicle a little distance outside Benabbio, starting at the little chapel of the Madonna on the way to the Trebbio pass.

We used the second route, hitched a lift up and then walked down afterwards (around half-an-hour).

We were too late for the grigliata festa but this didn’t matter anyway as we’d already eaten. A very knowledgeable young lad showed us around the church dedicated to Saint Michael the archangel which once was in the castle and, indeed, formed part of its walls

We’d been to the church before when a shock discovery in the churchyard revealed remains of many corpses who died of the ‘morbo asiatico’, in other words cholera. My theory is that this disease was not locally transmitted through the water supply (as was the case in London) but by soldiers returning to their village after fighting the Crimean war in the 1850’s. (A contingent of Italian soldiers had been sent at the invitation of Emperor Napoleon III in the hope that the Piedmontese government would get support from France to fight the Austrians, regain Lombardy and thence, Italian unification. The funerary stones state that the soldiers landed at Genoa. That wasn’t the only place they caught the disease: the majority of soldiers in the Crimea didn’t die from bullet wounds but were in fact victims of cholera, successfully cured by the famous lady of the lamp, Florence Nightingale.

(I wrote an article for the Corriere di Bagni di Lucca on this very theme in 2006 which I’ve now copied onto Facebook if you can read Italian).

To return to happier subjects. The church of San Michele has been beautifully restored with its wonderful timber beam roof masterfully rebuilt according to traditional methods. It’s not often that this church is open to the public and, indeed this was the first time I’d entered into this remarkably spacious structure which was Benabbio’s original church.

The Vicaria Della Val di Lima were at the castle greeting us up with deafening shots of their harquebuses.

There were refreshments, a tombola (bingo) session and a very friendly atmosphere permeated the castle. One substantial wall of this former stronghold the Lupari family remains. I wish it could have spoken of its former times to us!

Benabbio is definitely a village to linger in and there’s history and stories around its every corner. For example, did you know that Benabbio has its own theatre, the ‘Eden’, dating back to 1780, where such Italian greats as Totò appeared on the stage and where the audience included Elisa Baciocchi, princess of Lucca and Napoleon’s sister. Certainly the theatrical link continues to this day since Dutch film star Thekla Simona Gelsomina Reuten’s mother hails from Benabbio. (Thekla, who visits Benabbio on a regular basis has acted on BBC television too : ‘Hidden’, ‘Restless’).

From London to La Costa (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Three

Category Archives: Castles