On July 18th this summer some villagers found him around 5.30 in the morning as they were walking to the car park to go to work. A man in his mid-fifties, from the United Kingdom, had hanged himself from a tree in the square of Casabasciana, the village in the mountains surrounding Bagni di Lucca.
It was a truly desperate action on which the carabinieri, alerted by the 118 emergency number after the first rescuers had arrived on the spot, are now trying to shed some light
For the casualty, who had moved to Casabasciana around twenty years ago, however, there was nothing more to be done: the rescue was completely useless. A terrible scene unfolded in front of those who had triggered the alarm call. Unfortunately, the desperate attempt to save his life was quite useless.
Who was this man? Evidently he had once led a happy life in his new home in the delightful village of Casabasciana. Then tragedy struck. His pregnant wife not only died in childbirth but the unborn daughter died as well with her. Friends rallied round to help the man in a heartrending situation. For a while he accepted their help but increasingly he became more and more reclusive until he refused to open his house to anyone from outside. At the same time he still accepted friendship from dogs and cats.
A second tragedy ensued from this. For when the authorities and volunteers entered the man’s house they found a scene of absolute horror and degradation. It wasn’t just the fleas that attacked them and many of the homes in Casabasciana. The situation of abolute squalor that emerged in a house in the town, which required a deep disinfestation by our refuse services BASE S.r.l, also involved some pet animals, which were found in poor condition and have since been looked after by the volunteers of the Arca della valle association.
“When our association was alerted to a situation of extreme difficulty” – explain the volunteers – “a terrible scenario appeared before our eyes. About twenty skinny, hairless cats full of fleas and utterly terrified were carried out by us from the house in question. Together with the cats on the street we also found billions of hungry fleas that attacked us as soon as we arrived”.
“The house” – the account continues –“was full of carcasses of dead animals (at the moment the estimate is about twenty corpses including cats and dogs) and dirty beyond belief. It is now being subjected to serious disinfestation and cleaning while the cats wander terrified and hungry inside the village unable to be caught because of their feral nature. Volunteers Monia, Patrizia, Vanessa and Fabrizia managed to catch eleven cats that will be subjected to all the necessary treatments and will be sterilized. The situation will continue to be monitored.”
For days now, the hygiene problem in this already difficult situation arising from the Covid-19 pandemic has continued to hit Casabasciana. Mayor Michelini visited the village to check up on the progress of the cleaning and sanitizing intervention. Accompanying him was also the environmental councillor to see how the flea infestation could be controlled.
“We are now at the end of the work to remove the accumulated waste” – said Mayor Michelini – “and on the first morning of Thursday BASE, our refuse collection company will provide for the complete disinfestation of the streets affected by the phenomenon. I hope that the long-standing hygiene problem will be definitively eliminated forever “.
“I want to thank” – continued the mayor – “all the inhabitants of Casabasciana and the visitors to the village for their patience and endurance shown in this hygiene emergency which, regrettably, also had such a tragic end. I thank the BASE company that has handled the problem with commitment and professionalism bringing it to completion, and the municipal officers and the local police for the support and assistance they have given me “.
However, the Arca della Valle said that they were disappointed the mayor didn’t mention them.
The president of the Arca Della Valle Association, Francesco Purini, replied to the statements of Bagni di Lucca mayor Paolo Michelini, regarding the inspection of the municipality pending the health emergency in Casabasciana.
“After the timely intervention of our girls from Arca della Valle – he says -, we are saddened by the fact that the mayor Michelini has not in the least mentioned the work performed flawlessly by our volunteers, highlighting this intervention which we believe has arrived with some delay. As president I would like to thank the volunteers of the Ark of the Valley, in particular Monia, Vanessa, Patrizia and Fabrizia for the excellent work they have done in Casabasciana especially with the removal of over twenty dog and cat decomposing carcasses and the help given to malnourished cats that had been locked up in the abandoned house. The Arca della Valle volunteers has also been able to capture and sterilize some cats in very bad conditions.”
I have discussed this both tragic and horrific story with various people in the know. The most obvious question I asked was why this situation was not discovered earlier. Why did the man, who clearly had psychological problems, developed after the awful death of his wife and daughter, fail to receive any meaningful help?. The answer to this one is that at the start he did get assistance from friends, relative and social services but then gradually excluded them to the extent that he barred the door of his house against anyone who tried to gain admittance. In that case why was not a court order issued by the health authorities for his house to be searched?
If the scenes of decomposition and decay were so ghastly then there would have been evidence of this in the stench arising from the unfortunate man’s house. Surely there would have been complaints arising from neighbours?
And how did the man get his provisions? Surely he would have gone to the shop, (Casabasciana has its own local shop). Socially, people would have asked him questions out of curiosity. How were the cats fed, for example?
Mystery upon mystery accrues. One thing is certain, however. It doesn’t matter whether one lives in a tower block on a failing inner city housing estate or if one lives in a house in a tiny mountain village of less than two hundred inhabitants; it is still possible to be entirely neglected by people and die in abject conditions of dreadfulness. We hear stories of dead bodies found in council flats months after death. At least in this particular case the body was found a few hours later hanging from a tree in the village’s main square. There again one requires a certain amount of effort to hang oneself and there will be some inevitable noise and commotion during the night: getting the rope to sling correctly over a branch of the tree, confirming that the noose slips easily round the neck and is positioned to correctly break one’s back bone, ensuring that the death will not be protracted and agonised by cries of pain.
This whole episode has greatly shocked and saddened us and all those people who have been told about it. Why did it happen? Indifference? Unwillingness to interfere in other people’s business? Fear of reprisals or attacks?
I just don’t know. Can humans be that indifferent?
This is, however, the fourth time than the image of a hanged person has returned to haunt me.
The first is that of the preserved tree trunk in nearby Montefegatesi where a partisan was strung up by the Nazi authorities during World War 2. Then there was the pizzeria owner by the Ponte delle Catene where we regularly ate. Another was that of Sergio Fini, one of my students and a friend. He was a poet and an artist who loved to draw trees and write poems about them. He hung himself on a beam in his house at Fornaci di Barga. And the fourth was this Englishman who had clearly come to Italy full of happiness and hope with his beloved in the wish to start a new life in this beautiful country but who so tragically and pointlessly finished up by stringing a noose round his neck and ending in utter squalor not only his life but the lives of those innocent animals who had trusted him.
The black dog is truly a fearsome beast to face as my post at https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/the-black-dog/ has pointed out!
