Postponed from the previous Sunday because of the torrential rain Pieve di Monti di Villa’s ‘presepe vivente’, or living crib, almost seemed destined for another deferment or even a cancellation because of the atrociously wet weather we’ve been having continuously since the end of October. Certainly, I didn’t feel keen to visit the presepe: the louring skies were truly menacing.

Pieve di Monti is only about four miles as the crow flies from Longoio but it’s over twice that distance by road. That’s because, from Longoio, one has to go down winding roads to the Lima valley, proceed to Ponte and then ascend to Pieve di Monti di Villa. There is an alternative route via Montefegatesi but that route is often subject to landslides and, with the current weather, is not a good bet.

Something about Pieve di Monti di Villa which normally commands beautifully extensive views towards the Apennines: (Not last Sunday though!)

The village first appears on maps in the eleventh century and was called Villa Terenzana, the name deriving from Terentius, an ancient Roman landowner. A standard golden handshake for retired Romans who had served in the legions was to be given land and the foundation of several villages in our area is due to that custom.

The village developed in the middle Ages around the castle of Villa Terenzana and the parish church of San Giovanni Battista. With the population increase in the nearby village of Monti di Villa, its name was changed to Pieve di Monti di Villa. In 1833 it counted 227 inhabitants.

Do not think that these villages were inhabited by mute inglorious Miltons. I’ve pointed out in previous posts that many have given birth to noted persons like naturalist Antonio Vallisneri (from Trassilico) and composer Nicolao Dorati (from Granaiola). Pieve di Monti di Villa was the birthplace in 1855 of a distinguished explorer, Adamo Lucchesi.

Lucchesi studied at Lucca’s Seminary and, aged sixteen, set off from Genoa for Argentina. In Buenos Aires he worked on a river boat on the Paraná, Uruguay and Paraguay rivers, and explored the virgin forests they traversed. He also explored the Alto Paraná region and, in 1883, discovered the Guairá waterfalls.

Returning to Lucca in 1906, Adamo devoted himself to philanthropic initiatives such as the “Giuseppe Mazzini” school (commemorated in the plaque below) and an institute for emigrants which provided them with a basic education that would allow them to avoid becoming mere labourers.

In 1936 he published “In South America – Alto Paraná and Chaco. 1875-1905” describing his expeditions. Adamo Lucchesi died in 1940.

Like all the villages in our area Pieve di Monti di Villa has its fair share of beautiful buildings. Foremost among them is the Pieve or parish church.

Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist it was founded in the twelfth century, rebuilt in 1446 and again between 1760 and 1776. It has a single nave and transept, and preserves the apse of the original medieval building. The bell tower was rebuilt in 1892.

Inside the church there’s an organ by Domenico Matteoni dated 1776 and a set of crystal chandeliers from the 17th century.

At the entrance of the village, to the right of the fountain, is the sixteenth century Palazzo Gabrielli. A member of this family was Paolo Gabrielli (1832-1908) who emigrated to London, and became a pupil of the exiled founder of modern Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini. As part of the presepe’s display, the villa’s elegant living room was an excellent place to demonstrate the art of weaving using the loom.

There are also the ruins of the Castle of Villa Terenzana but I was unable to locate these.

Despite the disappointment of poor weather and the consequent reduction of visitors Pieve di Monti di Villa’s presepe was beautifully presented. Indeed, the day kept dry while all around Pieve it rained. A miracle perhaps?

Traditional craftsmen displayed their skills whether it be in carding wool and stuffing mattresses, or interleaving rush chair seats or grinding maize or repairing shoes or threading baskets or sharpening knives or making new brooms: all activities which, until a few years back were regularly carried out in the village:

There was even a old village school class with children learning the alphabet by singing a song:

Food and drink was abundant: I enjoyed a sausage sandwich and in the local osteria had a glass of mandarin punch.

Music was supplied by a guitar and accordion duo.

(Sara and Brunello)

The steep cobbles were spread with sawdust in several sections since the wet weather had made them so slippery.

I did not stay, however, until the evening to see Mary and Joseph arrive with the baby Jesus and occupy their places in the stable, followed by the Three Wise men. It was becoming too dark for me to get back home. Here, however, are some pictures of the event taken by a visitor who stayed on.

(Photo Courtesy of Sonia Massei)

Well done to Pieve di Monti di Villa and its enterprising inhabitants! The mountain villagers were not discouraged by the gloomy weather but put their best into making this event truly entertaining and a wonderful way to inaugurate the Christmas season.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 7^th December 2010 in Via Contessa Casalini, the street which surrounds Bagni di Lucca’s Casalini gardens, near the church of the Sacred Heart and by the entrance of the driveway leading to a doctors’ surgery, Cala Perez Kaliannys, a 27-year-old Cuban girl, who was taking a walk with her cousin, was killed with nine pistol shots. First, two shots were fired into her chest; then another seven were released when Cala Perez was already on the ground and practically lifeless. A skinny young man wearing a leather jacket was seen walking away after the shooting. Meanwhile, on the other side of the gardens children were leaving the local school at the end of their classes. The local police quickly rushed in to protect them telling those outside to immediately lie down flat.

The search began for Cala’s presumed killer, Leonard Grifsha, a twenty-six year old Albanian construction worker employed by a Ponte a Serraglio company. Carabinieri from all stations in the Serchio valley were mobilised and, coordinated from centres at Lucca and Castelnuovo Garfagnana, to search for the killer, who had had a relationship with the victim in the past months.

Friends and acquaintances were questioned and, overnight, checkpoints set up along the main roads to and from the Garfagnana. The army at San Marcello Pistoiese also joined in along the mountain area leading to Abetone on the Brennero road. The search continued, too, around Lucca with considerable numbers being involved.

Three days later, on 7th December, Leonard Grifsha was captured as he tried to pick up his belongings in Ponte a Serraglio and confessed to the murder. In all probability Grifsha was preparing to escape to Albania. At the time of capture he was unarmed. Grifsha told the Carabinieri, however, that he had thrown the gun in the Lima River. A search for the murder weapon was made but I’m not sure whether it was ever found.
For three days and three nights Grifsha had hidden in the woods behind my house at Longoio where someone may have given him shelter from the bad weather. According to the carabinieri’s investigations, the Albanian had been trained in Germany as a paramilitary and had even fought in Afghanistan so he would have been used to roughing it in all conditions.

Grifsha fully collaborated with Lucca’s Public Prosecutor Salvatore Giannino, and was assisted by his lawyer Luca Cantini. He was then taken to the San Giorgio prison in Lucca. A trial followed and the murderer was condemned to life imprisonment.

What was the motive for the murder? It was mainly because Cala had refused to continue her relationship with Grifsha and also because, apparently, Cala had been receiving money from the Albanian to buy a flat in Florence which, however, she was sending back to her relatives in Cuba.

Cala, born and bred in a country we have visited and love but which we realize is quite impoverished because of US sanctions, had met a friend of ours from Bagni in Cuba. He fell in love with her, and she grabbed the opportunity of his offer of marriage to escape to a more prosperous country like Italy. Our friend paid for the considerable cost of the wedding (which was quietly questioned among some of our friend’s relatives).

Cala already had a son from a previous relationship and brought him along with her to Bagni di Lucca where he was entered at the local school.  He has since turned into a very personable young man who we met since his step-father lives in the same house where we used to visit Sam Stych, a retired librarian and world Boccaccio authority, originally from Birmingham, and who died in 2018 at the age of 101. Indeed, Cala’s son was very helpful towards Sam in several ways, for example, sorting out his television channels, helping with his meals and dressing him.

Our friend confirmed that Cala, his separated wife with whom, however, he remained on good terms, had been threatened by the Albanian and that she was afraid, but had not had the courage to report the situation to the Carabinieri for fear of reprisals.

And that is the problem. So many women, particularly in Italy which has one of the highest feminicide rates of the world – six hundred in the past four years – with an average of one woman murdered by a jealous husband/partner every other day (and showing little sign of diminishing) are scared of denouncing their cruel companions for fear of reprisals. There are so many cases where, even if a woman denounces her partner’s abuse, the police take little action and the social services are not always as prompt as they could be. Regrettably, the UK can hardly be held up as a good example of what to do in these terrible situations: I heard recently on the news that a violent husband, who had been imprisoned, was not only released before the completion of his sentence but also was returned the house keys by the police: he promptly returned to the family home and murdered his wife.

Without in any way mitigating the circumstances of the tragic event that occurred in Bagni di Lucca nine years ago it is clear to me that putting a woman brought up in the more easy-going mores of a country like Cuba together with a man bred in a world where honour and shame ruled supreme in a patriarchal world was asking for trouble if the relationship soured. However, Bagni di Lucca did not expect anything as awful as what happened. I remember being interviewed by national television and as I was eating my pizza at a local bar finding myself on screen. (I just said that the whole of Bagni di Lucca was shocked at the event.)

Last year Bagni di Lucca comune decided to place a now iconic red bench, symbolising the blood spilt by the murder of women by their possessive men, near to the spot where Cala was assassinated.

Last month on the day dedicated to the memory of these women the red bench was inaugurated by the mayor who in his speech stated that Bagni’s municipal administration would spare no efforts in the fight against violence on women and is cooperating with associations helping to prevent such crimes and offering protection to the victims.

A further initiative regarding violence on women will be the installation of another red bench, on December 9, in Montefegatesi; the same day when the village’s now famous the nativity scenes will be opened to the public. That is, indeed, I feel a fitting coincidence: the mother of the baby Jesus could be no better patron for those in search of a solution to a terrible and deep-seated cultural and psychological problem which invests the world well beyond the boundaries of Bagni di Lucca.

I would finally add that Cala’s Facebook page still remains, not so much as a consciously memorial page but one which is yet more poignant since it suddenly stops at that fateful day in 2010 with a comment in Spanish.

‘descansa en paz’ – which translates as ‘rest in peace.

Thanks to a major campaign organised by the Croce Rossa to collect funds, Cala was returned to her country of birth and lies buried in Cuba where her grave is regularly visited by her relatives and her ex-husband.

https://www.facebook.com/kaliannys.perez