Script for a film on Cascina

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Francis

‘Càscina lies at the heart of a rich, flourishing and populous land, amid fertile fields and vineyards, stretched across a splendid plain along the ducal road from Pisa to Florence, between the River Arno and the Rinònico drainage canal.”

Thus begins Càscina and its Environs, written in 1912 by the Reverend Francesco Conti — a sentence that already contains, like a seed, the town’s geography, its vocation, and its destiny. It

Càscina stands where water, land, and roads have always converged: two miles east of Fornacette, eight from Pisa, fourteen from Livorno. A crossroads of trade and cultivation, history and survival.

The origin of the name “Càscina” remains veiled in uncertainty, suspended between legend and scholarship. Some historians trace it back to the Etruscan settlement of Càsne; others link it to the river that once bore the same name. That river appears in documents as early as 935, while the name “Càscina” itself surfaces in a parchment dated 26 June 750 AD, recording the donation of a house to the Church of Saint Mary of Càssina — a humble act marking the town’s first appearance in written history.

Four centuries later, on 27 October 1142, another parchment — preserved today in the Archbishop’s Archives of Pisa — records a decisive moment: Archbishop Balduino granted the inhabitants of the territory the right, and the duty, to build a castle and a town. Càscina was no longer merely a place; it became a fortified community.

By the Middle Ages, the town had taken on the form of a stronghold: a rectangular castle encircled by twelve towers, linked by low defensive walls and protected by a wide moat. Documents from 1270 speak of a bell tower and a fortified channel dug south of the Arno, both to defend Pisan territory and to regulate the river’s dangerous floods — a reminder that here, nature has always been both ally and threat.

In the 14th century the defenses were reinforced once more. Walls were raised, towers strengthened, and two gates constructed: one opening toward Florence, the other toward Pisa — symbols of a town poised between rival powers.

During the era of the Pisan Republic, Càscina stood loyally with the Emperor, opposing Lucca and Florence. That allegiance endured until 29 July 1364, when Florence defeated Pisa in the brutal Battle of Càscina — an event immortalized by Michelangelo Buonarroti. Though only preparatory drawings survive from his hand, the clash lives on through Vasari’s fresco in the Hall of the Five Hundred in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio, where art preserves what history destroyed.
Under Florentine rule, Càscina did not decline. On the contrary, it grew. By 1622 the town counted 5,587 inhabitants, and by the 18th century it had become the most populous and important rural center in all of Tuscany.

Modernity arrived with violence and progress intertwined. Toward the end of the 19th century, the Pisan and Florentine gates — along with parts of the walls — were demolished to make way for the Leopolda railway linking Florence and Pisa. Later, war inflicted further wounds. The Second World War erased entire sections of the ancient defenses.

Today the historic center appears fragmented, shaped by demolitions and transformations between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet fragments endure: the pentagonal Parisina Tower, the Stradina, the Piazza d’Armi, and the streets tracing the ancient walls — relics embedded within the modern town like fossils in stone.

The first monument to greet the visitor is the Civic, or Clock, Tower, rising in the western part of the old town where the Pisan gate once stood. Built of brick, it originally formed part of a militia building. Its current height of 72 feet reflects centuries of additions, visibly layered upon its surface — time made architectural.

Like many Italian towns, Càscina grew around its parish church square. Here stand the most significant civic and religious buildings: the Parish Church of Saint Mary and Saint John, the Chapel of the Sacrament, the Holy Cross Oratory, the bell tower, and the Stefanini Palace.
The parish church — the oldest in the area — already existed in the second half of the 8th century, though the present structure dates from the late 11th. Its Romanesque basilican plan, sober and harmonious, is marked by a gabled façade with blind arcades and crowned by a marble cross. On its right wall, an inscription recalls the passage of Emperor Frederick II’s troops in 1228 — history etched into stone. Inside, monolithic columns of pink granite and cipollino marble preserve the church’s original Romanesque severity.

Adjoining the church is the Chapel of the Sacrament, once separate and part of a small cemetery relocated in the late 18th century. Its interior unfolds in late-Baroque elegance. To the south lies the Holy Cross Oratory — once a baptistery — long abandoned, now restored to its baroque splendor, with a marble baptismal font at its heart.

The bell tower, asymmetrical and misaligned with the church, hints at its military origins. Built on the remains of an earlier tower, it aligns with the old castle. Its limestone base supports a brick upper section rebuilt after damage from a raid in 1295.

Facing the church stands the Stefanini Palace, now home to the Misericordia. Its austere brick façade contrasts with the richness inside, particularly the grand galleried hall blending baroque and neoclassical styles.

Along Corso Matteotti, the town’s main artery, stands the Oratory of Saint John the Baptist — known locally as “the nuns’ little church.” Built at the end of the 14th century by Bartolo Palmieri, a member of the Knights Hospitaller, it contains frescoes by the Sienese painter Martino di Bartolommeo. Anna Franchi, writing in 1928, captured its essence:
“At first, the emptiness makes it seem larger than it is. Gradually, solitude dissolves. Magnificent images fill every surface. No wall has been neglected.”

Leaving the historic center and heading east, one reaches the Sanctuary of the Madonna of the Water — an elegant Greek-cross structure built between 1614 and 1619, with a domed bell tower added decades later.
The municipality’s 30 square miles extend westward along the Tosco-Romagnola road, the commercial spine of the territory. Along it rise villages, churches, and traces of devotion and labor.

At Settimo stands the Church of Saint Benedict, mentioned as early as 861. Its sanctuary houses rare works, including a 14th-century English alabaster altarpiece — one of only four in Italy.

Nearby, during dry summers, the Arno reveals the submerged ruins of Saint Peter within-the-Castle, destroyed by floods in 1545.

Further west lies Saint Casciano, whose Romanesque church — adorned by the sculptor Biduino — stands among the most important monuments of the region.

Nearby Zambra preserves the unspoiled medieval church of Saint Jacopo, with symbolic murals recalling early Christian iconography.

Saint Savino’s Abbey rises on an artificial embankment, born from disaster and devotion after an Arno flood destroyed its predecessor. Its bell tower, destroyed in 1943 by retreating Nazi troops, has been rebuilt — an act of memory and resilience.

Castles, churches, and villages mark the western boundary, beyond which lies Pisa. Turning south and east, the journey continues through Bibbiano, Marcianella, and finally back to Càscina — a circle completed.

For centuries, agriculture shaped the town’s identity. In the 20th century, craftsmanship — particularly woodworking — transformed it. In 1922, the first permanent furniture exhibition opened, followed by the founding of the National Institute of Art, spreading Cascina’s fame worldwide.

Later economic crises redirected the town toward commerce, services, and innovation. The City of the Theatre and Navacchio’s Technological Centre symbolize this new chapter.

Yet perhaps Càscina’s most astonishing contribution lies in the fields south of town, where science reaches for the cosmos. Here stands VIRGO, a vast interferometric antenna designed to detect gravitational waves — ripples in spacetime predicted by Einstein himself. With arms stretching two miles each, it listens to the universe.

And so, in a land shaped by rivers, wars, faith, and labor, one of humanity’s oldest questions — Where do we come from? — may yet find its answer.
Here, in Càscina.

La Belle Epoque : Descriptions of my favourite paintings exhibited.

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Francis

The painting depicts a young woman reclining with a doll beside her.
Antonio Mancini was a prominent Italian painter known for his realistic and expressive portraits.
The inclusion of a doll in such paintings was a traditional custom in Southern Italy, symbolizing happiness, fertility, and good wishes for a new family.

The painting is titled Electricity (or Elektriciteit) by the Belgian artist Alfred Stevens, created around 1890.

The artwork is an oil painting on canvas and measures 116.5 by 81.5 centimeters.
It depicts a woman with long red hair holding a black cat, with a stormy or dark cityscape in the background.
The painting is a notable example of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, often associated with themes of modernity and the mystical aspects of electricity.
It is currently housed in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France.

Giovanni Boldini: Provocation.

Three ladies conversing.

The image shows a detail of the painting “Girl with a Black Cat” by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

The oil on canvas painting was completed in 1885.
Boldini was a genre and portrait painter known for his “Master of Swish” style due to his flowing brushwork.
The painting is noted for its vibrant red background, which makes the figures of the girl and the black cat stand out.
The girl’s expression is captivating, and the cat’s eyes are described as vital and hypnotic.
The original artwork is held in a private collection.

The image is a painting titled Figure of a woman (Léontine De Nittis) by the Italian artist Giuseppe De Nittis.

The subject of the painting is Léontine Gruvelle, the artist’s wife, friend, and model.
De Nittis was a renowned Italian Impressionist painter, famous for his elegant depictions of Parisian high society in the late 19th century.
He died at a young age, thirty-eight, but achieved significant success both in Italy and abroad.
Many of his works, including this one, are housed in the Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis in Barletta, Italy, following a donation by his wife after her death in 1913.

The image is a portrait painting titled “Portrait of Lady Eden” by the American artist John Singer Sargent.

The painting was completed in 1906.
It depicts Sybil Frances Grey, who became Lady Eden after marrying Sir William Eden.
Lady Eden is shown seated at a table, holding playing cards in her hand.
The finished painting is part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The image is a photograph of the painting “Reading by the Sea” (also known as In lettura sul mare or Dreams) by the Italian artist Vittorio Matteo Corcos.

The oil on canvas painting was created around 1910.
It depicts a man and two women dressed in white, with the woman in the center seated on a green chair looking directly at the viewer.
The painting is considered an important work of 19th and early 20th-century Italian realism.
The work’s original title was “Dreams” and it was considered somewhat controversial at the time of its exhibition due to the woman’s bold, unconventional pose and direct gaze.

The image is a painting titled The Chat (also known as The Gossip or Suada in Korean) by the Italian Impressionist painter Federico Zandomeneghi.

The artwork is an oil on canvas painting.
The original dimensions are 54 cm x 65 cm.

The image is a painting titled La Coccoli by the Italian artist Vittorio Matteo Corcos.

The artist, Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859-1933), was known for his elegant and realistic portraits during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The painting depicts a young child on a beach interacting with a crab, embodying a moment of quiet observation.
The work is characteristic of the Belle Époque era, capturing a sense of innocence and the leisurely lifestyle of the bourgeoisie.
Corcos worked in both Paris and Florence and contributed significantly to the artistic movement of the time with his refined and detailed style.

Youth: Giorgio Kienerk

Alceste Campriani: garden in Lucca

Fields around London (also known as Fields near London), created by the Italian artist Giuseppe De Nittis.

The painting was created circa 1875.
It is an oil on canvas painting and is categorized under the Impressionism art style.
The work is a genre painting depicting people enjoying leisure time in a vibrant, blooming field.
The painting is held in a private collection.

Young Woman with a Blue Ribbon (also known as Girl with a Blue Ribbon or Jeune Fille au ruban bleu) by the French Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The oil on canvas painting was created in 1888.
It is housed at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon in France.
The work is characteristic of Renoir’s return to a gentler, more delicate style after his Impressionist phase.
The model’s name is unknown, but she is believed to be the same young woman who appears in other Renoir works, such as Les Grandes Baigneuses.

“Dreams” (or Sogni in Italian).

Artist: Vittorio Matteo Corcos, an Italian painter.
Date: It was painted in 1896.
Subject: The painting depicts Elena Vecchi, the daughter of a friend of the artist.
Location: It is held in the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, Italy.
Reception: The painting caused a stir when exhibited in Florence in 1896 due to the subject’s modern pose, which was considered quite indecorous for the period.

Sogni (Dreams) by the Italian artist Vittorio Matteo Corcos, created in 1896.

The painting depicts a young woman in a light green dress seated on a wooden bench, resting her chin on her hand.
It is considered a masterpiece of Italian portraiture from the late 19th century.
The work is part of the collection at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (National Gallery of Modern Art) in Rome, Italy.
The woman in the portrait is thought to be the Countess Annina Morosini.

Vittorio Matteo Corcos. This particular work is a landscape piece, which is less typical of the artist, who is primarily known for his portraits of aristocratic and upper-bourgeois women.

The artist is Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1859–1933), an Italian painter.
He was known for his portraits and genre paintings, often depicting finely dressed young men and women.
While his fame is tied to his depictions of women, his work also includes landscapes like this one, which reflect a connection to naturalism.
The painting captures a village scene with a focus on a tiled roof and smoke rising from a chimney.

Eleonora Duse

“Edith Warren Miller” created by the French artist Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

The artist, Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911), was a prominent French figure painter, educator, and a leading academic artist during his time.
The subject of the painting, Edith Warren Miller, was a socialite and the wife of a wealthy American banker.
The painting is a notable example of Lefebvre’s work, known for its elegant style and realistic depiction of the sitter.
The artwork is part of the permanent collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Alfred Sisley, The Seine at Daybreak (La Seine au point du jour).

The work was painted around 1877 or 1878.
Sisley was known for his dedication to painting landscapes outdoors (en plein air), capturing the transient effects of light and atmosphere.
This painting depicts a small riverside settlement with a chimney pluming above, focusing on the river and the sky.
Sisley’s style in this work is characterized by delicate brushstrokes that capture the nuances of light and color, especially in the detailed rendering of the clouds and water.

Portrait of Mme Helleu Reading a Letter, created by the French artist Paul César Helleu.

The painting depicts the artist’s wife and frequent model, Alice Helleu, reading a letter.
Paul César Helleu was a celebrated society portraitist during the Belle Époque era.
Helleu’s work often focused on feminine grace and the elegance of high society life, as described by Marcel Proust.
The work is executed in oil on canvas and has appeared in various auctions and art collections.

Portrait of the Countess de Leusse, née Berthier, an 1890 oil on canvas work by the Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.

Artist: Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)
Year: 1890
Medium: Oil on canvas
Subject: Countess de Leusse, born Berthier

The work is a notable example of Boldini’s style, which captured the elegance and dynamism of high society during the Belle Époque.

Kitchen Gardens at L’Hermitage, Pontoise by the French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. It depicts a rural scene with a woman working in a vegetable garden, capturing the natural beauty and a traditional way of life in the area.

Artist: Camille Pissarro
Style: iompressionism
Subject: A scene in a vegetable garden in Pontoise, France
Date: Painted in 1873
Location: The original painting is housed at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh

Sleigh Ride (also known as Sledding or Corse di slitta) by the Italian artist Giuseppe De Nittis.

Artist: Giuseppe De Nittis
Title: Sleigh Ride (or Sledding, Corse di slitta)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Style: Impressionism
Current Location: Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis, Barletta, Italy

The image is a famous Impressionist painting titled In the Garden (also known as Woman and Child Seated in a Garden) by the American artist Mary Cassatt.

Artist: Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), a prominent American painter and printmaker who lived much of her adult life in France and was a key figure in the Impressionist movement.
Subject: The painting depicts a tender moment between a woman and a young girl seated on a bench in a garden setting.
Style: The work is characteristic of Cassatt’s mature Impressionist style, featuring a high vantage point, a bright color palette, and loose, visible brushstrokes.
Date: The painting was completed around 1903 or 1904.
Theme: Cassatt is widely admired for her perceptive portrayals of the intimate bonds between mothers and children, a recurring subject in her art.

The image is a detail from the painting La guardiana di tacchini (The Turkey Keeper) by the Italian Impressionist painter Federico Zandomeneghi.

Federico Zandomeneghi was born in Venice in 1841 and later moved to Paris, where he was influenced by the Impressionist movement and artists like Edgar Degas.
The painting, also known as Jeune fille aux dindons (Young girl with turkeys), was created between 1890 and 1895.
It depicts a young girl sitting outdoors, seemingly focused on knitting or a similar task, with turkeys visible in the foreground.
Zandomeneghi’s work often focused on capturing everyday moments of contemporary life, particularly featuring female subjects.

Portrait of a Lady Jacques-Emile Blanche

La Mare, effet de neige (The Pond, Effect of Snow) by Claude Monet.

It is an Impressionist oil-on-canvas painting created in 1874.
The painting depicts a snow-covered landscape with a pond or river bank, utilizing Monet’s signature soft brushstrokes and focus on light and atmosphere.
The scene captures a cold, misty day, with trees lining the bank and a hint of an industrial area in the distance.
The work is part of a series of snow effect paintings by the artist.

From Barchester to Peterborough

Posted on January 22, 2025 by Francis

Download

England’s cathedrals, despite their Taleban-like despoliation and destruction during the Reformation and the Civil War, remain one of that country’s major mediaeval glories. Over time I have seen most of them. Among these I particularly admire Durham, York, Lincoln, Norwich, Ely, Rochester, Canterbury, Winchester, Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford and Worcester.

One place, however, I had never visited till now: a cathedral with an extraordinary facade, a unique mediaeval ceiling, a spectacular number of spires and towers and the most varied interior styles ranging from Romanesque arches to Perpendicular fan vaults.

Where is this bishop’s see? The location of a memorable BBC TV dramatisation of Trollope’s ‘Barchester Towers’ it returned to mind when I recently rewatched that mini series. I could not delay visiting this wonder any further.We alighted the fast train from London’s Kings Cross to Peterborough. After a free coffee, courtesy of the adjoining branch of Waitrose, we headed for the cathedral crossing a blatant shopping mall on the way.

Entering a more characteristic Middle England town square I saw a forest of steeples and spires rising above the shops. Passing under a gateway before me spread a wondrous sight.

Three soaring gothic arches formed the cathedral’s facade, the centre one being slightly narrower than the ones on either side of it. In the centre arch a perpendicular chapel had been erected.

After a dull start to the frosty day the sun began to peep through the clouds. It was an ideal time to gaze upon the honeyed barnack limestone tinged by the rays of the weak midwinter sunshine. I was so glad I’d finally made it to Peterborough cathedral.

The portal opened out onto the cathedral’s magisterially long nave, longer even than Ely’s or Winchester’s. Before me spread the most massive Norman arches I’d seen since Durham.

Above was the painted mediaeval ceiling, one of only four surviving in Europe (the Ely.ceiling is Victorian) and the biggest.

I decided to join a tour, not just to learn more about this miraculous building from a very knowledgeable guide, but also to give an offering for a building which, because of lack of funds towards its immensely expensive upkeep, is in a real crisis and, some say, in danger of closing down! For Peterborough cathedral is not rich as other cathedrals, like Norwich or Winchester, are. Gone are those heady mediaeval days when pilgrims thronged here to venerate its relics and make munificent offerings.

Our guide led us through the cathedral’s history pointing out salient points. The third church on the site it was founded as a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to Peter and Paul, with an abbot and an infirmary to heal the sick. When the dastardly Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries (I would prefer to use the word destruction instead) the abbey was luckily saved and turned into a cathedral with an amazing turn of events for the former monastery abbot, John Chambers, was now ordained bishop of the new cathedral.

There was also another fact that saved the building from regal vandalism: the king’s ex-wife Katharine of Aragon was buried here. We looked upon Katharine’s tomb where her devotees on the occasion of Katharine’s death adorn her monument with pomegranates. I was reminded of how another great lady Matilda of Canossa, responsible for the famous bridge of the Magdalen at Borgo a Mozzano, is similarly feted.

I was particularly struck by the beauty of Wastell’s fan vaulting in the ‘new building’ which wraps itself around the unusually (for English cathedrals) rounded apse. Wastell also executed this type of vaulting at my university college chapel of King’s and Windsor castle’s chapel.

Sadly the vandalism not only of Henry VIII but of Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers has removed most of the original stained glass, the interior sculptures, the old chantry chapels and the original choir stalls. However, what the Victorians did to replace them has managed to restore something of the mediaeval atmosphere. The cathedral still stands in all the power of its mediaeval architecture and remains a stronghold of faith and hope in this confused time.

After our tour, attended by a handful of other visitors, we went outside into the cathedral’s close and circumambulated its animated exterior which in the setting sun glowed with an evocative rosy tinge.

Unfortunately the other place we had planned to visit in Peterborough, the local museum, had already closed. We did not even have time to attend the cathedral’s Evensong but headed instead for the railway station, the cold of a bleak east England ever more impinging on us.

Sadly due to someone being knocked down by a train on our line we were subject to a very considerable delay on our return. We could have attended Evensong after all and heard that Purcell anthem the choir sang. Never mind. Since the delay was also two hours we were eligible for a refund.

My main mission had been achieved: to visit Peterborough’s monumental cathedral. As the assistant at the bank we visited en route said to us when we told her we’d come to Peterborough for a day trip. ‘Peterborough? Why would you have wanted to come here?’ ‘To see the cathedral’ I answered. ‘Ah yes’ she said and continued. ‘It is beautiful but once you’ve seen it I doubt that you will ever return to Peterborough again’. She may be right of course. But who is to say?.

Lucca’s Equestrian Masterpiece

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Francis

The Porta San Pietro is Lucca’s well-regarded southern gateway into the walled city. But have you ever stopped to look at the monumental statue it faces as we did today? For long barricaded off from view and in danger of collapsing the statue of the noble horseman in piazza Risorgimento has been fully restored at a cost of close to 2k euros and is now easily accessible. But what does the statue represent, who sculpted it and when was it inaugurated?

The equestrian monument, representing the Victorious Homeland, is a bronze work placed at the top of a high pedestal in local sandstone, in a scenic position in front of the Porta San Pietro.. The high reliefs on the base depict the Fallen for the Homeland to the east

and a gladiator defending himself to the west.

Work of the sculptor Alfredo Angeloni from Lucca and created by the artistic foundry of Michelacci in Pistoia, it was inaugurated in 1930 in the presence of the then King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III.

The monument was placed as part of the greening of the entire square then called Umberto I and today renamed Piazzale Risorgimento. The area remains a peaceful place to have a rest before catching a train from Lucca’s station (now receiving its own restoration). For me the equestrian statue is an impressive memorial to a still undervalued era of Italian art – the interwar period – because so many if its artists are unjustly associated with fascist ideals.

Sommocolonia

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Francis

This time of year is wonderful walking weather. Today we made it up the path from Ponte di Catagnana to Sommocolonia, scene of the last battle in the Garfagnana during WWII where lieutenant John Fox of the US ‘Buffalo’ forces died for Italy’s freedom.

This footpath is actually the old mulattiera (mule path) to Sommocolonia.

The path is beautifully engineered and graded: a ‘super highway’ of the mediaeval age.

This little chapel on the path is a lovely place to get one’s breath back.

The Buffaloes: Afro-American soldiers who helped so much to win the war in this part of Italy.

The views from this part of the path are spectacular: down the valley one can see the city of Barga

The memorial of the Martyrs of December 1944

Memorial plaque. Gerry’s attack almost synchronised with the battle of the bulge and was Nazi Germany’s last attempt to attack the Allies before its final defeat the following year

Lieutenant John Fox’s USA army memorial stone.

The church of San Rocco in Sommocolonia

Something more about the battle of Sommocolonia:

During the Second World War, on December 26, 1944, Sommocolonia was the scene of “Operation Wintergewitter”, a limited offensive conducted on the Gothic Line by the Italian-German forces against the US troops (92nd “Buffalo” Division), supported by the partisans of the XI zone.

There were over 150 casualties among the Allied forces (including John Robert Fox, awarded the US Medal of Honor) and 7 civilian victims, and over 50% of the buildings were destroyed by the bombings. The last large bomb dropped by a US plane was found unexploded near the Rocca in the 1980s. The last devices, two American Mk2 hand grenades, were removed and detonated in July 2009, near the “Campeglio” location.

On February 19, 2010, a delegation of American soldiers from the Camp Darby base (PI), visited the town and the sites of the battle of Christmas 1944. They were subsequently hosted by the local town committee for refreshments and a visit to the small but very well-kept museum that collects the war material found and the collective memory of Sommocolonia.

On July 6, 2010, Lieutenant Richard Neumeister of the 4th Alpine Battalion, who launched the attack on Sommocolonia on December 26, 1944 during the “Winter Storm” operation, asked to visit the town and the small museum, accompanied by his family. Arriving there, he cried when he saw those places again. Subsequently, numerous delegations of American soldiers from the nearby American base of Camp Darby went to Sommocolonia to visit the battle sites.

Tuscany’s own Jerusalem

Posted on June 4, 2024 by Francis

A little Jerusalem arises among the gentle hills surrounding Montaione in Tuscany. Within its bounds one can find all those places mentioned in the gospels relating to Jesus’ last days on the Earth. There is Mount Calvary, Golgotha the Place of the Skull, the house of Caiphas, the palace of Herod and even Christ’s sepulchre.

San Vivaldo, a hermit who spent much of his life living in a hollow chestnut tree, thought up the idea of transforming a spot in Tuscany into a miniature Holy Land. It was a time when, despite the militant efforts of the Crusades, the Turkish Muslims had rendered Palestine out of bounds for Christian pilgrims. What else could be done in a time before Zeffirelli-type epic films or computer generated virtual reality to recreate the ambience of those events so dear to so many people using the best means available at the time?

For the construction of the chapels, a friar, Fra Tommaso da Firenze relied on his experience gained from countless trips to the Holy Land and on interactions with Brother Bernardino Caimi, who in those years was designing a Holy Mountain at Varallo in Piedmont.

A little hill brought to mind Mount Calvary. Other features reflected topographical similarities with the sanctuaries existing in Jerusalem at the beginning of the 16th century.

It was for this reason and through the Papal bulls that gave prestige and religious merit to a pilgrimage to a parallel universe reflecting the original Holy Land that
starting from the fifteenth century chapels were built each one containing a scene from those momentous last days of the Saviour.

The chapels house valuable terracottas of the Della Robbia tradition which illustrate the last period of Jesus’ life. They had the function of a ‘ Biblia puperum’, that is to represent the Bible and make it understandable, even empathetically, to the largely illiterate people of those times.

We visited the chapels yesterday in a little group of five persons with a sweet Italian whippet under the guidance of a most erudite young man who pointed out things to us in the chapels’ dramatic depictions which we had never suspected.

For instance the man on the far right riding a palfrey is none other than Joseph of Arimathea who brought Christ to England and Glastonbury and supplied His sepulchre after the crucifixion.

The vividness of the depictions struck us. We felt that we were really part of the dramatic scenes: mingling with the crowds, joining the other disciples at the Last Supper’s table and witnessing those final harrowing moments on the Via Crucis.

The artistry of the terracotta figures reached heights which fully proclaimed the influence of a Della Robbia workshop. I remained amazed that these testimonies of a pre-digital age still had so much power in them with their expressive energy and vivid colours.

So even if so many of us today, sadly like those times which gave rise to this rural artistic installation, feel discouraged to visit Jerusalem with the current troubles we can still partake of the vision of San Vivaldo and visit a ‘little Jerusalem’ set deep withn the wooded Tuscan hills.

I remember having visited San Vivaldo before. Searching through my photos I came across these recording a cycle trip there from Florence in 1986. We were shown around by a lone friar who someone has identified as Fra Antonio. We were young then and married for less than ten years. Hopes sprang eternal then: some realised, others, like wanting to have children, dashed to the ground. It was lovely, therefore, to say that we have returned. almost forty years later to a loved spot of our youth.

By Way of Kensal Green

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Francis

Until the Victorian age burials of the dead in London took place in local churchyards; there were no provision for inhumation in dedicated cemeteries. Meanwhile, overcrowding of corpses in limited spaces created excellent opportunities for diseases and epidemics. Water supplies became polluted and the rat population prospered on the increased opportunities for feeding on churchyard decompositions. Moreover, because of increasing demand for dissection samples to be used in the city’s hospitals, the digging up and stealing of human remains provided an excellent means of employment for a nifty criminal fraternity known wittily as the ‘resurrectionists’.

Clearly something had to change, particularly in an age when London’s population was rapidly expanding. A parliamentary commission was sent to Paris and visited the new Père Lachaise cemetery, which has since become one of the French capital’s most evocative sites. Pleasantly surprised by the mortuary hygiene and posthumous elegance provided by a purpose-built burial ground the committee decided on a similar one for London.

The result was the Burial Act of 1832 which required new burial grounds in a list of urban parishes of London to be approved by the Secretary of State and enabled the closure of metropolitan churchyards to new interments making regulations regarding correct burial. This legislation led to the metropolis’ first modern cemetery: Kensal Green. Others followed in the capital. Between 1833 and 1841 West Norwood Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery, Brompton Cemetery, Nunhead Cemetery, and Tower Hamlets Cemetery were established. They are now collectively known as the ‘Magnificent Seven’, both because they are indeed wonderful in their extent and faded grandeur and also because for me they remind one of the now sadly deceased cast of that fine western (modelled after a Japanese original) starring Yul Brynner.

We were privileged last Sunday to join a visit to Kensal Green cemetery, a visit organised by the Friends of this Grade One listed monument.

We saw the tombs of the great and the good whether they be writers like Thackeray or musicians like Cipriani Potter (named after an ancestor of my wife) or engineers like the Brunels father and son.

What particularly attracted me were the graves of James Hogg, friend of Shelley and co-author with him of the pamphlet for Atheism which got both of them sent down from Oxford, and his lovely wife Jane Hogg to whom Shelley dedicated several poems including the one addressed ‘To a Lady with a Guitar.’

Unlike the manicured layout and the highly restored tombs of our local Bagni di Lucca ‘English’. cemetery Kendal Green displays the archetypal decayed, moss covered , ivy, hanging burial ground. I felt this was the true atmosphere a cemetery containing the putrefaction of human flesh should have.

We passed fine statuary, monuments and chapels built in a variety of styles ranging from ancient Egyptian to Hellenic to Gothic to Neo-Platonism classical.

We entered into the sequestered gloom of the catacombs with the hope that none there might have been prematurely buried and that all measures would have been taken to prevent this horrible way to die from ever occurring. Would there have been any consumptive maidens unwrapped from yellowed winding sheets presumed expired before their day had really come, their broken nails dug into the dark wood of a sepulchral door with scratches blotched in blood? For if in Space no-one can hear you scream it is the same story if you are buried deep within the cold marble of a sepulchre!

Finally we encountered, for us,the most moving of all sights in Kensal Green Cemetery. We saw the cremation plaque to my wife’s beloved parents, my indulgent in-laws without whom I would have been unable to hold the soft hand by my side or to kiss those sweetest of lips. Requiescant in Pacem!

It is, indeed, a sobering thought to wander through a cemetery. Arising from cosmic dust through love we must all return to earthly dust through the pathway of death. More than ever before, listening to the profusion of birds singing their soul out and the scampering of foxes in the grass of the wilder parts of the cemetery, my senses awakened to the joy of being still alive, the bliss of at last walking in the first sunlit day London has had for some time, of being with a loved one by my side, of tasting the gift a greater one than I has given and that one just on loan until the final day on this planet arrives to find – one no one knows where, no one knows when – the moment where we go we know not where except that we know we shall never return to Kensal Green to walk it as we did today.

—

Beyond Slavery

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Francis

Next door to Port Louis’ Slavery Museum is a building illustrating what followed the release from chains and manacles after the slave trade was abolished in 1835. It’s Aapravasi Ghat, now a UNESCO world heritage site, and consists of the remains of an immigration depot where indentured labourers, mainly from India, were received.

The British colonial government chose Mauritius as the first site for what it called ‘The Great Experiment’: the use of indentured labour to replace the slaves. The indentured labour force had to work on contract for up to five years and the scheme’s success prompted its adoption in other parts of the Empire. Between 1834 and 1920 labourers were shipped here from India, Madagascar, Mozambique, the Comoros, Yemen and China to work on the sugar cane plantations. Almost half a million landed at Aapravasi Ghat and over two million indentured labourers arrived around the world in the Carribbean, South America and south east Asia.

Regrettably a large number of these indentured labourers were treated very badly by the colonialists. They were subject to poor working conditions and made to labour very long hours. They were often maltreated and even whipped. Moreover they were in a situation where their work contracts were obfuscated forcing them.to work for years before they managed to pay off the terms of their indenture. It was largely thanks to the intervention of human rights champions like Ghandi,at that time a legal beagle in South Africa that efforts were finally made to alleviate the hard lives of the indentured, semi-slave workers in the colonies.

Since the majority of Mauritians descend from these souls it’s clear and very fitting that Aapravasi Ghat has been approved of as the island’s major heritage site .

The museum is very well laid out and documented detailing the procedures dealing with one of the greatest migrations the world has seen.

I am not sure if the famous ‘Windrush’ generation, too many of whomhave been appallingly treated in another recent Tory scandal, belongs to the indentured class of immigrants. One thing is sure in the two cases: both helped to save island economies threatened by labour shortages. Perhaps brexiticianists should bear this in mind before they continue to pontificate about their absurd policies.

Port Louis and Slavery

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Francis

Port Louis was not the original capital of Mauritius which was Mahebourg. Finding that location on the south east coast of the island too windy in 1606 the Dutch decided to move their administration to the better protected haven of Port Louis in the north west coast. Originally known as the ‘Harbour of Tortoises’ the capital got its present name in 1736 under the French in honour of king Louis XV.

Le Caudan waterfront, named after the eighteenth century French developer Jean Dominique Michel de Caudan, is the island’s most notable commercial and cultural centre containing some interesting museums

From the nearby bus station we headed for the newest of these, the intercontinental slavery museum. Only officially opened last year the museum is housed in the former military hospital.

Still in its very early days the structure now has its walls restored back to their lava and coral stones. In it the museum presented us with some interesting projects. These included

1. Photos of facial moulds of ex-slaves collected by a nineteenth century French anthropologist to help in his investigations into the origin of Mauritian slaves.

2. Excavations of graves relating to old slave camps.

3. Research into the slave origins of selected Mauritian families.

Slavery in Mauritius was finally abolished under British rule in 1835 thanks to the efforts of persons like Wilberforce. There is so much to investigate in this disturbing phenomenon which has existed since biblical times and unfortunately continues into the present age with renewed force.