Michelangelo’s Marble

Serchio Valley

Installed in our artist’s pad, it was time to go enjoy the Serchio Valley and all its little villages, some stuck in the deep dark woods.

The first order of business was to drive up to Trassilico, a tiny village perched on a mountain top at about 1700m above sea level. Our Castellina friend Anna Rita owns a house there that has been waiting for a full restoration and is currently unoccupied. She has gone to great lengths, flying in a huge ceiling beam by helicopter just to save this super choice piece of real estate.
After the expected drive on a one-lane butt clenching road, we arrived in Trassilico. It was over 40C that day so when we got out of the car the heat was sinister.

Hilltowns

Like many hilltowns, you have to park on the outskirts and walk up into the village because the streets are too narrow. As we walked in, a young woman who runs the local cantina asked if I could help her delivery guy lift the heavy wine carboys into her stock room from the street. Like a polite Canadian with the ability, of course I obliged.

“Please come back for a beer after you have seen the village, as a thanks for the lifting,” she said.

Trassilico

A quick search turned up Anna Rita’s place, literally soaring over the valley.  Calling it a fixer-upper would be putting it mildly, the place is in a shambles.  If you are interested in a piece of land in Trassilico email me.

The sleepy little town offered us a bird’s eye view of Barga, quite a bit lower across the valley, and of the massive Appennines.

The fountain

House checked, we headed back down the mountain but first, we wanted to stop at the town’s water fountain.
The fountain is about 100 yards down the road from Trassilico and is quite ornate for a water source stuck in the woods at the top of a mountain.  Originally built around 1514 the well has never stopped producing ice cold water. In fact over the centuries, it has hydrated the townspeople, as well as armies of soldiers and their horses.

Luckily we had a few empty 2-litre water bottles bouncing around in the car so we filled up! The water comes through a brass tap poking out of the stone enclosure. Filling the bottles we started to get excited, the water was so cold it made the bottles drip with condensation.

Fountain of youth

It was like finding the fountain of youth. Not being able to wait, I tipped back a bottle and was blown away by how delicious, cold and pure the water was. It tasted like water should, refreshing, quenching and real. Out of the ground and into our bottles, we filled up and then headed back down to visit another cool spot on this side of the valley, the Hermitage of Calomini.

Down and up we went to an adjacent mountain and before we knew it we were pulling up to this very unique construction.

Hermitage

The hermitage was built hugging the side of the mountain with nothing more than a chisel.

More than half of the building, including the sacristy and convent, remains excavated into the mountain. It is said that in this place where today the rocks give pure water, the image of the Virgin Mary, who is venerated in a shrine, appeared to a girl from Calomini. This is the reason the shrine is dedicated to the Marian cult.

The place was packed because it was Sunday and there was a mass so we stood at the back and listened to most of the sermon in Italian. Waiting patiently for all to leave so we could take pictures.

Back in the car we looked at the clock and decided we had enough time to go for the hike that we had originally planned for that day.
A winding 45-minute drive across the edge of the Apuan side of the valley put us up at about 1650m and at the end of a road in the Parco Regionale della Alpi Apuane.

A number of trails

From the parking lot, we could join a number of trails that lead to all of the tiny villages dotting the mountains and valleys. What we wanted was to go up for the most spectacular valley shot we could find. Off we went down a reasonably well-kept trail that eventually started to point up but with temperatures hitting 40C and that high altitude, things slowed down more than expected.
The Apuan Alps provided Michelangelo with the marble for his famous carvings (Carrara is just on the other side) and it is not an overstatement to say that these mountains are made mostly from solid marble. In fact, the trail we walked on was cut from marble with rough-hewn steps and eroded runs, it got pretty slippery with a wet leaf underfoot.

Our photographic mission accomplished with some great pictures taken after hiking to over eighteen hundred meters above sea level (just under the summit) we headed back down to the car for that delicious Trassilico water, heaven!

Back to Barga

We made the quick drive back to Barga, completely spent and soaked from head to toe in sweat, ok that might be a slight exaggeration.
At home base, we fixed ourselves up and, looking out the window we saw a sunset coming that could not be missed so we dragged ourselves up the steps to the Duomo with the tripod and camera in hand.
As hoped, the sunset in spectacular fashion and as it disappeared, the lights turned on across the whole valley exposing the location of each village hidden in the darkness of the mountains and lighting up the old village of Barga.

Back at the apartment, the thick stone walls had kept our bedroom at almost chilly cellar temperature and Nat fell asleep before I could say goodnight, with me right behind her. Just another day in the Garfagnana.