Overcoming The Black Death, regarding Black history, fire and a tale of two villages. Five days in history.

 

The days from August 10th until the 15th are very significant in Italian history in general and Barga history in particular. 

In the previous post we explored Barga’s connections to the Festival of San Lorenzo, the martyred saint burned on a gridiron on August 10, 258, which is commemorated in part with a grand event honoring Giovanni Pascoli, the revered national Poet whose father was assassinated on August 10, 1867, and the Night of the Shooting Stars, the Perseids meteor shower first apparent around August 10 every year.

August 12 has been a day of remembrance since tragedy befell the village of Sant’Anna di Stazzema , when on August 12, 1944 about 530 civilians were killed along with their livestock, and their village burned, in one of the most tragic battles of World War II. Its connection with Barga is purely fictional and a concept that needs to be corrected. 

In more than one work of purportedly historical fiction, what is known as the Massacre at Sant’Anna, a true story, has been conflated with Barga’s own historical Battle of Garfagnana, at Sommocolonia, on December 26th, 1944. There is no real connection. Sant’Anna is a village in the Apuan Alps, Sommocolonia is a hilltop village in the Apennines, but in the most famous erroneous connection, the Spike Lee Film entitled Miracle at Sant’Anna, based on the novel by James McBride of the same title, Sant’Anna di Stazzema is mentioned as a nearby village and the stories of the battles are intertwined in causality.

The battle at Sommocolonia, above Barga, was a turning point in the war when the Lieutenant called friendly fire on his position as he knew they were lost in any case. The soldiers involved were African Americans of the 366th infantry regiment, part of the Buffalo division of the 92nd Infantry Division. Known as the Buffalo Soldiers they were Black GIs who sacrificed their lives and were only recognized decades later. Their story and the history of the battle have been thoroughly researched and eloquently recounted in the book entitled Braided in Fire, by the writer and long time Sommocolonia, Barga homeowner Solace Wales. 

Which brings us to The Black Death. The close of these five important days is August 15th, the Festival of San Rocco. The Festival itself is a three day vast market fair and in less pandemic fraught times included dining, music and dancing. 

San Rocco, to whom the 17th C. Chiesa Di San Rocco in Barga Giardino is dedicated, as are many throughout Europe, to this itinerant healer, Rocco, who traveled around 1350 to care for and heal plague ridden villagers until he himself caught the plague but miraculously survived. The definitive narrative as it relates to Barga, has been summed up expertly by Frank Viviano, in the article San Rocco, the Black Death and Barga, which can be found on barganews.com 

Having spent these last 5 days commemorating martyrs, saints, poets, wars, plagues, trials by fire, and having endured weeks of infernal heat finally in abatement, we can breathe a sigh of relief and hope our luck holds out. 

The Night of the Shooting Stars

We have spent a good part of the last year and a half in various degrees of lockdown and/or restricted movement within and beyond our communities, often indoors looking from the inside onto a quiet, sometimes silent and desolate outside, wishing this thing, albeit invisible, would go away, disappear. 

Days and weeks of calm quiet, and nights of eery silence. The usual bustle of the town, the genial greetings and conversations, muffled by masks and cautious inhibitions.  Often the only things to be seen and heard were the birds. Watching the swallows provided hours of delight. 

With compassionate, conscientious compliance Barga remained relatively untouched. We passed a first socially distanced but eventful summer almost virus free, but by the winter and spring the virus resurged and there was another lockdown, this time not as severe but disconcerting nonetheless. 

Vaccinations provided hope and the country mobilized in a relatively efficient roll-out. There was a little more hopeful optimism but always that wish that this would just go away. Variants and various factors have necessitated continued vigilance. Through spring there was still the element of inhibition, and being on the inside looking out. 

About a year and a half on, the late summer of 2021 finds us once again, relatively unrestricted, enjoying socially distanced events, but still cautious. 

Each year on August 10th, Barga celebrates the great poet Giovanni Pascoli, who adopted Barga as his home, and honored it in much of his poetry, with a grand event with the reading of his poetry, and music. 

The significance of the date is three fold. Pascoli’s father was assassinated in his carriage on August 10, 1867, an event which influenced much of his poetry. In 1896 he published the poem entitled 

‘X agosto’ to commemorate the date and emphasize his three principle themes, the nest/hearth, suffering and injustice. 

The second element of the date of August 10th is the commemorative date of the death of San Lorenzo, a venerated martyr, deemed saint who was purportedly burned on a specially cast gridiron on August 10, 258 during a purge by Roman authorities under edict by Emperor Valerian. He was known for his generosity and compassion for the poor, indigent, and physically suffering.

The feast day of San Lorenzo, August 10 is also known as the Night of the Shooting Stars.  The Perseids meteor shower is most visible from about the 9th to the 13th of August each year. Pascoli’s poem references it as the tears of San Lorenzo, weeping for a swallow who is killed in mid-flight to her nest, leaving her brood parent-less, just as he and his family were left in abject despair after his father’s assassination. 

Shooting stars have also often been associated with wish making. If you wish upon a star, as the song goes, has inspired hope in many a dreamer. 

Since the early 1990’s the Perseid meteor shower has been most visible from the 11th until the 13th of August, particularly in the just pre-dawn hours. So, yes, wish upon the shooting stars on the 10th, the official Night of the Shooting Stars, and as we transition from looking from the inside out we can still appreciate watching the fascinating swallows and the shooting stars, and have time until the 13th to make that wish.