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.