NIGEL'S RAMBLES: Sassalbo

Friday, November 1, 2013

Sassalbo

Finally it has stopped raining, we have had one of the most horrible Autumns that I can remember.

It was a nice afternoon so I decided on a walk around Lago Pranda, near Cerreto (RE), a place that is always splendid in Autumn.

Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS

But things as they often do in the mountains did not go to plan. Autumn in the high Apennines is over, the trees are already bare and the “Crinale” was covered in cloud. I decided to press on to Sassalbo in the Lunigiana area of Tuscany. This village tucked away in the valley below the 63 highway and is worth a visit I was told by a friend.

Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS


Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS. Note the arches that take the load of the wall off the stone lintels

Sassalbo (Sass = Rock, Albo = White) takes its name from the white gypsum rock outcrops nearby.

Legend has it that it is a village where the houses do not have chimneys for some reason lost in time. It is a typical of the small villages that can be found in this part of Tuscany.

Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS

Earthquake 1920. Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS

Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS

The village has been destroyed several times by earthquakes and landslides and so most of the buildings in the village date from the twenties, but there are several interesting pieces of spontaneous architecture dotted around the village. The village is like a maze so it is quite easy to get lost in the narrow alleyways in the oldest part of the village. I was surprised to see that it has not suffered too much from the depopulation that one finds on the Emilian side of the “Crinal”.

Sassalbo,Fivizzano, MS

My favourite piece of architecture here was a super carved stone door frame with rather ghoulish carvings, just right for it is the “Day of the Dead” or in Italian “i morti” holiday here in Italy today.