Coreglia Antelminelli

On Saturday we drove up to the town of Coreglia Antelminelli. For years we have driven by the signs to this old hill town but this is the first time we turned off the highway that goes up the Serchio Valley to see what it is like. There is a gesso (plaster) figurine and emigration museum there that I thought would be interesting.

The town was much further up in the hills that we thought. In fact, the town we thought it was turned out to be Ghivizzano Castello. By the time we reached Coreglia A. (as opposed to Coreglia Piano which is down in the valley by the highway) we realized we were higher up than the town of Barga, a nearby hill town that dominates the central Serchio Valley.

We parked the car at the lot on the edge of town. Most old towns in the area don't allow non-residents to drive into the center. The first thing we saw was this severely pruned tree. This is what Dom and I call a "municipal clip job" because the trees along the sides of the roads and in parks are often cut back like this. They seem to regenerate okay and the purple "fuzz" on this one shows that it will be big and bushy within a year.

Just around the corner from the above garden was one of the old town gates.

There were many charming vistas like this one in the town. In spite of being out in the boonies, the homes are mostly well kept and prosperous looking.

This is a view of the main church in town with a bar in the foreground. Because of the winding, close-packed streets it was impossible to get a photo of the entire church.

Coming into town we had seen many signs like this. In fact, they were stapled to all the trees leading into town. This is very common in Italy. We just missed the ceremony in the church and did see a number of wedding guests heading back to their cars.

Inside the church you can still see the flowers on the alter and the pew decorations left from the wedding.

After peeking in the church we continued to climb up to the top of the hill where there was the ruins of an old fort. Along one street was this pretty public water tap. The date inscribed on it is 1826.

This is as close as we could get to the old fort. The sign on the gate said Privato.

This is a view down into the valley. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you might be able to discern the highway down at the bottom. It was WAY far down there.

I liked this view of the church tower and the house and garden in front of it. It was all neatly maintained.

We found the museum but it was only open until 1pm so we will have to go back another day. This statue in a courtyard behind the church probably symbolizes the museum contents. The area produced many plaster artisans who emigrated all over Europe to ply their craft. You can see the young man carrying plaster figurines such as those that would have been produced by the artisans. They also created plaster architectural detailing and that was no doubt their bread and butter trade.

This picture shows a public tap near the church. There are actually three taps--the main one in the lion's mouth, the one to the right of it in the striped marble and back behind that in the little alcove is another tap. Back before people had running water in their homes this is where the residents would have collected their water.

I liked this house with the mottled plaster on the facade.

Here is a shot of where we parked. This is actually the lower section of the parking area. The upper one is what you see held up by the pillars. This is not an uncommon structure on the edge of a hill town in a steep area. They just build out enough space for parking.

We headed off for a nice lunch before going off to see Mary and Orlando. The weather wasn't the bet but we enjoyed the excursion.

Unfortunately, Dom's dental issues worsened over the weekend. His bridge actually fell out on Saturday at lunch. Later that evening it became quite painful. As a result we did not do much yesterday (Sunday). The weather was horrible anyway so it was a good day to stay inside and relax. I did go do a walk with Mary but for the rest of the day it alternately rained and poured.

Today Dom had another dentist appointment and his reconstruction work is back on track. We did a number of errands but are still taking it easy. The weather has improved greatly and the forecast is for a nice stretch of sunny, warm days.