Country: Italy
Region: Tuscany
Time of visit: September 2021
Duration of visit: from 10 mintues to 2 hours
My rating: 7/10
After a day spent, without too many satisfactions, in Pistoia, the time was coming for the two stops on which I had most expectations: the frescoes by Pontormo in Poggio a Caiano and the Ponte del Diavolo in Borgo a Mozzano.
I therefore traveled with a little hurry the road (half an hour) that separates Pistoia from Poggio a Caiano to arrive in front of the imposing walls that surround the villa; this, expertly located on top of a hill overlooking the Tuscan countryside, exuded at first sight the elegance and magnificence typical of everything in which the Medici family invested money. The villa is majestic, surrounded, of course, by a splendid garden full of colossal ancient trees of species that I have not been able to recognize (that's not so strange, I cannot distinguish a geranium from a sequoia) but with an unusual appearance, at least for me; I presume that they are rare species, but for the reasons that I will explain immediately below, I have not investigated. In short, I show up hopping like a happy hare at the ticket office and ... "I'm sorry but it's already fully booked". WHAT?! Of course, we are in the middle of a pandemic that has lasted for almost two years, everything is contingent ... doesn't it occur to you that perhaps it was appropriate to book in advance? How stupid I am ... I underestimated Pontormo's popularity ... I had assumed that few, besides me, were interested in dedicating a pandemic day to admire the masterpieces of the surly Mannerist artist, and instead apparently there it is still hope for humanity! I will be back...
The leaping hare was transformed in an instant into a creeping sloth returning sadly towards the car, having lost all its enthusiasm ... "I'll make up for it tomorrow in Lucca, at least there I'll have my periodical Pontormo". In planning the trip I had planned to arrive in Borgo a Mozzano around 6 in the afternoon, in order to take some photos of the Devil's Bridge during the "golden hour". I drove slowly towards the hilltop village that is home to this ancient engineering marvel and we arrived at just the right time to start taking some photos.
The Devil’s Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano, also called “Ponte della Maddalena”, is definitely one of the most mysterious and fascinating monuments of the whole province of Lucca.
It is characterized by a unique structure composed of a large round arch flanked by three minor arches on one side and one on the other; The aspect of this medieval bridge is the classic, for its high frequence in Tuscany, called at 'donkey back', here, and this becomes an unique characteristic, with asymmetric arches. The shape of the major arch is somewhat reminiscent of the shape of the famous bridge in Mostar, Croatia. The largest arch is so tall and thin that it is natural to wonder how this work could have survived for nearly 1000 years without collapsing. My surprise was all the greater when I found that the bridge, after 1,000 years of life, was holding up even my weight without any apparent signs of letting up!
Legend tells that the builder of the bridge, unable to complete it, asked the devil for help, which in turn asked the soul of the first living being that had passed over it. When the bridge was over, the builder made a dog pass on the bridge, fooling the devil.
Its construction goes back to the era of the Countess Matilde of Tuscany (one of the most powerful nobles in Italy in the second half of the 11th century), that had large influence and power on this zone of Tuscany, the 'Garfagnana', but its current aspect is due to the reconstruction carried on by Castruccio Castracani (1281-1328), Sir of the near town of Lucca, at the beginning of the 14th century.
The bridge is truly an extraordinary building and it's absolutely worth a visit; it is a pity that the surroundings of the bridge are not cared for in such a way as to enhance it; a modern (and ugly) dam, built a few hundred meters downstream of the river, takes away from the surroundings all the charm they could have if the bridge were still immersed in an uncontaminated environment; for this reason I recommend reaching the bridge coming from the north, from Bagni di Lucca, from where the view of the bridge appearing behind a turn of the road between the slopes of two hills preserves some kind of poetry.
The "humpback" construction technique was actually quite common in the Middle Ages and similar bridges are quite common in Italy. The following table shows a list of other "devil's bridges" in the municipalities of Modena and Bologna; other famous bridges built with the same technique are the bridge of Rakotzbruke in Germany and the bridge of Mostar. What makes the Borgo a Mozzano bridge quite unique is the marked asymmetry of the three arches.
(source Mauro Filippini)
Fine dining
For dinner we enjoyed the cuisine of an excellent restaurant, the Osteria I Macelli, which at more than reasonable prices serves both meat and fish delicacies. Many dishes based on mushrooms or truffles; reasonable price; excellent quality, the only drawback, wanting to nitpick, is the decor of the restaurant, which I personally found very kitschy. Below the photo of ... of ... ok I don't remember what it was, but it was delicious.
Gallery
Map
Comentarios