The Ponte della Maddalena is commonly identified as the “Devil’s Bridge”. Like many other enterprises that seemed impossible to the contemporaries, popular legend attributes the construction to the devil, who is then cheated in various ways. The legend tells of the chief mason engaged in the construction of the bridge who was very worried about the delay accumulated in the same work, given the continuous and impetuous floods of the river. One evening in despair he began to pronounce sacrileges such as to evoke Satan. Then the Devil told the master builder that he would complete the work himself in one night in exchange for the first soul to cross the bridge. The chief mason accepted and the construction was completed. The master builder, desperate for the imminence of the heavy tribute to the Devil, ran to the parish priest of the town, who, after hearing the confession, devised a stratagem: he made a dog cross the bridge, the Devil furious at the shrewd gesture took him and he threw in the waters of the river without ever being seen again. It is also said that the dog, an all-white Maremma shepherd, occasionally sees himself walking on the bridge in the last evenings of October representing the devil who still seeks the soul of the foreman. It is also said to be able to observe the petrified body of the poor animal on the bottom of the river.

Similar legends are told for other bridges such as the Gobbo Bridge over the Trebbia river in the town of Bobbio or the Puente del Diablo in Martorell in Spain.

There are other versions that speak of a pig chasing an apple in which the evil one, angered by the mockery suffered, threw himself into the Serchio, thus opening a passage with the underworld triggering a pandemonium such as to leave marks on the bottom of the river and in the mind of the inhabitants .

Another fact that would bring a further justification to the name it bears is the story of Lucida Mansi. The noblewoman from Lucca was beautiful, strong, powerful, rich and young with a tremendous fear of old age. She did everything to avoid advancing age: alchemy, journeys in search of essays, mystical sources and more so as not to grow old. One morning, in his residence in Monsagrati in Pescaglia, he discovered that a slight wrinkle had appeared on his face. In desperation he began to cry and scream. On the evening of that same day Lucida (or Lucilla) while nervously wandering the streets of Borgo a Mozzano, passed by the Ponte della Maddalena (then still well known) where she had a meeting with a beautiful boy who offered her thirty years of youth in exchange for your soul. The wretched accepted. So Lucida was taken by the young man to the highest point of the bridge, at which point the boy took on the appearance of Lucifer and detached the noblewoman’s soul from her body, throwing it into the Serchio.

On a rocky spur of the mountain range lies a castle that overlooks Barga’s cityscape. It exemplifies the typical structure of a medieval village and is surrounded by a perimeter wall that is accessible via three gates: Porta Reale, Porta Macchiaia and Porta di Borgo. When walking through the intricate web of alleys and piazzas preserved throughout the course of centuries, you can discover the quirky irregularities of the ancient architecture almost everywhere you look. If you follow via del Pretorio alleys and roads on both the left and right open up before you, where you glimpse tatters of medieval buildings until, going beyond the Piazza Ser Barghesano, you walk out in front of the beautiful vista that is the Cathedral of San Cristoforo.

It is worth noticing in particular the Conservatorio di Santa Elisabetta – originally a monastery of the Clarisse and founded by Beato Michele Turignoli in the 15th century. Then in 1788 it was transformed by Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, into a Conservatory for educating young girls. Its impressive rectangular design was built with three levels, completely surrounding an immense cloister, fitted with extravagant cisterns. Around here, you’ll come across the original walls of Barga’s castle, constructed int eh 16th century. Amongst the furnishings inside the small church belonging to the monks, you can see a beautiful altarpiece of Robbianan design alongside a large 5th-Crucifix and two 6th-century paintings.

The awe-inspiring size of the Cathedral can only be properly understood upon arriving at the top of the castle. Its asymmetrical midpoint is framed by the rooftops of the historic city centre and, more distantly – past the green of the hills punctuated by hamlets and farmsteads – the magnificent crown of the Apuan mountain range.

For literature enthusiasts, only four kilometres from Barga you can discover the hamlet of Castelvecchio Pascoli, where the poet Giovanni Pascoli resided for several years. It is possible to visit the house where he lived with his sisters, and Pascoli even dedicated the memo in the anthology of Canti di Castelvecchio to this hamlet.

Although Barga and all the surrounding areas are an exciting destination throughout the year (for different reasons) it can be a good idea to plan a trip during the summer, possibly even during one of the typical festivals that occur in the area during this time – like the ‘Festa della Piazzette’ or ‘Fish&Chips’ – events where you will certainly have no reason to complain about the portions (of neither food nor alcohol).

Panoramic place overlooking the Serchio valley and the Apuan Alps
guests in a charming 17th century building in the historic center of Barga
Three rooms with breakfast corner and private bathroom, two or more beds, an apartment complete with kitchen
The name is of the painter Bruno Cordati, whose exhibition you can visit during your stay, housed in the halls of the building.

Casa Cordati is a few meters from the two car parks in the historic center

There are few certainties and many doubts about its history. The first of all is to be able to establish where the baptismal church mentioned in 995 was located. The toponym “Mozzano” is a bit vague, because it indicates a large area that includes not only the place where our parish stands, but also some lands below. After the year 1000, the parish church remains dedicated only to St. John the Baptist, probably on the occasion of a restructuring due to the Countess Matilde di Canossa. Certainly at the time of the Countess the Pieve di Mozzano was the Pieve Vecchia di Cerreto. Always very fragile in its structure, over the centuries it required various and important restructuring interventions, problems that have reoccurred even in our times.

Origins

The village of the Rocca has a specific medieval origin as a fortified place to guard the territory of the Serchio valley. Like other “fortresses”, it stands in an elevated and panoramic place, peculiar to the early stages of the 11th century castle. From the 11th century the Rocca territory ended up under the influence of the feudal family of Lombard origin of the Suffredinghi, attested from the 9th century, together with many other territories of the Garfagnana. The first attestation of the Rocca as Castello di Mozzano is in a 1027 map kept in the Diocesan Archive of Lucca. Here are listed the assets of the Suffredinghi family: the Rocca belongs to them together with the castle of Monte Bargiglio (near the nearby hamlet of Cune). Finally, in a 1122 contract, the first secure attestation emerges as Rocha de Mozano. From here the name of the suffredingo lord of the Rocca is also obtained: Ildebrando di Sigifredo (1038-1072) grandson of Gherardo II, bishop of Lucca in 991.

The wars between Lucca and Pisa of the XII century

In the war between Lucca and Pisa the Suffredinghi lined up alongside the Pisans against the advance of the Lucca municipality. Starting in 1170, the people of Lucca engaged in a series of wars to seize the Serchio valley and Versilia. In 1171 the people of Lucca took possession of the Rocca di Mozzano, temporarily abandoned by the Suffredinghi refugees in the castle of Fornoli (Bagni di Lucca). From here they fought against the Pisan garrison that came from the Garfagnana. Intimidated by the victories of Lucca in Garfagnana, Raimundo di Guglielmo, lord of the Rocca di Mozzano, first allied himself with the city of Lucca and, pursued, attracted on his side, upon payment of money, the other noble allies until then with Pisa. So from 1173 the Suffredinghi ended up making a military pact with Lucca, renewed in 1181, the year of peace between Lucca and Pisa. In 1185 the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa forced the municipality of Lucca to rebuild the castles destroyed during the war with Pisa, including those of Anchiano and Cune (Bargiglio). Not being mentioned that of the Rocca it is assumed that this had not been damaged. The house in 1209 renewed loyalty to Lucca.

The wars between Lucca, Pisa and Florence of the thirteenth century

In 1220 Lucca, allied with Florence, was again at war against Pisa. The old feudal lordships of the Serchio Valley, despite the oath of allegiance, still sided with the Pisans. For this reason, in 1225 the Lucchesi first conquered the castle of Anchiano, where a branch of the Lombard family resided, and in 1227 they subdued the castle of the Rocca capturing the last Suffredinghi castellans. The descendants of the ancient Lombard family finally obtained Lucca citizenship in 1248, although forbidden to public life.

The Republic of Lucca

After the victories of Lucca in the countryside, the middle Serchio valley passed to the nascent Republic of Lucca and the Rocca passed in 1272 to the vicariate of Coreglia. In 1355 the fortress together with the whole vicar became part of the county of Coreglia, established by the emperor Charles IV, and then ended up in 1562 under the jurisdiction of the vicar of Borgo a Mozzano which later became the municipal capital. In 1586 the Rocca endowed itself with its community status, then perfected in 1638.

Last century and modern era

The village of the Rocca had 205 inhabitants in 1832.

In the sixties of the twentieth century a hut floor was found near the town of Rocca, dating from the third to the second century BC. with Ligurian ceramic remains. In 1983 some fragments of Greek-Italic amphorae were also found on the slope between the village of Rocca and Piano della Rocca, on the Serchio valley.