Barga New Town
daytrips in Tuscany Italy
Barga New Town
3 days ago
The relatively newer part of town has a slightly different flavor. My travel companion said that every time she visits a town for the first time, she goes to see the Duomo (main church) and the main piazza. She believes this is where the culture and life of a place will be.
In this case, she did not refer to a piazza in the historical town of Barga, but to the "New Town."
However, there was really not much to see in that piazza. A man was cleaning his carousel and we had a brief chat. The carousel had fun references to the USA on various types of seats, such as a hippie camping van that has written "Miami Beach" on the hood. Few people were about due to the heat. However, I turned and looked at the building behind us. And looked up, as I am wont to do.
Such beautiful tile work adorned the building and balcony! I have not seen these specific designs before. I suppose, due to the shapes in the iron balcony parapet, that this could be from the Art Deco era. It is normal to have decoration around windows and doors, but I enjoyed the additional tile ornaments put into the plain parts of the wall. Nice touches!
In Italy (perhaps the worldwide?), a brown sign usually tells you where a museum or public cultural space is located. This is the first time I have ever seen symbols that look at bit like runes included on a sign. I cropped them to do a Google image search, but found nothing to tell me what they mean. Do you know?
I would have asked at the tourist center, but due to my companion I was not able to do so. The second one looks like a face, no?
As we crossed the bridge with the road for cars, and the red telephone booth/library exchange, I admired the footbridge to the right and below us. Charming with the multiple arches. This was constructed over the former moat that protected the Medieval town centuries ago.
This last snapshot I took was back in the old town not far from the beginning of our short visit. I loved the arch, but I also have a thing about the "ape" [app-eh]. The Ape (which means "bee" in Italian) is a small utility vehicle created by the company Piaggio in 1948. It has three wheels (two in the back).
The Ape was designed based off of the iconic Italian Vespa (which means 'wasp') that was created just two years earlier. Both vehicles were designed to help Italia get back on its feet after WWII. And both are cherished and useful today. The Ape is especially helpful to farmers and other workers who live in or near the many Medieval towns that exist in the country. At least I see them used to advantage in the hills in Tuscany and the many narrow roads.
If you would like to learn more about the Ape, and its evolution, visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_Ape
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_Ape
Love the Vespa? Go here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_Vespa
And for more about Barga in Tuscany, check out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barga,_Tuscany
Thanks for reading! And sharing if so moved,
Kelly Borsheim
P.S. If you would like to see more of the Barga series of short articles with images, please visit me here (and if not July 2024), search the collection titled “Italy” or search on Barga in general): https://www.patreon.com/KellyBorsheim