Rock carving is a worldwide phenomenon. It can range from shallow incisions to the sculpting of entire temples and even animals from the rock, as we found in Mahabalipuram during our trip to Tamilnadu last year.
In Italy there are many sites where rock carvings have been discovered. The Val Camonica in Brescia province, for example, contains the largest number in the world of such carvings: over 140,000 have been found so far! I have not yet visited the area but a trail has been laid out for people to find the most significant of these carvings, or petroglyphs as they are more accurately termed.
It’s not an easy thing to date the petroglyphs but, on the evidence of Stone Age flints and bones, some of them must have been carved thousands of years ago.
More recently petroglyphs have been discovered on our own Val di Lima’s Monte Limano and last year some amazing finds were made on the rocky slopes of Monte Prato Fiorito known as ‘le ravi’.
On Saturday 16 June, at the Sala Rosa of the Circolo dei Forestieri in Bagni di Lucca, I attended a fascinating conference on the new finds given by Giancarlo Sani who has already written two books on the subject and is an eminent researcher of petroglyphs. The conference was illustrated with photographs by David Bonaventuri, well known for his sports and nature pictures.
Thousands of carved signs and symbols have been discovered. They can be divided into three groups: symbolic carvings, most importantly the circle of life or the sun, pictographic signs such as face silhouettes, and names and dates.
The important thing about these signs is that they reveal something of the world of shepherds who were plentiful on the mountain slopes within living memory (there are still a few left, Erica, for example). They were people whose life was spent largely in solitude with their flocks but who were also determined to leave some record of their presence, of their religious beliefs and, for many of them, of their ability to write their names and dates.
Clearly the symbolic signs are the oldest and quite a few of them were vandalised in a later age when Christianity saw them as symbols of pagan cults. The signs with names and dates are rather later and the oldest of these has a date placing it in the seventeenth century.
Astonishingly one of the names appears to spell ‘Byron’ and bears a surprising similarity to the romantic poet’s signature.
It will be remembered that Byron visited Bagni di Lucca as guest of John Webb, the then owner of the Villa Bonvisi, and loved walking around the surrounding hills. It is, therefore, quite possible that it was Lord George Gordon who ‘vandalised’ a part of the Prato Fiorito! After all, he also left his name on at least one Greek temple – at Sounion and also at the Chateau de Chillon where he wrote that haunting poem ‘The Prisoner of Chillon’ narrating the imprisonment of a François Bonivard, a Genevois monk.
A book is promised on the petroglyphs of our Prato Fiorito and there will certainly be a lot more research by Sani and his devoted team. Who knows, more light could even be shed on the ancient witches Sabbaths that used to be held on this sacred mountain. In case you weren’t sure the Sabbaths or sabbats are still held by members of the Wiccan cult on the following dates
Yule, Winter Solstice: December 20, 21, 22, or 23
Brigid, Imbolc, Candlemas, Imbolg, or Brigid’s Day: February 1 or 2. …
Eostar, Spring Equinox, Ostara, or Oestarra: March 20, 21, 22, or 23. …
Beltane, May Eve, Beltaine, Bealtaine, or May Day: April 30 or May 1.
Article by Francis Pettitt on his extremely successful blog – FROM LONDON TO LONGOIO (AND LUCCA AND BEYOND) PART THREE
