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Art of Loving Italy

Art of Loving Italy

Art & Beauty are all around us.

Borgo a Mozzano—the place to find the Devil on All Saints Day in Italy

November 2, 2016 by Melissa Muldoon Leave a Comment

borgo-mozzano-devil-legend
Photo Credit: Ponte della Maddalena, Wikipedia

At the end of October, Americans celebrate Halloween, but the Italians celebrate All Saints Day. Halloween is a relatively new “imported” holiday for the Italians, and traditional Italians thumb their noses at the “Trick or Treat” or “Dolcetto o Scherzetto” scene. They prefer to save dressing up for Carnival. However, there is an exception. In Lucca at this time of the year is the largest Geek-cultural event in all of Italy, rivaling Comicon in San Diego and Tokyo’s Comiket. It’s called Lucca Comics & Games. How can one resist hanging out in a Renaissance-era gem of a town surrounded by a plethora of fantasy superheroes parading through the streets in full, active cosplay and role-playing?

borgo-mozzano-devil-legend
Photo Credit: Lucca Games & Comics Festival

In recent years dressing up in scary costumes has become quite popular in another small town slightly to the north of Lucca. Nestled at the foot of the Garfagnana Mountain in a little town called Borgo a Mozzano, you will also see also your fair share of ghostly ghouls and vampires. People gather here in this tiny little medieval village during All Saints Day weekend to celebrate the famous Ponte della Maddalena, also known as the “Devil’s Bridge”.

borgo-mozzano-devil-legend
Photo Credit: All Saints Day in Borgo a Mozzano

The bridge once served as an important crossing point for pilgrims along the via Francigena on their way to Rome. But the thing that makes the bridge so unusual is its shape. It was built using three asymmetrical arches, to withstand the high flood waters of the Serchio. The resulting effect is that the bridge appears to be lurching to one side. There is all manner of legends that have arisen to explain the bridge’s most curious shape. The most popular being this:

borgo-mozzano-devil-legend

I invite you also to listen to a Podcast
in Italian I recorded about the Devil’s Bridge

Once upon a time, a king asked his master architect to build a bridge over the River Serchio. The poor guy ran into many problems, and the bridge kept crumbling and falling apart. It was quite a disaster. The king fed up with the architect’s failures, finally gave him an ultimatum: Either you finish the bridge in three weeks and be given a big sack of money…or off with your head. The poor man was scared silly. At this point, the Devil appeared before the architect and promised to build a beautiful bridge. But of course, there was a condition.

borgo-mozzano-devil-legend
Photo Credit: Ponte della Maddalena, Wikipedia

The first soul to pass over the bridge would be his for all eternity. The man readily agreed to the Devil’s bargain, but when the King announced he would be the first to cross the bridge the architect panicked. This would not be good for future business! So, to trick the devil he kicked a small dog and sent him scampering over the bridge. The Devil was so mad to have been fooled; he gave the bridge a mighty kick himself. And that explains why the bridge now appears to be lopsided.

If you visit the Bridge in Borgo Mozzano during All Saint’s Eve, along with all the other festive party-goers, you might just happen to catch a glimpse of the Devil himself who is reported to lurk still about the banks of the Serchio in this tiny little town!

Be sure to visit the Dreaming Sophia Pinterest page featuring photos of the Devil’s Bridge in Borgo a Mazzano 

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Filed Under: Italian Festivals, Culture Tagged With: All Saints Day in Italy, Borgo a Mozzano, Devil's Bridge, Dolcetto o Scherzetto, Garfagnana Mountains, Lucca, Lucca Comics Games, Lucida Mansi, Ponte della Maddalena

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The Matta Book Club returns this fall with a new n The Matta Book Club returns this fall with a new novel!! 

More details and the big reveal of the title and the author and details how to sign up for the book club will come next week in a post on the StudentessaMatta.com website... so stay tuned. 

Currently, I'm still in Italy wrapping up a very successful language program in Arezzo! We had a wonderful time!

Now I'm at the beach and currently finishing up the next book club read! LOL

What I can tell you about the novel is that it is a contemporary adventure/murder mystery set in Italy, that takes you from Monte Carlo to London and to France where two thieves board the Orient Express to Venice as they track down Casanova's diary. 

Next week you will have the chance to sign up for group book club meetings of up to 3 or 4 readers, or individual sessions. The novel is available in print and audio and it is my recommendation, with plenty of lead time to read the novel during the summer months prior to the October start date, so that we can really dive into the story, and plot, and work on grammar and idioms.

Stay tuned! State sintonizzati! A presto!
This guy has all his ducks in a row! Al mare in Ca This guy has all his ducks in a row! Al mare in Castiglione della Pescaia
Buongiorno principessa! Siamo pronti per il mare! Buongiorno principessa! Siamo pronti per il mare! 😃

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