My sister in law arrived from France last Monday the 20th of December to spend Christmas with us here in Italy, having made a horrible 7 hour car journey from Nantes to Parigi only to be snowed in at Paris Airport for a couple of days. Today is the 26th and so far she hasn’t seen the sun: Pioggia, pioggia, ed ancora pioggia, e oggi è ritornata di nuovo la neve! (Rain, rain, and more rain, and today the snow came back again!)
Nevertheless, we’ve had a really nice Christmas together, chatting, laughing, seeing friends and family. We don’t go in much for the traditional Christmas. Usually on Christmas day Geoff and I make panini and go off to do a bit of exploring and facciamo una passeggiata (we have a walk). Yesterday, the 25th of December, was no exception. We had made up our minds that, whatever the weather, we would go out for the day.
We decided to take mia cognata (my sister in law) Jacqui down to the Liguria coast near Lerici, perhaps con un po’ di fortuna (with a bit of luck)we would even see a little patch of blue sky. Well, it didn’t rain … much, and in fact we had a lovely day … unlike many of the local inhabitants, as we were to discover.
We first noticed that things were not right when we got to Romito Magra near La Spezia. Fango dovunque! (Mud everywhere). Yes, on la vigilia (the 24th December) the unfortunate inhabitants had suffered un’alluvione (a flood, or inundation) due to the esondazione (overflowing, or flooding out) of the river, carrying tons of slimy reddish brown sludge down the valley, blocking roads, making its insidious way into ground floor rooms, and generally ruining everyone’s day.
Having navigated through the muds of Romito, we headed towards our proposed destination, the small picturesque fishing village of Tellaro. But it was not to be. Strada chiusa per Frana (Road closed due to landslide) said the sign blocking our way. We checked with a lad who was standing nearby holding in his hand, rather surreally, an Elvis Presley CD, and he confirmed that yes, Tellaro was only accessible on foot by wading through mud.
Well we aren’t that adventurous! So we turned around and headed towards the lovely village of Montemarcello, which is perched up on the rocky hills above. There, we sat and shared our panini with a lonely looking silver grey cat in the gracious Piazza XIII Dicembre, then explored a few of the local sentieri (footpaths), finally arriving at il belvedere (the viewpoint) that looks out towards l’Isola della Palmeria and il Golfo dei Poeti over a rather forbidding, wintery Mare Mediterraneo (Mediterranean Sea).
To round the day off we decided to head for l’affascinante cittadina di Sarzana (the charming little town of Sarzana) in the hope of finding a bar, and a nice hot cappuccio (cappuccino coffee). Missione compiuta (mission accomplished) we drove home, lit the wood fire and cooked a rather unorthodox meal of cavolfiore gratinato (cauliflower cheese).
We did however reflect on those unfortunate people who had to spend their feste dealing with esondazioni, alluvioni, e frane. Here is a brief local newspaper report about the situation in the area of La Spezia on Christmas eve:
La Spezia, 24 dic. – Cala il rischio esondazione sulla foce del fiume Magra nello spezzino, dopo una notte trascorsa a monitorare il livello del fiume che ha raggiunto la piena verso le tre. Restano anche oggi isolati i borghi marinari di Tellaro e Fiascherino dove ci sono circa 700 abitanti collegati solo da uno stretto sentiero e stanotte non ci sara’ la tradizionale nativita’ subacquea. Ieri, in una sola ora sono caduti 50 millimetri di pioggia, provocando esondazioni di canali, allagamenti e frane in tutta la provincia. Particolarmente colpita la Val di Magra, ma in tutta la provincia una decina sono le strade in tilt di cui sei chiuse al traffico per frane o allagamenti. Rinforzi della Protezione Civile sono giunti da Genova e Imperia e mezzi dei vigili del fuoco da Torino e da Milano.
La Spezia, 24th Dec. – The risk of flooding near the mouth of the river Magra in the Spezia area has fallen, after a night spent monitoring the level of the river, which reached its fullest at around three a.m. The seaside villages of Tellaro and Fiascherino, with around 700 inhabitants, are still isolated today, the only connection being a narrow footpath. The traditional ‘underwater nativity’ won’t take place tonight. Yesterday, 50 millimeters of rain fell in just one hour, causing the overflowing of drainage channels, floods, and landslides throughout the province. The Val di Magra was particularly badly hit, but in the whole province around ten roads are in a mess, of which six are closed to traffic due to landslides and flooding. Reinforcements from the Civil Protection Agency have arrived from Genova and Imperia, and fire engines have come down from Torino and Milano.
