Esondazioni, Alluvioni, e Frane Posted by Serena on Dec 27, 2010 in Uncategorized
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.
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Comments:
walter:
esondazioni ???? non l’avevo mai sentita o letta !!!! ai mei tempi si usava “straripamenti “! forse e’ lo stesso caso di ” obliterare ” recentemente sostituito con “annullare “,(nei biglietti del treno), o come ” eiezioni” ( motto arcano) invece di scrementi ! questa l’ho letta a pieve di cento(bo) in un avviso ai cittadini i quali dovrebbero responsabilizzarsi delle “eiezioni “dei loro cagnolini.
Serena:
@walter Salve Walter,
Ecco la dicitura di un cartello che ho visto recentemente:
I CANI VANNO TENUTI
AL GUINZAGLIO E
LE RELATIVE DEIEZIONI
VANNO RACCOLTE
troppo bello, vero?
Saluti da Serena
melissa:
Infatti! La mia amica, che abita a Lerici, a causa dell’alluvione e il fango, è stata senza l’acqua potabile per due o tre giorni! Speriamo le cose migliorano ovunque!
Vince:
Salve Serena:
I don’t understand the landslides in a country so old. Do you not plant vegetation on the hillsides? In California we get landslides when first the wild fires have burned off the vegetation. Reseeding is always done as soon as possible.
I also find it interesting that you would use the words ‘Parigi” and “Paris Airport” in the same sentence. When I was first in Italy I drove to Venice thinking ‘Vincenza’ was Italian for ‘Venice’. After a long drive an American A&W Root beer stand appeared! This was back when there were no American ‘anythings’ in Italy. I thought I was in a Fellini movie! A friendly Army officer was very relieved to learn, that while I was in the Air Force, I was not a pilot (at that time)!
Felice Anno Nuovo!
Vince
Serena:
@Vince Ciao Vince,
All I can say is that it’s time for you to come and visit Italy! Make sure to be here in the winter so that you can observe the effects of weeks of heavy rain, snow and ice on densely forested hills, mountains, rivers, and the thousands of little roads that wind their way up to the same number of isolated villages, towns, etc. etc..
And on the subject of planting seedlings every time a frana takes place, well I’m sure a quick chat with ‘Silvio’ would reassure you that it will be taken care of just as soon as he’s finished cleaning up the streets of Napoli!
Buon Anno, Serena
davmc:
Hello Serena,
Please excuse asking on this blog but there is no contact mail addy.
Recently my brother who lives in Australia was told that he had a rare blood group that centred on northern Italy.We know that our great great grandfather jumped ship to marry out great great grandmother(she must have been a cracker lol) but he was of Austrian nationality and we know that the population of the area was always changing nationalities at the whim of the current ruling elite.Can you do a post on the history of this area please.It would be fascinating.
Serena:
@davmc Salve davmc,
If I understand your comment correctly you are asking me to write a post about the history of Northern Italy!
Well I’m very flattered that you have that much faith in my abilities, but I’m afraid that what you ask is well beyond the scope of this blog.
Let me clear up a couple of points however:
1. ‘Italia Settentrionale’, i.e. ‘Northern Italy’, is a vast and varied zone that extends from Liguria and Emilia-Romagna up to border with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. It contains everything from ‘la pianura’ (the agricultural plains), to ‘le Alpi’ (the alps), massive lakes such as ‘Lago di Garda’ and Lago di Como, the world famous tourist destination of Venezia with its canals and Gondolas, and the massive industrialized urban areas of Milano, Bologna, and Torino (with its FIAT car works).
2. you wrote: “we know that the population of the area was always changing nationalities at the whim of the current ruling elite”
Let’s say that the population ‘officially’ changed nationality according to the current invaders, e.g. the Austro-Hungarians, and this went on for centuries until the unification of Italy in 1861, and in the case of Trento and Trieste, after the end of WWI.
Do you have any more information about your great great grandfather, such as his surname for example, which might help you to do a search on the internet?
Saluti da Serena
walter:
devo ammettere che in questi giorni ho ascoltato il termine ” esondazione “. era usato da un ingeniere e mi fa pensare a un termine tecnico,ma il significato e’ lo stesso che ” straripamento ” . non sara’ che il secondo termine e’,come me , passato di moda !!!!?????? hai ragione ” delezioni” e’la parola corretta .ciao!
Serena:
@walter Ciao Walter,
Anche il mio vocabolario ‘Collins Sansoni del 1991 non dà la parola esondazione. Ti consiglierei invece di cercare su un vocabolario on-line, il quale sarebbe più aggiornato. E.g. http://www.wordreference.com/definizione/esondazione
Saluti da Serena