In 2007 we vacationed in Europe with our daughter, Jaime and her friend Sapna. One of our stops was a small village in Tuscany called Sommocolonia, where we spent a week in an old stone villa. Today, I’m posting two favourite photos from that area, starting with an old stone bridge.
Ponte della Maddalena (Italian: “Bridge of Mary Magdalene”) is a bridge crossing the Serchio river near the town of Borgo a Mozzano in the Italian province of Lucca. The bridge is a remarkable example of medieval engineering, probably commissioned by the Countess Matilda of Tuscany circa 1080-1100. It was renovated in the 1300’s.
Later it took on the name of Ponte della Maddalena, from an oratory dedicated to Mary Magdalene, whose statue stood at the foot of the bridge on the eastern bank.
The village of Sommocolonia had many interesting old houses, including the villa where we stayed. I photographed a number of them, but this next picture is my favourite from that series.
I like the way the scene is framed by the stone walls on the left and in front and of course, the sky was particularly accommodating that afternoon.
Today, Sommocolonia is a bucolic, Tuscan village, a quiet, relaxing place for a holiday. Near the end of WW II it was the site of crucial battle which produced one of the US military’s first black Congressional Medal of Honor winners, Lt. John Fox. Lt. Fox gave his life to direct an artillery barrage into the village, saving the lives of several US soldiers and turning back the attacking Wehrmacht troops. He knowingly directed the barrage into an area where he too would surely be killed. His valour was largely unknown until 1997 when John Fox and six other black Americans were presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor for their actions in World War Two.