Anghiari si racconta

I was born here in Anghiari, I have always lived here, I have travelled abroad, but I have always come back in the end. I had a very happy childhood, wonderful friends, wonderful memories. It was a childhood full of real activities, playing hide-and-seek, running around, playing soccer; we didn’t have a cell phone, FB, WhatsApp, we were happy, perhaps even happier than today’s kids, because without the technology we had to see each other – to talk to a person you had to meet them.

My parents are still alive. They worked at Soldini, a shoe factory here in Anghiari – it doesn’t exist anymore, it burned down completely, one night in 1994. I live with them, and a cousin, uncle, auntie – we all live together in the same building, we share a big courtyard, the house has a number of floors. I have always lived there, every time I am at home …. I have many memories of this courtyard where we played soccer the whole day long. My grandparents were a bit annoyed because they had flowers and with the ball…but we were good at kicking the ball in the right place. I have a younger sister; she is a lawyer and lives in Arezzo.

I tried university, in Arezzo, but I gave it up because I didn’t like it, even though I got good marks. I had a passion for ancient history which I was studying, but, at the time, uni wasn’t for me – that was in 2002. I think I was too young, I matured a bit later, I was gripped by anxiety…. From time to time, I think about enrolling again and studying while I work. I still have the passion, I like to read, to study by myself, I like anthropology, history… there are historical periods I really like, the Middle Ages, ancient Egypt…

And I have an interest in storytelling, I belong to the LUA, which is an association where stories are told and collected. In Anghiari there is a community of people who like to narrate stories. Tuscans are storytellers: when you go to an osteria, to a restaurant, people want to tell the story of their life, for us it is normal. A bit like Dante, Boccaccio, Dante describing his love for Beatrice…. So, we have a passion for tales.

Here, in Anghiari, we also have the Compagnia dei Ricomposti, which is 40 years old. In the period that I have belonged to it, some members have died, unfortunately, but new people have joined in. We sing Tuscan stornelli, songs that became popular in the early 20th century, that were sung in osterie. In our region, there was a community of farmers – the countryside was densely inhabited, now for the most part it is abandoned – and then there was this desire to meet up, in these taverns, and after one or two glasses of wine, sing these songs, perhaps mocking a friend who was in love with a girl, who was interested in someone else. The stornelli tell this kind of story, in rhymes, handed down orally. It happened mainly in the squares, on market days people gathered, in Anghiari always on Wednesdays…. Now everybody tells stories digitally, once it happened through the real social media, the piazza, the square.

The changes we see in Anghiari are the ones that are happening all over Italy. There isn’t much work around here anymore, factories have closed down, so people have to go away to work…. Shopping is done in shopping centres, where perhaps you can find cheap stuff, so shops in the city centre have closed down. Nobody wants to live in the centre, because it is inconvenient – there isn’t any parking, some houses have 3 rooms on three levels.

It is not good to see empty houses. Some have been bought by foreigners, but that doesn’t really count – they come here 2-3 months a year. As an anghiarese, it is not a nice situation, because we are losing our community in the historical centre. In old towns like ours, the people who lived in the historical centres were important, you could see all these women sweeping, tiding up, going shopping with their bags, talking. Now…

In the end, our origins are important: you might leave, but then you come back, like a magnet. Anghiari, like the whole of Tuscany…  it is a good life here, where one has memories, childhood friends, the first love, parents, grandparents, a sister, a brother, who live here, so people are always happy to come back, this is important. To help those young people who want to live in Anghiari, perhaps the municipality could support tours with a focus on food and wine and arts and crafts, and help open more permanent shops in the historical centre.

Developing that kind of tourism would really help Anghiari. All the municipalities of our Valle Tiberina (an ancient valley, going back to Etruscan and Roman times, very important for our history, for our roots) should join together and offer a comprehensive tour of all the towns, Anghiari, Sansepolcro, Monterchi, Caprese Michelangelo, tours based on food and wine, history and folklore. I believe that tourists, especially the English, Americans, are interested in Tuscan traditions – how pasta is made at home, how to make wine by pressing the grapes with bare feet like in the old times, how wine harvesting is done, the traditional cakes. Because it is through experiencing things that you remember them: ‘I went to Anghiari, they taught me how to make bringoli, a local pasta’; ‘I worked a piece of wood with a master woodworker’. In my opinion, what makes the difference for a tourist is a hands-on experience of the real Tuscany, not just visiting museums.

Anghiari is a town rich in traditions, and there’s a lively cultural life, with theatre, music, the Palio della Vittoria, the parishes…. It is important to belong to community associations, first because you give a hand to the town, which is more and more needed, and second because you have the chance to have a true relationship with people older and younger than yourself … so there are these intergenerational relationships where we are all together because we want to do something for Anghiari.

There are many special things in Anghiari, beauty aside – everybody can see the physical beauty of the place, the city walls, a medieval town, dominating the Tiber Valley. But one of the special things is the people, and having the opportunity to meet them, because they are all busy making Anghiari even better, more ‘ours’, but, at the same time, open to everybody who comes here …

The LUA is an association, like others, that tries to welcome everybody. Why was it founded here? Well, in 1984, Saverio Tutino founded the Archivio diaristico in Pieve di Santo Stefano. So, there was already a collection of life stories, which suggested that there was perhaps a need to found a school dedicated to autobiographical writing and …. Many people go to the archive to do research; here we teach writing, the practical side of it…

Anghiari is a town well suited to autobiography …with its peace, tranquillity, and these walls that seem to contain all the stories that want to be told. The walls give a sense of protection, which allows us to share stories, feel protected and, at the same time, open to the world. It’s like a nest, giving life – people sit at a table and trust in others with their stories, and discover things they didn’t know they had within them. And when stories crisscross each other, it is a wonderful feeling … sharing your story is a gift.

I started working here in 2005; I was a sound engineer, and now, together with Renato, I am part of the administrative office – we organize courses, set up classrooms, help teachers. It is a 3 year course, and there are 60 students across the 3 years at the moment. People come from all over Italy, but recently we have had an increase in enrolments of young people from Anghiari; ages range from 20 to 75, 80. A big part of our job is taking care of people. Lots of things happen, they are not at home, but they are in our home that is also theirs … we must take care of them.

Anghiari is a town for all, for all who want to learn about Tuscany through the history of us anghiaresi. … The soul of the community is very much alive, at any corner, in any street, inside any door, in everybody.