Anghiari si racconta

I was born in Reggio Emilia, but I have no sense of belonging to that place as I was there for only for 7 months. My father changed jobs and, promotion after promotion, we finally moved to Turin. He died there at the age of 51 – I was 17, my sister was 3 years younger. My mother was from Rome where her parents and family still lived, and so we moved back there.

Unfortunately, going to many different schools, I lost touch with my friends – here in Anghiari people know each other from kindergarten. I went to primary school in Milan, high school in Turin, and to university in Rome – I studied Economics and Commerce at La Sapienza. I was interested in economics as I saw it as the key to well-being, the search for values. Then certain events made me reflect deeper and I realized that it was a fraud. So, I switched to Modern Religious History, focussing on oriental philosophies and yoga.

I met my wife at a wholistic resort when I was 30. We were nauseated by the pollution in Rome, so we decided to live in the countryside, especially when our son was born. Then we decided to move to Anghiari – my wife had lived there for years, and we thought it would be a good place to raise a child.

In 2004, I was diagnosed with a tumour. I was scared at first, worried that I would die before I could arrange many of my affairs. For a long time I was fearful, then my attitude changed. Rather than thinking about my illness, I started to share with people in the same predicament. Helping others changed the way I perceived things… the spiritual dimension became central.

I retired from the teaching job I had in a high school. I tried teaching yoga in hospitals to help patients, and relatives, but I encountered difficulties there. Now, I teach yoga and meditation here in Anghiari. I attend a Buddhist temple in Pieve a Socana. It is a place where you can be in peace, look at yourself – my illness helped me with that interiorization, helped me live daily life more serenely. Now there is a branch here in Anghiari.

This village was really an auspicious choice. It is beautiful, there is this spectacular valley, our house is old, with frescos. Here I live history, I experience it. I see history in people – it lives in the memory of the anghiaresi. They have nicknames for each other which carry a part of the village history … there is a harmony of thousands of faces. I am nourished by this place, by its landscape and people. There is also an intense cultural life here, which I really appreciate because it makes the city and its history lively.

It is not easy living in the historical centre – the village is not made for cars, people have to carry the shopping on foot…. The foreigners who now live in houses that had become vacant are those who most enjoy the events that keep the village alive – the theatre, the music, mainly in summer in the convents around here. When I see foreign tourists, I try to welcome them and make them feel at home, I perceive them as if they too were anghiaresi. They take photos of things I have seen a hundred times – they help me to smile at Anghiari, help me rediscover this place.

Anghiari has given me something that I’d not previously had in my life – the spaciousness, the vastness… that’s her charm, what attracted me. The town sits on a crossing, on a ridge: on one side, towards Arezzo, woods, woods and wild boar, hills, on the other side Sansepolcro, Città di Castello, daily life. I find this fascinating, and it strengthens my relationship with the people here, in the place that has adopted me. When I look to the landscape over the walls, I truly feel in-tune, in communion with the inhabitants … we are living the same experience every day.

Even when you are inside the city walls, there is a sense of space. You can find it looking out, towards the valley. It is a spaciousness one rarely perceives in big cities, in Milan, Rome – I have been here for 30 years now and when I go back to Rome I feel a lack of that spaciousness, the sky. When I look at Anghiari from inside, I see history – it is a medieval town inside the walls and has a special historical personality all of its own. There is a sense of deep history. And then there is that space beyond, wanting to be explored.

I do a lot of walking – I don’t have a car. Walking is an intense way to live life. I need to walk, but it is not compulsive, it is a dialogue with beauty. I particularly like arriving at churches – they have a special enchantment, history condensed. Many paths are not well maintained, even though there are many travellers, pilgrims. If the path is abandoned and I have to cut a way through thorny bushes with a stick, I am immersed in nature, and that gives me a special primordial feeling of beauty.

Many other sensations are hidden in the small angles, nooks in the town. I have a passion for yoga so, when I can, I transform these into places for meditation. But even on a busy market day, we have done chair yoga in the main piazza and have found tranquillity – there is noise, but also peace. We don’t always have to search for a mountain, a remote forest to find peace, we can easily find it under an olive tree and sit there for hours.

Sitting on the walls and looking to the landscape, I feel that I am on a solid ancient structure. Perhaps my mind is floating, but, in some moments, I can perceive my roots, and, looking to the valley, I look into infinity. This, for me, is the real beauty of Anghiari.