Ann Game is a small, petite woman with a special light in her eyes: a cheerfulness, a benevolence that attracts at first glance. And this, I believe, is how she has found her way into the hearts of so many people, winning their trust and encouraging them to share their stories, their "Anghiaresi" (people from Anghiari) by birth or adoption.
A patient effort, begun in 2016. A collection of interviews—also available on the website livinginrelation.com—that have gradually formed this "portrait of Anghiari," a beautiful presentation of the village and the life that lives there.
Many voices, from so many people of different ages and experiences, who share a love for this town and its places, a sense of belonging rooted in the distant past, in an era when everything was simpler and therefore more easily understood. Voices that bear witness to the change and transformation a place undergoes over time, while preserving its deepest memory.
This isn't always the case. How many places have we seen, visited, or even lived in, transformed by modernization? Perhaps this is why, upon arriving in Anghiari, you're struck by the atmosphere, the atmosphere that permeates the streets, the squares, the buildings, the stones. Views that capture the eye, nature creeping in in the form of clouds, trees, and flowerpots. Your gaze is drawn to the long straight road that descends toward the Tiber Valley and Sansepolcro and extends into the plain, all the way to the mountains that form the backdrop. There's a sense of spaciousness that doesn't exist elsewhere.
Living in a village today is a courageous choice. Indeed, the accounts in this book also highlight its downsides, linked partly to relationships and partly to depopulation. Proximity creates community, but it reduces the privacy to which modernity has accustomed us (at least as a concept, because in reality we are continually "invaded"). Artisanal activities, the fruit of wisdom and expertise, are declining, displaced by large-scale production. Small shops struggle to compete with shopping malls. Young people want to leave.
But, for the most part, they return. Why do they return? Because after seeing so much else, they can compare and choose; they choose the values, the affection that a small community can offer. The farmers and shepherds of old couldn't choose; they were physically tied to the land and their animals, and knowing little about the rest of the world, they felt obliged to live a hard and sacrificial life.
Undoubtedly, progress, in addition to creating so many superfluous needs, has also fostered openness of mind, access to formative life experiences, such as travel. So if there may have been limitations due to backwardness before, today those limitations no longer exist.
We are probably in a historical phase in which people are beginning to take stock: development, technology, and the availability of so many consumer goods are wonderful; But given the price we must pay for this, the welcome a village or town can offer is more attractive and, ultimately, more solid than all the promises of the market.
In a small community, human relationships are facilitated: people meet, greet, and exchange a few words; if they need help, there's someone willing to offer it; if there's a celebration or event, it feels like family. Thus, people become attached to their neighbors and the place, feeling protected and thus able to open up to others.
This welcome has become Anghiari's pride and joy. Those who come from outside appreciate not only the beauty of the place, but also the people's manners and cultural initiatives. It proves that we don't need "stuff" in our lives, but human warmth, educational experiences, and beauty.
Anghiari welcomes foreigners and strangers, who often decide to stay, buy homes, and integrate with the locals. Anghiari hosts concerts, literary prizes, and antiques exhibitions. It has a theater, a museum. It has the Free University of Autobiography, which cultivates and encourages memory practices. It is therefore fertile ground for encounter and exchange, which are inherent human needs.
It can be concluded that the aspect that sums up and encompasses the many virtues of Anghiari, and makes it such a special place, is care: care for the place, for the people, for human and family relationships. Care for the arts, culture, and the territory.
All this also stems from self-love, from the desire to be people of good will, capable and industrious. Everyone does what they can to create their own well-being, but always keeping others in mind, doing it for others as well, in a virtuous circle that we hope will never be lost.
A "thank you" to Ann Game who, a foreigner, was able to look into the heart of Anghiari and gave us this precious gift.
by Patrizia Petrosini