Val d'Aveto

Last updated May 09, 2019

The Val d'Aveto, or Aveto valley, straddles the Province of Genoa and the Province of Piacenza, between the Italian regions of Liguria and Emilia-Romagna. The river Aveto runs through the valley, to later join its waters with those of the Trebbia near the hamlet of Confiente. The upper, Ligurian part of the valley comprises the Comuni of Rezzoaglio and Santo Stefano d'Aveto; the lower, Emilian part of the valley is divided between Ferriere, Cerignale and Corte Brugnatella. Verdant and lush, characterized by pleasant sights, fresh and balmy summers and abundant snow in winter, the valley is flanked by forested mountains, culminating at the elevation of 1799 meters with Monte Maggiorasca.

The Province of Genoa was a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Genoa. It was replaced by Metropolitan City of Genoa.

The province of Piacenza is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Piacenza. As of 2016, it has a total population of 286,572 inhabitants over an area of 2,585.86 square kilometres (998.41 sq mi), giving it a population density of 111.38 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city Piacenza has a population of 102,269, as of 2015. The provincial president is Patrizia Barbieri and it contains 48 comuni. The province dates back to its founding by the Romans in 218 BCE.

Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy; its capital is Genoa. The region almost coincides with the Italian Riviera and is popular with tourists for its beaches, towns, and cuisine.

History

In Roman times, the local inhabitants, the Iluates and Veleiates Ligures, gave more than a headache to the Latin powerhouse: Titus Livy and consul Gneus Fabricius had words of appraisal for their fighting qualities. The Veleiates were eventually subjugated after suffering defeat near Monte Penna at the hands of consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus in 166 a.C.. The heathen Ligurians venerated that very mountain as a deity, and the forests at its foothills were deemed to be sacred ground.

The Roman Republic was the era of classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BC, and ending in 27 BC with the establishment of the Roman Empire. It was during this period that Rome's control expanded from the city's immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world.

The Ligures were an Indo-European people who appear to have originated in, and gave their name to, Liguria, a region of north-western Italy. Elements of the Ligures appear to have migrated to other areas of western Europe, including the Iberian peninsula.

Consul was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city states through antiquity and the Middle Ages, then revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic. The related adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis.

During the High Middle Ages, the valley welcomed a community of friars, who went on to build an important monastery located at Villa Cella and quoted in written documents of the Lombard epoch. Up to the Middle Ages, a lake occupied the plain now known as la Moglia near the hamlet of Cabanne. It was the monks of Villa Cella that, working hard, opened the natural dam that kept the water into the lake and made it run down the valley through the Masappello gorge.

The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that commenced around 1000 and lasted until around 1250. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around 1500.

The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.

In later times, the valley was part of the Malaspina domain: these lords started building the Castle of Santo Stefano d'Aveto. At the end of the 15th century, the Fieschi family acquired the area for the sum of 28,000 livres.

The Malaspina was a noble Italian family of Longobard origin that descending from Boniface I, Margrave of Tuscany, through the Obertenghi line that ruled Lunigiana from the 13th to the 14th century through many feuds, and since the 14th century the marquisate of Massa and lordship of Carrara, which later became the Duchy of Massa and Carrara and at a later time the Principality of Massa and the Marquisate of Carrara.

Santo Stefano d'Aveto is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italian region Liguria.

After the failure of the Fieschi Plot in Genoa (1547), the Val d'Aveto was assigned to the powerful Doria family. Two major revolts were directed against their domination in the last years of the 18th century, when the territory ended up an integral part of the Republic of Genoa, then of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and eventually of the Kingdom of Italy.

Genoa is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, which in 2015 became the Metropolitan City of Genoa, counted 855,834 resident persons. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera.

Doria, originally de Auria, meaning "the sons of Auria", and then de Oria or d'Oria, is the name of an old and extremely wealthy Genoese family who played a major role in the history of the Republic of Genoa and in Italy, from the 12th century to the 16th century.

The Republic of Genoa was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, incorporating Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean.

During the Second World War, given its difficult terrain, the valley became a fastness of the Italian Resistenza, being mostly spared by the fighting, which took place in nearby areas as Val Fontanabuona and the Sturla and Graveglia valleys.

The Italian resistance movement is an umbrella term for Italian resistance groups during World War II. It was opposed to the forces of Nazi Germany as well as their puppet state local regime, the Italian Social Republic, especially following the German military occupation of Italy between September 1943 and April 1945, though the resistance to the Fascist Italian government began even prior to World War II. The movement that rose among Italians of various social classes is also known as the Italian resistance and the Italian partisans, and the brutal conflict they took part in is referred to as the Italian Liberation War or as the Italian Civil War. The modern Italian Republic was declared to be founded on the struggle of the Resistance.

Today, part of the Val d'Aveto is covered by the Aveto Natural Regional Park (Parco Regionale dell'Aveto). The natural reserve of the Agoraie e Moggetto protects the Lago degli Abeti (Fir Lake), on whose bottom fossil fir logs can be seen.

Historical trivia

The Val d'Aveto was the den of brigands; many legends find their origins here.

It is said that there was once an inn near the meadow known as Cabruscià. The innkeeper was murmured to be used to poison its richest guests; when exposed by the Malaspina lords, he was burnt alive in his inn, whence the name of the place, Ca bruxià (Ligurian for Casa bruciata, "burnt house"). Other sources say this name belongs instead to an old customs house along the road to Borzonasca.

The Val d'Aveto had an important guest in the Nobel Prize winner, the writer Ernest Hemingway. During the Second World War, in 1945, he passed through the valley while embedded as war correspondent in the Allied liberation forces. It is said that on his diary he wrote: "Today I visited the most beautiful valley in this world".^[1] Be it true or not, Hemingway again visited the area in the 1950s for fishing.^[2]

Culture

The Val d'Aveto is part of the culturally homogeneous territory known as the Four Provinces (Italian : Quattro Province), straddling the contiguous mountain areas of the Provinces of Alessandria, Genoa, Pavia, Piacenza) and featuring a common tradition and an important repertoire of very ancient music and dances. The main instrument played here is the Apennine pennywhistle, that together with the accordion, and once upon a time by the müsa (Apennine pipes), sets the tune and rhythm for the dances and enlivens the feasts.

Flora and fauna

Liguria is home to the most diverse collection of plant life throughout the whole of Italy. The Val d'Aveto, part of the Ligurian section of the Apennines, is located in a particularly favorable environment for a number of climatical, geographic e geological reasons.^[3]

The Ligurian Apennine is the border between the fitogeographic regions of Middle Europe and the Mediterranean; it connects the Alpine and peninsular Apennine ranges. For these reasons, plus the noteworthy altitudinal gradient (from about 350 metres asl at the confluence with the Trebbia up to the about 1800 of Monte Maggiorasca) different plant species from diverse environments thrive here. The Ligurian Sea is quite near, furthermore, to the upper part of the valley: some of the summits that surround it, as Monte Ramaceto or Monte Aiona, overlook valleys whose waters run directly into the sea.

As for animal life, the Val d'Aveto is still home to several wild species as: badgers, porcupines, foxes, boars, stone martens, wildcats and even wolves. Among the avian species many birds of prey, among which notably the long-eared and little owl, buzzard, and falcons plus many other species, including the cuckoo, finch and thrush, to quote some.

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References

↑ Quando Hemingway attraversò la 'Valle degli dei'
↑ La vera storia di Hemingway a pesca in Val d'Aveto
↑ Flora della Val d'Aveto Flora della Val d'Aveto (Italian language)

External links

Val d'Aveto - Comuni di Rezzoaglio e Santo Stefano d'Aveto

Coordinates: 44°32′00″N9°23′00″E / 44.5333°N 9.3833°E / 44.5333; 9.3833

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[1] Quando Hemingway attraversò la 'Valle degli dei'

[2] La vera storia di Hemingway a pesca in Val d'Aveto

[3] Flora della Val d'Aveto Flora della Val d'Aveto (Italian language)