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Ancient places of worship in Liguria

The ancient shrine on the summit of Mount Dragnone (Zignago)

Dragnone The mountain is a massive deep-sea, emerging from the valley of the river Gravegnola, left tributary of the Vara, rises up to reach 1011 meters in height.

is unique because of its perfect conical shape, whose sides are completely covered by pine trees except for some stretches, the largest of them to the north, who have been subject, since time immemorial, to a continuous erosion that has caused major landslides.

crumbling walls appear to be an unusual gray-green, washed since the land has left open a thick layer of coils that are more resistant but still, surely, slipping into the valley.

the foot of the mountain is the village of Pieve, which branches off the only road - dirt road - to reach the top. From the top you can enjoy an impressive view: to the east, the mouth of the Magra, Mount Caprione and the Gulf of Spezia, to the south, the entire ridge of the Cinque Terre and Val di Vara media; to west, the Passo del Bracco, the Val di Vara and, at times, the promontory of Portofino, to the north, near the watershed between the Val di Vara and Val di Magra, the Zerasca, Passo Due Santi and Pontremoli.

A hundred yards from the north side of the mountain is Dragnone Castellaro of which, starting from the name, we can guess the old function. Recently, in fact, archaeological excavations on the summit of this mountain (subject to rapid erosion), brought to light an important settlement of the Bronze Final Anthropic, as well as successive layers, until the High Middle Ages (1). The peak of

Dragnone, occupied by a Marian shrine, was of archaeological interest which have indicated to those of contemporary human presence Castellaro.

findings, unfortunately, were in the secondary field, probably due to the excavation of land to build the foundations of the sanctuary, so it was not possible to make an efficient stratigraphy (2).

In any case, it was important to test the hypothesis, formulated some time ago, human activity on the mountain.

Our interest lies, in fact, the current ratio between these archaeological data and the existence of a Marian shrine with its traditions. The building

has suffered over time, various reconstructions, with the last in 1856, as evidenced by the inscription on the gateway, based on an existing building of the eighteenth century, itself built on a more ancient.

In this case, the oral tradition speaks of the apparitions, but gives a much more ancient rituals.

is the annual procession to the shrine of Our Lady of Dragnone which takes place today, September 8. One time, however, the event was not resolved in a simple procession: each participant, in fact, carrying a tree branch (some say turkey) that, during the climb, was planted in a pasture with all the others to form a circle in which, after putting in the afternoon, the faithful were gathered to eat and play together (3).

extremely important for our research is the presence of this circle made of tree branches, like a magic circle within which the community feels secure and it may be at leisure without fear. This symbolic ritual is certainly not part of traditional Christian background. It seems, however, a much older tradition from its origins, the result of a type of shamanic religious culture.

The figure of the sacred circle , in fact, is strongly linked to the character since shaman is the tool that allows both to get in touch with the divine, both to protect themselves from it. As part of the occult sciences, the circle represents an island protected, in which the magician can defend itself from the otherworldly power of what is evoked. In

strictly Celtic, tradition reports that a circle formed by a branch of a tree bent, served hero Cuchulainn to stop the onslaught of the enemy to his country (4).

Instead, speaking more generally of Celtic civilization / Liguria, we see how the circle is often represented in carvings and works megalithic. Circular shapes or shells, In fact, the large proportion of rock art corpus Liguria and, although the original provisions have been lost, the circle is a central symbol in many megalithic monuments Italians.

addition, the figure of the Druid, common to the Celts and Gauls, both "neighbors" of Liguria, is surely the result of a shamanistic culture from the ground and, in many ways, reflects the spiritual functions of the shaman himself.

The etymology of the word "druid", among others, seems to derive from the Saxon term dru wis , with the meaning of knowledge, in which the word wis indicates the tree or, more generally, wood .

It is highly likely, therefore, that the ritual that accompanied it, until after World War I, the procession to the summit of Dragnone was to pre-Roman origin, probably of Celtic, so important for the people of Liguria in the past that although Christianity is managed to survive until the third millennium.

We can assume, therefore, a very ancient place of worship on Mount Dragnone, perhaps linked to the prehistoric worship of the peaks .

of this cult has been discussed extensively over the past fifty years and the hypothesis appears to have consolidated, given the geographical density of testimony throughout the state of Liguria, which was in antiquity.

To strengthen the hypothesis in this sense for Dragnone, the finds at the top, not far from the shrine, votive artifacts are due to (5), evident traces of an ancient association of the mountain to a deity.

In Liguria, as mentioned above, many peaks were subjected to worship, starting from prehistory (6) and the entire Apennine chain owes its name to Pen, the Celtic god / Ligurian peaks, hypotheses based on the name " nib on Alp "Peutingeriana paper.

In this sense, we support an ancient legend that tells of an age in which the distant and Dragnone Castellaro were not divided as now but united, and together with another mountain nearby (currently in the municipality of Zeri), formed a single mass called Monte Fiorito. The men lived on this mountain meadows with characteristic ever-blooming, carefree, in a sort of golden age when there were no suffering, inequality, disease, etc..

This earthly paradise eventually work of the devil (of course, introduced after the Christianization of the Act), in an apocalypse orogeny, divided with a paw Mount Fiorito and reduced as we know it today.

Legend, taste a fairy tale, tells us two important data: the first is the sacredness of the mountain, connected heavenly well-being and the intrinsic immortality inherent in the concept of universal golden age. A sacredness that already shows us how ancient legend.

The second is the human settlement on the mountain. History tells us, in fact, that men lived on this mountain. This reference may result from latent consciousness that the place was old and once home of people who subsequently founded the residential areas below. These data encourage us in the event of a prehistoric settlement on the summit Dragnone that if it was not a living character, he could at least be religious in nature or in some way sacred.

In this case, unfortunately, the place names there is no help because the meaning of the name "Dragnone", probably of Celtic origin, is currently unknown, while the name "horn", the ancient name by which the area was called, arises from the non-Indo-European root- Karr, with the meaning of hardness or strength, which is not particularly affect our research.

Despite this, and thanks to the above, it can however be considered with some confidence that the Dragnone was, for the Liguria, an important point of spiritual reference. Not by chance, not far from the mountain was found the famous statue-stele No. 1, of which we discussed in the Introduction of this book.

It has been suggested that this stele was originally belongs to group A (III / II millennium BC) but has been altered in more recent times, so much so that scholars associate with the
group C (Iron Age) (7).

In particular, the inscription in Etruscan characters carved on the left side of the stele is considered, in order of time, the last vestige of man working on the monument, possibly dating to the fourth / third century BC.

On this inscription, which in Latin we can report as "mezunemunius" were made several assumptions, many of them quite imaginative, we could not give a true and final interpretation.

The only accredited hypothesis, to date, argues that, beyond the interpretation of the writing, it is a transcription of words in Etruscan characters belonging to the Ligurian language, which we know little or nothing.

Some scholars have considered the possibility that the stone may have been reused as a stone entrance to the sacred forest of Mount Dragnone but, also fascinating supposition, could not have, for now, some archaeological evidence.

fact is that the top of Dragnone, venerated today in the name of the Virgin Mary has been venerated since ancient times, perhaps in relation to the pagan gods exported or transferred from the Celtic world. The names of these deities have been lost but what is left, the rituals of the sacred circle and archaeological remains, give us important evidence of their existence and launch, once again, to us in this, a message of knowledge that has survived through the centuries to a mysterious, distant past.

Notes:
(1) AA.VV., Zignago 1: settlements and land , Genova, CLSCM, 1977 (2) Idem
(3) C. Gabrielli Rosi, Legends and places of fear between Liguria and Tuscany, Florence, Pacini Editore, 1991 (4) J. Chevalier, A. Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols, Milano, Rizzoli Editore, 2006 (5) Source: Archaeological Superintendence of Liguria (6) M. Giuliani (1964), Monte Burello Ligurian and the cult of the peaks , in historical archives for the provinces of Parma, Series IV, No XVI, pp.39-47 (7) AC Ambrosi, Corpus stele-statues of Lunigiana , Borfighera, Ist Int. of Ligurian Studies, 1972

Monte Dragnone seen Beverone

Dragnone Monte and Monte Castellaro. At the bottom of the Gruzza Vezzanelli

The Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Dragnone seen Castellaro (foreground)