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Ancient places of worship Liguria 8

Bocchignola of Veppo: the road of the dead

The ancient Ligurian settlement, now included as part of the district of Veppo, deserves a space completely Specifically, even outside of this publication. Year after year, in fact, are discovered fascinating new details on the amount and type of man-made prehistoric life.

The latest of these discoveries occurred in 2004 when it was recovered, with no small effort, the head of a statue-stelae of Group B. The artifact, missing until then, a few years earlier had been found near the mouth of Veppo, Borseda in places and is in addition to that of Zignago, the only statue stele found within the political borders of Liguria.

at the mouth of Veppo, near the place where the precious relic was found, there is an important step in the journey to discover the Ligurian ancient places of worship: it is the medieval parish church of Bocchignola, located in a verdant plateau located between the upstream and Castellaro Bastia, in the same oronimi tell us, as usual, the presence of prehistoric settlements.

This church must have existed for a very long period of time is likely, as the oral memory places it in an almost fairy-tale, which often indicates a very remote past. The church, perhaps named after St. Michael, you have no information until the fifteenth century, when it is mentioned for the last time nell'Estimo Lunense.

course, the humble Oratory of Mount Caramel is located today in Bocchignola can not, rightly known as the Formentini represent the 'ecclesia early medieval described in the documents. What we see today must therefore be the result of a rebuild from scratch in recent times more likely, perhaps in the eighteenth century.

In any case, the oral tradition speaks of Bocchignola as the site of a pagan temple, Christianized by the construction of the church mentioned above, from which, since an indefinite period, they buried the dead brought there from neighboring regions.

zeros from the Goblet Cornoviglio and even further afield, in fact, the deceased would be brought up to the "graveyard" of Bocchignola along the so-called "road of death" which would connect that location with Sasseta Zignago, at the foot of Mount Dragnone.

According to Caselli, traces of this ancient road that was traveled by the families of the deceased for a long stretch after the burial, as a rite of accompaniment of the soul in the afterlife, they would at Sasseta, in places Pergola. However, questioning the present inhabitants of Sasseta, mostly foreigners, has not been possible to identify that location or to know more about the "road of death". The oral memory should be exhausted with the elders interviewed by Casey in the '30s and, unfortunately, a great tradition has ceased to be handed down. Also on

Caselli informs us that, at the beginning of 900, during some renovations at the Oratory of Mount Caramel, have come to light - confirming once again that the oral tradition is more truth to that story - many human bones "judged old than thousand years, "including some bones of gigantic proportions.

This demonstrated that the "cemetery", which is the ancestral memory, really existed. It follows, therefore, that the "road of death" is probably a route much older than we thought and, maybe, the fragment of a statue-stele found Borseda could be a clue in this regard.

Only recently, in fact, it was acknowledged that the statue-stele are probably linked to a funerary context. Their function in this area is still unclear, however, can be explained by the theories, quite convincing, Romulus Formentini of which, for reasons of relevance, do not concern us here.

Well, it is quite possible that if the statue-stele
Borseda really belonged to a funerary context, this context was in close connection with the "road of death" emerging, according to findings from the beginning of '900 , an ancient tradition, dating back to prehistoric settlements of the Ligurian tribes.

We tried to trace the "road of death" Caselli and using the information we have been faced with exciting new discoveries. The road, from Bocchignola, crossed a mountain with two summits, "which is nothing but the Gruzza of Veppo, also known as Port Veppo. This mountain is indeed composed of two rounded peaks, it is now covered by a thick pine forest, through which passes the road to the pass of Casoni. The Gabrielli Rosi, in his book, shows that in ancient times, instead of the pine forest there was Giuzzi of Sucre, the local term meaning "forest of Cork. The two peaks, in fact, were covered by a thick forest of oaks and it is clear that the term "Gruzza" is a simple metathesis of dialect "Giuzzi. The local tradition, also reported by Gabrielli Rosi, points out four special stones in the woods, which were said to be inhabited by the devil. These stones were called "Tecchia of bells", "Stone Cantarella," "Rock of fists" and "Fusigià Diau du", meaning "fire of hell." Both the name "Tecchia" and "fusigià" give us a clue that these rocks must be of such shape as to constitute a shelter, a refuge, in fact. The presence of the devil, located in the forest by the Christian tradition is, probably, there is a clear signal that there must be something that the Church does not want people to get back in touch. Maybe an outdoor temple of the ancient Ligurian maybe sacred rocks that were popular even in historical times, Ubaldo Formentini more for what defines a "recall atavistic" that pagan faith but that, too, was unbecoming approach.

That even these stones were part of the ancient route in a way that left Bocchignola funeral?

In any case, let the "mountain with two peaks, we only know that the road came to Sasseta. Looking at a map or satellite photo, it is clear that the Gruzza, the most logical way to get there was the ridge, that is what is now classified as Ligurian Alta Via dei Monti and assiduously frequented by trekkers and off.

This theory is also consistent with the fact, mentioned by oral tradition, which led to many of the dead came from Bocchignola Zerasca and, therefore, relatives of the dead had to follow precisely this road to return to their countries of origin.

To take this route, however, was necessary to arrive at Passo dei Casoni. From there, following the watershed to the west, past the foot of Mount Dragnone and arrived at a crossroads, where you had to take the long descent towards Sasseta. This change could be identified with what, from the top Via, now lets get to the pastures of Vezzanelli. Going down this road, in fact, about half meets a narrow path that leads directly to Sasseta.

Another very important factor in defining the "road of death" and the presence of a stone which, although not processed by humans, at least in appearance, it is still tied to some tradition that is sadly lost. This stone is located at the river eats, a few hundred meters from the chukar is a huge sandstone block of cuboid form, about four feet high and equally wide. The rock is almost certainly of natural origin and no obvious signs of tread. However, there has been placed on a Madonna that recently has been "enriched" in a garden Artificial questionable taste. Unfortunately there seem to be surviving on traditions, yet the presence of the Madonna, as in other cases, it could indicate a possible use of charged mass, then Christianized. It may be assumed, therefore, its meaning within the route of the "road of death".

could be a signal, a goal or a station where to stop along the way, in a sort of forerunner Way of the Cross. Moreover, we know that even the "holy stations" now present along the route leading to the sanctuaries, in fact, are likely to overlap to a Christian tradition much older.

Tradition the "road of death", which in Italy is almost unprecedented, probably dates back to prehistoric times of the Ligurian people who, for reasons that are unknown to us, they used to carrying their dead in remote areas, a practice that is not unknown and is different findings in other places of historical Lunigiana. Of course, it is not difficult to imagine that there was a reason for this choice. Maybe Bocchignola to a temple or some outdoor rock formation consecrated, for his energy, was considered useful in the time of death.

fact is that destroyed the shrine mentioned in the pagan tradition and built ecclesia de Bucagnola a sign of Christianity, the tradition of the "road of death" has not changed and, indeed, has come down to us almost intact, as yet another sign of great power and deep-rooted traditions are strongly felt in the soul from the depths of the Ligurian people.

many elements and many are discovered, gradually converging into a single grand design. However, perhaps there is still much to discover in the area Veppo. In fact, in the locality field Picchiara (a name which, according to Enrico Calzolari derives from the union of the name of god Picus Martius osco after ara), west of the summit Gruzza, strange areas were found in the woods where the trees do not grow, so huge and not exactly square can only hide the hand of man ...