Enchanting Barga: Curiosities, Wonders and Hidden Details

For me, Barga was love at first sight. I’d heard (and read) a lot about it before I visited, of course. Its strong ties to the UK. Its unique position as the gateway to the Garfagnana region. As a plus, I’d always wanted to visit the nearby Devil’s Bridge (which, by the way, is absolutely fabulous!).

What surprised me was just how genuinely fascinating this place is. A small town surrounded by mountains, with extraordinary architecture and an intriguing history. So here I’m going to share some of the interesting facts that I’ve discovered which will add a bit of flavour to your trip to Barga!

All the Highlights of Barga: a Complete Guide – Barga is a hilltop town located north of Lucca, in northern Tuscany. It has a splendid Medieval Cathedral and gorgeous mountain views.

Barga, Some Interesting & Curious Facts

Why there’s a Red Phone Box at the Town’s entrance

One wouldn’t expect to see a red phone box in Tuscany, but Barga is known as the ‘most Scottish town in Italy’. The red telephone box you find at the entrance to the town’s historic centre, is a bright red nod to the links with the country where a great number of barghigiani (people from Barga) emigrated in the 19th century looking for work. Many came back, bringing to Barga Scottish traditions like bagpipes, tartan and whiskey. And, in this case, a red phone box. It comes directly from Edinburgh, a gift from a Scottish man (whose family was from Barga!), after a carful restoration. Today it’s used as a “book crossing” point.

Scottish Festival every Summer

To carry on with the Scottish theme, there’s a Scottish Festival held in the town every Summer. You find traditional music, Scottish national flags, and plenty of fish and chips.

Renaissance buildings in Barga

If you ask yourself, like I did, why in Barga there are so many elegant Renaissance buildings, that look like those found in Florence – there’s a historical explanation. Squashed in between the wars for supremacy between Pisa and Lucca (over the control of the territory), Barga choose to submit to the rich and powerful city of Florence, that granted the town lots of privileges in terms of taxes and commercial tariffs.

That explains why many wealthy local families had their palazzi built in the Florentine manner. This also explains the presence of the ‘Medici balls’, the coat of arms that shows itself on Palazzo Balduini (in piazza Garibaldi) and next to the Loggia del Capretz.

* 12 Most Beautiful Hilltop Towns in Tuscany

A Place with Two Sunsets

If you stand right in front of the Cathedral, looking at the view you’ll notice a weird feature on the mountain top right in front of you. It’s the so-called Monte Forato, the ‘perforated mount’. Every year on a Winter’s day – the 30th January to be precise – the sun sets twice, the second time when it enters the hole formed by the rock, shining briefly like an open eye. It is believed that the Cathedral’s main entrance was relocated for this very reason, to bring it line with this peculiar sunset.

barga curious facts — Barga, the view of the Mount Forato from the Cathedral – photo: lovefromtuscany.com

Mysterious Writing on the Stone

There’s something else that adds a mysterious touch to Barga’s stunning Medieval Cathedral. On the right side as you go in, you find some lines of writing – they look like Greek letters with some geometric symbols. Many have tried to decipher the inscription, but the enigma remains. The more accredited version is that the writing corresponds to a religious invocation, a protection prayer to the Arcangelo Michele.

* 5 Medieval Wonders to See near Siena

A Town with a Creative Soul

In Barga you’ll notice a profusion of art galleries dotting its picturesque streets. Many local and international artists have chosen this Tuscan town as their inspirational site. Among them, there’s famous Scottish painter John Bellamy, who moved to Barga and swapped the dramatic grey skies of Scotland for the vivid colours and Mediterranean light. You find some of his works scattered in the town’s galleries.

Musicians have thrived here, as the annual Barga Jazz Festival shows. Singer -songwriter Paolo Nutini regularly visits the town where his family is from.

Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli wrote a beautiful poem about Barga, ‘his place of the soul’. He was living nearby, in the hamlet of Castelvecchio, and took inspiration from the chiming of Barga Cathedral to reflect about the nature of life and death.

“In my little nook, where I hear nothing/but the murmur of the wheat’s stems,/the sound of the hours/comes with the wind/from the unseen hamlet in the mountains:/a sound that equally and lightly falls,/like a persuading voice./You say, It’s time, you say, It’s late,/a mild voice that from the sky descends…” (Giovanni Pascoli, ‘L’Ora di Barga’, 1900)

Irish artist Keane, who moved to Barga many years ago, has tagged many sites and sights around the town with QR codes, to tell the history and curiosities about Barga. Just frame the codes with your smartphone to make your visit more engaging.