Some Notes on Italian Folk Customs

Abstract

DURING the summer of 1979 I was fortunate enough to be in the Apuan Alps at the time of the festival of Sant Anna of Col Di Favilla, and was able to take part in this festival myself. From this came other information that was to lead to some quite startling surviving folk customs. Col Di Favilla is a remote mountain village that was abandoned some thirty years ago due to the abandonment of the marble quarries, a poor water supply and very severe winters. There is evidence to suggest the village was founded prior to 1600 and it was certainly related to the lower villages of Levigliani and Terrinca, some 2000 ft above sea level in the adjoining valley. Its inhabitants were composed of shepherds (pastore) and quarry workers (cavatore), and the first church is reputed to have been built about 1640 and dedicated to Sant Anna, patroness of the quarry workers. Most of the known history of the Col Di Favilla comes from the pen of Don Cosimo Silicani who was priest at that village from about 1897 until 1942 at his death. Don Cosimo was an educated man and an artisan who was also fond of his drink. His years were spent refurbishing the church with intricate wood carvings and recording the history of the village, sometimes in poetical form. Don Cosimo was also interested in wild life and records the existence of bears and wolves close to the village. It is interesting to note that today, the village is surrounded by box trees, a protection against vipers and asps, which are reputed to abhor the unpleasant smell of the box leaves.