They will be called “Racconti in breve” (Short Stories) and will be stories, anecdotes and trivia which will tell us about the Bagno a Ripoli area.
The person who will post them on echianti.it, from next week, will be Massimo Casprini, born in 1943, born and raised in Bagno a Ripoli and extremely passionate about the local history as well as photography and travel.
Casprini, let’s start with the name. Bagno a Ripoli. Can you explain where it comes from?
“The reference is to the old Roman baths that were located on the slope of the fourth zone. Ripoli instead comes from the name “ripa” (bank) because long ago the Arno didn’t have the bed it currently has but one much larger. A marshy area was hence created and it was on these branches of the river that the plain of Ripoli rose. Then, in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, the friars canalized the water and reclaimed the area, turning it into a garden full of fruits, wheat and flowers. And bagnus ad ripula was born.”
What will you tell us in your column?
“The various aspects of an area that has a history that goes from Villanova, to the Etruscans, to the Romans and has also seen many people who have made the history of Florence arrive here over time. In fact, being very close to the city, noble families, from the Peruzzi to the Bardi, from the Mozzi to the Bendi, tended to invest in the countryside to produce in this area, for example, oil and wine.”
Bitesize. What are the most fascinating places rich in history that you will lead us to discover?
“I will discuss, first of all, the Oratorio di Santa Caterina, the Bigallo and the Spring of the Fata Morgana. Not to mention that a structure like the Gualchiere di Remole is almost unique in the world as a medieval settlement and example of industrial archeology given that both the structure and, until recently, the machinery inside have survived. Maybe not everyone knows that it was one of the settlements that made the fortune of Florence because the Florentine cloth was born there.”
Will there also be space for discovering other aspects of our territory?
“Certainly. I’ll take you on the discovery of churches and tabernacles, castles and farms, even streets because this municipality has been a very important crossroads over time both for transhumance and commercial traffic. ”
Ruffino
An authentic piece of Italy’s winemaking history, Ruffino is an important Tuscan winery founded in Pontassieve, near Florence, in 1877 by the cousins Ilario and Leopoldo Ruffino.
Recipe: Boar slices with herbs
Wild boar is a lean and tasty meat that lends itself to many recipes, here is Elisa and Laura’s proposal.
The “Cala-mai” (The ‘Never-Descenders’), those paratroopers from Ponte a Ema…they hardly ever airdropped!
“The Cala-mai have come down to liberate you, the Florentines,” was written in the leaflets dropped by paratroopers of the 1st Squadron of the Ricognizione Folgore (Thunderbolt Reconnaissance) as they passed through Ponte a Ema in 1944.
The Cànova of wine (and others): in San Donato in Collina a sign of entertainment … and vice!
The term Cànova, now completely disappeared, would signify “the shop where they would sell retail wine, oil and other essentials”. The Canabae were shacks that stood at the rear of Roman military camps where the Canovai would sell bread and wine to the soldiers and services to prostitutes!
The parish of Vicchio and the “student spirit” of the Signoria del Trentesimo (Lordship of the Thirtieth)
The Signoria del Trentesimo (Lordship of the Thirtieth) or of San Antonio had their residence at San Lorenzo parish in Vicchio di Rimaggio and kept their banner inside the church. Its members gathered under the porch which, at that time, had three arches and had a stone fireplace at the back.
Antilla, Mompillo and a love story behind the origin of the name Antella
Following the course of the Isone stream, after the Antella cemetery, you come into a valley just below San Donato in Collina which still preserves naturalistic and historical aspects and some evocative names such as Val di Lucciole, La Granchiaia, pescaia di Bacchus, Gamberaia and borri del Mascherone e degli Abeti.
Don Milani, the family and those origins on the hills of Antella
Perhaps not everyone knows that Don Lorenzo Milani, the Prior of Barbiana, could have been born in Antella. On April 5, 1914, the Albano siblings, Giorgio, Pierluigi and Elisa Milani bought the villa and the adjoining farm Mona Giovannella (between Antella and Osteria Nuova) from Ernesto Nathan, the mayor of Rome.
The Fountain of the Pidocchio (Louse) and the army of Charles V for the conquest of Florence
At the junction of the old Via Aretina with the new route (today Via Roma) opened in 1761, where the climb to the Hospital of Bigallo begins, a spout pours into a pile of stone.
Recipe: Curled octopus in a garlic, parsley, onion and herb artichoke
Do you have little confidence with the pressure cooker? Elisa and Laura offer you a simple recipe precisely for this type of cooking.
