There are certain schools of thought which maintain that the finest, most complex and therefore most accurate memory system just happens to be right there literally at the end of our nose…. well actually, not really at the end in fact it’s buried a good way further up into our heads and linked up to the brain but still we are talking about the nose as memory bank.
Certain smells can take us back decades and remind us of complete scenes, feelings and emotions locked long dormant in our brains.
In Barga there are certain seasons and moments in the yearly calendar which are subtly but definitely linked to certain smells.
At no time during the year is this more evident than now as we move into the autumn.
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The sweet smell of freshly crushed grapes bubbling in the barrels. The fragrance of the porcini mushrooms coming in hand picked off the mountains and probably the most primordial smell which touches a nerve in all of us – the sweet/acrid smell of wood smoke as the first fires of the season are lit to ward off the damp in the centuries old houses in Barga Vecchia.
The weather is changing, there is a cold snap on the way and one of two people have already succumbed to the age old fascination of an open fire.
This evening there were three chimneys in Barga Vecchia with curls of blue wood smoke escaping into the rapidly cooling air.
As the price of heating homes with electricity and gas becomes more and more expensive, people here have started to look at other, older methods of heating their houses.
Wood which has been out of fashion for almost two generations is starting to make a come back as more super efficient reverse flame furnaces and boilers which can heat the house and the water are becoming more widely used.
Some people are also changing over to them as they are practically well on the way to becoming a carbon neutral heating system (as long as the wood is brought in locally and not trucked long distances) After all – if a tree falls over and rots in the forest it emits the same carbon as if you burnt it in your woodstove.
It has to be said that it is still much too early in this part of Italy to talk about any kind of a mass “carbon neutral” movement. The phrases “low carbon footprint” or “carbon neutral” do not crop up on everyday conversations and are hardly mentioned at all by the media but sometimes Italy can spring a surprise – who would have thought that the no smoking in bars law that was passed in January 2005 would actually be adhered to ? In fact people decided that it was a good law and these days the idea of lighting up in a bar or restaurant is almost unthinkable so maybe, just maybe there is still time to catch up.
In the meantime that old profession of the chimney sweep seems to be making a comeback.
