Once again, as in every summer, one of the main festas which take place in Barga is for the Barghigiani who emigrated to other countries but who come back each year to spend time with their family and friends – the Festa dei Bargoesteri – Barghigiani abroad.
Over the years the location of the festa has moved many times, sometimes inside such as in 2002 (article here) and last year at Villa Moorings.
This year it moved into the very heart of Barga in Piazza Angelio in Barga Vecchia with catering supplied by Riccardo and his team at the L’Osteria. More than 150 sat down to enjoy their meal with music supplied by the guitar and accordion of Popi and Giuliano.
The Mayor of Barga, Marco Bonini presented a pergamena to Pier Luigi Tortelli, president of the association “Perché la tradizione ritorni – la Befana” for all the work that he and his association have performed over the past few years in collecting and documenting an impressive photographic collection of Barga and its people now numbering over 30,000 images mainly based on the work of Pietro Rigali.
Pietro Rigali otherwise known as “Pietrino della montata” was one of the original photographers, in this area who documented events places and the daily life of Barga post war. Pietro is long gone but he has left behind an archive of images that will continue to live on and speak volumes about the way people used to live in this area. Almost 30,000 images were handed on and thanks to the work of the associazione Perché la Tradizione Ritorni – La Befana with their president, Pier Luigi Tortelli at the helm, these images have now all been scanned and entered into a digital archive so that they can more easily resist the onslaught of time. – full article here