Just over a year ago on the 7th December 2009 we reported on the sorry story of the murder of a young woman from Gallicano, 20-year-old Vanessa Simonini who was found by the side of the river Serchio near by to Barga.
Simone Baroncini, a 36 years old from Pisa, was arrested the same day and charged with her murder. Today he was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence under the law by the Judge Alessandro Dal Torrione
On the television and in newspapers events such as this occur on a daily basis but not in this area. The mountains which surround this valley every year take their crop of unprepared victims who underestimate the devastating forces of nature – an annual toll of three of four bodies winched out of crevices or from the bottom of long drops bear witness to just how fragile is our grasp on life but violent death at the hands of another human being is something which culturally has not been present in this area more or less since the end of World War II.
People here have to try hard to remember the last time there was a murder. Younger people draw a blank as they can remember no such example. Slightly older residents will remember a double murder further up the valley in Castiglione Garfagnana in 1998 but they too going back any further than that start to have difficulty in remembering other occasions.