Jackie Miller from the Scottish Women’s History Group and her companion, Douglas Grierson called into Barga this week as part of their tour of Europe in search of European culture.
It was while visiting the World Premier of the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry at the 3 Harbours Arts Festival, held in Prestonpans Community Centre, Scotland in June of last year that her attention was drawn to the Italian section – the Italian tapestries depicting Scotland’s historical links with Italy.
Five of those tapestries were stitched right here in Barga – all article about the Tapestry can be seen here
“This tapestry transcends national boundaries by celebrating and recording the heritage and achievements of individuals and communities of Scottish descent across the globe….. It reaches beyond the symbolic tartan trappings of visual identity and shines a light on personal experiences and human stories.”
This was enough to make the pair add Barga to their list of places to visit as they toured Europe.
They did not arrive in the city empty handed – in fact they brought with them a number of books – The Great Scott free books which they are using as their kind of calling card. The book was published to mark the 200th anniversary of the publication of Waverley and 10th anniversary of Edinburgh’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. Sir Walter Scott’s debut novel, Waverley, sold more copies in its first twelve months than all the other novels published in the UK in the same year, and is regarded as the world’s first historical novel.
Station masters; teachers in small village schools in rural France; a waiter born in Kirkcaldy, working in a restaurant in a small French town; supporters of Bath Rugby Team attending an away match in Toulouse, which incidentally they won; and an artist of fine watercolours, working on the steps of the Uffizi Museum, have been the willing recipients of the free gift from the Scots travelling abroad.
Apart from the books which can now be found in the barganews library, two dozen more copies of the book are ready to be donated to the local elementary school
Barga, the most Scottish town in Italy
Today, around two thirds of the population of this small community in Tuscany have relatives resident in Scotland. The town is host to an annual Scotland Week, which includes a fish and chip festival and various music events which attract many Scottish visitors. Famous Italian-Scots descended from the town include classical violinist Nicola Benedetti who will be performing at the Queen’s Hall as part of The Edinburgh International Festival. Born in West Kilbride in Ayrshire, she is proud of her Italian roots and supports a scholarship for postgraduate Italian studies in Scotland. Another is Paisley-born Paolo Nutini, on stage at Glastonbury 2014, who was awarded a St. Christopher Medal by the town of Barga for his work in raising its profile abroad.
The first emigrants in the 1860s from Barga were statue makers, travelling across Europe to Scotland with barrows of moulds, plaster and paint. This gave them the means to earn a living by casting religious statuettes. Trade for such iconography was limited so some of the more enterprising workers painted the saints to look more like John Knox, or Giuseppe Garibaldi for the Protestants (though why, I do not understand) or St. Patrick for the Catholics.
Moving on in time the workers became ice cream or fish and chip sellers, with many family-run businesses still flourishing today. For a more detailed overview of the Italian-Scots, and the part women played in keeping family businesses thriving over the decades, go the the National Library of Scotland archives for information about their exhibition “A Century of the Italian Community in Scotland” which was held in 1991.
Their site can be seen here