Pigeons return to Palazzo Pancrazi

Anybody remember an article that was published on this site back in April (here) concerning the problem of pigeons  roosting  under the eaves of the roof of Palazzo Pancrazi, the 500 year old town hall building in the centre of Barga Vecchia ? We wrote then about the work that had started on putting up physical barriers to keep the pigeons on the move. Strips of light alloy spikes which create a very small visual disturbance to people on the ground but created a very large disturbance for the birds when taking off and landing. We also noted that it was the second time that these spikes have been used around the outside of the Palazzo Pancrazi to keep the pigeons away – the previous time the birds retaliated by rocking the single plastic lines of spikes until they dropped to the ground. This time they were alloy and containing a series of 5 spikes in a line. The article finished with the following question; Any bets on how long these will last ?

The answer came this morning. Seven months, almost to the day that they were expelled from their roosting paces, the pigeons were back in force and settling down in their winter residence high above the piazza.