VIA
DI SOLCO VIA GUGLIELMO MARCONI VIA GIANNETTI VIA DI BORGO VIA DELLA
FONTANA AND CONNECTING PASSAGEWAYS
(Itinerary n° 4)
The
main routes for walking up to the Duomo begin just inside Porta
Mancianella. These are: Via del Pretorio, and Via di Mezzo combined
with Via della Speranza. The other street, Via di Solco, that also
begins at Porta Mancianella goes along the western edge of the historic
centre. If you turn left onto it at the beginning of Via di Mezzo
it will eventually take you outside the centre onto the Avenue Guglielmo
Marconi. The painter Cesare Puccinelli (1937-1989) lived on Via
di Solco, and at various times in the year his house, which has
a permanent collection of his works still held by the family, is
opened to the public.
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Cesare Puccinelli. "The invention of horses"
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From
this street there are three vicoli that lead back up to Via di Mezzo.
The first two go by way of Piazza Santissima Annunziata, and the
third, called Vicolo di Solco, goes up past the Bertacchi kitchen
gardens and joins Via di Mezzo by the Differenti Theatre. At the
point where Vicolo di Solco begins and Via di Solco goes off to
join the Avenue, another vicolo leads up to Piazza Giannetti and
to Via Gianetti which starts, a few metres away, at the Avenue Marconi
and ends at the Via di Borgo. On this street is the Palazzo Gianetti
which houses various council offices and the public library "Fratelli
Rosselli", containing more than 30.000 books including an impressive
collection for children.
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Vincenzo
Gonnella - Amphora with design in relief made with metal from
the barrel of a cannon |
In one of the rooms of the library there is a permanent collection
of the works of the artisan and artist Vincenzo Gonnella (1901 -
1988), who was an expert in metal relief which he used to fashion
vases, plates, vessels, trays and coins.
At
the point where Via Giannetti meets Via di Borgo, you will find
Volta dei Menchi, a charming covered space lying partly under the
Palazzo that used to belong to the Menchi family, and partly under
the Palazzo Pancrazi, where the Town Hall is located.
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A corner of Volta dei Menchi.
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This
Volta (Vault) is often used as a flea market and during the Christmas
period, as the setting for The Holy Manger. Three vicoli lead
off from the other side. Two of them take you back to Via di Mezzo
and the Piazza Garibaldi, while the third one slopes down to join
Via della Fontana. This is the street that starts from the Avenue
Marconi and ends up joining the Via di Mezzo just before the Porta
Macchiaia. Along the way three passageways lead off from it, Vicolo
della Fontana, Vicolo del Forno and Vicolo del Pozzo, all of which
end up at Via di Mezzo near Piazza Garibaldi and Piazza del Sargentone.
At the beginning of Vicolo del Pozzo you can find the remnants
of an old Artesian well. The upper part of the well has been blocked
with a huge block of stone and is used today as a planter. Many
other similar wells once existed within the walls and were particularly
useful during the many sieges that befell Barga in the first part
of the last millennium.
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The
remains of an old Artesian well |
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