D030713 Pontremoli

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Pontremoli

July 11 - 18, 2003

Dear Friends and Families,

Pontremoli isn't on most tour guides. I can't remember seeing a half dozen foreign tourists in a week. The town guide handed out by the tourism center was printed in 1996, but Pontremoli is a wonderful secret.

The name dates back from Roman times and refers to a bridge leading into town over the Magra River. Back then, the bridge was so shaky that the locals called the place "shaky bridge" (ponte=bridge, tremulous=shakey), but somewhere along the line, it got properly repaired because it's still in service almost two thousand years later.

The town is about half very old and half not-so-old, but everything about it was comfortable and friendly. We went to church on Sunday and felt comfortable. We enjoyed three or four of the best restaurant meals of our trip. Most purchases were greeted with cheerful faces and greetings, even if we could not always find a language in common.

Add Pontremoli to your destinations if you want a want a piece of Italian country life.

John and Marianne

ps: A local website, all Italian and a bit limited but, Pontrmoli isn't an international tourist center!

http://www.lunigiana.com/pontremoli/

Pontremoli, as seen from the castle at the end of town. The new town is on the right side of the river Magra and the old one on the left.

The "outer wall" of the old town is a continuous stretch of buildings. All in all, the town seemed well-tended and prosperous.

The main street of Pontremoli runs along the inner walls of the buildings in the previous picture. The kids who walk these streets looked like kids from almost anywhere, but these old passages must leave their mark.

Many of the streets are even smaller. This one leads to the old "tremulous bridge."

We went to mass on Sunday. The ceremony was both modern and old. For me, hearing a mass in Italian brought back church rituals of my childhood when they were celebrated in similar-sounding Latin.

We went to the Saturday market and bought some local cheese and mushrooms. This area is famous for both.

This is the old bridge that gave Pontremoli it's name. I jumped up and down on it and it seemed pretty sturdy now.

Our walk up to the castle. The stone walls could have been there for a millenium or two.

Evidence of even older area residents, these stellae resemble those from Scotland, Iran, and other places. The exact story is apparently still being debated, but it is clear evidence that the Romans were not the first to settle in this valley.

The train station. This was the connection inland to Parma and to the coastal towns of La Spezia, the Cinque Terre, and Genoa.

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	Pontremoli, as seen from the castle at the end of town. The new town is on the right side of the river Magra and the old one on the left.		The "outer wall" of the old town is a continuous stretch of buildings. All in all, the town seemed well-tended and prosperous.
The main street of Pontremoli runs along the inner walls of the buildings in the previous picture. The kids who walk these streets looked like kids from almost anywhere, but these old passages must leave their mark.		Many of the streets are even smaller. This one leads to the old "tremulous bridge."
	We went to mass on Sunday. The ceremony was both modern and old. For me, hearing a mass in Italian brought back church rituals of my childhood when they were celebrated in similar-sounding Latin.		We went to the Saturday market and bought some local cheese and mushrooms. This area is famous for both.
This is the old bridge that gave Pontremoli it's name. I jumped up and down on it and it seemed pretty sturdy now.		Our walk up to the castle. The stone walls could have been there for a millenium or two.
	Evidence of even older area residents, these stellae resemble those from Scotland, Iran, and other places. The exact story is apparently still being debated, but it is clear evidence that the Romans were not the first to settle in this valley.		The train station. This was the connection inland to Parma and to the coastal towns of La Spezia, the Cinque Terre, and Genoa.