Barga

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Comune di Barga
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Tuscany
Province	Lucca (LU)
Mayor	Umberto Sereni (since 1999)

Elevation	410 m
Area	66 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	10,038
- Density	152/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	44°04′N 10°29′E
Gentilic	Barghigiani
Dialing code	0583
Postal code	55051
Frazioni	Sommocolonia, Filecchio, Fornaci di Barga, Mologno, Ponte all'Ania, Tiglio, Renaio
Patron	St. Christopher
- Day	July 25
Website: www.comune.barga.lu.it

Barga is a medieval Tuscan city near the center of Italy, with a total of around 10,000 inhabitants. It lies on a hilltop just outside Garfagnana in the portion of the Serchio Valley located within the Province of Lucca. Barga is north of the town of Lucca. The hamlet of Albiano is located opposite Barga in the Serchio Valley.

[edit] History and main sights

Founded by the Lombards, the city grew as a castle surrounded by a line of walls, of which two gates (Porta Reale and Porta Macchiaia) have survived. The town was well known during the Middle Ages for the manufacture of silk threads which were exported to major centres such as Florence, its mills powered by the hydraulic power of the nearby creeks. In the Middle Ages, Lucca and Pisa battled frequently to conquer the wealthy town and the surrounding territory, and for a time Barga was part of the Florentine dominion, later Duchy and Grand Duchy of Tuscany. In 1847 it became part of the Duchy of Lucca, maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, until it became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Other sights include:

The Duomo (cathedral) (11th-16th centuries), the main example of Romanesque art in the Serchio Valley. Of the original church, built in local limestone, parts of the façade remain. The interior has a nave and two aisles. It houses a great (3.5 m) wooden statue of St. Christopher, patron of the city. Also noteworthy is the pulpit (12th century), designed by Guido Bigarelli da Como, with four red marble columns resting on lion sculptures. The campanile contains three bells, the oldest of which dates to the 16th C.
The church of the St. Crucifix, the most ancient of the city, rebuilt in the 15th century.
The Baroque church of SS. Annunziata (1595).
The fraction of Sommocolonia has an interesting rocca (castle).

[edit] Culture

Location of Barga

There is an annual international opera festival, called "Operabarga", and a long running and very successful jazz festival, "Bargajazz". Recently, Barga has become the home of many painters who exhibit their work in some of the small galleries within the castle walls. Barga is often known as "The Most Scottish Town in Italy" due to the thousands of emigrants who left this area in the last century during the famine to start a new life in Scotland. Many made their fortunes in the fish and chips and ice cream businesses and return each summer to their home city.

The Italian Touring Club has recently assigned the "orange flag" of the "Migliori borghi d'Italia" ("Best Villages of Italy"), a distinguished sign recognizing the peculiarity of its beauty and of its quality. There is limited hotel accommodation in Barga; At present there are no hotels within the walled historic centre, although there is one Bed and Breakfast, Casa Fontana. Barga has also been, since 1999, the home of the "European Gnome Sanctuary" run by the Garden Gnome Liberation Front.