| Lake of Vagli | |
-panorama5.jpg/250px-Lago_di_Vagli_(Vagli_Sotto)-panorama5.jpg) | |
| Area type | The needle |
|---|---|
| State | Italy |
| Region | Tuscany |
| Territory | Plain of Lucca |
Lake of Vagli is a lake located in Garfagnana in Regional Natural Park of the Apuan Alps, in the province of Lucca in Tuscany.
To know
It belongs to the municipality of Vagli Below and it was artificially formed in 1947 with the damming of the Edron stream. With the construction of the dam in 1948, the small hamlet of Fabbriche di Careggine, founded in the 13th century, was submerged and promptly reappears during maintenance work.
Background
Up youtube there is a short film with clips dating back to the opening of the dam with the consequent flooding of what was once the village of Fabbriche di Careggine, which at the time had less than 150 inhabitants.
The lake contains 34 million cubic meters of water and is exceptionally emptied in case maintenance is required. The last time it was emptied in 1994 and you can always find several on the internet photographic evidence. The subsequent emptying, scheduled for the summer of 2016, was postponed by ENEL to a later date.
Territories and tourist destinations
Careggine, Pieve di San Pietro
Urban centers
- Careggine - With the fourteenth-century Pieve di San Pietro.
- Holy Island — [1] The village, fraction of Careggine and once abandoned, it has been partially renovated in recent years. To see the church dedicated to San Jacopo, from the 13th century.
- Vagli Below - Where it is possible to visit the Morandi Bridge and the Suspended Rope Bridge.
Other destinations
The town of Fabbriche di Careggine after the emptying of the lake
- 1 Factories of Careggine (Submerged country). It is the village that after the opening of the dam was submerged by the water of the lake and which can only be visited when it was emptied. As suggestive as the days that see the lowering of the waters with consequent outcrop of the roofs of the ruins of the buildings are, it must be taken into account that they are also those in which the mud is the master making it difficult to walk in the lake bed, which will impose the use of ad-hoc boots.
The village was founded in the 13th century by a colony of blacksmiths from Brescia. After the Estense conquest, starting from 1755 the center, destined to become one of the largest suppliers of iron in the state, was equipped with a mill and enjoyed facilities on the transport of materials. The construction of via Vandelli dates back to that period Modena to Mass, crossed the Edron stream first on a wooden footbridge, then on a brick bridge. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Duke of Modena Francesco III d'Este, to favor the work of local workers, granted them numerous privileges, including exemption from military service. The decline of this street coincided with the decline of Fabbriche, whose residents had to return to devote themselves to the ancient trades of peasants and shepherds to cope with hunger and famine. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the town's economy recovered, following the exploitation of marble in the vicinity of Vagli, so much so that, between 1906 and 1907, a small hydroelectric power station was built on the Edron to serve the marble basins. Between 1947 and 1953 a dam was built, 92 m high and capable of holding 32,000,000 m3 of water, and the medieval village was gradually submerged. The residents were transferred to the new homes in Vagli Sotto, built in such a way as to faithfully reproduce the urban plan of the evacuated medieval village. The lake, on the occasion of the maintenance works of the dam, was emptied making the ancient medieval village re-emerge, with its stone houses, the cemetery, the three-arched bridge, the Romanesque church of San Teodoro and the ruined bell tower. This event occurred only four times: in 1958, in 1974, in 1983, in 1994.
How to get
Lake of Vagli and Vagli Sotto
By plane
By car
- Exit Aulla of the A15 motorway then the SP 445 towards Piazza al Serchio is Camporgiano.
On the train
- Poggio-Careggine-Vagli station a Camporgiano, on the Lucca-Aulla line.
How to get around
Lago di Vagli: full screen map.What see
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Morandi bridge
- 2 Morandi bridge. It is a 122 m long pedestrian walkway designed in 1953 by the engineer Riccardo Morandi. It crosses the artificial basin into which the Lussia stream and the Edron converge, tributaries of the Serchio river, directly connecting the small municipality of Vagli di Sotto with the territory of the opposite bank. Its works were completed in 1955. The formal simplicity generated by the lightness of the structure visually adapts to the natural elements of the surrounding environment, making the walkway not only a functional engineering achievement, but above all an architectural work that fits harmoniously into the landscape .
- Tibetan bridge. With its 135 m it is one of the largest in Europe of its kind.
- Sculpture park. Inside it is possible to find statues dedicated to contemporary personalities such as Captain Francesco Schettino (represented with rabbit ears due to the tragedy of Concordia) and the frigate captain Gregorio De Falco, but also that of the guard Fabrizio Quattrocchi who died in service in Iraq in 2004. These statues are collectively called "statues of honor and dishonor".
- 3 Factories of Careggine. The village, which can only be visited today when the lake is drained, was founded in the 13th century by a colony of blacksmiths from Brescia; after the Estense conquest, starting from 1755, it was destined to become one of the largest suppliers of iron to the state. The decline of the Via Vandelli, which connected Modena to Mass, coincided with the decline of the village, whose residents had to return to devote themselves to the ancient trades of peasants and shepherds to cope with hunger and famine. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the town's economy recovered, following the exploitation of marble in the vicinity of Vagli, so much so that, between 1906 and 1907, a small hydroelectric power station was built on the Edron to serve the marble basins. In 1941, under the Fascist regime, it was decided to build a hydroelectric basin blocking the course of the Edron stream in the municipality of Vagli Below. Between 1947 and 1953 a dam was built, 92 m high and the medieval village, which consisted of 31 houses and had just 146 inhabitants, was gradually submerged. The residents were transferred to the new homes in Vagli Sotto, built in such a way as to faithfully reproduce the urban plan of the evacuated medieval village. During the maintenance works of the dam, the lake is emptied making the ancient medieval village re-emerge, with its stone houses, the cemetery, the three-arched bridge, the Romanesque church of San Teodoro and the ruined bell tower. This event occurred in 1958, 1974, 1983 and 1994.
What to do
Shopping
Where to eat
Average prices
- 1 Good Evening, Town Hall Square, Vagli Sotto, ☎ 39 0583 664332, @[email protected].
- 2 Moonlight, Via Carraia 11, Careggine, ☎ 39 0583 661020.
Where stay
Average prices
- 1 Il Lago hotel restaurant, Via Europa 1, Vagli Sotto, ☎ 39 0583 664052.
- Garfagnana Mulin del Rancone farmhouse, Locality Rancone, Camporgiano, ☎ 39 0583 618490, @[email protected].
Safety
How to keep in touch
Post office
- 1 Italian post, Via Europa - Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, ☎ 39 0583 664056.
Around
Other projects
Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Lake of Vagli
Commons contains images or other files on Lake of Vagli
