We wore spiked shoes

Places, people, trades, events, documents: these are just some of the topics that make up the twenty chapters of the new historical-photographic book dedicated to an area generally neglected by this type of publication: the Corteno Valley.

 

Locations, people, trades, events, documents: these are just some of the topics that make up the twenty chapters of the new historical-photographic book dedicated to an area generally neglected by this type of publication: the Corteno Valley. In reality, the book 'Calzavamo scarpe chiodate' (We wore hobnailed shoes) by Antonio Stefanini, an author already known for his biography dedicated to the Nobel Prize winner Camillo Golgi, published in 2006, the centenary of the awarding of the prize, and for his publishing activity, ranges a little beyond the confines of the small valley that descends from Aprica to Edolo, beginning its 'journey into memory' from the middle Valtellina, the western gateway, and ending it with the middle Valcamonica, the eastern gateway. And it is precisely the lack (or guilty forgetfulness?) of iconographic research, along the Ogliolo valley, of those who in recent decades have dedicated similar books to either Valcamonica or Valtellina, that has allowed Stefanini to recover copious and beautiful photographic material, practically all previously unpublished. A material that, although ordered by the author with geographical criteria in the first part (I Luoghi) and with logical criteria in the chapters of the second part (La Vita), occasionally overflows here and there due to its extraordinary abundance and irreducibility to pre-established schemes. These are obviously black and white photographs that, even more obviously, narrate of the past, but they do so without complacency and without rhetoric - as is also evident from the dry captions - simply bringing to light the local world of the 1800s-900s, a world that was imperceptibly but inexorably buried, year after year, decade after decade. And which now, rediscovered, not infrequently makes one wonder. The photographs patiently found, in some cases investigated (such as those in the chapter "Hierarchs on the move") and published by Stefanini, therefore give the sense of a pure archaeological excavation, no more and no less. And, given the result, it is surely with this spirit that the author first sought them out and then treated them: as something that, although dear because it belonged to ancestors of a few generations ago, was first of all to be defined and catalogued with the greatest possible precision, without easy sentimental indulgences. One series at least, on the other hand, that of the chapter dedicated to Galleno, even borders on the sociological fresco. We were wearing hobnailed shoes does not pretend to be a book necessary to history, perhaps not even to local history, but it certainly knows how to speak to the souls of those who live here and to those who have now abandoned the valley to emigrate. As well as to all those who love genuine evidence of the cultural roots of the Alpine peoples. Stefanini writes in the short foreword: 'I believe that remembering from time to time what we were like can positively inspire in the possible choice of what we will be like; the simple purpose of this publication is to remind my generation of this and to bear witness to it for the younger ones. We believe there is not much to add, except that the photo book in question is also a pure feast for the eyes and, in some cases, pure fun. It can be found in local bookshops or by writing to the author: art.ste@tiscali.it Reviews of