Travel with Marys: Looking... Back

My friend Maria Pia told me at one point that, like me, she had grown up poor, and thus had little education and knowledge. To which I answered she was very intelligent and through her stories it was evident that she had been studying history for years. She is the keeper of many, many photographs telling in pictures the story of Piegaro. I felt her statement of little education was a test or check, if you will, for she then spent the next months on our walks telling me various stories of Piegaro, sharing her knowledge, teaching me much.

One of her favorite photos is of the old commune building (town hall) which was blown-up by the Germans who had occupied the village during WWII before they left town. It was a beautiful building that inspired the imagination of Romeo and Juliet with the little balconies that adorned its walls with their intricate details. At the end of the triangle shaped building was a beautiful fountain and monument to those who died in WWI where many young men from this small village lost their lives. It was to be the ultimate war, its loss seemed to be ultimately poignant and fraught with meaning. The loss of the commune and all of the records, the loss of the memorial were significant, the only one to die in this village during WWII was one German caught in the destructive forces of the explosion they wrought, but there is a sense of the destruction of these structures going deep.

For what was taken from the people of Piegaro at this time speaks to the heart of the wisdom that my friend Maria Pia carries, which is that history and the story of people expressed in place is rooted to the soul and our deeper stories of life. They replaced the commune building and memorial in a style that many call Mussolini, after the person who invited the Germans into their land, their architecture reminds many of the occupation, which they say came with the fascists first, and their vulnerability. The new structures are often called ugly, and out of place. It too is part of their story.

What is beautiful about Maria Pia’s pictures and stories is that they are not stuck in the past, but that she also shows her new pictures, which are equally, if not more important. The pictures of the nipote, the young ones in the family, the young children in the village are looked at every time the pictures of destruction are seen. She has the wisdom to constantly have the hope before her. The story continues with beauty. More than this, she notes the pictures of old that have people whom I know, or know their children or grandchildren. Life continues, the story continues.

This is such a reminder of our place in eternity, in which our lives are intertwined in the past, in symbols of the greater story, and of the future we see in children and babies. When we know that the story goes on, that out of tragedy life continues, we know grace. She reflects the wisdom of Jesus who would often use historical context, the symbol of the temple (as a building), and children as metaphors for deep stories, important stories. Through use of pictures and stories Maria Pia shares deep wisdom.