It is a varied region of coast, rolling hills,
green valleys and iconic world heritage cities and architecture. That is even
before you add in the culture and food of that area.
I spent a few days in the
main tourist centre of Florence, having flown in over and seen the Leaning
Tower of Pisa and would readily go back there for a longer stay and the
opportunity to explore yet more.
One of the lesser known parts of Tuscany, by
that I mean not on the main tourist trail, is in the South of the region around
Lardello and Pomerance.
It is known as Devils Valley because of the quite
startling images brought about by a very active geology that includes
geothermal springs and volcanic extrusions close to the surface of the landscape.
Even today the sight of white steam coming out of the soil, bubbling pools and
a black moonscape appearance is startling in the extreme. There are geyser type
eruptions on a regular basis whereby ultra heated (up to 230 degrees centigrade)
and high pressure (up to a pressure of 20 atmospheres), water vapour is shot
out of fissures in the ground.
The emissions are made of gases and vapours
originating in the subterranean magma chambers and mixed in with the water
vapour are ammonia and boric acid.
In ancient
times what must have seemed like a restlessness and unpredictability of Mother
Earth was in fact an attractive feature and the Romans in particular made use
of the hot springs in their pursuit of holistic ,therapeutic and leisure activities.
As an
inspiration in literature it is known that Dante modelled his portrayal of Hell
in his masterwork of The Divine Comedy on his own experiences of this local phenomena.
Although there have been towns and villages co-existing with this geological volatility
the area was ripe for industrial processes that harnessed the chemical elements
which were a bi-product of the volcanic activity. Lardello itself is thought to
have been named after a Franco-Italian entrepreneur who in the early part of
the 19th Century perfected the extraction of valuable boric acid
from the deposits of sludge in the many hot water lagoons that dotted the
topography.
In 1904 the focus changed from basic extraction to the harnessing
of the great energy of the geothermal influences and by 1911 the worlds first
geothermal production plant was built in Devils Valley.
I came across this
pioneering operation in a bit of a roundabout way.
In the maze of gallery rooms
at a Country House in the South West of England there was a short
film playing on a loop for the benefit of any visitors who found themselves in
the far recesses of the display area.
It was entitled Children of Unquiet by
Mikhail Karikis.
The backdrop is of the dramatic volcanic influenced landscapes
of Devils Valley and the contrast of a modernist complex of man made structures
in concrete and steel including mile upon mile of above ground pipework and the
very incongruous presence of cooling towers in that strangely beautiful natural
environment.
The artist has turned the abandoned site into a playground for children after having become
obsolete as a place of human employment in the course of full automation.
Where
once there was a thriving community of families the film depicts nothing but 45
children running and playing and all of them making a very eerie output of
sounds mimicking their surroundings.
The deeper meaning is a show of the
temporal dynamics of economics and capitalist demands for a quick profit in
direct conflict with the speculative playfulness and interventions of innocents.
All individual and communal expression is lost and a cause for lament.
In fact
the geothermal plant continues in production and represents one of the major and
sustainable successes in this type of energy production anywhere in the world.
I found the images and audio of the film fascinating and not a little bit
disturbing.
If that part of Tuscany is open for visitors I will certainly put
it on my list for a bit of a day trip some time soon.
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