In San Pietro in Campo, in the province of Lucca, a series of in-depth meetings is being held to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the parish, with many initiatives dedicated to the theme of migration. It was 1723 when the bishop of Lucca (the Vicariate of Barga was then under that diocese) decreed the autonomy of the parish of San Pietro in Campo.

The calendar of events dedicated to recounting the historical and spiritual aspects of this anniversary was built by a Committee established in 2023 with the aim of organizing initiatives and moments of reflection around this important anniversary, the celebrations of which continue during a Jubilee Year that will end in October 2024.

The meeting, which was held on Wednesday 17 April, was entitled “Who lived here: families, trades and emigration”. The speakers, Manuele Bellonzi and Eugenio Monticelli, starting from the documents preserved in the parish archives, in the registry office and in the papers of private archives, will try to remember the ancient families who, since the foundation of the Parish, lived in the localities of Sigliari, Nebbiana and Mologno. Many families, who gave the names that still remain today to various farmhouses scattered throughout the countryside of San Pietro in Campo, were then the witnesses of nineteenth-century emigration.

Thanks to the collaboration of some descendants of emigrants, mainly in Scotland and the United States, there will be hints of figurine makers and fish and chip sellers who have made the history of this community. Arch. Pietro Luigi Biagioni, director of the Paolo Cresci Foundation, introduced the evening, which can be retrieved through the live streaming of Facebook on the page of the Pastoral Unit of Barga.