The Boccabugia and the Memory of the Vergemolini

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The Municipality of Fabbriche di Vergemoli boasts a particular event called “Il Boccabugia”, an extemporaneous poetry contest in Garfagni dialect which this year has reached its 52nd edition. This event was born in the village of Vergemoli (today it has 50 residents) and takes its name from Iacopo Vanni (1854-1911), known as “Boccabugia”, so called precisely because perhaps he had a toothless mouth or perhaps because he always had the last word and the thing that made him such a unique character was the fact that his answers always rhymed perfectly. This competition takes place every year on the first Sunday of August and the event takes place throughout the afternoon. In the first part of the day, registrations are collected from the participants in the competition who have 45 minutes to create an essay following the theme assigned by the jury. Themes are usually very entertaining and when time runs out, the poets are called on stage to praise their work. An event that manages to bring many migrated families originating from the area back to the village of Vergemoli and who come together every year to enjoy this particular summer afternoon. During Boccabugia 2023 we managed to create a docufilm entirely directed by Paolo Ruffini in which we wanted to describe the strong territorial identity that this event manages to convey, above all thanks to the population who gathers and returns every year to organize every single detail of the event , from the scenography of the stage to the care and cleanliness of the entire village. A documentary film that not only describes the event itself but which touches on the strong feeling that binds the population to Vergemoli. During the filming of the docufilm, which took place in the summer of 2023, a photographer from the area, Andrea Calissi, followed the entire progress of the filming, immortalising the faces of Vergemoli’s characters in his shots. These shots are fundamental for us precisely because they will enrich our historical memory given that all the inhabitants or characteristic characters of Vergemoli have been immortalized. Initially we didn’t know how to exploit this priceless material but thanks to this call we can finance the installation of an open-air photographic exhibition, taking advantage of the historic streets of the village of Vergemoli, enticing and making people curious to visit the historic centre. The exhibition will be inaugurated on 11 August 2024, during the Boccabugia and it will be our honorary citizen, Paolo Ruffini, who will cut the ribbon. An exhibition that will be set up every year in the summer period and which can be visited at all hours of the day and evening. This too will be a further step that will allow us to enhance both our longest-running event but, above all, it will serve to enrich our cultural heritage using the strong identity character that Vergemoli and its population manages to convey, all always to try to enrich the tourist offer and to try to get people to return to experience the area.