Country Roads and Skulls

Saturday the sun was warm and bathing the fields near my house with their warm rays. I joyfully opened the windows to welcome the fresh spring scent of....oh, I forgot, cow manure. Yes, the farmers had started their spring chores and that meant that steamy fresh piles of these were plopped around my house.

Cow manure is supposed to help relieve asthma, and I get that with spring allergies so I forgive the stinky cows. The day was so pretty and great. We had to take the kitties to the vet for a check up and they were cool cats enjoying the "fresh" air and new smells so we decided to go for a ride around where we live to see some new things. We had never really gone around directly where we live and we loved the little towns that we discovered by driving in the country.

Along old farm houses there are usually statues to the Virgin Mary

An old farm home

Going for a ride

Oh build me a home where the buffalo roam...

Dirt bikers

Where the cows live

Beat this, Yankee Candle

One lane built for cows, not cars

We went to Solferino, a town where the second War of Independence happened in 1859 leading to the unification of Italy. The northern part of Italy, where I live, was once upon a time part of Austria and France because of its location. The middle part of Italy was the kingdom of the Pope (more or less, it was given as a gift by a guy called Pipin the Short). Then the south of Italy was the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples. Italians fought each other and foreigners for centuries and finally, after the War of Independence, largely fought in the North, Italy reunified. The separate histories within Italy explain why the people of different areas speak so differently and eat differently. In the South, they were led by the Spanish for 5 centuries. In Naples they have their own language called Nepolitan, it is quiet beautiful and lively. One hour north of where I live people don't speak Italian at all even though it is Italy! They speak German, look whiter and eat strudel, beer and dried meat rather than pasta and wine. Italy finally became a country in 1861, so it is younger than the US in that regard!

German and Italian sign one hour north of where I live

Back to Solferino: we got to this little town, that looked more German than Italian and made our way to a chapel. I couldn't believe what I saw, hundreds of bones! Apparently after the historic war of 1859 there were 22,000 dead from Italy, France and Austria. The people in this area were destroyed and made simple graves for the soldiers rather than have proper funerals, there was just no money. Then the King of Italy, after the unification, decreed that these dead carcasses be unearthed and put in a chapel. This is the result. I feel pity for the workers that had to do this job.

List of the dead. Total: 39,501

L'Ossario: the Bonery....

L'Orssario: where thousands of bones are

Those are all skulls and bones behind the cross

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After this terrible war, a French man named Henry Dunant who was a witness of the massacre in Soferino, decided to create the Red Cross. It was created in 1863. The reason was that there were no hospitals for the soldiers during the War of Solferino and Henry Dunant stated that all of the soldiers were brothers, no matter their background. I happen to agree with him. He then went on to create Humanitarian Laws that were presented at the very first Geneve Convention in 1864, there were 12 countries present. Mr. Dunant was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 for his contributions to humanitarian efforts. I wish there were more men like him.

In conclusion, I learned that it is always worth going for a ride in the cow manure ridden fields, you never know what kind of historical treasure you can run into.