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The name Vada comes from the
word VADUM which means ford, that is a part of sea or river or
lagoon that can be crossed touching the bottom with your feet. The legend of Vada. At the
coffee bar, while playing cards, drinking a glass of wine and smoking
their pipes or a strong cigar , the old fishermen from Vada like telling
the "true story" about the origins of their village and its name. They
are simple people like all the seafaring people who are used to spend
days in loneliness, between sea and sky, in company only of their job
and their thoughts. In this loneliness thoughts become obsessive and
imagination becomes an anguish widened with ancestral superstitions. The
story they tell, handing it down from father to son, every time
widened with some more particulars , embellished and decorated
according to the imagination and fantasy of the narrator, is a story
that , with the passing of time becomes more and more " saga " and less
and less invention. Each of them, especially after the first glasses of
wine, is ready to swear on the authenticity of things he believes he
has seen or heard, such as paved streets and house walls on the
seabed, near the " lighthouse " or, in days when the sea is absolutely
calm, even a sound of bells. Here is the story some fishermen told me
about forty years ago and I repropose it to you hoping my memory will
not deceive me, because, fascinated by the narration, at that time I
didn't take notes. VALDIVETRO. Once upon a time... While telling me the
story, everyone started like this : Once upon a time, hundreds of years
ago, just in this area where now Vada is situated there was a big
city, it was so large that with its port, its streets and its houses,
stretched as far as the lighthouse. This city was called " Valdivetro
". Its port had some docks which were kilometers long and every day
hundreds of ships coming from everywhere berthed here. They carried oil,
tin, copper from Spain; cloths, wool and wood from Gallia; wheat from
Africa; marbles from Lunigiana; vases from Greece; iron from Elba;
spices and silk from India. Valdivetro was full of people who worked,
sailed, dealt, traded and had a good time. There were shops and craft
shops, theaters, thermal baths, banks, brothels and churches. (I have
never understood if the closeness of the two last things was
mischievously intentional as to underline that after the sin of lust
the repentance and the remorse were necessary to set one's conscience
at rest and to regain trust in gods. After all, also today many people
behave in the same way). Life was passing calm and pacific, but this
kind of too carefree and too easy life, let the citizens forget their
duty towards the gods. The people spent more time in taverns (tabernae),
in thermal baths and in brothels, than in activities devoted to the
cult, they allowed the satisfaction of the fleeting and transient
pleasures more time neglecting their souls, forgetting the temples,
failing to sacrifice to the gods, unlearning the prayers. But gods don't
forget, and envious, jealous and vexed because of the carelessness of
the inhabitants of Valdivetro towards themselves decided to take revenge.
One day, clouds swollen with rain started to thicken on the horizon,
all around the city. Strog winds started to blow from the sea lifting
waves which became higher and higher and hit the docks, the sky darkened,
it became more and more black , then it started to rain. At first the
people thought it was a momentary storm, like the ones in the past ,
after all it was the rain season , but some days passed, the wind
didn't drop and rain became heavier and heavier. The provisions were
going to end, the country was flooded and it didn't produce anything,
ships didn't arrive any more because the port , until then safe and
reliable, had become dangerous. The docks began to ruin under the
violence of the waves, the moored ships sank like small paper boats, a
tragic event was going to happen. The people, which had increased,
gathered in the temple to prey.Then the people remembered the wrongs
done to the gods and sacrificed the last animals left on their altars
hoping for a reconciliation, for an impossible peace. However the angry
gods turned their backs on Valdivetro. Then on a tragic, evil day a man
wet to the skin and exhausted by a long run, entered the temple while
the priest was offering sacrifices and with his voice broken for weeping
and emotion, cried the fury of the sea had demolished the last defenses
of the port and huge waves were ruining on the city destroying it.
Weeping and swearing he cried that Valdivetro was disappearing and
those who were able had to try to save themselves . A shout of anguish
and fear rose from the people who were praying, the children started
to cry and the women began to complain and implore. Only the priest
kept calm and turned to the believers,he exhorted them to prey and said:
"The gods' will be done, if Valdivetro is destined to go, let it go! "
As soon as the priest pronounced these words, everything was submerged.
Anyway not all perished in that huge calamity, miraculously some people
succeeded in surviving. When that terrible tragedy ended, the sea
calmed down and the sun returned to shine on those desolate lands full
of mournings and ruins, those who had survived the tragedy devoted
themselves to rebuild a new city from the ruins. Remembering the last
word the priest pronounced before dying, they swore that the city,
risen from the destruction and the ruins of Valdivetro, would be named
Vada (let it go) . This is, more or less, the story that many years ago
Mr Olivi , Mr Giovannelli and other old fishermen from Vada told me,
they were considered "the descendants of those first founders of Vada,
which had been destroyed and rebuilt one thousand years before Christ".
They promised me that, "some time or other", they would take me to the
place : "to let you see with your eyes". Unfortunately, once because
the waters were cloudy, another time because the weather didn't promise
anything good , or something like this, they couldn't keep their
promise and now they have died. Sometimes I have gone there with other
friends, but probably we have not been able to locate the place well,
and we have seen nothing. What a pity! Targioni Tozzetti mentions this
legend in the chapter about "History of Vada", pages 416,417. "Some
visionaries have told tales about a big city rebuilt on the ruins of
Valdivetro and they said it was under the rule of Volterra. This town
was called Tuscinatum and was destroyed by a sea flood . To make their
supposition likely, they say that when the sea is calm, the ruins of
this City can be seen on Valdi vetro: however I inquired of many
Fishermen who use to sail this stretch of sea all day, and I have
understood you can see only sand, sea vegetation and some rocks just
like the ones you can see at Meloria, but rarely. The ruins that have
given birth to this tradition, are without doubt the foundations and the
beginning of the Tower used as a Lighthouse, built by Pisa Republic
in the Middle ages".
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