Pennabilli, situated just in the heart of Val Marecchia, is the native town of the famous poet and Fellini's friend
Tonino Guerra.
"Pennabilli was the Himalaya of my childhood. It was a real myth. When I was a child, my parents sold fruit here. Pennabilli is not far from Santarcangelo di Romagna. And so they took me with them to let me breath pure air.
Why did I come back here? Because it was a kind of
lost heaven I wanted to find again. Because I wanted to live in a different way. I thought about great metropoles. But then I crossed a small bridge over the River Presale (a tributary of the River Marecchia) and I flocked to a welcoming garden. And now I am here. I was seventy and wanted to devote myself to
painting, nature and poetry. This is the reason why I moved to Pennabilli. I wanted to start a new life.
Val Marecchia, where Pennabilli is situated, is very beautiful and scattered with lush
landscapes. Local inhabitants need to be warned here, since they do not understand they are destroying an ancient world; they pollute the waters of the rivers, cut ancient trees and act as they were the rulers of the world, thus threatening both natural beauties and charming medieval villages. We need to understand our landscape is a common heritage and strive to preserve it.
The problems affecting the hinterland, though, are much less serious than the ones threatening the coast. Men here have a
different perception of time. We have to boost and improve it. This is the main purpose of the
Amici della Val Marecchia Association.
We aim at adding our valley something more without affecting the landscape and its tastes and flavours. This is the main reason why we inaugurated the
Garden of the Forgotten Fruits, a small museum dedicated to rare trees: quince pears, sour cherry trees, jujubes and many more. Not to be missed is the
Sanctuary of the Thoughts, a peaceful place cherishing seven mysterious stones.
Pennabilli's old town cherishes
sundials painted by Mario Arnaldi and set by Giovanni Paltrinieri: they regulate time in the valley.
In summer, Pennabilli and other resorts in Val Marecchia stage plenty of interesting events, such as the
Antiques Exhibition in July.
Visitors will have the possibility to discover a fascinating place which was very appreciated by Dante, Giotto, Buonconte da Montefeltro and Ezra Pound, who flocked to Pennabilli to admire the “cradle” of the Malatesta family.
I strive to let the world hear the
voice of childhood.
An extraordinary poetic reality halfway between inside and outside me.
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"I was born in Santarcangelo di Romagna and spent my childhood running along dirt roads, hiding under bushes, playing with birds and hunting lizards. I studied in Forlimpopoli and Urbino and had excellent teachers. My mother was analphabet and I taught her to write. I read her legacy along the banks of the River Uso, where we have lived since the war.
She wrote: “I leave all my properties to my husband/Carabini Penelope”. At that time, my mother just only possessed some vases of flowers. A few days later my father, who loved animals a lot, sent me to Santarcangelo to feed the cat we left in our house situated in via Verdi.
I was captured and sent to Germany. While there, I started to write poems to entertain the farmers from Romagna who were with me in Troisdorf. I flocked to the station of Santarcangelo in August 1945. It was Sunday. Everybody thought I was dead. I didn't want to scare my mother and father so I asked somebody to advise them some Italian prisoners were coming back home.
In the afternoon I came back home. My father was waiting for me at the door. I never kissed him. I stopped four metres far not to make him feel uncomfortable. He stared at me smoking his cigar and told: “Did you eat?”. “Yes”, I answered. Then I went to the city centre. Later, surrounded by relatives and friends, I was sitting on the so-called “small room” when a man holding a small suitcase arrived. I asked him “Are you looking for anybody?”. “I am the barber. Your father told me you have to shave”. I realized I had a two week's growth of beard".