I have just found out that Hannibal and his elephants walked through our friend Tina’s front yard on the way to the thermal springs above. Of course, it wasn’t Tina’s front yard then. There was probably nothing there but the track that left the river and wound its way into the mountains.
Tina's front yard
Hannibal left Spain with 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry and 37 elephants. He led his troops though the Pyrenees and the Alps. Weatherbeaten, malnourished and exhausted, he and his troops and the few remaining elephants arrived in Italy at the foothills of the Alps near Turin. Here they did a bit of pillaging and gathered some local men to boost troop numbers.
From their base near Bologna they made their way across the Apennines and into Bagni di Lucca, Tina’s front yard and up to the thermal springs for a bit of a frolic. It must have worked well. Hannibal went on to win 3 victories at Trebbia, Lake Trasimeno and Cannae and occupied Italy for more than 15 years.
I will walk through Tina’s roses with much more interest.
The path from the river 28th March 2010