The Making of Miracle at St Anna – Film by Spike Lee

The Toronto Film Festival in September will be the host to the world première of the film “Miracle at St Anna”, the World War II film directed by the afro-american director Spike Lee in the very same place that witnessed the massacre perpetrated by the nazis in 1944. Based on the book of the same name by James McBride, the film tells the story of four black american soldiers (belonging to the 92nd Division “Buffalo Soldiers” of the american army) who remain trapped in the village behind enemy lines, where one of them risks his life to save an italian boy. The enchanting little village of Colognora, near Pescaglia, was the main set for the film, which was mostly shot in the Garfagnana area, and also in the Serchio river valley at Coreglia Antelminelli (one of the prettiest little villages in Italy) and Borgo a Mozzano, and Careggine, a tiny medieval hamlet on Monte Sumbra on the apuan side, at the heart of Garfagnana.

Among other places chosen by Spike Lee, who filmed in Tuscan Villas in the autumn of 2007, was the village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, close to Stazzema and near Lucca, which stands on the southernmost peaks of the Apuan Alps, 660 metres above sea level. To get there you climb about 10 kms of panoramic road, winding up through the versilian hills, passing through the villages of Monteggiori and La Culla. Sant'Anna can also be reached along mule tracks which were part of the old Via Francigena, used by the pilgrims travelling from Canterbury in England to Rome. The village, which hosts the museum of the history of the resistance movement, is now a National Peace Park: it is particularly impressive seen from above, from Passo Croce (a mountain pass at 1000 metres above sea level linking Versilia and Garfagnana), another location for the film. In Versilia, at Camaiore, is Villa Le Pianore, a magnificent borbonic residence, where they placed the general american headquarters.

The places chosen by Spike Lee are a wonderful pretext for exploring Garfagnana and Versilia, where, besides the usual famous places to stay and to enjoy oneself, you can also find some real hidden treasures. Lucca, Camaiore, and Forte dei Marmi are ideal bases for a relaxing stay in an elegant and refined home in this area. For more information you can go through various Italian & Tuscany Villa.

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