Soldano

A short walk beyond San Biaggio lies Soldano, of disappointing and uninteresting exterior, coming close down to the public road, but with the usual steep winding streets, and curious dark corners. There is little or nothing for the artist, but the village is extending, and has, relatively speaking, an air of prosperity. There are more open spaces and more new houses than usual, and the women are much occupied with weaving, by hand - looms of course, the plain but durable linen of the country, which finds a ready market at Ventimiglia and elsewhere. The old women sit about on their doorsteps and spin the flax, while the girls wash the lengths of finished linen in the stream below. A torrent runs right through the village, and by its sides grow enormous fig trees, this fruit being now, as in old times, one of the staple products of the place(1). Vines are numerous, and one old stem growing in a very unpromising corner reaches to the terrace at the top of the house, a height of some 40 feet, before it branches out and covers the pergola with its welcome shade and luscious fruit. The streets are clean and well kept, and though there are absolutely no architectural features of interest, it is possible to discover in some of the joinery, such as house-doors, etc., an attempt at something beyond the usual commonplace.
Professor G. Rossi(2) believes the town to have been founded by the Commune of Ventimiglia in the middle of thè twelfth century, with prisoners taken in wars at Tortosa and Almeria, but gives no arguments in proof of his somewhat fanciful conjecture. He adds that the Castrum de Soldano is mentioned in a document of the year 1257.
Here also some old account books are preserved in the Municipio. They were all courteously produced for examination, and the oldest one pointed to with pardonable pride. A close examination soon showed, however, that this was only a register of a religious corporation, and recorded church accounts exclusively. In fact, the parchment in which it is bound shows clear traces of old black-lettering and red initiais, as if it had formed part of some office-book of the church. The chief sources of income mentioned were the money offerings of the faithful-on one occasion a legacy of 2 lire-with, more rarely, the value of a sheep which had been contributed to the church by some devout worshipper who had no money to spare. Mutton must have been cheap in those days, for one of these pecore was entered at the modest value of 2 lire and 12 soldi, little more than the cost of mending the confessional on 4th June 1592, or the etem doe giornate (two days' work), for painting the Canon's residence and the church in 1597(3).
Amongst the expenses, candles, wax, and incense of course hold important places, besides rope for the bells, and, not least, "a pound of powder for the day of Corpus Domini"; which last item cost 14 soldi.
The oldest register of accounts really belonging to the Municipal authorities commences early in the seventeenth century, and we find that at that period payments and contributions were still made in kìnd, especially in oil. In the year 1663, Giacomo Amalberto is credited with having paid "20 lire and 4 soldi in so much oil, that is 5 rubi(4), and a pound and a half, placed in thè jar of thè storehouse," etc. etc.
There also was a public oven annually let at varying rents; and in 1690 we find the first mention of a public slaughter-house, which was let for the year at 10 lire 17 soldi and 4 denari. It may interest some to note that this letting took place annually on Palm Sunday. Perhaps the speculation did not pay, for the next entry shows the rent to have been only 7 lire and 5 soldi; while a year or two later, it had sunk to 5 lire 8 soldi.
Although in those days public corporations had not invented sewage farms, etc., yet the old councillors were not disinclined to turn an honest penny out of refuse, for in 1680, on the 19th of July, they began to sell the Rumenta, the sweepings of the place, for 1 lira and 4 soldi; and this item is repeated in the accounts of subsequent years at a gradually increasing value.
About the middle of the seventeenth century the average income of the Municipality, or "University" as it was called, seems to have been under 200 lire, and to have sufficed for the expenses. This account-book was regularly carried to Ventimiglia to be audited by the proper officials, and under the date 1711 there is an interesting page, in beautiful handwriting, being the auditor's certificate, which also orders the newly-appointed councillors to take over the sum of 6 lire 16 soldi 8 denari, the balance in hand, out of which they would have to pay 2 lire to the retiring councillors for their trouble in taking the register to be examined, and to the auditor a fee of 2 lire for the audit itself.
This fee of 2 lire was regularly paid for many years; and the control of the Capitano, or Comisario (commissioner) was very severe - in certain directions.
The annual salary of thè Secretary of the Municipality was only 4 lire, and we can but hope that his duties consisted in little more than the few entries which these records show. They are indicated very summarily in the following item: "1663, piu pagato a M.ro Gio. p lana pasata del 1662 p aver scrito nel libro e altra cosa p luniversita, 4 : 0 : 0."
There is an air of delightful simplicity about the expression: "for having written in the hook and [done] other things for the university," especially as it refers to the duties of a whole year.
The influence of the Church was quite sufficient to obtain the payment, out of the public funds, of many expenses connected with the maintenance and repair of ecclesiastical buildings, in the furnishing of oil for the lamps, and wax for the candles, etc. These last items were by no means trifling, for each year the Rev.do rector (Rector) received about 6 rubi of oil, and on one occasion the cerie pascale are noted as costing 6 lire 16 soldi.
The walls of the present buildings bear witness to a considerable love for pictures of Saints, and other pious reminders, in addition to the regular Street shrines; and while the art is of the poorest, the spirit which prompted its exercise must be respected.
Even in the year of grace 1648, the clergy were not able to keep their flocks from squabbles in the law courts, for we have a record of "expenses on account of a lawsuit" in which a certain "Reverendo" figures, and for which the town had to pay, in two instalments, the magnificent sum of 1 lira and 16 soldi. Justice, or at all events law, like mutton, was evidently cheaper in those "good old times!"
The solemnities of Good Friday and Easter-Day 1652 must have been remarkable, for the new sepurco (sepulchre) cost £.66:5:0, and it was made by maestro Guglielmo, and maestro Antonio Mauro, to whom be all due honour.
The devotion of the consegieri (councillors) to their church sometimes got them into trouble, for in 1663 they spent a good deal of money on the canon's residence, only to find that the Ventimiglia official refused to sanction the expenditure, unless upon a certificate from the Illustrious Magistrato of Coità (5), to be presented within eight days; otherwise they would have to refund the amount themselves, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent so long as it remained unpaid.
The clergy were sometimes the cause of trouble and anxiety to their flocks, then as now, for there is an entry apparently belonging to the year 1801: "For two days' work, and a carriage, for going to seek the parroco (parish priest), £.5:4:0."
The income of the Commune was derived from various sources, but in the records that have come down to us there is no mention of a regalar money tax; individuals are registered with their several payments. It seems to have depended largely on the interest of money lent on the security of land, or, more rarely, rent for the land itself held from the Commune; but the letting of the public forno and the sweepings of the piasa were regular items. Beside these there was an income from the sale of oil produced by the public lands, the olives themselves, figs, and wine, of which contributions were made in certain proportions. There were certain officers calied mestrali, or overseers, whose duty it was to look after these sales.
In 1672 or thereabouts we enter upon a new era of development. We begin to find disbursements for public works, made upon the orders of the Commandant of the Valley, and the "officers of war. The gates of the town are repaired again, and there is a charge for a rubo and a half of gunpowder at 25 lire 10 soldi, with nine pounds of balls at 2 lire 12 soldi. The armaments of those days were insignificant indeed, but there is something almost comic in the solemn entry of 21 lire 9 soldi 8 denari for "powder distributed, as is seen in the book of the figs, where are inscribed those who bave taken some of it."
The education question takes a serious turn also at Soldano. In 1754 a certain Giovanni Bartolomeo, a native of the place, left some pieces of land and a house with instructions to thè authorities to let them to the "greatest possible advantage," and to hand the proceeds to the parish priest for the time being, with the obligation on his part to celebrate thirty masses annually for the soul of the testator, and in addition to teach reading and writing and a little abbaco(6) to the children of thè place. For the past thirty years the property has produced 606 lire annually, of which 500 have been regularly paid to the priest for the school, and 106 for thè masses. In 1887 a difficulty arose because according to the Italian law it was necessary to have a certificated teacher, and the priest did not meet the requirements. Now that the lease has expired, a new dispute has arisen. The property has immensely increased in value. Thè authorities wish to sell it and apply the proceeds to educational purposes, at their discretion. The priest claims the whole under the terms of the will; and the question is now in the hands of a Government department, which will probably take an indefinite period to come to a decision.
 
(1) Delicious little sweet black figs, freshly gathered, are sold in Bordighera during August and September, at the rate of from twenty to thirty for a penny.
(2) Storia della Citta di Ventimiglia, Oneglia, 1886.
(3) See the notes on Vallecrosia.
(4) The usual measure for olives or oil, formerly = 25 libbre, but now = 8 kilogrammes.
(5) Coità = Communità.
(6) Abbaco = Arithmetic