During my first few occasionally traumatic days in Pietrasanta, the road leading up to the old city walls flooded after torrential rain. By coincidence this road led to my digs. The water unearthed and washed down what turned out to be the pertrified heart of a baby elephant. This extraordinary object literally fell into my lap and its story revived my flagging morale....it is probably a relic from Hannibal's expedition across the Alps. I tracked his route to the east of here and it just about makes sense that such a thing would have found its way into Pietrasanta by now. Approximately 2300 years. Incedible that it is so well preserved. It was most likely entombed in peat.
I made a mould of the heart and this has formed the starting point for my journey here.
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