The Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta on the road from Pienza to San Quirico d'Orcia

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo



14. Anghiari and Caprese Michelangelo

This weekend we are visiting friends in Ancona. The only trouble is, that it's 200 miles from Florence and the Appenine mountains are in the way! The plan is to go over the top, with a stop at somewhere interesting, like Urbino. Overnight bags and packed lunch in the car, we take the Autostrada to Arezzo and then head towards Sansepolcro. By chance I see a signpost to Anghiari and Caprese, so we forget Urbino and go on a little detour!





The plains of Anghiari are where a famous battle was fought in 1440, between Florence and Milan. It is the subject of what would have been one the most famous frescoes by Leonardo da Vinci, painted in competition with Michelangelo's 'Battle of Cascina' in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The two frescoes may actually still be lying underneath later frescoes by Giorgio Vasari. If uncovered, they would be the greatest artistic discovery in the last 500 years!!!  We do have this surviving sketch by Rubens to give us some idea of what it may have looked like.


The town, though, which was built between the 6th and 12th century is about 1,500 feet above sea level and has spectacular sweeping views of the plains. It's built on the side of the hills and has lovely cobbled streets. We enjoy our packed lunch in a park and even bump into an English woman and her two kids, small world! Afterwards we go for a stroll through the town, but must press on to our next destination, Caprese.






Caprese Michelangelo is the birthplace of the man himself, although he only lived there for a few months. It's impossible for me to be this close and not have a look. High up in the hills, a rural and rugged countryside, so this is where genius is made? His birth house is actually part of a fortress right on top of the hill and what do you know, they've made it into a museum! Inside there are about 15  copies of some of his sculptures, it makes you wonder what it would be like to see them all in one place...








We have a very enjoyable afternoon and head on to our final destination, Ancona, on the Adriatic sea, which as a city isn't very inspiring... Apparently the beaches are supposed to be quite nice, but we have no time to explore and anyway it's too cold to swim yet! maybe another time...






(Original journal entry 12/1/02)
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