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



32. The Iris Garden



For one month every year a garden on the slopes of Piazzale Michelangelo is opened free to the public.

Since about 1955 this has been the site of an international Iris competition, as bulbs from all over the world are brought here, planted and left to grow...

In the month of May you can see them at their glorious best.




As you can see Irises don't just come in purple or blue! It is a real explosion of colour and the setting is magnificent.

The Iris beds are layed out between olive trees and rose bushes and at the bottom there is a pond with some wate lillies.

 Of course being on the side of Piazzale Michelangelo there are some wonderful views, especially toward Pontassieve.





We amble round picking out our favourites, some are one colour, others a combination of two or more!

Some of the names are very imaginative too:  'Death by chocolate'  'Hotel California'  and  'stolen Dreams' to name but a few..

As this is an annual event, I'm sure we will be back here again to steal a few moments out of our working day.





The May flower theme continues with another flower show in Greve, as the triangular square is filled with all kinds of delightful colours and scents...

For this one we're in buying mode and we purchase several small plants for our modest terrace back home.




(Original journal entry 10/5/02)
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)