Lee's Tuscan Odyssey: 54. Populonia, Campiglia Marittima and Bolgheri

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

After a wonderful afternoon at Massa Marittima we motor on to the coast... first stop is the very pretty gulf of Baratti, there is a small harbour and sailing school here and also one of the most important Etruscan burial sites at nearby Populonia, but we don't have time to look round, instead we drive up to the tiny village of Populonia Alta. Here there are a few crafty shops and bars and a 15th century fortress overlooking the Tyrrhenian coastline.

By now it's getting quite late and we have to find somewhere to sleep... so we head back into San
Vincenzo and manage to find a small, cheap room for the night!

We pop into town for a late night fish dish at 'La Bussola', the place is still buzzing, with people just hanging on to the last remmnants of summer...

Sunday and we enjoy a lazy breakfast in town and then decide to head up to another old mining town, Campiglia Marittima. We stroll round the small mainly residential town. The main square is simple and has a few bars and restaurants.

We stop for lunch here and as Autumn is coming I have a wild boar pasta dish and then wild boar stew main course! We drive back to San Vincenzo and relax on the beach in the late summer sun...

Our drive home takes us by way of yet another famous Tuscan landmark, Bolgheri. Bolgheri is a small town that can be reached by a 4.9 km drive from San Guido. This 4.9 km road is lined with 2,540 huge cypress trees and the is dead straight, making it an incredible sight to behold and drive along! The road was immortalized in a famous Italian poem written by local resident, Giossue Carducci and many Italians have bad memories of having to learn it by heart at school...

We drive along it, open mouthed and stop to take some photos, before finally heading home. A very long and enjoyable weekend, with some very nice new discoveries!

When I got home I bought a book of Carducci's poems, but they are only available in Italian. I have searched for an English translation to no avail. However I have found several bad translations and have tinkered with them and come up with this... (My sincerest apologies to the purists)

Here is a link to the poem in full...

http://leestuscanodyssey.blogspot.com/p/b-s-g.html

(Original journal entry 14/9/02)

3 comments:

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Lee said...: you're very welcome!; October 4, 2010 at 11:19 AM
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