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



222. Certaldo and Montespertoli

Autumn has come early and this weekend the forecast is sun on Saturday and rain on Sunday, so we force ourselves out today and take a picnic and drive out to Montespertoli and stretch out on the rug in an olive grove on the ridge of a hill at Lucolena.






Afterwards we head on to Certaldo - birthplace of Giovanni Boccaccio. We last came here three years ago, but only rushed around. This time we take it a little more leisurely - A short funicular ride takes you up to Certaldo 'Alto' and the historic part of the town.






There is a wedding going on and we follow the bride and groom around the town, meeting up with them in the 'Governer's Palace - where there is an erotic art exhibition taking place. However the town is prettier than we remembered and we even stop to enjoy an aperitivo in an outside bar.




For a Saturday evening it's still quiet and we discover that all the locals are down in the new part of the town for their evening 'passeggiata'.

No comments: