Elba Island

Elba Island… 
Napoleon Slept Here

Sitting just to the west of the Italian mainland somewhat south of Pisa lies the island of Elba. It is common knowledge that Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to Elba when nobody in France knew what else do with him but there is much more to this “Toscana” island. So much more that it appears to have multiple personalities, which for the visitor is very desirable.

There is the Elba with umbrella covered sandy beaches, pleasure boat harbors, and crowds of bathers. But there is also the Elba with a quiet rocky coastline, aromatic pine forests, and ancient hillside towns. There is also the Elba of ruins, archeological sites and abandoned mines. Napoleon Bonaparte’s s brief rule over the island in the 1800′s is but a suggestion of the push and pull of past powers.

Elba is ancient and complex geologically as well as culturally. It is fair to say that the mineral riches of the island have lured many throughout ancient times and continues to draw mineralogy pros and amateurs alike up into the hills. Elba has been inhabited since early peoples first learned how to cross the narrow stretch of sea to the island from what is now Piombino on mainland Italy. Stone age tools, some made from stone not found naturally on the island, that have been discovered on Elba attest to this. It was the Etruscans who located and first extracted the mineral wealth of copper and later, the rich iron ore deposits.

Historians believe that the Iron Age in Italy began on Elba. These mineral treasures attracted the Greeks and the Romans along with Spaniards, French and English. Saracen pirates often raided the island and surviving fortifications in Portofarraio and elsewhere stand as reminders of how valuable Elba was. Mining, with various starts and stops due to the demands and consequences of the process (especially to the forests, depleted to fire the smelting furnaces in ancient times) continued through World War II. Elba has since turned its attention to tourism for current prosperity.

Elba is the largest of the Tuscan Islands at about 86 square miles which is quite a bit larger than Capraia. It is large enough to venture out for a day’s exploration knowing that the trip back will not be very long. We stayed on the coast to the west of the town of Procchio, which is centered on the Northern side of the island. Our rented apartment was within a 20 minute walk of Marciana Marina which served as our base for food shopping, dining out, and strolling around in the evening.

This is a lively town that did not feel overcrowded with a good choice of restaurants and interesting small shops. In the evening, craftspeople set up their tables along the waterfront and a pleasant mixture of families, young lovers, and seniors were out enjoying the breeze of a warm July night. By night or by day, Marciana Marina had a nice balance of activity without a feeling of orchestrated tourism.

One issue that bears mentioning is that walking might best be limited to within the towns and along specific trails through the mountains. The roads are narrow and winding, often without shoulders. The drivers were not particularly bad (for normally lead-footed Italians) but there just isn’t much space to walk along the busier coastal roads without having to pay close attention to where you are and what is coming around the bend. Our initial thought of renting bicycles was negated by our first day’s walk to town because the hazards would have made it unappealing at best. Having a car to explore the island is a very big advantage though there are nice air conditioned busses that maintain a regular service around the island.

Above Marciana Marina at the foot of Monte Capanne, the largest mountain on Elba, are two small towns that retain their ancient roots. Marciana Castello is the older of the two and boasts fortifications that resisted attack by Dragut the corsair, one of the most legendary Saracen pirates to plunder the Mediterranean in the 1500′s. With nasty guys like Dragut appearing suddenly into the harbor it makes perfect sense why so many towns along the Italian coast were either perched high on rocky cliffs or sited well above the sea. What appeals to us as charming and picturesque today was a matter of survival when these towns were built. Poggio Terme is also very beautiful and ancient with a small church dating from the 7th century. Above these towns, often with clouds grazing the upper ridge is the granite outcrop of Monte Capanne.

The sea surrounding Elba is clear, clean and easy to get to but it is the diversity of the island that has left a lasting impression and a desire to return. The topography and vegetation varies from one end of this small island to the other with rounded granite outcroppings and low-growing plants to the west, a forested interior of pine and chestnut, and the rugged multi-hued peaks and tree-covered hills of the mining centers to the east. One feels they have traveled far, based upon the views, in only 30 minutes.

The mining history and its remains are fascinating not to mention the fact that the mineral wealth of the ancient rocks of Elba have by no means been eliminated. Rock hunting for Neanderthal stone tools to semi-precious gems is still practiced. Attention to avoiding the well known vipers of Elba needs to be maintained whenever poking around their habitat but that should no more prevent exploration than does the rattlesnake keep people away from the Grand Canyon.

Aside from the ever-present emperor of France, history is softly spoken in Elba but very much alive at every turn. It is said that Napoleon often sat by the sea on the west coast and gazed longingly at the island of Corsica in the distant haze. For those of us that have not lost an empire, reversing one’s view back to Elba is more than enough.

Pienza

Pienza, a small town near Siena, is a rare example of Renaissance town building. Defined, from time to time, the “ideal city”, the “utopian city”, it represents one of the best planned Renaissance towns, where a model of ideal living and governing was realized thus working out the idea of a town able to satisfy the need for a pacific, civil and hardworking living. It represented the so called utopia of the “civitas” vainly cherished by people for centuries.Pienza has at present two museum, a third one into being. Its location in the middle of Val d’Orcia, a wonderful and untouched valley, enables the town to perfectly embody the basic interest which the humanistic architecture gave to the relationship man – nature.

Nowadays Pienza is part of a territorial system called “Parco artistico, naturale e culturale della Val d’Orcia”, which aims at preservation of the extraordinary artistic heritage of the five boroughs which constitute it: Castiglion d’Orcia, Montalcino, San Quirico d’Orcia, Radicofani and Pienza.
The center of Pienza was completely redesigned by Pope Pius II in Renaissance times. He planned to transform his birthplace into a model Renaissance town. The architect Bernardo Rossellino was commissioned to build a Duomo, papal palace and town hall, the construction were completed in three years.

Duomo
Piazza Pio II – Open daily

The Duomo was built by the architect Rossellino (1459) and is now suffering from serious subsidence at its eastern end. There were cracks in the walls and floor of the nave, but the splendid classical proportions are remained inctact. It is flooded with ligth from the vast stained glass windows request by Pius II; he wanted a domus vitrea (litterally “a house of glass”), which would symbolize the spirit of intellectual enlightenment of the Humanist age.

Palazzo Piccolomini Piazza Pio II – Open Tuesday – Sunday

The palazzo is next door to the Duomo and was home to Pius II’s descendants until 1968. Rossellino’s design for the building was influenced by Leon Battista Alberti’s Palazzo Rucellai in Florence. The appartments open to the public include Pius II’s bedroom and library. At the rear of the palazzo there is an ornate arcaded courtyard and a triple-tiered loggia looking out on the garden. From here there are spectacular views across to the wooded slopes of the Monte Amiata.

Pieve di Corsignano Via delle Fonti. Open by appointment. 
Phone to the tourist office: (+390578749071)
Pope Pius II was baptized in this 11 th. century Romanesque parish church on the outskirts of Pienza. It has an unusual round tower and a doorway decorated with flower mytholgical motifs. A crib is sculptured on the architrave of the side doorway.

Leslie Halloran
Please check out my website at: www.lihdesigns.net

“A frog in the well does not know the sea.” – Japanese Proverb

Montepulciano

Montepulciano, is a renaissance town in Southern Tuscany and an important agricultural center, famous for it’s  “Nobile” wine. Montepulciano lies on a hilltop in a panoramic position and is surrounded by the 15th century defensive works by “Antonio da Sangallo”. Birthplace of the famous poet Agnolo Ambrogini, called “Poliziano”. Thanks to its history throughout the centuries, the town has preserved many architectural jewels and artistic treasures along side the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside.

◦   Piazza Grande is the real monumental center of Montepulciano and hosts the “Palazzo Comunale” (Town hall) 15th century, with a big tower from which it is possible to admire the view of the village of Radicofani, the Orcia Valleys and Lake Trasimeno.

◦   The Cathedral of Montepulciano is a stately building by Ippolito Scalza, (1592-1630 , inside, altar by A. della Robbia, a 14th century baptismal font and the ” Madonna del Pilastro” by Sano di Pietro. On the high altar there is a tripthych by Taddeo di Bartolo (Assuunption, 1401).

The overall structure is reminiscent of the palazzo della Signoria in Florence. The rest of the square is surrounded by several elegant buildings: Palazzo Cantucci, by Sangallo, Palazzo Tarugi, in front of the church, by Vignola and next the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (XIV century). Of note is the ancient well “Pozzo dei Grifi e dei Leoni”, dating back to 1520 it illustrates very nice renaissance work.

◦    Palazzo Neri-Orselli, 14th century palace, hosts the Civic Museum of Montepulciano, a very large exhibition of Tuscan paintings.
◦    Palazzo Bucelli, whose facade is embedded with a patchwork of dozens of Etruscan reliefs and funerary urns.
◦    The church of Santa Lucia, preserves a painting by Luca Signorelli.
◦    Outside the city walls, the church of Sant’ Agnese, with a 14th century portal. Inside, the first chapel on the right has a frescoed Madonna by Simone Martini.
The travertine church of San Biagio, outside of the city, in the countryside, is characterized by a beautiful dome. It is one of the most significant Renaissance works and masterpiece of Antonio da Sangallo the Elder.

Montepulciano has many wine shops, (local name is enoteca or cantina) offering the chance to taste the local wine “Nobile di Montepulciano”, as well as, to have a traditional Tuscan “colazione” or “merenda” (breakfast) with local products: pecorino cheese, salami,  crostini or bruschetta. A real pleasure for the senses!

In Sant’Albino, a small village close to Montepulciano, there are the Thermal Spas of Montepulciano, famous for its waters and mud-baths whose curative benefits have been renowned for centuries.

Web site: www.montepulciano.com

Leslie Halloran
Please check out my website at: www.lihdesigns.net

“A frog in the well does not know the sea.” – Japanese Proverb

Events in Tuscany

LUCCA

Lu.C.C.A Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Via della Fratta 36
Steve Mc Curry and Pietro Gilardi.
Time after Time. Giuliano Ghelli Le vie del Tempo. Otto minuti dal sole, un minuto dalla luna.
Videoart open 10.00-19.00 Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Mondays. Till 5 September.

Puccini Opera Via S. Giustina 16
Various exhibitions at the association’s head quarters.
Puccini e il cinema Posters and rawing relating to films on puccini heroines. Open 10.00-19.00 daily except  Tuesdays. Till 1 November.
Piatti di Puccini, Richard Ginori ceramics celebrating Puccini’soperas.
Puccini mai visto, memorabilia, music scores, rare photos and letters, inauguration  15 September.

VIAREGGIO

Da Fattori a Casorati
Ojetti Collection. Experts have meticulously re-assembled the collection of 19th and 20th century Italian masterpieces dispersed when the Florentine home of the writer and art critic Ugo Ojetti was turned into a hotel. At the Centro Matteucci per l’Arte Moderna, via d’Annunzio 28.
Tuesday-Saturday 15.30-19.30 Sunday 14.30-20.00 closed Mondays. Till 12 September.

Galileo Chini e la Toscana
A collection of the art nouveau master’s ceramics, paintings, stage scenery- At GAMC Modern Art gallery, Piazza Mazzini 22. Open 18.00-23.00 Tuesdays to Sundays. Monday closed. Till 5 December.

BARGA
Immagini della Valle del Serchio nella pittura del novecento 20th century landscape from the Garfagnana. Fondazione Ricci Till 5 September.

Italy coast - Forte dei Marmi

Surf’s up
At the Pontile, biting salt spray and crashing waves, walls of water, barrels and riptides: riding the giants, dreamin’ California… Forte dei Marmi’s sea like you never seen it: the best place in the world to be. In the tube.
It’s said that caution is a natural human mechanism. Caution, not cluck. And maybe this dualistic thought caution vs fear is what runs through the mind of the surfer riding the Versilia waves.

On that same sea, so safe and welcoming so perfect for kids and families, that canturn into an amazing arena of impetuous sewlls, barreling and mean; waves to catch, attack, caress and follow into whitewater. Pur collective California dream plays out in a bit of versilia’s sea near Forte dei marmi’s Pontile. An expanse of water that has become the Tyrrhenian playground for stoked foam-breathers on bords.

Everything turns on the waves, whenever, wherever: little snappers, crumbly waves, or big, glassy giants, perfect, pitching, peeling. An eternal pilgrimage in search of ideal spot, even if the best spots are right there, around the Forte Pontile and a tad downscaled at Marina di Pietrasanta. The surfer suffering from perennial abstinence thus sets off looking for a nice wave to share with some good friends. Bundled in a wetsuit in winter or reveling in skin-sea contact in a summer.

The rest, all the rest, is an explosion of utter freedom and pure passion. The kind that drives you to frenetically click all the surflines to see where the surf’s up and then “dive” down from the remotest inland sites in Versilia by scooter, Ape, car, bike, VW bus…. any means of locomotion is the right one for getting to the beach or the Pontile, board under arm, and paddling out. This is what it’s all about. Someone defined it “the innermost limits of pure fun”.

A step into liquid time. Momentum. Passion. Passion that takes you, with your board buddies to hangouts like the Nimbus Club. Or to explore the specialized shops – on the increase throughout Versilia. The same passion that, in a business key, has spawned a host of boardshops that build to order (Ola Surfboards of pietrasant, for example).

The sea is an open-air stage on wich the curtain never falls: in winter as in summer, at dawn as at the dusk of a long, long day the blue crush is a never-ending attraction.
A “fatal” attraction, while all around unpredictable and unsettling, the unceasing wind and the whipping sea foam vehemently caress the senses of the surfer on a living curl at the morning of the earth.

Lucca Wine

Lucca and its territory do not only have extra virgin olive oil, they also boast a very respected wine production, which is becoming ever more noteworthy.
The wines of the hills of Lucca and of Montecarlo possess a tradition which, based on precise historical documents, dates back to mediaeval and Roman times. It seems than even before the Romans, the hills of Lucca were cultiveted by the Etruscans and then the Ligurians who were well versed in the art of viticulture. These wines were well appreciated in the past by popes, in particular Gregory XII and Paolo II Farnese, who, respectively in the 15th and 16th centuries, made ample use of them. In the development of viticulture, one shiuld remeber the influence exercised by religious orders in wine making.

Among the wines of Lucca, those that stand out are those with the domination “Montecarlo“, which is reserved for wines coming from vineyards located in the municipalities of Montecarlo, Altopascio and also Capannori and Porcari. The Montecarlo white obtained its DOC denomination in 1969, the red in 1986. The DOC Montecarlo white is excellent as an aperitif and goes together very well with starters, soups and all types of fish dishes.
The Montecarlo red, which with two years of ageing is allowed to be called “reserve”, combines naturally with meat dishes, stews, pultry, mushrooms and roast white meats. The domination of Montecarlo also refers to types of vinsanto.

The secon denomination of origin of the province of Lucca is called ” Colline Lucchesi” (Hills of Lucca), and contrary to how it happened for Montecarlo, in this case it was the red wines which were first denominated DOC in 1968, while the white wines gained the same distinction in 1985.
The “Colline Lucchesi” and “Montecarlo” wines are among the main grape harvests of the selected wies, and their appreciation has recently been confirmed by numerous awards both in Italy and abroad.

Web-site: www.stradavinoeoliolucca.it

Montecarlo

The convent of the Clarisse and the Church of Sant’Anna
The idea to build a convent in the centre of ontecarlo was implemented between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th, following the religious fervour created by the Council of Trent. It was built between 1610 and 1614 (from a design by the architect, Gherardo Menchini of Florence) and was enlarged subsequently with the inclkusion of the building that until then had been the residence of the Vicars of Montecarlo.

The running of the convent was entrusted to the Pooor Clares who remained there until 1810, when the religious community was expelled after the Napoleonic wars. The building was put up for auction and was subsequently redeemed and given to the Fondazione Pellegrini-Carmignani and used as a school for children.
The old convent complex, now in need of restoration, also includes the 17th century church of Sant’Anna, which is entered from Via Grande. Inside there is a Madonna in trono col Bambino e Santi of 1709 by Giovan Maria Corsetti and a San Lorenzo by Apollonio Nasini.

Villa Mansi

Dating back to the third quarter of the 16th century, the villa of the Parensi family is a compact, quadrangular block. The almost flat front of the building includes a portico and a loggia above with three arches on Tuscan columns; both are covered by a vaulted roof. By comparing the current building with a fine 17th century drawing by Domenico Checchi, its is possible to see the changes that ahve been made and how the villa stood at the centre of a vast agricultural estate.

Outside the enclosure walls, the public oratory has maintained the 17th century form as drawn by Checchi, with square pilasters supporting the entablature and the gable, and with curved stone cornices that enanche the openings in the facade.
The garden below it is borderted by the lemon houses and the olive mill.
The villa passed from the Mansi family in 1791, when Camilla Parensi, the last descendent of the family, married Raffaele di Luigi Mansi.

Certaldo

Certaldo is a town and comune of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, located in the middle of Valdelsa.  Heading southwest, it is 50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car from the city ofFlorence. Heading north, it is 25 minutes by rail from Siena.  It was the home of the family of Giovanni Boccaccio, who died and was buried here in 1375.
Main Sights:
Boccaccio’s house, of red brick, like the other old houses here, was restored in 1823 and furnished with old furniture. A statue of him was erected in the main square in 1875.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 21 December 1375)[1] (Italian pronunciation: [bokˈkattʃo]) was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular.

Boccaccio is particularly notable for his dialogue, of which it has been said that it surpasses inverisimilitude that of virtually all of his contemporaries, since they were medieval writersand often followed formulaic models for character and plot.
The Palazzo Pretorio, or Vicariale, the residence of the Florentine governors, recently restored to its original condition, has a picturesque facade adorned with ceramic coats of arms, and in the interior are various frescoes dating from the 13th to the 16th century.

Leslie Halloran
Please check out my website at: www.lihdesigns.net

“A frog in the well does not know the sea.” Japanese Proverb

Church of San Quirico at Guamo

Church of S. Quirico at Guamo, called “in Casale”
The small church of San Quirico is built in stone from the nearby quarry at Guamo. It is built like a cottage and it has a nave and fairly small apse. The door in the facade is surmounted by a lintel resting on two brackets.
Both the layout and the size of the stone bosses in the facing suggest that it is quite old and probably dates back to 1023, when it was first mentioned in documents. During the restoration work of about 1930, some 16th and 17th century sepulchral slabs were found and new altar was made from a single stone.
An unusual altarpiece of the Giotto school, a triptych incorporated in a quadrangular structure and surmounted by an inflected-arch lunette, comes from this church; now in the Villa Guinigi museum in Lucca, it depicts the Vergine in Trono con Bambino (on the central panel), and Maddalena and San Michele Arcangelo (on the side panels).