Some Castles

The Castles

Toppole

Pianetolle

Galbino

Verazzano

We visited four nearby “castles,” this week. The word is in parenthesis because of the 4, only two have the looks of a castle; the others are remnants of a onetime defense against marauding forces. The two that remain are in private hands. One is a home and the other, Galbino, is a super-luxury villa with 21 beds, four towers, swimming pool, beautiful grounds and gardens. The woman we met at this villa said that a “group of Americans were there for two weeks and were now gone.” The owners, four brothers, she said, were arriving with their families because there were no other guests until August. 

Original Wall of the castle in Toppole

The Alcove of the church in Toppole

The inside of the same Alcove in Toppole

The four castles visited were: Toppele, Pianettole, Verazzano, (all 11th Century structures) and Galbino, which is a 16th century building. By the way, if anyone is interested in renting the castle it rents for 4800 to 8800 Euro per week, depending on the season – if you can get 9 adaptable and agreeable couples, it would be a steal at less than 1000 euros per week.

Walls at Pienetolle

The other two castles, only parts of walls remain. The most notable one was the Verazzano castle, which is named for Giovanni Verazzano, an Italian explorer whose name is also attached to the Verazzano Narrows Bridge in NY. The drive to these two castles was along steep, narrow dirt and stone roads, which caused some panic in the back seat as the car struggled to get to the top of one of the hills.

Galbino Castle - The tower is the stairwell

Galbino - a luxury villa

At the Toppole castle, there’s a small community of 10 houses some of which were created using the original 11th Century wall of the old castle. A local resident came out to greet us. His name was Angelo. Angelo and his wife, Vera, live in Anghiari, but use their home in Toppole for weekends. Angelo gave us the tour of the area and also of the church, which was reconstructed by the local diocese. Part of the wall, an curved alcove, was perhaps an original, albeit re-constructed in recent years. The paths were steep; we parked the car at the top, but before doing so, my wife got out, not wanting to roll back into an abyss. Angelo commented that the little town was like a miniature United Nations; there was a Brit, Dutch, Romanian and German all of whom own a small bungalow. There was plenty of wood piled along the road for those chilly evenings and/or mornings.

Small Church in Verazzano

Another view of the Church with one of its flock

The main road leading into Verazzano

I'm sure there are numerous anecdotes about these castles, the lives of those who lived in them and how they interacted with the rest of the inhabitants, but without further research, the local literature has limited information.

Pietralunga

Pietralunga

Another small town visited during our trip to see Montone was this small village high in the Umbrian hills at the end of a windy road that led to a small piazza. The main feature of the city is an 8th century Rocco Longobardo or Longobard (Lombard) Stronghold (or Fort).

Side Bar: The Longobards came into existence as a barbaric group of some 200,000 in the mid-6th Century; their origins are not clear, but could have been a Teutonic or Germanic group. The Longobards followed the Vandals, Goths and Visigoths. Their capital was Pavia, a city south of Milan. By 595 the Lombards controlled two thirds of Italy. Pope Gregory (Gregory the Great) negotiates a peace between the Lombards and Byzantines, but by 752, King Aistulf takes over the Byzantine stronghold of Ravenna. By this time, the existing Pope Gregory appeals for help from the Franks (French). King Pepin invaded Italy and defeated the Lombards in 754.

As the photo shows, the “Fort,” as in many hill-top towns and cities in Italy (and elsewhere), is a fortification against invading forces. None that we have seen, is fully intact, but one can visualize how the defenders kept its vigilance against their enemy. This Fort, today, conveniently houses a Pastry shop.

Another sidebar: Gubbio is a good example where the cavities in the ancient walls were transformed into modern boutiques; it is interesting to see the juxtaposition of the old with the new. The owners have kept the architectural design by maintaining the arches.

While sitting to enjoy a Gelato, we had an opportunity to talk with several of the local residents, in this case, all men, who were born and raised in Pietralunga. There are only a few hundred residents, mostly farmers, but also metal workers. One man, overhearing that we were Americans, spoke up in perfect English to introduce himself. He lived in Australia for 15 years returning a few years ago to resume his life in his home town. Another guessed at my age, I thanked him as he guessed it was 9 years younger than I am. He quickly added that he was 82 and began to explain what he did and had to show me where he lived.

Another sidebar: Throughout our visits to these small towns, as well as in the cities in which we have spent lots of our time, we have found the people, warm, gracious and wanting to engage in conversation. Sadly, at first, they thought we were Brits, which was a normal assumption because there are a number of Brits to visit this part of Tuscany/Umbria. Many Brits, Australians and even some Americans have established residence in many of these small towns. We can understand why: it’s a gorgeous, peaceful and picturesque area of Italy.

Photo is a photo showing the sign on a medieval house and the house.

Photos are street scenes.

Montone

MONTONE is a medieval town squirreled away in the Umbrian hills, we call it a sleeper town because it is one of those towns that if someone does not lead you to it, you’re not likely to find it on your own. It is a town that you must visit. The opening lines of the booklet given to us by a Montonese resident, at the start of our walk into the city, begins this way: “Whenever one mentions Montone it is quite usual to be asked where it is and in many ways the fact that it remains undiscovered is one of the many reasons it is so very special.”

We believe it’s special. It is unspoiled by tourists; its location, is miles from the nearest major roadway and despite the signs that show it exists, there are few people who visit. Our language professor said it was worth visiting. It’s a picturesque town; had we not done so, we would have missed a beautiful part of this great Tuscany/Umbrian adventure. Those who follow us will immediately fall in love with the town and its people. The man, for example, who came out of his home to hand us the beautiful designed and written brochure on the history of Montone, demonstrated by his actions and voice how proud he was to invite guests to his town. Of course, for all we knew, he could have been the mayor. Then there was the man near the historic ruins of a fort who gave us some history of the town. He turned out to be an Albanian who arrived in Montone 15 years ago looking for work, found it and remained, raising a family of three.

An interesting sidebar: Children born to foreigners in Italy are not entitled to Italian citizenship. A child born to a foreigner and an Italian does become an Italian citizen, but is also eligible for dual citizenship. In the 90s, during the disturbances in Kosovo, many Kosovo nationals fled their country and some settled in Italy. About 140 arrived in Anghiari and our Italian language professor was asked to develop a program to teach them Italian and help them integrate into the local society. They did very well in establishing a good relationship with the local Anghiarians and participate in local activities, but they remain Kosovo citizens.

Montone is built on a hill overlooking where the Tiber and Carpina rivers meet. Montone means Aries or the Ram. It’s a small medieval town with a population of about 400, where the majority of residents are involved in farming. As the photos will show the streets are very narrow and also very steep.

The earliest record of Montone goes back to the 10th century. Although under the control of Perugia, Montone had its own constitution and was governed by a group of elders. In the center of town there are the remains of Fortebraccio’s fortress, which Pope Sisto IV had destroyed in 1477, because Braccio, as he’s called here tried to establish an independent state at the time this area was governed by the Vatican as part of the Papal States. Montone’s history is linked to the Fortebracci family which reached its apex in the 15th century under Andrea Fortebracci known as Braccio, one of Italy’s first and best known man of arms. He was a declared enemy of the Pope, but Andrea has a special place in Italian medieval history because of his attempt to create an independent state in central Italy.

As the photos will attempt to show, as we wandered the narrow streets, we got the feeling that nothing has changed in 500 years, except for the cafes and restaurants at various locations – and the occasional car that went by – but the houses have not changed. While they might not have had glass, which was expensive, they likely had some form of shutter.

The town is spotless, the people pleasant.

There is a 13th century prison about the size of small den with a door way about ½ the size of a normal doorway, dirt floor and a small window above the door for light and air. Interestingly, there was a stone cannon ball probably left over from a period when cannons were used, but there was no evidence of any cannon.

If you come to Tuscany, be sure to visit Montone; you won’t be disappointed. Be prepared for the hills.

Pisa - A Pleasant Re-Visit

It was 50 years ago that I last visited Pisa. My memory of what I saw then has no relationship to what I/we saw on our trip on 8 June. What I recall from the earlier visit was a Tower that was closed to the public because of it's constant tilting, albeit fractions of an inch per year, the marble dark with years of neglect and less of a crowd in the Piazza.  I have absolutely no recollection of the Duomo (Cathedral) or the Baptistery alongside the Duomo or the Campo Santo (Cemetery).  I wish I had a photo of that period one half century ago to contrast it to what we saw on this visit. 

The Leaning Tower (Torre Pendente), the Duomo, the Baptistery and the walls of the Campo Santo have gone through years of restoration and cleaning. The marble on each building is now sparkling white and radiates with a brilliance that we certainly appreciated.

The Tower and Duomo go back to the 12 century, construction began in 1173 and it was completed by 1350, but by the end of 1350, the tower was leaning.4 feet 5 inches off true vertical. By 1817, the tower was now leaning 12 feet 6 inches and by 1993, the tower was at 17 feet 5 inches off of a vertical axis. There was a concerted effort some years ago to abate the continued leaning of the tower, but where it stands now was not in any of our literature. Visitors continue to climb the 350 stairs to the top of the tower - at a hefty price of 15euros ($18)                                                                                                                                

This photo gives you a good view of how much the tower has leaned from the vertical axis.

The cathedral is a breathtaking architectural masterpiece. This photo was taken through a window of the of an upper window of the Baptistery. Someone creatively cut a 5 niches square of the metal wires that protect the glass allowing photographers to place their camera lens directly against the glass to get this shot. How convenient and considerate. So, if you happen to be in Pisa, climb the 30-40 stairs to the upper floor of the Baptistery and look for this         

Inside of the Cathedral. Note the Pulpit. Comments follow.

In the early 14th century one of Italy's master carvers, Giovanni Pisano, began what is today one of his major works - the Cathedral Pulpit.  He started in 1302 and finished it in 1311. To put this into perspective, Dante began writing the Divine Comedy in 1302.  Pisa falls to Florence in 1406 and Michelangelo completed David in 1502.

Finally, the Campo Santo, which contains earth from the Holy Land and a number of caved Sarcophagi. It was completed in 1278. There is a Moorish influence in the design of the buildings seen in the inlaid marble, and geometric patterns

These photos are among hundreds taken during our visit, but too many to include here, but they represent the architectural beauty of this city, which remains one of Italy's most important destinations for tourists. We can understand why as you look at the various monuments built more than 700 years ago that continue to enthrall both young and old. It's a unique city and a must for anyone visiting Italy to see. The one drawback that we immediately noticed was the number of stands selling replicas of the Tower or other memorabilia, all with the eye shot of the these famous monuments.

Pienza 5 June 2010

Pienza is about an hour plus drive from the Villa located in the Val d’Orciai. Piensa is situated on a high hill – aren’t they all? West of Montepuliciano and minutes away from Montefollonico, where we had our luncheon feast. (see previous note)

15th Century Cathedral

The Cattedrale dell'Assunta, has paintings by the most renowned Sienese artists of the period. Next door to the cathedral is the family residence Palazzo Piccolomino with a loggia overlooking the Val d' Orcia.

The story is that a young boy by the name of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, who was born in 1405 and grew up in this tiny town when it was called Corsignano, later became a known Humanist scholar and philosopher. Oh, yes, among his other credits, he also became Pope Pius II, thus accounting for the name change from Corsignano to Piensa in his honor. Pope Pius II, who was elected pope in 1458, tried to redesign his birthplace into a model Renaissance town – and he wanted to accomplish this in 3 years; alas his dreams were never completely fulfilled. You see, his architect was a crook and embezzled money, but because the Pope was pleased with the completion of the Cathedral and a couple of other buildings, he forgave the architect instead of boiling him in oil.

Piensa has been designated as part of the "world-wide heritage of humanity by UNESCO.

There is only one main street with shops that highlight the town’s main contribution to Italian life – cheese – and great Pecorino made from sheep’s milk.

The town is truly a Christmas card setting with tiny shops, many of them selling cheese products. There’s a passigiata (walkway) that runs along the upper edge of the city offering a wonderful panorama of the countryside. It you travel to Montepuliciano, we encourage you to spend a few minutes, have a cup of coffee and enjoy the ambiance of this charming town.

 
 
 
 

 
 

Montefollonico

Our trip today took us about 65 kilometers south to a small town called Montefollonico, not far from either Piensa (which we visited) and Montepulciano (which we did not visit). Piensa is quite flat; Montepulciano is more vertical. Montefollonico is a tiny town with a fabulous restaurant - La Chuisa.

As I mentioned in a previous message one of our guests, Michelle, is a professional chef who has spent 15 years in African countries - South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania, where she worked as a chef/owner and instructor. As we witnessed here, she is a passionate, enthusiastic, creative and energetic with the patience of Job who allowed us to "help" her in the kitchen as we watched her slice, chop and stir. We have been the very grateful beneficiaries of her culinary skills. Well, Michelle worked at the La Chuisa restaurant in Montefollonico about 20 years ago. She had just graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Hotel Management and La Chuisa was her first professional assignment. She worked under one of the co-owner's of the restaurant, Dania (if you want to look it up, the link is ristorantelachuisa.it) While talking with Dania's former husband, the other co-owner of the restaurant, Umberto nostalgically remembered this young girl arriving and immediately getting right to work. Umberto said she came with a "joie de vive," full of enthusiasm and a desire to learn. He talked about her first assignment to make desserts. Anyway, we accompanied Michelle with our other guests, Joe, Mike, Marlene and Yoshie to revisit the spot where she worked as a young girl out of college.

The restaurant is located in an isolated small town about 2 kilometers off of the main road that goes to Piensa. One may wonder why someone would develop a business in such a location, but over the years, the restaurant has created an excellent reputation for quality food and service. Many of the clients are tourists who visit Montepulciano and Piensa and stop for lunch or dinner as the main road passes the smaller road that leads to the restaurant. But there are also Italian guests. As some of you know from your history, this part of Italy was always a wealthy area with wine, wool, wheat and olives. The restaurant overlooks part of the Valchiana, an area know for the Chianti wine. As the photos will show, the restaurant is a well-appointed place and delightful in the late spring, summer or fall to sit outside. The building originally served as an olive processing plant. Umberto now makes his own oil from the 1001 olive trees on the property.

I'll leave Piensa for another note, but as all of you know, we love food and the quality of today's food was no exception to the consistently wonderful and tasty meals we have had since arriving a month ago. Yikes! A month has gone by - we don't have enough time to do all that we would like to - and the villa is booked after we leave. We had 8 courses and each was masterfully prepared and served. As mentioned in previous messages, the restaurants use whatever is in season - fresh vegetables, porchini and other mushrooms, fresh cheese products, etc. Today was mushrooms and pasta with a variety of sauces. We know you're not able to savor the meals by looking at the photo, but you do get a picture of the presentation. We can only attest to the taste and wish that each of you could savor each of these dishes.

The first course was Zucchini flowers, a traditional dish here in Tuscany at this time of year (my mom used to make them from the zucchini plants in our garden in New Rochelle). The flowers were stuffed with ricotta cheese and lightly sauteed.

The girls were served theirs with pine nuts;









the men with a light coating of tomato sauce (zugo). See photos 2593 and 2594.

The second course consisted of a crepe with porchini mushrooms and eggs cooked in a in a light cream sauce (perhaps Bechemel). See Photos 2599 and 2600.

Accompanying the crepes were several porchini mushrooms lightly sauteed with a bit of pepper and salt.

The Third course was ravioli stuffed with a mixture of ham and figs and served with a butter sauce and parmesan cheese, perhaps a bit of olive oil. See Photo 2602


The fourth course was Pici, a traditional pasta made simply with water and flour and rolled into long strands (remember the Bringoli from the Anghiari area - very similar), cut, cooked "al dente" and served with a light alio/olio and pepperoncini (red pepper) sauce. See Photo 2603


The fifth course was Papardelle with a tomato sauce (from a can and reduced, cooked for hours then pounded with garlic, possibly some Bechemel cream, parsley, pepperonchi but the taste was deceptive because it appeared that the sauce was cooked with meat, but there was no meat. Sorry, no photo; they were too inviting that with excitement to taste, I forgot to photo.

The sixth course was a Steak Fiorentino - a 3 pound plus- three inch, much like a Porterhouse cooked to perfection on a wood fire. See photo 2606. It served the 7 of us.
 

The seventh course was a variety of desserts. Linda had Pan di Cafe (something between a flan and a mousse) photo 2618; with a cream sauce and coffee beans.

Mike had the Carmel ice cream with figs, drizzled with Carmel, photo 2621;

Marlene had a chocolate cake with a hot chocolate center, with a scoop of Carmel ice cream on the side, photo 2622.

Joe had the Carmel ice cream with strawberries with a Carmel drizzle, Photo 2623;

Michelle had Pane Cotta with a spun sugar veil,photo 2624;

Yoshie had lemon sorbet, photo 2619

and Al had the tiramisu with spun sugar, photo 2625.

Coffee followed.

Along with the various courses, we had 3 bottles of Icario Reserve red wine, a regional wine, and one bottle of spumante (Italian equivalent to French champagne).

The owner, Umberto, gave us each a bottle of his olive oil pressed from his olives.

This meal by far surpasses anything we've had here in Tuscany or Umbria and we have had some spectacular dishes. Each dish today had a distinct taste that lit up the taste buds and, at the same time, produced a sensation that we can only talk or write about, but one has to experience for him/herself when they come to this part of Italy.

This was another day to remember. Too bad our friends Tony and Susan could not be here; their both gourmands and both have a passion for cooking.

The guest of honor: Photo 2633. Michelle on left and Dania, the teacher, chef and co-owner of the restaurant, on right.

Al/Linda