A Lucchese April

April 11, 2022 by Joanne Bartram in #lucca, #springintuscany, Festivals Italy, Garden Festivals Italy, Italian culture, Italian gardens, Italy travel, Living in Italy

April can be a fickle month here in Lucca. After a few warm days in late March, the kind of days that almost trick you into packing away the winter sweaters, April barged in with colder days, wind, cloudy skies, and rain. The rain is much needed after a dry winter, so I won’t complain. And if the saying is true, and April showers really do bring May flowers, then Lucca should have a most colorful May.

This stand of white wisteria was an early bloomer this spring

Despite the early April chill, the days are growing longer, the first leaves have appeared on the trees, and the first blossoms throughout town hold the promise that warm spring weather will soon arrive.

Verde Mura is the perfect place to buy pots of herbs for the garden.

Perhaps the best harbinger of spring is the return, after a two year COVID-related pause, of Lucca’s spring garden festival - the Verde Mura. This wonderful event showcases all things needed to plant and tend a garden. It doesn’t matter if your garden is just a few pots on a terrace, a couple of window boxes, or a large orto (vegetable garden), the Verde Mura has what you need. The festival takes place up on the walls that surround Lucca’s centro storico (historic center) which means that the views are part of the fun.

Local gardeners pull wagons through the many booths, collecting everything from rose bushes to fruit trees to annual flowers and herbs. Need a tractor? Well, Verde Mura has just the one. Same with shovels, clay pots, bug sprays, fertilizer, seeds, and outdoor grills. In addition to these garden necessities, this is the place to find whimsical garden art, herbal products (soaps, teas, spices, syrups), fragrant spices, and a variety of crafts.

It is always fun to see traditional craftsmen at work; I especially love watching the basket weavers and broom makers.

Of course there was food (this is Italy after all). In addition to booths serving coffee and sweets there were plenty of vendors of local meats, cheeses, honey, pasta, and breads - most offering an assaggio (a taste). One booth had mounds of beautiful spring artichokes, bundles of aspargus, pretty Tropea onions and ripe strawberries from the south of Italy.

There was even the cutest little wine truck!

A break in the rain allowed for a slow morning wander through the many booths and displays of plants.

I came home with some herbs which are now happily planted in my window boxes as well as a colorful bouquet of ranunculi for my apartment.

I may have needed a warm coat, a scarf, and a hat against the chill but there was still a hint of spring in the air. I am looking forward to seeing the season unfold.

San Quirico d'Orcia

January 25, 2021 by Judy Giannnettino in #italytravel, #medievalitaly, Churches Italy, Hill Towns Italy, Italian gardens, Italy travel, Tuscany, Val d'Orcia

The small villages in the Val d’Orcia have much in common. They sit on hilltops and look out over rolling hills, olive groves, vineyards, and cypress trees. They are often fortified by city walls, the legacy of ancient conflicts. The street plans are mostly Medieval, often with a single main street and a large main piazza ringed with stone and brick buildings. They are filled with churches large and small.

Classic Val d’Orcia scenes, in the village of San Quirico

And the history! From Etruscan tombs to Roman roads, from Medieval streetscapes to World War II bombs, the history of these villages is rich and fascinating. That they have so much in common, and yet each village has its own unique character, makes a trip through this area especially wonderful. Think of Monticchiello with its Teatro Povero and stone houses, Montalcino with its famed Brunello wine and steep streets, Bagno Vignoni with its thermal pools, and Pienza - the perfect Renaissance city - with its pretty houses and flowers filled window boxes.

San Quirico d’Orcia is yet another of the villages found in the Val d’Orcia. Named after a martyred child saint, it lies between Montalcino and Pienza, situated along the ancient Via Francigena, the pilgrim’s route between Canterbury and Rome. Today, modern pilgrims and adventurous walkers still pass through San Quirico as they follow the ancient path. Other tourists arrive more conventionally by car and stay to enjoy the many things that make this a most pleasant spot.

Most of the wall surrounding the city remains, with 2 gates providing entrance to the historic center of town and several of the former watchtowers still standing (though now repurposed, some into tall and narrow homes). The Porta Cappuccini is the old and most historic gate – a lovely way to enter the town.

The best way to explore San Quirico is to simply wander. A stroll along the main street, Via Dante Alighieri, takes you both along the route of the Via Francigena and past most of the main sights in town. At one end, just inside the city walls, is the Collegiata Church (12th century) with its interesting shape, three very different entrances, and beautiful bell tower.

The Collegiata Church (also known as the church of Santi Quirico e Giulitta)

Further down the street is the church of San Francesco, with its famous terracotta della Robbia madonna (moved here from the Chapel of the Vitaleta) and its combination bell and clock tower. In front of the church is the Piazza della Liberta`. This lively square is the center of town and a hub of activity. It’s a great place to stop for a coffee or a glass of wine and to soak in the atmosphere.

Piazza della Liberta` and the Church of San Francesco

In this square is also the entry to one of San Quirico’s special spaces – the Horti Leonini, a 16th century garden. The centerpiece is a statue of Cosimo III di Medici. All around him is classic Italian garden design.

Stepping back into the Piazza della Liberta`, and continuing down Via Dante Aligheri, are two of my favorite spots. One, is a hidden courtyard which contains an old well and the pilgrim’s refuge the Ospedale della Scala. The other, right on the street, is the small church of Santa Maria Assunta, which is over 1000 years old (but no interior photos allowed!)

The old well in front of the Ospedale della Scala

It’s also fun to wander the small side streets. On my most recent visit, during the height of the olive harvest, I found an active but very old frantoio (olive press) which was still using old stones to grind the olives. The friendly staff invited me inside to watch the process. The smell of the fresh olive oil was delicious!

And on a side street just along the church of San Francesco is the wonderful Trattoria al Vecchio Forno, built on the site of the old town bakery (forno). I’ve eaten here on previous visits and it’s a place that never fails to please. My lunch, a honey drizzled sformatino and a pappa al pomodoro, eaten outside in the garden on a warm fall day, was delicious.

Heading back to Pienza, the Chapel of the Madonna of Vitaleta is visible from the road. It is well worth the detour to stop and visit this tiny chapel, which is one of the most photographed spots in Tuscany. The chapel itself is not usually open, but the surrounding vistas are spectacular.

San Quirico was the last stop on my trip through the Val d’Orcia. There are so many other places left to explore, among them the famous wine towns of Montalcino and Montepulciano (which is just outside the Val d’Orcia) and also the gardens at La Foce.

I guess I’d better start planning a return trip!

Camellias and Tea with a Japanese Flavor in Tuscany

April 15, 2019 by Joanne Bartram in Festivals Italy, Camellia Festival Italy, Lucca, Italian gardens, #italytravel, Tuscany, Italy, Garden Festivals Italy

The camellia (camelia in Italian) is a prized flower in the area of Tuscany around Lucca. So much so that each spring there is an annual camellia festival that takes place in some of the villas in the countryside around Lucca and in the small town of Sant’Andrea di Compito.

I was able to visit Sant”Andrea during the festival in 2018 and was enchanted by the town, the festival, and those lovely flowers.

My memories were so wonderful that I was looking forward to making a return visit this spring.

This year the Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia festival marked its 30th anniversary with a special celebration that combined the beauty of the flowers (scientific name Camellia Japonica) with an exhibit reflecting the Japanese culture from which the flowers get their name and from where they were originally imported to Italy.

Ribbon cutting ceremony to open the exhibit at the Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia festival, 2019

The focus of the Japanese exhibit was on tea - growing, processing, and serving. The connection with tea is that a species of camellia (scientific name Camellia Sinensis) provides the leaves used in making tea. Along with the many beautiful flowering camillias, there is also a garden in Sant’Andrea where the tea plants are grown.

Tea plants are raised in the Antica Chiusa Borrini, a large walled garden in Sant’Andrea di Compito.

The Japanese exhibit included a demonstration of the antique method of processing tea leaves by hand - a labor-intensive process that involves kneading the fresh green leaves over a heated surface to elongate and dry the leaves. The process takes five hours.

Processing the newly harvested tea leaves the old-fashioned way - kneading over a cloth-covered surface heated from below

There were also tea tastings (delicious!) and displays of Japanese tea accoutrements including tea pots, whisks, and cups, as well as a market selling a variety of Japanese items.

Of course there was also the traditional annual display of camellia blossoms, a plant market, and artisan stands. After visiting the market we strolled through town, admiring the beautiful houses, villas, stone walls and gardens - with the camellia as the star among flowering forsythia bushes, fruit trees, and wildflowers.

The entrance to the garden of Villa Borrina

I enjoyed finding this unexpected bit of Japan in Tuscany and learning the history of the camellias, both their visual beauty and their flavorful use in tea. Italy is full of delightful surprises. -post by JMB

Sant’Andrea di Compito on a lovely early spring afternoon

Signs of Spring in Lucca

April 30, 2018 by Joanne Bartram in Italian gardens, Italy travel, Tuscany, Italy, Lucca

Tiny yellow buttercups grow along the wall in Lucca, beautiful against a view of distant hills.

I’ve been waiting, not very patiently, for spring to arrive in Lucca.

Winter and early spring were unusually cold and rainy this year and the little hints of spring that showed up in early April were fleeting - the tease of just one warm day followed by several days of clouds, rain, and cool temperatures. The trees along the wall remained stubbornly bare, lemon trees remained in the limonaia, and vines were stark without even a hint of new growth.

I began to doubt that the sun would ever come to stay, that trees would sprout leaves, or that flowers would bloom. Flora (the Italian goddess of flowers and spring) seemed to have deserted me.

Today, I can happily say that the wait is over. Temperatures have soared during the past few days, changing from hat and glove weather to short sleeve and sandals weather in a flash. As I write this in late April, temperatures have hit the low 80s, not one day of rain is in the forecast all week, and i fiori (the flowers) have arrived. Sono contenta! (I'm happy!)

The trees along le mura (the city walls) are now green with leaves, tiny yellow buttercups bloom along the walls, and the sycamores in Piazza Grande (also called Piazza Napoleone) provide a beautiful green canopy around the square and the now-busy carousel.

This week I visited my favorite garden (on the grounds of Palazzo Pfanner) and found that the lemon and orange trees had been moved out from their winter home in the limonaia and were full of fruit. Showy peonies were blooming as was a magnolia tree and several bushes. Can roses and hydrangeas be far behind? How I hope they bloom before I head home to the U.S. in a few weeks.

The most dramatic and lovely proof that spring has truly arrived comes in the form of the glicine (wisteria) that have bloomed throughout Lucca. They spill over walls and terraces and across arbors with their soft colors and long flower heads. For me, it isn’t spring until the wisteria bloom.

I noticed the first wisteria blossoms along the wall that encircles the historic city. I then spent an afternoon wandering through town to the spots where I remembered the most stunning displays of wisteria from past years. While a few had not yet bloomed, several of my favorites, in Piazza Parigi and Piazza Antelminelli (pictured below), were just as beautiful as I recalled.

Italy in spring, Italy in flower - Bellissima! -post by JMB