Europe 2007                                           
Page 2

To Homepage I Page 1 l Page 3  l Page 4 l Page 5 l Page 6 l Page 7

Once we're out of Aosta, the beautiful roads once again turn to motorways - or "Autostradas" now that we're in Italy!  The ride down is again long and boring but it gets the miles covered quickly, although navigation around Genoa on the autostrada system is interesting, even the sat nav was getting a headache. The place is HUGE and we never seemed to get any nearer to Aulla - our first destination on normal back roads en route to Piazza al Serchio - the nearest little town to where we're headed. 

Eventually we land at Aulla and settle in for the 30 mile run up the mountains to Piazza al Serchio. The Sat nav has decided to take us off the main road and go for the shortest route over the winding little back roads which is nice......bumpy but nice!  The cottage we are staying at is in a very tiny village called Cortia - so small it's not even on the map, but the adjacent village of Nicciano is, so we head for there and hope for the best. 

The Village of Cortia turns out to be along a dead end road and when we arrive there, the few locals are all sitting around enjoying the late afternoon sun on a bench near the church. This is genuine backwoods Italy - none of the natives here speak anything  like English but are very friendly and seem to want to chat! Unfortunately Wee Jim and me never could get our heads around Italian, so making conversation is carried out using many hand gestures and we're still not sure what the hell was being said!     

Cortia

Nicciano, the nearest village to Cortia

The Cottage

Enter Roberto, the owner of the cottage. He owns a few houses in Cortia and lets them as holiday homes. He speaks very little English and his Wife Giovana speaks none at all, so sorting the paperwork etc. is quite a an involving experience!  He's a very much larger than life character, given to lunching with the people who rent his houses and bursting into Italian opera mid way through the puddin' .  He loves a bit of vino - he owns a few local vinyards and produces his own wine, so he often turns up with a bottle of his produce in hand while we're sitting outside, Not much chance of staying sober here then!

We're here for the next week now so I can  do something I've wanted to do for years - go have a good nosey 'round at Tuscany.  A few years ago I worked as a professional photographer, and although my field was mainly social & commercial work, it's landscape that's always been my passion. I had a book by landscape photographer Charlie Waite, and in it were some superb images he'd taken around Tuscany, ever since seeing them I've promised myself that one day I'd come here and see it for myself.     

The following are all shots taken around the towns and countryside of the 
Garfagnana region of Tuscany over a period of 7 days

Castelnuovo  

Castelnuovo ilterally translated is "Newcastle"  but despite the similarities this one is not to be confused with either "On Tyne" or "Under Lyme" !!

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana to give it it's full name, dates from medieval times as do so many of the
towns and villages of this lovely region of Italy.  Inside the walled town is a labyrinth of narrow streets

Pure sartorial elegance eh?  

Castiglione

A few miles east of Castelnuovo lies the smaller town of Castiglione. Again a walled town  but much smaller. 

The surrounding scenery seen from the town walls is really peaceful and very typically Tuscan

Grotta del Vento 
(The Wind Cave)

I like this story of the caves told to us by our (Scottish!) guide but re-produced here from the caves website. 

"The first reference we have of the Wind Cave dates back to the 17th Century when all that was known about the cave was the presence of the air current which blew out through a narrow crevice.

Directly above this "Buco Soffiante" (Blowing Hole), a hut was built which was used as a refrigerator until the beginning of the second world war. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a group of youths from the valley convinced a four year-old girl to climb into the opening, which was far too narrow for an adult. She did not get very far, only crawling five or six metres before turning back. The others however, curious to see this cave for themselves, widened the opening and succeeded in exploring the first 20 metres of the cave, before they too turned back, having reached a large hall, overcome by fear."

Can you imagine going home and your Mum asking, "What you done today son? "
 "Oh not much Ma, we just lobbed our Beryl down a cave shaft to see how deep it was"   You'd get a slap right? 

Anyway, here are a few photos we took in there.........

Looks like something you'd photograph with an endoscope, but it is inside the cave honest!

Vermiglio

To get to the Grotta del Vento we have to climb a very steep and narrow mountain pass that goes for miles. The very nature and ruggedness of the caves dictates that they be in a pretty inhospitable area.  Wee Jim is a bit worried as I drive high up into the mountain, and heaves a huge sigh of relief when we arrive.  Leaving the caves afterwards we have a choice of going back the same way, or using another pass to return to civilisation. We opted for the other way and starting our descent, we negotiate a sharp bend to be rewarded with this view (below)of the village of Vermiglio nestling in the hills. So, we divert our course and go in to have look around and discover the most tranquil little village imaginable with it's higgledy piggledy houses and narrow streets.  

                                                                                                                                                                    To Homepage I Page 3 l Top