Tuesday 18 November 2014

Impressions of Italy

Say the word “Italy” and the word associations that people commonly think of are pizza, pasta and Tuscany. After our sojourn in Italy our minds think of words like landscapes, architecture and friendly people (as well as the pizza and pasta).

Italy has diverse landscapes and although we visited only a fraction of the country, we saw a variety of scenery as we drove from the snowy peaks from Austria down a long valley into central Italy and then through flat agricultural land in the region of Bologna.  
Entering Italy from the North takes one through the Italian Alps and then a gradual descent to flatter agricultural and industrial areas.

 
 
 
Not for the first time in Europe, we encountered significant haze: we were unable to fully identify the cause - fog, smog, smoke and climatic conditions all seem to contribute
 
 

As a result of ignoring the GPS instructions at Bologna, we finished up driving into Tuscany and the hill country of Umbria via a devious mountain route instead of by the main, direct highway. We had passed through some of these areas in our travels of three years ago, so it felt a little like coming ‘home’.
Scenery we didn't plan on seeing, but thoroughly enjoyed anyway. Autumn leaves continue to delight us and as we have travelled across countries we have seen many different stages and colours of autumn
 
 
 
After a few days in Umbria, we went to the region of rugged coastline known as Cinque Terre located at the top of the ‘leg’ of Italy – a precipitous hillside coastal strip that has been laboriously converted into 2,000 km of tight terraces (for olives and grapevines) using some 100 million stones (estimated – not counted). The site has UNESCO World Heritage site listing, and the effort needed for its construction can be compared to the building of the pyramids or the Great Wall of China.  We timed our arrival in this area to coincide with warm sunny weather, which permitted us to walk along the Cinque Terra path. This path connects five coastal villages which cling to the rocky coast. It was a beautiful walk (or, we should say climb, for it involves going up and down many hundreds of steps) with views of the coastline and terraced hillsides, and pauses to look around the villages with their winding, narrow streets.

 
 
 
 

 
 
Many steps up ... time out for a break .. and down
 
 
 
 
Look! We have short sleeves instead of our usual thick jackets. It was lovely to experience one warm day again

 
  
 
 

 

 
Do you  recognize any of these people?
 
 

 
The sun sets at the end of a beautiful day

Tuscany 's landscape is more undulating than that of Umbria.   The town of Cortona had big attraction to Anne, who has read books by Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun, plus many others). Italy attracts many expatriates who live out their dreams by buying an old house, restoring it and living ‘off the land’ or using it as a holiday home or rooms for tourists.



Cortona's town square (above) and houses (below)


 
 

Undulating Tuscan landscape



Just as diverse as the scenery is the architecture of the different regions.  To walk in the hill towns of Umbria takes one back to medieval times. Each has its own old city wall, complete with towers, gates, churches, convoluted, multi-level pathways and streets, reachable to the tourist only by winding roads that go up and up. One walks back into a time when fortification from enemies was the over-riding consideration when building a city.
 



Ancient stairs, towers, walls and streets: something to see at every turn














 


 




The heights of the towns provide expansive views from city walls










In our time in Umbria we stayed with Giovanna, with whom we had contact last year. It was a delight to meet her and learn from her. Giovanna purchased a dwelling’in what was a ‘ghost village’. She has restored the remains of a roof and derelict walls into a most comfortable home consistent with heritage rules. Her village house is quite remote, reachable only by a very bad road, so bad that we did not take our car on it, but left it parked in the nearby town and either travelled to and fro with Giovanna or walked in and out.
Giovanna's renovated home




 

Sections of the 'ghost village' not restored and in a crumbling state 
 
The hill town of Parrano, just across the valley from Giovanna's house, seen rising through the early mist (above) and in the light of day (below)  November's rainy weather may be seen in the background  of many photos in this posting

 
From Giovanna and her friends, to staff or other clients in restaurants and hotels, we encountered only friendliness and helpfulness.  We enjoyed watching the animated conversations of the Italians, accompanied with much expression and many gestures. 

And yes, the pizza and pasta were excellent!  (along with a delicious fish soup).



 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
We chose to leave northern Italy for France a couple days early because of forecast heavy rain. Just as well! Later news reported torrential rains, flash flooding and loss of life in the areas we'd driven through. 

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