Caffe Avec

A Thousand Butterflies

@brittarnhild

First the Pinocchio Park, then the garden of Villa Garzoni. But still we had more to come. In a corner of the Villa Garzoni garden you find the Butterfly House. With more than a thousand butterflies!

That´s what their webpage says, over a thousand! We never counted. Instead we walked around in the tropical garden, ahhhing, ohing, wowing, smiling and pointing out to each other. Did you see this one? Oh, there is another one more beautiful and look over there.......

Terje has a perfect eye for details, and pointed out to me one hidden butterfly after another.

It is not easy to take pictures with a mouth wide open in awe,

but I tried to take slow breaths, and made it.

   

We were like two love birds, discovering the Garden of Eden.

And time stood still for a while.

 

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You can read more about the Butterfly House here.

 

Storico Giardino Garzoni at the bottom of village Collodi

@brittarnhild

We came for the Pinocchio Park, but soon discovered that the place had more to offer. When we bought our tickets we were asked if we wanted tickets for the park only, or also for the garden. Luckily we said - for the garden, and discovered that at the bottom of the Collodi village was situated Villa Garzoni with its lovely Storico Giardino, historical gardens.

In my last post, about Park Pinocchio, I mention the Collodi village, situated almost like a snake up the hillside. If we stay in that image, the garden is the snake´s head.

Built around 1650, it has a kind of fairy tale feeling, combined with the elegance of these early Italian gardens.

I must confess I prefer English gardens, but these old Italian ones also have their charm.

And in one corner of the garden we found a little gem, look at the picture below and you will see what I mean ;-)

 

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You can read more about the village and the garden here.

 

Meeting Pinocchio in Collodi

@brittarnhild

We were at the beach when I, by chance, picked up an information sheet about the Pinocchio Park. When you travel in Italy you meet this cute, long nosed fellow everywhere, and from time to time I have wondered where actually he comes from. And here I got the answer. The creator of Pinocchio is Carlo Collodi, and his name Collodi comes from a little village not far from Lucca, in Tuscany.

Ha ha, we already were in a village not far from Lucca. On the other side of Lucca though, but still. Of course we had to go to Collodi. I wanted to meet Pinocchio.

We knew nothing about Pinocchio Park before we came. It turned out to be a theme park mostly for children, and filling fast up with school classes. Terje and I walked around, enjoying the atmosphere and the different puppets which were everywhere. I bought the original book, The Adventures of Pinocchio by C. Collodi. The "real" book, not the more romantic Disney tale, and look forward to get to know this little puppet better.

We did not stay very long in the park, but we did not leave Collodi. You see, this little village, which is built like a narrow snake, up the hillside, has other treasures as well. But that´s a tale for my next blog post, and the next one after that :-)

 

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You can read more about the Pinocchio Park here

and The Adventures of Pinocchio here

 

 

A botanical garden with her own legend

@brittarnhild

The beautiful walled town of Lucca is situated less then 20 kms from where we spent our family week. I had read about the botanical garden, and when we drove in to explore the town one afternoon, I left the others for an hour. I couldn´t just pass the garden, could I?

The garden was a small one, and not especially amazing, but still I fell for it. You see, the garden has her own legend. The legend of Lucida Mani.

Here is the information I found:

Lucida Mansi was born in Lucca on March 7th 1606, into one of the richest and most powerful families in the Lucca area: the Saminiati. When she was still very young, she married Vincenzo Diversi, but soon she was widowed and then married the old and rich Gaspare di Nicolao Mansi.
Fully devoted to luxury and to an exciting life, she was adored, courted, and extremely proud of her looks; people said she was even hiding a mirror in her prayerbook.
So time went by thoughtless among parties ands lovers, till one morning, admiring herself in the mirror as usual, she noticed a light wrinkle on her extremely beautiful face. Lucida was desperate and wept bitter tears, till a handsome young man appeared in front of her. He was the Devil. He promised her thirty more years of youth, but after this time he would come back again to get his payment for this privilege: her soul. Lucida accepted with no hesitation, and the bonus years ran without any apparent ageing. But one summer afternoon, at the end of thirty years, the Devil came back to her. Lucinda turned desperate and prayed him to save her soul, but the Devil lugged her on his flaming carriage and, after a full tour on the City Walls to allow Lucca´s inhabitants to hear her harrowing screams, he sank with the chariot into this pond, the wonderful gem of the Botanical Garden.

  

The legend says that, if we dive in the pond, it is possible to see the face of Lucida Mansi sleeping in its depths. Besides, the same legend says that, just before midnight on every October 31st, in an absolute silence, a strong wind arises, a noise of horses´hooves resounds in the air and it is possible to glimpse the burning carriage sinking in the pond, launched in an unbriddled run towards the hell.

A lovely legend, isn´t it :-)

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Lucca is a walled medieval town. Well worth a visit, even without a tour in the garden.

A week with the kids

@brittarnhild

The main reason for our weeks in Italy this summer was me turning 60. As a gift to myself I invited Terje, our four children, a son in law, a daughter in law and a grandson to spend a week with me in Tuscany. A long dream coming true.

We stayed in Massarosa, a small village not far from Pisa. Nine of us, a week which felt like a dream.

And a million memories to keep in my heart for the rest of my life.

The Basilica of St. Francis is Arezzo, and the Legend of the True Cross

@brittarnhild

In Arezzo you find great many churches. One of them The Basilica of St.Frances, where you find the Legen of the True Cross, a series of absolutely stunning frescos which is supposed to tell the story of the wooden cross where Jesus died.

The story starts with Adam, who is ill, and his son Seth who goes to the gates of Paradise to ask for the seed of the tree of knowledge, which he wants to use to restore his father´s health. From here the story unfolds, and bending our neck so that we could look high up on the wall, we could follow the tale.

The image above shows the Queen of Sheba arriving to the bridge built by King Solomon. One of the beams which he has used comes from the tree which grew up from the seed which was planted on Adam´s tomb. When the Queen comes to the bridge she senses that there is something sacred about the wood and foretells its future use as the wood of Christ´s cross.

As always, I am mesmerized by the tale of the annunciation, which comes later out in the fresco series.

As I was standing there, looking up, up, up, one of the guards in the church came over to tell me that I was free to take all the pictures I wanted, as long as I did not use the flash.

YES!

This basilica, these frescos..........I have saved them in my heart.

St. Francis, St. Mary.......two of my heroes.

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Here is the official website of the church.

La Vita è Bella

@brittarnhild

Arezzo, a beautiful town in Tuscany

With its wonderful piazza,

well known by film lovers,

La Vita é Bella
The English Patient

 

San Feliciano, a fishing village in Umbria

@brittarnhild

Lago Trasimeno fascinated us, so after visiting Isola Maggiore we went back to make a drive around the lake. In my mind I had seen quite a lot of small, charming fishing villages we could visit. When we drove we realised they would be hard to find, but in the end we stopped at San Feliciano, which turned out to be a perfect choice for us.

It was siesta time. Perfect for coffee and gelato for us, perfect for playing games for the fishing men.

No doubt that San Feliciano is a fishing village, fishing gear everywhere,

waiting for another morning, a new dawn.

No other tourists as far as we could see, and people let us walk around just as if we belonged.

I couldn´t help wondering what it would be like to buy a house here, and settle in for a few weeks every year.

Tegamaccio, fish soup in a terracotta pot

@brittarnhild

From Cortona you can see lake Trasimero, a lake which is situated not in Tuscany, but in Umbria. The first day we met Frances we told her that we were planning to drive down to the lake. "You know there is a ferry out to Isola Maggiore" was her reply, and both of us knew that Isola Maggiore it had to be.

The day was very hot. We hoped that the lake would give us some fresh air, and it kind of did as long as we were on the ferry, in shade of the burning sun. Not so on the island.

Frances also told us that St. Frances of Assisi had stayed on the island, and we could still visit his church. Very intriguing of course, so we filled our water bottles and started an island hike. "Let us first walk around the island" I said, "then we can do the churches afterwards.

Cicadas filling the burning air,

colourful critters.......

.......and then we came to a dead end. Danger. Look out for slides. And we had to turn, walking back.

By then we were famished,  we walked back to the village and found Ristorane L´Oso. A good choice, a best choice.......if, I mean when I go back to Isola Maggiore, I know where to go to get my food.

We shared a seafood starter. Oh, is all this true? We looked at one another is disbelief before we started to eat, and soon the huge plate was empty, our smiles broader and broader.

But I still had the highlight. A fish soup. Tagamaccio, a traditional fish soup from Umbria, its name from the terracotta pot, tegame, in which it is cooked. A eat fish soup everywhere I travel, and like to believe that I know a little about fish soups by now. And believe me - this one is GOOD!

Food traveling is a great way to travel. To follow the seasons and the local specialties. I love foodtravel books, and a favorite food traveller is Tessa Kiros. Are you familiar with her? No? Then it is time to do something with that. Buy her books, follow her on facebook and on instagram :-)

I posted a photo of the soup on instagram, asking Tessa if she happen to have a recipe. Her answer, which came almost right away, was:
I don´t have that one - others yes, but different regions. Yours sounds amazing. Will look it up.

Another favourite food traveller is Frances Mayes of course. While I was texing Tessa Kiros, several food pictures appeared on her instagram page. While I enjoyed my tegamaccio, she was busy in her Bramasole kitchen, testing recipes for her next book, See you in the Piazza.

 

We never made it to the churches. I have to go back!

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All this food talk, my mouth is watering.
Good thing our  gardenpizzas are just ready.......see you later.

Frances Mayes´blog

 The homepage of Ristorante L´Oso

Flavours and Traditions of Trasimeno

I open the blue book.......and walk into Bramasole garden

@brittarnhild

We had packed our suitcases and checked out from our Bed&Breakfast. But before leaving Cortona we had one more thing to do. Frances Mayes had invited us to come and see her garden. 

 When Terje and I arrived, a small bus was standing outside the gate and a dozen people were walking around, with their cameras. We waited till the bus had left, then walked over to the gate. No bell. No people to be seen. I had read in one of Frances´ books that from her second floor studio she could actually hear people talking from down on the road, so I started to small talk with Terje. Which was quite easy. We were standing in fromt of a wall planted with hundreds of lavendels, at least it looked like hundreds to me, an in all the sweet blue a million butterflies were swarming. How could we not talk about the butterflies.

  

And quite right, Frances heard us, leaned out of her studio window, called down to us to wait and not long after she came down and opened the gate, welcoming us inside.

In the preface of Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances writes: I open the blue book. Writing about this place, our discoveries, wanderings, and daily life, also has been a pleasure. A Chinese poet many centuries ago noticed that to re-create something in words is being alive twice

And not only being alive twice Frances. By writing about it and sharing with your readers from around the world, you have added life to so many people. Life, beauty, excitement, knowledge, dreams.  I am also alive twice through your books, and then, here the dream was unfolding in from of my eyes, walking in the garden of Bramasole, Terje at my side, you in front of us, together with us, pointing, showing, sharing, telling us about a plant here, an olive tree there. Life. I felt I should stop and ask Terje to pinch my arm, but it was no time for that.

Time was for looking into a little hidden reading place, for following your finger when you pointed out the path you walk down to Cortona for your morning coffee, for smelling your favourite rose, carpe diem.

The table on the terrace in front of the house. I have read so much about it, and here it was, a reality, just as I had imagine.

The area outside the kitchen, where so many dinners have taken place. The palette  taken right out of your books. 

Then you took us into the kitchen, where you the day before had been busy trying out new recipes for your next book, See you in the Piazza, which will come next spring, and further on into the hall, the dining room with the frescos of Lago Trasimeno, the living room with deep comfortable chairs, paintings, your little "museum". I took photos, but felt I was inside your privacy and it doesn´t feel right to share them here in the blog.

Everything has an end, or a new beginning, a new dream. Before we left I wanted a photo in front of Ed´s vespa. New dreams.

Then it was time for arrivederci.......new beginnings.

Now I look forward to read your recent book, Women in Sunlight