Category Archives: Gardens

Borgo is ‘My Flower’

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Every April Borgo a Mozzano hosts a lovely flower festival.  On even numbered years it’s the azalea festival and on odd numbered years it’s the ‘my flower festival.’ Although the latter is on a smaller scale than the azalea festival it’s still a very lively and enjoyable event.

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The flower show is also a way of publicising the various towns and villages which make up the comune of Borgo a Mozzano. Here are some of the displays which I liked most, especially those with models of the villages they represented:

Here is Bagni di Lucca’s contribution:

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The forestry department had a poignant display, complete with model water bomber, reminding us of the terrible fire which raged for several days on our hills last month (see https://longoio3.com/2019/04/03/our-forests-on-fire/):

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Local schools had displays illustrating games from by-gone times:

Borgo’s symbol is, of course, the magnificent bridge spanning the Serchio river and built by order of the countess Matilda in the eleventh century.  Here it is represented with flowers:

Here is a selection of further displays. Note the Japanese cherry blossom garden, the real cat among the bunnies, the old agricultural items, the modern technology used in making necci (chestnut pancakes) and much else.

In addition to the street displays there were also art and photographic exhibitions.

The phenomenon of David Bonaventuri and his brilliant photography is on display in its all-defying virtuosity at Borgo a Mozzano’s Library until the 28th of April. The show is titled ‘Beyond Pain’, a reference to the fact that David had to have his left leg amputated in 2012 as a result of a work accident – absolutely not his fault – when a tree  fell on it. This has in no way limited David’s activities as a photographer and explorer of our area. In fact, at 5 pm on April 27th, at the Circolo dei Forestieri, a book on ancient rock engravings in our mountains in which he participated is being presented at the Sala Rosa of Bagni di Lucca’s circolo dei forestieri.

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Meanwhile, here is a taster of the photography exhibition and its opening  ceremony (forgive the inevitable glass reflections).

It’s a real pity that the weather on Saturday wasn’t of the best. Sunday was much worst, however, with dismal downpours most of the day. I was, therefore, glad to visit when I did.

If you want to compare this year’s festival with that of the ones we have visited in previous years you can click on any of my previous posts regarding the event:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/legging-it-in-leghorn/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2015/04/15/blooming-azaleas/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/astounding-azaleas-are-arriving/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/my-flower-is-at-borgo-a-mozzano/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/another-fabulous-borgo-azalea-festival/

https://longoio3.com/2018/04/15/borgo-blooms-again-for-its-azalea-festival/

 

 

A Lovely Visit to Lucca’s Green Walls Garden Festival

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Last Saturday was a perfect day to enjoy Lucca’s Verdemura garden festival. It’s now in its twelfth year and is bigger and better than ever before. I was glad I went on that day as Sunday had rather somewhat dull and drizzly weather.

The hippie axiom ‘make love not war’ is singularly appropriate when dealing with Verdemura as the show is laid on the top of Lucca’s classic defensive walls, now over five hundred years old. Where there were cannons there is, instead, an encampment full of flowers and colour.

Lucca’s walls are the second major example in Europe of walls built according to the principles of modern fortification, taking firepower into consideration,  that have been preserved completely intact in a city. They are two and a half miles long and took from 1504  to  1648 to build. There are eleven bastions or bulwarks. (The walls of Nicosia, Cyprus, hold the record with a length of  three miles, also with eleven bulwarks).

 

The walls were designed as a deterrent and were never taken in anger. They did prove useful, however, when the Serchio flooded and their new ruler, Elisa Bonaparte had to be hoisted over them from a boat. Even today, after heavy rainfall the area encircling the walls tends to be flooded and a temporary moat is created.

The garden festival is centered around the Porta Santa Maria and extends to two bulwarks, Santa Croce and San Donato.

Here is a selection of photos I took of this year’s brilliant show. Were you there?

 

 

It’s Green Walls Time for Lucca Again!

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Lucca’s walls are special because they provide a beautiful tree-lined walk on their wide expanses. As poet D’Annunzio wrote Lucca is:

‘La città dall’arborato cerchio’, (‘the city of the tree-lined circle’.)

Twice a year the walls become even greener because of the garden festivals they host. In Spring the festival is held on the northern part of the walls and is called ‘Verdemura’.

 

The festival started yesterday, Friday, and will continue until this Sunday, 7th April. I visiting it today and I’ve been told it’s bigger and better than ever before.

There are more than 200 Italian and foreign exhibitors: from garden centres thousands of different  horticultural species, shrubs, bulbs, tools and garden furniture for both flower and vegetable gardens, handicraft products and excellent food, all in the wonderful setting of the walls of Lucca.

In addition, there are talks and demonstration on all aspects of gardening.

Opening time is 9.30am  to 7 pm.

Weather-wise it should keep fine. After two days of storms bringing much-needed rain to a parched earth things should be really sprouting out now.

I’ve written several posts on Lucca’s garden festivals. Here are some of them if you want to read further and see more photographs.

Lucca’s Green Walls

Green Fingers on Green Walls

Incidentally, I don’t have to go to Lucca to see staggeringly lovely flowers. At a friend’s house in Lucca I came across these green-fingered specimens:

 

PS Lucca’s walls are the ones to go for….not the Mexican variety!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Looking for the Tuscan House of your Dreams?

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Recently we visited a friend’s particularly beautiful property situated by the Apennines between Barga and Coreglia Antelminelli. It has a plot size of 80,000 square metres, five bedrooms with five bathrooms, 100 square metres of parking space and heating which ranges from wood, photovoltaic, solar and GPL

This property is in effect, three houses for the price of one. It’s in immaculate condition and it’s for sale at an asking price which wouldn’t even buy you an undistinguished semi-detached in not a very good condition in an ordinary London borough in zone 4.

It has been a hard decision for the owner to arrive at, especially since so much love and work has been expended on ‘Grifoglia’ – the name of the house suggesting ‘quadrifoglio’, or four leafed clover, which traditionally brings luck and also has an Irish connection.

The property is fully described at

http://www.italianpropertygallery.com/property/casa-grifoglia/

And one can also read trip-advisor notices about staying at Grifoglia at

https://www.tripadvisor.it/ShowUserReviews-g654703-d296303-r47626030-Grifoglia-Barga_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html

There’s a nice video of Grifoglia at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBSMPDvS09g

And, of course, a facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/grifoglia/

Do also look at the blogspot at

http://grifoglia.blogspot.com/

During our visit we were able to collect some magnificently sized quinces useful for making jelly. (Quince in Italian is ‘mela cotogna’ and the tree bearing the fruit is called ‘cotogno’.)

The house, which comes with a swimming pool, would be most suitable for agriturismo or farmhouse holidays and would be particularly attractive for those persons with a strong ecological leaning.

Mentioning quinces here is our favourite recipe for making quince crumble cake:

Ingredients

For the quince puree

  • 1kg quinces, cored and roughly chopped
  • 175g caster sugar
  • zest and juice ½ lemon
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp cornflour

For the pastry

  • 140g butter, diced
  • 200g plain flour
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 75g caster sugar
  • zest 1 lemon
  • 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk

For the crumble topping

  • 100g plain flour
  • 75g rolled oats
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 140g butter, diced

Method

  1. To make the quince purée, put the quinces into a large pan with 350 ml water. Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hr or until the quinces change colour and are pulpy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then whizz with a stick blender until smooth. Pass the quince purée through a sieve into a clean pan and stir in the sugar, lemon zest and juice, and cinnamon. Cook the purée until it is reduced by one-third, then mix the cornflour with a little water and stir into the purée until it’s thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
  2. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour and almonds. Add the sugar and zest, then the egg and the egg yolk. Bring everything together, wrap in cling film and chill for 15 mins.
  3. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to line a 22cm tart tin. Place in the tin, trim the edges of the pastry if required, and chill for 15 mins. Line the pastry with baking parchment and baking beans, then bake blind for 20 mins. Remove the beans and paper, then cook for a further 15 mins until the base is biscuity. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
  4. Increase oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Meanwhile, to make the crumble topping, mix the flour, oats and sugar with a pinch of salt, then rub in the butter until you have an uneven crumbly mix.
  5. To assemble the tart, pour the quince purée into the tart shell so it comes just below the top, sprinkle over the crumble topping and cook for 25-30 mins or until the crumble is golden and the quince is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm with cream or custard if you like.

As soon as it’s out of the oven we’ll post our photo of the result here. Meanwhile, here are some pictures we took of this astoundingly charming Grifoglia:

 

 

 

Florence’s Secret Grotto Treasure

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Since ancient times caves and grottoes have been associated with spirits and divinities. For example, the Cumaean Sybil, who could foretell the future, had her own cave which was rediscovered as recently as 1932.

The advent of Christianity did not destroy this supernatural association for the apparition of the Madonna of Lourdes took place in a cave; and in Roman Catholic shrines throughout the world her statue is embraced by a grotto or artificial cave.

In the Italian sixteenth century artificial grottoes became increasingly important elements of garden design. In Florence there are two well-known examples by Buontalenti in the Boboli gardens and the fashion spread to such villas as those at Pratolino and Castello. I have written a post about a charming grotto called the spring of Fata Morgana in the hills to the south of Florence. You can read about it at https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/the-enchantress-well/

The grottoes are usually decorated with shells, curiously shaped stones, semi-precious gems, mosaics and imitation stalagtites. They contain a source of water which plays into pools and basins, the traditional haunt of naiads and nymphs (hence the word ‘nymphaeum’ to describe such features).

In the hot italian summer the grotto provided a welcome source of coolness and was even used for bathing but the fashion also spread to colder countries including Russia, France and England.

Alexander Pope was particularly enamoured of the grotto he created for his riverside villa at Twickenham and wrote ‘my grotto is finished with shells interspersed with pieces of looking glass: a thousand pointed rays glitter and are reflected over the place.’

It was an exciting discovery when I located perhaps one of the most beautiful grottoes in Italy in an unassuming Florence suburb. Originally a feature in a much larger park, now reduced by new buildings, the grotta del Bandino achieved its present form in the mid-eighteenth century and was designed and decorated by Giuseppe Menabuoi, famous for his engravings, Giuseppe Giovanozzi, sculptor, and Gaspero Pulcinelli, who arranged its shell features.

Built with materials including pottery, glass, shells and rocks the grotta is approached through the original gateway of the Bandino villa, half of which is now used as a public library. I was quite stunned with my entrance into this fantastique and equally grotesque artificial cave. Three arches framed an interior encrusted with shells and weird figures. Before me extended a basin, once filled with water, and an ocular window bathed the grotto with a warm autumnal light. Above me the ceiling was painted with several birds flying above a bosky landscape.

My guide told me he was equally stunned when he first entered this faery-like place and fell in love with the grotto. Indeed, he has helped to organise chamber music concerts there and commented on its perfect acoustics.

It is fortunate that the grotta del Bandino has been preserved amid the encroaching Florentine suburbs and been restored to its original glory at the turn of this millennium, transforming its former ‘grotty’ state into a worthy haunt of sylphs, naiads and fine music making.

Suspense in Val di Lima…

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Recently I was asked by friends for suitable places and activities for their three year old grandchild’s forthcoming visit.

Of course, the big event in our area for children of all ages is the ‘paese dei balocchi’, running on the week-end from 22 to 23 of this month, in which Bagni di Lucca gets transformed into a giant toytown for children of all ages, with treasure hunts, the fairy’s parlour, face painting, street bands and theatre, the invisible man and so forth.

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Unfortunately, the little one was unable to attend Toyland, and so I settled on the standard list of Collodi’s Pinocchio Park, Pistoia zoo, the playground at Villa and, generally, just enjoying the special natural ambience of our area.

One place was mentioned and the other day I checked out the suitability of taking a three year old across one of the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridges. (The longest, incidentally, is the 494 metre Charles Kuonen bridge opened in Switzerland in 2017).

The ‘ponte sospeso delle ferriere’ (suspension bridge of the iron foundries) is a pedestrian walkway that connects the two sides of the Lima torrent between Mammiano Basso and Popiglio in the municipality of San Marcello Piteglio.

It rests on four steel cables and measures 227 metres in length, 36 meters maximum height above the river bed and and is 80 cm wide. In 1990 it was included in the Guinness Book of Records as “the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world”. That is, until the Swiss got in on the act…

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Inaugurated in June 1923, the bridge was built following the design of ​​Vincenzo Douglas Scotti, Count of San Giorgio della Scala, and director of the Mammiano Basso steel mill. It allowed worker from Popiglio, on the other side of the Lima valley, to get the factories without having to walk a further five miles to reach the workplace.

Count Vincenzo Douglas Scotti (of Scottish ancestry) commissioned Filiberto Ducceschi, who was responsible for the construction of the cables, while the masonry and support work were entrusted to Cesare Vannucci.

Work began in 1920 with the help of some thirty workers, who anchored the cables. At this point it was possible to create a pedestrian walkway, consisting of planks and metal nets hinged to the supporting structure, which connected the two opposite banks of the Lima river without any intermediate support.

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However, after the mills closed down the bridge took on a new function as a thrilling tourist attraction. It has undergone important maintenance and consolidation over the years, the latest being in 2004, which have made the bridge more stable and resistant through the complete replacement of cables, side bolts, walkways and protections, with stronger and lighter material.

Spectacular LED Bridge lighting was inaugurated in 2014.

My approach to the bridge was enhanced by an elegantly laid garden path:

 

The bridge did sway a bit but I think this was due more to a group of excited young children than any climatological condition!

As for the bridge’s suitability for three year olds: no problem. The youngest traverser of the bridge we met was just two and a half years old!

 

 

I Giardini Lungo il Tamigi

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I giardini del lungofiume, che si trovano sulla sponda nord del Tamigi nel centro di Londra, offrono un oasi di pace per gli impiegati che lavorano attorno.

Ci sono attività e concerti durante l’estate.

dscn1421_1-190291637.jpgIl ‘Thames embankment gardens’ furono aperti nel 1870 nello spazio creato dalla costruzione di un muro che non solo poteva proteggere la città dalle inondazioni ma poteva dare spazio ad una nuova fogna e sconfiggere le epidemie di colera che si manifestavano nella città. L’architetto e l’ingegnere di quest’opera fu Joseph Bazalgette.
Si può vedere dove era la sponda originale del fiume in questo portone, detto il York Water Gate, che dava sbocco per l’atterraggio delle chiatte al Palazzo del Duca di Buckingham, George Villiers.

 

I giardini sono molto ben curati con una bella varietà di fiori e piante.

 

Sono anche un veritabile salotto per i grandi ed i buoni.

Ecco la statua al grande poeta scozzese Bobbie Burns.

 

Qui si trova il monumento dedicato a quelli che hanno combattuto nel medio Oriente durante la prima guerra. Pensai subito a Lawrence of Arabia.

 

Tra le statue c’è una, dello scultore gallese Sir William Goscombe (1903), che ricorda il grande compositore Sir Arthur Sullivan, famoso per le sue operette, tra le quali il ‘Mikado’, che dette ispirazione a Giacomo Puccini per la sua ‘Madama Butterfly’.

Lo sguardo di Sullivan si dirige verso il Savoy Theatre dove ebbe i suoi grandi successi.

Quale uomo non serba segretamente nel cuore il desiderio di essere compianto da una muse così bella?

 

Per me questa donna rimane tra le più attraenti e sensuali di tutte – eccetto, si capisce, mia moglie!

 

Lo sguardo retto,

mentre ai suoi piedi

piange una dea.

In Florence’s Iris Garden

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Since the 12th century the symbol of Florence has been a red lily.

Actually it is not a lily at all but an iris: the florentina (blue veined white) and germanica (dark purple) in particular.

Walk through the countryside in Tuscany between April and May and you’ll see these beautiful flowers grow wild.

Florentines call this type of iris ‘giaggiolo’ and we have been lucky enough this May to have walked through the iris garden which is on the left-hand side of the city’s piazzale Michelangelo.

The garden was founded in 1954 by keen women horticulturalists and every year there’s a competition for new hybrid varieties.

Let these photos taken just after a heavy rainfall show the infinite variety (over 1500!) of Florence’s proud symbol.

 

Apart from the iris garden there’s a rose garden on the right side of the piazzale where delightful varieties begin to bloom starting this May.

 

But try to see the iris garden before 20th May when it closes. It’s open daily from 10 to 19.00 at weekends and from 10 to 13.00 and 15.00 to 19.00 from Monday to Friday and it’s free, though donations are welcome, and there is an entrance stall selling iris derived products including deliciously scented soap.

The view from the piazzale itself is magnificently complementary to the garden of Florence’s much loved giaggiolo iris.dscn0451219384782.jpg

 

 

 

 

Lucca’s Saint Zita Converts Flour to Flowers

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What better idea to have a flower fair than on Saint Zita’s anniversary! Saint Zita is Lucca’s patroness saint and yesterday we spent a colourful afternoon in and around the city’s amphitheatre square – yes, it used to be Lucca’s former amphitheatre and that’s why it’s oval in shape – admiring the flowers and replacing those of our plants (including our kumquat) which had become martyrs to the dismal sun-less, rain-sodden winter-spring we’d experienced here until the other week.

In the great basilica of San Frediano the saint’s body had been hauled out of her side-chapel and placed on display in the main nave. St Zita’s followers bought some white flowers from a desk to the right, touching them against the glass containing her naturally mummified body and a verger gave us a commemorative immaginetta.

Santa Zita, patron saint of that increasingly rare species, the domestic servant (and, perhaps more usefully for most of us to be invoked for help in finding lost keys, thus avoiding that boring dialogue: “You’ve got the car keys”. “No, I haven’t!” “Yes you have.”  etc.) was a poor peasant girl born near Monsagrato (where there is a chapel dedicated to her, visited a few years back when it was being painstakingly restored) who was taken into employment by a rich family as a scullery maid? Through plain hard work she became principal housekeeper (St Zita believed that a hard graft rather than prayer was the way to produce results – which I would certainly not disagree with!) She was generous to the poor and needy and on one occasion was accused of having stolen bread to give to them. Zita was strip-searched but instead of the stolen goods they found beautiful flowers in her apron pockets (hence the appositeness of having that market fair on her day).

(Several photos by grateful acknowledgment to Alexandra)

 

Saint Zita’s flower market has been extended for two more days to create a ‘Ponte’ or bridge to Italy’s next big national Holiday, May 1st where the main street of Fornaci di Barga will be pedestrianized and blossoming with more flowers. The lovely weather we’re experiencing now must be a welcome reward for all those overcast and gloomy weeks we’ve had to endure….

So today and tomorrow you can still enjoy St Zita’s transformation of flour in flowers apart from having your first really welcome ice-cream of this glorious season!

******

PS There are BIG happenings in Bagni di Lucca too. The schools and colleges theatre season opens with the biggest array of events ever – over ninety  in just five weeks plus a great venue in Villa Ada where a marquee has been set up for all sorts of exciting events including circus, acrobatics, music and lots more. Who wants to be anywhere else in the world now that spring is here!

 

Borgo Blooms Again for its Azalea Festival

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Borgo a Mozzano’s azalea festival has achieved great fame and I have described it in various previous posts including those at:

https://longoio.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/legging-it-in-leghorn/

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/another-fabulous-borgo-azalea-festival/

It’s a biennial festival (i.e. it happens every two years) but that did not stop Borgo celebrating flowers last year in its May flower festival which I’ve also described at

https://longoio2.wordpress.com/2017/05/21/my-flower-is-at-borgo-a-mozzano/

Yesterday was a gloriously sunny day with some of the warmest temperatures we’ve had this year and the Azalea festival was definitely the place to be. The imagination of Borgo’s inhabitants in transforming their ancient high street into a panoply of colour, music, exhibitions and much else with often the most limited resources is remarkable. Everyone joins in from the local schools to the shop-keepers and the commune to make it a great day out.

The entrance to the (free) azalea festival was marked by this burnt out fifties Fiat 1400 with the heading ‘my guardian angel’ on it. I thought of our near miss from being dispatched to the next world in our cinquina last year and felt that we too had a guardian angel watching over us.

There was a fine bonsai exhibition:

 

Artist and art teacher Simonetta Cassai presented an illustrated book project she’d carried out with nursery and primary school pupils. Because of the dismal weather we’d been having Simonetta explained how colours used can truly help children through often dark times. Red and yellow, in particular, can bring joy and happiness – and blue can calm one down..

 

Regarding colours in painting and flowers I found this a particularly witty street display:

 

Students from the Barga catering and hospitality college (Alberghiera) demonstrated some delicious cocktails using chestnuts, wild herbs and flowers.

 

There were fine art and photo exhibitions:

 

Animals  of various shapes and sizes appeared:

 

There was the inventive use of QR codes to point to Annalisa’s class project plus, of course, her special handicraft stall:

 

Music was provided by an excellent folk band called I briganti (brigands) from Partigliano:

There was a nostalgic evocation of an old school room from 1948 (does that date ring bells with some?) complete with original exercise books and a cane.

 

There were great assortments of azaleas and other flowers from the surrounding nurseries:

 

… and so much more to make for a most enjoyably sunny day out.

 

If you weren’t there yesterday I hope you can make it today although clouds seem to menace us with more rain (but without which the azaleas wouldn’t flourish!)