6th June 2000 Collodi (Pinochio Park)
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Collodi,
Italy
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Tuesday 6th June 2000
We decided to limit the day to a drive to Collodi and the Pinochio park. At the bottom of the mountain, we discovered that they were still asphalting. A truck driver was lying back in his cabin listening to the radio. He told Ches that he was stuck there till 2.00 when they expected to finish. Not us. We turned around and drove back to the top of the mountain, and then the longer way down to Pescia. Collodi is just the other side of the ridge from Pescia, only another 10 minutes on. It was just as I had anticipated. The old medieval village spills two thirds of the way down the mountain side, with the Villa at its bottom. At the very bottom of the mountain is the sprawl of newer residential areas, shops, factories, and the Parco di Pinochio. Carlo Lorenzo (1826-90) was a regular visitor to the castle where his uncle was the factor, and when he published the Adventures of Pinochio, he did so under the name of Carlo Collodi. We didn't visit the Villa, because we couldn't see anything to indicate that the gardens have been restored. I thought it was great to look at fro a distance but wasn't optimistic that it would be worth visiting.. Since then, we have read that the gardens in the Castello Garzoni have been restored and are regarded as one of the finest late Italian gardens, and the similarly an EEC grant has been spent on restoring the villas gardens. We will now return next week.
At the Parco di Pinochio, we filmed a video for Luke. The long suppressed "ham" emerged in Ches, but she requires a much stronger director than I. Unfortunately ,toward the end there is a maze, and with Ches's reputation as a navigator, and her innate sense of direction, she insisted on leading us through. We did emerge. We also happened upon a puppet show. Pinochio did feature, but we aren't too sure how. Most of the Italian dialogue consisted of shouting, crying and farting. We figure that only violence has a role in children's entertainment. Apart from the violence of this puppetry, half the cute animal sculptures in the park (all bronze 50's early 60's style) are carrying guns and an assortment of weapons, plus four mice were carrying a coffin. We entered into the spirit of things for Luke, with Cheryl being eaten by a giant clam. Bought the obligatory Pinochio wooden puppets.
On the way home we stopped for the odd supplies to make lunch and dinner, and at Pescia had gelato overlooking the Pescia River. As we drove home, a car pushed its nose out into the traffic from a side street. They just nudge forward as each car passes, narrowing the gap between them and the traffic coming towards you. They work on the principle that sooner or latter someone will think twice about fitting through the gap and stop. At which point they dive out into the traffic. I don't play the game and actually accelerate into the gap (like all the real Italian drivers do) As this guy was nudging out and I was accelerating into the gap, Ches leans out the window and wags her finger at him. Laugh? I almost had an accident. Back home, I discovered the cream I had bought was in fact UHT skim milk. Absolutely useless. Mary loves pasta, but because of Julian's diabetes, rarely cooks it anymore. She had explained that because of the heat and various other factors, Italy doesn't produce cream (Do you thing they use all their milk for cheese of one type or another???). The best you can do is buy imported cartons of cooking cream. This is what I had planned to use. Revised plans. I chopped up the asparagus stems, and mint, oregano, parsley and basil, lightly sauteed, added a splash of milk (rather than cover with cream) and simmered for a little while. When the pasta was ready, tossed into its pan the asparagus tips, drained and mixed with the other asparagus and herbs. That's it. Gave Mary a bowl. Spent the remainder of the afternoon reading under the grape arbour, looking out over the valley. Mary joined us for an evening drink, and brought me a bowl of figs. Dried figs, split at the top and stuffed with a walnut then marinated in Vin Santo, a raisin based liqueur. Yum. For dinner, I sauteed some baby octopus with garlic and onion, covered it with white wine and over high heat evaporated it. Then covered with tomatoes and simmered for 45 minutes. Fantastic. The only problem is that the tomatoes are so rich and flavourful, that when they are reduced, they have the strength of tomato paste. Really strong. And so to bed around midnight.
