13th June Collodi, the Villa
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
1
48
81
Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Collodi,
Italy
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Another strange day with a mixture of overcast and sunny breaks. Still, even when overcast, the temperature is close to 30's and little humidity. We started the day by giving Luke a call, as we knew Drew would be babysitting. Had a chat to everyone. It seems the major concern is that we might return home early. Fat chance. Homesick for family and friends, but too much still to see and do.
We gave Mary a hand to fertilise the bottom terraces. Seven sacks of fertiliser had to be carried down the terraces. After the overnight rain, the slopes were slippery, so it wasn't easy carrying the sacks down. We were then issued with buckets, about twice the size of regular buckets. A sack would fill three buckets, and each bucket had to be evenly distributed around the base of two olive trees. The idea is to spread it evenly, directly under the follage of the tree. The root system is normally spread out below the ground to the same circumference as the branches. The grass grows at a phenomenal rate in spring. This is then slashed and raked in late spring/early summer, which explains all the burning of grass throughout the valley. Once slashed, the fertiliser can be spread, and because there is next to no rain during summer, the grass doesn't regrow, but dies off in the heat and sun. The little rain we had during the week would be enough to settle the fertliser in. Mary agrees that they would be better off composting the grass, which she is one of the few to do, but 1,000 years of habit is hard to break.
Lunchtime, we made up breadrolls, and headed to Collodi for a picnic lunch in the gardens of Villa Garzoni. Arrived in Collodi only to discover we had left the lunch at home. Initially drove through the side of the lower village looking for a road up into the medieval section of town. The town was built spilling down the side of the mountain, and later, the Villa was built at the bottom of the village, but still several hundred metres up the mountain slope. Several kilometres around the other side of the mountain, we realised there wouldn't be a road up. We returned to the carpark where we had parked when visiting the Pinocchio park. We stopped at a shop and bought a couple of bread rolls, and while they were being heated, the matrone insisted we try her Farfalle with tomatoes, basil and olive oil. There had to be something else in the oil-anchovies maybe??? We set off on foot up the narrow road/path that lead directly toward the Villa, on an incline of about 45 degrees. A hundred metres or so up, we came to the base of the wall. We could see other visitors on a path up in the gardens to our right, but the path lead to the left. Off we went to the left. Another couple of hundred metres brought us around to the back corner of the villa, and the beginning of the village. Things weren't looking encouraging when the path into the village assumed a gradient of around 70 degrees. Ches stayed where she was, and I set off up. I am still amazed at how steep the path was, and yet they hadn't built steps. In sections they had layed rows of cobbles slightly higher than the rest, so that you could keep your footing if you slipped down, say a metre. Every 20 metres or so, the path would turn horizontal for 10m metres, then up another 20 metres, and so on up through the village. I only went up two levels, and when I found a gate onto someones verandah, walked out to look back down at the Villa. I couldn't see it. I returned to Ches, and we retreated to the wall beside the Villa where we had a pleasant view, so we sat beside the wall and had lunch. We headed back down the path to the lower village, and only then saw a sign that directed us to the entrance. It had been there all the time near the bottom carpark. Kind of hidden in that the entrance was through a "cantina" come "cafe". A cantina is where they sell wine. We had a look at the wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and bits and pieces of produce they sell, and then entered the gardens.
Absolutely stunning. We entered via a gateway cut through hedges. Around the inside of these hedges, which were 5 metres high, curved like the seating area of a Greek/Roman theatre, and clipped into various shapes, was a row of benches, plastic outdoor seats and terracotta seats. We sat here to take in the entire garden before us. The bottom level, where we sat, consisted of fairly fine white gravel. Set in it were two large round ponds. One was home to some ducks, the other a good covering of waterlillies in flower. Around both were patterns of curved gardens edged by tiny box hedges (no more than 10 cm high and wide), and filled in with redy/pink gravel. Shrubs were sculpted into various animals. We think some were Otters or Badgers, others Peacocks, and we aren't altogether too sure what else. These gardens were in a very poor state only five years ago, but an EEC grant was given to restore them. We have to assume that the topiary and sculptured shrubs will require another ten years to fully recover. From this bottom level, the garden bed slopes upward, with lawns and garden beds surrounding three stone and glass "crests". The wall behind, leading to the first terrace, has espaliered orange trees, which have recovered faster than the rest of the garden, and were producing a good crop of oranges. The next level was occupied by four huge palm trees, and again espaliered orange trees on the back wall.
These terraces were accessed by a central staircase leading from the bottom level, adorned with statues. Many in Greek/Roman style, but many more made of terracotta. From the third level, two staircases assend to the top of the garden. They flank rectangular ponds, which at present are devioid of anything other than slime and the odd frog.On each side are parallel paths through the "forest". This had become so overgrown that they are restoring it by heavily pruning the very old trees, cultivating some new trees, and intend ultimately to remove all the old trees. The idea is to have the pathways parallel and horizontal across the garden, lined with trees. At the very top of the hillside and at the top of the staircase, is a large pool, surrounded by statues. The entire garden is set out on the hillside beside the Villa. Apparently, when the owner of the villa decided he should have a major garden, the area below the villa was too steep so he went sideways. He linked the garden to the villa with bridges over the deep gully through which a creek flows, and a garden maze. The final path along the side of the villa, to the gate through the wall, defies belief. It is called the path of the poor, and is lined with full size statues of the peasants who worked in the surrounding countryside and village. In the case of an elderly woman, it includes "warts" and all. Why??? At the end of our visit, we just sat down in the bottom garden, looking back up the hill at the garden in its entirity. Suddenly I realised that we were the only ones there. We could look out over the gardens with no tourists climbing all over it. We must have sat there for close to an hour. Eventually we returned to the "cantina" and bought olive oil jugs for Kent and Drew.
We decided to return home via Villano, where we hoped to take photographs from the top of the village, of the entire valley. On the way up the mountain, the mist moved back in, and it was hopelessly hazy. Ches filmed our drive back down the mountain.
Guess what we had for dinner? Our lunch that we had left at home.
http://www.gardenvisit.com/ge/garz.htm
http://www.knowital.com/html/villa_garzoni___parco_di_pinoc.html
http://www.gardenvisit.com/ge/garz.htm
http://www.amateuraffair.com/tour/join.html
