9th July 2000 Campi and Radda
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2000
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72
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Trip End
Aug 09, 2000
Campi and Radda, Italy
Friday, June 27, 2003
A loverly sunny day, but cooler. I walked in to the village to meet with Jurgen, who was to recomend routes from northern Italy back to Paris. I sat in the Piazza, next to the well, and soaked up the sun. The piazza is fairly small, but very pretty. Monica later explained that the owner of the Castle, when he bought it and renovated it to create a hotel, paid for the piazza to be paved in bricks, and to have the walls of all the houses that front onto the piazza, stripped of their cement render, and the stonework repaired. With new shutters and a coat of paint where necessary, the piazza is pristine. They also now park their cars in other side streets, to keep the piazza open, and create a better atmosphere. It has only been completed over the past two years.
Monica took me in and introduced us to the owner (originally from Milan). He must have spent squillions on the renovation. He said that the floors had to be completely replaced, as they were falling in. The last renovation had been at the beginning of the 1900's. All the beams had painted geometric patterns on the bottom, frescoes on the walls, an amazing art collection, and display cabinets packed with Greek and Roman pottery and bronze pottery and statues. The library was full of antique books, and a glass display cabinet in the middle of the room with old scrolls etc. No wonder they charge L500, 000 a night.
Jurgen arrived toward the end of our tour, and we went out to the well, and laid out the maps. Within half an hour he had re-organised our return trip. We will now drive north from Lake Orta, to the top of the Swiss Alps, where we will take a series of cable cars and chair lifts to the lookout that has views of the Glacier, and hopefully on a clear day far enough west to the Mattahorn. We will drive on to Lake Lucerne, via either a really scenic pass or a train tunnel, for our first night. Next day to Strasbourg for the night, and finally on to Laon, about an hours north of Paris for our last night.
We set out at mid-day for Campi, which is at the southeastern end of Chianti propper. By this I mean that, Monti Benichi and the immediate area, are certified as official producers of Chianti wines. They are not however, within Chianti. They are also outside of the Commune, being part of Arezzo Commune. In fact, Monti Benici is separated from Chianti by a significant valley that runs north to south, and in order to drive to Campi, which is only 5 km directly west as the crow flies, we have to drive 20 km. via Castelenuovo Beraradenga. Campi run Sunday lunches and dinners during July and August. They raise money for their sporting association by setting up a tent and bamboo screened kitchen in a little park on the top of the mountain at Campi. Actually, it is the people of San Gusme (a nearby town) who organise it, and from what we can see, Campi is now little more than a few delapidated farm buildings just below the crown of the mountain. The picnic grounds have the remnants of a tower in the middle (inside which they had installed an espresso machine -Cafe size), and are completely surrounded by a single line of pine trees. They had set up tressle tables and benches, in long rows. The views from the picnic area is in all directions, but the most spectacular has to be looking to the west, with Siena 20 km to th south west, and half of Chianti to the west and north.
We bought our lunch. Ches had Zuppa di Fagioli (Cannelini Bean Soup) and BBQ'd Pork Ribs, and I had Pasta Pomodoro and Bistecca di Vitello (a Veal T-bone). Bottle of local red and mineral water. Shortly after sitting at the table, two young blokes sat down and introduced themselves, Massimo (Max) and David. When Massimo discovered we were from Australia, he was beside himself. He was wearing a medallion around his neck; The Bondi Surf Club. He had spent three months at Bondi a couple of years ago, when in Australia on a long trip that took him from the Daintree to Albany. He had seen more of Australia than most Australians. He is a chef, currently working at Castel in Vino, a wine estate just below Campi. It is one of the best restaurants in Chianti-not cheap. He insists we have to come for dinner one evening when the moon is full. That is when you can see Chianti by moonlight, and Siena all lit up. We exchanged phone numbers for e-mail addresses, and then we headed off into the hills. A wonderful drive along the lower hills and mountains of the Chianti Mountains to Radda. Passed by or through Fietri and Linari, over Mt. Calvo which appeared to have a really busy Trattoria in the middle of the forest on top, down through Castagnoli, Gaiole in Chianti, up to Barbischio, which is a very pretty town half way up the mountain, and back down again, and then approached Radda from the south-east. Approaching Radda, we passed a vast white Villa, in the middle of a vinyard, half way up a mountain, and can't seem to identify it in any of the guides. It was particularly unusual in that it was both vast in size and didn't look like any of the other villas we have seen in Italy. High in the middle and sweeping down to each of the sides, with a huge central verandah at the top of staircases on either side. Possibly 19th century.
We parked out side the main town gate, and walked up through town. The main street is probably only 400 metres from one end of town to the other, with the Piazza in the middle. As it was both a Sunday, and mid-afternoon, everything was closed. Everything. We walked through the main street, back around the outside of the town walls on the eastern side, with views of the vinyards and mountains, and back to the park out front of the main gates. We bought a gelato and sat in this wonderfully shady park to eat it and have a read. Many of the locals were out for a stroll and a chat in the park. Being in desperate need of a sleep, we returned to the car and had a nap.
Around 7.30 we took another stroll around the town, this time spending more time looking out over the vinyards to the south and west. By 8.00 we took a seat in the Piazza and listened to the orchestra rehearse for the evening concert. We read our books, and enjoyed the informality of the rehearsal. Unfortunately, it was a better experience than the concert itself. The orchestra was from Florence, with guest pianist, singer and flautist, performing American film music from the past fifty years. While some of the singers phrasing was unusual, and the flautist came in early at the same point he had during rehearsal (practice makes perfect, or perfect practice makes perfect), it was the audience that was the greatest dissapointment. For the concert, we had moved from our original seats at the back of the piazza, because the fountain was gurgling away. We chose to sit on the wrong side of the piazza. The breeze picked up, and it became rather cool. Mothers brought young children, and failed to keep them under control. We moved back to the fountain, where even the adults decided to have a chat. Too many distractions.
We left for home at 11.00 pm. In the light in the car, I couldn't read the map, so we decided to take the Siena road out of town, and bashed through the hills. One and a half hours to drive home. Should have been half that time if we had gone the direct route in daylight. Made even longer because we didn't know our way around Siena, and took the long way right around the western side. Never mind, it was a nice night for a drive. We were absolutely staggered at the amount of traffic on the roads of Tuscan in the middle of the night. After a night out at a restaurant, later in the week, we now understand why. If you don't arrive at a restaurant till 8.00, and they serve the sort of meals they do, you aren't heading home till after midnight.
