Beautiful Apartments in Montepulciano
In this series of blogs, Passion For Italy are showcasing some of our favourite villas and apartments all over Italy. Today we are featuring apartments in the heart of the Renaissance town of Montepulciano.
These beautifully restored one, two and three-bedroom apartments have been built in the inner walls of the town, where noble families once lived.
The apartments look out onto the town itself or have spectacular views over the Valdichiana Valley. Perfectly positioned, with restaurants, bars, shops and parking all within easy walking distance.
Contact us for more information.
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Beautiful Villas of Italy – Tuscany
In this series of blogs, Passion For Italy are showcasing some of our favourite villas all over Italy. What better place to start than Tuscany…
This beautiful villa sleeps 16, so is perfect for groups of friends or large extended families, or even an intimate wedding party. The villa is on an estate that spans over 1500 acres in the Montepulciano wine region of Tuscany, about half-way between Siena and Florence.
On the grounds of the estate you can enjoy horse-riding, walking, fishing or you can simply relax and pass the time by the villa’s private pool. The estate is on the edge of a vast nature reserve and is perfect for nature lovers, but the rich cultural offerings of the region and its surrounds (such as the towns of Pienza and Cortona) are just a short drive away.
Contact us for more information about this beautiful villa.
The Great Artists of Italy
As I work and travel around Italy every year, I have visited many of the major museums in Italy. On my first visit to the Galleria degli Uffizi in Firenze over 25 years ago, having never formally studied Italian art history, I was simply overwhelmed. It was all too much for me. So many paintings of such great artists – I thought how can I get to know them all. Youth is impatient – I wanted to know them immediately and as I had completed a science degree I thought – oh no I should have done an Italian Art history degree!!
It has taken me many years and many trips to Italy’s famous museums to learn about Italian art and of course educating myself from many great Italian art books. I pick them at second hand book sales and now have quite a collection so if I need to know something about an Italian artist I go to my books. It has developed into a passion for genius. I have such respect for their genius – that some humans have been able to obtain such mastery in their field!! I want to fall down on my knees to pay homage to them.
The great Italian artists were all genius!! Michelangelo, Bernini, Caravaggio, Titian, Piero della Francesco, Da Vinci, – there are so many… When I gaze at Michelangelo’s “La Pieta” in St. Peter’s Basilica in Roma, it brings tears to my eyes. He was such a deep, sensitive man to be able to express the grief of a mother in stone – it always stupifies me every single time. “La Pieta” is such the perfect name for this statue as well. It evokes so much compassion.
A tragedy that it is now under glass and that it moved a man so much that he had to attack it with an axe many years ago to try to kill it to stop the emotion that was coming out in him!! I consider La Pieta the best sculpture in the world for all reasons as well as those principles according to sculpture. I have seen many all over the world but for a piece of stone to move one so emotionally says it all – the perfect sculpture in such an amazing place!!
Step back into the Past in Italy
Italy is a blast from the past and this I feel, is the real reason why people love to come here. It reminds us of our innocent childhoods when life was simple and tomatoes tasted like real tomatoes.
In the historical center of each town there are no flashing neon lights full of advertising – only 400 year old buildings made of marble and sandstone with iron 18th century street lamps and a discreet bronze plaque with the name of the business.
The food is made with real sauces and stock, handmade without additives or genetically modified vegetables. The gelatos are made with real fruit not coloured flavouring. The bread does not have preservatives and only lasts one day but you can make crostini or bread crumbs with it!! Here it is a crime to reheat pasta or coffee!!
When I was working in Italy in April from our Italian Office, my Italian friend said to me, “You work too hard, you walk too fast, you are always so busy. See how the Italians stroll – they do not walk fast as they have all the time in the world….. see how they are not stressed – See how if they run into a friend they take the time to have a chat and a café with them even if they are busy!!”
Learn how to slouch against a wall in the Neopolitian way and observe the world passing by. This is the Italian way – take time out to step back to the past – you have worked too hard and for so long, come – experience it before life passes you by!!
Packing for travel to Italy
Catching trains in Italy I always find stressful. One can never relax. It is always busy on the Eurostar the high speed train. They are always heavily booked. One always climbs in at the wrong door and one has to drag the heavy bags up an isle approx. 70 cm wide. I highly recommend using a suitcase with wheels that turn sideways for train travel.
The steps are steep and narrow and difficult to climb up with heavy luggage. There is only space for about six large bags at one end of each carriage and if your bag is at the bottom then everyone loads their bags on top of yours and if you need to get off first buonanotte!! – then you have lift them all off in a hurry as you will be blocking the exit from the carriage. At the end of a train trip I am always exhausted.
The only solution is to pack really light – winter is easier because one does not sweat as much so clothes can be worn for longer. The new lightweight fabrics can be rolled into small packages. But then in winter one has to bring a heavy coat, scarf and jumpers and a woman gets tired of wearing the same woollen jumper and the same big coat. We need variety no? Especially when the Italian women always look so glamorous with all that hair and style.
Summer is more difficult as it gets very hot and humid in italy in so one has to change every day so washing becomes a premium. This is one of the advantages of staying in an apartment versus a hotel. With all my my trips to italy I have experimented with different sizes of luggage and the older I get the lighter I am forced to pack.
Don’t even attempt to wear anything white in Italy as it will only be able to be worn one day. In winter I find black clothes to be the best as they do not show the dirt. Anything public like chairs and benches as well as buses and trains are very dirty and dusty and any light coloured pants or shoes are often marked quickly so they are not practical. When you pack your clothes, think of the weight hauling it up six flights of stairs and this will soon bring you to your senses.
Snow in Rome – Neve a Roma
During the January freeze in Arcidosso, Tuscany, my brother Oscar and I kept asking members of his beloved host family, whether it would snow the next day. We joked about the possibility of Australians doing a snow dance and they said maybe later in the winter it would come and we would sadly miss it.
We both prayed for snow as it is a novelty for us Brisbanites and we wanted to see the town blanketed in white like some photos we had seen. Oscar parted for Australia soon after and the cold continued for me down in bella Roma. I therefore continued my quest for snow and questioned some Roman friends whether this was a possibility….
Many laughs were had and some said maybe in the mountainous surroundings but never really in the centre. However, two years previously the Romans had some light snow/sleet and a day of quasi-snow and before that it had only snowed extensively in the cold winter of 1984/85.
A week or so later, the same friends that quaffed at my suggestion of snow, expressed feelings of concern that snow would fall heavily all over central and northern Italy the following night. I scarcely believed them and the Roman weather forecast but the secret Australian wishes for snow were granted that very night in early February…
An eerie silence fell upon Roma at midnight as the flakes began magically appearing out of the surprisingly dark sky. I happened to be at my favourite nightspot ‘Circus’, with a few Romans game enough to be out and about that night. The excitement was contagious as the snow continued with many of the locals in disbelief of the fact.
Some had never seen so much snow fall in their lifetimes as the famous cobblestones disappeared with layers of beautiful and huge flakes!
By the time it was time to finally close and leave the warmth of the bar, Roma was “sotto le neve” or literally under the snow.The walk home was taken carefully not to fall and break something and also with awe and wonder at the serenity of snow capped churches and piazzas.
A walk through a white-out Piazza Navona was something worthwhile to remember and the experience was completed with a tip toe home to sleep in Trastevere with that beautiful squeaky sound of snowflakes compounding under your feet. Biggest Roman snowfall in over 40 years, and the entire country was shutdown with snow even gracing the shores of southern Puglia. Unheard of, I was lucky to witness the spectacle.
By Edward Close