A Happy Ending for Mister Fox

The Fox has Fled

Regarding our posts The Downside of a Fence  and Mystery Solved

we are delighted to announce that in all probability, Mr Renard has escaped the confines of our garden where he was inadvertently imprisoned during the installation of our perimeter fence.

Ordinary Lives

The Diary Museum of Pieve Santo Stefano

'The famous river bathes the small plain..' a homage to Pieve Santo Stefano and its river by the poet Carducci

As you waltz between Arezzo, Anghiari, San Sepolcro and other delights, you might take a detour to a little town called Pieve Santo Stefano which, thanks to the efforts of the journalist and writer, Saverio Tutino, has become home to and promotor of an archive dedicated to diaries, the diaries of ordinary people collected since 1984. The writings come from all over Italy and span two hundred years of the country's history. 
The archive now holds 7,000 diaries.

Mystery Solved

The Downside of a Fence part 2

We are now pretty sure of our mystery guest's identity because there have been several signs and, last night, a sighting, plus a convincing confirmation from the internet - to do with smell.

We first thought it might have been a fox. This was partly wishful thinking, because the possibility that a porcupine was enclosed in our garden with all its juicy bulbs, corms and tubers just waiting to be foraged, was just too scary.

Figgy Pudding

What to do with all the booty

 This year, with its hottest summer on record, seems to have worked wonders in the field. I am told that the grapes are promising, the olives are abundant and I can certainly attest to the incredible fig harvest of 2015, which is petering out only now. 

The Downside of a Fence

On the Inside Looking Out
(The Downside of a Fence part 1)

 When our fence was installed, over days and weeks, the noise of the men and machines ought to have scared off any residual larger inhabitants left in our garden.
But it seems it didn't.

 

The Uffizi in Technicolour

Colour and the Evolution of the Uffizi*

Chardin's Boy Building a House of Cards, 1735, now displayed in the Foreign Artists' Gallery at the Uffizi

It is impossible to write a post on the art in the Uffizi Gallery. That is a job a) for more learned people and b) for people with more time on their hands. So I shall offer some thoughts on one aspect of the gallery which is prompted by recent changes: the colour of its walls.

A Bucketful of Roses

September's Largesse

September is a generous month. It gives us grapes and figs, the last fruits of the vegetable garden, milder weather with sun, and wonderful roses. 

The Castle and Village of Vertine

A Medieval Jewel

 

Vertine seen from the air with its gate tower and castle keep tower and what remains of the curtain wall

The castle of Vertine is first mentioned in a document of 1013. Thus the village of Vertine is over 1000 years old. A statement like this can stagger. As a native of the Antipodes where white settlement goes back a mere 250 years, I am continually staggered, in this part of the world.

the castle keep, today an attractive B&B

Apart from being a castle and village for 1000 years, Vertine can almost certainly claim to have been inhabited over the same period. Not bad for a tiny village which must have seen wars, plague and countless other crises in its long existence.

The Storms of Summer

When the Storms of Summer mean Summer's End

zoom-in on nearby Radda between storms

 Summer's lease may have all too short a date, but this summer has been a whopper, with record temperatures and record lack of rain. We couldn't wait for summer to end.

recent storms have given rise to 'trombe d'aria' or tornadoes such as this, seen off Massa Carrara (courtesy of centrometeoitaliano.it)

 

The Gardens of Villa Marlia near Lucca

The Ups and Downs 
of an 
Historic Garden

It is true that we arrived at Villa Marlia, Capannori, not far from Lucca, on an extremely hot summer's day during an extremely hot and dry summer. Yet our overriding first impression of the gardens was of neglect and decay.This impression was soon softened by splendid perspectives and some truly special gardens and features (the massive topiary hedges and bushes are most striking), but despite these, it is clear that the property has seen better days. It needs some saving.

 a portion of the lawn at Villa Marlia, with its spectacular topiary columns and spheres; one has to imagine the grass as green as per Capability Brown landscaping which it clearly imitates

 

magnificent, tall hedges leading to Clock House

The Fence at Last!

Le Ripe has its Fence at Last

It has been almost two years since the Le Ripe Saga of the Fence began (see side column for the whole gory story).

The principal reason for the Fence was protection against marauding and destructive wildlife.

On this very day we can cut the ribbon, pour the champagne, crow with joy and felicitation, for the Fence has been completed, thanks to our trusty gardening team.

Vegetable Patch or Vegetable Garden?

The Choice Before Us

Gardening is hard work. Enjoyable, but hard. A vegetable patch, which requires constant care: planting, watering, hoeing,weeding, pruning and harvesting, and whose produce is by its nature almost entirely seasonal, is consequently very hard work.
There is a local saying, l'orto vuole l'uomo morto or 'the vegie patch will be the death of you', loosely translated.
With that in mind, here is how things are evolving da noi/chez nous.