My Little Corner of Tuscany

[fumobici]

We'll start with a walk up to Valialle. It's the nearest... I don't have an English word... hamlet, village? It's a few houses grouped together on a hilltop with a small church.

It's a pretty walk.

This is the church seen from behind and below.

This is the "village" above, and the church front below.

[fumobici]

These are some shots in the immediate vicinity of the house, woods, olives, and vines.

Below is the little 10th century church in the valley below as seen from the property.

You can see a bit of Anghiari proper spilling over the hilltop in the background.

An interesting ruin nearby.

[fumobici]

Particular sunnrise from the patio.

[fumobici]

The rest will just be random photos taken within easy strolling distance of the house taken at various times of the year.

The next few are the little Sovara valley just at the bottom of the hill from the house.

And a little video of the stream, the Torrente Sovara.

[kerouac2]

Nice scenes of uncrowded countryside -- and nobody was even in confinement then!

[mossie]

Looks to be very rural indeed. The first church really surprised me, T thought Italians were more religious but that looked very uncared for, abandoned almost.

[tod2]

Beautiful countryside photos! Wish I was wandering own those leafy lanes.

[lugg]

What a lovely part of the world - untouched by time almost, I imagine the wildlife is special too. The valley itself look very fertile in your pics, what is grown there? The pics of the vines caught my eye ... Is the wine that's made locally for sale locally - if so perfect. Finally -what a lovely set of sunrise pics

[kerouac2]

Fumobici, not to be indiscreet, but how many people in the area do you consider to be "family?" I am still quite attached to my ancestral region in France, but there is no family left anymore… nor any property after which to look (or sell). It causes a dull ache whenever I go there.

[fumobici]

Thank you all for looking and commenting. In order: the little church at Valialle, properly named la Chiesa di San Biagio, does still hold masses, but I was told they are only held every month or two. I think the priests make a circuit to little rural churches like this to keep them viable. There are plenty of wildlife as you might expect, two kinds of deer large and small, boar, porcupines and much more wolves are even spotted on occasion. I'm not aware of any wineries in Anghiari, I'm guessing they sell the grapes to winemakers in other areas or make their own wine on a non-commercial basis, which most farmers do. The vines are almost all sangiovese and if we were on the Arezzo side of the hills, they would wind up in Chianti, but grapes from Anghiari cannot be used for Chianti because it is just outside the designated production area. One local wine that is common in season is nuovo vino made to celebrate the vendemmia or grape harvest. It is served en masse at the sagra di bringoli a local fall celebration of the harvest and an historic local eggless peasant pasta called bringoli, which is similar to pici. The vino nuovo tastes halfway between Chianti and Welch's grape juice. All sorts of crops are grown in these very fertile little valleys. Besides the ubiquitous olives and vines on the hillsides, you can see tobacco, sunflowers, cardoon, tomatoes, feed crops, and many other market vegetables grown in the valley bottoms. And finally to K2, I'm the only family left connected to this place today although I try to get the rest of the family as well as friends to use the house, without much success so far. It's a difficult place I suppose for people who speak no Italian as English is almost unknown in the area, there are a few expat Brits and Canadians scattered about with the odd American Aussie and Kiwi but the locals not only don't speak English, but some of the older ones don't really even speak Italian, but an ancient local dialect called Ahghiarese that is difficult at times even for fluent Italian speakers to decode. Younger Anghiarese at least understand Italian and maybe even a little English as it is necessary to watch TV, movies etc.

I'll return with more photos later but they'll be more of the same, just picturesque countryside stuff. I ache to return but as we know it isn't likely to be any time soon. In the meantime I'm paying all the modest expenses like taxes, electric service, and yard maintenance so it'll be ready when I can get back. It might make a decent enough hub for a meet-up, if such things ever happen again.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely place with us, Fumobici. The pictures show how it is close to your heart. Were you accepted there because of the family connection, or are people in the area simply friendly?

I was struck by the 10th(!) century church in the little valley and wondered if it served as a hub sometime back in history. You provided a clue with this sentence: All sorts of crops are grown in these very fertile little valleys. And they are very little valleys, aren't they, which I guess have through the centuries have had their fertility re-nourished by runoff from the surrounding hills.

Is the house featured in any of your pictures?

[kerouac2]

A mass once a month is about standard for a lot of small Western European villages now -- the (imported) priests normally have to cover quite a few parishes, not just for masses but also for weddings and funerals. In France, these priests usually come from Poland or Africa.

[bjd]

It sounds as though the nuovo vino in the area is like vin nouveau in France. Just that the producers in Beaujolais managed to market it as something good and sell all over the world.

The business with priests going from church to church is similar in France too, since there are few priests around and they usually say mass in different villages. Not many priests and not many church-goers, other than for special occasions like funerals. I won't mention weddings, since religious weddings are not valid here, the couple has to marry at city hall first. I suppose not that many bother with a church ceremony unless they are religious.

For sure it's a shame that the house stands empty. Is there somebody there to come and air it out? It's not good for houses to stand empty.

[bjd]

Obviously Kerouac and I typed at the same time!

[fumobici]

May 6, 2020 16:11:59 GMT bixaorellana said:

Thank you so much for sharing this lovely place with us, Fumobici. The pictures show how it is close to your heart. Were you accepted there because of the family connection, or are people in the area simply friendly?

I was struck by the 10th(!) century church in the little valley and wondered if it served as a hub sometime back in history. You provided a clue with this sentence: All sorts of crops are grown in these very fertile little valleys. And they are very little valleys, aren't they, which I guess have through the centuries have had their fertility re-nourished by runoff from the surrounding hills.

Is the house featured in any of your pictures?

In response to the first question: both. My parents were well known and liked in the area, and the people are friendly as well.

The Chiesa Santa Maria della Sovara in the Sovara valley below the house was probably built on the ruins of an older pagan temple, many of the churches here were. The difficult-to-build foundations are already there and there are cut stones laying about to build with. There are actually a couple of stones used in the construction of the church my father showed me with what look to me like Nordic runes incised on them, I assume predating the 10th c. construction. I don't know the story there.

[fumobici]

May 6, 2020 16:33:35 GMT bjd said:

It sounds as though the nuovo vino in the area is like vin nouveau in France. Just that the producers in Beaujolais managed to market it as something good and sell all over the world.

The business with priests going from church to church is similar in France too, since there are few priests around and they usually say mass in different villages. Not many priests and not many church-goers, other than for special occasions like funerals. I won't mention weddings, since religious weddings are not valid here, the couple has to marry at city hall first. I suppose not that many bother with a church ceremony unless they are religious.

For sure it's a shame that the house stands empty. Is there somebody there to come and air it out? It's not good for houses to stand empty.

In the summer there are weddings at the Sovara church, and funerals as well. My parents are both buried in the little church cemetery across the valley. The normal wedding procession seems to be a long line of cars honking their horns. Hard to miss in that quiet place!

I have a friend of my father's checking in on the place every few weeks, and her son is maintaining the yard for me. She and the farmer Mario whose barns are just below the house and is there almost every day both confidently assure me the local sandstone houses are generally quite happy being left alone for considerable periods. It wouldn't work here where I am now in a wooden house in a cold rainforest though.

[bixaorellana]

Absolutely fascinating!

I love that detail about the church, leading to some "the chicken or the egg" speculation re: homegrown pagans vs. Vikings. There is contemporary evidence of Vikings in Italy @860.

That is such a lovely house and it must be bittersweet looking at the video now, especially as it looks as though the inhabitants just stepped out for a moment. The walls seem fairly thick. Does that mean it's a renovated old house, or is that the building style in that region?

[kerouac2]

Charming house, perfectly modernised without losing its character. The panoramas from some of the windows are spectacular. I totally understand why you would want to hold on to it and do not understand why other family members or friends would not want to flock there.

I validate it completely for the next meet-up in case the meet-up at Mark's new place in the Balkans falls through. Or maybe as part 2 of the same meet up.

[bjd]

I agree totally with Kerouac -- the house looks great and I don't understand that none of your family is interested in going there. I really like the views out of each window, as well as the table on the balcony where you can eat outside.

[fumobici]

More photos from the hill the house is situated on.

[fumobici]

As you can tell, I love this little bend in the road with the tree tunnel.

And we'll finish off with some interesting sun streaking from the patio.

It's possible I'll dredge up more photos to post, but you probably get the idea by now.

[onlyMark]

May 6, 2020 19:06:52 GMT kerouac2 said:

I validate it completely for the next meet-up in case the meet-up at Mark's new place in the Balkans falls through. Or maybe as part 2 of the same meet up.

Just as a guess, but one bed apartment in the middle of a city may not quite have the same attraction.

[bixaorellana]

That's true, Mark. Only the people with high Griffur scores would want to stay there.

[kerouac2]

Anybody who scored so high on the purity test knows that that is not a problem.

[kerouac2]

I see that Bixa and I cross posted.

[htmb]

What a treat, fumobici! Thank you so much for posting this lovely thread. The house looks wonderfully comfortable, and the views are really outstanding. This looks like the type of place I like. A great spot to spend time out in nature with all the modern conveniences seemingly at hand, too. You must really enjoy it there. I hope it won’t be terribly long before you can get back to enjoying your sweet, beautiful Italian home.

[lugg]

Lovely Fumobici - it looks like my sort of place. Of course I saw the horses and then imagined, as I looked at your photos, how great the hacking must be out there. I really like the photo with the mist of what I presume is a river valley.

Why is the route dangerous ( if that is correct?) do you know ? I guess you took the video down as I cannot see it . Can understand why you would though .

[fumobici]

The little road follows along a hillside and it is eroding away in a steep spot. Nobody rides horses in Tuscany, never once seen one out on the trails or gravel roads, although many are near perfect for it. I took the video down; I figured everyone had already seen it.