Samuele Sodini | PlanningaTour.com

Sunset from Vorno – Villa al Boschiglia

What could be more glorious than a Tuscan sunset at the amazing Villa al Boschiglia? Not much! The colors of soft light behind the rolling hills of Tuscany reminds one of Tuscany’s bounty of wine and fruits, not to mention the feelings of romance they evoke. Tuscan sunsets never fail to amaze. That golden ball in the horizon eventually disappears through the Tuscan hills and leaves behind a sky of various shades from orange, purple, red, pink, and gold, eventually giving way to darkness and a night sky of millions of stars. One can only hope to have the privilege of staying at this amazing villa and experiencing the ever changing colors of sunsets in Tuscany. In the meantime, it is good to dream such dreams.

Carnevale di Ivrea – Battle of the Oranges

Ivrea, a town in northwestern Italy is most famous for its traditional carnival celebration. The core of the Carnevale di Ivrea is the famous Battle of the Oranges where thousands of citizens are divided into nine teams who them violently pelt each other with oranges. These orange battles occur on the traditional carnival days of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Held every year in late February, the celebration revolves around a 12th century legend of a miller’s daughter who refused the local duke’s “right” to spend a night with each newlywed woman in his domain and instead chipped off his head. This refusal lead the commoners in the town revolting against their rulers, they then stormed and burned the palace. Each year a young girl is elected “Mugnaia” and plays the role of Violetta, the miller’s daughter who still today, honored as a local symbol of freedom.

Today’s Carnevale di Ivrea took its roots during the time Napoleon ruled the region. Until this time, each district in the city celebrated its own carnival separately; but it was changed to combine all of them into a single city-wide party, and when the area returned to Italian rule, it continued as one large celebration. The Battle of the Oranges symbolizes the towns’ liberation from its rulers and the teams of Aranceri (orange handlers) are either representing the commoners or the duke’s allies during the three-day citrus conflict. The duke’s allies take their positions on their horse drawn carriages and battle against the nine opposing Aranceri teams who are on foot. The teams in the carriages are geared up with humongous helmets along with other protective gear; the citizen teams wear their traditional costumes along with some protective gear minus those silly helmets. The use of oranges during the festival is a relative new addition; particularly since oranges are not grown in the area and over half a million pounds of oranges have to be shipping in from Sicily. Previous festivals had used apples and beans until sometime in the early 20th century when the last switch was made.

Sadly spectators can only watch. If you are looking to get into the mix you will have to plan ahead and sign up to join one of the nine teams. Anyone who wants to take have fun but not get pelted with oranges should rock a red hat, this marks you as a spectator instead of a target. At the end of the Carnevale di Ivrea, a ceremony is held in front of town hall to announce the winners of the orange battle that is then followed by an awesome bonfire. So make sure you pack some citrus friendly clothing, be prepared to party for three days and make your way to Ivrea.

Boccaccio’ s Women

One hundred paintings inspired by the Tales of Boccaccio by Jenny McIntosh, Scottish transplant to Bagni di Lucca, are on exhibit in Lucca at Corte dell’Angelo, via Roma this week beginning on November 5th (see What’s On). Her discov- ery of Boccaccio is a tale within a tale in- volving Franklin Samuel Stych, “Sam” as he is known to all. Humanist scholar and bib- liographer, Sam Stych has been researching Boccaccio for 30 years, and continued even after moving to Bagni di Lucca in 1977.

Sam’s mind is remarkably sharp despite his age. When we visited him (and Alessio his cat) a few weeks ago he directed Jenny and me to several books from his shelves: his bibliographical work on Boccaccio pub- lished by Greenwood Press, the monograph he authored for the Pinocchio Foundation entitled Pinocchio in England, and his 430-page Ph.D. dissertation for the University of Sheffield on Lucchese novelle by Nicolao Grannucci (1521-1603).

Jenny’s weekly visits to 95-year-old Sam have been an occasion to share a glass of wine while talking about literature, history and life. She learned that the Decameron, a collection of 100 novellas written be- tween 1349 and 1351 – shortly after the plague had decimated Florence and driven many people to country retreats – was sur- prisingly complex in its approach to women. As she read the tales and talked with Sam, she found herself painting her way into the psyches of women like Griselda, Alibech, Madonna Agnesa, Monna Sismonda, Belcolore, and also of the seven women narrators who spent their time swapping tales with their three male companions before returning to their tra- ditional life and roles in Florence.

The countryside, then as now, offers an es- cape from ordained behavior into a bucolic and sometimes barnyard world where codi- fied rules are loosened and natural expres- sion is enhanced. Many of the women in the tales trick and cuckold their husbands. But the Decameron ends with a twist, Boccaccio’s famous story of the “patient Griselda”, a young wife taught to “tow the line” by her older husband Gualtieri, a law- yer. Dioneo, the narrator of this tale, warns his companions, and by extension we the readers, that his tale is descriptive and by no means a prescription for good behavior. Indeed, Gualtieri is not only a misogynist, he is even sadistic in enforcing his moral les- sons of obedience and patience on his wife. Savonarola and the Inquisition, although 150 years in the future, might even come to mind! We are reminded that the young peo- ple are about to return to Florence, their idyll coming to an end.

Sam’s life offers a remote parallel to the Decameron. He and a group of friends working in Florence (headed up by Ian Greenlees, then head of the British Institute) began coming to Bagni di Lucca on weekends, enjoying conversations, wine and a retreat from urbanity. Sam still lives in Via del Bagno, next door to the house of Montaigne – whose plaque reads: “In the summer of 1581, Michel de Montaigne lived in this house for 74 days, and wrote about it in his Journal du voyage”. The Fondazione Michel de Montaigne, estab- lished in 2007, continues to promote cul- tural initiatives in Bagni di Lucca.

Boccaccio’s Decameron, presenting women as they might have lived in medi- eval Tuscany, is no manifesto. Jenny’s clear-eyed, vibrant women gazing thoughtfully from their portraits may also reflect other women known to Boccaccio. Having completed the Decameron, he went on to write De claris mulieribus (On Famous Women), about 106 women from Eve to Giovanna I Queen of Naples. If you want to understand women, these two very different books might be a good read. For those who find Italian, or especially Latin, heavy going (and don’t we all?), De claris mulieribus is now, finally, available in English from Italica Press (translation by Guido A. Guarino, 2011).

Otis loves his tea in Tuscany

New and exciting places have emerged and are becoming noted for their growth and cultivation of tea.
Picking up in popularity is tea and iced tea in a country that is known for its coffee, espresso, latte, cappuccinos.

In a sleepy little town called St. Andrea di Compito, located in a lush region of Tuscany, is a small tea plantation. This region is highly praised for its distinct varieties of wine, olives, and olive oils. And among the local vineyard are the tea plants of the camellia flower.

The fertile land of Tuscany is where tourists go to find love, art, and good wine. Many celebrities of America go to find solace amid the Cypress trees and the beautiful rows of grapes and olives. St. Andrea di Compito is rich with farmhouses, countless churches with lofty bell towers, and fantastic medieval buildings. The lush countryside has an interesting and special climate. The village is known to have what is a type of a micro-climate. St. Andrea di Compito lies on the slopes of Monte Serra inside the Compitese National Park. This is in the heart of northern Tuscany. The surrounding hillsides and slopes protect the area from the cold, and this provides the area with a temperate climate in which to grow a variety of things.

The history of the tea cultivation in Italy starts with English residents trying to grow tea in Sicily in 1310. But, they were continually unsuccessful as no crops grew. In the late 1800’s it was tried again with no successes were recorded.

Then Guido Cattolica, who is a botanist and horticulturist continued to attend to his family’s Camellia flower garden at the family villa. Villa Borrini is located in St. Andrea di Compito, has been in his family for hundreds of years. He is a living relative to Angelo Borrini, who was a physician to Lucchese Duchy. She was of French descent and had a Camellia collection garden. The first Camellias were grown in the year of 1760 and became an important business.

Cattolica experimented and found he could grow tea. He had a dream to grow Compito tea, the first black tea in all of Italy. He intentionally grew green tea. Now today, among the Camellias he is able to grow green, black, and oolong tea. In 1997 he yielded only 35 kilo. And each year the production of Camellia tea has picked up. A major drought hit the area in the year of 2000 when almost all plants were scarce. With is successful line of Camellia teas, he also has marketed a new black tea called Te delle Tre Tigri (3 tigers tea).
Like Cattolica, Luigi Amedeo Bonomelli in 1908 whipped up syrups and liqueurs. He followed the herbalist’s culture and continued to appreciate and develop food uses and in 1940 he dries the chamomile flower. It has become the most widely used herb for tea. And in 1945 Bonomelli worked in the Dolzago plant for the production of Chamomile tea. Today Bonomelli produces a lot of food products, but he is well known for his tea.
He also markets the Infre’ tea; ready to drink- already sweetened with pleasant lemon taste.
In Italy iced tea had become a very popular drink and is available in most places. Generally Italians like their tea light (unlike the coffee) and love it with lemon, peach and in third place apple flavor. While flavored syrups are popular with use in coffee, they can be used interchangeably with iced tea.

Bottled iced tea is gaining popularity with big names such as Lipton and San Benedetto Company as leaders in this area. San Benedetto The Verde is popular because it is made with the finest of natural Italian Spring water. They are very proud of their spring water.

In 1995 the first ever tea club was organized. The first ever Italian Conference on Camellia Tea was held in March of 2003. And each year there is a Camellia Festival held in Compito Region. Tourist’s guides are now mentioning the Camellia tea and its festivals as something new to do. Many new brides are flocking to get married in the middle of the Camellias in the beautiful Tuscany region of Italy!

Here’s a quick recipe:
Called simply: Italian Iced Tea. It has alcohol in it and contains no tea whatsoever!

Simply take about 8 oz. of ginger ale, about 2 oz. of sweet vermouth, and 1 slice of lime.
Using a tall glass, toss in ice cubes mix together the ginger ale and vermouth. Then squeeze the lime juice into glass, and drop it in. Stir.

Here’s a variation to that. Same ingredients except use lemon instead of lime. That’s it!

From a lush and beautiful place, known for the olives, wine and cheese now comes the new production of tea. For your next tea purchase try some tea from Italy!

Otis’ Reasons #11 & #12

I have thought of two more very important reasons why you should not pass up the opportunity to stay at the magnificent Villa al Boschiglia!

Believe me, I know from experience as I have stayed there myself!

#11 Communication, Communication, Communication!

The villa is equipped with an Apple computer. There is also wi-fi if you have your own computers. There is a stereo CD player with central diffusion. A large satellite television is available for your viewing pleasure. If you need a cell phone for your tour days one will be available. All this is assuming you don’t want to close out the world during your visit. Talk about luxury!

#12 Privacy! Privacy! Privacy!

Finally, I must tell you how very private and discreet the villa is for guests. One can only enter the property with a special key code. You just enter the code and the big solid iron gates open to reveal a long allay of tall Cypress trees and pots of entwined lemon trees with the beautiful villa at the end. Your cars are parked to the side so they never impede this beautiful vision. Whether around the pool, under the pergola, or in the villa one has a real sense of privacy. And that is just the way this sock dog likes it and I know you will too!