Castagneto Carducci – or Castagneto della Gherardesca, from the name of the family, Lombard in origin, of which it was the fief; is situated in the south of Livorno province in Tuscany, located about 90 km southwest of Florence and about 50 km southeast of Livorno.
The della Gherardesca family are today the oldest Italian family, and the castle at Castagneto – still inhabited today by the family’s descendants – dates back to the year one thousand.The present-day name of Castagneto Carducci was given to the ancient fief in 1907, in honour of the poet Giosue Carducci who stayed there as an adolescent and who always remained bound to it.
For this reason, the citizenry decided to change the name that it had at that time, Castagneto Marittimo, to that of Castagneto Carducci.Dominated by the castle of the della Gherardesca counts, Castagneto Carducci appears with all the charm of a village of medieval origins. The streets have been developed in concentric rings starting from the castle, which was originally surrounded by walls. Today, only a section of the walls remains, facing the sea.
Tag: About Tuscany
Tuscany – Collodi
The Collodi village has since then developed into a recognized tourist destination and boasts three distinct attractions, which however share the characteristic of blending harmoniously with the Tuscan landscape, and inspiring visitors’ imagination to soar into wondrous realms of never-ending story and fable.
The village follows the natural curve of the hillside and is narrow, only two or three houses wide. The path twists through its center, leading straight up the mountain, with turns and stairs to facilitate the walker. There is small road along the outside perimeter, with limited parking along the way, giving local residents an option from the exhausting stair-filled path.
Collodi is famous throughout the world for having given its name to CARLO COLLODI, the pen-name of CARLO LORENZINI, the italian author and journalist, best-known as the creator of Pinocchio the wooden boy puppet who came to life.
In Collodi you can find also the “Butterfly House” splendid greenhouse-building of stone and crystal, housing a lush tropical garden with nearly a thousand butterflies from all over the world, riginating from Amazonian, Neotropic, Afrotropic and Indo-Australian environments, feed, court and reproduce.
Tuscany – Pietrasanta
Pietrasanta is a town and comune on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca.
Pietrasanta straddles the last foothills of the Apuan Alps.
The town is located 3 km (1.8 miles) off the coast (where the frazione of Marina di Pietrasanta is located).
Not far in the mainland is the Alpi Apuane massif.
The town has Roman origins and part of the Roman wall still exists.
The area, like most of Tuscany in general, has long enjoyed the patronage of artists. Pietrasanta grew to importance during the 15th century, mainly due to its connection with marble. Michelangelo was the first sculptor to recognize the beauty of the local stone.
Today, the Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero as well as the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj and Polish F1 driver Robert Kubica have residences in the comune.
Tuscany – The Rebirth of a Mediaeval Country Road
Below the village of Collodi Castello i san old stone road. Some say it was built on the foundation of a Roman road no one is quite sure. The stones were straight and true. I always fondere where they had been quarried as they were creamy in color, not at all like the brown shale-like rocks that are always in a state of downward movement in our part of Castello.
Laid down over a thousand years ago, it was a miracle the road had lasted so long.
After the “Great War” it had been the principl passageway for farmers to bring their wares – wine, grain, olive oil to Pescia to sell while avoiding the dogana (custom station) on the Via pesciatina down below the village. The fermers would tie thick cloths over the feet of their mules or horses so as not to make any suspicious clip-clopping noises on the stone surface that might give their secret passage away.
The road had always served the villagers of Castello and neighboring San Gennaro as the short cut to the city of Pescia. Yet, with all this traffic the road remained straight and true.
Tuscany – Scansano
Scansano is a small town of medieval origin, in the Tuscan province of Grosseto, Italy. The area which Scansano lies within is called Maremma.
The small town of Scansano is notable for Morellino di Scansano, a type of wine.