E lucevan le stelle

Space and Time, part two.....

Light and Shade

Flying late into Pisa the weather didn't look good, boiling rain clouds below an uncertain sunset,

But the moon broke through those clouds later and helped to glorify the leaning tower,

And the following day the rain held off. September weather in Italy can be unsettled, but we struck it lucky and the sky began to clear above Il Campo dei Miracoli:

A gentle breeze billowed the awning at the entrance to the Duomo,

The light was good enough for selfies in the acoustically perfect Battistero:

And the ancient cemetery contained within the seven-hundred-year-old arcaded Camposanto was serene in geometric  light and shade.

We walk atop the city walls and then descend the Torre Piezometrica, the 1930s water tower for the former Marzotto textile factory which is now part of the University of Pisa, a reminder that Italy is not just ancient wonders, but that it is an ever-surprising continuum, lights and shades of unstoppable time:

From Pisa we head to Monte Amiata, passing severe Volterra and sweet Montalcino on the way, the clouds dispersing, though still shadowing the flowing landscape:

On Monte Amiata we visit the eighth century crypt of the Abbazia di San Salvatore, which was once the richest abbey in Tuscany, 

And then drive to the vetta (the summit), at 1738 metres the highest mountain in Tuscany south of the Arno, topped with a twenty-two metre tall iron cross, originally installed at the end of the nineteenth century, but severely damaged in the last war, and subsequently rebuilt by the local people.  

The views from here can be spectacular.  This is looking south-east to the Lago di Bolsena and the distant Monti Cimini, some seventy kilometres away, not very far from where I used to live:

We cross the Val d'Orcia by Montepulciano, where thick morning cloud blankets the hills; 

We bathe in hot (33-36 degrees) mineral waters that come from the 120 metre deep Sillene springs at the Terme di Chianciano:

Then, in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, light filters through whorls of coloured glass,

And in the Museo dell'Opera Metropolitana statues by Giovanni Pisano that once adorned the facade of the cathedral, and which include Plato and Aristotle, rest in the shade.  

We move on, to Lucca, where Ilaria del Carretto rests in marble from the Apuan Alps, sculpted in the early fifteenth century by Jacopo della Quercia. She lies in the sacristy of the Cathedral, seemingly peacefully asleep, though she died giving birth to a daughter at the age of twenty-six.  Her repose is calming, a dignified hymn to the difficulties of love....

Lucca is a beautiful town. The ancient nucleus is confined by 4.2 kilometres of tree-lined red walls, built between 1504 and 1645, the most significant military construction in all of Tuscany, now a peaceful route for the evening passeggiata.

Life is quiet here. Traffic is restricted and people sit outside their homes, content with their phones:

Or offering assistance to a lost soul:

Then in the midst of narrow streets there is the Casa dei Guinigi, with its tree-topped tower, giving views across the city to the hills beyond:

Down there, close by the twelfth century church of San Frediano, is the shape of the Roman Amphitheatre, converted two hundred years ago into an oval of residences around an open space, now filled with bars and trattorie as dusk falls:

The sun is going down, burning down over the hills above Camaiore, liquid gold that, like a sweet distillation of fruit, reaches its setting point just before it goes dark:

We dine da Giulio, where I remember the late Giulio to his daughter. Simple but excellent Tuscan food and wine.  What's not to like?

And then we wander back through the slumbering streets to our accommodation, sampling the cigar smoke that seems to surround the seated figure of Giacomo Puccini outside his birthplace:

And then in the morning we are back to Torre del Lago Puccini, where the last time I visited, Simonetta, Puccini's granddaughter, was my host. Though she died in 2017, the villa is almost as it was when Giacomo last returned from hunting in the surrounding marshes.

Chi son? Sono un poeta.

Che cosa faccio? Scrivo.

E come vivo? Vivo.

In povertà mia lieta

scialo da gran signore

rime ed inni d'amore.

Per sogni, per chimere

e per castelli in aria

l'anima ho milionaria.

Che gelida manina

La bohème

Giacomo Puccini

So we are back where we began, gazing across the Lago di Massaciuccoli, with shades of Puccini's music in our heads and the reflected light of Italy in our hearts....

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Someone once asked me why I love Italy.  Although I could have spoken at length, and rambled about the variety of scenery, the kindness of the people, the wonderful food, the glorious wine, art, literature, and history, I simply said, with barely a moment's hesitation, It's the light.... whether it is day or night, sun or stars, you can drink the intoxicating light and it fills you with love.....

E lucevan le stelle.....

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For my friends and relatives in Italy and for my travelling companion.....

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