On the top of the hill in the small village of Talla, Tuscany there is an old monastery complete with lots and lots of Madonna statues (as in Mary not the pop singer) and friezes. Yet today, the house of religious importance has been renovated into a large seven bedroom villa complete with swimming pool.
The first few days of our trip were spent lounging by the pool and forgetting about the stresses of ‘the real world.’ In my case this was also where I finished the first book of the trip.
Francis De Assisi came from a wealthy family of La Verna yet he shunned all of his worldly possessions in favour of living a life of faith. Sleeping in a cave, with sack cloth on his back Francis De Assisi would spend his days preaching. Notably the patron saint of merchants, animals and the environment arranged the first live Christmas nativity scene in 1223 and a year later, during a state of religious ecstasy, received the stigmata from an apparition of spheric angels. (The stigmata are the wounds that Jesus bore during the crucifixion.)
In case you wanted to know, Francis De Assisi's saint day is on the 4th October.
The Basilica of Francis De Assisi (also known as Francessco) was built in commemoration of the saint and it was a trip to this monastery that sparked a debate about the saint’s life as well as religion in general.
Another formidable character of our trip was Guido of Guidi the proprietor of Poppi Castle during the 13th century. Throughout history, as was the case in a number of European countries, (i’m looking at you Germany) Italy was divided into various ‘contandi (districts) and the Guidi family was in charge of Tuscany……until those of Florence had something to say about it. - That’s the Medici’s right? although I think they might have come later.
The stronghold, complete with a moat and bellower has seen many owners in its time and with each new age a new extension or refurbishment arrived with it. Therefore the castle we see today varies hugely from the castle Guido if Guidi knew in the 1200s.
The town of Poppi was also a spot of intense; especially as they had some quite good ice cream and I particularly enjoyed the fact the streets to and from the town were lined with…yes you guessed it….poppies!!
The highlight of our trip, at least for me, was a trip to a small family run bed and breakfast in the next village where we were shown how to make proper egg pasta. Pasta can be made with our without egg (for example spaghetti does not contain egg) however I find that the egg in the pasta gives it much richer flavour and gives it a more silky texture.
Our pasta masterclass was followed by a five (yes five) course meal including antipasti, prima (the freshly made pasta) , Secondi (meat, in our case wild boar or chinghale) and finally dessert of a mascarpone cream.
Feeling suitably stuffed I was ready to go home yet our day was not over as we were now the tables turned and it was our turn to make pasta….however there was only room for one person so sat back and watched. dammit
James, proved to be quite the dab hand at pasta making and was even given a 10 out of 10 for his pasta which was evenly rolled to perfection. Alas, when cooked the next day, the pasta was underdone and therefore did not reflect the effort that had gone into it.
When I was told that I would be visiting Lake Trassemano I imagine a cute little beach surrounded by cafes and other such tourist traps with changing huts and outdoor showers. A random patch of grass in the middle of a car park was not however on my wish list.
Not to be perturbed however I decided to don my swimming costume and have a dip in the lake. Not two minutes into our swim though and at least fifty dogs started to bark manically. It appeared that our spot was also home to the local dog house and apparently it was feeding time.
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