A VINTAGE STEAM RAILWAY TRIP IN GLORIOUS TUSCANY

Last Saturday, September 25th 2016, saw us take our long awaited trip by vintage steam train trip from Siena to Buenconvento and it was truly a delight - my best day out in ages.

I'm standing on the platform of Siena station and its 8am on a beautifully sunny morning, Our friends, Peter and Philip from London are staying with us and they are almost as excited as I am about today's adventure. Platform 1 is deserted and I'm wondering if we've come to the right place - was there another station we should have gone to for this special departure? A few minutes later a coach or two must have pulled up because suddenly the platform was full of jostling people and there was expectation in the air and then I heard it - a distinctive whistle which could only have come from a steam engine.

The steam engine puffs in to Siena station to join up with the
vintage carriges that would form our train amidst a flurry of
interest from passengers.

To my left a diesel locomotive was shunting a series of five beautifully polished 1930's railway carriages in to the station platform and on my right I could just see the front of a black steam engine slowly puffing in to the station.to join up with the carriages. A cheer went up from the crowd and suddenly a small band trio appeared from nowhere and the chords of Chatanooga Choo Choo were blasted out on a trumpet with accompanying drums and cymbals. The engine was coupled up to the carriages, the crowd clapped appreciatively and we were ready to board. The floor of the carriages was high above the platform so there were a couple of steep steps to negotiate to get on. Finally we found our allocated carriage and polished bench seats and we were able to sit down and review our route for the day - our main destination the little walled Tuscan town of Buonconvento.

Our friends Peter and Philip pour over the map of
route for the special steam train trip..

La Tren Natura has been running on these Sienese lines since the mid1990's and every year in the Spring and Autumn, on selective Saturdays, this little train provides booked passengers with a sojourn into the Tuscan countryside with a variety of destinations offered. There are no trips in the summer as countryside fires caused by sparks from the steam engine are a real hazard. Occasionally, a vintage diesel car will be provided as an alternative during these months. The black liveried steam engine is a 4-6-0 (this refers to the wheel arrangement) was built in Berlin, probably during the 1920's and the carriages, also date from this period. These were a delight and of the sort where there are multiple doors down the length of each one, with compartmented bench seats arranged round each window. Each had been beautifully restored and the woodwork varnish gleamed in the morning sunlight. There were charming details like the authentic notices warning you not to use the toilets in the station - in four languages and prints of Tuscan artists above the doors. Brocaded brown curtains adorned each set of windows.

The restored interiors of the carriages of La Tren Natura

A final long blast on the guard's whistle at 9am precisely and we were off - the puff puff of the engine hauling its now heavily laden load out of the station and towards the bucolic Tuscan countryside. It was downhill at this point so we picked up speed fairly quickly. Siena is a relatively small walled city on a hill so there are no sprawling modern suburbs or industrial areas and the rolling hills were soon visible from our carriage windows. Soon Enrico, our characterful carriage attendant, came along to introduce himself. He didn't speak English but we managed to determine that he was 83 years old and that for 35 years he'd been the station master at Siena. Retired for the last 20 years Enrico loved his job on the special steam trains taking pride in telling us the service wouldn't be able to run without its volunteer operatives and attendants. First stop was Asciano not far from Siena where we picked up more passengers and then it was off again. The passengers in our full compartment of 16 included Italians and Dutch as well as the four of us from Blighty. Everyone was chatty and friendly and through the open windows of our compartment we could hear the train picking up speed. Suddenly there was noise from the next carriage and the compartment door flew open to admit the band trio who'd come to play for us.

Our trio trumpeter plays a solo for us in our carriage compartment

 More "Chatanooga choo choo" was followed by "When the Saints come Marching in" and then they were off to entertain the next group further along. By this time I was back in the 1950's. As the train entered a tunnel I could smell and taste the steam through the open windows and even got a spec of grit under my eyelid - just like the trips I'd taken on steam trains during the 1950's. This really was a trip down memory lane in every sense. The countryside was just lovely by now and over on the right we could see the pretty little hill top town of Montalcino. This is definitely a place to put on the list to come back to. We were travelling down the Asso valley to the point where it joined the valley of the famous Orcia river. Next stop was Monte Antico where the train was scheduled to stay for 20 minutes.

Our  steam engine repositions itself at Monte Antico for the
final part of the journey to Buonconvento

This provided an opportunity for everyone to get off and enjoy an espresso on stalls that had been set up by the locals. Everyone crowded down the platform to watch and photograph the steam engine detach itself from the carriages and then manouvre back down the line so it could reattach itself to the other end of the train and take it northwards towards our final destination. I have a little bit of video film of this which I'll attach to the posting when I get home.

As we travelled northwards up the Ombrone valley the outside scenery just got more and more beautiful, We were now well within the sculpted, scorched landscape of the crete - the rounded contours of the hills clearly standing out against the brilliant blue skies. What a joy to see the classic Tuscan landscape of the souvenir calenders right before our eyes complete with the white puffs of smoke from our little black work horse up front.

The ploughed fields of the Crete in the Ombrone Valley

The glorious Tuscan countryside of the Ombrone Valley

Buonconvento was the station where our engine would get time to rest and replenish as we had a four hour stop to take a leisurely lunch and look round the town. Surprisingly this place, which is on the flat and not at the top of a rounded hill, appeared a bit industrial when we approached it, but turned out to be an almost perfectly intact walled medieval town with lots of character.

The main street of Buonconvento

We enjoyed a trattoria lunch on an outside table followed by a street eaten gelato and then went off to see the local folk museum. I found myself being quite moved by this. Opened in a spectacularly restored vaulted granary near the town walls - the exhibits told the story of early 20th century community life in the vicinity of the town.

The Museum of Tuscan Life in Buonconvento

With the aid of enlarged black and white photographs and many objects, it was possible to gain an impression of a close to nature farming system which is now long gone. I particularly liked the recreation of the interiors of a Tuscan farmhouse upstairs and one exhibit which just consisted of a line of worn out little children's boots - a symbol of the toil everyone endured in the fields at certain times of year. When I looked at my watch I realised we had 20 minutes to make it back to the train for our 4.50pm departure.

If I am re-incarnated I'm coming back as an engine driver

Within the hour the train was making hard work of chugging up the bank to make it back to Siena railway station. It was the end of a truly memorable day. I'd been back in my childhood again and I'd got to see one of the most beautiful parts of Italy from a unique vantage point. If you are coming to Tuscany and its the right time of year -don't miss this opportunity for a unique day out. At 35 euros per person - its a bargain!! All the details are on La Tren Natura website.

Ciao and KBO
Ian

CETONA - A GLORIOUS AUTUMN MORNING IN AN ATMOSPHERIC TUSCAN VILLAGE

Getting older can be a depressing affair if you are a "half empty" person like I am most days. I don't think there is a morning when I don't waken with something aching, giving me always the thought this is part of the inevitable slide down hill. These negative thoughts, which come easily if I waken very early, can be destructive and discouraging if I let them - and also make me see things like the great opportunities I have to travel these days - as something I take for granted. So it was this week

We arrived back in Italy courtesy of Ryanair on Monday afternoon making our second visit to Umbria at this time of year since we bought our apartment in Citta della Pieve in 2013. September is my birthday month so making a trip here is a splendid way to celebrate it and we were looking forward to the early autumn weather which I know from last year can be spectacular. I was surprised to get up the following morning, however, to open the curtains and find it dull outside with the weather forecast telling me it was going to be like that all day! I felt immediately grumpy? How could it possibly be dull on my first morning back in Italy? To cap it all I got in the shower to immediately find I'd been bitten during the night by a mosquito - once on my right knee and the other place - the cleft between the index and small fingers on my left hand! Not a good start and as the day went on I felt increasingly depressed as the bite on my hand turned to a large, ugly dark red blood blister and my whole hand was swelling to boot. It was even worse the following morning and I was beginning to think a trip to the hospital would be on the cards that day. In the end I went to the local Farmacia and some anti-histamine pills and cortisone cream soon started to provide relief! A good job - I was starting to think I would rather be grumpy at home, but that thought was rapidly disappearing from my mind as the weather had turned from the cool, grey clouds of the previous day to the most beautiful azure blue sky I had ever seen in this marvellous corner of Umbria.

View of Monte Cetona from our apartment balcony

Back in the apartment I looked out over the spectacular Val de Chiana to the extinct volcano of Monte Cetona which at over 3,800 feet is one of the highest peaks in Tuscany. The sharp autumnal but very bright morning light was casting wonderful shadows in different directions and defining everything in so much detail it was possible to see the normally invisible bullet trains gliding their way between Florence and Rome and the tiny vehicles of the busy traffic on the distant A1 motorway. Modern civilisation literally passing me by. Looking to the lower slopes of the hillside I was drawn to admire the timelessness of the patchwork of early autumn fields, some recently harvested and earthy yellow in colour and then my eyes drifted on to the huge dark green swathes of forest on the higher slopes of the mountain. I'd read somewhere recently that this very area had been shown by archaeologists to have been settled by some of the earliest peoples to inhabit the Italian peninsula. An ancient landscape indeed.

The little Tuscan town of Cetona can be seen on the lower slopes of the mountain

Almost directly in my line of vision I could also see the little medieval town of Cetona - a place we'd often noticed - particularly at night when taking a glass of wine on our balcony. We usually saw it defined by a thousand clustered pin pricks of light. Any negative thoughts I'd had about starting the day were long gone. I wasn't in heaven yet - but what a splendid waiting room. It was time to seize the moment, forget about the aches and pains and go do some stuff. What better than a first visit to see our little town from the balcony view?

We motored down the hill from Citta in our little Picasso hire car in quick time, crossed the valley through Chiusi Scalo and took the road up the other side towards the spa town of Chianciano Terme. One of my favourite calling points is a large junk shop on the roadside just outside the town and I couldn't resist a quick stop today.



Outside area of the Junk Shop near Chianciano Terme

This place is amazing - outside yard space and a number of timber sheds all crammed with everything from glass and ceramic items to a multitude of bits of furniture and lighting and lots of framed prints of madonnas, Garibaldi and  the like - most of which you would not give a new home to - but what fun. I picked up one which was just up my street - a hill in the centre with the seven ages of man depicted as various Italian men climbing and then descending the peak. I quickly put it back in the pile before seeing how the last 3 or 4 were represented! Nothing was going to spoil my positive energy today. Just occasionally we've had a good find here and taken it home to add to our apartment furnishings - I'm yet to take a piece all the way back to the UK. In the house there's better stuff including a selection of colourful Italian tin-glaze pottery and a few half good paintings, but the prices are higher in here. No luck today so it was onwards to find Cetona.

Back on the road we took a route marked green on the map which guaranteed pretty country views and it didn't disappoint. Once again my spirits were soaring as we passed quite country lanes, a multitude of olive groves and  lots of small woodlands, the leaves on the deciduous trees just beginning to turn an orangey brown. There was a porcini stall on the side of the road - this is the time for the mushroom and cep hunters to ply their skills, but we resisted the temptation to stop. Soon we turned an uphill corner and there we were in the small town of Cetona. It was only a few moments to Piazza Garibaldi where we could park the car.

The origins of Cetona go back to the beginning of the 10th century as is the case with many settlements in this area. The name is probably derived from the latin word CAEDITA which translates in to English as "felled" or "deforested". At this time most of the region was under the administration of the Pope and administered by the Papal States authorities but in more remote places like this one control was often difficult to impose - despite the fact a 'rocca' or fortress had been established on a hill on the Cetona mountain slope.

The approach to Cetona - the "rocca" fortress can clearly be seen

At the end of the 11th century Pope Gregory VII granted feudal rights in the Cetona area to a member of his family who later went on to sell them to another minor aristocratic family and so began a history of private ownership of the rocca which interestingly has lasted through to the present day. The castle is still in private hands. In the later medieval period  of the 14th century the area was fought over and ruled by Siena, Orvieto and even Perugia for a brief period at one time. In the second half of the 14th century Siena was the victor again and an outer wall to the castle was constructed which included two round towers which were completed in 1458. One of these can be seen in the photograph below - its at the end of Garibaldi square.

Surviving Medieval round tower in the centre of Cetona

In 1556 Cosimo Medici I, the Grand Duke of Tuscany at the time, sold the castle to a minor Tuscan aristocrat named Marchese Chiappino Vitelli who moved in to the rocca with his family and developed the village below outside the walls. This is the sqaure and streets round the hillside which centre on what is now known as Piazza Garibaldi. His descendants built a second palazzo in the late 17th century - the Palazzo Vitelli on another hill in the town.

Piazza Garibaldi

Read the Tuscany guide books (the one I have in the apartment doesn't even give the village a mention) and many of them will tell you the village is of no consequence with very little to see - possibly because the castles are not open to the public and there is only one small archaeological museum to visit. Take no notice of this bunkum. This is an atmospheric, charming and beautiful place well worthwhile making an excursion to see. Wander round the Piazza Garibalidi before strolling through the narrow alleys and backstreets and its like stepping back in time.

One of Cetona's atmospheric streets many of which date
back to earlier centuries

Admire the geranium potted windows and balconies and read the menus on the several trattoria before returning to the square for a coffee. Don't forget to find a vantage point to look out over the valley to our little hill top town at Citta della Pieve.

Jon with our locally grown peaches in the frutta e verdura
 in Piazza Garibaldi - Cetona

 We bought some local peaches from the frutta e verdure in the square to eat at home, went in the little church, visited an attractive interior design shop and finished off the tour with a coffee in one of the several bars. I was not suprised to later discover that Cetona was a place frequented by the glitterati in the 1960's. With a position just off the motorway half way between Florence and Rome it became the haunt of some of Italy's rich and famous at this time.

Italian fashion designer Valentio who has a home in Cetona

Valentino, the Italian fashion designer, came here with his wife and later his boyfriends. He'd come to the fore in Rome and Florence haveing studied and worked in Paris first in the early 60's and eventually he purchased the Palazzo Vitelli which he still owns today. Famous not only for his red dresses and love of dogs I cast an eye round the square to see if anyone was out walking a collection of pugs, but sadly not on this occasion. I will be back to try my luck again soon - lunch here next week sounds a good idea. And the black dog as Winston Churchill used to call it? - well that's well and truly back in its kennel!! There can be no better antidote to negative thoughts than a trip to Umbria and Tuscany in fine autumn weather.

The view from Cetona to our village just visible on the skyline at Citta della Pieve.

Ciao & KBO

Next posting - coming soon - is about our just enjoyed weekend trip to Siena and the very special and memorable journey we undertook on a vintage steam train to Buenconvento and the Val d'Orcia.

PIENZA - A TOWN ON THE EDGE

Its the beginning of September 2015 and time to start thinking about our upcoming holiday in Italy. It's with some trepidation that we make our plans given the recent devastation that has taken place only a couple of hours drive away from our little town in Umbria. I'm still thinking about the plight of the victims and their families every day!.

Earth movements with resultant effects on buildings are commonplace in most parts of Italy and the quake in Umbria has reminded me of a visit we made last September to the beautiful and unique little Tuscan town of Pienza just over an hour's drive west from our place In Citta della Pieve. There a small cathedral sits precariously on the side of a cliff and the building has seen damage over the centuries as a result - but more about that later.



THE TUSCAN TOWN OF PIENZA SITS ON A TUFA CLIFF AND
 IS DOMINATED BY THE CATHEDRAL

This amazing little place, close to the better known Tuscan town of Montepulciano, owes its origins to the Renaissance Pope Pius II who was born Enea Silvio Piccolomini in the local village of Corsignano in 1405. After his election as Pope he visited his home village in 1459 and resolved to build a new church and palace at the place where his life had begun. He chose Florentine architect - Bernardo Rossellino to create his vision and what is remarkable is that the whole project was completed between 1459 and 1464. The place was renamed Pienza after the Pope but the name also referred to its status as "a pious place".

THE STUNNING VAL d' ORCIA SEEN FROM PIENZA

In true Renaissance spirit Pope and architect conceived the town as a model settlement where people would live, work and worship peacefully and where a rational approach to everything from street layout to building design would be underpinned by renaissance principles of geometry and classical proportions. This, it was envisaged, would replace the chaotic nature of the medieval village and promote the desired values. Harmony and balance would be rooted in the essential fabric of the place.

PIENZA - STREET PLAN & CENTRAL PIAZZA
SHOWING POSITION OF CATHEDRAL & PALAZZO PICCOLOMINI

The map of the town shows a regular main street with side streets arranged at right angles to this principal thoroughfare. Squares - public spaces - were introduced in to the plan to accommodate not only an open air market, but social events as well - just as had been the case in Roman towns. Optical illusions were introduced to maintain the feeling of "harmony" as one walked through the streets. For example the main street still has a slight bend to it in the middle so that walking down it you don't see both ends at once. This makes it appear longer than it actually is. The square fronting the cathedral is not a perfect square but deliberately designed as a trapezium to create an impression of breadth. Walk round the back streets of the town today and the narrow roadway makes a perfect viewing platform for the spectacular Tuscan landscape of the Val  d'Orcia - one of the glories of central Italy at any time of year, but especially beautiful in the late summer - the time when we were there.

Palazzo Piccolomini, originally desinged to be the Pope's residence in the town, is considered by some to be one of the earliest classical Renaissance buildings in this part of Italy and it is clearly influenced by the Florentine Palazzo Rucellai by the renowned Alberti. Parts of the building are open to the public and from the three tiered loggia there are good views of the astonishingly beautiful countryside below.

CATHEDRAL & PALAZZO PICCOLOMINI - PIENZA

Next door is the spectacular cathedral which you must go inside if you visit the town for it is here that the glories and problems of the town are seen side by side.

THE GLORIOUS VAULTED CEILING OF THE CATHEDRAL 

The cathedral was built on the site of an ancient parish church dedicated to Santa Maria but orientated in a different direction to the original. The new church was designed so its impressive travertine classical front facade would look over the central piazza and with its presbytery thus necessarily extending out over a precipitous slope of clay and tufa - an old volcanic material. This evidently started to become unstable and cause problems for the builders even before the structure was finished. Cracks were visible the day the cathedral was inaugurated. Since the early 1500's restoration work on the church has been regularly carried out to prevent this end of it collapsing. Because of its alignment and large windows however - one of the glories of the cathedral over the centuries has been the wonderful and mysterious light effects created at different times of day inside the church.

RED LINE INDICATES APSE CRACKS BEFORE
CONSOLIDATION WORK WAS BEGUN IN 1910

The problems for the building accelerated in the early decades of the 20th century and between 1910 and 1934 a massive project was put in place to create new sub foundations for the affected part of the church. According to the research I've done the apse currently sits on a huge block of masonry 10 storeys high and with many metres of narrow inspection galleries criss-crossing it where movement and rainwater ingress can be constantly and carefully monitored. There are parts of this structure that are open to the public but I couldn't access these on the day of our visit. The process of deterioration was arrested and slowed down but not completely stopped; today the land continues to obey the forces of gravity and very gradually it continues to move downhill. Walking through the church is a strange almost surreal experience - the changes of level are disconcerting and the cracks truly disturbing. A landslide sometime in the future is not beyond the realms of possibility!!

WALL DAMAGE SEEN IN THE APSE AREA IN SEPTEMBER 2017

Records show that after the end of the Republic of Siena in the 16th century the whole are of the Val d'Orcia, including Pienza, went in to decline and in fact eventually became an area of extreme poverty in the early 20th century. Only improvements to the agricultural system in the area in the 1960's and the more recent development of tourism have led to greater prosperity. So important is the area considered to be historically that UNESCO declared Pienza a World Heritage Site in 1996 and the same status was afforded the Val d'Orcia generally in 2004.

PIENZA VIEWPOINT

TAKING IN THE VIEW

Pienza is a must if you are visiting Tuscany. Its beautiful, arresting and fascinating in equal measures. All of it is memorable, but if you must eat and shop - well there are lots of nice restaurants and specialist boutiques and galleries to browse in along the main street. The shop selling local cheeses is well worth seeking out and there are lots of products to taste inside. If you are on the Tuscan trail do go and enjoy what has to be one of central Italy's most alluring towns.

THERE ARE OVER 90 POSTS MAKING UP THIS BLOG SO I HOPEYOU WILL CONSIDER LOOKING AT SOME OF THE OTHER LISTINGS OR EVEN CONSIDER BECOMING A FOLLOWER - THUS HELPING ME KEEP IT ALIVE - CHEERS IAN 

UPDATE
October 2016
We've back in Umbria this month and just driven back from Montalcino to Citta via Pienza. We stopped the car to take a photograph of the back of the town from the road and it looks as though once again work is being done on the cathedral foundations - a huge crane was visible which can be seen in the photograph below.

CONSTRUCTION CRANE AT THE SITE OF THE REAR OF PIENZA CATHEDRAL - OCTOBER 2016