View from the Apennines

We walked all the way up here, honestly we did! Well truth to tell, we drove but we did walk a little way further up o the Apennine ridge.

A walk in the woods

Cath treks through the beech woods shortly before having to turn back suffering from altitude sickness, oxygen deficiency and lactic build up in her quadriceps.

Beech woods

The Apennine ridge is about 6000 ft high above Bagnone. We cheated and drove to the nearest pass across the range and took a walk from there. What surprised me was that the woods below the tree-line were beech woods. We made a walk through the woods to a glacial lake. It was a lovely walk; cool in the woods with beautiful views opening up both across the valley and up to the ridge.

Alleyways in Patina

Cath wanders though the Pastina alleyways having just taken refreshment, shaded from the sun, outside a small bar.

View across Pastina

A view across the rooftops and the church to the tower and the Apennine ridge behind.

Pastina

The village of Pastina sits at the end of a ridge and surveys Bagnone and all the surrounding area. It is a magical village, with this tower and shrine and a maze of houses and alleyways.

Malgrate exhibition sculpture

This sculpture was fitted into an alcove and was fun in a slightly disturbing way.

Malgrate exhibition panel

This panel was exhibited in the castle buildings and was beautiful and probably significant too!

Malgrate exhibition

One of the attractions in Malgrate Castle on the day we visited was an art exhibition. This mobile installation was attractive and the photo is framed by an opening in the castle wall and shows Cath examining one of the objects.

Malgrate castle

The next village to Nezzana is Malgrate with this superb castle. The houses, church, castle buildings and tower are almost wholly contained within the castle walls.

Cemetery

The journey to the villa was interesting to say the least. You started on a motorway, then dropped onto to an A class road then a B road and finally, on reaching a small country cemetery, turned onto a dirt track. On our first day it seamed 5 miles along the dirt track to the vila but in fact it was less than 1 mile. Later in the week, I walked back to the cemetery and found it charming with some fascinating graves stones. My favourites were one depicting a horseman with horse and this one showing an artisan though I can not work out his trade.

Bagnone

Our villa was just outside Bagnone, in a small hamlet called Nezzana. Bagnone is famous for its castle, one of over 160 in the area. The castle is separated from the centre of the village by a gorge cut by water flowing down from the Apennines.

L'Amorosa

Our villa, L'Amorosa, from the garden. Cath is sitting on the loggia looking out over Bagnone and the Apennine mountains.

Bologna

We stopped overnight on the way to and from Tuscany. Bologna was hot but beautiful. Many of the old buildings and churches were being refurbished and when all the work is done, albeit many years hence, it will be stunning city. This photo captures the colour as well as the old and the refurbished buildings.