Pines on the Tuscan coast, Gulf of Baratti (Patrick Nicholas)

How can this be? Known also as the Italian Stone Pine it is recognised all over the world as an Italian icon. So I ordered two for €45 each, my own rather insignificant counter attack against the inexplicably destructive campaign by planners, architects and even artists throughout Italy to neglect them at best, chop them down at worst.

Naples 1970s postcard still on sale

Postcards of the bay of Naples still feature the lonesome pine despite the fact it was felled over 30 years ago and never replaced;

Klimt, Taormina

there is no umbrella pine at the Greco-Roman theatre in Taormina, Sicily as imagined by Klimt;

Turner, Orvieto

the pine in the mid distance of William Turner’s celebrated view of Orvieto is long gone; and most recently of all, every single pine in La Spezia’s Piazza Verdi was felled despite a long campaign waged by local inhabitants. Internationally known art critic Vittorio Sgarbi lent his weight to the protest, while overseas friends of La Spezia railed against this wanton act of destruction. And the final insult, this was in Liguria, the region that has given the world Pesto Genovese, the essential ingredient of which is the exquisite pine nut, the pinolo.

Pine felling in Piazza Verdi, La Spezia, Liguria, May 2014.

The pines were planted during the fascist period and this is often sufficient motive for modern architects and planners to justify their acts of vandalism.  At 80 years old the La Spezia pines were not even middle aged, indeed they had not even reached their prime. After a hundred years or so the umbrella canopy spreads further giving even more shade below. They live nigh on 300 years. The refurbishment of the piazza was thrown open to international competition despite the fact that most citizens were happy with their shady piazza as it was.

Shade-free Piazza Verdi with nano orange trees as it will be.

The competition was won by French conceptual  artist Daniel Buren (aka ‘The Stripe Guy’) with architect G.Vannetti from Florence. It is curious how the ’68 generation of artists (Buren was born 1938), while adhering to a nominally democratising revolution, has found itself trampling on the opinions of the citizenry of provincial cities like La Spezia. The hitherto ignorant and uncultured citizens may in time come to appreciate the conceptual art of Buren with its striped, apparently pointless, primary coloured, two-dimensional arches; modernist obelisks and candy striped fountains, though I suspect their new found enthusiasm for abstract minimalism may be tempered by the minimal shade offered by the nano orange tree.

Orvieto through the pines

In Tuscia, the ancient land of the Etruscans with Orvieto at its heart, the pines have been under attack for years. Avenues of pines planted to shade main roads before the war now have gaps like a street-fighter’s missing teeth. They are never replaced if damaged or diseased, one day in the future my  eleven year old daughter may no longer see the impressive avenue that leads to the top of the hill overlooking Orvieto.

no pines now – Civita di Bagnoregio

The pines that shaded us when we photographed the evocative hill town of Civita di Bagnoregio from nearby Lubriano were ruthlessly, and quite unnecessarily hacked down in 2010 to be replaced by gnomish slow-growing oaks that provide no shade whatsoever. The Stone Pine below which the old tobacconist in the piazza remembers being planted as a youngster was felled in 2011 despite local opposition. The piazza is now empty – and shadeless.

Pine in Bolsena – sadly no more

So Nicholas is on the counter attack. My first effort ended in failure. In 2008 we planted a 5 year old pine beside the road on the hill opposite Orvieto from which Turner painted his landscape. It was cut down 6 months later in September by a local peasant who ranted on about his olives.  So we tried again, this time on the other side of the road on a friend’s land. Our cat Oti was buried beneath it 6 months later.

planting ‘Oti’ 2009 with Allegra Nicholas and growing strong in 2014 – Orvieto in the distance

Since then we have planted three more, one within the city walls of Orvieto, a second just outside and this one ‘Hugo’ (Allegra loves the musical Les Miserables) at Vulci near the Tyrrhenian coast. For years I have badgered the staff at the Archeological site to plant some trees to provide shade for the visitors’ car park – to no avail.

Vulci, Allegra plants ‘Hugo’ (Victor is in Orvieto)

In a few years time I hope to park my car in its ample shade, but I imagine as the only substantial tree in the car park there will be a bit of a fight for the privilege.

Hamadryads are nymphs associated with trees, each one having its own Hamadryad. They are not immortal, they share their destiny with the tree: when the tree sickens and dies, so does the nymph. In my picture below called Hamadryads  one nymph is dying alongside her host, felled by high winds; the other clings to the trunk, safe for the time being, but for how long?

If any Hamadryad espies Daniel Buren passing anywhere near her tree I suggest she knee him as hard as she can in the pinoli.

Hamadryads (2009)

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Orvieto is girded by city walls, fortresses, towers and gatehouses. You can walk the entire circumference below the walls on an easy, well made path in a little over an hour – there are stunning views across the Umbrian countryside towards the Appenines and the golden hills of Tuscany a mere 20km away. There is no country quite like Italy for its processions and street festivals. The townsfolk dress up in gorgeous mediaeval costume for Corpus Domini held every year sometime in June.

Gorgeously costumed knight

Cavalier and………….

Round head

Bolsena on the lake

The festival is part of the celebration of the Miracle of Bolsena. The story goes that a Bohemian monk returning from  pilgrimage to Rome in 1263 had a crisis of faith, he no longer believed in transubstantiation (something similar happened to Luther with quite different results). Stopping to conduct mass in Bolsena on the shores of Lake Bolsena the host bled over the napkin. The bishop was summoned to witness the miracle, followed by the Pope who ordained that Orvieto Cathedral be especially built, starting in 1290, to house the miraculous relic. This is paraded through the city every year  on the nearest Sunday to Corpus Christi  (Corpus Domini), accompanied by knights, dames and damsels ……..and children.

Fresco in Orvieto Cathedral illustrating the legendary events concerning the miracle of Bolsena. The pope, Urban IV then resident in Orvieto, is dressed in starry yellow robes. Kneeling, he meets the bishop who has come from Lake Bolsena (the blue in the background) on the Bridge below Orvieto where he sees the blood stained linen ‘corporale’ for the first time.

Corpus Domini, Orvieto

The Holy Relic of the Bolsena Miracle in procession

Corpus Domini is for all ages

The young dame

The old Dame

Orvieto’s gothic Cathedral from across the valley

Corpus Domini Festival in Orvieto is spread over 2 days. The Dames and Damsels on Saturday afternoon, the knights, notaries and grandees Sunday morning. A wonderful opportunity to photograph costumes, take portraits, revel in folk lore, observe religious devotion and be with people having a wonderful time!  A photography workshop in Italy could not  be based in a more appealing place than Ovieto, and in a better time than June to enjoy the light and the colours. Camera Etrusca Corpus Domini Photo Workshops are held every year but the date varies. In 2019 it will be the weekend of  22/23 June. The workshop starts Friday 20 June.

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Spring in Italy may have been slow in coming this year, but all that rain means even more wild flowers – especially poppies. Come to Tuscany and Umbria in June and you will see the brightest and most colourful wild flowers anywhere in Europe. Normally poppies last until about mid-June, but this year they should be with us until the end of the month.

Photo Workshops in Tuscany

For those of you coming to Italy from northern climes, the poppies will seem redder than they do at home. This is not a subjective opinion, but fact. The sun in England, for example, is never high enough in the sky to allow the human eye to switch off the rods…the sensors we use to see in black and white in low light. However, in the Mediterranean the sun is so high that we use only the cones, the colour sensors, the black and white rods switch off, and we see in pure saturated colour. This is one reason why the ‘milords’ on the Grand Tour in the old days were so stunned by the light on crossing the Alps into Italy – the colours of wild flowers, especially, were a revelation.

Poppies field in Tuscany

Though the poppy is without doubt the most colourful of weeds and one of the most beautiful of all flowers, for many it holds a touch of melancholy as the symbol for commonwealth nations of the war dead.

Poppies field in Umbria

Discover our typical week long Photo Workshop in Tuscany, Umbria and Latium Our Photo Workshops

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olive picking, October, Orvieto

a family activity

Green oil lasts longer too – up to a year if stored in a cool place in a dark bottle or tin. That said the yellow variety is good too and better in some ways – if you can trust where it comes from. Made from maturer darker olives, yellow oil is sweeter, just as full of flavour but lasts less long as it has less anti-oxidents than the green fruit. Most oil, even the best, tends towards the yellow because the mature olive gives more oil and therefore a better crop. But be warned, yellow oil in a shop could be blended or refined.

underground olive press, Civita di  Bagnoregio

The oil can either be stone pressed, the traditional method, or centrifuged, the latter has a stronger flavour and also costs less. Those with refined tastes inevitably chose the former in blind tests. Cold pressed really means nothing as the heat method only makes low grade cooking oil which nobody wants, but scandalously often finishes in blended oils.

Olive oil is ruined by heat – so it is for pouring onto a dish not for cooking.

If I were ever marooned on a desert island I would hope to find olives.

Beware!

Like wine and malt whisky there is an enormous amount of arcane knowledge involved, but unlike the  jealously guarded malt whisky business there is also an enormous amount of deliberately created confusion and even gross fraud in the olive business. This does the small scale producers no good at all. They produce the best oil but cannot compete with the adulterated oils that find themselves onto the supermarket shelf.

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