Leaving Provence we head for Como in the north of Italy. Our original plan
was to drive via the Italian Alps. News of roads being cut by landslides caused
by unseasonable torrential rains persuade us to change our plans. We now drive
along the Cote D’ Azure crossing into Italy at Liguria.
Liguria is dark, mountainous and almost forbidding after the breezy
cosmopolitan air of the Cote D’Azure.
Crossing the border, the pink tones of concrete multi-storey apartment blocks
give way to a grey green landscape of massed olive trees. The olive trees are
large and unpruned, planted along terraces, on sharply inclining hillsides,
across the top of road tunnels, and growing wild along roadsides. The olive here
is a native - prolific as gum trees at home.
Harvesting is in progress. In this mountainous terrain the principle method
of collecting fruit is long rectangular nets suspended under the trees, or
simply laid on the ground underneath, allowing the ripe black olives to fall
unaided. No wonder the Ligurian oil is ripe, yellow, and sweet.
Driving non-stop in a day from the south of France to the north of Italy we
need a leisurely day on Lake Como to recuperate. Off season the lake is still
and quiet, hotels closed until the winter season began and only the occasional
café open.
The next day we abandon our car at Como (literally as we had 2 minutes to
train departure, six pieces of luggage, and Italian trains are notoriously
punctual) and travel to Florence. Here we stay in the hills overlooking the city
in the style of ‘Room with a View’. Arriving at a crowded ‘tourist’
restaurant for dinner adjacent to the Duomo we are prepared for an average meal.
It is easy to choose our entree – bruschetta with ripe tomatoes and olive oil.
We are not disappointed. We remember - it seems impossible to have a bad meal in
Tuscany.
From Florence we
travel south to Sienna. My absolute favourite European city. Set on top
the hills in the centre of Tuscany, it is the perfect walled city.
Here we stay at the splendid Villa Di Corsano 13 kilometers south of
Sienna. The Villa Di Corsano is set in an estate of olive groves,
vineyards, and durum wheat fields in the Crete district of Tuscany. Crete
(meaning clay) produces the archtypical Tuscan landscape of rolling hills
with the sharp silhouettes of cypress and stone farmhouses against the
skyline.
The Villa Di Corsano
is the setting for ‘Tuscan Cookbook’ by Stephanie Alexander and
Maggie Beer. Those who have seen the glorious images in the book will
appreciate the beauty of our surroundings.
Our host was Signore Mignone. The Mignone family took over the estate
after the Second World War. Signore Mignone is generous with his time and
knowledge of the local region. He has painstakingly restored the villa and
surrounding farmhouses (fattoria) which now provide excellent
self-contained accommodation.
The estate olive grove is mature. There is a combination of trees. Many
have been pruned to produce from 4 leaders and more recent trees have been
planted to replace those totally lost in the freeze. The trees are pruned
low as they are hand harvested. The grove is not irrigated.
Sienna has a
rainfall of 600mm per annum. The summers are hot and dry, with cold dry
winters. Most rain occurs in the autumn. The soil, as would be expected is
a heavy clay. The soil supports the other main crop of the region, durum
wheat. This variety is chosen, as its husk is unpalatable to the local
deer population. The main pest to the olive is the starling. We watched
one bird fly from a tree taking three olives. One in each claw and one in
the beak.
Signor Mignone allows a ground cover of grasses and borage to grow in
his groves. Many other groves are ploughed at this time of year to reduce
ground cover.
All groves are planted on a
large grid. When we asked about the possibility of growers moving to
trellised
plantings we were told olive trees are grown along strictly
traditional lines in Tuscany. One of the reasons is the Tuscan’s
awareness of the value of the landscape and a desire to preserve it.
We were fortunate to arrive during harvest. All trees are
harvested by hand with families taking their holidays to
join in the harvest. Groves are often harvested on a share
basis with the labourers taking a half share of the crop as
payment. More and more though, Italy’s tough labour laws are
increasing the cost of labour to the grower.
On driving further south to the
coastal region of Tuscany we visited new
plantings. This grove had just
been established (note the pots still on the hand cut stakes)
This grove has been planted using bamboo stakes and mesh tree guards.
Again both were in grids with no irrigation.
As compared to France, new
groves were not a common sight in Tuscany as the Tuscan's have always
maintained their olive groves.
