Taranto - a town of gritty beauty

Working the Docks

Taranto - an amazing city of industrial chimneys and factories, juxtaposed with fabulous waterways and harbours: a city of purple hazed skies and sparkling seas; a city of pleasure crafts and waterfront promenades alongside a twenty four hour port and a harbour of battleships at the ready.

Taranto has history by the handful. Its Borgo Antico is gritty, old and unadulteratedly true to its past. In fact it is lucky to have even survived its past, and its torrid role in the wars of the twentieth century. With its harbour having always been a crucial home to Italy's naval fleet this beleagured city has found itself a target in any conflict. The Borgo Antico is constricted by a boundary of seas on all sides. Here the old city survives, tattered, ragged and real. Its colours are pealing, its walls are patched and repaired. Interspersed amongst its narrow streets are the arches and the decorative lights that bring so many Italian towns to life in the dusk.

Taranto is known as the Town of Two Seas.  - Mare Grande and Mare Piccolo. Bridges link the sides of an inlet separating the seas, except when the great swing bridge is lifted to allow access to the inner harbours. The protected nature of the harbour makes it a sought after berth for the many fishing boats which trawl the Ionian Coast.

At the entry to the Mare Grande is the Aragonese Castle. This castle was used as a fort to help protect the harbour, and then also as a prison in times past. The castle may look untouched by the battles which raged, but in fact it is magnificently repaired to its former glory. Its rounded battlements, its squat walls and tiny windows present an impregnable face to the ocean.

Beautiful Taranto is the holder of one astonishing statistic -  it has been declared the most polluted city not just in Italy but also in Western Europe. This unenviable title owes its origin to the industries and in particular the steel mills which are scattered around the edges of Taranto. Although work is being done to reduce emissions and control pollution in the area, the fight is by no means won. Just one more battle in this city's long and difficult history.

Astonishingly the city remains a city of great charm and beauty. For a large city it remains compact and walkable.

Its divided parts create pockets of history, areas of intimacy and architecture unlike any other city in Italy. Its harbours, bridges and boardwalks define a multitude of quarters, each with a unique style and attraction, all against a background of tall chimneys and billowing clouds rising up into the sky.

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Belvedere Marittimo and the Castello del Principe

Beautiful Ruins

Castello del Principe

The Normans invaded Italy during the tenth and eleventh centuries, and made their most significant impression on the south-most of the southern states and on Sicily. Belvedere Marittimo is a small town in southern Italy, split between the beach and the steep hills behind. The beach and port edge the coast below, and the hill town above looks out over the sea, the port, and the lush surrounding countryside.

Belvedere Marittimo has an exceptional centro storico (historic centre) and in particular the most exceptional castle ruins. These dominate the hillside and create the centre around which the hill town clusters. These ruins may have existed prior, but it was their capture by Roger the Norman which gave them their current form. Overseen by their Norman conqueror, it is the remains of this Norman castle fort which towers over the hilltop town today.

Although ruins they may be, the magnificent castle that once stood there is still plain to see in the shapes and contours of the stone work that has survived.

The castle that Roger built or perhaps adapted, is one of the most attractive examples of Norman castle building that still remains in recognisable form in Italy today. And even though this castle is now only ruins the glimpses of its towers, walls and gates add grandeur and stature to the town.













Belvedere itself is intricate and curious. Its tunnels, archways and lanes weave in and out of the Old Town in a confusing array of stairways and courtyards. The hill town has no commercial centre. The shopping hub of Belvedere is below on the waterfront and this is also the commercial heart of Belvedere. On the waterfront the cafes and bars take full advantage of the water's edge promenade. Accommodation also centres on the port. The hilltop town however, is Old Town at its best.

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 On the hilltop you will find a quieter way of life - for some perhaps, too quiet.   For others a chance to stroll slowly, to admire the perfect views across the valley, the coast and the sea; an opportunity to soak in the history, and gaze on the relics of the past.  In such an idyllic spot it is little wonder that Roger eyed up Belvedere Marittimo and decided it must be his. Now we are able to appreciate that times have moved on from the days of conquer or be conquered: The days of Roger the Norm.

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Diamante - A True Italian Jewel

The Diamante Diamond

Jutting out on a promontory in the Mediterranean is the town of Diamante, a small town with a mountain of initiative as it strives to make its presence felt alongside those famous names in the south of Italy ; -  you know them all -  Palermo, Tropea, Marsala .... Diamante calls on all its skills to make its mark amongst its illustrious neighbours  as it promotes its festivals and its points of distinction. Yet this is a town with character and charm in its own right, with its kilometres of relaxed beaches and its warmly coloured buildings steeped in history. It is a town whose charms are often overlooked.

In Diamante you will find yourself in a town which is all about the art.  The exterior walls of the houses that line the cobbled streets are punctuated with frescoes and murals, some small, some large, all a celebration of colour with the warm plaster walls as a canvas. There are they say, around seventy of these examples of wall art, and Diamante is quite unique amongst its south Italian neighbours in this respect. It is a visual extravaganza as you stroll the narrow streets.









However it is not just art which draws your eye as you walk through the streets of Diamante. It is the deep red clusters of colour hanging from balconies and verandas decorating the doorways, the walls, the shops. It is the bunches of drying chillies hanging vibrant and fiery in the sun ready for use.










In September each year Diamante holds a festival in celebration of the peperoncino - the hot chilli pepper. The festival attracts tens of thousands each year and is a big event in the Diamante calendar.




Market stalls offer food spiced with the mighty chilli pepper. There are decorations of chilli peppers; garlands of chilli peppers;  and of course there is the chilli eating contest. But in the end it is as a flavour enhancer rather than for intense heat that the chilli is chiefly used in Calabrian cuisine and it is this that the celebration is truly about.








Diamante is a relaxed town where the streets are quiet without the hubbub of the major tourist trade. The small harbour has its own fleet of fishing boats so the supply of good seafood can always be relied on at the local restaurants and cafes. The older parts of Diamante steadfastly resist the encroachments of ribbon built beach fronts -  as seen in some nearby towns. As you stroll along the quiet beach at sunset you will realise there is much to savour and enjoy about the jewel that is Diamante.

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On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

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Come to Positano

Cliff Top Dramas

Only a short drive from Sorrento you will find town after town of incredible beauty. These are small towns, almost villages. Each has an individual charm and only you will know whether it is the really tiny or the more sophisticated that you are drawn to.

Positano is the second largest town on the Amalfi Coast. But if it is small and charming that you are looking for, then nearby Atrani is the place for you. There are many alternatives in between and if you choose a hill town near one of its more famous cousins, you will halve your costs.



Each of these hill towns with their amazing views, are serviced by consistently regular buses which can transport you to the ultra-popular coastal towns in only minutes. In Positano itself, the houses tumble down the hillsides part hewn into the rocky cliff faces in breathtaking examples of engineering virtuosity.

No cliff is too great a challenge. Where there is an opportunity a home has emerged. As you make your way down towards the coast the hairpins shelter the most beautifully decorative homes and apartments. Often they are vine-covered; road edged; cliff embedded.

Sometimes there is a shrine set into the most challenging of corners. Sometimes there are monuments placed with views out over the ocean or the cliffs, and seats for those who choose to
pause. Other times there is an ancient edifice converted into current use - maybe selling sweet garments, maybe pots and crafts. Conversion of  ancient edifices to modern usage means survival for many of these historic buildings.








Interspersed with clusters of trees and bushes, the terracotta roofs and the many hues of the plastered walls create a dramatic contrast to the sparkling blue sea below.








Streets twist their way down the hillsides as they wrap around the cliffs, - hairpin bends just an every day occurrence on these steep descents. Vehicles and buses manoeuvre through the streets scarcely wide enough to be one way. Somehow the traffic keeps moving even if only at a slow crawl - blind corners just one more challenge to be skilfully negotiated.






Positano is the town that you will not wish to leave. It is delicate, tumbling, beautiful. It is on the edge of nature and on the edge of engineering virtuosity.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

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Sorretine Sweet Times

Sorrento

As you wend your way out of the tortuous roads of the Sorrentine Peninsula there will be questions asked: - Can this famous Italian town really be worth hours of twisting turning roads with rocky mountains on one side and steep cliffs on the other, dropping away to those sparkling seas below? As narrow as these roads may be, the locals do not slow and the buses thunder past. Around one more blind corner and finally from nowhere you are plunged into the streets of beautiful Sorrento.

Sorrento is a sea of art and colour. The narrow streets and thin buildings are draped with zigzags of
pendants and buntings. Civic buildings are not afraid to use bright colours that highlight their ornate facades. In the little side streets and alleyways the cafe tables are wrapped in tablecloths of deep blues and reds. Window boxes splash their own seasonal shades to add to the visual frenzy. And all the while the warm Mediterranean sun shines down in a celebration of outdoor living.

In the heart of Sorrento small shops are inserted into any available nook or cranny. The streets open out into small piazzas where locals and tourists pass the time with their coffee or their wine. A deep ravine slices through the heart of the town and disappears beneath the pedestrian dominated streets and into the hillside.

From the cliff tops there are shafts of view down to harbours filled with small boats and to the beaches and coves below - sometimes available only to private hotel guests where a marina or man-made promontory reaches out into the bay.













The rich blue waters are crossed endlessly by small pleasure crafts and by majestic cruise liners on their way back or forwards from the great port of Naples. Many of those passengers will make the day trip to Sorrento by bus. This most picturesque of towns may attract tourists by the hundreds during the day but in the evenings as the crowds depart, the locals remain and the true magic of Sorrento emerges.

Sorrento is not only for the rich and famous. A friendly camping ground in easy walking distance from the centre of town makes this mecca both affordable and accessible to anyone prepared to brave the hair-raising clifftop drive.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

Website: http://www.unusualstays.com/

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Minturno - Take those Side-roads!

Minturno Hill Town

T|he motorways snake their way through the countryside of southern Italy allowing fast passage from one city to the next. But there is more to see than the motorways will ever reveal and a diversion off the motorway to an uncertain destination - sometimes a dot on the map,sometimes an outline on a hillside, - is almost always time well spent.






































Minturno is just such  an undefined hillside diversion - an outline offering who knows what. Time to spare is your friend. Take those side-roads if you can.


The town of Minturno is a survivor of the ravages of war. Historic ruins part destroyed cling on to life and are re-inhabited and resurrected. Residents remain, bringing back their homes from the brink of decimation. In Minturno you will see this remarkable ability to take what remains and turn desolation into new life. From partially destroyed city walls new homes emerge, built into and inhabiting the ruins and then emerging like a butterfly from its chrysalis out of the ruins they have been handed.

 This is truly the spirit of determined survival. Splashes of colour breaking out through grey stone surrounds are identifying markers where new life has taken hold.



Minturno is essentially a dual-town,  - partly low lying on the coast and partly high up on a rugged hillside. Over the centuries it has fought a bitter war and been defeated at least three times, and it is now the hillside town of Minturno that fights on, with the lower town all but overridden except in name, by its surrounding neighbours and their modern beach villas.



















With a sweeping view of the countryside and the coast below, the town of Minturno is a magnificent spot. Quintessential hill-town as it is with its tall houses, its narrow lanes and its protective walls, it is only in its reconstruction that it keeps alive all that it has gone through. With its past in every wall, in every edifice, in every street, it is a town of living history.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

Website: http://www.unusualstays.com/

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Lazio's Magic Coast

Empty Beaches Southern Sunsets

In Italy the coastlines stretch on and on. You are never far from a breath-taking stretch of coast. West or east coast, the beaches are golden and sandy; the waves are summer gentle. Just a little north of Gaeta and Formia there are so many  places to choose from. But the area where the rough carved mountains move close to the sea and the campings are hidden in the soft foliage of the trees is where the scenic charms of the central Italian coast unfold at their best.

Here the low mountains and rough hillsides are eroded and craggy. A handful of bushes cling to the sandstone cliffs. The hills are a furrowed wrinkled rockscape and the beaches stretch out endlessly below.

At the foot of the mountains the hills smooth out into a narrow plain, and it is here that a scattered collection of accommodation options have taken root, most politely tucked in amongst the trees. The road snakes along, sometimes on the edge of the coast. Other times the cafes and camping grounds edge the beach and the road is pushed discreetly back into the foot of the hills. The cafes and restaurants are most often alongside the beach, all with outdoor terraces making the most of the endless views of surf and sand. Most offer accommodation - some providing cabins and camping, others a little more upmarket; -  all low rise, all at least a little understated. T|here are no glitzy chains to be seen along these golden beach fronts...




In the mornings the beaches are empty, the sun umbrellas not needed. Outside each terrace-deck and stretch of beach there can usually be seen someone smoothing, sweeping, re-grooming the sand into a pristine golden sheet ready for the beach-goers and customers later in the day. As the sun climbs, the sun worshipers arrive, the beach umbrellas come out, and precious hours are shared with sun and sea. Late in the day the restaurant terraces fill up, the sun begins to set, the hillsides turn amber, the sea turns to fire; - and the patrons sip their wine and enjoy fine fare and good conversation late into the night.

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All the Way to Anzio, Italy

A Visit to Anzio 

As you head south and begin to leave the great metropolis of Rome behind, it takes a surprisingly small amount of time to move beyond the urban madness to find those pockets of unspoilt innocence that lend colour to any journey.

Anzio - less than an hour from Rome - has a commercial centre that serves its purpose. But head to the harbour. This seaside promontory is something special. The elongated port is lined with small boats and fishermen on -selling their day's catch. Restaurants edge the pier, with their roll-up canvas awnings and ever-changing views stretching out across the water. Here, the freshest of fish can be enjoyed and the salt air just adds to the flavour.

Anzio as a town has had to endure a lot. World War II was not kind to Anzio. Nettuno -  the neighbouring town -  and Anzio were the sites of several critical battles during this most gruesome of wars, and there was significant loss of life in these towns.




Allied bombing did take its toll on Anzio but a number of villas survived and are landmarks today. In particular a villa belonging to Cicero - yes, that most famous of Roman politicians and orators, - dominates the hillside overlooking Anzio's vibrant harbour. Popes, cardinals and emperors all enjoyed the charms of Anzio as it developed into a town of summer residences for the wealthiest citizens of Rome.













Today Anzio is a much more humble town, in many respects rebuilt almost from scratch due to war, yet retaining enough of the old to still have a charm all its own.


In Anzio expensive pleasure boats dock alongside tiny fishing boats. 1950s apartments rub shoulders with sixteenth century villas. Tourists sit with locals. Fishermen studiously ignore photographers. The tree-covered hillside grounds of the ancient villas spill down almost to the water's edge.








For such a mistreated town it is astonishing that such colour, vibrancy and charm has managed to hold on and re-emerge despite its trials.

www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand chronicle of unique and unusual places to stay)
contact me via pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
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Gubbio Medieval Town in Perugia

Gubbio's Gothic Beauty

The beautifully modulated hillside town of Gubbio has all the charm of a small village pressed in as it is amongst the feudal walls of its boundaries. It is a town of substantial size compressed and intensified behind this fortified exterior armour of walls. Protected, almost hidden by its walls, the streets and squares open up to create amazing spaces, one minute small and twisted lanes, the next minute wide expansive plazas with sweeping views stretching out across the valley below, only to close in again around the next intimate cluster of shops.

Gubbio is a medieval town ancient in its history, in its buildings and in its atmosphere. The dramatic palace towers over the town, visible from almost every street corner. Its crenellated ramparts and cloister-like windows add expression to the vertical planes of its towering stone walls. Severe in its restrained grey Gothic style, it is a building which shapes and dominates the town. The houses which cluster around the streets and group around the foot of the palace often look untouched from the time more than five centuries ago when many of them were built.

Gubbio clings to the edge of  Mt Ingino, one of the tallest mountains in the Perugia region. The streets twist, turn, rise and fall around the edges of the mountainside. Narrow alleys turn into steep steps climbing up or dropping away to the lower levels. The city walls are broken by archways offering glimpses of the countryside and mountain beyond. Pedestrians share the cobbled streets with cyclists and the occasional creeping car. A dry channel where a moat once flowed, appears here and there around the perimeter of the town walls.

Below the town, restaurants are embedded in the caverns where once the wine was cellared. Gubbio is alive with cafes and bars, traders and dealers, tourists and locals. It is a historic town made vibrant and current by its inhabitants. It teems with enterprise and culture, welcoming in visitors to add to the trade which keeps the region alive.  Gubbio will always be a microcosm of the past in its buildings and architecture but in terms of its present it could not be more alive.

www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand chronicle of unique and unusual places to stay)
contact me via pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
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Urbino, the Marché District, Northern Italy

Urbino - The University Town

The once great city of Urbino remains a cornerstone of the Marché in north eastern Italy. Still important in its own right as a center of learning, its significant past is preserved in the history of those imposing ancient buildings which guard the footpaths. The palaces of Urbino are dignified and impressive. Their grey stone walls create a fortified frontage to the streets. They are buildings which express power rather than exuberance and demand respect rather than delight.

Urbino - like many of the great Italian walled cities - was planned to repel invaders and to be defended and defensible. The centuries provide a chronicle of many attacks, - some successfully resisted and some succumbed to. It is the history built into these stern walls which is recognised in Urbino’s status as a World Heritage Site.


From early in the twentieth century Urbino began to grow as a centre of learning, and today it is still known chiefly as a university town. The quiet streets in the early morning attest to its seasonal student population. With an emphasis on study and learning even to this day, the large historic buildings have been able to be put to good use and preserved. Glimpses of modern facilities within historic walls can be seen from the streets. The occasional cafe or picturesque craft shop also spills out from a palazzo here and there to add a splash of life and colour to what could otherwise be a stern streetscape.

Close to Urbino is the Fortress Sassocorvaro  -  an almost windowless castle with high rounded protective walls. The Fortress earned its fame as L’Arca del Arte - the Arc of Art. It is here that many of Italy’s great works of art were secreted during the Second World War, to protect and save them from the desecration of the Nazi war machine as it swept through Italy during the later stages of the war. Up to 10,000 works of art were saved in this way, including works by Bellini and Raphael.

www.unusualstays.com ( A New Zealand chronicle of unique and unusual places to stay)
contact me via pippy.mccurdy@gmail.com
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