Touring From a Tuscan Castle

As we drove up the winding, circular road leading to Castello di Gargonza, I thought of Dante. Banished from his native Florence, his home burned and friends killed in the political turmoil of the early 1300s, Dante sought refuge in this medieval castle community atop a Tuscan hill.

Like the poet, we also were seeking shelter at Castello di Gargonza, but our circumstances were not at all dramatic. My wife, Katherine, our sons, Alex, 9, and Henry, 13, and I were on our annual vacation to Europe, and after researching where to stay (that’s my job in the family), we chose this castle community for our home away from home two summers ago. We stayed here in the heart of Tuscany for a week, using the castle, or castello, as our base for day trips. We returned each night, walking the same stone paths that Dante and countless others have trodden in the 800 years since the fortified village was built.

Our 1,000-square-foot Gargonza apartment had a living room and dining area, kitchen, two bedrooms, one bath and a loft with an extra bed. The rooms were appropriately Tuscan: red tile floors and chestnut ceiling beams.

Staying for a week allowed us to relax and explore city and country, and the kitchen helped keep our meal costs reasonable. We could make quick breakfasts, prepare picnics and eat in when we didn’t feel like dining out.

The tab for the week’s stay was about $1,000, less than a comparable hotel.

In return, we were surrounded by history. Within these circular walls, a few city blocks of small paths lead to the 13th century Romanesque church, a lounge and bar, a restful garden and the dwellings that make up the Castello di Gargonza compound.

Other than the tower and the chapel, the buildings are more from rural life than from the fairy-tale castle of our imaginations. Still, the castello buildings, mostly two stories and made of beige and brown stone, look out over the Chiana Valley, lush with grapes and other crops. Beyond lie the equally lush towns and cities of Tuscany.

After checking in, we were ready to explore our new home.

The castello became a village during a period of agricultural reform in the 18th century, and these dwellings once were home to the carpenters, blacksmiths and others who served the nearby farmers. Each of the 25 apartments (sleeping two to 10 people) is named for a former occupant of the castello; ours was called Argentina for the daughter of a family who lived here.

Count Roberto Guicciardini Corsi Salviati, a descendant of the man who acquired the castello in the 1700s, spent time here in his youth and returned in 1968 to restore the castle. By then it needed considerable time and attention to right its ruined walls and replace its collapsed roofs. The renovation was, by all appearances, a success.

Just below the castello, several buildings have been converted to rental units. You’ll also find La Torre, the restaurant, and a modern, 40-foot-long swimming pool, where we spent several afternoons splashing after morning trips.

We dined at La Torre on our first night in Gargonza. Henry tried the pasta with rabbit sauce, which he deemed “OK.” Katherine’s pork fillet in black olive sauce was good but salty, and Alex’s mild pasta suited him just fine. (I wasn’t especially hungry, so I nibbled.)

Thus we were fortified for our first foray outside the walled village.

On our first day venture from Gargonza, a Sunday, we drove about 100 miles in our rental car to Pisa and its nearby neighbor, Lucca.

In the northeast part of Pisa is Piazza del Duomo, also known as the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles), home to a cathedral, a baptistery, a cemetery and the much-photographed Leaning Tower, which seemed to us to lean even more in person. The buildings, each with marble exterior, made an intriguing geometric ensemble.

After lunch (sandwiches and pizza at a sidewalk cafe), we headed for Lucca, 15 miles away.

The city’s ramparts and regulations restrict vehicles in the area, so we explored the center on foot, encountering its two best-known churches, San Michele in Foro and San Martino. Both are built in the Pisa Romanesque style with arched entrances, multiple levels of arcades and multitudes of columns.

The Palazzo Pfanner, a 1667 mansion with a delightful formal garden, gave us a needed break from our touring. (As itinerary master, I sometimes tend to be a little too ambitious in planning.) Its paths, lined with statues of Roman gods and goddesses and adjacent pools, helped slow us down a bit.

We couldn’t seem to visit any Tuscan town without climbing at least one tower. In Lucca that was the Guinigi Tower, known for the ilex trees that grow out of its top like a bizarre hairdo. Our effort was rewarded with views over the red-roofed city skyline and the rolling hills just beyond.

Dinner that night was at Buca di San Francesco, about 20 minutes from Gargonza in Arezzo, whose center was largely destroyed in WWII. Katherine ordered bread soup, a delicious, thick broth with chunks of bread and vegetables. Alex stuck with the safety of a pasta dish, but Henry and I had the assorted Tuscan meats. Both of us found some meats more or less to our liking, and we traded.

Just as we were getting to know Tuscany we took a detour the next day to the Marches region, heading for the ducal palace of Urbino, about 80 miles northeast. The glorious Renaissance structure, started in 1444, is now home to the National Gallery of the Marches. It includes celebrated works by Piero della Francesca (“The Flagellation of Christ”), Titian (“Last Supper”) and Urbino’s most famous son, Raphael (“The Mute,” a portrait of a woman), born here in 1483.

Leaving the ducal palace, we walked downhill a few blocks toward Raphael’s house and took a slight detour for pizza. By the time we had finished these pieces of heaven, Raphael’s house was closed for lunch. We had sacrificed culture for carbos, but some of us thought the trade-off was worth it.

We’re Californians, but after driving even farther--a quick stop in San Leo--we knew we’d spent too much time in the car, so we stayed closer to home for our next outing, this time to Siena.

After a half-hour drive, we wandered about the fan-shaped Piazza del Campo, the main plaza of Siena. The red brick paving was installed in the 1300s in nine sections to represent the Council of Nine that ruled the city. Facing the piazza is Palazzo Pubblico, the Gothic town hall, which was completed in 1342.

We walked a few blocks west to Piazza del Duomo and the multicolored marble facade of its cathedral. It houses sculpture by Michelangelo and Donatello, and the inlaid marble floors, the work of 40 artists over a 200-year period, depict 56 biblical scenes. Striped columns of black and white marble support the ceiling, which was painted to look like night with gold stars against a blue background. We left with stars in our eyes.

We spent more time looking heavenward in San Gimignano, a town that has more than a dozen 12th and 13th century towers, our Wednesday destination. We explored the largely medieval streets and piazzas, climbed the tower of the People’s Palace, now the civic museum, and enjoyed a picnic within the walls of a small fort.

A trip to Tuscany requires a visit to Florence, which Katherine and I had been to in our pre-parenthood days. Now it was time to show the boys this birthplace of the Renaissance.

Early on Thursday morning, we went first to Galleria dell’Accademia, home to Michelangelo’s David, which stands at the end of a corridor lined with Michelangelo’s unfinished statues seemingly struggling to emerge from their stone shells. Although the boys admired Michelangelo’s work, they laughed every time we passed one of the hundreds of outlets selling millions of duplicate Davids.

On Friday, the day after a fierce storm soaked our apartment and knocked out the power for a time, we had one more tower to climb: Gargonza’s, open only to guests and only on request.

Alex opened the lock and we entered the tower, which looked as though it belonged in an Indiana Jones film: dark, full of spider webs, with wooden stairs just waiting to grumble with age.

At the top, I pushed open a trap door and we climbed onto the roof and into the sunlight. The best views were of Gargonza, of the octagonal well and courtyard, the rustic stone buildings, the pathways and church bells. A fine place, indeed, to find shelter from all kinds of storms.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GUIDEBOOK

Staying and Playing in Tuscany

Getting there: To get to Gargonza, fly into Pisa or Florence and rent a car. Restricted round-trip air fares to Pisa or Florence from LAX begin at $1,010. Alitalia serves Pisa from LAX. Connecting service to Florence from LAX is available on Alitalia, Lufthansa, Air France and British Airways.

Where to stay: With the strong dollar, our accommodation, for which we paid $1,000, is now about $925 a week. Prices for four-bed accommodations at the castle begin at $622 per week, depending on the season. Weekly rentals for two begin at $453; for up to 10, they begin at $1,018.

Gargonza also has seven traditional hotel rooms and five suites in a guest house that rent by the night and include breakfast. Doubles begin at $94 and suites at $140.

For information about the castle, contact Castello di Gargonza, Localita Gargonza, 52048 Monte San Savino (Arezzo), Italy; telephone 011-39-0575-847-02123, fax 011-39-0575-847-054, Internet https://www.gargonza.it.

Castello di Gargonza is a member of Abitare la Storia, an association of 40 historic owner-operator accommodations throughout Italy. For a copy of the directory of properties, contact Abitare la Storia, Localita L’Amorosa, 53048 Sinalunga (Siena), Italy; tel. 011-39-0577-632-256, fax 011-39-0577-632-160, Internet https://www.abitarelastoria.it.

Where to eat: We prepared many of our meals in our apartment, getting supplies from grocery stores around the area. (Grocery shopping is much the same in Italy as it is in the U.S.)

At the castello, we tried La Torre, local tel. 0575-847-065. Three-course dinners cost about $25 a person plus wine, but castello guests get a 10% discount.

In Arezzo, we enjoyed Buca di San Francesco, Via San Francesco 1; tel. 0575-23-271. Dinner for four, with house wine, was $80.

For more information: Italian Government Tourist Board, 12400 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Los Angeles, CA 90025; tel. (310) 820-0098, fax (310) 820-6357, Internet https://www.italiantourism.com.