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Published: April 28th 2015
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Castel Arquato
Round just like an Audi TT A jigsaw puzzle that is Castell Arquato
Can you imagine the perfect Italian hilltop town? Well you need to start with a jigsaw puzzle. The perfect picture of the Tuscan or Umbrian hillside town is on the box. A Rocca. A palazzo publicco and a pretty Romanesque church . All you need to do is find all the pieces and put them together to form the jigsaw picture .
We drove into Castell Arquato and saw the hilltop medieval town from the distance. As always it bodes well . But you need to open the box and see the pieces within. Will they make up the perfect picture ?
The first thing you need to do is find all the straight pieces and put them to one side . Castell Arquato has all the pieces from a distance as it stands prettily on the hilltop.
Back to the jigsaw you need corners four of them which need to be joined to the straight bits. So Castell Arquato needs a Rocca. It has one with two towers one complete but one ruined and views to die for across the outstandingly beautiful countryside .
Then you need to
find the rest of the pieces , the brown for the fields. Then there are the green of the trees, the picture perfect Palazzo Publicco built to impress in its pretty mellow stone looking delightful in the sunny afternoon. Carrying on finding the pieces you need a square which you get – small but perfectly formed. And a church – Romanesque of course , rounded with rounded windows . What delights might there be inside? And how about walls and a medieval gateway just to finish it off . Well Castle Arquato has the lot in abundance.
We found a convenient car park for Suzy and walked up the steps towards the Rocca and again wondered if the inhabitants of the town were just fit doing all this climbing or had dodgy knees . Arriving at the top of the hill we found the Rocca which was open for viewing. The curator ran across the car park to us to divest us of our entrance feeof 4 euro each . It would have been rude to refuse to go in now wouldn’t it? The Rocca was charming. One tower with cinema footage running on a loop and the other
three sided and falling down. The views across the valley from the Rocca were nothing short of orgasmic . And oh so peaceful too . A contradiction in terms I know.
Across the palazzo were cafes and restaurants, tat shop , the closed Pallazzo Publico stating to its neighbours that I am as good as you are. I can dispense good laws just the same as you can and I show my power and wealth in the same way as you do. I have a balcony and some steps. What more do I need?
The church sadly was closed so we had to rely on our own thoughts to paint a picture of what the inside might have looked like. All rounded like the bodywork of an Audi TT. The sort of roundness you feel that you have to or need to touch and run your fingers along the tufa blocks. A medieval wall divided the old town of narrow alleys from the new and an archway which could be gated prevented movement of people from down below to up above if it was necessary. St George was killing a dragon in a fresco on the gateway ceiling. He certainly gets around. We have seen him in Spanish sculpture and he is Englands own patron saint. I see England as St George and Wales as the dragon. But then I would being Welsh. And finally at the bottom of the hill was an old fountain cum wash house . Typical of what you would expect from the perfect Italian hilltop town. All that was missing was the old lady doing her washing in the water.
Was the jigsaw complete? . Oh yes it was and with buckets load more to spare .
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Love those Italian hill cities!
How great that you have your own wheels and can visit the towns off the tourist grid! A Romanesque church is always a plus.