Villa Celle

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I have already been in the beautiful region of Tuscany for two and a half months and have been quite busy so I am just getting to my first blog post right now, which means I have plenty to talk about.

Upon arrival in Firenze, I was mesmerized by the green countryside of Tuscany; the rolling hills, the peace and tranquility and the cute colourful villas mounted on top of the hills. It was a picture out of a postcard. I was fortunate enough to have Signor Gori, the owner and private art collector from Villa Celle drive me, as he gave me brief history of the villa I would be living in for the next 3 months. The views from this villa were absolutely breathtaking that overlooked the towns below; you could see Firenze's Duomo in the distance to the left and the nearby historic city of Pistoia to the right. It was a picture off a postcard, however, this soon became to be a disadvantage.

I will talk about the internship at Villa Celle and what it involved and in other blogs I will talk about the places that I have visited and the best places to see. Villa Celle is a private collection of Site- Specific Art that is the only contemporary site- specific art gallery in Italy. It originated in 1982 when Signor Gori invited 10 artists to create pieces throughout his massive gardens as well as in the 18th century villa. My job as the intern for this year, was to guide tours in both english and italian and inform tourists about the artists, why they chose the spot and why it is particularly special to the artist. I must admit, being a tour guide has been quite fun, and as a history major I would love to do something along those lines in the field of history for the next time, as contemporary art was not necessarily my passion, however, I did gain a great appreciation. On the days that I would not have tours, I would work in the office answering phones and doors, which I will admit had me extremely frustrated. Sitting on a computer for 4 hours doing nothing in the mornings when I could be out had me a little baffled but sometimes you just need to suck it up. So I alternated between tours and office work for 3 months. overall, I have to say that this experience was quite different but not sure I would do it again. For one thing, the hosts did not provide a car, so when you're in the Campagna (countryside) of Italy, do not expect to get anywhere in a good amount of time. It was a pain in the patella to travel to and from the Villa, in fact, most of my money went towards the cab rides from the station to the villa. So being so out of the way was a large economic cost as well as a disadvantage in relation to travel time. So overall, the experience was not necessarily what I expected it to be, but I did learn how to try to make the best of a situation and I enjoyed myself as much as I could, this is not an experience I would do again.

Living in Italy has given me a different perspective as I have travelled Italy many times and the views have never ceased to amaze me whenever my family has driven through Italy. However, living in Italy is a different story entirely: the trains are not the most reliable so I would not have a time set to arrive somewhere, the buses only run till 8 o clock at night and on sunday, they only come 4 times a day. My suggestion for those Tuscan dreamers is, yes, the views are incredible, the wine is out of this world amazing, the food is fresh and bursts with flavour, but if you want to do Tuscany make sure you either 1) live in a city like Florence where it is easy to get to major train stations or 2) rent a car. Or if you are looking for a quite getaway, a villa perched on a Tuscany hill is beautiful for a short period of time, more than 2 weeks and you might just start picturing civilization as a distant memory.

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Photos

Villa Celle
This is the front view of the 18th century Villa. It radiates history.

La Casina del Te
This is where one of the art works is located throughout the park. It is a Tea house that was created in the 1900's as an homage to the antiquity of the park.

Gardens
Lucky me, here at Villa Celle, they grown their own vegetables, wine and olive oil.