Castel San Niccolò

A very different kind of day. Mist and low cloud; a thin drizzle. As I drove down to the village the castle stood there in the fog. Taken on the phone but it gives an impression.

It was a commanding presence on the old Roman road that ran between Arezzo and Florence and saw bitter fighting and reprisal back in the 13/14th centuries. The vanquished garrison were hung from the castle walls. The whole nine yards.

I walked up there last week. A strange place. Almost deserted in winter. The acrid woodsmoke from Strada’s chimneys. Damp and slippery stone lanes. A church with 16th century graffiti in the soft stone. The steep paths up no longer passable and the long road scarred with land slips and huge boulders. Not a place you’d want to defend or attack.

I went on my way today. Picked up wine and ran down the busy twisting Arno road to Subbiano to the Co-op. It was quiet at lunchtime and they have sanitizer parked by the trolleys.

We’re back in the yellow zone but very wary. And now a full blown crisis has hit the government as ex-Florence mayor Matteo Renzi pulled his three ministers out of the ruling coalition. It looks and feels like a move of utter cynicism. He’s been nicknamed The Demolition Man.

There’s probably another side to the argument but right now I’m not looking for it.