RUSTYGATE -- NO. 3 IN A SERIES OF GATES

This is just the top of one of the pillars to a very old gate and I've used it because it is simply the best photograph I did, but that's because it is in reasonable focus. For the whole gate, and Himself walking past it, you can see it here: Gate from road. This gate is so old it pre-dates the Napoleonic law that there must be a side gate for pedestrians.

Beyond this gate is a broad avenue of trees with a driveway covered in grass. I could see nothing beyond it and imagined a crumbling old villa. There is a huge wall around at least a hectare and it is falling down in places and is overgrown with ivy and wild clematis.

But, lo! We turned the corner and drove up a short way and there was a spit new gate and the very image of the old one. Through it we could see a very large yellow villa in very good nick. There were cars parked there and noises coming out. I cannot imagine why they built a new gate and abandoned the lovely avenue of trees.

Before coming to Italy I thought a villa was a house. It is, but the English equivalent would be a mansion. More posh than that would be a castello or a palazzo and less posh would be casa. I always wince when people refer to our house as a villa when it is only a casa. Just thought I'd mention it.

This is the third, and perhaps the last, in the brief gate series. I keep seeing more interesting things to photograph.