COUNTRYSIDE WITHIN THE WALLS

LA CAMPAGNA DENTRO LE MURA

LA CAMPAGNA DENTRO LE MURA – COUNTRYSIDE WITHIN THE WALLS - is an open-house bi-annual visit to the hidden gardens of Buggiano Castello. Organized and conducted by the Cultural Association of Buggiano Castello, together with the Buggiano municipality, the event takes place on the first two Sundays of May. The walled medieval village is known as the Borgo degli Agrumi, the Village of Citrus.

This occasion to visit the well-tended private gardens of Buggiano Castello has several aims. The first is to welcome a larger public to share an age-old patrimony of botanical history that lies within the green private spaces of homes in this medieval village; the second is to enhance respect for the cultural tradition of the combined floral, citrus and vegetable garden (orti di agrumi, or citrus gardens, were already present in Buggiano Castello during late medieval times, as attested to in the Catasto of 1427); another aim is to renew the old traditions of welcoming hospitality in the little community of Buggiano Castello; and, finally, we hope to bring into context the environmental patrimony that still lives throughout the hills of the Valdinievole.

THE PROGRAM: 2011

Sunday, May 1st and Sunday, May 8th

Visitors can arrive to Buggiano Castello by special vans that leave every few minutes from the parking lot (at the Piazza Mercato Bestiame) one kilometer below, in Borgo a Buggiano. Or they may walk the easy kilometer up the hill past olives groves to Buggiano Castello. At the entrance to the village (Porta Sermolli) tickets for the tour will be sold.

In Piazza Pretorio, the main medieval square at the top of the village, will be a topiary display by the nurseries of Vivaio Giorgio Tesi, while in the main hall of the Palazzo Pretorio special lessons on citrus cultivation will be offered by experts from the nurseries of Vivaio Oscar Tintori.

Within a hidden corner of the renaissance cloister of the Abbey of Buggiano (to the left of the church entrance), the American artist Sandra Binion will exhibit video art and paintings that have been inspired by her many visits to Buggiano, while in the hall of the Palazzo Pretorio will be an exhibit of the works of painter Edoardo Salvi that feature the gardens of Buggiano.

An interesting offering this year will be individual small portfolios containing details and maps of each of the 16 gardens, each opening with Edoardo Salvi’s colorful interpretation of the particular garden, with plant definitions from the botanical Dizionario delle Essenze. There will also be an opportunity to buy small citrus plants from the nursery of Oscar Tintori at the end of the visit.

Proceeds from the event went to the restoration and preservation of the north wing of the 12th century Palazzo Pretorio in Buggiano Castello.