June 13, 2020

A Love Letter to Casole d’Elsa

Article, video, photography by Stephanie Seaton 

It’s 5:00 a.m, October 5, 2019

The autumn fog hangs over the Tuscan valley; it’s perfect for photography but won’t last long. 

My friend Susan was often awakened as it started to get light in the val d’Elsa with her door being flung open. “Susan… Come on, we have to go.” “What time is it?” She’d ask. “It’s time to go!” I would tell her. Susan is an amiable, forgiving type. The perfect travel companion.

As a photographer in Italy you had to get up early if you wanted to catch the best light. By comparison Susan, an artist, was given to staying up late sketching, so we learned to compromise. Well she did anyway.

The fog was heavy and the grasses along the vineyard fence line were covered in cobwebs all sparkling with little pearly water drops, each one reflecting entire universes in the sunlight.

There is something about the hills of Tuscany which have been trodden on, fought over, overgrazed and cultivated for centuries, yet still sit so prettily, oblivious to time and bathed in a light that is often staggeringly beautiful.

Google the “prettiest town in Tuscany” and you get seven options. Monteriggioni is one of them. The countryside in this area is indeed pretty with low rolling hills and archways of trees above roads. Quite spooky on a foggy evening. You can almost hear the clattering of the old curtained stage coaches lined with crimson velvet and golden thread…

A 17th Century Estate – Bichi Borghesi

Our first day in the Tuscan countryside last October was at a thousand hectare estate; Bichi Borghesi, family-owned since the 17th century. This stunning working winery and olive oil producer is only a 20 minute drive from Casole d’Elsa – our eventual destination. 

While staying at Bichi Borghesi we were shooting product for a Vancouver client, Aya Eyewear and also scouting locations for other Vancouver clients, for a return trip this spring, May 9. For obvious reasons the return trip is on hold.

Casole d’Elsa - A brioche with cream on top

After our stay at Bichi Borghesi, we moved to a charming apartment in Casole d’Elsa. It had been recommended by the owner of Untainted Tuscany, Sophie Chamberlain, a chef living in Tuscany for 25 years, who is also a good friend. 

The Casole apartment, spacious and airy, overlooks Via Alessandro Casolani, the central street named after the Renaissance painter born in the 1500’s. 

Everyone in the village (population approx 1900) spends a good deal of time on Via Casolani where you can find pretty much everything needed for the day. The best focaccia, deli meats, lovely produce, fresh pasta, pastries and fabulous aperitifs. 

There was a delightful rather chic little cafe called Chiaroscuro right across from our flat. The moment it opens early in the morning you hear that first ssssppppttt of the espresso machine and can smell those lovely coffee aromas. The fresh baked brioches filled with heavenly cream beckon from the street as the café chairs and tables are set up outside. 

It begins as a trickle at first and then people start coming in – you will hear “Buongiorno” and “Come stai” probably 100 times within 3 hours. It is such an exhilarating way of saying good morning… it's a full of emphasis and love for life. 

The barista crew at Il Barocchio just down the street, are wonderful. One of them in particular, Fabiola has become our Casole contact for the newly formed Casole Canada Cooking Club – as a way to bring humour and distraction from the reason we can’t actually be there now. Their pastries are scrumptious morsels of nirvana that you just can't make the same in Canada.

It's hard not to notice the Italians are a beautiful people both young and old, and often photogenic. It's like Italian artwork, with that magical light. It’s that same light in their faces and in that twinkle in their eyes. So accommodating and without self-consciousness, they are just living in the moment. 

Perhaps that's what the Italians do so well - embrace life as it is. The other part of that equation is that they’re all about family especially in a small town like Casole.

Take Maria as an example. Maria doesn't speak a word of English and she doesn't need to. She also doesn't mind if you don’t speak Italian, she just loves to engage people in such a heartfelt way that you're completely enraptured by what she’s saying even though you have no idea what she actually is saying. 

One night we were sitting outside Café Casolani enjoying an exquisite meal and a fabulous bottle of wine along with pasta topped off with shaved truffles, and Maria whom we had gotten to know through her son, Emanuele, came over and started talking. And she talked and talked and at one point I said “Maria, you do know that we don't speak Italian that well, right?” She stopped for only a second, before carrying on delightfully gabbling away. We love Maria. 

Casole d’Elsa and the Arts

If someone asked what Casole is known for apart from the people and the stunning views, one would be right in saying “the arts”. Everywhere you go in Casole there are sculptures and bronze figures throughout the town which is also home to the Verrocchio Art Centre. Nigel Konstam is the resident director and a well known sculptor. Nigel is also an eminent art historian known for recently decrying the Elgin Marbles as fake. 

We are booked to go back to Casole again this fall and can’t wait to see our friends and to learn more about this charming place. One of the best things about leaving Casole is that everyone we met wants to be Facebook friends - and even those whom you've not met. So we have a whole new tribe of people to catch up with when we return…

In the meantime we made a video to tell them we were thinking of them and we’re sorry to not be coming back on May 9 as planned. 

This is the video dedicated to the people of Casole d’Elsa. 

Ciao for now.

Article, video, photography: Stephanie Seaton © 2020 Storyboard Productions/ Unlimited Vision