One of the things I have always loved to do during my visits to Castel del Bosco is my daily visit across the road to Varramista, an estate that comprises a stately home, called Villa Capponi Piaggio, and an assortment of holiday  apartments scattered throughout the expansive land holdings

. The villa was once the only industry in town. All those who lived in Castel del Bosco were associated with the Villa.  The villa was built in the middle of the 16th century and stayed in the Capponi family until 1953, when Enrico Piaggio bought it. You may recognize the name Piaggio as the man who brought the world the Vespa, which is produced in the nearby town of Pontedera.

Enrico’s adopted daughter married Umbert Agnelli (yes, those Agnellis, the FIAT people). The estate passed to Donna Antonella upon Enrico’s death in 1965. With the Agnellis, the estate enjoyed a period of celebrity. All the most famous people in Europe partied at the Villa. Indeed, Vivetta’s father had been the games keeper and her mother worked directly for Donna Antonella in the Villa.  Later, Donna Antonella’s son, Giovanni Agnelli, lived in the Villa while he was president of Piaggio.  He died of a brain tumor which metastasized to his intestines in 1997. It was after that that he entire estate was sold to a private entity for commercial purposes.  There is a garden (paid entry), holiday flats, a restaurant and vineyards. The land is farmed with sunflowers and timber.

I have told you all of this so that you have a good idea of two things: one- running the paths and the tree covered avenue offers the runner a certain feeling of being part of a piece of a bygone era; one can almost see Enrico taking his Vespa prototype for a spin down the viale. You can almost see Pucci arriving for a dinner party up the long drive to the villa. Two- it is completely privately owned and we, who love it and want to enjoy it, are at the mercy of the proprietors. They have decided to closed the avenue to for traffic in order to discourage too many people from assembling in these times of COVID.

It has put a serious crimp in my daily run. Today, I decided to explore the via Ricavo Varramista further.  I left the house, and turned left, running down the hill to the main road, the Tosco-Romagnola (SS67) turning left, then a short ways to the overpass which spans the FI-PI-LI. The overpass road deposits you right into the belly of the beast: right onto the via Ricavo Varramista. Veering to the left, you find yourself in front of the villa to the right and the viale to the left in .30 miles. From there, longing for the shade of the viale, you have to veer right and follow the road, which soon becomes unpaved. I followed that road two miles back to the fork in the road.  I decided not to follow Yogi Bera’s famous admonition: when you find yourself at a fork in the road, take it. I turned back and made my way home.  In the end, it was 5.72 miles under the blazing sun.  However, there were spurts of breeze and freshness that made the whole thing bearable.  

Tomorrow, I am going to try to get up extra early and walk with the local walking group.  They usually walk 14 kilometers at 6:35 in the morning on Thursdays and Sundays. I will surely find a new route!