Travelling precariously or vicariously? YOU CAN travel hunched up in a tiny economy class seat (unless a strike by airline staff who of course always care for the customer prevents you). You can wait in queues for passport checks. Or you can stand in line to board a coach for an hour or more on a lurching trip to a hotel that just may be in the middle of a noisy make-over. And it may be too hot, too cold, or too wet for you to enjoy your holiday. In short, you may travel precariously.
Or you can sit in your favourite armchair, with a glass or two of the best wine from the region you were considering visiting, while a casserole of one of its finest recipes simmers away in the oven. You read what great writers thought, or think, about the place, the people and the culture. Then you idly contemplate wonderful photographs of churches, piazzas, vineyards, folk singers and dancers, and every kind of scenic delight without the buses, the crowds, the flies, the heat, the diarrhoea and other aggravation. You are travelling vicariously.
Tourism, of course, is the world’s largest industry, and writing about it is one of the greatest occupations of journalists and writers. I enjoy reading about travel and I enjoy writing about travel writing.
“Tuscany and Umbria harbour the classic landscapes of Italy, familiar from a thousand Renaissance paintings, with their backdrop of mediaeval hill-towns, rows of cypress trees, vineyards and olive groves, and artfully sited villas and farmhouses. It’s a stereotype that has long held an irresistible attraction for northern Europeans. Shelley referred to Tuscany as a “paradise of exiles”, and ever since his time the English, in particular, have seen the region as an ideal refuge from a sun-starved and overcrowded homeland.”
From the introduction to The Rough Guide to Tuscany and Umbria
I have never been to Tuscany, although I have always wanted to, despite the fact that several politicians whom I loathe take their holidays there. In fact, the intention has been there ever since a day in 1971 when a colleague in advertising, John Dunkley, announced to his partner that his doctor thought his heart wasn’t up to the hurly-burly of advertising, and he should try an easier form of living. So with the proceeds from the sale of his shares in the company he bought a villa and small wine estate in Tuscany and carved out a new career for himself. The work was hard but he made it. His “Riecine Estate” became highly regarded and successful.
Always thinking of visiting it, I looked up the website and found that very recently John’s dicky ticker had finally given out — this year, when he was very well into his 70s. Tuscany was good for him. As others look for music, art, culture or history, I approach travel from the viewpoints of: comfort, in getting there, and while I am there; food and wine; people and scenic interest.
So, in arm-chairing it to Tuscany, these are some of the books I would have a look at, starting with guide books, of which there are a number. You couldn’t read, let alone absorb all the facts in the excellent Rough Guide to
Tuscany & Umbria (,11.99) in a two-week vacation. I meet more people visiting Cyprus who use the Rough Guide than any other. It is well-written and presented, packed with information and with maps, plans and pictures. In April and May we travelled around Sardinia with the aid of the Dorling Kindersley Eye Witness Guide. And, to be honest, I’d take the Tuscany one (,9.99), simply because it is so well-illustrated, it is not encyclopaedic, and it makes you wanna-see.
Culture vultures, of course, will head straight for Tuscany’s major city, Florence, for the feats of architecture, art, history and culture it provides. You certainly need a guide for this. My choice is the one produced by Lonely Planet at ,8.99. It is not a ponderous tome, and sensibly takes you round not just the cultural sites, but tells you where to stay and where to eat, too. After the cultural bit, and gawping at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and other un-missable attractions, I would head for the countryside, well-briefed by some sessions with several glossy works.
The Most Beautiful Villages in Tuscany, Thames & Hudson, ,25.00. Text by James Bentley and photographs by Hugh Palmer. This evokes the marvellous countryside and the elegance of villages of many colours and shades B picturesque descriptions and glorious pictures. There is also a companion volume: The Most Beautiful Country Towns of Tuscany. Both give you a guide to the principal sights, events, hotels and restaurants. Lovely books. And so to the subjects close to my heartYvino and food.
Brunello to Zibibbo: The Wines of Tuscany, Central and Southern Italy, by Nicolas Belfrage (published by Mitchell Beazley at ,25.00) is a masterpiece. Here is the whole of a large chunk of the Italian wine world, with a lot of the cant, humbug and hype swept away in a tour-de-force of description and illustration. Virtually enough to make wino readers book their tickets.
A little book that I take down out lovingly from my shelves quite regularly, still in print, is The Tuscan Year B Life and Food in an Italian Valley (Orion Mass Market paperback, £7.99). Here is life before Birds’s Eye — the family farmhouse, with its people and produce, through the seasons of the year. There are recipes intertwined with the narrative, that can easily be adapted to Cyprus and the ingredients and methods of today.
The literature of Tuscany is fulsome and varied. D.H. Lawrence in his quirkily descriptive style wrote of it in the 1920’s in Sketches of Etruscan Places, (Penguin, £5.99). A real retro read. The genre started by Peter Mayle with A Year in Provence has its Tuscan counterparts — those who planned, built, settled and wrote about it. From the clutch, I rather enjoyed The Hills of Tuscany: a New Life in an Old Land, by Ferenc Mate, a £5.99 paperback. Doing it. If you plan a visit to Tuscany, I have little doubt that a local travel firm could kit you out with a package to suit your needs: Amathus Travel, Xenos and Top Kinisis all operate general packages to Italy, taking in Rome, Venice, Florence, Pisa and so forth.
Otherwise, the best bet is to spend a day or two in the UK and take the package of your choice from there be it a specialist art/architecture tour, religious, food and wine or whatever. British newspapers like the Daily Telegraph and the Internet are sure ways to find what you want. Reading about it. A call at, or to, a Moufflon Bookshop will connect you with the books I have mentioned here, and a host of others. They offer a delivery service for those who can’t get to the shops. They also use a great book-finding facility called Bibliofind. Their addresses are: 1-3 Sofouli Street, 1096 Nicosia. Tel: 22-665155, fax: 22-668703 and 30, Kinyras Street, Paphos. Tel: 26-934850, fax: 26-934853. Email: [email protected]
Bibliofind: www.bibliofind.com
