Bolgheri
"The tall straight cypresses in double row, a troop from San Guido down to Bolgheri ..." thus begins the famous poem "Before San Guido" by Giosuè Carducci, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1906. The cypresses are those of one of the most famous and beautiful roads in Tuscany and Italy, the Viale of Bolgheri, a long straight boulevard of five kilometers that leads from San Guido on the Via Aurelia, to the village of Bolgheri.
The two rows of cypresses that line the road on both sides have over 2,500 trees that are over a hundred years old. Cypresses were planted from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, and today they reach considerable heights, well over 10 meters. The avenue of cypresses is surrounded by the vineyards of Cabernet and Merlot, the vines of the famous Bolgheri Doc wine. The photographs that show them from the top of the hill for kilometers towards the sea are magnificent, especially in the backlight at sunset. Along with the vineyards, especially near the village of Bolgheri, you can also find splendid specimens of centuries-old olive trees.
The village of Bolgheri and the nearby town of Castagneto Carducci are connected by another beautiful road, the Via Bolgherese. A road that crosses, among dense and luxuriant vegetation, many famous Bolgheri Doc wine cellars. The two villages, very picturesque, offer beautiful photographs of their alleys and from Castagneto Carducci, you can also enjoy a beautiful view of the sea, which ranges from the island of Elba up, on clear days, to the Apuan Alps, with the expanse of vineyards as far as the eye can see in the foreground.
Bolgheri is a location very close to where I live, just 10 km away, and therefore I have the opportunity to photographically capture all the opportunities that the seasons offer me. From the sun setting in the middle of the "Viale of Cipressi" to the very rare days with fog - see the photo in the portfolio in black and white -, to the yellowing of the leaves in the vineyards in autumn and the pink flowering of the Judas trees next to the cypresses in spring.
