The Tuscan Contessa
Page 33
Maybe it was best they didn’t know about the past.
Maybe it was vital that they did.
Author’s Note
My Inspiration for the Setting
Castello di Gargonza
I envisaged my primary location as a beautiful, relatively isolated and self-contained community where, at first, the villagers might imagine that the war had passed them by. The truth turned out to be different, and many such Tuscan villages and towns became embroiled in some of the fiercest fighting of World War II.
My fictional village, Castello de’ Corsi, was inspired by and is based on the fortified hilltop settlement of Castello di Gargonza, although I combined elements from other remote medieval villages and hamlets I found as I ventured off the beaten track on to a network of unmetalled roads in our hired four-wheel drive.
For the purposes of the narrative I relocated my village further south than Gargonza’s actual location. I chose a section on the hills north of the Val d’Orcia, south of the Crete Senesi and west of the Val di Chiana. My aim was to bring the narrative closer to a major front of the fighting that took place in Tuscany during World War II.
Gargonza itself is situated a few miles outside Monte San Savino in the province of Arezzo. You turn off the road towards Siena and follow a winding narrow track through the forest until this walled village looms in front of you. Exactly as it is in my book, one single archway allows access to the village, once home to the 110 people who served the network of farms belonging to the estate. Enter and you feel as if you’ve arrived in a mythical past. Walk the narrow alleyways and cobbled lanes and you might never want to leave the seductive feeling of peace you find. I was there in November when the early-morning mists enveloped the ancient walls, adding to the already overwhelming atmosphere of inaccessibility. However, once the sun burns off the mist, the views are captivating. Rising over the small square, an ancient tower is set into the buttressed walls – the tower of my story.
I have to thank Neri Guicciardini, the owner, who showed us around and explained the history. Relaxed and informal, he gave no hint that his was a family of counts and marquises with a lineage going back to the Medicis except, maybe, for the gracious and attentive way he greeted us.
The village passed into the hands of Neri’s family, the Guicciardini Corsi Salviati, in 1696. It was the centre of administration and support for the surrounding farms until the end of World War II when a rural exodus led to the abandonment of the village. By the early 1970s it had been deserted and became one of Italy’s fabled ghost towns. The skilled carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics, builders and others who supported the peasant farming community were gone.
The Castello is now surrounded by forest, where game and truffle hunting continues, but previously the land was cleared to produce wheat, olives and vines. Gargonza has a wonderful restaurant where their own olive oil is served, and where fresh truffles gathered in the morning are used in a dish of wild boar ragù with handmade tagliatelle.
Neri’s father, Roberto Guicciardini Corsi Salviati, made it his ambition to restore the village and create something that echoed its former glory, and thus began its evolution from ghost town to guest town. Though castello can mean ‘castle’ it can also mean any fortified dwellings such as those found around a manor house or village. The olive mills, communal oven and blacksmiths’ workshops clustered around the small square, and the village boasted both a church and a chapel. The latter was deconsecrated and is now used for wine-tasting sessions. The small yet frescoed church is still consecrated and used for weddings as well as regular masses.
The houses of the various workers and officials of the village have been turned into apartments or rooms where guests can stay. Although it looks like a normal village, the whole place is now a hotel with a conference centre where musical performances are held, and where meetings of leading academic bodies come together. Down near the restaurant there’s a magnificent swimming pool. There are no televisions, although Wi-Fi is installed. We simply slowed down, enjoyed the wonderful food and soaked up the incredible atmosphere in this unique and inspirational place. If you’d like to read more and see photos, their website is: http://www.gargonza.it/
San Gimignano
The tower in The Tuscan Contessa was also inspired by the months I spent as an au pair looking after two children at La Rocca in San Gimignano, for the family of Roberto Guicciardini Strozzi. It was 1967, long before the town became the tourist destination it is today, but its many towers always haunted me. I couldn’t help imagining how terrible it would be to fall from one, so you see the seed for this book was sown many years ago.
Lucignano d’Asso
I fell in love with this little hamlet and it became further inspiration for the spot I created for my peaceful fictional village overlooking rolling hills and surrounded by cypress trees. I first came across it on a trip out from Montalcino when the valley beyond Lucignano was wreathed in mists, so I just had to return in May when all the spring flowers were blooming. We stayed in what had been a village house, now transformed into a holiday rental. Like Gargonza, many of the houses are now part of the hotel, one of the most magical places I’ve ever stayed. Their website is https://www.borgolucignanello.com/en/
Buonconvento
This marvellous red-brick medieval town had to be included so I settled on this as a larger town in the book. It’s absolutely gorgeous and bursting with moody atmosphere.
Research Trips
I went on four wonderful trips to Tuscany at varying times of year and one specifically to Florence where we stayed in the palazzo that inspired Sofia’s own home in Florence. Although I lived in Tuscany in 1967, I hadn’t been back until 2018 and 2019. I loved every moment of being there again and can’t wait to return.
Research
I read a multitude of books about Italy during World War II, including:
The Other Italy: The Italian Resistance in World War II, Maria de Blasio Wilhelm, Ishi Press International, 2013
Gargonza, the Castle, the People: Memoirs of a Landowner, Roberto Guicciardini Corsi Salviati, Edifir Edizioni Firenze, 2014
Italy’s Sorrow: A Year of War 1944–45, James Holland, HarperPress, 2009
War in Val d’Orcia: An Italian War Diary 1943–1944, Iris Origo, Pushkin Press, 2017
Two films were particularly useful:
Rome, Open City, Roberto Rossellini, 1945
Tea with Mussolini, Franco Zeffirelli, 1999
Acknowledgements
I continue to be massively grateful for all the support I get from the magnificent team at Penguin and especially Venetia Butterfield, who really does have the magic touch. Huge thanks to my agent, Caroline Hardman, who I trust implicitly and who is always there when I need her, sharp and bright as a pin. My readers? I thank every single one; I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you enjoy my books. And I mustn’t forget the book bloggers who have been staunch supporters of my novels – thank you so much, it really means a lot.
In the autumn of 2019, I went on a course to ‘Unleash My Potential’ and I want to thank Bertie Ekperigin and Philippa Gray, plus my entire RASA family, for changing my life and giving me the confidence to sail through some very tricky edits and the courage to believe I can try something different.
As for my family – well, you are my inspiration, the reason I get up in the morning and why I want to go on writing. You are my everything. Here’s to all our futures and lots more wonderful adventures.
Dinah Jefferies
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Find us online and join the conversation
Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/penguinukbooks
Like us on Facebook facebook.com/penguinbooks
Share the love on Instagram instagram.com/penguinukbooks
Watch our authors on YouTube youtube.com/penguinbooks
Pin Penguin books to your Pinterest pinterest.com/penguinukbooks
Listen to audiobook clips at soundcloud.com/penguin-books
Find out more about the author and discover
your next read at penguin.co.uk
PENGUIN BOOKS
UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia
India | New Zealand | South Africa
Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
First published 2020
Copyright © Dinah Jefferies, 2020
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover photos © Trevillion, © Getty Images and © Alamy
ISBN: 978-0-241-98732-2
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.