Bluesky Tour - Episode 16 - Castle hunting around Emilia Romagna

 (continued from Episode 15)

So what's left to do during a persisting suffocating heatwave in the heart of Italy? Not much. Rushing early in the morning to the local supermarket to grill delicious stuff like the above is one of the few.

How early? Judge for yourself by how low the sun is:

Totally worth the sweat though. What you don't saw in the first image is that I escort it with some pistachio pesto. Improvising on food is among my favourite ways to pass time. This one came out beyond delicious.

I don't wanna know how it would feel under such conditions with a dead laptop so I'm glad I still keep it alive till I soon come back home. Therefore I'm still able to share all this with you. Also lucky to have a wonderful host like Claudia. She's checking out on me frequently and looks like feeling more sorry than I do that my days here can't be as active as they would under normal weather. She proposes me a series of castles to visit and as I see that the heatwave will start to ease (mid-low 30s that is) I open the map to plan a route.

Super happy to see that all 4 places she suggests are in a radius of only 30km. Sunday morning before 8:am I jump on my bike eager to see how all that stuff really looks like.

First stop at Castelvetro di Montena:

That's a park right before the local castle, speaking of which the area is literally full of them. Every hill has one and so many places are named after them. I stay at Castelnuovo and now walking Castelvetro while they are 7ish km apart.

No idea about the role of these orange bags but if you do please let me know:

This small park ends where the local playground is:

Not sure if that's for educative purposes here:

Where's the smurfs?

I love the view of Italian houses as they "wake up" to the morning sun:

From the open windows & doors you can tell how hot last night was:

This one speaks for how windless this hell is:

And this for how promising the area inside the castle looks like:

Lovely tree with "open arms":

I'm outside the local cemetery,

hence the cypress trees:

But I am more tempted to walk towards the castle's time machine:

First attraction is the bell tower of Castelvetro which tests the limits of my angles:

Next to it is "Palazzo Rangoni", a museum:

Monument for Enrico Cialdini:

Born here but died at Livorno. Impressive to see that he lived almost through the whole 19th century!

Senesio and Teopompo Saints share this one:

Interesting to see the change of use from the medieval years. This tower now hosts the restaurant aptly named Castello:

"Fili d'Oro a Palazzo" is now an art museum:

And this is a library:

The clock tower missed those changes and still stands pretty (not that the other's aren't):

The morning sun flatters the buildings, the shadows leave more for the fantasy:

Chess anyone?

That's the local "belvedere" and it's "terrace" offers top view to the whole area,

up to the sea!

I'm only on the start of today's sight seeing so it's time to walk back to my bike before it gets too hot.

I meet this great stuff on my way back but right now I can only imagine who it can taste:

Next stop, Vignola's castle:

No shade for my bike this time but at a beauty like this I won't complain:

I don't look so sad do I?

Brace yourself because selfies of mine are very rare🙂 Imagine that I have this phone now for several months and only today after this picture I found out that its bloody selfie camera has less wide angle than my previous ancient Sony XZ1 compact, even at its widest setting. You have to buy a 2025 flagship only to miss something you had an age ago...

Let's leave behind 1st world problems of 2025 and see how buildings of the past stand today. Poor but kinda cute I'd say for this one:

Street art:

"Rocca di Vignola" in the background:

Typical Italian narrow backstreet:

And the local pastry (on the left) which despite my early arrival is already crowded:

Must be a good one to attract so many people so early and is the only place so far that's not empty.

Gotta head to the castle though:

The priceless time travel such places offer, especially in the early morning absence of humanity:

Houses waking up again:

Walking back downtown,

"Parrocchia dei Santi Nazario e Celso Martiri":

And I'm still almost halfway in my "to see" list.

Next stop, Cuiglia:

Above is the entrance to the local castle and here's how it looks like past that gate:

The door to the main building is closed,

So I take a little walk around to picture bits of this front yard.

Yep, that my bike down there:

Obvious signs of wear from this angle:

As soon as an Italian lady asks me (of course in Italian) something about the opening hours the gate opens:

And looks even better inside:

It's a pity that they have to cover with net these nice pieces to protect them from bird poo:

The whole thing:

A young slim girl opened for us this gate and struggled a bit:

I leave it behind,

 and walk the perimeter where I find this lovely view point:

I cross this gate,

and that's what I find in:

Are you still here? I'm not done yet. Some more km South and here I am at the hill West of Rocca Malatina:

I'm thanking Claudia for every single place even more than the previous one. A lovely ride as well although I wish I could redo it in this oldie:

Not that I didn't enjoy it on my ride.

This area looks like you can spend a whole day walking around and the sign confirms it:

However it's already getting hot(ish) so I rush to grab whatever I can before it gets unbearable.

Behind this little thing,

is this local BnB:

As I approach for the above images an old man from somewhere inside says in Italian "wait, I'm coming down". Weird to be talking to me as I wasn't even that close neither looked like asking for anything so I start walking away to capture other beauties. He's downstairs and greets me so he was talking to me indeed. I respond in the very few Italian I speak that I am Greek, I don't speak Italian, thank you but I'm fine". He insists in keeping the conversation alive responding "but come on, you speak Italian".

And that's one of my (so 1st world) problems in Italy. Many times locals go like this. Just because I can easily adapt their accent (being Greek) and I know 10 words they sometimes even think I know but I don't WANT to speak Italian🙂 Which couldn't be more wrong, I wish I could speak fluently. The only reason I can understand Italian more than any other language (except English which I speak the way I do) might have to do with my DNA which is 20% Italian (measured and I know the story behind it if you are interested). They just look simple and familiar to me, of course because us Hellenes use a lot of Italian words. So my English combined with my mother tongue decode a good part of Italian.

Who cares anyway since here I can have a bench like this,

with a view like this:

Bella Italia:

One of the watchtowers:

The time machine effect stops when you see the tarmac next to it:

I'm gonna miss that bench's view:

I leave that BnB on my right,

And turn left into the woods:

It's the exact same sharp steep rock but it's so nice from every single possible angle:

So lovely to walk in this green heaven:

So much stuff written on the wall of "Madonna dei Sassi":

As I walk past that church on the left I see this really charming restaurant:

It's all small and cute here at the entrance of Sassi National Park:

That rock though:

Back through the green heaven:

Still magnetised by the rock:

But also from this oldie:

Time to ride my old but much younger one. Here's the ride of the day plus a couple of castle clips:

See you on Episode 17!