23 June - 1st day in DOZZA, Italy

[Michelle A Thurston]

                                                Entry into the town - only resident vehicles allowed!

Departure Rome and on to Dozza

Staying at a Farm/Vineyard just below the medieval Village of Dozza, Central Italy – WINE COUNTRY

You can view the farm at Website: http://www.farmstayitaly.org/

THIS IS A MUST DO to stay in the country, if you’ve been traveling in cities as we have.

We have new anglo/Italian friends that have completely opened their home to use and offered us the most amazing experience ever.

Victoria picked us up from the Imola rail station- how nice. They will add rail pickup and meals to your stay if you wish. We decided to live as the Italians do an emerse ourselves in the culture here

The Imola rail station is approximately a 15 minute ride until you arrive in the quaint town of Dozza. The farm lays just beneath this town on the hillside.  (pics on Facebook)

Dozza is a province of Bologna.  Its a charming little town known as one of Italy's prettiest villages.

It is known for its festival of the painted wall, which takes place every two years. During this festival, famous national and international artists paint steady works on the walls of the houses.

In the centre of Italy, the village of Dozza sits on a small hill crowned with a 500-year-old castle. As yet undiscovered by tourist hordes, it is, in its entirety, an amazing outdoor art gallery. Almost every external wall has a painting on it, updated in biennial events. The visitor can walk the cobblestones of Dozza – population about 6000 – in tranquillity, pausing every few steps to admire some striking work of art, in an alcove or between windows or straddling the entrance to a shop.

Dozza is an easy half-hour drive down the Via Emilia from Bologna, a mediaeval city with Europe’s oldest university and a claim to being the culinary heart of Italy. In the rolling green farmland, Dozza appears on the right as the last village before Imola, famed for its racetrack. This is the border between the Po Valley and the rugged Apennines that occupy most of the peninsula to the south. The art phenomenon in Dozza dates back to 1960, when the Biennale del Muro Dipinto (muro dipinto means painted wall) was first held. Since then, every other September, artists – more than 200 come for the festival by invitation to produce their works as frescoes directly on the building walls. The main street, as in many Italian towns, is called Via XX Settembre to celebrate the 1870 capture of Rome – which completed unification of the country. The festival is sponsored by MAMBO, the Museo d’Arte Moderna of Bologna, which selects the handful of artists, well-known and up-and-coming, to make their mark. They are free to choose their own subject, but must submit designs for approval. During the festival it is possible to watch them on scaffolding at work with brushes and spray cans.

Other cultural, theatrical and musical events coincide with the Muro Dipinto festival. At the beginning of the month is the Festa delle Arzdore (arzdore is local dialect for “women”), a celebration of traditional cooking. The Dozza region is noted for its pasta, salami and meat dishes and OH can I tell you the food is DELICIOSO!
Most events are held in the piazza in front of the Rocca Sforzesca Castle, or inside the castle itself. This splendid 16th-century fortress dominates the town without overshadowing it. The Castle has 2 towers, drawbridge and grassed moat, it is a permanent home to the art of Dozza, including sketches and draft entries for the biennial exhibition and works that have been detached from its walls. The castle has a museum with an armoury, a dungeon (complete with instruments of torture) and lordly rooms furnished with tapestries – plus the Enoteca Regionale where Trebbiano, Sangiovese and Albano wines of the Emilia-Romagna region are displayed and can, on occasion, be sampled. A picture of this town will not do justice to just how amazing it is.

The only cars allowed in Dozza are those of the residents – and they have to be small vehicles. It has one narrow street up to the top of the town, and a parallel one returning. Entering on foot through an impressive stone archway, the traveller immediately comes to a piazza with a deep-red brick, the post office and a wishing well. Ahead, up the slope, is another archway, another tiny square and a vista of murals between shutters and doorways, with the occasional parked Lambretta and a citizen or two. The art in Dozza’s laneways is of uneven quality, only some of it excellent. Despite the medieval walls, the street art does not seem out of place. The village is so rich in history and is located between Florence and Venice.

I’ve fallen in love with OLD ITALY – This is the village to do it in!

 

Dinner tonight with the family was amazing homemade pasta with meat sauce and fruit salad for dinner.

The vino is from the farm’s grapes – so good!