If there were a footbridge across the ravine, we could walk from our apartment to the piazza in about 2 minutes. But there is no footbridge, only a road that has three switchback turns. It takes about 15 minutes on foot by this road to arrive in piazza. There's a regal old palazzo that sits at the top of the hill, just before the first turn. The unpaved driveway is guarded by a decorative iron gate. Over the driveway is an enormous pergola where a few bare grapevines remained. When we first arrived last March, the pergola was brown and dry and dead looking. Those vines could not possibly be alive!
Along the left side of the pergola, a low stone wall stone wall steps down every few meters as it follows the driveway down into the ravine. At each step-down, a huge terra cotta planter holds a mature lemon tree. The right side of the pergola is bordered by a high stone wall that offers privacy from the street. Depending on the blooming season, a tangle of wisteria, jasmine and multiple varieties of roses is climbing the wall and perfuming the air. With the arrival of summer, the vines miraculously filled in and the pergola became laden with grape leaves, curling tendrils and budding bunches of grapes, that have recently begun to mature....right on schedule!
We've watched patiently as the changing seasons brought life and fruit to this fantastic pergola. You get to see it all at once.
