{"id":142,"date":"2009-05-28T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2009-05-28T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=142"},"modified":"2009-05-28T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T12:00:48","slug":"i-vivai-di-pistoia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/i-vivai-di-pistoia\/","title":{"rendered":"I Vivai di Pistoia"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pistoia is probably one of the old Tuscan towns least visited by tourists, largely because of its rather industrial setting. However, the few intrepid, or \u2018accidental\u2019 tourists who penetrate the \u2018cement jungle\u2019 of the periphery, including the extremely misguided attempts at \u2018modern\u2019 architecture\u00a0which my mother described on a recent visit as \u201cuna grande schifezza\u201d<\/strong>, will find an historic centre that is almost perfectly intact. Behind it\u2019s medieval walls lie some fine, but rarely\u00a0viewed\u00a0examples of Pisan and Florentine art, reflecting Pistoia\u2019s position between these two great rivals.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Pistoia has a long and interesting history, which I will spare you in this blog, but you may be interested to learn why the name Pistoia has a slightly familiar ring to it: Pistoia is the town that gave us the word\u00a0\u2018pistol\u2019. Originally surgical knives were manufactured there, then daggers, and finally in the 16th century pistols. Today it specializes in trains and vivai\u00a0<\/strong>(plant nurseries), and anyone who has traveled along the A11 autostrada\u00a0between Pisa or Lucca\u00a0and Florence\u00a0will have marveled at the seemingly endless fields of miniature cypresses, olives, pines, and a myriad other ornamental shrubs and flowers. In fact this\u00a0zone is Italy’s most extensive area of vivai.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the vivai operate on an industrial scale, catering for larger contracts, but some of the smaller ones\u00a0are open to the general public, and you can pop round to buy a couple of gerani<\/strong> (geraniums), un vaso di basilico o prezzemolo<\/strong> (a pot of basil or parsley), or even perhaps una palma<\/strong> (a palm tree).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you regularly read my blogs you will know that we are keen gardeners, unfortunately however\u00a0Lunigiana,\u00a0the area where we live, isn\u2019t noted for it\u2019s ornamental plants. In fact the local motto could well be \u201cse\u00a0non lo si\u00a0puo\u2019 mangiare, non vale la pena coltivarlo\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>(\u201cif you can\u2019t eat it, it\u2019s not worth growing\u201d). So for us, a day trip to the vivai di Pistoia<\/strong> (the nurseries of Pistoia)\u00a0was like taking a couple of kids to Disneyland. We do of course have an orto<\/strong> (vegetable garden) which provides us\u00a0with our fresh pomodori, cipolle, aglio, zucchine, carciofi, bietole, patate, melanzane, e cosi\u2019 via<\/strong> (tomatoes, onions, garlic, courgettes\/zucchini, globe artichokes, leaf beat, potatoes, aubergines\/egg plants, and so on). But we also have our \u2018giardino d\u2019amore\u2019<\/strong> (garden of love), as our neighbor mockingly\u00a0likes to call it (ma non c\u2019e\u2019 niente di mangiare!)<\/strong>, and in order to develop it, and in particular our custom built \u2018block the nosy neighbors\u2019 hedge, we need plants that we can\u2019t get in this neck of the woods.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not many shopping experiences can give so much pleasure for so little expense. In fact even if we had spent nothing and come away empty handed (apart from a few leaves of sage and mint that just happened to come off in my mother\u2019s hands) we would have been quite content. A warm sunny day spent\u00a0strolling amongst rows of brightly colored multi-formed plants,\u00a0bathed in\u00a0a stream of\u00a0almost narcotic\u00a0scents, the pungent flavor of gelsomino,\u00a0caprifoglio e rose<\/strong> (jasmine honeysuckle and roses), what more could one ask?<\/span><\/p>\n

So what did we buy? well, three\u00a0lovely bushes for our \u2018anti-neighbor\u2019 hedge: un oleandro<\/strong> (an oleander), un lauro ceraso<\/strong> (a waxed laurel), and un pinco pallino<\/strong> (a flapdoodle, i.e. we can\u2019t remember the name of the last one: in Italian we use the fictitious name \u2018pinco pallino\u2019 to mean \u2018Joe\u00a0Blogs\u2019 or someone whose name we can\u2019t remember). We also bought three stunning gerani<\/strong> for the wooden plant trough that my husband made, and elicriso<\/strong> (curry plant). And we still had change from 40 euros!<\/span><\/p>\n

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By the way, if you are interested in finding out about Pistoia, and what it has to offer, have a look at the following web sites for a start, the first is in Italian and the second is English: <\/span>http:\/\/it.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pistoia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 <\/span>http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pistoia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Pistoia is probably one of the old Tuscan towns least visited by tourists, largely because of its rather industrial setting. However, the few intrepid, or \u2018accidental\u2019 tourists who penetrate the \u2018cement jungle\u2019 of the periphery, including the extremely misguided attempts at \u2018modern\u2019 architecture\u00a0which my mother described on a recent visit as \u201cuna grande schifezza\u201d, will…<\/p>\n

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