Finding Dragodena

Ca d’ Ricci and Our Van

Dragodena is located between the villages of Zoca and Tolé—at least, that was what our detailed directions told us.  However, upon arriving in Tolé and following the directions meticulously, we were unable to find the borgo.  In our large white van, we trespassed on countless private roads struggling to find Dragodena.  As the sun set over the cultivated and fallow fields the land seemed to have an added glowing dimension.  We admitted defeat when we could no longer see the road and vowed to try again in the morning.  The next morning, Dragodena was found with ease and we moved in sans mishap. 

Dragodena is a cluster of stone houses in various states of repair.  A completely restored whitewashed summer residence sits beside an abandoned stone structure with a sagging roof and heavily shuttered windows.  Ca d’ Ricci, the name of our villa, has character that oozes out of the peeling yellow beams, the green shutters, and the golden sunlight streaming through the windows.  We are delighted with this house and its history.  This is the oldest house in the borgo and was built in the 14^th century.  It was used as a base for the Nazis in the Second World War and was later abandoned in the 1970’s (except for the squirrels and bats).  There are bullet holes in the aforementioned shutters. 

Olives and Wine

From our base in Dragodena, we voyaged into the other areas of Italy.  Instead of visiting the major Tuscan cities like Firenze, Siena, and Lucia, we decided to explore the “wilds” of Tuscany.  Specifically, we were in Chianti, a region of Tuscany known for its… wine.  Tuscany is truly a land of cultivated rolling hills.  Olive orchards are interspersed with vineyards, which march in organized rows up and down hillsides.  The autumn light here is golden and to my eyes makes the hills glow.  I think I have thousands of photos all trying to capture that light through the vineyards. 

More Vineyards

Like everyone else who visits Tuscany, we wanted to tour wineries and taste copious quantities of wine and cheese.  While told that winery tours were impossible for small serendipitous groups, we held to our quest.  In our normal manner of operation, we arrived during the midday siesta of the tourism information center and consequently drove around aimlessly wondering what we were going to do.  We didn’t drift for very long.  Quite by accident, we had found exactly what we were looking for: a place to taste specialty wine—organic, no less!  We had found the summer residence and prolific winery of the Capponi Family. 

Grapes for Vino Santo

Cypress trees line the driveway.  They own 400 acres of land.  Their winter home is a mansion – a palazzio – in Florence.  The Capponi Family had been making wine for centuries, but until the 1960’s, like the rest of Italian wine makers, they were only producing for themselves.  Since the Capponi’s had such a spacious wine cellar, they may have historically also sold some of their wine to the surrounding countryside.  My favorite part of our winery tour was seeing a room laden with drying grapes destined for special dessert wine (vino Santo).  Three different grapes hung together created a mottled tapestry that filtered the soft Tuscan light through the dusky room. 

Next we saw the steel vats that separate the grape flesh from the skins and squeeze the skins to extract the juice.  The discarded skins are sent to a Grappa (the Italian version of Raki) still down the road.  The Capponi wines are aged in two ways: in cement casks and in oak barrels of varying sizes.  The smaller the oak barrel, the stronger oak flavor in the wine.  At the present, many wineries only use the cement casks or steel, as it is more efficient and cost-effective.  Aging in oak is the traditional method. 

Wine Barrels

We’ve been told that proper oak for wine barrels is disappearing, like good cork.  For barrels, wood has to be very dense and have a fine grain—both characteristics of old, slow growing, wild trees.  Since such trees are becoming rare, oak barrels are harder to obtain.  This is compounded because oak barrels are leached of their tannins after only three uses and are discarded to become planters.  The discussion made me worried that the world’s old oak trees are ending up as a discarded wine barrels.  While it is great for the wine makers to be able to produce wine in traditional ways, I think we need to figure out a way for this to be done sustainably, without depleting natural oak populations. 

Chianti Classico Reserva

I am not a wine connoisseur; while I like many white wines, I usually find red wines astringent.  However, tasting the Caponni Family’s Chianti Classico Reserva, I found a red wine I really liked.  It had a nice nose, legs, and undertones from the oak barrel it was aged in blah blah blah fancy wine talk.  All I know is that each wine I tasted became more “complex” and more interesting—ending with the Reserva.  Then the wines got “too interesting” for my palate and I was back to bemused ignorance. 

For the last year, I have accidentally been spreading misinformation about our trip in Italy.  It turns out that we are staying in the region of Emilia-Romagna, not in Umbria.  Emilia-Romagna is Tuscany’s less known, quieter northern neighbor.

Across the Valley From Dragodena

Tuscany is the land of fertile rolling hills, summer villas, and a thriving tourism industry.  As we drove north to Emilia-Romagna from Tuscany, the landscape became more rugged.  The hills rise higher and the slopes are steeper.  Large (comparatively) tracts of land are left wild and wooded.  The soil is rocky and has large clods of dirt that would foil any non-motorized tilling device.  Emilia-Romagna is historically a poorer part of Italy, probably partly because of its less fertile farms.  The local specialties are “peasant” food, like bread made with water and a thin gruel.  I like this wilder version of Italy better than the groomed and civilized Tuscany.  As we were driving back to Dragodena, the rugged hills and tough beauty seemed to say to me “Ah, home”.