Leaves From My Sketchbooks. 25. Chiesetta No. 2, Barga, Tuscany, Watercolour

I sat by the swimming pool and did this daub of the upper house called Chiesetta No.2. It's so wonderfully Italian that it could exist nowhere else in the world.

A historic casa it stood on the Gothic Line in World War Two, one of Hitler's lines of last retreat as the Germans slowly lost the war. Our relatives found bullet holes and ammunition as they were restoring the house. Now, surrounded by chestnut covered slopes it is so peaceful that one could hardly imagine such a cruel history.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz    www.don-donovan.blogspot.co.nz
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Leaves From My Sketchbooks. 24. Chiesetta Numero Due, Barga, Tuscany. Black and White

In Italian, Chiesetta means 'little church'. This house, No. 2, which belongs to our relatives, stands near a tiny two-person wayside prayer kiosk on an ancient mule road on the slopes of the Apennines.

I sketched it a number of times (more in later posts) but this rendering, done from below the slopes where olives, vines and raspberries grow, shows the whole, two-part casa. The main house is to the left. The smaller house was once used for animals but has been converted into living accommodation.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz    www.don-donovan.blogspot.co.nz
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