Gallivanting Geismom: Spectacular Walled Cities

What a spectacular way to start the day: In Italy...... with a Cappuccino!

Believe me....it doesn't get much better than that.

After enjoying a lovely breakfast, we began our gallivanting with Dennis behind the wheel, chauffeuring us across the Italian countryside to walled city west of Cittadella called Marostica.

As we neared this city, the view of it was amazing. This is the best photo that I could capture from a moving vehicle.

If you look closely, you can view the upper castle with a wall running down both sides. What you can't see is that the wall continues to the lower castle, which is where we parked and began our tour.

Here you can see my friend, Morena with the lower castle in the background.

Doesn't she look fabulous?

We walked through the lower castle into the center courtyard.

One of the features that makes this town so unique is that there is a larger than lifesize chessboard set into the plaza. This photo from the display kind of gives you an example.

Every even year, on the second weekend in September, a Live Chess game is re-enacted in Marostica.

The game dates back to 1454 when 2 noblemen fell in love with Lionora, daughter of the Lord of Marostica. They challenged each other to a duel for her hand.

The Lord did not want to make an enemy of either suitor, nor did he want to lose one in a duel, so he forbade the duel according to Venetian Law.

Instead, he proclaimed that the rivals should play a chess game and Lignora would take the winner as a husband. The loser of the game would marry his younger daughter, Oldrada.

The game took place on this square with armed living persons.

Seems like a win-win for the Lord, since both daughters would have a husband. And since the daughter wouldn't have a choice whom she could marry anyway, why not kill two birds with one stone......right?

OK, I was just kidding.....Can't help but wonder what Lionora had over Oldrada in the first place, unless, as the eldest, she was required to marry first. I'm afraid that I'm not up on the social etiquette of the 1400's.

But I found it fascinating knowing that this duel is recreated in very much the same sense as the original, except, I'm presuming that the winner isn't forced to marry someone's daughter! Feel free to research this for me. I'm too busy exploring.

Back to my adventures....

For four hundred years Marostica was ruled by Venice, and its dominion is recorded by a statue of the lion of St. Mark, Venice's symbol, in the piazza

At the foot of the mountain where the Upper Castle stands majestically over this walled town, there are two churches, the one in the distance being part of a Carmelite Monastery.

The lower church, on the right above, is dedicated to St. Antonio Abate. The church was open for public viewing, so how could we resist taking a look around?

At the top of the steps stands "The Church of the Madonna del Carmine".

It was built in the very early 1600's. Isn't that amazing? The interior is much smaller that St. Antoniono, but there is a peaceful tranquility as you gaze upon the beauty inside.

The church is at the base of the rocky steps leading to the upper castle.

Could we resist such a challenge? Heavens NO!

So, Marty and I began our ascent to the top, which, I will be quite honest with you, had me breathless a couple of times on the way up.

But stopping offered some great photo opportunities!

You can see olive trees loaded with fruit, ready for picking. (I'm not going to mention here that my climbing partner couldn't resist picking one).

Finally......we were at the top of the steps at the base of the Upper Castle.

Almost there......

The view from the top was amazing, as you can well imagine. But I was surprised to see that it was very difficult to make out the walls around the city among the rooftops of the houses. As you had seen, the wall was obvious to spot from the road. But with the various tall trees and high houses, the wall got lost in the view.

But, that didn't make it any less spectacular. I zoomed in on the lower castle just to get an idea of the confines of Marostica.

The white area is where the Chess Board is inlaid into the plaza.

Believe it or not, Marty managed to spot Morena and Dennis from the top as there were not a lot of tourists in the town. We headed back down the trail, which you probably don't have to guess, was much easier than the climb up.

We joined our friends for a relaxing drink

which was much appreciated, since the day was quite warm.

On the way back to the car, the sun became brilliant, and we certainly could not pass on that photo opportunity, could we?

It was nice to relax as Dennis drove us back to Cittadella where the first thing on the agenda was lunch at an outdoor cafe.

Italians have their own set of time tables, and by 1:30, the kitchen was closed, but the waitress was more than happy to make us up a cold plate of salad, ham and cheese with fresh bread which was quite tasty. And, of course, the pleasant company added to the meal as well.

Our afternoon was spent walking the walls of Cittadella.

The walk is open only during certain hours of the day, and you must purchase a ticket to make the walk.

I had known that the walls had been under preservation for many years, but we were surprised to find that we could actually walk the entire way around the town on the walk.