Arqua Petrarca: as Blossom's brother Joey would say, "Whoa!"

There's a pretty little town called Arqua Petrarca in the Padua Province just under an hour South of where I live. I forget how I heard about it, but it intrigued me because it is the last home of the poet Petrarch. When researching for my jaunt to the A.P. (kids these days still use initials to talk about cool towns, right?) I discovered it belongs to a club called "The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy" and I was sold.

I don't mind venturing out solo when my husband isn't around, but I've made a few like-minded friends and sometimes its fun to have company. My friend Carolina and I hopped in the car one day and sallied forth. It was a beautiful drive, and actually took us through an area I've visited a few times before. You practically have to pass right by the winery Villa Sceriman to get there, and in fact I recommend combining a visit and doing both in the same day. A.P. is a very small town of only a couple thousand inhabitants, and it was very easy to find. We parked in a public lot below the town, and started hiking uphill. By the end of the day, I'm glad we parked low so that we could easily mosey back down in the evening rather than having to forge our way uphill after an afternoon of sightseeing. 

Petrarch's Tomb

Apparently there is a lake nearby, but we never saw it. We did, however, notice signs for a nature preserve and hiking path, so if that's your thing it might be fun to check it out. If I remember correctly, the main path is about 6km, but don't quote me on that. From the parking lot, which only cost a couple of euros for the entire afternoon, we walked up a short path and spit out in front of a church in Petrarch's Square, and practically the very first thing we saw was Petrarch's tomb. Can't miss it; the thing is a giant pink marble tomb which probably ways several thousand pounds. I have no idea what it is modeled after or supposed to look like, but on first glance I thought it was a sort of Trojan horse or maybe a giant chess piece. When you get closer it's not as contoured as it appears from a distance, and there's a bust of Petrarca near the top. There are engravings in what I assume is Latin but could be Italian, but I couldn't read them either way so it will remain a very-easily-solvable mystery, at least until the next time I go back. After oohing and ahing over the tomb for a few minutes, we tried to go into the church but it was locked. During our foray around the side of the building though, we found a pretty little view of the valley and a well-tended balcony. I'm a sucker for weepy greenery and bright flowers, and was delighted to find both. The whole town is scattered with little gems.

 

We continued making our way uphill, and took note of a few little shops featuring regional goodies (read: WINE and PASTA and trufflesandmushroomsandallsortsofgoodstuffyumyum!). Most places were closed due to riposo so we kept on walking and wandering. We eventually found Petrarch's home, which is now a museum, and noted its reopening time, and continued walking. We found ourselves atop a hill with some sort of Alpini monument or memorial, and then we stopped to buy some water bottles. We made it pretty darn near the top of the town, which is built into the hillside, and took advantage of several scenic viewpoints before heading back to Petrarch's house. We managed to skootch in just ahead of a tour group, which was good timing and also a little odd because the town is so small and so far off the beaten path. This bunch seemed to be mostly older folks with one or two teenagers, and I'm thinking maybe it was part of a church tour group or something. Anyway, we paid a few euro (four each, I think) and headed into the gardens. Apparently Petrarch loved to garden but I'm sure the landscaping has changed quite a bit in the six+ centuries since he's lived there! Let me pause and let that sink in a moment...There's a town named for a famous poet whose been dead more than six hundred years, there's a museum where he lived, and his tomb must be some sort of pilgrimage site for poetry geeks, and all of this is practically right in my backyard. As Blossom's brother Joey would say, "Whoa." If you visit the museum, know that you are not allowed to take pictures inside the building, but you might encounter some jerk who pretends not to see the dozen signs posted and continues to snap away. If you do encounter such a person, I recommend passive-aggressively glaring at him/her and making snarky comments in a language they may or may not understand. That's just my technique though; you do whatever you want, like that guy does.

Petrarch's Home: Currently a Museum

The museum only takes a few minutes to visit, really. To me, the most interesting part about the house were the murals and frescos on the walls. There were tons of beautiful women, most of whom had horrid stories. Venus, Lucrezia, Cleopatra getting bitten by the snake, etc. Petrarch wrote about these stories, and a later owner of the house (16th century) commissioned the frescos to commemorate his work. The house also contains several portraits of the artist, drawings and blueprints of the two-storey 13th century home, and a rotating photography exhibit. Oh yes, and a mummy of Petrarch's cat. Allora. Because, Italy. Also noteworthy were the views. Petrarchy's family lived in the left side of the house and the servants were relegated to the right - that's port and starboard, for you nautical types - and I'm sure it's because the view from the left side of the house is staggering. It probably hasn't altered much since Petrarch's time, either, as the town is in a relatively isolated location. 

After visiting the museum, we walked around a bit more and stopped in one of the tourist trap shops. Except in this part of Italy, the tourist trap shops aren't so much filled with whirling gizmos and impersonal post cards as they are full of tasty goodies. The shop owner asked a bit about our wine preferences and made some recommendations. I was tempted to buy some of the local jam - ziziphus, anyone? - but skipped it because I have no idea what a buckthorn might actually taste like and it scared me a bit. At some point we found a path and wandered down it for a ways, and I think it connected to the main trail, but whatever it was wasn't very clearly labeled. Before leaving the town, we stopped at an indoor/outdoor cafe (are there any other kinds of cafes in Italy/) and tried some frozen coffee drinks. They were pretty tasty, and definitely refreshing since it was close to 100 degrees that day. I am so happy that the weather is a lot nicer now and would love to take my mom to visit this town when she comes out in just a couple of weeks. (Hi, Mom!) Perhaps we'd make a trio out of the trip and visit Arqua Petrarca, Villa Scermina, and the town of Montagnana. I think they're relatively close to each other and small enough that it would make a great day trip without feeling too rushed.