The Artist's Blog

Landscape Artist Caroline Zimmermann Visits the Nearly Abandoned Tuscan Village of Monterongriffoli

For more than twenty years Caroline Zimmermann has scoured the out-of-the-way corners of the Italian countryside in search of the perfect "Tuscany landscape painting". During one of her earliest adventures she stumbled upon the quasi abandoned village of (and mouthful to pronounce) Monterongriffoli, and has returned numerous times to paint views from the village and the surrounding landscapes. In fact Caroline has visited so many times, and created so many paintings, she affectionately refers to the village as "Monty Ron"!

"The View Towards Siena"  40x60  Oil on Canvas

Monterongriffoli is a town in the Italian municipality of Montalcino in the province of Siena in Tuscany. The village is about 3 km from San Giovanni d'Asso and can be reached via a dirt road that branches off from the provincial road 14. The once thriving village which dates back to the 12th century, now has only about 10 inhabitants.

Monterongriffoli, Tuscany.  Photo: ViaDelCastello Monterongriffoli

Hidden in the Tuscan Countryside

Once upon a time the upper village of Monterongriffoli was the heart of the borgo and included the castle, church and cemetery. Over the centuries, earthquakes, cliff erosion, constant rebuilding and, latterly, neglect reduced the "Castello" (as local residents still call what is left of the upper village) to just a handful of farmers' dwellings.

The village of Monterongrifolli.

The buildings of the "Castello", precariously clustered on their steep tufo cliff, still soar over the rest of the village and dominate the surrounding landscape. Only medieval wall foundations and bricked-up window openings survive to attest to the site's long history. At one time Monterongriffoli was more important than neighbouring San Giovanni d'Asso, the centre of the present-day municipal district of that name to which Monterongriffoli today belongs. The whole municipality of San Giovanni d'Asso itself was recently absorbed into the larger administrative district ("comune") of Montalcino.

One of the many abandoned buildings in Monterongriffoli.

"La Porta Vecchia"   48x36   Oil on Canvas

A Cypress-lined Road Less Taken

Caroline painted La Porta Vecchia (The Old Door) upon her first visit to Monterongriffoli in 1997 when she began exploring the Italian countryside. She enjoys painting en plein air (on location) when conditions permit, especially in a place as peaceful and scenic as Monterongriffoli. However, at three and half feet tall and three feet wide, the painting canvas for "La Porta Vecchia" was too big and cumbersome to schlepp along with an easel, so she painted it back in what was then her studio in Il Borro on the Ferragamo estate. Caroline has returned to Monty Ron many times over the years to paint and is always astonished to see how little has changed. There are however signs of habitation and even a bit of restoration work on some of the old dwellings, likely picked up for song.

Once the heart of the borgo, the castle, church and medieval dwellings of the upper village of Monterongriffoli have all but disappeared, leaving behind them a small cluster of rustic buildings on ancient foundations.

The view through the old archway depicted in Caroline's painting.

Despite the vanishing buildings, what survives is the dominant position of the upper village, the vantage point of which is depicted in Caroline's painting, "Monterongriffoli", and there opens up a commanding view over the lower village's rooftops and towards the countryside beyond - wooded valleys, dramatic cliff-faces overhung by trees, olive groves, graceful hills punctuated by distant farmhouses, and the hilltown of Montalcino on the horizon to the southwest. And above all a profusion of cypresses striding down the valley and scaling the slopes of the nearby hill, Monte Vecchio.

The old Fattoria d' Monterongriffoli.

The two buildings closest to the western part of the old upper village of Monterongriffoli are the villa, shaded at the far end by its venerable umbrella pine, and the line of old farm estate buildings (the "Fattoria") in the village street below.

Caroline's favourite time to visit the area is in autumn when the colors of the vineyards hit electrifying shades of red and yellow. The journey back north towards Atelier del Corvo, Zimmermann's home and studio in the Valdarno, takes her through the Chianti region, an area full of the sort of classic Tuscan landscapes Caroline is famous for.

"Bella Italia"  30 x 40  Oil on Canvas

"Midsummer's Day, Tuscany"  16x30   Oil on Canvas

"Chianti Autumn Red"  24 x 48  Limited Edition Print,  Giclée on Canvas 

•   Read: The Artist's Blog "The Tuscan Landscapes of Caroline Zimmermann".

Thanks to ViaDelCastello Monterongrifolli for historical insight and text.

Photos by John Charles Jopson