Italian road trip – Day 7 – Ladispoli, Capalbio, Rosignano Marittimo

Twelve years after our road trip, I still haven’t published the photos taken during its last day. At a time like this, when travel is a somewhat distant memory for most, and draconian travel rules require you to jump through even more hoops in order to board a crowded cattle plane, perhaps these photos, taken during more relaxed times, will provide a bit of comfort to you. So, Day 6 ended with us crashing around 11:30 pm, exhausted, at our newly found hotel in Ladispoli, after having charged through most of downtown Rome earlier that day.

We woke up the next morning to find we were about 20 meters from an unusual beach. We hadn’t come to Ladispoli for its beach — we came because we wanted to find a reasonably-priced hotel outside Rome, on our way back to Pisa, but the next morning, we got to enjoy the beach nonetheless. I’ll let the photos show you what I mean.

You see, Ladispoli is know for its black (blackish) sand. It’s quitely a lovely texture too. Ligia and I actually went back to the hotel to tell the others about the beach, but they were too tired from traipsing through Rome to come down, so we had our breakfast and off we went toward Pisa.

We’re driving along on the highway and around lunchtime, we spot this lovely medieval village on a distant hill. We all agree that we’ll go there for lunch and a little visit. That little village was Capalbio. The lunch was delicious and we had a wonderful time walking through the fortress. Much like many other medieval villages, the entire settlement is surrounded by fortified walls and is set on a hill, with vineyards and fields spread out in the valley below. The houses and overall properties inside the fortress are small and right next to each other, in order to maximize the available space. The actual patrol routes along the walls have now become sidewalks that visitors and inhabitants alike use to get around the place.

By 4 pm or so, we could see the sea (pun intended), with the Gorgona Scalo barely visible in the distance in some of the photos. By 5:30 pm, we made our way seaside in Rosignano Marittimo and found a spot to stop and take photos. It was lovely. In the gallery below, you’ll see I edited the colors in some of photographs quite heavily. Sometimes I can’t help myself. In recent years I’ve begun to do fairly conservative edits but in my younger years, I sometimes ended up doing fairly heavy color manipulation, and these photos were edited years ago. I also snuck in a photo of Ligia and I on the shore of the Ligurian Sea, as it’s called down there. That’s how we looked 12 years ago. How time flies…

We then drove to a hotel in Pisa, where we spent a short night, because the next morning at 6:10 we were on a plane which fiddled around on the runways until 7:06, when it was wheels up and on its way back to Romania.

And that was my last, long overdue post on this road trip. You can wind your way through our days on the road in Italy from start to finish by following these links:

The Italian road trip
Day One – Pisa
Day Two – Florence
Day Three – Venice – Part 1 and Part 2
Day Four – Ravenna, Rimini and Grottammare
Day Five – Crossing Italy from Grottammare to Rome
Day Six – Rome
Day Seven – this was it

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the photographs!

Places

The fortified church in Mosna

The village of Moșna, known as Meschen in German and Muzsna in Hungarian, is first mentioned in written documents in 1283, and there is evidence that a settlement existed there since the 1st century AD (source). Moşna was also the home of Stephan Ludwig Roth (1796-1849), a famous Saxon priest, pedagogue and human rights campaigner (source).

The Saxon settlers in the area first built a Romanesque basilica in the 13th century, which was then modified and expanded in the late 15th and early 16th centuries in the Gothic style. The man responsible for the project was Andreas Lapicidas of Sibiu (Hermannstadt), a master stone mason, known as Endreas Steinmetz in Sachsen. His initials can be seen inside the church, carved on a lintel.

The Moșna fortified church is one of the biggest in Transilvania and it is a remarkable work of Gothic architecture. The church itself is structured around three naves with ribbed vaults for ceilings. The naves are separated through four pairs of columns, the ones in the west side having been made of bricks and decorated differently so as to preserve the eastern group of columns intact, since the latter was erected using stone from the pillars of the former Romanesque basilica. Inside, the most noteworthy architectural elements are the door to the sacristy, the stone pulpit and the monumental tabernacle which measures 11.05 m in height.

The fortifications include five towers and a 9m defense wall that surrounds the church and allows for ample space inside the fortress. The bell tower has seven levels and three bells, the oldest of which dates from 1515. The gate tower in the south-eastern corner has five levels. The northern side of the fortification is guarded by a tower with four levels. A shorter, three-level tower stands to the south and it hosts a museum dedicated mostly to the trades and customs of the Saxon community but which also includes exhibits discovered during various archaeological explorations, such as coins and fragments of weaponry.

When we visited in 2011, we arrived right around noon, which as some of you may know, is the worst time of the day for photos. I also had with me a camera that was more remarkable for its zoom (30x) than the dynamic range of its sensor and the quality of its photos. I plan to visit again soon and take some photographs that will do the place justice. It’s undergone significant repairs and restoration work since 2011, so it looks different now. We’ve actually revisited it just a couple of months ago, but it was for a photoshoot for Ligia’s ongoing project, Straie Alese, so I didn’t focus on capturing the architecture.

Enjoy the photos!

At the fortified Saxon church in Mosna, Transilvania, Romania

Places

Sighisoara from a distance

The same day I took these photos, we decided to drive into the hills surrounding the town and see if we could find a scenic spot from whence to photograph it. We found a couple of spots. There are a couple of pensions perched up there, with great views of the valley and the town. While the pensions/restaurants themselves are underwhelming (one was closed, another only served water and bad coffee), the views are worth the drive.

By the time I set up my equipment, it was dusk and twilight was fast approaching. You’ll have to excuse the liberal use of noise reduction in the photographs, but I was shooting with the long end of a 70-300mm lens at f5.6, fast shutter speeds and high ISO. What made the photos more interesting was the creeping fog, which was enveloping the town from all sides. I can see the appeal of such scenery in stories about vampires, but I assure you, there are none there.

When night fell over the valley, we drove back down and I took a few shots of an historic church and of the Târnava Mare river which passes through the town. One last thing: the mountains which you see in some of the photographs are the Southern Carpathians, more specifically the Făgăraș Mountains.

Enjoy the photographs!

On a bridge in downtown Sighisoara, Romania, after sunset, as the dark begins to set in. The river is Tarnava Mare.

A view inside the fortified walls of Sighisoara, Romania, after sunset. What you see is the church, and one of the larger historic buildings.

A view of some of the historic homes in the city of Sighisoara, inside the fortified walls, during twilight, as the fog began to set in.

Sunset near Sighisoara, as seen through the branches of a tree.

Near Sighisoara, Romania

Near Sighisoara, Romania

Evening fog begins to envelop Sighisoara

Sighisoara, Romania

Sighisoara, Transilvania, Romania

Sighisoara, Transilvania, Romania

A lovely little reformed church in Sighisoara, Romania, at twilight.

Sighisoara, Transilvania, Romania

Sighisoara, Romania

Fog sets in at twilight over the city of Sighisoara, Romania.

Places

The fortified church in Zagar

There is a fortified church in the village of Zagăr, which is located in the county of Mureș, Transilvania. I was not able to find out any information about it online; I don’t know why it’s not documented. The only thing I was able to find was a mention of the vineyards in the region, which are known for their white wines (source). The village is known as Rode in German and Zágor in Hungarian. It was first mentioned in written documents in 1412 (source). The same source states that the church was rebuilt in the year 1640 but does not give a reason why.

We also weren’t able to visit the buildings themselves (the church and the parochial house) when we visited in 2011, because the place was locked up and no one was around. On the upside, it’s a well-maintained place, restored in 2007, judging by the inscription on the back gate. Perhaps at some time in the future we’ll revisit it.

Enjoy the photographs!

The fortified church in Zagar, Transilvania, Romania

These were taken in November of 2010, so let’s say it was eight years ago or so. Things may look different now — hopefully better, given how much tourism this little town gets each year.

It was one of our typical jaunts through the medieval fortress, along its walls and back down the stairs toward the bottom of the hill. Still, the images show different spots from the ones you’ve seen here and here.

Should you want to know more about the town, click here and here. Enjoy the photographs!