Carpaccio in Conegliano

This spring there's an extra reason to visit pretty little Conegliano in the Veneto. I paid a return visit yesterday, to see the exhibition Carpaccio: Vittore e Benedetto da Venezia all'Istria.

Vittore Carpaccio will be known to many visitors to Venice. He painted lovely Renaissance scenes of saints, heroes and heroines, all filled with life, charm, curious buildings and cute animals. The story paintings in the Accademia Gallery telling the tale of St Ursula are among his finest works. This exhibition focusses on the later stages of his career, with paintings taken from various obscure locations, and adds the story of his son Benedetto who took over his workshop and produced his own paintings in the style of his father.

The exhibition is nicely presented and thoughtfully laid-out. As I had already tracked down most of the paintings in and around Venice, there were only a few inclusions which were new to me, and other Carpaccio lovers will be in the same situation. One of the works most celebrated by the exhibition, St George and the Dragon (not the famous one from the Scuola di San Giorgio), actually lives on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. It's a bit of a secret; you have to ask to see it - a friendly monk took me the first time I visited. Now the painting is featured in this exhibition, you can even buy a fridge magnet reproduction of the painting (and I did).

Other highlights include the late work St Paul, from Chioggia, where the saint walks on a field of lovely flowers, the famous painting of the Venetian winged lion from the Palazzo Ducale, and the beautiful Pala di Pirano (now in Padua).

This isn't the grand career-encompassing exhibition of Carpaccio that a fan would dream of. Some of his greatest paintings are so large and significant that it is hard to imagine them being moved. But given that limitation, this is a good opportunity to see works gathered from as far afield as Koper and Brescia. It is also interesting to contrast Vittore's varied works and those of his son Benedetto, who - we see here - used his father's sketches and designs in his own work. Benedetto's painting is clearly more stilted and lacks the magic of his father. But it's not without charm and occasionally his scenes and faces are lovely - I especially admired a fine St. Nicholas.

Best of all, the exhibition is an excuse for a day out in Conegliano. This historic town close to the Dolomites has a pretty centre with a long arcaded street, traces of fresco on its houses, an altarpiece by local hero Cima da Conegliano, and a medieval castle with a small museum housed in its tower (which also has superb countryside views). Arrive early enough to visit the church and museum before they close (the church closes at noon, the museum-tower 30 minutes later), enjoy a leisurely lunch and then tour the museum. Conegliano is under an hour from Venice by cheap regional train. And if you need any more persuading, the town is also famed for its Prosecco production.
> More about Conegliano

Back in Venice today, I was thinking about the exhibition's lesson in the stock 'types' Carpaccio and - and, later, his son - used and re-used from his sketchpads. I popped into the church of San Vidal to look at the Carpaccio altarpiece there. Sure enough, there was that familiar and handsome flag-bearing St George, half-turned and clad in armour, from yesterday's Pala di Pirano. And checking the exhibition guide I spot him again, in an altarpiece by Benedetto.

Calcata: visiting an eccentric village

Last month I took a trip from Rome to visit Calcata, a medieval hill village which was abandoned in the twentieth century before becoming a kind of bohemian artists' colony. It's a picturesque little place which you can read about here: www.italyheaven.co.uk/lazio/calcata.html

Though there's frankly not a great deal to do if you get there in the morning with hours to while away before lunch, as I did, photographers, cat-lovers and artists will find ways to pass the time. I found a viewpoint on the edge of the crags where I sat in the sun. One little dog ran around town. Countless cats prowled or dozed or dived through broken hoardings into abandoned caves (possibly hunting or possibly escaping the little dog). A kitten learned how to hunt by pouncing on its mother's tail.  Pigeons were everywhere. Calcata has around 70 year-round inhabitants, and the cats and pigeons must outnumber them massively.

As the morning wore on, two or three other tourists turned up to wander, and businesses began to open. These are mostly artists' studios selling everything from found items to jewellery, from hand-crafted knick-knacks to paintings. A sign directed me to an oracle, who appeared to be closed for the day.

This is a charmingly eccentric place. I've visited other hill towns where the flow of tourists has led to rows of souvenir shops, upmarket galleriess and facilities for coach tours. Calcata is still endearingly ramshackle. What it lacks in careful restoration it makes up for in atmosphere.

I lunched in a highly eccentric cafe crammed with art, antiques and curiosities. The proprietor - clearly a colourful character - is a film actor-turned-artist, and the walls were covered with stills from his films (including  "Lo Stallone", "The Stud") and his own artworks. The waitress put together a vegetarian piadina for me, poured a generous glass of wine and offered up some gossip about the owners of some of the village's cave-houses. In the bathroom a giant ceramic tiger stared at me, and a cluster of chairs suggest that one could invite one's friends in as an audience.

Caffè Kafir

On the slope overlooking Calcata I followed a pleasantly rural footpath towards the new replacement village. There were more caves here, carved into the soft tufa rock. Some were overgrown with weeds, others were used as garages. Cockerels crowed and the air of countryside peace was remarkable; there are no cars in Calcata Vecchia and few even driving past.

In the afternoon, waiting for the bus, I enjoyed a delicious and refreshing iced tea and a cake on a gorgeous roof terrace up steep steps from a tea room, La Sala, where two ladies played cards. I could have sat there for hours in the sunshine looking out over the green wooded valley and hills, but the bus was due. Another eccentric bathroom filled with decorations, another interruption to the card game as I paid, and then it was time to leave.

Lemon and strawberry cake with iced tea at La Sala

On my return journey I had to board the bus without a ticket (I literally had to sprint for the bus at Saxa Rubra that morning and didn't have time to purchase a spare). I ended up travelling back to Rome for free, as the friendly driver refused to sell me a double-price on-board ticket  on ethical grounds despite my willingness to pay ("They're too expensive," he said "It's excessive") .

My article about Calcata is here: www.italyheaven.co.uk/lazio/calcata.html

Stone thrones, Calcata