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Castagneto Carducci

Rising on green slopes behind the coastline, Castagneto Carducci is dominated by the castle belonging to the Della Ghe- rardesca family, transformed in the 18th century into a lordly manor, around which stretches a dense network of streets. All around, the landscapes celebrated by the poet have become a literary park. From Castagneto Carducci we descend to take the Via Aurelia heading north to San Guido, from where the tree-lined avenue that leads to Bolgheri starts. Imbued with biographical memories of Carducci, who spent years of his boyhood here between 1838and 1848, the village of Bolgheri saw the origin in those very years of the cypress- lined road commemorated by the poet in the ode entitled Davanti San Guido. As the poem records, the avenue leads from the 18th century oratory named for San Guido in a little less than five kilometers to the turreted gate of the castle of Bolgheri, completely renovated by Count Alberto Guido della Gherardesca at the end of the 19th century.