A Landscape Through The Seasons
Contradictory adjectives are frequently used to describe the Crete senesi landscape: harsh and suave, archaic and contemporary, lunar and sunny...This may seem odd as the Crete are considered to be one of nature's most intimately evocative landscapes. It is an "inner" landscape open to interpretation by the writer, the painter, the photographer, or simply the observer. And just the human nature itself, personal impressions are always subjective, diverse and complex.
"Creta" in Tuscan dialect is a synonym of clay, which, when modeled by the seasons and by farming ploughs, constantly change shape to form the badlands, crags, and the biancane, characteristic white round clay formations. This fascinating sense of eternal transiency renders unique and surprising this "Open Sea" (as famously described by poet Mario Luzi) just two steps from Siena.
