The Week - USA (2021-11-26)

Travel LEISURE 29

Dante Alighieri’s vision of the afterlife

wasn’t entirely drawn from imagina-

tion and lore, said J.R. Patterson in The

Washington Post. The Italian poet and

politician spent nearly 20 years roam-

ing and reflecting in northern Italy after

he was exiled from Florence in 1302 by

political rivals. “What Dante saw gave

a raw physicality to his Divine Comedy,

setting the backdrop of Hell, Purgatory,

and Paradise.” Earlier this fall, my part-

ner and I went looking for Dante’s Italy,

setting out to hike half of Il Cammino

di Dante, a 250-mile loop that con-

nects Dante’s birthplace, Florence, with

Ravenna, where he lies entombed. Unlike

the poet’s Divine Comedy, though, our

journey didn’t begin in a dark wood: “The

sun was high and warm, with a slight

breeze carrying the voices of fruit pickers

from across orchards heavy with grapes,

pears, plums, and figs.”

Hiking in new boots that raised blisters, “I

quickly realized I would be achieving humil-

This week’s dream: Following Dante’s footsteps through Italy

Ala

my

ity sooner than expected.” Fortunately,

autumn in Tuscany was a balm. We were

often alone, walking through chestnut

forests or passing farmers in their fields,

while the blue-green peaks of the Apennines

loomed in the west. “Every time we came

upon a wild blackberry bush, we gorged

ourselves silly.” One day, a woman threw

open the shutters of her country home

and beckoned us to drink from her well.

Accustomed to seeing pilgrims, she

thrust grapes into our hands and

lamented the dry weather, “her Tuscan

Italian full of soft g’s and c’s.”

After feasting on country stew and

roasted eggplants with the nuns at the

Hermitage of Gamogna, we plunged

into the frigid Acquacheta, a stream

whose famous waterfall appears in

Dante’s Inferno. Later, our ardu-

ous trek into the mountains recalled

Dante’s ascent of Mount Purgatory.

When we finally reached Florence, the

streets “heaved with people,” so we

returned by train to quiet Ravenna, where

the mayor commemorated the 700th anni-

versary of Dante’s death by reciting poetry

outside the poet’s humble tomb. “The life

force of Dante was thick here. It was the

feeling of Paradise, the Paradise of home.

That sense of renewal, of rejuvenation,

could be seen in the faces of the onlook-

ers as the mayor’s voice carried Dante’s

cadence over them.”

A street in the hilltop town of Brisighella

“Never heard of Taft Gardens? Don’t be sur-

prised,” said Jeanette Marantos in the Los

Angeles Times. This verdant oasis in the dusty

hills outside Ojai, Calif., keeps a low profile

because neighboring owners don’t like crowds.

The entrance isn’t listed on Google Maps, and

visitors receive directions only after buying tick-

ets and signing a waiver. Once inside, though,

you enter “another world”: 15 acres of trees,

shrubs, grasses, and succulents that largely are

native to Australia or South Africa. Aloes tower

overhead. Large seedpods with Muppet-like

mouths crowd the banksia

trees. Pink blossoms from

Australian bottle trees

carpet the pathways. And

the Australian grass trees

evoke “giant worms frozen

in motion.” Developer

and nature lover John

Taft, now 87 and a regular

presence, established the

gardens (and a large neigh-

boring nature preserve) as

a sort of penance for his

building career. “There is

something sweetly innocent

about these gardens. The

paths are alive with bird-

song and the sudden scurry

of lizards.” And, “like all

secret gardens,” it’s a space

that invites quiet play.

Anyone who spends time in central or southern

Florida should take an airboat ride at least once,

said Sharon Kennedy Wynne in the Tampa Bay

Times. Getting to one isn’t easy: “You have to

drive to the boonies and then get on a funny-

looking boat that resembles a Rube Goldberg

contraption.” You also have to wear earmuffs

to block out the noise from the “big, honk-

ing motor” and propeller that power the flat-

bottomed vessels. But hop on, and for the next

hour, you can be gliding through the heart of

a swamp at the headwaters of the Everglades.

The ride is so smooth

that even people with

bad backs can enjoy it,

and the boats can go

anywhere. “There were

times I was thinking that

our captain would turn

to avoid an obvious dead

end, but he headed right

into the grass.” Exploring

the Kissimmee Chain of

Lakes and the waterways

that connect them, we

saw herons, egrets, two

bald eagles, and beautiful

roseate spoonbills. Our

guide, from Alligator

Cove Adventures in Lake

Wales, could spot a gator

in the water from a half-

mile away.

“So many of us are looking

for that fairy-tale experience

when we travel— especially

in the French countryside,”

said Loïc Cardinal in TheDaily

Beast.com. “At Les Sources,

I finally had mine.” Though

many of the Loire’s historic

châteaus that welcome

guests are too opulent or

too rustic, this estate is “a

perfect fusion of French coun-

tryside charm and high-end

details.” The main building

has 13 rooms furnished

with well-chosen antiques. A

farm-to-table restaurant and

additional rooms and suites

are housed in converted farm

buildings. And “just down a

tiny road, in the middle of the

trees, sits a gorgeous pool.”

sources- cheverny.com;

rooms from $206

Hotel of the week Getting the flavor of...

A storybook escape

The headwaters of the Everglades A semi-secret California garden

Loire Valley, France

Les Sources de Cheverny

Travelers have finally realized that air-

lines don’t hold a monopoly on trans-

porting suitcases, said Jon Marcus in

The Boston Globe. “The cost of having

luggage picked up and delivered has

steadily come down, even as the cost of

checking it goes up.” That’s why more

vacationers are shipping their bags

ahead—or finding other ways to have

clothes waiting at their hotels. Hilton is

aiding the trend by adding Amazon lock-

ers where guests can pick up orders.

W Hotels has teamed up with Rent the

Runway, a service that rents out wom-

en’s designer garments and will have

your choices hanging in the room when

you arrive. That can be especially liber-

ating. After all, “being on vacation is like

having permission to dress in ways that

people never might at home.”

The case for not packing