Monday,
July 09, 2007
Germans "Conquer" Tuscan
The
ANNOTICO Report
The Tuscan
Village of Tenuta de Castelfalfi
has four square miles of land, a three-star hotel, 18-hole
golf course, olive groves, vineyards and scores of
elegantly crumbling villas,and
has been bought by the
German Travel Co TUI for 250m (#170m).
Everything from
the historic castello that gives the village its name
and perches above it on a rocky peak, to its old ramparts, houses and gardens, were part of the deal. Only the church was out of
bounds, but the company is obliged to pay for it to be renovated.
The concept
involves creating a self-contained "holiday world" within Castelfalfi's historic walls, including restaurants,
boutiques, spas, an all-inclusive hotel and an enlarged golf course.
Once it has been
given a makeover, Castelfalfi is expected to attract 3,200
German guests at any one time and will give the first whiff of mass tourism
in a region that attracts holidaymakers precisely because of its small-scale
family-run hotels.
Now here is the
BIG Question? How is
Beginning in the 1960s
the Tuscan farmers and their families began to leave the village in droves to
search for work elsewhere, and it has never recovered from the exodus, and
there are but a few elderly that remain.
So, Castelfalfi is not going to be a "living city",
not even a Theme park with imported daily "flavor", but a Spa
Village, presumably with Italian employees, unless the help will also be
imported Germans.....hmmmm.
Thanks
to Fraschetta
7
Old
settlement to become resort for 3,200 tourists
7 Italians sceptical over promises for the future
The Guardian –
Kate Connolly in
Friday May 25 2007
It has long been
part of the folklore of holidaying that they hog the sunloungers.
And now it appears the Germans are commandeering villages as well.
The entire Tuscan
In a move which
would no doubt make the Tuscany-loving author EM Forster turn in his grave, the
exquisitely beautiful but rundown medieval settlement north of Siena, and close
to Florence and Pisa is soon to be renamed Toscana Resort Castelfalfi.
"The
Germans have conquered our village!" declared the local paper,
Il Tirreno, following news of the sale.
Complete with
four square miles of land, a three-star hotel, 18-hole golf course, olive
groves, vineyards and scores of elegantly crumbling villas, Castelfalfi
is believed to have been bought for 250m (#170m).
Everything from
the historic castello that gives the village its name
and perches above it on a rocky peak, to its old ramparts, houses and gardens, were part of the deal. Only the church was out of
bounds, but the company is obliged to pay for it to be renovated.
The concept
involves creating a self-contained "holiday world" within Castelfalfi's historic walls, including restaurants,
boutiques, spas, an all-inclusive hotel and an enlarged golf course.
Once it has been
given a makeover, Castelfalfi is expected to attract
3,200 guests at any one time and will give the first whiff of mass tourism in a
region that attracts holidaymakers precisely because of its small-scale
family-run hotels.
It is unclear how
"
Golf and spa
opportunities are considered by the mass market tourism industry to be
particularly underdeveloped in the region.
For the village,
being owned is nothing new. For hundreds of years its tenant farmers produced
their olive oil, wine, cereals and tobacco for the noble family to whom it
belonged. But in the 1960s the farmers and their families began to leave the
village in droves to search for work elsewhere, and it has never recovered from
the exodus.
Which might
explain why TUI's dramatic move, described as its biggest ever development, has met with little opposition
from the five remaining Castelfalfians.
"I'll wait
to see how it will be," 74-year-old resident and retired hunting watchman
Camillo Carli told the German newspaper Die Welt.
"I'm old so it doesn't really affect me - it's more something that will
impact on the young."
His son-in-law,
Andrea Mechacci, said he saw the sale as a big
chance. "If it remains as it is, then the village is dead," he said.
Any life German tourists brought with them would be welcome, he added.
However,
Valentino Morelli, who was born in Castelfalfi and keeps a holiday home there, told Die Welt:
"I only hope that they have the financial means to see this through. But I
will not be selling up even if they make me an offer."
There will be
very little that is Italian about the Castelfalfi
experience apart from the location. Forget soaking up the atmosphere of lively
markets, watching courting young couples making out on the hillside or milling
with the elegant locals and black-clad widows in the village square.
Paola Rossetti,
the mayor of Montaione, the administrative district
to which Castelfalfi belongs, cautiously welcomed the
purchase, but said the authorities would keep a close eye on how the village
was developed. "We will not allow everything to happen," she said.
"The Germans can come, on condition that Castelfalfi
remains the paradise that it is."
TUI says it wants
to offer its guests the full rural experience - including locally produced
fruit, vegetables and wine. Its boss, Michael Frenzel,
said the village would be "self-sufficient as far as possible through the
use of renewable energy".
But many in the Montaione region are sceptical,
remembering a string of earlier attempts to rejuvenate the ghost village.
In every decade
since the 1970s one investment project after the other has failed. The last
attempt at the start of the 1990s looked hopeful. A hotel, golf course and
restaurant were built and a spa was also planned, but the ideas collapsed due
to lack of funds and since then virtually nothing has happened. House facades
have been rudimentarily kept up and gardens tended, just in case another
investor was to drop in, but in general Castelfalfi
is in dire need of renovation.
TUI Travel,
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