The Perfect Day
And how to find it ...
As regular readers are aware, most editions of Lighting the Path deal with an aspect of my family’s 2016 or 2023 journeys to the northern hemisphere; sometimes both.
But, as was the case the last time I invaded your inbox, before reverting to my ongoing account of our adventures in the UK and Ireland two years ago, I wanted to provide another small taste of our very recent escapades in southern Europe - hopefully featuring a slightly more upbeat tone than that last instalment!
5 June 2025
Have you ever thought about what makes The Perfect Day? Have you ever tried to identify what such a day might include, or look like. If you did go down that path, was there a conversation required with a partner, or some other potential accomplice, in order to ensure you were both on the same page? And even if you did discuss and plan it, how hard was it to make The Perfect Day fall into line with your pre-conceived ambitions and expectations?
If I had to nominate the criteria for The Perfect Day whilst travelling overseas it would, I suspect, include some combination of the following:
a leisurely start to the morning, with no time imperative
engagement with the natural environment
tapping into the local culture and/or interacting with the local people
getting some moderately challenging, but nonetheless enjoyable exercise
eating some tasty and, ideally, healthy food, washed down with a nice beverage; possibly something previously untried
favourable weather
And if those are indeed the criteria by which a day is to be measured, then I’m very pleased to say that today was nothing short of perfect.
Arte Sella is one of the most unusual art galleries Linda and I have ever visited. It consists of three distinct sections, housed in three conjoined venues. The first is the Villa Strobele: a traditional chalet-style home, surrounded by lawns and gardens, situated about 20 minutes drive from our current home base of Borgo Valsugana (that being a small town, with a population of around 7,000 people, located not far from the Dolomite ranges in north-eastern Italy). The second is Malga Costa: a much larger rural property a further 5-minute drive or so to the west of Villa Strobele. The third venue is the Sentiero Montura: a 4km walking trail which links the other two.
So what exactly is the artwork on display in these venues (all of which, I hasten to add, are entirely open-air facilities)? Glad you asked. They are what I’ve chosen to collectively call agrisculpture - all now permanently displayed we believe - often created on a grand scale, and generally utilising natural materials (most commonly wood and stone), but occasionally metal and wire.
Unsurprisingly, as is typically the case with any gallery we visit, not every installation hit the mark with us. But by far the overwhelming majority we found impressive and thought-provoking, often very cleverly designed and skilfully executed, and occasionally unexpectedly moving.
Although nothing we saw or read indicated that the contributing artists had been given any particular theme to conform to in producing their works, we were intrigued to see how many pieces resembled what could pass for ancient and/or rudimentary forms of shelter, or symbolic worship. That said, the range of subject matter was very broad, and we were pleasantly surprised on numerous occasions by the novelty and ingenuity on show. And the great thing is there is still so much unused space available in all three venues that it seems inevitable the collection will continue to expand as the years unfold.
A single favourite would be hard to select, given the diversity on offer, but a short list might well include the following (to which our photographs, sadly, rarely do justice):
the Tree Cathedral
the “Aztec circle”, and “reverse eclipse” (our names, not theirs)
the wolves, boars and deer created by English artist Sally Matthews along the Sentiero Montura, utilising metal frames stuffed with dried leaves and wood chips
the “infinity” love seat
a giant walnut constructed from tree branches
fields of wildflowers pruned by hand into eye-pleasing shapes and images
the gobsmacking, logic-defying knotted tree
One recurring element that repeatedly amazed us was the ability of the artists to create smooth, regular shapes utilising irregular and/or non-conforming components. And of course the fact that we were able to view all of these wonderful works of art largely in our own company, in a beautiful outdoor setting, added significantly to the almost spiritual nature of the experience.
And speaking of spiritual moments: As we approached what would, as a result of what followed, become my favourite installation of them all - named Sabir, and resembling half of a giant colourful Easter egg standing upright on its middle - the heavens opened above us. Being at this point about as far from the shelter of Malga Costa’s administrative centre (incorporating a cafe, giftshop, and other amenities) as it was possible to be, it seemed we were set for a drenching. But at that very moment, as we were circling it, we discovered the egg had an opening to its interior; an opening that would have remained invisible to us had we not chosen to press forward. Upon stepping inside not only were we protected from the falling rain but, almost miraculously, every single external sound vanished away instantaneously, leaving us standing together in an enormous magical cone of silence.
The shower was a relatively brief one, but throughout those few minutes we enjoyed the most extraordinary meditative tranquility in our private haven, providing us with a sense of being completely cut off from the rest of the universe and yet somehow, simultaneously, the very opposite of that. Then, as quickly as they had darkened, the skies cleared, the sun re-emerged, and a circle of bright light was directed from above our heads onto the ground beside us through a hole in our shelter’s roof. A part of Arte Sella’s extended catalogue that not many get to experience I imagine.
It’s hard to believe that less than seven years ago, in October 2018, this area, including many of the sculptures then in place, were devastated by Storm Vaia. Today, surrounded by fields of vibrant purple, yellow and white wildflowers, they in turn fenced by thousands of magnificent, resilient conifers, all standing amidst the spectacular backdrop of the mountains that rise on both sides of the Arte Sella Trinity, we could feel nothing but gratitude for the gift this day has been.
Leisurely start - tick
Engagement with nature - tick
Tapping into local culture - tick
Exercise - tick (over 21,000 steps all told)
Favourable weather - tick (even the rain played its part)
Good food and drink?
As if eating fresh crusty rolls, along with a couple of tasty sweet treats, procured this morning from our local bakery back in Borgo V, whilst sitting on hand-carved wooden benches, and looking on as a class of visiting primary schoolchildren entertained us with their joyful play wasn’t enough to be thankful for, tonight we feasted on home-cooked chicken schnitzel, topped with a seriously delicious pumpkin and chili pesto sauce, whilst sipping a glass (or two) of Valpolicella; a red wine produced just an hour or two’s drive south-west from the very place where we consumed it.
The Perfect Day? Somebody pinch me.