Return To Barga – PORK TENDERLOIN WITH A BALSAMIC SAUCE

Barga

We visited Barga last year with only enough time for a couple of hours of exploration but that was enough to ensure our return. There is something about this little walled village sitting on a hill looking out over the Serchio Valley that wants you to slow down, breath and stay a while. The colours are mellow and sun-washed, the mountains of the Appennine and Apuan Alps surround you and every view seems to be a postcard moment.

Casa Cordati

The plan was set, we would go hard around Italy for a month or so and then head up to Barga where we would chill out, do some hiking and hopefully get some writing done.
Our accommodations in Barga could not be cooler either since we had managed to find Casa Cordati, smack in the middle of the old village. Going in we did not have huge expectations but it turned out that Casa Cordati and its famous former resident, Bruno Cordati have quite a story.

Arriving at the city gate we parked our car and walked down the narrow street to the “palazzo”. We were greeted by Giordano Cordati (the grandson of Bruno) who now runs the palace as a gallery and guest house. The front foyer of the house has been turned into a small gallery shop and reception and our apartment door was in one corner. As Giordano opened the door, Nat and I were shocked at the sheer size of the apartment with its super tall windows and high ceilings but more than that, the place just oozed of character.

Old and simple

Old and simple fixtures were offset by white walls and doors that were worn and full of patina. The kitchen was simple, equipped with an array of vintage implements and a small stove and sink. The bedroom was huge with a mix of furniture and the bathroom, having undergone a modernish upgrade, was tucked in under the central staircase of the house.

If you were thinking gilded palace you won’t find it here; as Giordano says, he likes to let his guests live their experience and not just spell it out for them like they do at an expensive hotel.

Bruno Cordati was a painter who was born in Barga up the street from the palace. In the early 60’s Bruno bought the gigantic house and moved his atelier into his new home.

Prolific painter

He was a prolific painter but never cared much for the art community and scene, all he wanted to do was paint, which he did every day of his life. We were told that during a hospitalization, he painted in the air above his bed.
Bruno divorced his wife at seventy and withdrew into the palace, turning into somewhat of an urban hermit but he never stopped painting. In 1979, he collapsed and died in front of his easel, in his studio directly above our bedroom, he was 90 years old.

Now Giordano and his mother (Bruno’s daughter) live in the house but the bohemian artist vibe still remains. Giordano has dedicated a large portion of the first floor to a gallery displaying incredible original paintings spanning his grandfather’s career.

Bruno Cordati’s skill as a painter is evident in the incredible emotion he created with simple brush strokes and having the opportunity to view them numerous times over our stay was an extra bonus.

Something else we enjoyed was the altana, a large covered rooftop terrace at the top of a narrow winding staircase.

Perhaps the most incredible room in the mansion, Cordati frescoed the walls in the early 1970s.

The windows look out in all directions across Barga but one window perfectly frames the Cathedral with Bruno’s original desk and chair below it.

Altana

Rivalling the altana for beauty is the concert hall, across from the gallery on the first floor. The concert hall is the size of a small ballroom and has many paintings covering the walls.

It is used as a meeting room and also by local musicians as a rehearsal space for its very good acoustics. The tall windows give the room incredible light, it’s easy to see why Cordati loved to live here, inspired by its unique atmosphere.  On the door of the concert hall, not completely decorated, there is a date disclosing the palaces age: 1628.

The magic

Within hours, the magic of the apartment, its surroundings and beautiful artwork, started stirring inspiration within us. If we had any paint and brushes I may have tried to paint my own masterpiece but instead, I turned to the stove, trading the brush for a knife and the paint for a rich sauce. Our inspired dinner of pork tenderloin with a balsamic sauce is one that works beautifully with roasted potatoes and sautéed broccoli. The sauce can also be paired with steak (filet mignon). Break out your boldest bottle of red like a Chianti or Barbera and cook like an artist.