“No other village of the district has so splendid a situation, or presents a greater number of picturesque views… Along the new road, one begin to see its quaint sinuous figure, like a gigantic ling thing reposing on the rugged slopes; and each fresh turn of the raod brings some new and varied prospect…”
William Scott “Rock villages of the Riviera”, London 1898
It’s the same emotions people still experience today, every time one sees Apricale from the “woaw corner” just after leaving Isolabona on the way up. Apricale is set on a sunny hill, and the name originates from Apricus, which means “exposed to the sun”. It stands in all its majesty, the bell tower, the castle of the Lizard, the parish church and the square.
It’s a village with houses placed in concentric rings and with witnesses of a medieval past that is kept alive and seen even today when walking in the carugi, the narrow car free roads or when passing under the aisles; the same narrow roads which fascinated artists such as Emanuele Luzzati, Folon, Wilhem Schlote and Sergio Bianco, who in his exhibition “La Forza della non gravità” in the Castle of Lucertola in May 2000 installed a bicycle (the one that appears in our symbol) on top of the bell tower, to suggest that in Apricale you find a pinch of heaven.
