We've just returned from a week in glorious Tuscany, and that was the thought that bounced around in my head the entire time we were there.
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| View over Lucca from the Guinigi Tower |
Regular readers might recall that last year I was fortunate enough to visit this neck of the woods twice in the space of three months - the first time in January, courtesy of my friend Lyndall who was living in Siena while the construction of her little house in Lecchi was being completed, and the second time in March to actually stay in the newly finished house.
Those trips were a great introduction to the Tuscan region, which I hadn't visited since the mid 1980s - and made particularly special by virtue of Lyndall seeming to be acquainted with everybody within a 100km radius. You do get a richer experience when you're mixing with the locals not solely as a tourist.
This time we were at Lyndall's house on our own as she is now back in Australia.
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| Just arrived at Pisa Airport - collecting our hire car, Kevin beaming with his bike bag |
The flight time from London to Pisa is less than two hours, but of course there's the getting to the airport, parking the car, doing bag-drop, going through security... and then all the arrival stuff when you get to your destination. Lecchi is about a two-hour drive from Pisa airport but we took our time, stopping in nearby Radda for lunch and to load up with a few grocery items that we knew the village store probably could not provide. We do try to patronise Lecchi's little store/café for most of our needs when we are there, and let's face it - all that gesticulating and guessing at Italian words and their English equivalents... it's a fun experience!
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| The Church of San Niccolo in Radda's main square |
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| View of the Tuscan hills from Radda |
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| The gorgeous scent of wisteria seemed to float over all of Tuscany |
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| Lunch at La Bottega di Giovannini, owned by Lyndall's friends |
The house is in such a beautiful spot - genuine countryside, with naught but the hooting of owls at night and, we were told by Anita, the occasional visit from a snuffling wild boar (we are assured they are incredibly relaxed creatures and the only danger was to Lyndall's garden). It's also proper village life - everybody knows everybody, and you could almost set your watch by a couple of elderly members of the community being walked all the way through up the main road and back again, twice a day, on the arm of their carers. The village bells chime on the hour and half-hour, but aside from that there's only the brief noise of a passing car every so often, occasionally the distant sound of farm machinery, and the twittering of birds.
Early April is the latest time of year (prior to summer, I mean) that I'd ever visit Italy. It's been a particularly mild and dry Spring; last Easter - which fell in March - we were rugged up in coats, scarves and woolly hats a lot of the time. We're a couple of weeks later in the calendar this year but the difference is very marked. Already the light has that really quite harsh glare (after the dull light of London) and although the temperatures have only been in the low 20s, it's been enough for me to peer outside through my sunglasses as I slather on sunscreen and select long sleeves and hats, to think, Hmmm... looking a bit too much like an Australian summer day, and start planning activities that will keep me out of the sun.
I would suggest to you that between early March and mid April is a great time to visit, mainly because tourist season has just started to awaken and already it's a bit full-on for me - but the weather is warming up which most people will enjoy.
On our third day we did the most amazing wine tour with Lyndall's friend Paola who runs her own company (Take Me out in Tuscany), and I made her laugh by describing the hordes of teenage school students thronging Siena's Piazza del Campo the day before - I told her I could happily have taken a gun and shot them all.
I was joking of course, but you can appreciate how much they spoiled the atmosphere for me. Apparently this is a popular time of year for European students to go on school trips, so we were unlucky to time our visit thusly.
The wine tour mentioned above was a real highlight of our week. We had met Paola from Take Me Out In Tuscany last year at Lyndall's housewarming party, and were keen to splurge a bit on a proper introduction to the local vineyards.
Paola runs several different wine tours, and we selected the Chianti Classico one - visiting three vineyards that qualify to produce that particular style of wine, ie grapes grown within one of the seven subregions within Chianti, using at least 80 per cent Sangiovese, and aged for at least ten months. Paola picked us up from the house and drove us around all day, then dropped us back home. What a luxury!
In addition to sampling amazing Chianti wine we were also treated to extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings, and enjoyed an incredible lunch that combined all three of these things. We don't have the budget - or the luggage space - to purchase vast quantities of these products but we did come away with a couple of bottles of glorious, fruity olive oil and three bottles of very high quality Chianti to be saved for special occasions.
I know it sounds like we kept up a hectic pace but really our schedule was very relaxed. Most days, after a leisurely breakfast on the terrace, Kevin headed out for a couple of hours to cycle the torturous Chianti hills while I read and listened to music, or went for a stroll. Then we'd jump in the car and take a trip to somewhere within an hour or two of driving, usually enjoying a late lunch upon arrival at our destination.
Last January Lyndall and I visited the glorious fortress town of Cortona. The difference between mid-winter and mid-spring was incredible - this gorgeous place in winter was all but deserted and we needed every single layer of our winter attire against a truly glacial wind. This time the tourists were very much in evidence and the weather was a very pleasant 18ºC.
After dining and strolling around for an hour or so we made the decision to walk all the way up to the the Basilica Santa Margherita. If you go to TripAdvisor you'll see many reviews from people who suggest this destination be reached by car, particularly on a hot day. We didn't have that excuse of course, and so up we went... and up... and up. It was incredibly steep but the views were so wonderful we barely noticed the effort, and of course felt very virtuous about having walked off our lunch.
Happily, we arrived at the Basilica just in time to hear rehearsals for a Mass or recital - the most glorious organ music accompanied by flute. It really was magical.
Meanwhile a thunderstorm was rolling in and so our descent back into the town was quite a damp one.
With great reluctance we left Casa di Lyndall after nearly a week, to spend the last night of our trip in Lucca, which had been recommended to us by several people including my nephew Adam.
En route we visited Volterra, yet another medieval fortress town and one I was familiar with only because it was a location used in one of the Twilight novels, as the home of the Volturi (that's vampire royalty for you unfortunates who haven't read the books).
Actually in the movie version of New Moon they used Montepulciano as the filming location, so there was nothing in Volterra that would allow me to re-live that glorious scene where a half-naked Edward Cullen emerges from the shadows for a tantalising few seconds before he is pushed back into the darkness by the desperate Bella. All the same it's an impressive town - and one which, once again, required a significant amount of stair and steep road climbing!
Once again we were caught by the beginnings of a storm, thankfully as we were already well on our way back to the car, but nature certainly put on a show for us as we drove towards Pisa (which we had to skirt around to get to Lucca).
Our final destination in Italy lived up to the hype. Lucca is a lot larger than we anticipated, but doesn't have the intense mega-tourism vibe of Florence.
The environment is made very pleasant by the fact that the city is surrounded by ramparts built in the 16th and 17th centuries. These defensive walls now provide an elevated promenade that is very popular with runners, walkers and cyclists. Although the narrow streets and historic piazzas are beautiful, it's really nice to be up high above the throng and able to see the city from that elevated perspective.
We stayed one night at a lovely B&B just outside the city walls. After the splendid peace and quiet of Lecchi we noticed the noise of traffic and so on, but we were very comfortable at Al Porto di Lucca B&B. Our room was spacious and decorated with beautiful antiques. The lounge downstairs had an honesty bar where you could leave one Euro per drink if you were tempted to indulge, and the breakfast room was truly charming. As for the breakfast itself... absolutely superb.
Our hosts were as we found everybody in Tuscany - friendly and helpful, delighted if you at least tried to say a few words in Italian, and seemingly fully aware of their good fortune to live in a region that is sought out by so many people.
Once again I was grateful to TripAdvisor for pointing us in the right direction for dinner in Lucca. After reading reviews that indicated we would have quite a few vegetarian and vegan options at Cantine Bernardini, we hot-footed it there and - oh boy! - we were not disappointed. Delightfully friendly staff and amazing food. After a shared starter of chickpea patties with roasted vegetables and a rich pumpkin sauce, I had the best pasta dish I've eaten in years - and it was a simple vegan plate of spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, chilli and topped with toasted breadcrumbs. OMG!!! How do they get something so basic to taste so incredible?
Everything tastes good in Italy. A lot of it probably stems from the use of local produce which means food is very fresh, but even the packaged salad leaves from the supermarket were about a billion times fresher and tastier than their UK counterparts.
And so it was time to head home after a long day trudging around Lucca.
I was lucky enough to grow up with a lot of exposure to Italian culture, Sydney having a very large Italian population. Italian food is one of my favourite cuisines, and Italian wine has long been my vino of choice. But visiting Italy several times in the past year has really given me an even stronger appreciation of the country's rich culture and strong identity.
Some of the locals are fearful of the country's future in terms of economy, but overall they seem fully cognisant of their great fortune in living here.
It's easy to understand how Lyndall fell madly in love with the place and instead of staying for the planned six months just to learn Italian, ended up remaining for nearly two years and made the decision to build her beautiful home in Lecchi.
Lyndall suffered through delays and frustrations in the building process but it's really been worth it - she now has a place to call home in the Tuscan hills. You can share in the dream by staying there yourself, and I heartily recommend you to do so - https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16656305
Until next time,
- Maree xo
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| The view over the village of Lecchi in Chianti - from Lyndall's garden |
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| The master bedroom at Casa di Lyndall |
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| Aperitivo time on the terrace at Casa di Lyndall |
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| Lecchi in Chianti - main street in the village |
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| Morning sunshine over Lecchi - from the hill opposite Lyndall's house |
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| Concierge at an apartment building in Lecchi ;-) |
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| Monteluco - once Lecchi's own little 'castle', but now residences and tourist accommodation. This is the building on top of the hill opposite Casa di Lyndall |
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| Many of the houses in Italy have these little alcoves at their front gates, in dedication to the Madonna |
Early April is the latest time of year (prior to summer, I mean) that I'd ever visit Italy. It's been a particularly mild and dry Spring; last Easter - which fell in March - we were rugged up in coats, scarves and woolly hats a lot of the time. We're a couple of weeks later in the calendar this year but the difference is very marked. Already the light has that really quite harsh glare (after the dull light of London) and although the temperatures have only been in the low 20s, it's been enough for me to peer outside through my sunglasses as I slather on sunscreen and select long sleeves and hats, to think, Hmmm... looking a bit too much like an Australian summer day, and start planning activities that will keep me out of the sun.
I would suggest to you that between early March and mid April is a great time to visit, mainly because tourist season has just started to awaken and already it's a bit full-on for me - but the weather is warming up which most people will enjoy.
On our third day we did the most amazing wine tour with Lyndall's friend Paola who runs her own company (Take Me out in Tuscany), and I made her laugh by describing the hordes of teenage school students thronging Siena's Piazza del Campo the day before - I told her I could happily have taken a gun and shot them all.
I was joking of course, but you can appreciate how much they spoiled the atmosphere for me. Apparently this is a popular time of year for European students to go on school trips, so we were unlucky to time our visit thusly.
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| The Basilica of San Francesco looms above Siena's streets |
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| The Torre del Mangia in Siena's lovely Piazza del Campo |
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| Laundry, scooters and the Madonna - typical of apartments in Siena |
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| Sunset over Siena |
The wine tour mentioned above was a real highlight of our week. We had met Paola from Take Me Out In Tuscany last year at Lyndall's housewarming party, and were keen to splurge a bit on a proper introduction to the local vineyards.
Paola runs several different wine tours, and we selected the Chianti Classico one - visiting three vineyards that qualify to produce that particular style of wine, ie grapes grown within one of the seven subregions within Chianti, using at least 80 per cent Sangiovese, and aged for at least ten months. Paola picked us up from the house and drove us around all day, then dropped us back home. What a luxury!
In addition to sampling amazing Chianti wine we were also treated to extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar tastings, and enjoyed an incredible lunch that combined all three of these things. We don't have the budget - or the luggage space - to purchase vast quantities of these products but we did come away with a couple of bottles of glorious, fruity olive oil and three bottles of very high quality Chianti to be saved for special occasions.
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| Sant' Agnese Farm - one of our locations on the wine tour, and where we were served an absolutely fabulous vegetarian lunch |
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| We were well and truly tiddly by this stage! |
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| Our third stop on the tour - Querceto di Castellina - is an organic vineyard |
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| Our winery day-tour included a brief stop in the lovely town of Castellina in Chianti |
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| I can verify that the locally grown fruit & veg in Italy tastes as good as it looks |
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| This sculpture adorns a fountain in Castellina in Chianti |
I know it sounds like we kept up a hectic pace but really our schedule was very relaxed. Most days, after a leisurely breakfast on the terrace, Kevin headed out for a couple of hours to cycle the torturous Chianti hills while I read and listened to music, or went for a stroll. Then we'd jump in the car and take a trip to somewhere within an hour or two of driving, usually enjoying a late lunch upon arrival at our destination.
Last January Lyndall and I visited the glorious fortress town of Cortona. The difference between mid-winter and mid-spring was incredible - this gorgeous place in winter was all but deserted and we needed every single layer of our winter attire against a truly glacial wind. This time the tourists were very much in evidence and the weather was a very pleasant 18ºC.
After dining and strolling around for an hour or so we made the decision to walk all the way up to the the Basilica Santa Margherita. If you go to TripAdvisor you'll see many reviews from people who suggest this destination be reached by car, particularly on a hot day. We didn't have that excuse of course, and so up we went... and up... and up. It was incredibly steep but the views were so wonderful we barely noticed the effort, and of course felt very virtuous about having walked off our lunch.
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| Cypresses marching down the hill - en route to the fortress town of Cortona |
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| Starting the climb from the town up to the Cathedral... (photo by Kevin Joy) |
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| Oh boy... a solid 45-minute uphill trek from the town to the Cathedral - steep! (photo by Kevin joy) |
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| Cortona Cathedral - Basilica Santa Margherita |
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| The beautiful interior of Cortona Cathedral |
Happily, we arrived at the Basilica just in time to hear rehearsals for a Mass or recital - the most glorious organ music accompanied by flute. It really was magical.
Meanwhile a thunderstorm was rolling in and so our descent back into the town was quite a damp one.
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| Smiles that say 'Thank god that's over!' - the climb well worth it for the beautiful views |
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| These funny little three-wheeler trucks are all over Italy and they're the ideal vehicle for negotiating the narrow, winding streets of medieval towns |
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| The beautiful countryside surrounding Cortona |
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| This cool bar is in the centre of the town |
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| Lovely ornate doorway in Cortona |
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| Seconds after taking this shot, the cat disappeared into a hole in the stone wall - there was a piece of grating missing from a tiny corner of that window |
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| Le Bifore, a boutique hotel in Cortona |
With great reluctance we left Casa di Lyndall after nearly a week, to spend the last night of our trip in Lucca, which had been recommended to us by several people including my nephew Adam.
En route we visited Volterra, yet another medieval fortress town and one I was familiar with only because it was a location used in one of the Twilight novels, as the home of the Volturi (that's vampire royalty for you unfortunates who haven't read the books).
Actually in the movie version of New Moon they used Montepulciano as the filming location, so there was nothing in Volterra that would allow me to re-live that glorious scene where a half-naked Edward Cullen emerges from the shadows for a tantalising few seconds before he is pushed back into the darkness by the desperate Bella. All the same it's an impressive town - and one which, once again, required a significant amount of stair and steep road climbing!
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| This is starting to look like Maree-and-Kevin's-tour-of-Italian-steps! Climbing from the carpark up to the town of Volterra (photo by Kevin Joy) |
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| We lunched at a restaurant just out of view. It was rubbish! Our only disappointing dining experience during the whole week |
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| Volterra is famous for its beautiful alabaster, and there are many impressive displays of alabaster products in the town |
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| Volterra has one of the finest and most well-preserved Roman theatres in Italy |
Once again we were caught by the beginnings of a storm, thankfully as we were already well on our way back to the car, but nature certainly put on a show for us as we drove towards Pisa (which we had to skirt around to get to Lucca).
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| Stormy weather over the Tuscan hills, just outside Volterra - a second after I took this shot we witnessed a gigantic bolt of lightning streak down the sky |
Our final destination in Italy lived up to the hype. Lucca is a lot larger than we anticipated, but doesn't have the intense mega-tourism vibe of Florence.
The environment is made very pleasant by the fact that the city is surrounded by ramparts built in the 16th and 17th centuries. These defensive walls now provide an elevated promenade that is very popular with runners, walkers and cyclists. Although the narrow streets and historic piazzas are beautiful, it's really nice to be up high above the throng and able to see the city from that elevated perspective.
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| The Piazza Anfiteatro |
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| One of Lucca's ramparts |
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| Lucca's citizens making the most of the ramparts |
We stayed one night at a lovely B&B just outside the city walls. After the splendid peace and quiet of Lecchi we noticed the noise of traffic and so on, but we were very comfortable at Al Porto di Lucca B&B. Our room was spacious and decorated with beautiful antiques. The lounge downstairs had an honesty bar where you could leave one Euro per drink if you were tempted to indulge, and the breakfast room was truly charming. As for the breakfast itself... absolutely superb.
Our hosts were as we found everybody in Tuscany - friendly and helpful, delighted if you at least tried to say a few words in Italian, and seemingly fully aware of their good fortune to live in a region that is sought out by so many people.
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| Our gorgeous bedroom at Al Porto di Lucca B&B |
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| Oh, the breakfast! Espresso, freshly squeezed blood orange juice, macerated strawberries, omelette, amazing bread... |
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| Not to my taste (not a huge cheese fan, as many of you will know) - but it was quite a treat for Kevin to be served fresh mozzarella that came direct from Naples |
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| Church of San Michele in Forno |
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| Wildflowers on the ramparts |
Once again I was grateful to TripAdvisor for pointing us in the right direction for dinner in Lucca. After reading reviews that indicated we would have quite a few vegetarian and vegan options at Cantine Bernardini, we hot-footed it there and - oh boy! - we were not disappointed. Delightfully friendly staff and amazing food. After a shared starter of chickpea patties with roasted vegetables and a rich pumpkin sauce, I had the best pasta dish I've eaten in years - and it was a simple vegan plate of spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, chilli and topped with toasted breadcrumbs. OMG!!! How do they get something so basic to taste so incredible?
Everything tastes good in Italy. A lot of it probably stems from the use of local produce which means food is very fresh, but even the packaged salad leaves from the supermarket were about a billion times fresher and tastier than their UK counterparts.
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| Early evening light in one of Lucca's many piazza |
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| How much is that doggie in the window? Unusual window display in a bridal shop in Lucca! |
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| Guinigi Tower in the distance - you guessed it, we climbed it! |
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| A modern take on Botticelli, courtesy of a street artist in Lucca |
And so it was time to head home after a long day trudging around Lucca.
I was lucky enough to grow up with a lot of exposure to Italian culture, Sydney having a very large Italian population. Italian food is one of my favourite cuisines, and Italian wine has long been my vino of choice. But visiting Italy several times in the past year has really given me an even stronger appreciation of the country's rich culture and strong identity.
Some of the locals are fearful of the country's future in terms of economy, but overall they seem fully cognisant of their great fortune in living here.
It's easy to understand how Lyndall fell madly in love with the place and instead of staying for the planned six months just to learn Italian, ended up remaining for nearly two years and made the decision to build her beautiful home in Lecchi.
Lyndall suffered through delays and frustrations in the building process but it's really been worth it - she now has a place to call home in the Tuscan hills. You can share in the dream by staying there yourself, and I heartily recommend you to do so - https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/16656305
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| Ahhhh... Italian wine has always been my favourite; this little drop from a local vineyard in Radda |
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| Admiring the view from the fortified town of Volterra |
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| Flying home over the spectacular French Alps |
Until next time,
- Maree xo
