Month: January 2023

2022)

My brother likes to hike, so that day we started from the apartment (well, duh!), and went to the main viewpoint at Piazza Martiri della Libertà, and continued downhill all the way to the bus parking station.

Via Porta all’Arco – better in the afternoon

We went back uphill a little to Viale dei Filosofi and circumnavigated along the walls as far as the Docciola free carpark. This was about halfway around. Normally we’d do the full circuit, but we had a busy day ahead of us, so to compensate, we took the less severe stairway at Docciola!

I was pretty huffy by the end of that, but we carried on back towards Piazza Settembre XX and down Gramsci and home again. Not a bad morning’s walk, when taking all the hills into account.

Today, we were going to explore a couple of the main attractions in Livorno we had never fully experienced before: the food market (aka Mercato Centrale) and the fortress. We had been to Livorno on a Sunday back in May, but the market was closed. It’s open all other in the morning ’til about 14:30. We drove a slightly different route, setting Mrs. Google to avoid both tolls and motorways – maybe only 10 km of it was different – we still had to head towards Cecina and bypass it. Still it’s always nice to drive in new areas, and we saw a couple of hilltop towns we hadn’t seen before (we didn’t stop – tight schedule!).

We parked in Parcheggio Moderno. I honestly didn’t think there would be space on a market day, but there were still a good number of spots left. And best of all – it’s just a couple of blocks north of the market. We walked (duh!) from the carpark to the market. What surprised me was that outside the food market building was another market; a more traditional town market. And it was huge. I think that it too is open every morning (exlcuding Sundays). You won’t see as many photos as you might have thought you’d see, as I was filming at the time. You can find the video of our trip to Livorno below.

Now, depending on the entrance you take, you might be hit with a strong fishy smell, but you’ll soon get used to it – and it’s not all over the stalls – mostly in one section.

Not going to lie – it was a bit smelly in this section – but if you love seafood, you’re in for a treat.

The central stalls in the fish market area were empty, so I am assuming they operate earlier in the morning. The other sections inside were for fruit, meats, and a few were for breads and pastries. There were even one or two packed alimentari and household goods stalls. We stopped to look and smell at a great many, but only really bought some pastries – mini cannoli. Sadly, these were nothing to write home about – but the stall was lovely to look at. The Italians really do make good with whatever sales space they’re given, especially indoors.

When we’d finished exploring and filming there, we walked to the hippodrome-shaped Piazza della Republica, and from there to the mini-canal system around the fortress. We entered the fortress at the south-western corner, thinking it might be some sort of museum, but it turns out to be a pretty public space. There was a bar on the way in, and a few (closed) food stalls were clustered about, waiting for accompanying food and music festival that were advertised on posters about the place. There was a kids play area beside a short leafy pathway where you could amble along, or park yourself on a bench and watch the world go by.

At the northern end, there is another space by the surrounding wall, which gives a lovely evelated view of the surrounding canal, bridges and colourful buildings. Boats occasionally whizz past, or carefully steer back towards their berthing. A fabulous and peaceful space to chill a while – with plenty of shading from the August sun under its trees.

Now hungry, we walked towards the sea, and along the canals in an effort to find somewhere to have a little bit of lunch. I was breaking one of my own rules (about sacrificing cost and quality of food for a nice view), but maybe me (and Google) would be proved wrong.

We weren’t. They were friendly enough at L’Ancora, but Niamh’s and my fried fish didn’t quite live up to the Livorno promise. My brother, on the other hand, is a reasonably conservative eater and his pasta al ragu was the best of the dishes by a considerable way. As for the compensating view? Well, I got the rough end of the stick… I was looking at dockside trashcans and dumpsters, but Niamh and my brother had this instead.

It reminded me of the contrast that is Livorno: grit and glam. I didn’t take a photo of my view!

When lunch was over, we contemplated heading towards the seaside promenade to show my brother the amazing Terrazza Mascagni, and the aquarium there. We looked at it on the map, but it was a 3km round-walk in little shade, and we just didn’t have the appetite. We *did* however have an appetite for gelato, and once again stopped at L’orizzante for some tasty frozen deliciousness.

And so, home again. Livorno has a bunch of things to see, and that market is right up there with them. Don’t overlook this fun city!

Here’s the video of our trip:

We screen-watched and chilled a while back at the apartment, before building up an appetite to go to Terre di Mezzo for our evening meal. We had pasta and followed that up with dessert. My brother had his expensive beer, making us remember the last time he’d been here and was happy to pay extortionate prices for craft beer (they weren’t extortionate – we misunderstood the pricing!).

Special… I think it was pancetta with hazelhuts

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Markets, Crossbows and another guest! (27 & 28/08/2022)

Market day! Yes, Saturday means market day in Volterra. During the tourist season, it sends to be on in the Vallebona carpark outside the walls, rather than in Piazza dei Priori, Via Roma and Piazza San Giovanni. It tends to be a little smaller as a result – not just as a result of a lower real-estate space, but people are on holidays. Plus this year, the remnants of Covid were still hitting. Still, they’re usually pretty lively events, and a great place to buy cheaper ingredients.

Cheeses and fish side by side. You’d think they’d be warring in Italy 😉

We picked up some foodie bits and bobs. Niamh checked out shoes and something light to wear to a beach, should we venture – but came away with nothing.

We had a light lunch of cuts, leaves and cheeses. In fact, I think this was possibly our lightest day of the holiday, apart from the first day, when we drove from Ciampino. Afterwards I went out to scout for a handbag for a friend (who visited us in 2019). I was an expert by now, so I was happy to advise.

I sent her the photos from the shop, and a day or two later I bought it for her! With one thing and another (mostly Covid and return to office) I didn’t get it to her for another couple of months – in fact, I had to drive to her house to get it off my hands!

Good deed done, I rewarded myself!

That evening, Niamh made a super little risotto, complete with parmesan crisp. It was delicious. And just the fare we needed for the attraction that evening!

It was time for one of the medieval sports events of the year – the crossbow competition – Ludus Balistris. There were a representatives (ballistrieri – crossbowmen/women) from towns across Italy (mostly Tuscany – Lucca, Massa Marittima, Pisa, Pisa Porta San Marco, San Marino and Volterra), all of whom had a squad of people aiming from 70 meters (guess) to try to hit a small target. Hint: they were all bloody marvellous at it. There were two trophies up for grabs: for the team, and the best crossbowman/woman.

I have some photos, but not much of the opening cerermony because I was shooting it live – videos below.

See how small each of these individual targets are (on the door, not the projection!)

As you can see in the last couple of shots, no bolts are removed from the targets between rounds. This makes it progressively more difficult for the team members featuring later in the competition.

Various towns’ Sbandieratori – the entertainment while we waited for the next competition to begin.

When the entertainment was over, the best of the group competition were selected for the indivual competition, and they had a shoot-off on a single target. You can see that in the last of the photos above.

When all was done, and judged. The winners were announced: Volterra had won the team competition, and one of the Luccan contingent won the individual. Yay us!

To close out the competition, there was some pyrotechnics!

The proud individual winner showing off his winning shot.

Below are the videos of the opening ceremony.

The next day, we collected another guest from Pisa airport, but before we did that – I didn’t walk! We picked up my brother, who had been with us previously and drove home.

We also did something for lunch we hadn’t done in a long time, and there is no good reason why: we went to Don Beta, just a couple of doors up from the arched entrance to our apartment.

When looking at the menu you’d be forgiven, if you were an Italian purist, for thinking the menu was more than a little touristic. And it kind of is. There is something for everyone here – be it pizza, pasta, meat or fish – the menu is fairly enormous. In addition, they do something most other Italian restaurants don’t do: foreign food! Yes, they do Poke Bowls here. Now, I have no frame of reference with these, so I don’t know how good they are – but I appreciate that they’re giving it a go. I think it’s a progressive move.

Now, with such an extensive menu you’d think the food would be so-so, but it’s actually pretty good. It’s by no means ostentatious, but it’s tasty and honest, and the service is friendly and pretty fast for a Tuscan restaurant. We had pici with ragu and pappardelle with wild boar.

I think Niamh and I had this – was toothsome and tasty

My brother’s all about the chilling, and we would have a busy day tomorrow (more in the next blog!). So, chill we did. Before dinner that evening, we had a short walk.

Food! We went to Pizzeria Ombra della Sera and had some food and a couple of beers apiece. I had been missing my veggies over the previous few days, so I had a Zuppa alla Volterrana, while the other two had pizza. Once done – it was TV and music time back at the apartment and to all a good night!

Thanks for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed it. Please drop me a comment with any queries. I’d love to hear from you!

Shopping in Empoli, eating at Del Duca (26/08/2022)

Glad to say we got out of the town today, and explored somewhere we’d never been before! Equally gladly, I got out for a walk that morning too. I left the town via the Porta Fiorentina (the gate nearest us) and walked anti-clockwise around the walls a bit.

The views across the road from San Felice were nice too.

I carried on, and avoided the temptation of cutting the walk short at Porta all’Arco.

The Chiesa di Sant’Alessandro down from the Porta all’Arco ramp. Outside the walls, but still a lovely area.

I carried walking around the walls – taking fewer snaps, chickened-out of taking the steps at Docciola and re-entered the same way I came out, a full circuit of the walls complete! A gold star for Eoin!

A year previously, we had a wine-tasting session in Marcampo, and met a British couple there. We were talking about places to shop, and they told us to give Empoli a go. Empoli is a moderately large town just off the FI-PI-LI motorway, and with a train station, so it’s easy to get to. We decided to give it a go.

It took us a little over an hour, and we drove through some suburban areas before we got to the town proper. We had aimed towards a large car park in the middle of town – here. It was a pay carpark, but if I remember correctly, it was quite inexpensive. The town seemed quiet to us. Then, of course, we remembered that we were still in August. Moreover, it had just hit lunchtime, so maybe we wouldn’t be doing much shopping after all!

We still had an initial explore of the town:

We were too hungry to do anything extensive before we got food in our bellies.

As we were in a large town, we decided to continue our quest for good Asian food, and found Ravioli Dong. We wanted something a little lighter, and steamed dumplings over in Italy are usually pretty good. It’s just their stir-fry dishes suck. We just went for some spring rolls, fried rice (or Cantonese rice, as it’s known over here) and a collection of mixed dumplings. For some reason, I didn’t take any pics of the dumplings, but at least you get the rice and the menu.

It was nice – we would definitely come here again next time we’re in Empoli. Even their bathroom made us smile!

To the shops! Except… most of them were closed. This didn’t come as a huge surprise to us. While we searched for some open stores, we had a little explore.

We did stop in a household store and Niamh bought… long grater/zester. I remember the young lady behind the being very nice and giving us a discount we had missed. We also checked out a clothes store, but we didn’t find anything that suited us (read: fit us). We had another nose around the town:

We still wanted to do something shop-wise, but too little was open here. Make no mistake, there are still things for us to do in Empoli – explore the rest of the town, the park, dine in a kick-ass Indian restaurant, enjoy a nice river walk along the Arno. We skipped the centre and drove towards Centro Emploli, a decent-sized mall on the outskirts. Getting there was easy and parking was also simple – plenty of spots available at the time of year and day.

Anyway, we wandered around there until we found an OVS. Niamh bought herself a nice blue puffer-jacket, and we explored a bit more. Not being inspired to shop-til-we-dropped, we went to the food court. I was going to get some gelato, but the place we stopped at had mass-made stuff, and I was happy with having an ice-cold coke.

I didn’t take shots of the mall, as although it was nice and clean, there was little interesting in it, by way of design – except for this cool installation outside the gym.

What I would say about it, is that it’s a fab one-stop for most of your shopping needs: clothes, electronics & gadgets, bars, household goods and a big CoOp to boot. It’s also easy-in, easy-out if you fancy skipping town-shopping and stress about parking.

A good, relaxing time was had, so we headed home, satisfied. We chilled a while, and made our way to the second highlight of our day: dinner at Del Duca! We sat outside and unsurprisingly, had delicious food!

Afterwards, Niamh had a coffee, and I had an amaro – a digestiv – one of the most famous examples of something like an amaro is the much-maligned Jaeger. Amari can be hit and miss, sometimes tasting medicinal, but my favourites are ones that have a hint of chocolate in them. This one did! The last time I found an excellent amaro, I forgot to take a snap of the bottle. This time I did!

On the way out the door, we had a quick chat with Ivana, the Del Duca matriarch, and she slipped me a glass of her famous limoncello. It’s usually very strong, but this was more typical of the drink and was delish!

Afterwards, a short walk to help burn away the calories, then telly/music and bed. What else is new?

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Lunch Nearby, but in the Middle of Nowhere (25/08/2022)

Another short one – possibly the shortest ever – as we stayed in an around Volterra.

I went for a walk that morning.

As you can see, I kept it within the walls.

The arched walkway between the Torre dei Buonparenti

I have to admit that we really must have had a seriously lazy day. Thankfully, we did get out of the main town by going to lunch at a resort called Tuscany Forever. To get to it, we had to drive the winding way to Saline di Volterra, then head out of the town, toward the north-west before turning left at a gravel road which is a 1.7km drive to the carpark of the resort. As the crow flies, you’re almost halfway back to Volterra by the time you hit the carpark!

And this was the only thing wrong with it, for me, anyway. That blasted road is an uncomfortable drive – there and back. The resort itself looks lovely, and well-maintained. There are a couple of pools for residents among the mini-villas used for lodgings. The place is smack bang in the middle of the hills of the Val di Cecina – and commands some stunning views, so if you were looking for a place to chill for a while, without feeling the need to travel, this would seem to be a good solution. If it weren’t for that road. I understand that the road is not private, but the owner has been unable to successfully lobby to get the road properly paved/asphalted. You have to have your wits about you driving there and back.

Anyway, the restaurant there is called Osteria Etrusca, and given that it’s located in a resort, it’s very family-oriented and its dishes are what we would call at home ‘Italian’… i.e. there are common pasta classics, pizzas and steaks – just about everyone should find something here to eat. I hear that at nights they have live music and light the place up impressively.

Here’s some of the surrounding area:

Below is the food. I had a double-carb set of pasta and pizza. Niamh had fritto misto and a pizza. I think I was happier with my choices – I think most diners would be happy enough with the fare. The only thing that put me off while eating was being assaulted by wasps!