December 2024 – Our Man In Volterra

We were heading towards the end of a holiday week, when we decided to embark on doing something stupid. Fun, but stupid. Niamh had a couple more days of annual leave to take from work than I did, and she and our friend thought it would be a splendid idea to Castiglione della Pescaia on Friday at sparrowfart to have a nice old day at the beach and for the first time ever spend the night there – as our pal loves it so much. The only problem was that I had no more days to take off, so if I wanted to go, I’d have to pack away my laptop and be at the tender mercies of the wifi of the hotel at which we were staying, and work there for the days. Yep – Friday would be a working day for me.

But first! There was getting the Thursday out of the way. I got up and had a fair walk around much of the walls.

It was a grand, clear day, despite the warmth – and you could see the Apuan Alps from the walls in decent detail.

Later on we had lunch at La Sosta del Priore, had a walk about town, grabbed a gelato at L’Isola del Gusto and decided to take a trip to Mazzolla to see if the newish café there was as open as Google claimed to be. It wasn’t, but Mazzolla is a lovely place to visit anyway. The views are fab, and if you are playing Pokémon with Maura Staccioli‘s sculptures, you’ll grab or one or two of them on thew way, or in the village itself.

That evening, we had dinner at Enoteca del Duca, the first time we had done so since the managership and chef changed. Inside, the only changes we could see were of the staff, and of the inclusion of some amazing copies of classic works by artist Michele Nardiello, who has a studio on Via dei Sarti. The food was nice, but as good as it was, we do miss Alessandro Calabrese’s cooking – which can now be found at Bis restaurant in Colle di Val d’Elsa. We stopped off first at L’Antica Velathri Café for a quick aperitivo.

It was still a nice dinner indeed, and my last before I’d start work again in the morning.

The next day, we duly got up super-early, and walked to the car and Niamh drove to Castiglione della Pescaia. The E80 (part of the ancient Via Aurelia) has been hugely improved improved lately, but there are pockets of it a bit south of Cecina which will bounce you about a bit, particularly on the inner lane. So, we were nice and awake by the time we pulled up outside our hotel (Miramare – there must be a thousand hotels in Italy called Miramare!).

About 30 minutes before we arrived, I had a sudden shock of realisation: the hotel room wouldn’t be ready so early, and so I would have to try to see if they could accommodate me elsewhere with a wifi signal so I could work. My fears were somewhat founded. Our friend and I waited in the hotel, while Niamh followed a hotel attendant in a golf-cart to show her where to park. She arrived back in said cart after 10 or so minutes, and sorted the check-in.

Our rooms weren’t ready. This is neither a surprise, nor a discredit to the hotel, as it was only 09:00-09:30 in the morning. In fact, I really must write a note about how wonderful and helpful the staff were in trying to find a spot I could work until the room was ready. They were courteous and diligent, and found a spot in the raised corner of an other wise discreet part of the restaurant. I set myself up and BEHOLD! I got a signal, and checked the speed on my phone. Oh dear… 7.6mbps download. The speed did impede me somewhat, but I was able to hobble along and get a few things done. Being on camera for Teams meetings was out of the question, however.

Anyway, I worked away that morning while Niamh and our friend hit the beach at Bagno Perla – our Lido of choice in this neck of the woods. The sand is soft and golden, and for hydrophobes like me, the water remains shallow for 30 or meters out – sadly, Niamh took no photos. Back in the hotel, the hours ticked by, and the kindly hotel staff checked in on me every now and then, wishing me a ‘buon lavoro’ – they really were super.

Then, at lunch time, I made a big mistake – I went outside for lunch. As you may know Niamh and I have been on the hunt for a good Cantonese or Asian Fusion restaurant, and I saw that there was one about 10 minutes walk away on the other side of Castiglione. Rather than have lunch at the hotel, I went in search it. I have since been told that the food in the hotel is pretty good, and I’m kicking myself. In Ireland, Niamh and I have a natural aversion to the restaurants of most hotels, due to the transient nature of their business, and the fact that I’m convinced that chefs go to hotels to train before moving on to restaurants. This goes doubly for establishments on the coast. There are exceptions, of course, so I’m generalising.

Anyway, I found the restaurant (ITOYA Sushi Fusion), and like many of them, it was merely ok. I liked their dim sum and fried rice, but their sweet and sour stir-fry wasn’t great. I also over-ate, knowing that we’d be going out to dinner later. So, not only was I ungracious at not dining in the hotel, I might have screwed-up the evening dinner too. Here are the dishes I had:

After I waddled back to lunch I was shown my room, and given an old-school key with a chunky key-fob.

I grabbed my gear and brought it upstairs. Maybe the wifi in the guest rooms was better than in the more public areas below. Sadly, no. I was getting the same speeds. However, they were still adequate and I was able to beaver away until the evening when I quit and packed-up.

That evening, we hit the town to a couple of places for aperitivi, one of which was recommended by our friend where, in particular, they were especially generous with their portions of food – Bucazucche – well done!

Afterwards, we headed to the fish restaurant that came highly recommended by our friend. We avoided the places closer to the water, and landed in a place very definitely favoured by locals: Ristorante La Casa Rossa. The lady owner greeted our friend enthusiastically, and we ordered. It was fun and noisy, with lots of banter between the owner and locals. It had a taverna sort of vibe, with good-restaurant quality food.

Thoroughly satisfied, we went to bed.

Next morning, we had to travel back to Volterra the next morning, but while in the room we took a few snappy-snaps.

Niamh took a ride on the golf-cart back up to our car, and took it back to the hotel. We clambered in and took the non-E80 route back to Volterra.

Here’s the video of Livorno, Mazzolla and Castiglione della Pescaia from back in September 2023:

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We knew that our friend in Chianni, Marisa (check out her YouTube channel), was without transport. And although there are buses that roam around the countryside, you really have to plan ahead with about a third of your daylight hours being on them if you want to travel to one of the ‘premium’ towns (and back again, duh!). They tend to go everywhere, and frequently you may need to change buses. The service is good, though, and is generally timely and reliable – so long as you have your expectations set.

Anyway, we knew it had been a while since she travelled out, and we decided to do here solid by bringing her to Livorno for the first time. And we love Livorno too. We’ve visited the place a bunch of times before. Check out the blog archive, or do a search for Livorno.

Earlyish in the morning, we picked Marisa up at her place, and drove the 50-60 minutes to Livorno. We always park here, because it’s only a couple of blocks away from the food market, and we can always find a spot here. This time around, we came close to not finding a place, and had to park on the roof.

Never noticed this belltower before, so roof-parking is A-OK in my book. Madame Moon also makes an appearance.

We took the lift down, and made immediately for the food market, and for the normal Italian-style market which surrounds it. It’s always fun to see the wonder and enthusiasm on the faces of people who are seeing the market for the first time. And Marisa was no exception. And, in fact, the tables were slightly turned, as Marisa’s Italian is a chunk better than ours, and she wasn’t shy in talking to some of the stall-owners about their produce – in particular, the famous Livornese white eggs.

Early into the excursion, we stopped off at the common area in the market building (check out the architecture above, by the way), and had some coffee/hot-chocolate and pastries.

Afterwards, we walked about Livorno’s “Little Venice” area. It was a warm enough day, but a light breeze around these roads kept things tolerable.

Those of you who have read about our trips to Livorno, particularly when we’re accompanied by someone breaking their Livornese cherry, can probably guess what’s coming next – and you’ll be right – it was a 15 minute walk around the fortress, and oo-ing and ahh-ing at the sites that lay about it.

Then it was off to the fortress to admire the canals and central from a different angle. I love the fortress. It’s usually a little oasis of calm amid bustle of Livorno. This time around, Marisa pointed out the little boat ‘garages’ that lay along the canals, adding colour to the scenes.

There is a photo above of Livorno’s Piazza della Repubblica (yes, the name is not just confined to Florence). You’ll see the little archway under which water flows? Well, that goes all the way to the other side of the square and feeds the ‘New Venice’ quarter of Livorno’s canals. Some call this Piazza della Repubblica the widest bridge in Europe, as a result.

When we were done with the fortress, we had quite a hunger on us then, and needed to grab something for lunch. Instead of going for views, we went for quality of food, and found Dietro l’Angolo, a Livornese specialist restaurant and, as it turns out, one that serves the best food we have had in Livorno – plus it’s fun! Niamh and I knew we were going to be eating later that evening and so eased up on our order. I had deep fried anchovies, and shared a collection of polpette (balls of beef, fish and veg). The beef ones were tasty and spicyish, and the fish were nice too, but I’d have to give the rosette to (incredibly for me) the vegetarian ones. They were delicious. But I loved the fried anchovies!

We had been sat next to a group of four people, who were evidently hungrier than we were, because at one stage, the owner/manager came out and excused herself before ringing a manual bell on a rope. This heralded not only a fright from us, but the entrance (onto the street) of an enormous bowl of cacciuco – Livornese fish stew. There were legs and claws poking everywhere! The people who ordered it seemed to like it, and each received a badge from the restaurant! A good and funny thing to do.

When we finished, we praised the food and the interior, and what do you know, after a brief bit of hesitation, we got our badges too! We went back to the car, but instead of heading home, we introduced Marisa to Terrazza Mascagni – Livorno’s bewildering checkered tiled coastal terrace. She was blown away by it, and remembered a friend of hers stayed in the nearby Grand Hotel Palazzo. We stayed awhile, admiring the bravery of the bathers in the natural bay and took a few selfies, before heading home.

We drove back over the mountains. It’s a route I have a love/hate relationship with, because although the first half has views back towards the sea and you get to drive through the cute towns of either Castellina Marittima or Castelnuovo della Misericordia, depending your route – the second half’s road is narrow, winding and in places subsided. Additionally, it’s tree-lined, which sounds fab, but I know the views that the trees are blocking (all the way across the Southwestern part of the Val d’Era and the Val di Cecina, and I’m gutted!

Here’s Marisa’s video of the day out to Livorno. Mine will be linked in a later blog.

After the lengthy drive, we chilled, before heading out again for dinner in Ristorante Etruria. It is very definitely one of the more touristy restaurants (it’s temporarily closed at the time of writing this – December 2024), but I like their Zuppa alla Volterrana and Niamh their Parmigiana di Melanazane. They often welcome us with a glass of fizz, a plate of salted flatbread and, after paying the bill, a half-bottle of Chianti It’s a good way to retain clients. Anyway – we enjoyed ourseves!