Tag: antiques

Friends in Vicopisano and More Smartworking (11/06-14/06)

A shortish one, but contains a little adult (childish) humour and some language in the video near the bottom – you have been warned.

Sunday, June 11th
Every second Sunday of a given month, the small town of Vicopisano hosts a huge antiques and collectibles market. We have been there a number of times now, and met up with friends Marie and Lorenzo of Authentic Tuscany, their Tuscan experiential and lodging rentals company. These guys work their fingers to the bone, so it’s always great to be able to see them relax. This day, we would meet them a little later, as they were checking out an annual car-blessing in a nearby town. Three great things about Vicopisano for me, is that you can check out 600 years of architecture in a single stretch over 200 meters, explore defensive battlements designed by Brunellischi, and finally it is a haven from the stretch of towns that run into one another in the Val d’Arno – which is rather densely populated (for Tuscany) – whilst still being a great base for exploring.

As well as meeting Marie and Lorenzo, we’d be calling into Chianni so we could Marisa along with us. Check out Marisa’s YouTube channel here. She had no vehicle and, as lovely as Chianni is, we would be giving her an opportunity to get out and about.

We drove the hour (plus the additional 30 mins there and back for Chianni), parked in a field at the northern part of town and had an explore of the market. We would soon find out that, as usual, the temperatures are 4-5 degrees warmer here than they are in Volterra. We were glad of it, though, as we were pretty tired of rain by this point. Having said that, it was a glorious day in Volterra too.

15th century architecture versus 19th and 20th in mere metres

We had a tour around the main part of the market – around the square and the roads spiderwebbing from it. There were the usual knick-knacks, signs, war memorabilia, books, glass and ceramics, ancient dildos and gramophones. Yes, that’s right: I said gramophones.

We were standing by a stall when I saw an enormous wooden phallus sitting innocently at the front of it. Out of nowhere. And what a remarkably, ah, detailed specimen it was, and had useful testes attached. A couple of tourists approached it – not us, a pair of older men, and picked it up and started making jokes, both verbal and physical. The rather aggrieved owner of the stall got shirty with them and ordered them to put it back on the table. I’m kinda glad he didn’t ask them to put it where it belongs. Anyway, they did so and the the spectacle was over, and we moved on.

Usually, you can find another stretch of stalls by the community Circolo – a wonderful bar with tons of outside seating. We traipsed down this area too, and Niamh picked up a demijohn she’s been looking for for ages. It was a small one – a sort of semi demijohn, if you will. It now rests in our apartment kitchen. I’m sure Marisa also picked something up too – check out the last 5 minutes of this video for a run-down of the market.

We had a drink in the sun, but Marie and Lorenzo were still delayed at the other town – but we were advised to go to the restaurant on the corner of the square. It’s currently called Aurora Taverna Toscana Osteria – but might have been called otherwise back then. We asked for a table and Marisa told them that we were with Marie and Lorenzo and that there’s a table for six booked (they were expecting another friend from New York).

We were shown to a table where we waited. And waited. And waited. They just didn’t seem to have any interest whatsoever in serving us. I’m not sure we even got water or bread – but we found it impossible to order. Admittedly, we could have been more ballsy, but I was caught eating as a group and not. Anyway, the sky didn’t fall, and by the time Maria and Lorenzo arrived it was only more likely that we’d enjoy our food all the more. We ordered, the food and wine came and everything was really delicious.

It’s possible to have just one course in Italy!

A little of the way into the meal, we were joined by another ex-pat in Vicopisano – a New Yorker whose name I completely forget now (sorry dude), but the more the merrier. We all had a good laugh – but soon it was time to leave and off we popped, and left Marisa back in Chianni.

We had just the one course to eat in Vicopisano (astonishingly), so that evening we had pizzas in La Mangiatoia and post-dinner cocktails in Antica Velathri Café, and then spent our night in the apartment – as we had work the next day! Yay!

This pizza was die würstel. Ha! Sorry again.

Mon-Weds, June 12th-14th
This next section is a collection of photos from the week. I’ll break them down between walks and food. At the bottom you’ll find a key memory – one of my best from Volterra – hard to explain why – with an accompanying video! Those few days went quite well, weather-wise, until Wednesday evening.

The entrance to the ex-psychiatric hospital

And now the food and drink-related pics!

Now for my fondest memory! We went midweek drinking with our friend – who usually doesn’t drink much. We’d had aperitivi in Volaterra (see one of the pics above), and decided that we were giddy enough to carry it on back at our apartment. We stepped outside and the heavens opened. We stopped at Fabio’s, and picked up some wine. Then it began to seriously pour, and so I took this little bit of video on the way. And it was good times. A core memory of Volterra for me now. Our poor friend had a 36-hour hangover after this night – we worked with little problem the next day!

And that was that. I hope you enjoyed the read and eye-candy. Let me know what you think.

Turnabout is Fair Play (11/09/2022)

This will be a short one!

Well, Marie and Lorenzo had guests to greet that morning, so it was a quick goodbye before they headed back to Vicopisano. We agreed to meet for lunch that day. We were also going to meet Marisa and David, who have their own YouTube channel, there too, so there was a modicum of excitement! In addition, it was also Collectors Market day in Vicopisano – a triple-treat.

We wandered out to main Piazza to walk Marie and Lorenzo back to their car, only to be greeted by a few dozen classic cars. There seems to be some sort of car rally in Volterra nearly every month, and there were some beauties.

I shot and edited a shortish music-video style thing too.

After seeing them to the gate, we wandered back and spent a couple of hours in the apartment. We had to meet the gang for lunch, and so it wasn’t much of a wait before we had to get to the car for our journey to Vicopisano. It’s only an hour there.

We were soon reunited and first met Marisa and David near the centre of town. They were in town to shop for furniture and oddities for their new place in Chianni. Before we assisted them, it was time for lunch! Lorenzo and Marie brought us to Aurora Taverna Toscana – it was an all-in-one bar, patisserie and restaurant. Heck, they even own the gelateria next door – the full gamut… you’d never have to leave!

We had a lovely 3-course lunch, and took our sweet time about it too, which was great as we had a great time just getting to know each other and having some laughs. They are all such super people! The food was delicious, especially the pork steaks I got, which were cooked in a yummy peppercorn sauce.

At the end of lunch, I caught one of the most fabulous smells you can ever smell: fresh porcini. It was the beginning of the season. Let me tell you, dried porcini have absolutely nothing on fresh! They smelled amaaaazing.

A couple of hours later (a long Tuscan lunch!), we wandered up one of the streets to check out the collectible stalls. Marisa found a nice mirror and table and I played the role of boy scout and helped carry it back to her car.

Why not check out Marisa’s own video of the day, guest-starring yours truly and Niamh!

We got back to Volterra, and arriving at Piazza XX Settembre we heard some wonderful close-harmony singing from the old cathedral, which is now the Museum of Sacred Art. I’d been to Volterra on and off for a little over 4 years by then, and I’d never heard of the Blessing of the Salt, but this is exactly what we caught. We listened to the wonderful voices for a while (I am a sucker for harmonies), but couldn’t enter the church, as it seems you had to book. I got a little footage, which I edited into mini-video:

We stayed in that night, as we were quite full from the big lunch. We just chilled and screenwatched. Next week we’d be back in work!

The Vicopisano Market (10/10/2021)

I didn’t go for a walk that morning, as I knew we were heading off early to travel. I did take a pic from the terrace, and one on our way to the car, though.

We’d been following people from Vicopisano on Instagram for a while (Authentic Tuscany – check them out). It seemed like a nice town, but what really clinched the deal was the collectors’ and antiques market they hold the second Sunday of every month. We’d passed it by on the way to Montecatini Terme in August too (and yes, it still galls me that I lost the video footage of that trip), and there were a couple of historical features that certainly looked worth checking out.

We set Mrs. Google to the carpark that looked most promising, and got underway. The trip is about 54km and took a little over an hour. I didn’t take any photos, because I was filiming! You can scroll further down the page to check out the video of the journey and the market itself.

We arrived around 11-11:30 and found that it was only a short stroll to the market itself. And what a market! I’d heard that Arezzo had the biggest regular antiques fair in Tuscany, which is probably true – in that it is strictly antiques. But Vicopisano’s market is absolutely enormous, and so lively. I’m struggling to think of anything that wasn’t for sale! There were books/comics, toys, old wireless radios, furniture, crockery (including very fancy dinner sets), cutlery, wonderful stalls with gramaphones (being demonstrated), clothes, weapons, musical instruments, old bikes, alabaster and terracotta-ware, mirrors, glasses, genuine war memorabilia. The market wrapped around Piazza Cavalca – a large square just west of the oldest parts of the town, and snaked its way along multiple adjoining streets. We really couldn’t get over the size of it. It was so huge, that while we didn’t buy anything (we came close), we still spend a good 60-70 minutes simply strolling through it while stopping only briefly to check out a few stalls of interest.

One of my favourite photos of this holiday

One of the best things about Italian markets (I think I’ve noted this before), is how lively they can be – the excited chatter of Tuscan accents buzzed about us and really added to the overall atmosphere. I really couldn’t recommend this enough! There was one stall in particular that grabbed me. A man was demonstrating a gramaphone, and despite the age of the technology, the massive horn was blaring out the old tune ‘Roses of Picardy’. You can check it out in the video towards the end of this blog.

It was time for lunch, though, and perhaps we were a bit optimistic in thinking we could walk-in just about anywhere – especially during the pandemic. I saw the reviews for Ristomacelleria Testi seemed to be quite good on Google, so I chanced my arm. They looked like they were opening, and I approached who I assumed was the manager/owner, who was on the phone. I waited until he finished, and said to me ‘Dimmi!’. So I asked him in Italian if there was a table for two available now. Unfortunately, there wasn’t. In hindsight, that was probably just as well, as we were going to go out to eat at Terra di Mezzo in Volterra later that evening, so something smaller would have been better. We walked past that restaurant again after we’d explored the old town, and the smell coming from it was amazing (definitely for meat lovers!) – so one day we’ll return with a booking!

Instead, we went to Le Belle Torri, and ate inside. Our waitress was so enthusiastic and friendly, so in the end our choice was right for that reason too. We had a pizza each – they were pretty nice, and just what we needed.

They look a little dry, but weren’t – they tasted nicer than they looked for sure.

We had a ramble through the old town of Vicopisano afterwards, hoping to maybe catch an attraction or two, like the Palazzo Pretorio and the recently re-opened Rocca buttress for walking over – part of the fortifications created by Brunelleschi (yes, the same lad who fashioned the dome of the cathedral in Florence).

So we walked through the town, and were delighted by its old charm. It seemed to be built on terraces, and towers dotted the views throughout. At one point I thought that it might even rival San Gimignano for its towers, but that was just my over-active imagination. But just look at the pretty:

We walked to the Rocca and found it closed to public tours. On our way back we passed by a large group of Italians outside the gate, and assumed that they had organised a special private tour. It was Sunday, and we probably should have realised that many places stood a good chance of being shut, just slightly the wrong side of the tourist season. Onwards we went to Palazzo Pretorio (pausing to let a massive 4×4 perform a complicated 17-point turn), and saw that it too had closed just after lunch on Sundays. D’oh! I had a little explore of its courtyard, and then we had a look at a sequence of switch-backing steps leading all the way down to the river. A little disappointed (as much in our lack of preparation as well as ill luck), and wandered through the more residential area of the old town.

By the time we’d gotten back to the newer part of town, I was pleasantly surprised at how the two seemed to successfully mingle. The blend is very subtly balanced. The old with the new – the border isn’t hugely evident. We entered a bar to grab a coffee/hot chocolate, but for some reason we lost confidence on the protocol on grabbing a table. Some tables seemed to be for dining – or maybe all of them, but we weren’t sure. We chickened out, sadly, and went for one final stroll past the restaurant in which we had failed to secure a lunchtime seat – the smell of grilled meat was wonderful – even after having eaten. We walked past Le Belle Torri, and saw a gate beyond which were other gravelled-and-green-area seats and a couple of other establishments. It was a lovely little mini-park. What a fine little town this is! We wandered up and down it for a few minutes before heading back to the car.

I have to say, we didn’t do Vicopisano full photographic justice, as we missed the ‘classic’ shot of the tower with sloping battlement – but it’s best captured a little way out of town. Maybe next time.

Should you wish to make Vicopisano your base, rather than Volterra, then please out these excellent people – Authentic Tuscany!

That mini park – the cafe was mad busy so we didn’t indulge here either

Here is the video of our journey to, and exploration of, Vicopisano:

A little while after we had returned to Ireland, and I had published the above video, Vicopisano was awarded the Bandiera Arancione (orange flag) from the Italian Touring Club – basically a recommendation to visit one of the finer towns in Italy. I’m pretty sure it was coincidence! *wink* To be honest, I was amazed it wasn’t already on their list.

But the day wasn’t over. When we got home, we found we had a fondness of our own little town, and had a little walk before heading back to the apartment.

The alabaster exhibit outside Osteria Fornelli

Later that evening, we went to one of our favourite places for food: La Taverna della Terra di Mezzo. We were welcomed warmly, as always, and then had a three-course dinner.

Via Gramsci, on our way to the restaurant

Afterwards Robbi, the owner, handed us a bottle of dessert wine – an almond variety. We haven’t tried it yet, but I look forward to the day we can crack it open.

Before I go… a quick art update! You may remember a few blogs ago that we bought a little original painting from a lovely old gent in Montecatini Alto, just outside the funicular station. I promised I’d post a pic of it next time I got over (and remembered!), and so here it is!