Tag: food

2022)

My brother had an early flight home, so we all got up at sparrowfart and drove to Pisa airport. We dropped him off under a golden sky, as the sun had only been peeping above the horizon for 20 or so minutes. As always with goodbyes at Pisa airport, we feel like we’re giving people a bit of the bum’s-rush as free parking in the drop-off carpark only lasts 10 minutes and God forbid if we have to spend a couple of quid on parking. The brain is a funny thing!

Anyway, we waved goodbye and had a think about what we could do for breakfast. I suggested Marina di Pisa, as we’d heard generally that it was nice. I drove there. I love to drive, especially on roads I’ve never been on before. We travelled to where looked sort of built up right next to a carpark by a marina, on the northern side of the town. Unfortunately, everywhere was still shut at that hour, and the carpark was barriered – and probably for boat-owners anyway. Thanks, Google! (In fairness, she doesn’t let us down often).

We found another pay-spot farther south, on a street surrounding a small green area. We got out and headed for the promenade. How rocky it all was; not what we were expecting. It turns out that the premium sandy beaches are much farther south, pretty much beyond the town. Still, the walk was pleasant, and refreshing.

We stopped off at a large kiosk-like place – Il Barrino – for a pastry and a cup of something hot (coffee for Niamh, hot chocolate for me), and we were hugely impressed by the cornetti we got there. The pistacchio cream was awesome!

We carried on our walk until the town began to disappear. There were people (with dogs – lots of dogs) out and about strolling and chatting, but the town itself was still quite quiet. It was the last day before tons of Italians returned to work, plus it was still super-early and a Sunday.

We turned back, and walked on the shadier side of the street, to see if we could get a good nose in at a couple of bars that were open. Hey, it’s gelato-time somewhere on Earth, am I right? Alas, no – no gelato in sight, but we got our steps in. Also, I earned a scouting merit badge by helping a little old lady cross the street. That was my Karma sorted for the year!

We got back to the car and discussed what we’d do for the rest of the morning. We had zero alternative plans, so I suggested we drive the coast all the way to Cecina, and from there turn back towards Volterra.

Being the chief photo-taker of us, it meant that no photos would be taken on the trip, unless we stopped off somewhere – which was likely given that we might have lunch, plus new places to explore on the way. We turned off tolled and motorway routes in Google and let rip! We headed south, and drove past tons of premiere lidi (pay-beaches) on the way – I guess this is where all the sandy beaches are in Marina di Pisa.

The sun was out much more strongly by now, and people and vehicles were beginning to mill about. I found myself having to be extra-vigilant on this drive, as people were walking across roads with little warning as they crossed to and from the beach and water-park entrances. Some roads were multi-laned and the Italians (bless them) seem to not know what an indicator is when it comes to navigating lanes and roundabouts. I had to be careful for sudden lane-switching too. Mildly stressful, but I still enjoyed the drive.

The coast is relatively densely populated, and in stretches it’s not uncommon for a town to pretty much merge into another. It wasn’t too long before we hit the busy town of Tirrenia. We drove through a large circular ‘square’, and almost stopped, because they had some sort of market or festival one. There were a lot of stalls and, if memory serves me correctly, a mini ferris wheel or other carnival rides set up. The place was thick with traffic and people, though, and I couldn’t see any signs of obvious parking, so we continued our journey farther south.

Tirrenia became Calambrone, which brought us to the northern outskirts of one of my favourite places to be: Livorno. Today, however, we wouldn’t be stopping – we would drive past it. I was curious as to the route that Google would take us through Livorno. Well… it took us not quite through, but around – clockwise. Livorno is a port town, and therefore is something of a distribution centre for many physical goods. We drove past oil and chemical refineries galore, warehouses and a few massive spaces where hundreds, if not thousands, of new cars were parked awaiting transport.

It was an… interesting part of the city, if not the most flattering – but every city has industry somewhere. We circled around the city, and were eventually spat out near the coastal route again, after a few adjustments. After a while the road closely followed the coast, with hints of towns here and there. Cars and scooters were parked on the side of the road for those people hitting the beaches. There weren’t as many as I’d seen before, given the time it was.

I wanted to stop off in one or two places, but we settled instead on stopping somewhere for lunch. As we approached Cecina, we went through the fabulous Castiglioncello, which we’d already been to a few year previously. I had planned to stop in Rosignano Solvay, as we hadn’t been there before, and I wanted to check out the famous white beaches. However, it wasn’t quite lunch yet and I was having difficulty finding a place to park. So, on we went – me, a little disappointed.

The next town up, Vada, was also somewhere we’d never been before. As soon as we’d driven in, I was determined we’d stop this time, as once again there were stalls everywhere. We slowed to a crawl and kept our eyes peeled for places to park. We found one – a quarter circle off a side street and got a space with little problem.

We walked up and down the main market street. It was wonderfully colourful in the sunshine, and unlike Volterra’s market, there was actually a stall selling fresh pasta. I wouldn’t mind a permanent shop like that in Volterra itself! Other than that, it was pretty much a standard market, but it’s always fun to walk around them. The best thing: the sounds: the cries of the hawkers, and the general buzz of the Italians as they request, bargain and pay.

We walked around the town a bit and found another part of the market in a gravelled town square, along with a church and a monument to Garibaldi. The day was quite hot by then, and we were also a little on the hungry side. Niamh, being a fan of all things littoral (admittedly, I love the coast too), we decided to forego the chance of excellence in favour of location.

Vada doesn’t have an old-town, per se (like most Italian towns directly on the coast), but we wandered past an old fortress tower, which seemed to be the last thing around that was more than a century old. We also bypassed a gelateria I wanted to try later!

Anyway, we got to the beach, but the call of our tummies was louder than the roar of the sea. We had a choice of two places by strand entrace. We went to the one that scored a little highly on Google. Due to my theory on promenade-based restaurants, I lowered my expectations and I guess they were met. Niamh was a bit disappointed with her seafood pasta, and I thought my pappardelle al cinghiale was passable. As always, though, the staff were lovely. Although it looks empty in the photo below, a group of young men who obviously knew the waitress joined nearby and added a bit of buzz about the place.

Pasta dish with cheese with fish? Rarely a good combo! But not bad as a rhyme.

We briefly took to the strand shortly after lunch. It was cute and small, but large enough for a dad to play frisbee with his young son. It had golden sand too, which is always a bonus.

You can watch a video of our day here:

After we’d wandered about the beach, we headed back to the car, via the gelateria we saw earlier. Except that despite the weather, it was still closed. It looked like there was movement in it, but it was past its opening hour on Google. Rather than wait around, we went to another gelateria/bar on the other side of the square (Bar Gelateria Firenze). Its scores weren’t as high, but it was open!

We grabbed our tubs of selected flavours, and camped in one of the covered tables outside. The gelato was lovely, but this moment was also a bit of a highlight for me too. It was just so chill, people-watching and listening to a cool Italian blues playlist. I Shazam’d one of the songs (D. Man – Ain’t Enough Whiskey – fab and moody guitar work) and it’s on my phone. We hung around for just a little while after, before recommencing our journey home.

Rather than skirting directly around Cecina, we instead to take a backroad route for the rest of the way, only we didn’t quite manage it. In fact, maybe 20 minutes in I recognised some of the backroads we took leaving from Riparbella a couple of days ealier.

Side Note: Riparbella. I had completely forgotten we drove to Riparbella the same day we explored Casale Marittimo with my brother. I’d always seen it from afar, about three quarters of the way up a hillside, but I’d never been there. Anyway, we trundled up and found a carpark, but it was a bit outside the town, so we got back in, drove up the ferocious slope and into town. We found the commmunal free carpark, but had to squeeze between buildings to get to it. It snaked in single file down a couple of levels, and I was mildly traumatised getting the spot, but grabbed one and had to fight may way through a little undergrowth, as the driver, getting out of the car. The carpark looks like it was being ugraded at the time, so perhaps it’s in better shape now.

I cannot explain why, but I didn’t take any photos. That is not a reflection of Riparbella. The centre part of the old town is perfectly nice and peaceful. We saw a number of cyclists tackle the roads, and I think it’s an ideal stop along a tough route, to be possibly only attempted by experienced/fit practitioners. I remember some of us needed a bathroom, and we had seen an opened bar at a piazzetta (around here). The owner was sitting at a table outside, but we opted for a table inside and were afforded the blessed relief of some well-working air-conditioning – a real rarity in Tuscany!

While we took turns using the facilities, we grabbed some drinks and snacks and enjoyed a 20 or so minutes in the place – and enjoyed a little slice of Tuscan small-town life, as a woman brought a couple of her kids in and the bar-owner treated them to some sweets.

On the way back from Riparbella, I decided to head farther up the hill, to see where else we could explore. Once out of town, the roads became quite narrow – very narrow, in fact, but we enjoyed looking out for the well-groomed tenute along the route. I was tempted to call into one or two to try their wines, but home was calling.

Anyway, back to the ‘present’. We found ourselves back on one of these back-roads, and again we hadn’t travelled as far as I thought, coming out maybe only 15 minutes past Cecina, and back on the main road (the SS68).

We chilled for a while, before heading out to a few places to try their aperitivi.

We ended up camping at the Enjoy Cafè Bar Sportivo – a jazzband was playing right in our faces, but they were a tight combo. The nibbles were nicer than the drinks, but we were happy enough. Indicentally, this place has upped its gelato game too!

Finally, after the slight disappointment that was lunch, we over-compensated by once again heading to Del Duca for dinner. Edit: It was because it was our anniversary! lol. Huge irony that I forgot that! Anyway, Del Duca it never disappoints. At the time of writing this, they have since sold the establishment on, and we have yet to try the fare there now. We’re returning in mid March, and will do just that!

As always, we enjoyed the food tremendously and had a little digestivo afterwards. They’re so good at alleviating that full-belly feeling. And we must have been full – where are the desserts?!

Back to the apartment for chilling and bed.

I hope you enjoyed the read – please let me know what you think in the comments below.

The Pretty Deep Montecatini Val di Cecina (01/09/2022)

About 15 kilometers away from Volterra, across the valley, lies the old mining town of Montecatini Val di Cecina (hereinafter simply referred to as Montecatini – but not to be confused with the town of Montecatini Terme, which is somewhat farther north in Tuscany – also lovely).

We had visited it back in December 2018, when we first picked up the keys to the apartment – but before I started blogging. Resting in a hill, it too commands superlative views of the rolling hills and woods, but that last time, it was completely foggy and we couldn’t see past 100 meters. It was well past time that we made another visit, and I can say that after having done so, it won’t be that long before we visit again.

Is was essentially a mining town – chiefly copper – but the mine is now exhausted, but some of it is still open for exploration… well…. as part of a guided tour, anyway. So that’s what we were going to do today.

We drove through the town itself (we would back for an explore later) and directly to the free carpark of the mine itself. There should be loads of parking there, and you could potentially use it as a base from which you can explore the surroundings on-foot, without attending the mine museum at all.

We wandered into the ticket-office and had a family of Dutch people step in front of us – it turns out they had booked. We were still lucky enough to buy tickets upon walking-in. So do please book in advance if you’re going. I linked the site above. We all had to wear a hard-hat. As usual, the strap had to be adjusted to its max so it would fit my ENORMOUS head. Seriously, it’s deceptively cantaloupe-like. It surprised the heck out of the man fitting it. Anyway, the cost of the tour was €7 per adult. That sounded pretty good value, but we didn’t realise how good it was

The tour was split into two groups: English-speaking and Italian-speaking. The lady who delivered the Italian tour had great English and she was very engaging. She gave us the history, and we had a walking tour around the first level. We passed by the stairs to the second level. They were lit up and just deemed to go down endlessly, but were blocked off\. We hit a chamber which was a little warmer, because the shaft (railed and safe!) went down the entire depth of the mine, so warm air was circulating up, as it does (thanks, Science!). If I had one complaint about the tour, is that we didn’t get to go down to the second level. However, we were taken outside to the sifting and mining equipment and shaftworks.

It’s a fascinating place, and I strongly recommend a visit. At the end, the guide passed around some ore for us to weigh up. By the end of the tour we realised that the tour took around 80 minutes. Not too shabby for for €7 a head! We were unlucky in one other way, but you’d have to see it in the video below (basically the German and Dutch families accompanying us were a basketball team – I’ve never felt so much like a Hobbit in all my life!).

If it looks like I didn’t take too many photos, you’d be right – I spent most of the the time filming. You can catch a chunk of the tour below:

Lunchtime! We scrambled into our tiny Fiat Panda, marvelling at the towering Continentals as they drove off. We needed some food. There are a few places to go in the village of Montecatini itself, hanging off the main square. Last time we visited, we parked in a carpark leading off the main square up a lofty ramp. Going up wasn’t a problem. Coming back down inevitably meant we scraped the underside of our bumper. This time, we parked in the much more level, free place on the edge of town and walked in.

Because we had much better visibility, we were able to see that the village from the western approach looked absolutely gorgeous! Wow!

We went to Ristorante Pizzeria La Terrazza sul Borgo on the square. I was hungry enough for two courses, so I ordered two primi – a bean and kale soup, and a sausage and mushroom pici dish. Niamh got an amatriciana and my brother a pappardelle with wild boar (not pictured below). Because I’d ordered two primi, by golly I *got* them as two primi. In fairness, that doesn’t happen very often – restaurants will servce one after the other as separate courses. So, I had two dishes to juggle at the same time.

The food was nice. I really enjoyed my pici.

We left the restaurant and then took a stroll around the residential part of town – which is the hilltown proper, really. And like most hilltowns, offers several rewards for those who like to explore these urban mini-mazes. It’s a hilly walk up to one of the town, and as usual when walking about in a medieval place on a hill, always look behind you in case you miss some amazing views.

We strolled up and down through town, pausing to stroke the occasional cat, and to allow me to go astray to grab an epic shot of Volterra from across the valley. One of the best shots I’ve ever taken, I think.

You can walk by the tower that dominates the town’s skyline. You can stay here if you want – Torre dei Belforti

We finished our walk in the Campo Santo Vecchio. It offers some grand panoramic views, provided you are over 165cm tall!

We went back through town, past the square.

As you may have spotted in the two galleries above, the light had gotten poorer, as clouds began to gather over the town. By the time we’d gone past the village proper on the way to the car, it had begun spitting rain. And then it absolutely tipped down when we were within 100 meters of the carpark, so we trotted there and hid safely from the rain. It was like actually being in a carwash. Mad rain altogether!

It didn’t let us spoil our time in Montecatini Val di Cecina, though. I would strongly recommend you visit if you’re in the area. A car is certainly required.

Below is a video I took of our walk of this special place.

We didn’t do much else for the rest of the day, except look for a place to eat in the evening. We chose Quo Vadis for the Guinness, the view over the ruins of the Roman theatre, and for food that suits most palates. It was fine.

My belly is making more of an appearance in this shots!

Home, relaxation and bed. Thanks for reading to the end. Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment!

Quick Trip to Pontadera (31/08/2022)

My brother and I got up and had a walk, mostly inside the walls. We walked past Del Duca, up by the park walls and along the prison fences. We then walked back towards town on the road, but ducked right towards our carpark, before swinging a left at the Alab’Arte workshop. I don’t come here too often, as it’s purely residential – but a change is a good as a rest. We then took the stairs down towards Docciola, before swinging back on stairs to the left. My brother is a hiker, so I wanted to take him on an uppy-downy route (I think that’s what they’re officially called!).

The light that morning was strange, and somehow brighter and more yellow than normal than it usually is on a morning – perhaps some haze diffused the bright sun. Some of the photos as a result (I think!) are wonderful.

We wandered around the carpark in the north-eastern corner of the walls, before taking a look at the Roman theatre ruins and the hills and Apuan Alps beyond. Then we went to Porta San Francesco and from there to Porta San Felice. Finally, what killed us off was the monster climb up Via della Pietraia, at the top of which I took the last shot of the rainbow. It’s a good route, as it takes you all over the town, and keeps cardio going with hillclimbs. We were suitably sweaty by then and headed back to the apartment to eat and shower.

I used to get folded and battered weekly by a Thai lady (they call it massaged), and found it enormously beneficial. I hadn’t had one in a long time, and I felt a little tight after recent walks around Volterra. The problem is, you can’t find a Thai massage place within 20km of Volterra. In fact, the one I found that seemed reputable and was getting good scores on Google (Ban Thai) in Pontedera. We left our guest behind us, as we had every intention of returning in time for lunch.

We parked and I left Niamh off while I went to the place. Niamh crossed the railway tracks into the older part of town (recommended, by the way) for shopping. The shop was closed… d’oh! I called and found out she was open for appointments only. I managed to talk her into giving me an hour. She arrived a few minutes later, and I was suitably chastised into remembering to book in advance next time. In fairness to her, her anger didn’t show in the massage, and I was out an hour later – suitably energised and limber.

I found Niamh about 20 minutes later, and looking at the clock and feeling the aching emptiness in our tummies we decided to forsake my brother and go to lunch. A quick call later (we’d let him know he should take care of lunch himself), we went to a nearby Chinese place. If you are a regular reader, you’ll know that we are on an eternal quest to find a Chinese restaurant in Tuscany that does Western-Chinese stirfries tolerably well (fried rice and dumplings are pretty good). After talking to several ex-pats and Italians about this, it would seem that our quest is in vain – but we are nothing if not stubborn (and hungry), and so we carry on regardless.

So now we took our fight to Pontedera. We completely bypassed the Piaggio Museum (Piaggio being the manufacturer of the Italian ‘Vespa’ scooters and ‘Ape’ 3-wheeled mini-mini-vans. We’ll have to go there for another vlog and blog. La Felicità is tantilisingly opposite the museum, but we were just too focused on our bellies.

Some of the resulting meal was nice – again, the dumplings and rice – but the curry was ok, and the chicken with peppers we ordered was like so many other stir-fries: soy and salt. Cheap. I figure that Italians don’t particularly like their veggies mixed in with their meat, so Chinese restaurants tend to give less of a crap about stir fries. It bothers me! Still, there are worse things happening in the world!

One belly in focus – the dumplings were nice

Once fed, we waddled back to the car and headed home. I snuck a granita in from L’Isola del Gusto, and then chilled for the afternoon.

That evening we went to the piazza for dinner – to Ristorante Etruria to be precise. As we had all been fed that afternoon just had a single course. They gave us some nice salted flatbread to whet our appetites. It is a touristy place, but sometimes it’s nice to eat in the square, and it has something for everyone.

Ok, maybe more than one course!

We finished off a relaxing evening with a short stroll to Antica Velathri Café for a couple of beers/cocktails.

Home and screen-watching! Thanks for reading to the end. Please leave a comment or question, I’d love to hear from you!

The Livorno Foodmarket (29/08/2022)

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

Thanks for reading. Please leave a like and a comment or question. 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?

Thanks for reading. Let us know if you have any queries or comments. We’d love to hear from you!

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!

We drove back home on the bumpy track and slept off the calories and the heat of the day.

Our guests, bless them, had left a bunch of beers with us, and I had this little beauty:

Normal Ichnusa is definitely worth a go too. This lemon variety is delicious, but quite light in alcohol.

We watched the sunset, and I finally found some space left in my stomach for my evening ‘meal’:

I had a traipse around the town a bit, watched the telly an then hit the hay!

A Manbag, A Manbag, My Kingdom for a Manbag (24/08/2022)

Not much writing in this one!

It was our guests’ last day, but they weren’t leaving until the early evening. It gave them a chance to pick up some souvenirs before they left, including an elusive boar-themed t-shirt.

But first, I had a walk on my own that morning, to and from the archaeological dig site, back and around the town a bit.

Then back to town and the rest of the walk!

After I had tidied myself up and eaten, then we wandered out and did some shopping. We split up into multiple ranks and went hunting.

We met up with our guests at a souvenir store on Via dei Sarti, where, if I recall correctly, a t-shirt of a boar on a motorbike was finally bought by our guests. Both couples bought also walked away with a pro corkscrew – one with a double-flanged lever that we’ve seen all the waiters use here… by touristy themed!

Oh yeah, and this happened:

They are super-handy, especially for lugging around water and my filming tools (gimbal, microphones). Would I wear it anywhere? Absolutely not. If I were to attempt to wear this bag at home, especially, near where I work, I would have seven shades of snot beaten out of me. Dublin is fun!

Afterwards, we had time for lunch in Torre del Porcellino, because they rock!

The Cacio e Pepe is especially class here

We then had the sad task of bring our guests back to the airport. Never a fun time, not least because we’ve travelled that road a few dozen times already! But really, we enjoy showing people about the region. A short enough visit, but plenty of scope for a re-visit!

Bye for now to this place, from our guests.

Unsurprisingly, I took no photos of the airport. You only have 10 minutes to get in and get out of the drop-off carpark without charge. This leads to us looking like we’re giving our guests the bum’s rush. Which is pretty much what’s happening. “Bye, then!”, “Buh-bye… bye-b-b-byebyebye!”. Cue validating our card and running for the exit.

What *IS* surprising is that we finally stopped at a store in La Rosa we had been threatening to stop in for 4 years. It has a huge hiking boot outside it and, to our embarassment, spent almost all of those 4 years wondering what the shop sold. Shoes. It sells shoes. In fact, it is a shoe outlet store, and a pretty damn big one at that!

The less we have to pack going over, the better – so I wanted to build a small stock of footwear so one day, all I’d have to bring over is my laptop bag! There is about a half a column of men’s shoes, a half a column of kids’ and 2 columns of ladies’. ‘Twas ever thus. Anyway, Niamh found flip-flops and other shoes for herself, and I found a nice pair for Bugatti’s for myself. I had found another pair too, but what they have on the floor is what they have in stock, and sadly they didn’t have them in my size. Still, I’d put a hole in my goal and was happy enough.

We carried on towards home, rested and then went to Ristorante Etruria for a slightly windy meal outdoors.

And that was that for the day. We were alone again, naturally.

Down by the Boboli Gardens (22/08/2022)

You’d think we’d have had enough time on our feet after the Medieval Festival the previous day, but no – today we would be bringing our guests into Florence. As we had already been there a number of times, we would leave them at the Duomo and head off to do one of the things we had failed to do on these numerous trips: visit the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens behind it.

But first: the electrician called! We opened the door, and in stepped a very young man with a tool-belt around his waist. We showed him the beeping alarm and after a quick chat on the phone with a colleague, informed us that yes, it was just a sonic repellant for birds. He clipped the wires necessary to stop it beeping – so I guess that is the end of the reign of terror for the pigeons. Hopefully next time we get to Volterra our terrace won’t be a holy mess.

As Niamh was happy with his quick work, she thought to nab him to wire up the new light over the new mirror in the new bathroom. I showed it to him, and within 10 minutes he had it done – good man! It didn’t have a separate switch, though, so now when you turn the lights on, it’s like bloody daylight in there! First world problems. He couldn’t accept payment then and there, but if I recall correctly, I don’t think the bill was for more than €20! Try getting even just a callout from a utilities guy in Ireland for that price!

When heading to Florence, we usually head straight north on the SP15, remaining north on the SP439dir until we hit larger roads past Montaione. Some of it has nice scenery, so it’s a nice way to show it off. Then we come back via the motorway as far as Colle di Val d’Elsa. However, we took the motorway route both way this time. It’s a little quicker (even though you have to head far south before you can begin to go north towards Florence), and we also wanted to show our guests the amazing countryside of the Val di Cecina and the Val d’Elsa on the way. We had a quick sightseeing stop just 3 minutes drive outside the town at one of Mauro Staccioli’s: L’Anello… one of a number of stark sculptures dotted around the nearby landscapes. This is probably the most famous and Instagrammable of them, due to the surrounding countryside and the hairpin road.

We got to our usual parking spot for a visit to Florence – the CoOp at Ponte a Greve (here in Google maps). It’s free! And you can grab the tram (don’t forget to validate your ticket on-board!) right next to it for a 10-12 minute trip to Santa Maria Novella station in the heart of the city. From there it’s a 10-minute walk to the Duomo.

Here, we left our guests to do their own thing. They wanted to shop and visit an engineering exhibition of Da Vinci’s. Niamh popped into the chemist to get herself some plasters for breaking in shoes, while I grabbed a bottle of water from a Tabbachi. Then we wound our way through the streets of Florence, through the Piazza della Republica and over the Ponte Vecchio.

We were pretty hungry by then, and wanted to find a reasonably-priced, less touristy place to eat. We had a couple of false alarms, before we grabbed a table at Trattoria de’ Guicciardini. Niamh had bruschetta (not pictured) and a nice place of fusilli pasta. I had stuffed pasta in a truffle cream, followed by Peposo – stewed beef in red wine and tons of black pepper. I have been on a quest to find a decent plate of it for some time now. Some pleaces don’t have enough wine, others barely any peppper. It seems to be a dish that’s hard to get right. When I saw the plate that came out, I have to admit I was initially disappointed, as there was an obvious lack of sauce/gravy. But then I tasted it. Absolutely delicious, and definitely the best Peposo I have ever had.

And they know how good it is too. I was halfway through my beef when a short, older lady came out and asked how my Peposo was, and was obviously very pleased at my reaction. I think she was the cook. Good service. If I had one quibble, it would be that our dishes were served according to their order of appearance on the menu. So, Niamh had her bruschetta while I looked on hungrily, then we both had our pasta, and finally I went solo with my Peposo. Served this way, however, you had a better guarantee of your food coming out as it should. Anyway, I would go to have that Peposo again tomorrow, if I could!

We saved some tummy room for gelato after we had visited the gardens.

The Pitti Palace was just minutes away by foot, and we arrived there and immediately trotted for shade. The piazza is super-exposed to the sun. The ticket office was only a few people deep, and we weren’t long in waiting. We noticed that, yet again, the palace itself was closed to the public. One of these fine years we’ll get to see it.

Anyway, we headed in, and I wasn’t allowed the use of my gimbal to shoot video, so I had to rely on my shaky hands. You can see the video farther below.

What can I say? We wandered around the gardens. They are quite lovely, but honestly incredibly warm in August. Additionally, although I’m no gardener or horticulturalist, I suspect there are better times to visit if you want to see some of the gardens within bloom. There were more tropical-style sections, as well as the opulent French-style. Some of it is quite hilly, and so if you’re not a fan of heat, your misery will be compounded with uphill slope or stair climbs. There are taps with cold drinkable water dotted around, however, and decent toilet facilities.

One great thing about them is that you can get some elevated views of the city of Florence, without having to travel out to Piazzale Michelangelo (this is recommended regardless at sunset, by the way – we’ve yet to do it, though).

So, yes – go to the Boboli Gardens – they really are beautiful, but maybe in April/May!

Here’s a short video of our trip!

We were roasting after exploring the gardens, and took a break at the café there. This was a mistake. Go out and find somewhere else instead. The menu was overpriced – this wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was how awful the shakerati we bought were. Very bitter, no foam and not at all refreshing. They just threw (bad) hot coffee over ice and served. It took a while for us to get served too, as there was only one overworked waitress on duty outside.

Bowed, but unbroken, we started our journey back to the Duomo, where we said we’d meet our guests. On the way, wanted to grab a gelato at place we had been taken to before – Gelateria della Passera, but it was closed. Wah! Instead we had to head back to Gelateria Santa Trinita, where we had also eaten before (I will always remember that eye-rolling girl – she could have been world-weary professionally).

We caught up with our guests nearby the Duomo. They crossed off their two most important goals of shopping and getting to that exhibition. They had also gotten lost, and – still to my astonishment to this day – not found the Piazza della Signoria, the Piazza della Republica or the Arno banks. On the plus side, they still have tons to return to next time!

The day had gotten quite humid and energy-draining, so we left for the tram to take us back to the carpark. We had a couple of pitstops – one in the CoOp for drinks and goodies, and the other in the electronics store to buy wireless mice and keyboards. By chance, we bought a phone holder for the car. This turns out to have been an inspired purchase – it worked like a charm – who needed a infotainment screen after all?!

I also noticed this phenomenon in (I repeat) THE ELECTRONICS STORE:

The massive coffee section. Tell me you’re in Italy, without telling me you’re in Italy!

We chilled for a short while back at the apartment, tidied ourselves up and had yummy pizza in Pizzeria Ombra della Sera, along with a beer or two.

After it was a sit-up for a little more beer, then bed. And a sneaky pic of our neighbour’s amazing courtyard below!

Yes, that well is functional – people draw from it.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Please add comments and ask me questions – I’d love to hear from you!

Roadtrip! Our Return in August/September (19/08/2022)

We had to wait another 12 weeks before could return. It’s wrong to wish your life away. And you should try to be grateful for what you do have, no matter where you are – if you want to maintain healthy mental balance. However, it’s hard to put this all into practice when you have a little slice of heaven waiting for you just over 2 hours away by airplane.

It turns out that our usual gateway to our slice of heaven would require you going through the eye of a needle! Car rental in Pisa had become incredibly expensive, and we had an idea to shop from a different airport. We would have to ensure that the agency we rented the car with could take the car back in Pisa, as we would fly out from there. Anyway, we found that Thrifty, who also have an office in Pisa, were renting the exact same car class for the exact same period for almost €1,000 less (although see below!) in their agency in Ciampino Airport, Rome. The name ‘Thrifty’ didn’t exactly instill confidence, but we had no issues throughout our stay.

We decided that it could be a win/win if we got an early enough flight, and found a route we could enjoy. We had 2 basic choices:

To head immediately to the coast and take as coastal a route as possible. I love coastal drives, but planning a route would be tricky… as quite often many of the roads right next to the sea are gravelly or sandy, or simply prohibited. Often the road closest to the coasts is still several hundred meters away from the sea, which defeats the purpose. In addition, there are very few coastal towns with true ‘centro storico’ charm in Lazio and Tuscany.
Drive inland instead, skirting around inland lakes and exploring a couple of lakeside towns on the way. The towns on the lakeside would have a better chance of being ‘oldy-worldy’.

So we decided on the latter and I plotted, which would take is through parts of Lazio and Umbria – we’d never driven outside Tuscany before. Including a couple of scheduled stops, I estimated it would take us 7-7.5 hours.

Firstly, we had to fly!

We did exactly what we did that last time we flew out: booked the night in the Maldron at the airport so we could walk directly to the airport and get a couple of hours extra sleep. My brother kindly gave us a lift to the hotel. Our room was grand, and we ate in the bar instead of the restaurant this time. Not bad at all. We slept well enough and, with no breakfast, got up at sparrowfart and walked to departures with a nice young lad from Cork. Niamh and I just had carry-ons; he had nothing but the clothes he had on him.

We got there, positively sailed through security and walked much of the way towards the gate to an eatery that was, mercifully, open. We somehow grabbed a table – the airport was freaking mobbed at the gates – and sat by a multigenerational family of 6 or 7. I had a sandwich; Niamh a sweet breakfast – to start the time off Italian style!

Everything was going to plan. We got to our gate, were checked and began our Ryanair cattle-queue to the aircraft, close to the front. The sky was blue, the birds were singing…

Can you guess where I’m going with this? And no, I don’t mean Italy…

So we queued and waited, and waited. We chatted for a bit with a funny older couple who were hung-over and going for Rome for their first time. Grounds-people and boarded staff wandered in and out of the craft. Several times I could have sworn we were going to be allowed to board. But then, alas, a man told us we all had to go back into the terminal. There was an issue with the aircraft, and we would have to wait an hour for another craft.

There was no waiting area in the terminal, so we had to walk past the gates again, which of course meant that we would have to be re-checked on the way out. On the plus side, the dude who said an hour was actually pretty much spot on. Any delay, however, was going to eat into our ability to wander around the couple of towns we had chosen.

Anyway, we were re-boarded an hour later and spend about 30 minutes longer than usual in the air, as we were flying to Rome, rather than Pisa. The flight was pleasant and without incident. We spotted a couple of lakes – one of those at which we would stopping. We disembarked, got through the passport check handily, and broke out Missus Google to search for the Thrifty agency to pick up our car. It had just finished raining heavily and the sun was making its reappearance. It was therefore becoming both hot and humid. Fortunately, we were at the agency in 9 or 10 minutes. We took up a couple of options, not realising one of them was an additional driver. We checked our booking, and lady was quite correct – the booking didn’t include me as an additional driver, and it would cost just under €300 more for the month. It took a little gloss off our saving, and cast a shadow over whether or not we should have flown to Rome in the first place. But was done was done, and the day and the journey ahead were still ours to make the most of.

We got the keys and checked the car out. It was a Fiat Panda and was as basic as cars get – even in these modern times. There was no infotainment screen – almost a basic requirement, but our budget was set and we gave it a shot. In truth, once we had bought the phone holder that clipped into the airvents we grew to love the old girl.

Off we went towards the ringroad around Rome, and then, quite quickly, we seemed to be doubling back before we felt he’d left the airport. And then back again. We re-checked Google and re-input the route, but it seemed to be right. We hit a roundabout that we’d hit before and took a different exit. Very odd. Anyway, we were off and in 3-lane traffic around Rome. Well, they certainly drive a little more aggressively here, don’t they! We were only on the ring road about 30 minutes, before we were back on more the more civilised 2-way roads. About 20 minutes later we entered the lovely lakeside town of Anguillara Sabazia. We very luckily got parking right by the lakeside restaurants, and had a little explore.

Not too far away from us, there was a Ferris wheel, and people lounging in the sun on the dark sand. But the town itself is gorgeous, like a mini Positano, with a pyramid of buildings crowing a nearby hill. A lovely and peaceful place. I took a little video footage you can find farther down below. Sadly, due to the lateness of our flight we had to do the thing we came here for: have lunch. There was no time for a proper explore.

Sadly, this is where things go a little pear-shaped. I have been using Google maps street view to ‘drive’ along the Italian coast, sussing out amenities, restaurants and properties. One thing I can say with reasonable accuracy is that a great many (i.e. not ALL) lakeside/seaside restaurants will force you to sacrifice the quality and price of food for the aesthetics of the location.

I’m afraid this was the case here too. I won’t name the restaurant. Niamh had a passable Amitriciana, but my Cacio e Pepe was utterly abortive. I’m usually not harsh in my food critiques, but this was a crushing disappointment. While the tonnarelli noodles were done well and toothsome (and I at least ate those with relish), the sauce was a total mess. The dish arrived with the noodles swimming in a soup with congealed cheese parked in marble-sized packets through out the serving. I finished the pasta, but left the sauce, which had by then looked like a plate of porridge. I wouldn’t have expected it to be so badly cooked halfway around the world, let alone in Italy, in the region considered to be the home of Cacio e Pepe.

Anyway, let’s move on.

We left Anguillara Sabazia and had a 10km or so pleasant lakeside drive, before we joined the main road towards Passignano sul Trasimeno. We circled around the walls of Nepi, and past tantalisingly close to Narni, Todi and Perugia – but we will have to visit those some time in the distant future. It was anethema to the explorer in me to pass them by, but our time was limited. I really enjoyed the drive, and didn’t really notice it pass by too much. I even drove this leg!

Anyway two and a half hours later we arrived at the large pay carpark to the east of Passignano itself. It lies alongside the lakeside promenade. We paid for the parking ticket and got out of the car and had a little explore.

Lake Trasimeno at around 130 square km is Italy’s 4th biggest lake and something of a boon to the otherwise landlocked, yet beautiful, region of Umbria. The photos above look a little gloomy, but the sun was on the other side of town, and we were just in time for the sunset and a gelato!

The touristic side of town has a lovely promenade lined with restaurants and shops. We only had the gelato and walked a little farther to have a look at the pier and check out the golden hour. Behind the promenade buildings there were hints of an older town, begging to be explored – but alas, we had no time.

The pier was essentially a dock for the ferries which can take people to and from a couple of other towns and a couple of islands. The other plus side to Trasimeno is that it’s not a huge drive away – a little under 2 hours, so it’s a ripe target for exploration at another time. In fact, we had planned on visiting again, but other things got in the way and we never made it.

We got back in the car and Niamh drove the last leg to Volterra. Passignano was a little larger than we expected and the more modern part had its virtues and amenities too – quite a lovely place. On the way home, we actually passed very close to Cortona – another gem of town that we’ll have to visit at some stage in the near future.

We knew much of this road, and it was multi-laned. We didn’t stop off anywhere, and once parked, we wheeled our bags to the apartment, changed the bedsheets and collapsed into our beds.

Below is a short video of some footage of Anguillara and Passignano – take a look!

I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know what you think!

Why are people so quiet about you, Follonica? (28/05/2022)

Back in October of last year, we took an inland route to get to Castiglione della Pescaia. On the way back to Volterra, we drove part of the way hom by the sea. Cresting over the top of a hill, we got a dynamite view of Follonica – it looked so lovely from above, and so we promised to return some day. We drove through some of its suburban areas to get to the E80 and home.

It only took us about 7 months to return! Anyway, we went by the quickest route (the aforementioned E80 from Cecina), and I think it only took us about 75 minutes to get there. I thought I had selected a nice free parking spot. It was free for sure, but sadly when walking out of the urban area, Google led us astray a little and took us too far south. I thought we’d have a 5 minute walk. It turned out to be 15-20 minutes. However, it turned out to be something of a happy accident, as we discovered the free beaches south of the main part of the city.

These pines always remind us of the coast

As we were fully dressed and had no beach gear with us, I can’t say what the water was like, but the sand was nice and golden! So, we continued farther north back towards town. There were houses right on the beach, between which we got more glimpses of free beaches. There seems to be an enormous stretch of such strands immediately south of Follonica’s main promenade – a tip for those of you who are tired of the Lido-life and don’t mind lugging your own gear. One thing negative to note is that you would have a bit of a walk to get to any beachside amenities.

Something that it puzzling to me is that I heard Tuscans extolling the virtues of Castiglioncello, Rosignano Solvay, Marina di Pisa (the south part anyway), the Gulf of Baratti, Marina di Cecina – but nobody ever mentioned Follonica. Does it have a bad reputation? Do they just want to keep it secret? I don’t know either way – comment if you do know, though! Maybe Italians just prefer beaches with all the gear ready for use.

Another thing we found, which we wouldn’t have had we paid for parking in the centre, is that Follonica has a Centro Storico (old town)! It’s far from medieval, but is maybe a couple of centuries old. There only seem to be a few blocks in it – so it’s small.

Will explore more of this next time we’re here

Soon after, we followed the road over and snaked around to the left to get our first view of the main promenade, before which lay yet another free stretch of beach.

There was a ton of free space on this beach, even though it was a Saturday and quite warm. We might come here next time we have a hankering for some sea. We then hit the beginning of the proper part of the promendade and went a little deeper into town, a little past one of the apartment buildings that towers over the rest of the city, and past that pierside building you can see in the distance above.

And a hotel too? Interesting stay here I imagine!

It was by now the middle of lunchtime, and we were starving. We took the opportunity of being in a bigger town and headed to an Asian restaurant, in our ongoing quest to find somewhere that serves decent stir-fries. We didn’t quite find it. We went here, and found a pleasantly familiar menu, with a few cantonese favourites – it was typically extensive. Like many Chinese restaurants in Italy, they do fried rice and steamed dumplings very well, but it all falls apart in the stir fries. The meat is cheap, the sauces seemingly flavoured with soy or salt – apart from the curries, which are barely passable. I don’t know why this is! It’s annoying and baffling! The veggies were nice and crunchy at least.

We didn’t want to eat too much as we knew we had a dinner date later that evening. The portion sizes are actually quite small, so that was good.

When done, we headed out to burn some additional calories along much of the promenade.

We stopped after about 500m, and it seemed to go on for at least another 5-700m. It was getting warm, so we stopped at a lively gelateria – Sogni Golosi (greedy dreams). On the way there, we passed by a tented area – the town was getting ready to party! I can’t remember the flavours I selected at the gelateria, but I do remember being hugely impressed. Definitely worth a go if you’re in town.

We wandered inland a bit in a rough direction back towards the our parking spot, and I once again was impressed by the centre’s pedestrian areas, packed full of eateries, shops and bars. It was quiet that day, but I can imagine it getting very busy in high-season.

We enjoyed a nice (if lengthy – thanks, Eoin!) walk back to the car, and took the same road home.

Below you can find a very short and shaky video of footage of our day out.

Needless to say, we chilled after we came back, and then we went out for our last meal of this stay in Volterra. Where better than Del Duca? We skipped aperitivi (our lunch was big enough!), and got treated like minor royalty as always! The food was pretty damn good too! I will really miss that place when it closes.

And that was that! We few home the next day and life began as normal on the Monday.

The good news, though? We came back in mid-August to mid-September… met new friends, experienced the Medieval Festival and Red Night again and enjoyed weather than was hot, but thankfully not appressively so. More to follow over the coming months!

Please let me know if you enjoyed this, or if you had any queries about travelling in Tuscany – especially west-central Tuscany. I’d love to hear from you!