Tag: vicopisano

2024)

When I’m asked why I would like to move to Italy, I dogmatically say “the weather” and “the people”, proclaiming how hard it is in Ireland (a beautiful country in many other aspects) to plan anything with friends more than 1-2 weeks in advance. But the reality is a little more complex than that. I’ll reserve some other personal reasons for another blog, but the two I will talk about here I feel are failings of Ireland, of which I am partly culpable. The second of these will lead into the lovely lifestyle part most of you are probably here for anyway!

Ireland doesn’t seem to be the country it used to be. Politics and the greedy buggers involved served to make property prices way higher than they should be. Some of this is down to the weird longing for Irish people to own a bit of land, i.e. a garden, leading to Dublin having spread out, rather than having been built skywards. The result is that Niamh and I became far removed from working colleagues and (for me) family and friends – Niamh’s family was already a ways away. In turn many of my friends scattered similarly. So, ultimately, we were less sociable in Kilcullen – the village in which we live. There have been a couple of pocketed periods where we went out with one group or another, but those fizzled out for various reasons. In Volterra, and Tuscany in general, we have found multiple people we are delighted to hang out with, and can do so with more outdoorsy ease, given the weather. Personally, I am more at my ease in Italy.

Secondly, which is leading to the lifestyle part, is that the community spirit in Italy leaves Ireland’s in the dust, as does their civic pride. With respect to the latter, of course there’s crime and grime in Italy, but there seems to be a respect for history and beauty and for other peoples’ property, so you’ll rarely find beauty-spots overly-littered or graffiti’d. I look at the unprotected fields of olives and grapes in Tuscany, and think to myself that they wouldn’t last kissing time in Ireland. It would be assumed that the contents are fair game for everyone if not fenced-off, livelihoods of the land-owners bedamned.

In Volterra, and in many similar hilltowns, there’s always something going on. There’s some artistic event, a show, a festival, and outing, a free concert and sometimes, especially during the summer, neighbourhoods in town may get together and organise dinner in the streets. The most extreme example of these nighttime meals is Siena during the Palio. However, most towns and villages get together at least once a year to celebrate together. It could be a harvest thing – a sagra, or it may coincide with Labour Day (May 1st) or a day in the religious calendar. It doesn’t matter – it’s time for a public party and the Italians are about to throw one!

Volterra has several of them that I know about: a street dinner above the ruins of the Roman Theatre, May 1st’s celebration in San Giusto at which trippa alla Volterrana (a tripe dish) is consumed in vast quantities, and a ‘white night’ dinner, which is not a normal ‘everything stays open’ white night, but a night during which the people of Volterra celebrate all things alabaster. A large dinner is held in Piazza dei Priori, and everyone is expected to be dressed in white. We haven’t attended any of these, sadly – maybe next year.

A couple of years back, Marie and Lorenzo of Authentic Tuscany invited us to a sunset dinner among the vines at the Castelvecchio winery, just outside Terricciola – one of Tuscany’s fabled ‘wine towns’. I was happy to go along, despite my initial concerns about the touristic hokeyness of it. I often have fears of looking like a tourist in Italy, which, when I think more deeply about it, is completely ridiculous. Of course I’m a tourist – you only have to look at me to know I’m far from being Italian. I should embrace the fact that there are certain things built and available specifically for tourists, and that these tourists too may also be Italian. To get off me high horse! Anyway, this dinner not only blew me away in terms of both its setting, the quality of the food and how wonderful the company was, but also with the revelation that so many tables at the dinner (which were scattered throughout the vineyard) were also Italian.

So, if you have these same hangups, let go of them – because these things are there to be enjoyed by everyone. The same goes for our next invite by Marie and Lorenzo: to a street-dinner organised by the locals. In any event, touristic hangups or not, these are not touristic events, but a way of participating in a local celebration. In fact, it’s a pleasure and an honour to be accepted on such nights, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Back to pre-Volterra, we’d known about this night for some time, and were put on notice to bring something with us to share. Niamh had the idea of making sausage rolls, so for the first (but maybe not last) time ever, we brought uncooked Irish produce (sausage meat and Clonakilty black pudding) and had planed to get pre-rolled puff pastry over there. We arrived in Volterra, and found out halfway through the week that not only had the menu for the night changed, but Niamh’s culinary services were no longer needed. Fortunately, she’s married to a human trashcan. Moreover, I was happy to have some pork products for lunch for several days. I have to say that the sausage meat, which I formed into patties, was freaking delicious!

The black pudding is so black! (Ripping Yarns fans, anyone?)… the sausage patty looks well done, but inside was so juicy. Making myself hungry…

On the day we just rocked up with some wines. Sadly, Lorenzo had to work that evening, so it was just just us and Marie. And six of Marie’s guests. And a hundred and twenty or so locals. We parked closer to Marie and Lorenzo’s and were welcomed into their kitchen, where Marie had ingredients separated out for a bruschetta assembly line Niamh would join later. Being a manly man, with muscles on top of muscles, I was asked to fetch six large bottles of water at the carpark we had just come from. I had a little bottle-carrier so I only had to do one trip, if I recall correctly. In many Italian towns, you’ll find old-looking fonts at which fresh, potable water will be found. Water is tested daily and is safe to drink. There are now also modern-looking taps in some towns. Sometimes water is free, sometimes it’s not. At some modern fonts you can actually get fizzy water for next to nothing (in Lajatico it’s 10c per litre I think). Sadly, I haven’t found anything like that in Volterra.

Anyway, I fetched the water, and then spent the rest of the time either filming or looking idiotic until it was time to be seated for food and merriment. By this time Fran and Nick had also turned up, so we had a good gang of people.

We sat, and for a few hours were wined, dined, met the mayor, had little rolled-up parchment containing poetry given to us, received impromptu Italian lessons and were serenaded by a local violinist. The food was nice – penne pasta with tomatoes, and cuttlefish with spinach in a broth, over toasted bread. I got an extra helping on this, solely because it looks like I have a belly big enough for it. This was a source of great amusement to Niamh, who knows I can only take so much of the texture of squid/octopus/cuttlefish before I tire of it, despite how good it tastes (and this was nice). My politeness won out, however, and I cleaned my plate while we chatted and laughed.

I can’t recall if there was a dessert, but I think not. We helped clear up and afterwards took a stroll into the main square of the town, while many were still chatting and drinking digestivi (think limoncello, amaro, grappa) at their table. Fran and Nick had left, so only about twelve of us rocked up and ambushed the poor girls working at the bar. We took some seats outside, while a duet were finishing up their act. We were joined by the lady, who was a singer, and she hung around while she and her pal played the kazoo and finally managed to convince Marie’s guest to see their act in a nearby town the next evening.

We had to watch our drinking due to tummy issues (me – occasional acid reflux) and driving home (Niamh), so we took our leave after about an hour and slept like logs when we got home.

If you follow Marie and Lorenzo’s Youtube channel, you might have already seen that they have an open invitation to guest at this dinner in 2026. I would highly recommend it if you really want to see what authentic town and village life is like in Tuscany. You can watch their video of the 2025 dinner below to see if you’d be interested (my own 2024 footage is on Youtube too, but will be linked to in a later blog), or find their contact form on the Authentic Tuscany website.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end!

Viareggio, Pietrasanta, Sunsets, Art, Friends and Buti (31/05-02/06/2024)

The one good thing about saying goodbye to a guest, is that we get a chance to head north – a direction we rarely travel in beyond Pisa. We said goodbye to my brother, and I had in mind to visit once place we had been before a loooong time ago – and one new place I had read about.

We took the road to Viareggio! Our first introduction to Tuscany back in (I think) 2008, was on a Travel Department tour. One of the places they took us to was Viareggio – one of the classic seaside towns lining the Versilian coast in Tuscany.

It took us longer than expected to arrive, and we ended up parking a ways away from the promenade, here (at the time of writing this, this is temporarily closed). I’m sure you can find somewhere closer! I thought we’d enjoy a walk through the town, until we reached the promenade strip. The truth be told, however, is that in the main part of the town, once you get to a block beyond the coastal road, Viareggio becomes incredibly workaday. Little neighbourhoods in blocks, served by bars and bakeries and the occasional craft store. Not unpleasant, but nothing inspirational either.

Our walk took us the guts of 15 minutes, but sight of the promenade walk is so worth it. It’s really lovely just on the coast.

It was still early enough in the morning, and we hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we found Gran Caffè Margherita, which is a lovely café with an old-style feel, attached to a bookshop. We had a pastry and drink each.

Once done, we walked a little bit of the promenade, and then up one of the piers, stopping only momentarily (honest) to look at a couple of lady beach volleyballers being coached – they looked quite pro, from what very little I saw of them. We got to the end and took snaps. The wind was up and the sea was rough.

A nice town, but we didn’t really want to explore up the far end, and so walked back to the car. Several blocks in, we came across one of the above-mentioned craft stores – this one was more householdy. Italians always dress their stores really well, so we had a good nose in there for a little while.

One last thing about Viareggio: it hosts the largest mardi gras in Europe, with gigantic floats parading down its promenade – I haven’t been there yet during this celebration, but hope to some year.

It was still morning, and I thought seeing as we were so far north (for us!), we could visit Pietrasanta for an explore and some lunch. Pietrasanta is to marble-work and statuary as Volterra is to alabaster. I’d read an old travelogue by an American, who travelled along the Versilian coast (Hidden Tuscany by John Keahey), lauding Pietrasanta and it’s artistic inhabitants and their workshops. I was excited to maybe see live some marble being worked, so off we went. Parking was free and easy, but a little walking is required to bring you back under the train tracks via an underpass. There is one there in the carpark linked above, so don’t go to the trouble of hiking along the roads to make it to the old town, or you’ll add 10 minutes to your journey!

You come out at the train station, and just a little beyond it, around a bend, you’ll spy one of the arched entrances to the centro storico.

Not the straightest of photos I ever took!

We walked through the archway and immediately to the right were shelves of marble knick-knacks in a window. Ah cool! I thought, The first workshop! But it was no such thing, but rather a Tabaccheria! I thought that if a Tabaccheria is displaying items like this, the rest of the town must be pure gold for marble-work. Well, I soon discovered that it is, and it isn’t.

The book I mentioned above had been published back in 2014, and it would seem a lot had happened in the intervening decade. Once you entered the archway, you are practically in the main square, directly ahead with a slight left, and it is impressive. We decided an explore of the square and its church, before looking for a place for lunch.

Ugh! I hope this isn’t as crass as it looks!

After that, we hit the streets to check out the workshops of Pietrasanta. Except there weren’t any. Not on a streets, anyway. There were plenty of art stores and boutiques, all lavishly appointed – even by Italian standards, the shop-fronting and fitting was impressive for many of these places. But it wasn’t exactly what I came for – which indicates the importance of doing more relevant research to ensure that expectation-setting is performed correctly. I can’t blame Pietrasanta – I blame myself. I guess sometimes that while 1000 years doesn’t diminish architecture in Italy, a mere 10 can heavily influence local economies.

We killed another half an hour by having a refreshing drink at the bar in the main square (Bar Michelangelo), before settling on Ristorante Quarantuno for a bite. Dishes were ok – mine a little salty, Niamh’s a little soupy.

We were tempted to take the coastal route home, but instead opted for speed and were back in Volterra in time to take a nap!

That evening, we had a pizza-date in La Mangiatoia, and took a walk and had enjoyed the tramonto (sunset) in Piazzetta dei Fornelli. I had one of the newer fancy pizzas on their expanded menu – mozzerella blob with sun-dried tomatoes and anchovies. It was nice, but next time I will stick with the regular recipes.

The next day, we spent as tourists in our own adopted town. Banksy, the legendary urban artist, had an exhibition in the exhibition centre, which is worth a visit anyway as it has semi permanent showings from local artists, and Etruscan ruins in its basement.

NOTE – BANKSY ISN’T FOR EVERYONE, AND A COUPLE OF THE WORKS BELOW MAY OFFEND.

Back in Piazza dei Priori, we noted that they were getting ready for the palio di cere – Volterra’s tug-of-war competition between the neighbourhoods. We had a lightish lunch in Ristorante Etruria.

Afterwards, we went, for the first time, to the new Mauro Staccioli exhibition hall, which is in itself quite lovely. You might remember Staccioli created the geometric sculptures found around the Val di Cecina – the most famous of which are the two ‘O’s on roads just outside of Volterra.

Later that evening, we went to Torre del Porcellino for a large dinner! We over-ate, really.

You may or may not be pleased to know that we have started to eat not as voraciously in the past year.

Bring on the next day and its walk around Volterra!

Today, we were supposed to go to Lari for their cherry festival (we have since done so – check out the video here). We managed to get as far as Lari and park in a looong row of cars, just outside town. Then the heavens opened. It was like being in a carwash. We checked with friends on our WhatsApp group and were told that Vicopisano was still dry, so several cars’ worth of people hightailed it there instead.

We spent an afternoon nibbling, drinking (except for designated drivers, of course) and laughing. Before long, several hours have passed – if that makes any sense. We were getting our hunger on. Marie (of Authentic Tuscany) suggested a place she knows in the nearby village of Buti. We hadn’t been there, and food was on the menu (literally!), so we leapt at the chance and went.

It was only a short drive, and it began to drizzle a little bit – but it didn’t dampen our spirits (I apologise for these awful puns). We parked (here), and had a short walk to the main square. Marie took us to a bar first to kill a little time before the restaurant opened. Niamh and I had a crema al caffe, and marvelled at the loveliness of the place. Marie assured us that the people here were mad and loved to party. I still haven’t been back, but I don’t know why – perhaps I need some sort of sanity test. Anyway, when Enoteca Acetone opened, we bundled ourselves inside, and after aperitivi and snacks, were presented with antipasti on clotheslines (no, really!) and some wonderful pasta dishes!

And after more laughs, we trundled home. Cheers, Fran and Nick and Marie!

Thanks for reading this – I hope you enjoyed it – but please check out the video below which covers the last couple of blogs, but in video form! Enjoy that too!

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.

A Quiet Couple of Days (23/03 and 24/03)

It isn’t all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows in Tuscany. Even when you’re on holiday. As we have long-term plans here, we have learn to actually live in Volterra, not simply be in holiday mode all the time. Secondly, as our social lives have expanded, we also have to accept that we will take days off from recording every little thing for social media.

These next couple of days represented a little bit of that life.

The first one, was a more casual trip to Vicopisano to meet up with Marie and Lorenzo, who maintain a series of properties you can rent to experience your own adventures in Tuscany (Authentic Tuscany), whilst at the same time live in their own killer medieval tower. The one problem with living in old buildings is that their walls are incredibly thick. Great for insulation in summer and winter, not so good for wifi signal. They had been missing signal in a guest bedroom and their back garden, so Niamh and I took along a reasonably powerful Wifi Extender. We use it ourselves for our own apartment and we can now get wifi coverage from the guest bedroom, all the way out to the terrace. Nifty. In fact, we now also have one in our house in Kilcullen too!

Anyway, I appreciate that it’s probably not the warmest (although it is to the touch!), or the prettiest house gift ever, but it is practical and works well. We found a place for it in the house, but some wiring work would have to be done. Outside, a socket would have to be set facing the garden, but once there, they were getting good speeds!

For once it wasn’t collectors’ market day when we visited!

I didn’t take many shots for reasons of privacy, and relaxation. Lorenzo cooked up a magnificent artichoke carbonara. While we waited in the kitchen for that, we gorged on cheese and wine. There was a huge sprig of rosemary there too, so I showed them the little trick of spiking a bit of pecorino cheese with a needle of rosemary to create a little flavour-bomb. When lunch was ready, we headed out to the back garden and talked for several hours during and after we ate. It was a fabulous and fun day. Except for one little issue: I hadn’t brought a protected hat for my bald head. Volterra was at least 5-6 degrees cooler than Vicopisano when we left it, so I didn’t think I’d get sunburned. But I did… However, it was a small price to pay for good food and even better company!

We only thought to grab one snap in the carpark. It’s just me Niamh and Marie, as poor Lorenzo had to go to work.

When we got home we went to L’Antica Velathri Café for a quick drinkie, which I matched against a Disaronno back at the apartment. No more big food for us that evening!

The next day we had a couple of shopping missions. I did go out for a good long walk. The number of photos belies the length of the walk. I walked around the walls a bit, then down to the CoOp and finally took the long way back up. Why so few photos? Because I was filming, silly! You can see the video below.

Niamh wanted to buy some plaster so we (i.e. she) could shore up the a hole that formed due to a little leak from our neighbour’s balcony. The leak was fixed, thankfully. We had been given a large amount on a voucher by our company to compensate us for losing the staff canteen for a few years, while they carry on renovations – so I thought I’d treat myself to an XBox. We arrived in Poggibonsi and went to Trony – they had a stack of S-Series… I wanted an X-Series, so we hit up a local game store and got an X-Series there. Yay! Now we have a Sky TV server (miles better quality than the laptop I was using) and gaming machine.

Brico was shut for riposo, and we were hungry – so it was off to Insoo Sushi. I think the name/management of the place changed. It was ok before, but the food this day was merely so-so.

The fried rice and dumplings were ok, but the quality of the meats wasn’t great. Not the best meal… our search for a decent Asian continues. Aside: At the time of writing this, we have eaten in Haru Sushi in Ponsacco, which isn’t too bad at all and you get served by a little robot there.

Anyway, once done we went to Brico, but felt we needed to do more research in the type of stuff we needed, and so left without paint or plaster.

Here’s the video!

Back home again… patched up the XBox and tried out the ‘free’ game Forza 4… not my bag. We had a single course out for dinner. A single course includes dessert, am I right?

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!

Fun Lunch at a Flowery Vicopisano and Dinnner at Del Duca (15/05/2022)

I had no walk this Sunday – sure even God rested on the seventh day, so cut me some slack! We were to head to Vicopisano to attend their flower festival, and film it a little. It’s funny how car journeys seem to shorten the more often you do them, especially when you know you’re going to enjoy the destination. It’s only a little over an hour (if even) from Volterra, and we got parking in the massive overflow field they had opened for the event.

I got out and started filming/papping.

It didn’t take us long to bump into Marie and Lorenzo of Authentic Tuscany (Instagram, website), who offer some wonderful accomodation options throughout the town. They work really hard and giving their guests an opportunity to experience life in small-town and rural Tuscany. They offer guided hikes and experiences of produce-tasting (wine, cheese, olive-oil, truffles) with locals, with whom they have established a fun relationship.

Met Marie and Lorenzo soon after. Amazing couple. Even though it comes naturally to them, they work so hard at keeping people happy. Not many jobs are better.

So we were led by Marie and Lorenzo to a restaurant called 30metriquadri (because it’s the area of the indoor space!), and is run by a couple of Roman lads.

We settled down and slowly, but our group began to grow, from the 4 of us, then to 6 as a couple Marie and Lorenzo knew joined us. The man was a retired pilot and knew Marie from when she was an air Stewardess with British Airways. The lovely lady was a wonderful abstract artist (Instagram). Then three more came, including Chef Celine, who you might know from Nicki Positano’s content if you watch her. She’s a private Chef in the Lucca region, so if you’re in the area and are in the need of one, look her up (Instagram). Celine was joined by another British ex-pat couple. Everyone knew each other, so it was a little overwhelming at first for Niamh and me – and we remained relatively quiet (improving our listening skills, as I imagine it!), but everyone was so lovely, that their manner (plus a glass or three of wine) put us at our ease.

We then proceeded to have one of those wonderful Tuscan lunches that was about 1.5 courses of food, but lasted almost 4 hours. If a few people in the party hadn’t been short on time it would have been a little more relaxing, but Niamh and I weren’t in a hurry! We had little veggie balls of goodness, bread and pasta to accompany our wine – all very delish. A couple had desserts after, but we held back as we were heading out to dinner that evening.

Halfway through the wait/food, Marie had to meet up with a couple of ladies from Cork, who she introduced to the table. They looked to be enjoying the hell out of themselves. More happy clients for Marie and Lorenzo!

To be honest, I had always been worried about meeting more ex-pats and being enveloped in an ex-pat ‘bubble’, as we had wanted to try to integrate with locals primarily, but after this encounter we felt no more worries about that. Most of their Italian is fantastic, and it has just given me further impetus to learn and integrate more. On top of that, we met a bunch more interesting people we would never have met otherwise. More people equals more stories!

Once done, we headed out to explore the flower festival a little more.

It was a fun little festival. They combined it with their collectors market, and so there were a lot of people. A little brass-based marching band were playing throughout the town adding to the fun. The fact that the weather was pleantly warm and clear was just the icing on the cake.

You can watch a video of our trip to Vicopisano here:

We had a nice drive home, and were a bit naughty at L’Isola del Gusto (it was beginning to get busy), and sat out with our ill-gotten gains by the Church of the Archangel Michael.

We rested at home for a while, urging on our digestive systems to allow more food to be crammed in. Thankfully, they complied.

What else can I say about Ristorante Enoteca Del Duca that I haven’t already said? It’s not just the food, it’s the welcome, the service, the sense of belonging. I think that sums it up.

We were granted another lovely welcome, and as always the food flipping rocked!

We were plied with offers of after-dinner drinks, but we had to turn them down, as we had to be compos mentis for the next day. The next 5 days, in fact. No more on that, I’m afraid. We were also offered the use of the pool at Marcampo. I had every intention of taking them up on the offer, but I never actually did. We still intend this again in August when we return. A day out by the pool may be just the thing. Despite my hydrophobia and creamy whiteness.

We said our goodbyes, took the shot below and headed home.

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!