Tag: volterra

2023)

Yeah, yeah, I know what I said last blog – but I had one day hanging over, and thought it was worth its own separate entry. It’ll be as quick as the town we visited it small.

There is a teeny tiny town on a hill (what else is new?) about 25km southeast from Volterra, as the crow flies. We first noted it on the way to and from the larger town of Radicondoli when we visited it in 2018 – before I set this blog up, unfortunately. I looked it up on the map and it seemed like it might have some fab views of the surrounding countryside, PLUS it had a restaurant. I was sold, and vowed to visit it at some stage. Again, over the intervening years I’d noted it on signposts as we drove just about everywhere else in the vicinity. So, BOOM! five years later we were there.

On the way that day, we noted that the chocolate fair was on. When I say ‘noted’, I of course mean that we slavered over the stalls and bought several kilos. It ain’t cheap, but it was worth it… except perhaps for one of the most celebrated chocolates in Italy: PGI Cioccolato di Modica. This particular type of chocolate was sold in bars of varying natural flavours. Now, how to explain my issues with it… One of the most important things for food, for me, is mouth-feel – texture and consistency, if you will. Well, I will absolutely agree that the flavours of Modica Chocolate are spot-on – but I would also have to say that the consistency is awful. It seems to me that it’s made of chocolate paste with little fat, and which is subsequently stirred vigorously with granulated sugar. The substance you end up eating is both chalky and gritty – I can’t handle that. Chocolate for me must be smooth and buttery, and melt in the mouth. Anyway – do try it for yourself if you ever come across bars of it and let me know what you think!

Dear Lord, the smell alone would drive you wild

Anyway, we took the car up to Mensano and found parking easily enough here on the side of the road. There is another carpark if you carry on straight at the next junction, but we were happy here.

We got out and started taking shots of the village. There are great panoramic views as I guessed, around about 270 degrees of the village – especially in the north-eastern to south-eastern corners.

The hamlet was small and quiet, but there were one or two people being busy about town, plus one cat that let us approach him. We got up to the top of the town, near a small play area and the views got even better.

I love this pic – not sure what that town is in the upper left-hand corner

We were getting peckish, and silently prayed for the restaurant (Ristorante Carato) to be open, and indeed it was! We sat outside and had some wonderful deep-fried zucchini flowers and really amazing pasta dishes. The roadway was narrow, but still used by traffic, and Niamh and I marvelled at one point when a large 4×4 reversed all the way up the street, passing by our table, leaving seemingly centimeters on either side. Occasionally, the owner/chef came out to talk to locals who were relaxing at a table a little aways from us. It was just a fine way to spend an afternoon, and I would really recommend the restaurant if you are in the area.

After eating our fill, we strolled back to the car.

After resting back in Volterra, we just went to the Hamburgheria for nice, if slightly over-sauced, burgers, and rested for our journey home to Ireland the next day.

The chocolate fair was still going strong

But we came back in October, so 2023 is not quite done yet!

Red Night 2023 and the Following Week (09-15/09/2023)

In the interests of moving things along more speedily to 2024, I’m going to start condensing blogs a bit, unless there are special occasions to be detailed. So, this week was a week of work, at the beginning of which was Volterra’s annual arts night: the Red Night. I’ve written about this a couple of times before.

It’s a night held once a year during which, if you visit the walled part of the town, you will find both ourdoors and indoors works of art, demonstrations, music etc. You can also visit private palazzi which are otherwise closed (they’re peoples’ homes!) on other days. It’s a relaxing and chill time, once you have mapped out the attractions you want to visit – some may close early, as I found to my cost in 2019.

I will say this: as fun and interesting as it is, it hasn’t quite returned to the heights of 2019’s night, as there are very few art installations and demos in the streets since Covid. There are some bands out playing, and the palazzi (we visited one) and dance school is open. A couple of additions made this year’s great: the Sacred Arts museum was open and free. I think the Etruscan Guarnacci museum was also too – I think it usually is during Red Night. Museums may be free, but I’m not sure on this point. There was a lot of activity around the pinacoteca (art gallery) and alabaster museum too. But best of all for us, was coming across a wonderful choral group in a chapel on Via San Lino.

I didn’t take photos of the choral group, but you can check them out in the video here:

Niamh went home early, while I went to the dance school, and then ambled along Via Porto all’Arco to KALPA Art Gallery. I heard some piano playing, so walked upstairs to listen and caught a couple of friends. We chatted briefly, before I headed home again. We didn’t attend the 2024 version, as friends of ours were using the house, so I can’t say if the night is on the mend – but 2023’s was a little better than 2022’s in terms of attractions.

On the Sunday, after a pizza lunch (no pun intended), we had a drive around looking at a couple of the mercatini dell’usato (2nd hand markets), but came back empty-handed. We decided to treat ourselves by heading to Pontedera to a Thai restaurant which was reviewing excellently, in our quest to find good Asian restaurants.

They really were lovely people, and the drinks were incredibly authentic, but the food was less so. It was merely ok, and Pad Thai I had didn’t taste at all like I’d expect it to.

Didn’t quite hit the mark there, guys – sorry

The rest of the week was broken up into walks, work and food. Here’s a selection of photos:

We really like to spread our business around, as you can see above!

We finished the week off by attending an exhibition of Roberta Staccioli’s (niece of Mauro Staccioli) works at Osteria Fornelli. After that, a bunch of us clubbed some tables together and we had one of those magical evening where the meal goes on for a few hours, while we talked with both native Volterrans and incoming expats. I remember the North American lady who pronounced the word ‘avvocato’ (a male lawyer) as ‘avocado’ the famous creamy fruit, which led to all sorts of hilarity. I will chiefly remember Costanza, the lady who works at the ticket desk of the Guarnacci museum, who was so generous and patient in insisting that I only speak Italian in order to help my practice.

It’s nights and people like these that make Niamh and I want to move over permanently.

A Little Work, A Little Play (07-08/09/2023)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thoroughly satisfied, we went to bed.

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

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

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

Thanks for reading this. If you liked it, or have any comment to make, please drop me a line. Also consider subscribing to the blog. It will remain a free resource for the foreseeable future!

Showing A Pal Around Livorno (06/09/2023)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for reading to the end. I hope you enjoyed it – but let me know if you would like to see anything covered!

A Lazy Few Days Mostly in Volterra (02-05/09/2023)

Unsurprisingly, we came back!

And what a day to come back to! There were multiple celebrations on the 2nd of September:

It’s our wedding anniversary
We came back to Volterra
Lajatico had its annual ‘foods of the world’ festival
It was Volterra’s White Night

It was kind of the locals to throw those two festivals on for us to help celebrate our anniversary. As we’d seen a bit of Volterra, we decided to take our friend and head over to Lajatico in the baseless hope that there’d be some Asian food to be had. There wasn’t any, but we found Lajatico to be buzzing with life and had some nice Ukranian and Romanian grub anyway!

But first, our car. We hired the car and drove it away without incident to Volterra, but due to it being parallel parked when we found it, rather than being in its own bay, we failed to spot damage to one of the front corners. We only saw it after parking in Volterra. LESSON: ALWAYS check your car fully for damage. Anyway – we did try to contact company and couldn’t get anyone on the local number, but were just told to document the damage by their head office, and were told no more. I began to get paranoid, as you often hear horror stories about some rental companies scamming people, and it resulted in me making a complete arse of myself when we returned the car – but more of that in a later blog.

Still mortified that we failed to spot this

We did land in the afternoon, and before going to Lajatico, had a nibble at Volaterra – and, of course, a cheeky Aperol, gelato (from L’Isola del Gusto) and explore.

Anyway, to Lajatico.

We had to park in a sportsground and walk 7 or 8 minutes into town. I papped some sights on the way in.

The ticket ‘office’ was on the way in, and you could either just wander in, or you could buy yourself a neat little pack of some credit stamps for stalls and wooden cutlery, all in a neato mini-tote back that could go about your neck. We all indulged, and were only together for maybe 5 minutes of the first 30 we were there, as we scattered looking for food we’d like. I’d never been in Lajatico at night, and it’s a pretty place – as it is during the daytime.

If I had one complaint, it’s that it was incredibly crowded – in particular at the food stalls. We still managed to get some grub in!

We sat near a well at the bottom of the road, and enjoyed the street entertainment.

We were there for a couple of hours, but then headed home. To chaos. Volterra was celebrating a white night, which meant there were no parking spots to be had. Not at either of our usual residents’ carparks. I had every intention of looking for more places by driving through town, but roadsigns and crowds completely impeded my route down Via Minzoni, and I had to park there, rather illicitly, as there was no way I was reversing all the way back down.

Instead we had a couple of drinks at Volaterra, noted that the concert in the main piazza was a ticket only affair. Everywhere, people were dressed in white, and tons of shops and bars stayed open until the small hours of the morning.

There’s not much more to the week, as we worked most of it. Niamh took one day off to replaster and repaint parts of a damaged outside wall. Check it out in the video near the bottom of this blog. But before that, the week consisted of walks, working and the stuffing of our faces. During one day, we went to Poggibonsi to pick up plaster and paints for Niamh, and stopped in an inoccuous looking restaurant on the side of the road in the industrial outskirts. Inside a lot of the food was based on wine, and was really delicious – Bottega Torciano! Here’s a large collection of photos:

Check out the video below for highlights, plus a look at some of Niamh’s handywork!

A Madly Expensive and Busy Long Weekend Part 1 (03/08-05/08/2023)

Oh yeah! I’d almost forgotten that we decided to splurge on a long weekend back in Italy. It was the August bank holiday in Ireland, so we used that Monday to bolster our weekend.

We flew out the Thursday evening, and arrived in Volterra half past midnight.

Friday, August 4th
We did a lot this weekend to maximise the money-to-fun ratio, and so sleep may have suffered. We found ourselves on the go a lot. So, our first date was in Bagno Perla beach club in Castliglione della Pescaia (parking). We met our friend by the entrance to her apartment stupid early, and had a quick breakfast at L’Incontro. Then we walked to our rental and drove the ninety minutes to Castiglione – a lovely village on the coast (duh), with a rare old-town feel. It’s a bit of a walk from the carpark, but parking is tricky elsewhere in the town – plus at least the carpark leaves you close to the centre of the town itself, which was to be our target afterwards.

Unsurprisingly, we did beachy stuff at the beach. I stood among the waves in the warm water. The strand goes out about 30 or so meters before you have to worry about floating, and unlike many Tuscan beaches, the sand is silky smooth. I cannot swim. I cannot even float. I know people say they cannot swim but they can at least float or doggy-paddle. Not I. So it’s a big deal for me to get out there.

They have a restaurant at the beach club too… don’t expect anything haute – but it does it’s job more than adequately.

Back to the beach for a couple of hours. Our friend could stay there all day (thereby getting best value for money from the rental of seats/beds/parasols.

But Niamh and I have to do something else – something different after a while. We have no patience for just lying there. We walked back and had a wander about the town. Once done, we stopped off at a bar on the main street for a spritz… which was nice, but the service was a little south of friendly. While we were there, we were caught in the mother and father of all downpours! Leaving that establishment, we thought we’d check out the menu of an Irish bar there – we had no real intention of eating there, as we had our sights on a burger bar. The food wasn’t Irish really, but at least the beer was!

Downpour – check out the early part of the video towards the bottom of the blog

Afterwards it was off to the burger bar for a tasty treat. The bar has since moved to Florence, and rumour has it that it’s not as good as it was, so no names dropped here. The bar wasn’t opened yet, so we went into the hotel bar opposite, where a few locals were hanging out, and had another spritz.

The burger bar opened and our friend reacquainted herself with the owner – we made our order and got our burgers. They were every bit as good as they looked!

Once done there, we (that is to say ‘I’) had the arduous task of driving us home. No staying overnight – we did that later in September, though.

I left the ladies off and parked at in the free area, as the resident’s carpark was full. Awesome times!

Saturday, August 5th
A day of travelling and exploring was in store for us!

I did start the day with one of my trademarked walks, although I kept it brief and inside the walls.

Walked, breakfasted, showered and off we went. We’d harboured significant interest in the forested areas around the Val di Cornia recently, and headed off in that direction again this time. We wound our way through a metric ton of mini-valleys, and saw a town in the distance: Gerfalco. I didn’t see much in the way of anywhere to eat after an explore, though. Sorry, Gerfalco – maybe another time. Checking Google now, I see the Cirolo looks like it serves antipasti and sandwiches – so I’ll put it back on my map. But for now, it was on to the larger town on the other side of the valley: Montieri (parking).

I got a good vibe from Montieri from the get-go. There are fab views into the forests below (check the video), and by the time we reached the heart of the town, we saw that the town seemed to have a good sense of community. There was a group of guys sitting in the curved main part of the town, all chatting, gossiping and generally enjoying each others’ company. There was a bar and a restaurant – only the former of which was open then. The restaurant was due to open, however, and so we spent the time going up and down Montieri’s hills, and exploring its nooks and crannies.

The one thing I will say that marks Montieri as being quite different to most other towns we’ve explored, is that it’s rather grey. So, rather than the amber of tufa, the houses were made of a different, more rugged stone. Even the flagstones on the roads and paths were different. Different is good, and so we enjoyed our time nosing around.

It was lunchtime, and exploring a hilltown can be hungry and tiring work, so it was off to a restaurant in the middle of town: Il Baccanale. Once inside, we were given placemats, giving a brief history of the town, which was a cool little feature. It told us that the silver of which the Volterran medieval currency (the ‘Grosso’) was made was mined nearby. If you attend Volterra’s annual Medieval Festivals, you can use the Grosso as currency at it, instead of Euros.

I don’t want to harp on about a placemat, but it was a super idea!

Niamh and I shared an antipasto plate, and followed it up with tagliatelle al ragu (Niamh) and a traditional Tuscan plate of sausages and beans (me). The food was nice, and the people lovely. Worth a spin if you’re in the area.

A bit more sauce with the beans would have been better

Once fed, it was time to move on and explore another wee town: Sovicille. It was a 45 minute drive from Montieri, but we nearly stopped at Chiusidino as there seemed to have been some sort of festival on. Unfortunately, there was simply nowhere to park and it was on to Sovicille. We parked, and walked about the town.

There were almost no people about, and so the town, as well as being small, was also incredibly quiet. It was certainly warmer than Montieri. It was pretty – especially the central square in which we stopped for a quick drink before finishing up. There was little else to it, to be honest, apart from a large building we were unsure as to whether it was a hotel, stately home or collection of apartment. A lovely setting, if not a particularly lively setting.

Back to Volterra, and the the rest of the day, consisted of gelato, aperitivi and food. I don’t have much else to say about it, but please do enjoy the photos – some of which of the sunset are fabulous!

Thanks for reading to the end – part 2 to follow – let me know what you think!

Dinners with Friends Old and New, and a Return Home (23/06-25/06/23)

We were heading into the last three days of our holidays, and we were going to spend a chunk of it with various friends. Marisa and David of the Tales from Tuscany YouTube channel were housesitting near the lovely village of Montecatini val di Cecina, and we would visit them for dinner.

The next night, we had been invited to join a vineyard dinner table at Azienda Agricola Castelvecchio by Marie and Lorenzo of Authentic Tuscany (check them out for a base for a Tuscany stay). Sadly, Lorenzo had to work, but we’d meet Marie and some of her guests for an amazing set dinner.

Friday, June 23rd
Unsurprisingly, I got up and went for a walk. I was due to work later on, so I kept it briefish.

We had a light lunch of pizza and milkshake!

Later on, it was time for the main event!

We took the sexy road towards Saline and switched out at the even sexier road towards Lajatico and Montecatini val di Cecina. The latter is a lovely village overlooking the val di Cecina (duh), and the northern part of the val d’Era. The road to it from Volterra is a masterpiece, going through rolling hills and tilled land. Lone trees or sculptures dot the land here and there, like exclamation marks to the lines of poetry that are the panoramic views. It’s even better looking coming the other way.

Just before Montecatini, however, we turned off onto a road that must have been created by a giant mole with delirium tremens. There are many such of these unpaved “white roads” in Italy, which lead to lone private properties. These properties can look like Heaven on Earth, but there’s an obvious purgatorial metaphor in the roads which precede them. This road was unpleasant at first, and then downright awful. I was beginning to wonder if our car was fitted with crampons. Was it possible to get seasick in a car? We lost the horizon multiple times, before it became a solid dirt track, which was the final driveway. Phew!

And it was a lovely place. It was airconditioned throughout, had a (technically) above-ground swimming pool, and best of all, a fabulous view over the valley back towards Volterra. We were enthusiastically greeted by Marisa and David, and a couple of lovely doggos they were also minding.

But we had a little bit of comedy to kick off the night, courtesy of an unfortunate Marisa.

A risotto with fresh porcini was supposed to be on the menu, but poor Marisa accidentally threw these (fairly expensive) mushrooms out with a bag of dogshit. An ignominious end for one of Italy’s finest delicacies. However, she deftly rescued the situation by having cooked a killer ragù to go with some toothsome pasta.

We had a little vino to wash it down, which paired perfectly with the food.

Afterwards, we had a trip up the driveway of the property to have a look at another large house, protected by its hedging. No breaking and entering tonight. We were shepherded by a lovely cat on the way back.

Another vino was had, and then, sadly, my metabolism caught up with me after a week of work, and I just began to get drowsy. They didn’t get the best of me that night – sorry, guys. It’s not like we were looking forward to leaving – we’d have to head down that poxy road again. But needs must, and we headed off with a wave.

Saturday, June 24th
This was our last full day this holiday. We did get out for a light lunch at Ristorante Etruria. It can be touristy, but Niamh loves the melanzane parmiggiana there, as I love the zuppa alla Volterrana. We also snuck in a little fritto misto.

But what this day was really about, was attending an evening dinner amongst the vines of Azienda Agricola Castelvecchio. We were invited there by Marie and Lorenzo, but sadly Lorenzo had to work that night, so we met up with her group for a little aperitivo beforehand.

Music played while we made our way to our table

There were lots of tables scattered throughout the vineyard, which itself was in beautiful surroundings, made all the more amazing by the golden hour. After we had introduced ourselves to a lovely bunch (mother and daughter Leslie and Suzy from the US, whom we met again this year, a pair of fab ladies from Cork with their partners, and of course Marie herself).

We were serenaded to our tables. We wound our way a few minutes to our own table and once again marvelled at the views.

We sat, and had a good old chat and a laugh, while we waited for the food and wine to arrive. And they were generous with both! A glass accompanied each course, and the experience was heightened not only by the booze, but by the sinking sun, which coloured the landscape from honey to a deep amber.

First time I had steak tartare – not bad, but I wouldn’t go wild for it. It needed the caper and anchovy for taste

It began to get dark when the dessert came out, and we yummied it down and reluctantly moved back to the agricola buildings.

We were able to walk about their shop and wine-making facility, while they gave us a snifter of their grappa – which I have to say was rocket-fuel! Their wines are awesome, but the grappa has a bit of a bite to it, haha!

It was an amazing end to an amazing holiday, and Niamh and I couldn’t recommend a night like it highly enough – we loved it! So, thanks to our friends Marie and Lorenzo from Authentic Tuscany for the experience!

Sunday, June 25th
It was the day we were to fly home, but the flight was a little later in the day, affording us a little time to explore the ladies’ crafts market (mercato rosa), and have a little treat from L’Isola del Gusto before we drove to the airport, dropped the rental car off and flew back to Ireland.

Thanks for reading – let me know what you think. We came back in September/October 2023! Expect some content soon!

Another working week (19/06-22/06/2023)

We had a working week ahead of us, and so I’ve set out a bunch of photos from it in various categories. We did nothing special, but we live in a special place, so I hope you enjoy flicking through the pics!

Volterra – Inside the Walls

The fountain… climb up the steps for lovely views

Volterra – Beyond the Walls

Food and Drink

Ask for a ‘budino di riso’ at your local Italian bar!

Humans

A Couple of Quiet Days, then Arezzo! (16/06-18/06/2023)

Oh my God, I am a full year behind on these things now. I can’t make any promises to catch up, as I fear they will be empty. I really enjoy writing them and uploading the photos, but I’ve been busy in work, and with other writing projects. I’ll keep up as best as I can – I promise!

Friday, June 16th
We had a quiet couple of days, but on the Friday, we did go to Colle di Val d’Elsa for one of the largest markets I’ve seen (it’s on every Friday, I think).

I think there was a Sicilian stall there, at which we bought some fab dried pasta. We had our friend with us, and stopped in a fab pasticceria, Bar Pasticceria Garibaldi. We had a lovely pastry and refreshing drink, and then walked about town, admiring the stalls. We stopped off at La Selleria, where I bought a riding hat that looked like a baseball cap. I spent too much money on that, but it’s a lovely store! The hat was made by Stetson, so do I get to call myself a cowboy now? Maybe not.

Before we were ready to go, we went to the Conad supermarket so our friend could get a little shopping in. We did a little ourselves and drove back to Volterra.

That evening, we went to La Vecchia Lira for a nice, big dinner. Massimo, the owner, brought over a black truffle the size of a newborn’s head. The food was especially good!

Afterwards, we had a stroll in the near-parts of town to burn off a calorie or two.

Saturday, 17th June
I could add narrative to the pictures below, but I won’t. Instead, I might add an inline comment or two. The truth is, I don’t remember much about this day. The next day was more interesting.

Sunday, 18th June
After having such rock and roll days so far during the weekend, it was time to slow down and visit one of Tuscany’s larger towns – one we hadn’t visited before – Arezzo!

Arezzo is famous for its gorgeous central piazza, and the huge antiques market that occurs there monthly. We would miss the market date, but at least we’d have a perfectly unobscured view of the piazza! Wouldn’t we?

It’s about a two hour drive from Volterra to Arezzo, and we left mid-to-late morning so we could grab lunch there. But were we going to have pasta all’aglione? Heck, naw. We were on an Oriental kick, and we’d spotted a place we wanted to try, not too far from the train station: Ristorante Giapponese Tao. Now, when you order food in a Japanese/Chinese place, you are handed a large menu, on which each dish is numbered. You get a slip of paper, where you note the number of the dish you want and how many of said dish you want. There is no strict order of arrival for the plates – what ever is ready will arrive – I’ve often been given a plate of fried rice to begin my meal, while stir-fries and spring rolls may arrive later. Also, the portions are rather small, but inexpensive. Usually.

So, we inadvertently ordered a metric ton of food.

We were halfway through our dishes, full, and realised that there were more on the way – we realised we’d messed-up. We asked for about a third of our overall order to be bagged for take-away, and with our tails between our legs, headed back to the car to deposit the grub – which wasn’t bad, by the way.

We walked gingerly, with swaying bellies, up to Arezzo’s old town, from the carpark. It was a very hilly affair!

As usual for hilltows, the residential parts were quite quiet. We wound our way to a very large piazza (Piazza della Libertà), only a few blocks northwest from the more famous Piazza Grande – our original aim. We had overshot, but that was ok as we had calories to burn!

We only stuck around here for a few minutes before asking Missus Google to take us to the main attraction. It was a little downhill from where we were, so that was ok. It was also certainly beginning to get a little busier. One thing we did notice is that although Arezzo’s old town doesn’t seem to be massive, it does have a big modern town surrounding it – and so it would be a good place for shopping, should you desire (a little foreshadowing!).

Then we turned down a road and got a first distant glance of the main square, and walked towards and…. ah crap! Every year, a great many Italian towns host a medieval festival. Some are spectacular shows, and some are a little more interactive. Volterra’s one is fab – it’s both large and interactive, and has some shows too. Here are some blogs on Volterra’s.

Anyway, Arezzo have a show in the main square – but no ordinary show, no sir. Theirs is a full-on jousting competition – knights in armour, horses, lances – the works. Theirs had been held just the previous day, and so we did not get any unobstructed views of the square due to work vehicles, sand everywhere, barriers and a massive gantry for the audience. Still, I have to say the square is a bit special. One side of it is fully lined with a lovely arcade of bars and restaurants. The different heights of the buildings, coupled with the rounded apse of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pieve add to its extraordinary charm.

We took a bundle of snaps, spent 15 minutes queueing in a souvenir store to buy a couple of knick-knacks and then stopped off at one of the bars in the arcade for a drink and to use the facilities. Then, we had a look at our watches. It was a going to be a long drive back, as I was at the wheel and I often like to turn off motorways and instead have Google take us on country routes. So, fully knowing there was a bunch more to see in Arezzo, we had to say goodbye.

On the way back to the car, we paused a while to watch a little medieval parade pass by – you can see this in the video below. We also paused for 15 or so minutes to check out an OVS – they’re a clothes shop brand in many malls and large towns here. The we took some shots and went home – took us 2.5 hours and we were exhausted.

Check out the video below.

We didn’t eat anything else for the rest of the day after gorging on lunch earlier, so chilltime and bedtime.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed the blog – let me know what you think!

Return to Val di Cornia – Did We Find a Casole Marittimo Beater? (15/06/2023)

So blown away by the Val di Cornia last time we visited (only a few days previously), that we said we’d have to return as soon as possible. And that’s just what we did as soon as our half week of work was over. There was at least one town I wanted to return to – and that was Monteverdi Marittimo. Return to, the more observant of you may ask. Well, yes – sort of. Unfortunately, I failed to blog that we had driven through the town last time we were here. It looked really nice, and there were people out and about and sitting in the small piazza in benches, just taking in the magnificent views. I think it was in the accompanying video, but I’d forgotten about it in the blog. Anyway, it seemed so nice that we wanted to give it a go, and stop there.

Along the way, we’d stop at a nice village, and a further surprise awaited us in the form of a town we found so lovely, that we considered it might be a Casale Marittimo beater! There’s a video of our day near the bottom, so be sure to check that out.

But first – I had a wee walk that morning. Enjoy the photos.

Righto! It was time to go and explore. Of course, to explore one must load up on calories, so that’s what we did, courtesy of L’Isola del Gusto!

A little coffee milkshake to get me going!

We wanted to hit Monteverdi Marittimo for lunch and be hungry with it, so we had a little time to kill. On the way, therefore, we would stop off at the previously unexplored village of Canneto – the old portion of which is shaped like a dagger in its sheath. We parked here, so it was only a few steps from town. There was a bar nearby, along with signs to wine and oil-tasting.

It’s a small place, so we had a wander around it’s walls and then inside – and went to the church there too. The bells went off and kept on going at one stage, bless them. It had great views of the valley on the north side, and was just so peaceful. As well as the little bottega, there was a pizzeria there – seems to get good reviews on Google – but it wasn’t open when we were there, and we simply weren’t hungry enough.

It was warm and breezy, and although I can’t see us visiting again too soon during the day time – it might be a nice place to go to for an evening meal.

It was time to press on to our main target of the day: Monteverdi Marittimo. We travelled on roads that were fairly familiar to us from our trip a few days ago, but the weather was nicer, and the colour of the sky contrasted nicely with the forested hills. When we’d driven through the town last time, we saw that there was parking right next to the Carabinieri station. Across the street, the viewpoint overlooked a footie pitch, before the vista disappeared into distant haze.

It was a short walk into town (a couple of hundred meters. We had a patter about the central area of the town, and up a bit of a slope to a small area consisting of a couple of tiny piazzette and roads leading down to what looked like a residential area. In truth, at the time we were a little disappointed as the town seemed to promise more.

We thought we had explored a lot of the nice area of town, and were hungry by now. We had a choice between a place which had better reviews, but didn’t seem to have outside seating – and a place which had nice seating with views into the valley. We opted for the latter (Bar Sport). No lights were on in the place, so I had to wander in and ask if they were open. They must have been opening just then, because we got a friendly nod. A few other people started wandering in too – cyclists mostly, so that was a good sign. It was fairly blustery out by now, so we had to clip down our tablecloth. I went for a 2-course, double primi meal (both soups and pastas feature as first courses on Italian menus).

After the meal was done, we had thought to head out and spend the afternoon exploring at random. However, just below the dining area a little street ran parallel, and contained a couple of food-related shops, so we walked there and headed to the right. It was then that we realised, as we ambled along, looking down the lanes to the left that led to spectacular views, that we almost did Monteverdi Marittimo a disservice.

We spent the next 30 minutes exploring the truly gorgeous residential part of town. Here was where the real beauty lay in Monteverdi Marittimo. Pristine streets and steep lanes led downwards towards shallow walls where you could get some amazing views of the forested valleys.

We were well chuffed with ourselves for having taken that little tour (the fact that I accidentally stood on a cat’s tail notwithstanding). We walked back to the car, and took a look at the map to see where we could go next. I spotted the town of Sassetta which we had skipped last time out, so we made our way towards that. It was a little bit of a squiggly drive. Due to its location on a spur in a valley, there seems to be only three ways in/out of the town. We took one of them in, and I gasped as we passed by a knife-edge of land on which some houses lay, and behind it forest-covered hills. It gave us the perfect parallax effect – everything seemed so unreal-looking. The rest of the town could be seen in the background a ways to the right. We parked on the edge of the main town in a little triangle with having a drink in mind.

We stopped at a small bar/gelateria – the guy was clearly closing down for riposo, and apologised, but pointed out that there was bar in a small square not too far from where we were. We ordered and sat, and were amused by how some worker guys who were having pizza there were feeding the piazza’s resident cat.

A look ahead to the amenities side of town

Once we’d watered and bathroomed, we had a choice to keep on the main road to explore the main part, or be drawn instead to the archway which led to a more residential part. We decided upon the latter and what a series of view awaited us there. We were both entranced by the narrow steep lanes, each house a little different, each decorated with miniature sculptures or flowers and potted plants. The town was mostly made of grey stone, rather than the sandy tufa we’re more used to, but there was pink stone set into houses and steps. Not painted pink, but a natural pink – not much of it, but enough to make the place characterful.

Some of the houses were built on a knife-edge and afforded the owners spectacular view either onto the neighbouring forested hills or the adjoining hilly valleys. We were really taken in, and wondered what kind of prices property would attract here.

After 15-20 minutes of being slack-jawed – I don’t think the above photos do it justice – we climbed back up to the amenities side of town – and that had its merits too.

They have a butchers, grocers, post office, pharmacy… we spotted some walks leading from the village we hadn’t the time to check. But we did walk down about 200 meters to have a look at the vista at a large new building made to look like an old building… or was it vice-versa. There was a fab view over the tree-covered mountains.

We walked back to, and then beyond, the car – as we wanted to take more distant shots of the town, because the vistas really blew us away.

So is it a Casale Marittimo-beater? I think they’re equally lovely, but Casale has it beaten due to its relative ease of access, closeness to the sea and nearness to Cecina and all its amenities. Sassetta is probably better as a chill-zone – somewhere to bury yourself into another life. I’ve also been told that Sassetta has thermal pools and spas – so we might duck back for another look, as that might seriously be in its favour.

Here’s the video of our day out!

That evening, we had one of our infrequent visits to Il Sacco Fiorentino – we tried going there a few times, but frequently found it closed. Anyway, I had one of the most unusual things I’ve ever had in a Volterran restaurant: Curry noodles with chicken and veg. Hear me out – sometimes you just need a different type of flavour-set! These went down a treat… they weren’t hot, but the flavour was great. Nice to see someone trying something different during the tourist season. There is a Pokebowl place on our street, and some places do sushi during the winter months.