Tag: walking

2023)

Today, we did a thing: we invited our friend to what we term a ‘sticky day of fun’ (referring to the state we land home in, given the usually hot weather in which we explore). This day would be fun, but would be considerably less sticky – the weather wasn’t the best. However, Tuscany can be grand in all weathers and a little rain (or a lot of rain) wouldn’t spoil the day….. completely.

We took the road Siena road, going through Castel San Gimignano, Campiglia, Le Grazie and Colle di Vald’Elsa, and from there joined the motorway system all the way to our first destination: San Quirico d’Orcia. I’d been wanting to visit this little town ever since we blazed past it during our first trip to the valley, over two years previously. The journey took a little under two hours. We parked in a free carpark and took a couple of flights of steps up to the outskirts of the old town. As soon as we’d passed by a couple of buildings and a sculpture, and we passed through behind the wall into the town itself, the rain started to come down.

One of the first things Irish visitors say about Italian hilltowns, once they’ve gotten over the different aesthetics, is how clean the streets are. And we, even though we were used to hilltowns, all commented on how clean San Quirico’s streets were. They were immaculate. There were also large sculptures within the piazzette dotted around the town.

We found another gate into town at which stood a white-stoned church. Not the one above, but another smaller one. Inside was the most extraordinary sculpted relief on a lectern, which looked very Celtic in origin – it took Niamh and I by surprise.

Hunger was beginning to be a factor, but we completed our route around the town – in as much as the rain allowed. We came across gardens, squares and lovely little courtyards. The one thing I thought was lacking in the old town, were views of the actual Val d’Orcia itself. It seems to rest on a hill, which gently declines all around, and on which are build modern areas. Even when I managed to climb to a walkway atop an old wall, the view into the modern town and beyond was blocked by larger olive trees. There are some views, but they seem to be across a more level plain near the Val d’Orcia. Just an observation… not much the townsfolk can do about it.

Hunger took us, and we had a look at a couple of menus until we found one that would suit all of us, and settled on La Bottega di Ines.

We were pleased with both the food and service, and it was just a nice place to sit and relax out of the rain. Would I recommend San Quirico. Yes – it’s lovely, and it’s perfectly well-positioned to be a base of operations for exploring many Val d’Orcia sights, like the Vitaleta Chapel, the Cypress hill and our next destination – the spa hamlet of Bagno Vignoni.

It’s not often Google sends us all over the place, but we were about to experience the havoc it can occasionally wreak getting into Bagno Vignoni. This village lies just 5.5 kilometers south of San Quirico. Google took us to a dirt track to park. The so-called carpark must be for the nearby thermal river. We rechecked before we found a ridiculously obvious carpark just outside of the village.

Bagno Vignoni is pretty much there for tourists… the whole village. Buildings surround a thermal pool, which is emptied and refilled periodically. Small offshoots of roads with hotels, shops and holiday rentals spread away from this central square. All is perfect and seemingly ready-made. Normally, this might annoy me, but honestly the effect is profoundly lovely, and we swore that we’d come again in better weather to spend a couple of nights in the spa hotel. We actually have not gotten around to do this yet.

The town was surrounded by distant thick fog and mist, but rain threatened, and we only made it about two-thirds of the way around the pool before the heavens opened.

Love the view of the background tower here

I had to laugh, as I was pointing my phone everywhere, when I got closer to the row of sculpted monkeys and saw that they too were not fully present, and were too on their phones, not paying sufficient attention to their surroundings. To my credit, I started filming and taking photos less. We stopped at a shop recommended to us by our friend – one of those general Tuscan crafts stores, but sadly it was closed. Protecting our heads, we stopped under an awning and pondered our next move. The bar!

The ladies had a prosecco each, and I had a refreshing cedrata.

We had one final stop – one of the most famous hilltowns in Tuscany: Montalcino; a town famous for its incredible wines, most notable Brunello di Montalcino.

When we approached the town, we gritted our teeth when Mrs. Google seemed to take us through part of the centre of town. I was keeping an eye out for ZTL signs, but it didn’t look like to me we went through any. We wound up near the top layer of the town in a carpark right next to its magnificent fortress (more on that later).

We got out of the car and walked back down the hill more towards the centre of town. The first thing I noticed was there there seemed to an incredible number of enoteche, where you can go in and have a wine tasting, along with some nibbles to help with the flavour profile. I would have said there might be a couple of dozen in the town, maybe? I imagine most large producers have a tasting shop in Montalcino, as well a space near the vineyards.

It was a little wet, with rain spitting down every so often, and so our explore was somewhat cursory. Having said that, the town had a really positive effect on me, and I found myself falling in love with it. But we also had to do what people do when they usually come to Montalcino: wine! In our explore, we hit the main piazzetta, with its magnificently narrow council building and secular belltower, but wandered down some side streets, trying to settle on a place to stop for a half hour to try out the vino, and maybe have an afternoon pastry.

We walked into a place and were greeted by the owner, and showed into the back, where one would ordinarily be able to see a magnificent view of the valley over some of the town’s rooves. The ladies stalled, not otherwise liking the look/smell of the place and because the view was non-existent today, we walked out again. I hate doing that – especially in places that are already quite empty. I get an attack of the guilts. Instead, we walked back to the main square, into a fairly hifalutin place, where I’d say they already get their fair share of custom, despite the reviews on Google: Caffè Fiaschetteria Italiana 1888.

The enoteca was trying to be more than actually was, but the service was friendly enough – one new girl was being trained in very diligently by the other on duty, who was dressed like an old-school waiter. We asked for three Brunelli of different levels of maturity, with me getting the middle one. I came out the victor, more through sheer dumb luck than any true oenophilia. They were expensive, but I have to say I enjoyed mine.

Once done, we headed back to the car, but visited the fortress before heading home. It’s a magnificent place, and I is a wonderful venue for outdoor cinema and concerts. I didn’t take too many photos, but you can see more footage in the YouTube video below.

When it was time to go, I pulled my usual trick of setting a route home to avoid tolls and motorways, so we’d have something new to see. Unfortunately, for the first 10 or so kilometers we were taken on a white road. Not fun to drive on, but in fairness it gave us some potentially wonderful views, especially the thumbnail of the video below – which would have been nicer in better weather.

So, would I visit Montalcino again? You betchya… I’d even stay over once the weather gets finer!

Thanks for reading and viewing all the way to the bottom. Please drop a comment – I’d love to hear from you!

A Week of Walking, Eating and Exploring (14-17/10/2023)

We hit the ground crawling for much of our first week back. Rather than striking out for new towns, we favoured spending time more slowly within the town of Volterra, leaving the latter half of the week for visiting a friend and a new town.

Day 1
Chill time. Of course breakfast was followed by gelato, what fool wouldn’t do that?! By the evening time, the cloud breakup was just right for the sunset and there were God-rays aplenty to be seen at the viewpoint at Fornelli. Afterwards, we had a colourful and tasty meal at La Vecchia Lira.

Day 2
The next day began with a morning explore and coffee, and a wander to the main square (Piazza dei Priori). We bought some salumi and cheese at this newish store on Via Gramsci (Bottega Toscana), and found it to be about 10-15% cheaper than the cheese store just around the corner from it. We had our coffee (in my case a hot chocolate) and pastry, and found something peculiar in the square when we went there afterwards.

There was a little TV crew there standing by a table with local produce. They were there to promote Volterra’s DOP pecorino cheese, which is notable because it’s made from a vegetable rennet, rather than the rennet from the stomach of an animal. I am not sure I have ever had this DOP cheese, but I looked for some in cheese shops in 2024, but to no avail. I suspect it might be expensive. Side question: if cheese is frequently made with animal rennet, what do you vegetarians do about that? Ignore it? Answers in the comments, please!

Additionally, they had an art exhibition – mostly sculptures, and many were absolutely wonderful. In fact, I’m kicking myself I didn’t take the names of the sculptors. They frequently have exhibitions in Volterra, many of which are completely free to enter.

Afterwards, we had a little walk around the town.

I love this shot looking back up Via Porta all’Arco

That night we rocked up to La Taverna della Terra di Mezzo for dinner, and a little calorie-burning walk after.

Day 3
Well we packed quite a bit in today! We actually got in the car and escaped Volterra for a bit. But first, of course, I had a little walk.

We had never visited Palaia before, and so took a trip there to check it out. Like many towns, especially just out of season, it was very quiet – but its main square is lovely, and there are some fantastic views of the hills around its edges.

I loved this little church, and these small scultures.

The best part, though, is the square and the bell tower is wonderful.

We skipped around a park which I regret not going in. There is a restaurant there which gets good reviews, but it was closed on the day for us. We did something that we very rarely do for lunch: grab a sandwich. We went into a minimarket in the main square and shared a lovely ham, cheese and mayo… and honestly it really was delicious! Sometimes the simpler things in life is all you need.

We skipped town and, solely for our visual delight, drove into the best parts of the Val d’Era. And it is so lovely – it’s comparable to Val d’Orcia on a good day. That day, given the time of the year it was, the sky was cloudy, but the viewing distance was good. The problem with ambient light and no shadows is that you really don’t get the true shape of the hills or, sometimes, the depth of the vista. Plus I spoiled these shots by putting myself in them. But here they are anyway.

Rather than heading towards Volterra, though, we took an unfamiliar route towards Montaione. We had been in touch a virtual load with Tutto Torna Antique’s Emma. We arrived while she was closed for riposo, so we had a drink and nibbles in L’Antica Vineria Vanni. Nice place – I was complimented on my Italian, which always both mortifies and butters me up!

Anyway, we soon caught her, and we had one of those chats where it seemed like we’d known each other for ages – we were so comfortable in each other’s company, and our senses of humour were not too different (or to put it another way – mine was tolerated!). Two hours flew by, and it was just a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

We left in fine fettle. The only other thing to report on that day was the food we had that evening in Don Beta:

Day 4
The only thing of note we did this day, apart from

…was to drive all the way to Ponsacco, to an Asian-fusion place called Haru Sushi, which had been recommended by a pair of friends. Additionally, we had heard that you could get served by a robot waiter here, and so were intrigued.

The restaurant wasn’t in the sexier part of town, but there was ample parking immediately outside which we were happy about. We were sat down, and as is usual in these places now, used a fixed tablet to make our order (it’s either that a paper checkbox menu on which you write the numbers of the dishes you want ordered).

We ordered our stuff, and Lo! Along it came, bearing gifts… it wheeled slowly towards our table and we were thanked by the thing. The effect was somewhat spoiled by the human attendant who faithfully trotted after it, and set it to reset to it’s station as soon as we took our food. A cute gimmick!

In fairness, the food wasn’t half-bad, with the meat quality being among the better of those we’d been to previously. A particular standout was salt and chili cauliflower!

We devoured the dumplings before we could snap them!

Below is a youtube video of the above. Have fun watching it!

We were going to do something special the next day, and it turned out to be a fun one, despite the weather, but more on that next time!

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Quick Blog: A Trip to Mensano (16/09/2023)

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!

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

Venice Day 2 (13/04/2024)

Part 1 here.

Day 2, which was Niamh’s birthday, was really excellent throughout. We walked our feet off, but we had a wonderful tour of the Doge’s palace and amazing food.

I had a horrible time of it during Covid – most of us did in fairness – and so, like many, my mental health deteriorated catastrophically. While I was building myself back up, I loved to watch travel videos, which included a type of long format video in which the host takes you on a live explore. One of these channels on YouTube is I Love You Venice. It’s less active now than it used to be, as guides are now active again post-Covid. Anyway, one of the hosts was Igor Scomparin (note that the link may fail at first, but try it again in your browser and it should be ok). I always loved his upbeat style and his knowledge of Venice is superb, so as part of Niamh’s birthday present, I organised a skip-the-line-tour of the Doge’s Palace and Cathedral for a few hours that morning.

First, we asked the receptionist to turn our room temperature to 20 celsius, and then – breakfast – we made use of our voucher and had pastries and hot drinks next door to the hotel. Really delicious, I have to say – no complaints there – and there were a good few locals present too, which is always a good sign. We had a small walkabout, and then met Igor just off the hotel lobby. He showed us exactly how close we were to St. Mark’s square – much closet than any route we had previously taken had suggested. We were a little early, so we learned a little history in the southeast plaza. Igor showed us a few graffiti on columns supporting the arcades of the building opposite.

Then it was our time to fly past the baffled people in the queue and entered the palace courtyard. I won’t harp on about the place, suffice to say that it’s incredible. The artwork, stairways, ceilings and art are out of this world and are a must-see. The floors and arcades are uneven in places due to age and subsidence. Unfortunately, I was asked to stop filming by one of the attendants at one stage, which was a pity – I saw others film unpunished, so footage (at the end of Part 3) is limited. Also housed here is one of the most impressive displays of medieval armaments I’ve ever seen. The Doge’s Palace is amazing, and there are other ways you can skip the queue by ordering tickets online. You can google them easily.

Afterwards, we had a quickish stop at the cathedral – I’ve wanted to see the mosaiced Christ, as I have wanted to see the versions in Cefalù and Ravenna. The cathedral itself looks a little eastern orthodox – unusual for this far north in Italy, I would have thought. There were golden mosaics everywhere – it was incredible. The Christ at the back of the Cathedral is a stupendous work. However, it was then that I began to notice things. It was pointed out that the floor was uneven, and parts of it actually were in small waves. So few were looking anywhere else but up. I began to realise that people were here for the sake of being here, and mentally box-ticking, while the cathedral was dying in front of their eyes. And that we were part of the problem. This was confirmed by the sadness I felt when Igor told me that the Venice council were thinking of allowing Cruise Ships back. He told us that although 50,000 people were registered to live in Venice, only 36,000 did so, and yet the number of visitors a year is 36 million. That is insane. What made me saddest of all, however, is that he said he was once asked by a tourist what time Venice closed at… as if it was Disneyland.

After that I tried to make a concerted effort to be more aware of my surroundings as I walked. Acknowledge each water cistern I passed, and noted whether or not it had a little cat-bowl carved nearby for the cats who used to keep the rat population under control. Looking out for a little more graffiti. Checking out the interior of smaller restaurants as we passed by them, and even trying to listen in on a conversation or two.

Anyway – I can’t recommend Igor highly enough for a tour. I’ll leave his details in the description box below – do consider him if you want a special tour to yourselves. At the end of the tour, we asked him for a recommendation for somewhere to go for lunch, and he gave us criteria selection, and we finally settled on Osteria Oliva Nera, which served good food, and was in a quiet neighbourhood. And the selection was bang-on! Although when we got there we asked to be seated outside. The larger table near us was chosen by what seemed to be another Irish family… the irony. Anyway, we both had deep-fried stuffed zucchini flowers, Niamh followed that up with lasagne while I had the best pasta dish I would have in Venice – bigoli pasta with anchovies in an onion sauce. Amazing. The locale was so lovely too – a quiet junction near actual functional shops for locals and another restaurant.

All done, we used the facilities, paid and we started making our way towards the Cannaregio district (or sestiero as they’re called in Venice), to check out the Jewish quarter. We were about a quarter of the way there when I saw in Google that the little island was closed, so with expectations properly set, we ambled our way there. We hit the main street and started walking. We soon tired of that, as there were people everywhere (yes, we are part of the problem), and tried to make our way there through back alleys or walking alongside canals. The latter is rarely available – and we found that exploring alleys was fun and led us to some wonderful views, but they often led us to dead-ends, and so we were inexorably drawn back to the main Corso. At least we got a glimpse of Venice’s leaning tower!

Out of pure coincidence, I checked the map to see if I could find the famous Libreria Acqua Alta. I was hoping to see if I could employ the doctrine of mindful tourism here, but my God it was arguably one of the most disappointing things we did in Venice. Now, this is no discredit to the owners and runners of the bookshop. Had Venice been a normal, functional city serving its population, it would still be no doubt frequented as a nice quirky bookshop with a decent stock of new and antiquarian volumes. What actually greeted us were two circular queues – one to enter and leave by (separate doors), and then at the bottom of the shop, past the mini gondola filled with books, is another circle where you got to climb the steps made of books and take a photo as quickly as possible, and climb down the other side. Always on the move. Never have I felt more like a shepherded animal. Finally, you can exit through a door if you don’t have anything to buy, or go up to the cash desk if you do. I marvel at those who had actual book purchases, because if there’s one thing you need in a bookshop when you’re browsing it’s time – and you simply had none. We were walking out, when a group of tourists who entered through the exit were given out to and made go back around to the front door. And in fairness, the owners have to do this. There is not much space there, and the bookshop would fill up extremely quickly otherwise. Anyway – it wasn’t a great experience.

There’s much more in the video in Part 3

Afterwards, we stopped in a large square, which contained the old famous hospital Saints Giovanni e Paolo. One of the Rosa Salva bars associated with our hotel, for which we had a discounting voucher – but this one also had artisanal gelato, so we indulged, and it was really nice – and needed. When done we trudged onwards. I would say we made it to within 5 or 6 blocks of the closed ghetto when we released that we were both footsore. We made our way back. It took a long time, but it was enjoyable exploring more nooks and crannies, even if some of them were rammed with people.

One of those secluded squares worth seeking out

We got back to the hotel and aahhh’d in satisfaction at the coolness of the room, and had an hour’s rest before we headed out for Niamh’s birthday celebration meal at our sommelier friend’s recommendation: Osteria Da Carla. It was only a short walk. It’s a nice, intimate place, with excellent food.

We had an aperitivo each and both ordered a glass of wine. For starters, Niamh had tortelloni (cappellacci as they were called on the menu) stuffed with rabbit, and I had deep fried sardines. Afterwards, I had linguine with clams and bottarga – the clams were already out of their shells so I could have at them immediately. It was a beautiful plate of pasta, but I think I would give the nod just about to the anchovy dish I had earlier. Niamh’s, however, was a pure winner – Iberico pork fillet wrapped in bacon. Perfectly cooked, a little pink in the middle and tender. Desserts… Niamh had fancy tiramisu and I had a wonderfully inventive home-made cream egg, where the white was ricotta and the yellow pureed mango – delish. A lovely place all in all for a fine meal in a romantic environment.

Afterwards, we had a little walk about town, stopping off in Il Salotto di San Marco for another drink (see Part 1). There was a table of 6 next to us, and the kitchen/bar had prepared squid ink risotto. We were the only other people there (the place is tiny), so rather than see us go without food, they gave us a half-plate between us to try. This is a wonderful example of Italian hospitality! We chatted briefly with the locals, and it was just one of those special moments.

and that squid ink risotto I mentioned earlier. Anyway – and so to bed. I tell you, getting up with that 20c setting was a great deal chillier than we expected, so we asked them tap it up to 22c for our last night – would it be the goldilocks temperature we needed? We’d see.

Part 3 here!

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.

We polished off the day with a stroll about the town.

I hope you enjoyed the read – all 3 villages are worth the trip if you’re in the area!

Palazzo Viti and Etruscan Tombs in the Rain (05/06/2023)

We picked up a friend who’d be staying with us for a few days from Pisa Airport. This was a detail I had unfortunately left out in the last blog. I honestly had forgotten, and the photos I took gave me absolutely no clue. I strongly suspect it was in the late afternoon, after we had eaten in Porgi l’Altra Pancia. We must have picked her up, and then I spared her my documenting every moment of life in Italy, and we just spent a chill evening at home. In fact, now that I have some recollection – she was quite tired and not up for doing much, so we chilled along with her.

The reason why I am now drawing this conclusion is that the day I’m now blogging begins with a walk to the Etruscan tombs north of Volterra. There’s simply no way we would have picked someone up that early in Pisa and then gone on a walk. We definitely made this trip in the early morning, in an effort to avoid overheating ourselves on the very uphill walk back.

So that’s what we did. I had been there a couple of times before, but not with anyone – so this would be a bit of fun. Our friend had recently signed on for a Celtic history course, and while the Etruscans weren’t Celts exactly, her interest in the ancient was piqued enough to join me. What sealed the deal was a chance at a distant sneak preview of the archaeological dig site of a Roman Amphitheatre just opposite the town’s modern cemetery. The cemetery itself is also worth a visit.

We had a few peeps of the of the amphitheatre from above and near eye-level and wished that the digsite would open soon for tours! We continued down the road towards the tombs, passing fully by the cemetery and through Porta Diana – the Etruscan gateway which is missing its arch, and finally around the sharp bend which led outside the town boundary. There was a new sign on the corner which seemed to point into someone’s private field, labelled “Volterra Urban Trekking”. We didn’t take that, but continued down the road towards the tombs – shooting the lovely countryside on the way.

When we got to our destination, I had planned on taking her into both tombs, but the path to one of them was horribly overgrown, and we gave it a skip, given our bare arms. Last year, it had recently been strimmed (weed-whacked), but no such luck this year. So, we went to the other one, had a look about and a read of the information on a the small nearby sign.

You still wouldn’t want to be too claustrophobic

It was fun and interesting and is to be recommended – but a word of warning here about the walk back to town, which is entirely uphill for a couple of kilometers, if your destination in Volterra is the main piazza. We took pics of the town at a distance and finally poor Porta Diana, which so few visitors ever see. Shame – the whole area is quite lovely.

We huffed and puffed our way back (especially me), and chilled for the rest of the morning. Then lunchtime came. Our friend had nipped out earlier to do a little touring and bag-shopping, so to whet our appetite we had small walk about, looking for a decent place to eat for just ourselves. Some of the following shots are wonderfully dramatic, but indicative of what was to follow!

We hit Osteria Fornelli again and I made a pig of myself by having two courses: zuppa alla Volterrana and pici cacio e pepe (with truffle). Niamh had penne alla pomarola. Thankfully, the cacio e pepe wasn’t as rich and cloying as last time and it was so yum.

After lunch, we had a peep out over the Val di Cecina. Piazzetta Fornelli has one of the best 180 degree views of the valley below – and on a clear day you can make out Sardinia. Today, however, the more we looked on, the closer rain clouds moved towards the town. We’d have to find our friend, and fast!

We gave her a call, and agreed we’d go to Palazzo Viti. She’d been here before and bought a Volterra Card, but because Palazzo Viti is privately owned, it wasn’t covered (the card is great value otherwise!). The Palazzo, which is only open seasonally, was begun to be built towards the end of the 1600’s and is still owned by the Viti family today! The family made a lot of their wealth in the alabaster trade, and the rooms convey the level of prominence of the family. If you’re here in-season, and are fascinated by stately homes and palaces, it’s a must-visit! We met our friend, who was carrying some shopping bags, and went in.

I would be saying hello to these two guys again later on after our tour.

It’s so well-kept and beautiful! We continued through the rooms.

About halfway through the tour, we heard the heavens open. And it hadn’t stopped by the time we’d finished our tour of the house. Once again, it was absolutely pelting rain in Volterra. We waited in the hallway entrance for 10-15 minutes, waiting for the torrents to cease. I tried to strike up a couple of conversations, with varying degrees of success.

The rain didn’t stop, but abated enough for us to make a run for it to our apartment entrance. We got moderately wet, as the rain was falling vertically. Otherwise, we might have been able to creep beside buildings to avoid the drops. Anyway, none of us actually died, so all was well.

We chilled until the evening, went for an aperitivo in L’Incontro and, strangely, went to Don Beta for dinner. I say ‘strangely’, as Don Beta is one of those types of restaurants we would avoid elsewhere – a touristic one, where the menu is vast. On the plus side, if you can’t decide whether you want pasta or pizza, then Don Beta is one of the places to go if are with a group who want a mix of these things. You’ll find something for everyone here. There are times that we are looking for something light, and I love the veg soup here, and it is now also the only place I know in town that does a simple spaghetti all’aglio olio and peperoncino (garlic, oil, chilli). And that’s just what I had!

I gave Campari spritzes a go for a while

I pick my days to go there, but I always enjoy what I order and the service is really fast and friendly.

I was well and truly stuffed by this point and so it was just time to go back to the apartment. I took one more final shot from our Terrace, then it was wine and bed (yes, in that order!).

Thanks for getting all the way to the end of this blog or our busy day. Let me know what you think, or if you have any questions about life in this area of Tuscany.

A Week of Working (29/05-01/06/2023)

This will be a blog of many photos but very few words.

We worked this week, and when that happens nothing terribly exciting or noteworthy tends to happen. I get up, I go for a walk, I shower/change, then work. In the middle of the morning I get a gelato, work, lunch, more work, quit. I think you get the picture. There is something nonetheless wonderful about working away. The weather is usually better, the food is miles better. Gelato. After work, it’s aperitivo time, maybe meet and dine out with a friend or two.

So, with this in mind, I present to you our working week, mostly in photo format.

Let’s do this a little differently, and instead of going day-by-day I’ll group the photos in to various themes and spit out the whole lot. Firstly, walking within the walls of the town!

It bucketed down one day after lunch in Osteria Fornelli

The rainy day above somewhat set some of the mood for this stay. We couldn’t stay under the arch or we would have been late for work. We had to dash and get soaked anyway!

Next – what did it look outside the walls?

At the time of writing this, this lift STILL isn’t operable – but is close to being so

Finally, the pics related to food and drink. Sometimes we ate out, a lot of the time we ate in. It was all, unsurprisingly, good!

That was the week that was in it. I hope you enjoyed the photographs!

Spring Finale with a Coastal Trip to San Vincenzo (31/03-02/04/2023)

While not particularly verbose, this blog is chunky with photos – fair warning!

Well, they say all good Springs must come to an end (not apologising for that one), and so it was with this pre-Easter stay. This blog covers our last 2.5 days, during which we only did one new thing of note: visit a coastal town in which a local friend has a home away from home. However, on the first day – evening to be precise – something interesting happened. Read on!

Well it began one of those days I think I have described before as a ‘living’ day – a holiday, but spent as a day practicing living as an everyday citizen, rather than doing anything special. Could I tell you exactly what we did up to our dinner out? Well, I had gelato and Niamh made some cacio e pepe. So, there we go!

That evening we did go out to dinner, as we knew it was one of our last nights and we didn’t want to manually wash everything. Ok, so there was *some* recognition that we were on holiday. We went to the place beside us, Porgi l’Altra Pancia for a good dinner.

We left happy, as always. We decided to walk to burn off the calories. We walked towards the road above the Roman Theatre ruins, and it was then that we noted that there was an unusual quality to the atmosphere that night.

We saw the red light was in the direction of Piazza dei Priori, so we walked towards it, taking snaps along the way.

The cloud level had descended to just above the town itself, and so the fog bank was acting as a canvas to the medium of the city lights. I can’t say with 100% certainly that the lights were purposely switched to red because of the low cloud, but I would put good money on it that they were.

We wandered up to the square and it was magic. It was also spooky – like a movie set.

Very cool. We wondered what it was like from the main panoramic viewpoint and it got even spookier!

I’m surprised I got any sleep!

Anyway, the next day we vowed we’d get out of the apartment and try to do something new, weather permitting. But I had to take care of a couple of things beforehand. Firstly, there was the matter of my walk. I walked around the back of Piazza XX Settembre, which is something I don’t do often enough. At least some of the photos I take are from scenes rarely seen in this blog.

It was also a market day, and on top of that there was the Ladies’ Crafts market *AND* it was the spring edition of Volterragusto. More on these later and in the video faaaar below.

Goodness me! How did that sneak in there?

We left the town in the late morning and drove to San Vicenzo. We parked probably too far away from the town, and so I won’t link where we parked here – you should be able to do a better job yourself! When we got out of the car, we discovered we were on the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. We took a little underpass to cross the tracks.

San Vincenzo is a lovely little town, with some pedestrian zones with shops, eateries and bars – and also a lovely marina promenade. Today was very quiet. Or would have been had it not been for the roaring wind. It was exceedingly blustery out – very handy if you want to cool down, but we were already in the off-season. At least it was a dry day, with a largely blue sky. I couldn’t ask for much more, given the time of year. We just took a little stroll (filmed rather than photographed – see video below), before we stopped to look for a place for lunch. Many of them were closed, but we did find a place whose food we really enjoyed: Osteria Christian’s. They had a lovely little… well, I can’t call it an amuse bouche, as it was quite large – but it was a shared place of couscous with cold veggies. It was really tasty and refreshing – I bet it would be a wonderful way to start a meal in the heat of summer.

Afterwards, we retook to the streets and had a blowy look at the strand. The wind was powerful. Clustered on the sand were little puffy balls of air, which may have once contained something, but were now empty. Maybe seed-pods of some kind – I’m not sure. You’ll see them on the video a bit below, about 5m 10s in. What are they?! I think they’re in the bottom right corner of the first pic here.

We went back up the town and then decided to take the marina promenade. It was really lovely around here, I have to say. The sky was clear blue, and because of the time of the year, there weren’t too many people around.

Upon walking back inland to return to the car, we noticed that there were about 3 or 4 gelaterie were open, and I could have gotten my fix there today instead. Not many other shops were open, however – just a couple of restaurants, bars and those gelato stores!

When we got home, rather than returning immediately to the apartment, we had a walk about the indoor Volterragusto stalls. Lots on offer here…. truffle products, beer, salumi, cheeses, wines, pasta… I bought a couple of truffle-based condiments/spreads and we each got a beer; me a stout, and Niamh an IPA. They were nice enough.

Lavender dude – we got something from him later in the year

We didn’t hang around, as we wanted to get a little rest in before heading out for a bit of food. Now, here’s a shame that’s on me: I am not 100% sure where the heck we went for food! The carbonara below very much reminds me of Torre del Porcellino‘s style, as do the tablecloths, but I didn’t think they’d have been open yet, and I could have sworn we finished off the year somehow without going into them. For no good reason – the food is nice there! Maybe I misremember, and it was indeed Torre. Now that I’ve re-looked at the video – I really *was* Torre! Lol! I think I owe Niamh some money!

Here’s a video of the day – enjoy!

Afterwards, we wrapped up the night – our final of this stay – with a stroll.

And to bed for the last time this holiday.

We did have half a day this time around, so we could walk, have lunch at Don Beta… grab a little you-know-what from L’Isola del Gusto – which was the very last thing we did that holiday.

You’ll see us again, when we came back in May/June!

From a Morning Walk to an Evening Meal (30/03/2023)

I’m expecting this to be a short one.

Well, the morning started off super-well! I went on an enormous walk: all the way out of the walls through San Giusto and on to the cliffs. The path that I thought took you to the base of the cliffs was actually reopened after a couple of years being closed.

After I’d gotten to the campsite near San Giusto and breezed past the old Etruscan walls, I decided to walk the narrow track to see if I could get a good shot of the Balze – the cliffs surrounding the northern part of the the town. I passed by the super-sized stile (steps really), leading down towards the valley below. They had been closed for 2 years previously, so I was eager to give the route a go. I wasn’t wearing sensible footwear for a strenuous hike, but it turns out that was ok.

The pathways and steps inexorably down, down… towards the road. Hmmm. I thought it was going to eventually lead all the way down past the valley to the base of the cliffs where old Etruscan village ruins are rumoured to be found. But no – it led to farther on down the road that just leads back to Volterra. Although, more positively, it leaves you within a much safer walking distance of the abandoned abbey of Badia Camaldolese and the hamlet of Montebradoni, neither of which I have yet visited. I see lengthy walks in my future this year!

However, I walked back towards town. You can see some of the photos of the view above. When past the Conad supermarket, I paused at the studio of the ‘dreamwalker’, Nico Lopez Bruchi – a mural-painter here in Volterra.

Once home, I shaved and showered and prepared myself for the trip of the day: to Ikea in Pisa. Ok, not particularly glamorous, so I didn’t document it really. Our friend was moving apartment, so we said we’d help out by bringing her there to shop for knick-knacks, and doo-dads. Oh yeah, and see if any furniture grabbed her attention. On the way to pick up our friend, I grabbed a gelato (what else is new?) and papped the wonderful Vicolo delle Prigioni, which flanks part of our apartment.

We had a little lunch there in Ikea, and while our friend got some joy in finding what she wanted, Niamh and I ended up buying THE WORLD’S GREATEST CHAIR™. Our sofa is annoying us somewhat, so we wanted another comfy chair we could sit in, and actually point towards the telly, rather than contorting ourselves into all sorts of unnatural poses. It’s sort of a balancing light-rocker that’s only enhanced by an accompanying footrest. We didn’t buy the accompanying footrest, as we have a couple of blow-up poofs in the apartment at the right height.

In case you want one in your life – I think the cushions come separately

On the way home, our friend said she wanted to take us out to dinner and asked us to recommend a place. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I suggested Trattoria Albana in the lovely hamlet of Mazzolla – a 15 or so minute drive outside Volterra. I phoned them up and booked a table. Me! Alone(ish)! Yay for improved Italian skills!

So, later that evening, we prettied ourselves up and I was designated driver. On the way, we experienced a little bit of magic, as we got caught behind a herd of sheep who were being moved to another field. It was golden hour, and it was amazing to see the golden light kiss their woolly hides.

I WAS DRIVING! Cut me some slack… you can find slightly better footage in the video below.

We parked, walked about the panoramic perimeter of the town, suitably going ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’.

We were the only people for a while in the back of the restaurant/bar. The food here is always great. Don’t expect haute, but flavourful, well-cooked, rustic Tuscan food.

Afterwards, we went home, and I squashed a poor hedgehog on the road. I still feel sad about that nearly 9 months later. Poor scrap. We ended up in Antica Velathri Café for digestivi and cocktails. Pietro attended another couple and we got a fantastic demo of him making a very fancy cocktail for them, which you can see in the video below.