We spent a glorious 10 days in Tuscany, Italy over Spring Break. Our home base was the Northwest region in the charming medieval town of Lucca. Lucca was so fantastic - cobbled streets, amazing food, the Luchese strolling and riding on bicycles, smart shops, and full of historical churches and piazzas. It was tourist-free and unspoiled. The coolest thing was that it is fully surrounded by 20 foot walls that one can "get up on" and that are wide enough for cycling and strolling and in some parts open up wide and have playgrounds and greenspace. On Sunday, the Luchese stroll atop the walls and we were able to join them. We also cycled on top of the walls and ramparts (a 2.5mi loop) many times. Below are a few photos from Lucca. On the 4th day, Aunt Jane flew out to spend the last week with us, and we all celebrated Hannah's 11th birthday by having a local cook come in to the villa and prepare a 5 course meal.
Here are some photos of us on top of the walls. In the background, one can see the snowy Apuan alps. Up in those mountains are the marble quarries that supplied marble to Michelangelo.
We were fortunate to be staying at a lovely farmhouse villa surrounding by olive groves in the local mountains. We miss the villa terribly as it felt like a real home. We had an endless supply of olive oil made on the premises. Cooking was enjoyable in their rustic kitchen. Some photos of the villa and grounds can be seen at their
website . There were horse stables in walking distance for the girls to ride and the tiny local town had an amazing bakery, deli, and pizza place. Down from the mountains we would stop by a local fruit vendor from Sicilia who sold us the best fruit I've ever had (there were a lot of "this is the best xyz I've ever tasted" on our trip). He would sniff the fruit, smile, and tell us (in Italian), exactly which day it would be ready to eat. Here are some photos of the girls riding horses and Lily in the olive groves.
We were blessed with terrific weather - sunny warm days. We visited many neat places. One day we went to the coast (the Italian/Tuscan riviera) to the beaches of Verragio. The town is filled with amazing turn of the century hotels and architecture and a fantastic promenade filled with cappucino and gelato places. Here is a picture of Hannah on the beach. This was one of the first of many greater encounter with people. We got hopelessly lost and an Italian driver went out of his way to lead us to the beach area (in my pitiful Italian - dove acqua?).
One of our favorite excursions was Cinque Terre (pronounced Chink-wah-terra). This is an area of 5 stunning villages literally hanging off the cliffs. There is a 5 mile hiking path between all the villages, a train that serves them, and a boat you can take. The villages themselves are beautiful multi-colored buildings falling over each other, filled with cafes and gelato places, and clothes hanging out of windows drying in the wind. This area is also the birthplace of pesto, and we had some on foccacio there.
Pisa was surprisingly lovely. The guide books always give it limited space relative to Florence. We really enjoyed the Piazza dei Miracoli which contains the Tower, Duomo, other beautiful buildings, and a gorgeous huge expanse of grass which was perfect for a picnic. Many college kids playing soccer/football and couples intertwined in the warm Spring sun. We climbed up the Tower which was fantastic - the lean make it tricky but to think we were on 1000 year-old marble steps was cool. Hannah counted over 300 steps. Below are some Pisa pictures (some taken from the top of the tower).
Firenze. We spent a day in Florence - the birthplace of the Italian renaissance. The art, piazzas were spectacular. Below are the duomo, ponte vecchio (bridge), and Michelangelo's David.
These final pictures were taken at the top of the medieval Guinigi Tower in Lucca. Hannah counted there were over 200 steps to reach the top. There are trees growing out of the top. It provides a beautiful view of the Lucca tile rooftops and the distant alps.
