Beautiful Bagni di Lucca in 2013

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

I have spent a lot of time in Bagni di Lucca this year. It is wonderful to watch the changes in the seasons throughout the year.

I arrived in January to blue skies and the water high in the Lima river.

Not long after Bagni di Lucca was covered with snow for a while. Even the lower villages were white for days.

A very wet spring didn’t stop everything turning green.

Heavy rain meant the river was often very high.

We did have some sunny days in spring.

Sunny enough for a walk beside the river.

There was late snow in May.

Summer brings flowers, bees, insects and delicious fruit.

I was back in autumn for more changes.

There was more heavy rain in October.

…and pretty autumn colours and mists.

December brought some cold mornings.

…another great year in 2013. What will 2014 bring?

Merry Christmas from Bagni di Lucca

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Merry Christmas to all the followers of Bella Bagni di Lucca. I hope Christmas is wonderful for you wherever you are.

We are in Lapland enjoying a very white Christmas and visiting Santa. Take a look at Bagni di Lucca and Beyond and Beautiful Helsinki for some wintery photos. I hope Santa is good to you this year.

Cachi time

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

I love this time of the year when I can see the amazing cachi trees bare except for their bright orange fruit.

You can eat them of course. If they are perfectly ripe they are delicious.

But it seems a pity to spoil this great view.

Picking olives

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Olives grow all around Bagni di Lucca on terraces in the mountains. Autumn is the time to pick olives. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful setting for an afternoon of olive picking.

When we arrived the nets were being set beneath the trees.

We were shown how to pull the olives from the branches…a bit like milking a cow.

It is good fun picking olives…but I don’t have to do it for days on end. I may change my mind if I had to do it regularly, or I had to climb the trees to get at the top branches, or set the nets.

It is much easier to pick olives while standing on the ground.

…and look at the view.

The best part of this is the delicious new olive oil. It is best when fresh. Look for the new season olive oil now in your favourite deli or market.

It’s cold out there!

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Today we had our first real taste of winter. The temperature stayed around 6 degrees for most of the day and it rained…a perfect day for a drive in the mountains.

There has been snow on Prato Fiorito, making it look gorgeous.

As we climbed higher towards Montefegatesi the snow was falling quite heavily.

Montefegatesi looks great at any time, but a dusting of snow makes it look even better.

We went for a short walk around the village. The temperature up there was zero.

There are storms all around us again tonight. Perhaps there will be even more snow tomorrow.

Click here and here for more on Montefegatesi.

Our first snowfall

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

The weather has turned cold and there is a fierce wind blowing through the mountains. There have been some dramatic skies and we thought we could see a light dusting of snow on the distant mountains.

As we got closer we could clearly see snow on the top of the mountains.

I think it is beautiful. Perhaps it will snow again tonight. It seems cold enough.

Floating on the Lima River

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

The weather has been a bit ordinary for the last few days. It is raining and cool…to be expected at this time of the year.

Autumn leaves are floating down the river, along with our resident ducks.

Despite the weather canoeists were out on the river too.

The little weir at Ponte a Serraglio is the end of the line for canoeists. There wasn’t much water flowing over it on Sunday but they all made it safely.

There is always something interesting happening on the river.

Go to www.bagnidiluccaavventura.it to find out about adventure activities in Bagni di Lucca.

Wild weather

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

We have had some very wild weather in Bagni di Lucca and the mountains around us. On Sunday night there was an enormous storm which dumped heavy rain on the area. Roads have been closed, and some are still closed. There has been damage to property and some villages remain cut off from main roads.

There was another smaller storm last night, but I haven’t heard of any further damage. The sun has appeared today. With a bit of luck it will stick around for a while.

Here are a few pictures of the muddy river in Ponte a Serraglio.

The river looked a bit more calm today. It is still high, but it is not rushing past so quickly.

The road to Lucca is cut past Borgo a Mozzano. Until yesterday it was cut from Chifenti as water had flooded the road to Ponte a Maddalena. It was open today so I went to the bridge to take a look at the river from there.

You can see how high the river is in the following photo. It is right at the top of the weir.

I walked to the top of the bridge. Two days ago there was a metre of water covering the road below and in the shops and houses beside the road.

If you go to YouTube and look for Serchio in Piena there are several videos of the damaging floods.

I hope the people who have suffered damage get back to normal soon.

Season of mists

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Autumn is a beautiful time to be in Bagni di Lucca. I am happy to be back for a few months. I woke to rain and mist this morning…how lovely!

A problem with chestnuts

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Chestnuts have been an important part of the lives of the people of Italy for centuries. In times of famine they saved people from starvation. The trees provide wood for building, furniture and to burn for fuel.

There are approximately 850,000 hectares of chestnut forests in Italy, and around 39,500 hectares in the Lucca province alone.

So it is alarming that there is a disease attacking chestnut trees. Chestnut blight, or Endothia parasitica first appeared in 1938, but it the last few years the problem seems to be growing.

The disease appears a a lump at the base of the leaves.

The leaves die and the tree is then unable to produce chestnuts.

Let’s hope scientists can come up with a cure for this destructive disease. Apart from anything else, chestnut trees are beautiful. It is a delight to drive through chestnut forests in the mountains around Bagni di Lucca.

Bella Bagni di Lucca

A beautiful village in Tuscany

Category Archives: seasons