There can never be too many photos of the magnificent Ponte della Maddalena. Sometimes you can be very lucky and find the river below as smooth as glass, offering gorgeous reflections.
Walk to the top for beautiful views of the valley.
I love this bridge…when I see it I know I am not far from Bagni di Lucca.
Morena Guarnaschelli is having an exhibition of her art at the Museum of Sacred Art at Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Benabbio on 15th and 16th August.
I hope you will all drop in to see her exhibition.
Bagni di Lucca has an excellent new addition…and adventure park on the Lima River at Scesta near Cocciglia…on the Brennero road towards Abetone. It is called Canyon Park.
Access is from the free car park at the Campo Sportivo via a short track. It is the first Adventure Park to be set up within a canyon.
There is a zip line, high wire suspension bridge and more. It is also possible to go rafting on the river. Take a look as these fabulous photos taken by Ruggero Mengoni.
Doesn’t this look like great fun?? Have you been yet? I would love to hear all about it.
There are more photo on Bagni di Lucca and Beyond. Click here to take a look.
Phone (39) 327 6153483
info@canyonpark.it
Photographs…www.ruggeromengoni.com
There was a fashion parade in La Villa a few nights ago. It drew a large crowd. Summer nights make a perfect backdrop for events in the village.
It is great to see so many people out enjoying themselves. Thank you Rosi for sharing the photos with us.
The Bagni di Lucca Art Festival was launched on Saturday night. Our trusty Sheila was there to report on the evening.
Lots of people were out and about…it is great to see the road closed and full of art lovers.
Here is a roundup of some of the work on show.
The river installation is great…again. This is always a popular addition to the festival.
Thank you Sheila for showing us around the festival…it continues until 10th August.
For more on the festival go to http://www.artfestivalbagnidilucca.org
Summer in Italy is hot, especially this year. The water in the Lima River is cold…the perfect place to cool off on a hot summer day.
We found this inviting place to swim near the bridge to Casoli.
There is a path down to the river. The water looked wonderful. Unfortunately we had no towels or swimsuits so had to content ourselves with an ankle deep paddle.
I would have loved to dive into the deeper water.
The water is clear and running fairly quickly. The photos were taken in mid June, so it may have slowed a bit.
We saw lots of tadpoles…they are probably frogs now.
Happy swimming.
On Sunday the eighth annual Art Competition organised by Borgo degli Artisti was held in the park beside Villa Fiori. The day was hot, so most artists set up their easels in the shade of the old trees. 
There was a space set up for the children, and Belinda, to paint a dove or create their own art. 
Lunch is always an important part of the day…always. 
The artists had to work quickly. Their work had to be completed in time for the judging. 
The winners were… Student…Serenella Randazza 1st…Emilio Cavani 2nd…Silvio Bondarda 3rd…Massimo Ricco 4th…Graziana Masetti. A big thank you to Sheila, who took all these great photos for us. 
…and thank you to Borgo degli Artisti for organising the event. They do a wonderful job on the Art Competition every year.
Click here to see the post by Francis with all the paintings and the winners’ works of art.
It is almost time for the annual art competition in the park at Villa Fiori.
It is bound to be a great day on 12th July. The day kicks off at 8.00 for the participating artists and lunch will be at 12.30pm. Even if you are not an artist it is interesting to watch the artists at work.
As well, the main street in La Villa will be closed to traffic on the evening of Friday, 10th July. Ristorante del Sonno will have tables in the street for a fun evening.
There will only be a few pedestrian only evenings this summer, so make the most of it.
The area around Bagni di Lucca and the nearby Garfagnana produces delicious honey. In spring and summer the mountains are filled with flowering trees bees love, especially acacia, tiglio and chestnut.
My friend Heather Jarman took me to visit delightful Francesca, who keeps bees on her agriturismo, Al Benefizio near Barga, to see the busy little bees in action. Chestnut trees were coming into blossom and the bees were out collecting nectar.
Each beehive has between 40,000 and 60,000 bees working to produce honey. Once they have filled their own hives with honey to feed the community the beekeeper puts more levels on top and the industrious creatures keep working to fill those too.
The nectar is loaded into trays of wax honeycomb. Each of these trays can be filled within a day. There are scout bees who fly out and find suitable flowers. They fly in a 3 kilometre radius of their hives and like to take nectar from the most numerous blossoms. When the nectar from these blossoms is exhausted they will move onto another type. This is how it is possible to have honey from a single blossom. The beekeeper needs to watch to see when the blossoms they want honey from are at their most prolific.
Once the filled trays are collected they are put into a machine which scrapes the wax off.
They then go to a centrifuge which spins the honey out of the frames. Francesca uses no heat to process her honey. It is allowed to settle slowly to allow sediment and wax to go to the top or bottom of the honey.
Wax from the honeycomb is melted down and collected in blocks. Francesca then sends these books to be melted and turned into new bases for the bees to work from to build new cells for the honey. The bees could do this themselves, but having a good start allows them more time to do other things. There is one group of bees whose only job is to flutter their wings in front of the wax cells to evaporate the water from the nectar until it is the right consistency for honey…they are a very organised community.
Francesca took us to one of her gorgeous old wooden tables under the cover of strawberry grape vines to sample her delicious honey. She drizzled acacia, tiglio and chestnut honey on pecorino cheese for us to try.
The acacia honey is light and almost clear. The chestnut honey is much darker and has a much stronger flavour. Tiglio, or linden, is somewhere in between.
Francesca’s bees work hard on her gorgeous property which overlooks Barga…what a spectacular view. Guests also get to enjoy the view and the lovely gardens which surround the cottages. I would love to stay here and pick the cherries from the trees. Soon there will be plums and figs ripe for the picking. There are also olive trees and a prolific vegetable garden.
There are 3 apartments to rent at Al Benefizio. La Stalla has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a wonderful private terrace with a spectacular view.
Il Fienile has a bedroom, bathroom, living area, kitchen and balcony.
Il Governo is a double room with bathroom. It was not available for me to see, but I’m sure it is just as lovely as the others.
Guests are free to wander in the terraced gardens, swim in the pool, meet Jubi the donkey, say hello to the chickens and tiny wildlife and delight in this gorgeous part of Tuscany.
Heather and Francesca work together to introduce visitors to a part of Tuscany they might not otherwise see. I visited Al Benefizio in late spring, a wonderful time to see the area. I think spring and autumn are the best seasons to see our beautiful area, you avoid the crowds and the countryside is at its very best.
Al Benefizio is a great place for weddings…and wedding photos. I think the old bed filled with hay is brilliant…these photos came from Francesca.
Al Benefizio…www.albenefizio.it
Heather Jarman…www.sapori-e-saperi.com
To help celebrate the beginning of summer there was a market in La Villa. Rosi was there with her camera to share the event with us.
A good crowd gathered to enjoy wandering through the many stalls.
There will be another market on 24th August.
On Saturday 27th June at 8.30pm there will be a procession in Pieve di Monti di Villa to celebrate their patron saint St. John the Baptist. There will be food and dancing to follow…thank you Francis from London to Longoio and Beyond for reminding us.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
