There will be flowers everywhere in Lucca for the annual festival to celebrate the life of Saint Zita, one of the saints of Lucca. It is on from today until the 28th April.
These are photos from past years. It is a lovely time to visit Lucca
There will be a spring concert at the Teatro Accademico in La Villa on Saturday 27th April.
It should be a fun evening.
There is a free event at the casino in Ponte a Serraglio on Friday 19th April at 9.00pm.
The book, “Leggera cure” by Marco Innocenti and Enrico Marchi will be presented.
The annual spring walk is on this Sunday, get your walking shoes ready.
I love walking beside old walls in Bagni di Lucca. They are living art. Tiny plants thrive in the gaps between the stones and on top of the walls.
On a different note, this is the lovely wall at the back of the English church.
If you look up you might find some of these lovely ladies.
There are lots of little surprises if you look around.
When I travel around Italy I often come across a special cake or pastry particular to the town or city I am in. Sometimes it is only available in that place. In some cases it has become so popular and famous it has travelled further.
One of my favourites is the sfogliatella from Naples. I can’t go to Naples without sampling several of these. Fortunately the sfogliatella is available far and wide.
In Puglia we hunted down the pasticciotto in the town where it began, Galatina. We continued our search for more in different towns in Puglia and were rarely disappointed.
We found Polenta e Osei in Bergamo and had to try several to be sure we liked them. Research can be tough work.
Schiacciata all’uva appears in Florence around Carnevale time. I like to get mine at Caffe Gilli on the edge of Piazza Republica, but they are found around Tuscany.
We went to Guardiagrele in Abruzzo to sample Nun’s breasts.
There was a large sculpture devoted to this delight, but it has been taken away and we had to make do with a smaller one outside the pasticceria where they are made.
Lucca has a special Buccellato which has a slight aniseed flavour. Taddeucci is the place to buy them.
Cantucci, a special type of biscotti, originated in Prato in the Middle Ages, and are now eaten world wide – as they should be.
All these delicious special cakes made me think Bagni di Lucca should have a local cake, only available in our local bars and bakeries.
I made a possible contender. Chestnuts and honey are plentiful in our area so my cakes are made with chestnut purée with marscapone and honey icing on top.
I invite anyone interested to come up with a cake or pastry to represent Bagni di Lucca and maybe we can encourage local bakeries to make them and start a tradition…they have to start somewhere.
Leave a comment or send me an email…debrakolkka@gmail.com if you have a cake suggestion.
There are signs in Bagni di Lucca.
A sign in front of the Circolo dei Forestieri where the piazza is being renovated.
There is a new sign directing people to the restaurant now blocked by the works.
A sign above the new tennis centre, which looks to be almost finished.
The sign on the front of Bar Italia celebrates Bagni di Lucca’s tennis hero.
These are signs of things happening in Bagni di Lucca…a good thing.
Magnolias have bloomed early this year. There are several trees in full bloom in the lovely Parco Contessa Casalini in La Villa. You might like to go there soon, the flowers don’t last long.
It is a pity the flowers only last for a few weeks.
The piazza in front of Circolo dei Forestieri is being renovated and will no longer be a carpark. It will become what it used to be, a lovely open space for people to gather.
The restaurant is still open and can be accessed via a path at the side, near the Teatro Accademia.
There will obviously be disruption for sometime, but I think it will be worth it when Bagni di Lucca has a restored piazza.
I have returned to Ponte a Serraglio to heavy rain and a raging river rushing past my apartment and I love it!
Everyone has been telling me that the winter has been warm this year. This is evident in the magnolia trees flowering early.
I look forward to the next few months in Bagni di Lucca and watching spring unfold.
