Villa Fiori park is full of yellow flowers right now. I know they are weeds, but they do look pretty.
They will be gone when the grass is mowed.
The trees along the river are growing leaves. Soon they will be bright green.
Spring is here.
Don’t forget Verdemura, the excellent garden show on the walls of Lucca. 31st March, 1st April and 2nd April. http://www.verdemura.it
Also in Lucca is the Sicilian Festival on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th April.
At the casino in Ponte a Serraglio on 15th April.
This weekend FAI (a bit like the National Trust) organised walking tours of the Casino and Bernabo Spa in Ponte a Serraglio. The tours were extremely well attended on Saturday and Sunday, bringing lots of new people to the area.
Our tour began at the casino. It is the first purpose built casino in Europe. Carlo Lodovico di Borbone commissioned Giuseppe Pardini to build it in 1837.
We then walked up the hill to the Bernabo Spa. It has been beautifully restored and offers a range of treatments along with a fabulous deep marble bath and natural steam rooms.
There is a great view of Ponte a Serraglio from the terrace in front of the spa.
From there we walked down the hill and stopped briefly in front of what was the English Club, which is now the home of a friend.
We walked back to the casino for an inside tour.
The entrance and sitting room.
This was once a ballroom.
This is the orchestra stage.
The beautiful ceiling.
Detail of some of the decoration.
Delightful Virgilio gave us some lessons in the types of games that were once played in the various casinos that were operating in the area.
Look out for any future walking tours with the FAI.
The annual spring walk will take place on Sunday 2nd April. It is always a fun event.
It is great to see the wonderful casino building in Ponte a Serraglio being put to use. Here is what is coming next week.
There is a new exhibition at the casino for the next week, until 12th March.
The artist, Giuseppe Cantatore, is from Puglia, but now lives in Viareggio. He is a very friendly chap and will happily talk about his art.
Drop in and say hello. Open 10.00 – 12.00 and 16.30 – 19.00.
I have returned to beautiful Bagni di Lucca after being away for almost 4 months. I love the winter here, especially the view from my balcony in Ponte a Serraglio.
Time for a walk to see familiar things.
Spring will be here soon, I love that too.
It is good to be back in bella Bagni di Lucca.
I am currently in Brisbane, Australia and we have experienced our first seriously hot days. The temperature has been around 35 degrees coupled with high humidity, an all night storm with rain, strong wind and incredibly loud thunder.
I missed the gorgeous autumn in Bagni di Lucca so I looked at some of the photos I took in past autumns.
I will miss the lovely cold winter days with the possibility of snow…I hope there will be some when I return in late February.
Coming up in Bagni di Lucca.
There is a pretty walk beside the river in La Villa. You can enter beside Conad supermarket or below the walking bridge behind the Teatro Accademico.
A lovely way to take a quiet walk beside the river.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 