Yesterday was the first day of the excellent garden show on the wall of Lucca. It is on today and tomorrow.
There is a great selection of plants and other things to explore.
If you are going and intend to buy a few things, it might pay to take your own wheelbarrow. There are very few on offer and you are not permitted to take them off site to get them to your car.
Saturday 5th April…9.00am – 7.30pm
Last day Sunday 6th April…9.00am – 7.30pm
Entrance on the wall near Porta Elisa.
The jazz evening in the restaurant at La Ninfa hotel in Ponte a Serraglio was a great success. The music was excellent and the food and wine delicious.
The event was well attended and there will surely be more in spring and summer. Well done everyone involved.
Here are the dates for the Soffite in Strada for this year.
We are very lucky in Ponte a Serraglio to have Bar Italia. It is open from early in the morning until late at night every day of the year. I go every morning for coffee when I am in Ponte a Serraglio, a perfect start to the day.
Recently, owner and barista extraordinaire, Annalisa, took over the Tabacchi beside the bar. The space is being renovated and will reopen soon as an extension of Bar Italia. All Tabacchi services and some new ones will return with the opening on 5th April.
Bar Italia will close from 24th March until 5th April in order to complete the final renovation work. I will certainly miss my morning coffee and aperitivo at Bar Italia!
Celebrate International Womens’ Day at Villa Web in Bagni di Lucca Villa on Sunday 9th March at 3.00pm.
At Hotel La Ninfa in Ponte a Serraglio there will be dinner and jazz on Thursday 6th March.
Phone 0583 1390033 for information.
There will be an event to celebrate the success of Jasmine Paolini, Bagni di Lucca’s tennis star. It will be at noon, 4th February at Circolo dei Forestieri, Bagni di Lucca Villa. Jasmine will be back where she took her first steps towards her tennis career.
There was a meeting at the casino in Ponte a Serraglio on Tuesday to introduce the plans for Villa Fiori, which has recently been purchased by Sean Connelly, a Chartered Consulting Engineer who specialises in the design and build of Commercial and Residential Wellness and leisure facilities for resort hotels, clubs and super-prime residential properties. I think Villa Fiori is in good hands.
I was not at the casino on Tuesday but a friend has sent one view of the plans for the venture.
It is expected that the permits should be completed in the next 3 months and the project finished in 4 years.
It seems a circular spa and restaurant will surround a thermal pool. Villa Fiori will be a hotel. I hope to get more information when I return to Ponte a Serraglio in a few weeks.
I think this will be excellent for Bagni di Lucca. There should be jobs for local tradespeople and accommodation will be needed for workers who are brought in. Once the project is finished there should be lots of jobs and local businesses will benefit from the extra people coming to Bagni di Lucca to enjoy the facilities.
I hope work begins while I am in Bagni di Lucca on my upcoming visit.
It has been reported that Villa Fiori in Ponte a Serraglio has been sold. It seems an English man will revive this lovely old building and turn it into a hotel.
It will be excellent to see the building saved. It has been fading fast in the last couple of years, especially after a tree fell on the roof.
I hope the diver in the garden can be saved. I love her. It has been awful seeing her disintegrate.
I wish the new owner the best! I can’t wait to see Villa Fiori alive again,
When I tell my friends in Australia that I go to the bar for breakfast every morning when I am in Italy they look a bit surprised. In Australia you go to a bar to drink alcohol. In Italy you go to a bar to do everything…breakfast coffee and pastry, meet friends for a light lunch and head back again in the evening for aperitivo. It is the very best place to gather and socialise.
We are lucky in Bagni di Lucca to have great bars. Bar Roma in Bagni di Lucca Villa has been in the Tomei family for decades. Some handed down recipes appear in the form of Nonna’s budino, home made foccacia for delicious sandwiches, gelato and much more.
Bar Roma has recently added a covered area to meet when it is hot, cold, raining or sunny…perfect.
After breakfast my favourite time is aperitivo. I think it should happen all over the world.
As soon as I get back to Bagni di Lucca I’m heading up to Bar Roma to eat a budino!
Bar Roma, 124 Viale Umberto I
Phone…+39 0583 179 8017
Bella Bagni di Lucca 