Patrizia runs the wonderful fruit and vegetable shop in La Villa. She will select the best produce for you. Ask her for the perfect melon for lunch and she will find it. Which oranges are the best for juice…..she will tell you. Which peaches are ready to eat now…..she knows.
Look for her shop in the centre of La Villa, opposite the tiny piazza in Via Umberto1.
Autumn is chestnut gathering time in the Garfagnana. I went with Heather from Sapori-e-Saperi to visit the chestnut forest and metato (drying hut) belonging to Bruno Bertoncini in the Garfagnana, the mountain area near Bagni di Lucca.
Bruno’s chestnut forest is beautiful, and it shows what the cultivated chestnut forest looked like. These days they are mostly wild and not cleared as they used to be. Obviously if the trees are cared for they will give better chestnuts.
It has been a difficult growing season this year. Some of Bruno’s trees have blossomed 3 times instead of just once, as they should.
This tree has new growth and flowers at a time when the fruit should be ripe….strange.
There are many types of chestnuts, some are better for flour, some have better keeping qualities and some are good for roasting.
Before chestnuts can be ground to make flour they need to be dried. Bruno has a gorgeous metato which was busy drying chestnuts when we arrived. The nuts are dried for about 40 days. The fire has to be kept burning at just the right temperature for all this time.
The fire burns on the ground floor of the hut and the chestnuts are above the fire on a slatted floor.
The delightful Bruno told us lots of interesting things about chestnuts. He is a man who clearly enjoys his work.
The trees are pruned regularly. Here is a tree which has been pruned and has regrown.
I think Bruno has a delightful office. I’m sure the work is not easy, but imagine going to work here each day.
Bruno has a wonderful agriturismo called Collettino, near his chestnut forest where guests can stay in comfort and immerse themselves in this beautiful area.
And now for a few more chestnut photos.
Baby pomegranates were growing when I first arrived in Italy in September and now they are ready to eat…..another reason to love autumn.
Pomegranates are rich in vitamin C, vitamin B5, potassium and fibre (if you eat the seeds) and are the latest so called, super food.
You could drink the juice, or use the seeds in salads, knowing that it is doing you good, or you could do these things just because pomegranates are delicious.
LOCAL NEWS
There is to be a live nativity in Monti di Villa at 3.00pm on December 9. It will commence at the church in Monti di Villa and move through the streets of the village. It will be followed with food and drinks…….I wish I was going.
There is to be a bus taking people from La Villa. Please check for details at the information centre in La Villa.
Ristorante Silvio La Storia a Tavola came highly recommended, so on lovely autumn Sunday we headed out of Bagni di Lucca on the Brennero road. The tiny hamlet of Pianosinatico is not far past Cutigliano, on the way to Abetone.
When you see this memorial to fallen soldiers, you know you have arrived in Pianosinatico.
It was a hazy autumn afternoon, but you can see some of the colour in the mountains.
The entrance to the restaurant doesn’t give much of an idea of the delights to be found inside.
We thought it was just a bar, but we went inside and asked for a table for 4 and we were directed through to the restaurant.
We left ourselves in the hands of the very helpful waiter and were delighted with the dishes that arrived……and kept on coming. We began with antipasto.
The next one doesn’t look much and the photo is a but fuzzy, but the potato with a truffle sauce was heavenly.
Best of all were the fresh, raw porcini mushrooms. We were instructed to squeeze lemon on them, followed by a little black pepper……perfect.
Next came porcini mushroom soup.
Then rice with capsicum and a light and delicious pecorino sauce.
Crepes with ragu.
Gnocchi with truffle sauce.
We were fairly full by now, so much so that I forgot to photograph the next dish…..pasta with eggplant and 2 types of onion….ooops.
Despite being stuffed we managed dessert…..pannacotta with fruit.
And tiramisu.
Take a drive through the gorgeous mountains around Bagni di Lucca and stop for lunch at Silvio la Storia a Tavola….you won’t be disappointed.
I don’t usually take part in the WordPress weekly photo challenge, but I couldn’t pass this one up as green is my favourite colour and I have this lovely collection of green doors that I have found all over Bagni di Lucca.
I love the wonderful old doorways in the villages of Bagni di Lucca……especially the green ones.
I think I will have to paint my door green.
To get to Casoli it is necessary to cross a tiny, narrow bridge. Turn right if driving from Bagni di Lucca, from the Brennero at the Casoli sign and take this cute bridge.
Houses were built around a castle at top of a hill and became the village of Casoli. Some remnants of the castle still stand.
At the beginning of the town is a monument to poet Francesco Puccini, who was also known as Geremia. He was born in Casoli in 1686.
The nearby Oratorio della Madonna all Fontana is well preserved.
The washing area beside the church is lovely.
Beside the washing area is one of the old mule tracks which entered the village.
There is a particularly interesting portal at the top of the track, dating from 1496.
Come for a walk through the village, starting at the church.
The village has quite a good looking bar near the car park.
Take a last look up at the village.
Then it is back down the narrow, winding road to the bridge.
Look out for the renovator’s delight opposite the bridge.
I joined Heather Jarman’s group recently to visit the farm of Catia and Maurizio Citti in Lugliano. Giocondo has 20 hectares of land with chestnut trees, olive trees and various crops. The main attraction was their herd of Cinta Senese pigs.
Cinta Senese is an ancient breed of Tuscan pig. They have been raised in the area for centuries. After almost becoming extinct, the breed is now being bred again. Unlike normal pigs which are usually intensively bred, Cinta Senese are kept in large outdoor pens and fed a diet as close as possible to their preferred diet of acorns and food from the forest floor.
They are prized for their excellent flavour. Catia makes her own prosciutto, sausage and other pork products. Once you try salumi from Cinta Senese you will be spoiled forever.
As well as the pigs, there are cows and sheep bred for their milk to make cheese, and donkeys just for fun.
Catia also grows apples, pears, figs, strawberries, raspberries and chillies to make jams and preserves.
While Catia was preparing our delicious lunch I wandered around the forest on the property.
The views from the property are spectacular.
Lunch was prepared using only local products. First we had porcini mushrooms with polenta and pecorino cheese made by Catia.
Next was prosciutto, salami and a mature pecorino with onion jam and chillie jam, and crostini with lardo and sausage with stracchino.
Catia had also made a cake for us, which she served with a blueberry sauce.
Take a look at Giocondo’s website to see all the products they produce. I don’t know when they sleep.
Thank you Catia (right) and Heather for a fun day.
Autumn is a season for mushrooms. These mysterious funghi have been appearing in the forests around Bagni di Lucca for weeks.
I wouldn’t dare pick any of these……leave it to the experts.
On a wet weekend what could be better than gathering with friends to learn something about painting? Morena from Borgo degli Artisti offered her services over 2 afternoons to teach some local children at the studio in Ponte a Serraglio.
On the first day the children learned to mix colours, and about the colour spectrum.
On the second day the children learned about shading, and set about to paint a Christmas scene.
Some of the paintings will be framed and displayed in the gallery at Christmas time. I hope you will all come to Borgo degli Artisti at Ponte a Serraglio to see them.
Perhaps you can buy a painting before the artist becomes famous.
Bugnano is a tiny collection of completely abandoned houses, just outside the village of Riolo. There is no sign to the village, just an overgrown track at a bend in the road.
I have heard that the village was abandoned after WWII when the residents went off in search of a better life. A few years ago an English company planned to restore it and turn it into holiday accommodation, but their plans came to nothing. It may be too far gone now to do anything. The forest is taking over.
It is quite sad to see these ruined houses. Somebody once loved them. Some touches of home remain.
One house must have been very grand in its day.
The kitchen sink is still there.
And the place where the fireplace would have been.
What must have been the living room has some frescoes remaining.
The front room has great views over the mountains.
Soon the forest may take over completely.
Even the mushrooms growing near the big house look dark and sinister.
Somebody has camped in one of the houses recently.
Do you know anyone with lots of money and some imagination? Wouldn’t it be great to see the village live again?
Teri Giannetti has kindly sent some extra photos of Bugnano.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 