Beautiful Bagni di Lucca in 2013

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

I have spent a lot of time in Bagni di Lucca this year. It is wonderful to watch the changes in the seasons throughout the year.

I arrived in January to blue skies and the water high in the Lima river.

Not long after Bagni di Lucca was covered with snow for a while. Even the lower villages were white for days.

A very wet spring didn’t stop everything turning green.

Heavy rain meant the river was often very high.

We did have some sunny days in spring.

Sunny enough for a walk beside the river.

There was late snow in May.

Summer brings flowers, bees, insects and delicious fruit.

I was back in autumn for more changes.

There was more heavy rain in October.

…and pretty autumn colours and mists.

December brought some cold mornings.

…another great year in 2013. What will 2014 bring?

Merry Christmas from Bagni di Lucca

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Merry Christmas to all the followers of Bella Bagni di Lucca. I hope Christmas is wonderful for you wherever you are.

We are in Lapland enjoying a very white Christmas and visiting Santa. Take a look at Bagni di Lucca and Beyond and Beautiful Helsinki for some wintery photos. I hope Santa is good to you this year.

Ponte panettone

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Panettone is a sweet bread prepared all over Italy for Christmas. Making the bread is a lengthy process, with the dough taking days to cure. The bread contains candied orange, citron, lemon zest and raisins.

Luckily for us, making panettone is not necessary. Annalisa makes very delicious panettone at Il Monaco in Ponte a Serraglio.

You will have to be quick, there are only so many she can make.

Cachi time

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

I love this time of the year when I can see the amazing cachi trees bare except for their bright orange fruit.

You can eat them of course. If they are perfectly ripe they are delicious.

But it seems a pity to spoil this great view.

The mechanical cow

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

I prefer my milk straight from the cow. When I was a child a local dairy farmer delivered fresh milk to us in a bucket. He poured the milk into bowl and when it had settled Mum would spoon the cream off the top and pour it into bottles.

I can still remember the taste…a far cry from the stuff we buy at the supermarket now. It is pasteurised, homogenised, skimmed, vitamins added etc, etc, and it no longer tastes like milk.

Luckily there is a place nearby where it is possible to buy milk straight from the dairy…the mechanical cow, or latteria as it is called.

The little hut is in the car park at the Penny Market in Borgo a Mozzano.

For 20 cents you can buy a bottle and €1 gets you a litre of fresh milk.

There is even a photo of the dairies the milk comes from.

I think it is a great idea and I have become a regular at the mechanical cow.

Picking olives

Posted on December 5, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Olives grow all around Bagni di Lucca on terraces in the mountains. Autumn is the time to pick olives. It would be difficult to find a more beautiful setting for an afternoon of olive picking.

When we arrived the nets were being set beneath the trees.

We were shown how to pull the olives from the branches…a bit like milking a cow.

It is good fun picking olives…but I don’t have to do it for days on end. I may change my mind if I had to do it regularly, or I had to climb the trees to get at the top branches, or set the nets.

It is much easier to pick olives while standing on the ground.

…and look at the view.

The best part of this is the delicious new olive oil. It is best when fresh. Look for the new season olive oil now in your favourite deli or market.

It’s cold out there!

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

Today we had our first real taste of winter. The temperature stayed around 6 degrees for most of the day and it rained…a perfect day for a drive in the mountains.

There has been snow on Prato Fiorito, making it look gorgeous.

As we climbed higher towards Montefegatesi the snow was falling quite heavily.

Montefegatesi looks great at any time, but a dusting of snow makes it look even better.

We went for a short walk around the village. The temperature up there was zero.

There are storms all around us again tonight. Perhaps there will be even more snow tomorrow.

Click here and here for more on Montefegatesi.

Ponte delle Catene, Fornoli

Posted on November 16, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

The beautiful Ponte delle Catene in Fornoli was commissioned by the Duke of Lucca, Charles Louis de Bourbon, to replace an earlier bridge (built in the 1300s) which was washed away in a flood in 1836.

The chain suspension bridge crosses the Lima River from Fornoli to the little piazza in Chifenti. It is now a pedestrian bridge.

Architect Lorenzo Nottolini was sent to England to study suspension bridges there. The bridge was begun in 1844 and completed in 1860, making it one of the first suspension bridges in Italy.

The road section of the bridge was destroyed in WWII and was rebuilt in 1950.

It looks very majestic, especially in the early evening light.

The views from the bridge are spectacular.

…looking up river towards Ponte a Serraglio.

…looking down river towards Borgo a Mozzano.

To see another wonderful Lorenzo Nottolini structure click here.

While you are there admiring the bridge, call in for a coffee at Cafe Catene and say hello to Paolo.

Our first snowfall

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

The weather has turned cold and there is a fierce wind blowing through the mountains. There have been some dramatic skies and we thought we could see a light dusting of snow on the distant mountains.

As we got closer we could clearly see snow on the top of the mountains.

I think it is beautiful. Perhaps it will snow again tonight. It seems cold enough.

Once upon a time…

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Debra Kolkka

It is wonderful to look at old photos of Bagni di Lucca. I finally bought a copy of the book of old Bagni di Lucca postcards.

The book was put together by the Fondazione Michel de Montaigne. Most of the photos and illustrations are of Ponte a Serraglio and La Villa, but there are some of the other villages as well. Many of the scenes are recognisable and is fun to see the way things used to look.

This one is my favourite. Australia gets a mention.

This is just a small selection of postcards from the book and I took photos of the postcards, which is why they might look a bit wonky. You really need to buy the book to see the postcards at their best.

The book is €25 and all proceeds go to the renovation of the English cemetery. I bought my copy at the library in the English church in La Villa.

I missed the launch of the book earlier this year. Francis was there and you can read all about it at From London to Longoio.

Bella Bagni di Lucca

A beautiful village in Tuscany

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