Ponte a Serraglio looks glorious in summer. I love every season, but when everything is green and lush Ponte is wonderful.
There are often fishermen on the river, I hope they catch something.
By the end of the hottest season the water level in the river drops unless there is summer rain.
This year has been very hot and dry, so it will no longer be as green as when I took these photos, but still beautiful.
Late spring seemed like the perfect time for another visit to Riolo.
There is a car park at the bottom of the village and it is a pleasant walk up to the pretty piazza in the centre of town.
There is a fountain where you can get a cool drink of water.
There is a fine collection of interesting doorways and colourful gardens.
Fruit, vegetables and flowers thrive in the hot weather.
There are always great views from the mountain villages.
I met a couple of four legged residents.
On my way out I saw the preparations for next winter…which seems a long way off.
The Bagni di Lucca Art Festival was launched on Saturday night. Our trusty Sheila was there to report on the evening.
Lots of people were out and about…it is great to see the road closed and full of art lovers.
Here is a roundup of some of the work on show.
The river installation is great…again. This is always a popular addition to the festival.
Thank you Sheila for showing us around the festival…it continues until 10th August.
For more on the festival go to http://www.artfestivalbagnidilucca.org
Summer in Italy is hot, especially this year. The water in the Lima River is cold…the perfect place to cool off on a hot summer day.
We found this inviting place to swim near the bridge to Casoli.
There is a path down to the river. The water looked wonderful. Unfortunately we had no towels or swimsuits so had to content ourselves with an ankle deep paddle.
I would have loved to dive into the deeper water.
The water is clear and running fairly quickly. The photos were taken in mid June, so it may have slowed a bit.
We saw lots of tadpoles…they are probably frogs now.
Happy swimming.
In late spring Granaiola looked gorgeously green.
Grape vines were growing well.
Gardens were flourishing.
The renovator’s delight I photographed a while ago is still there.
The surrounding mountains and villages shone in the sun.
Ponte a Serraglio lies in the valley below.
In the distance you can see Pieve di Monti di Villa, Monte di Villa and Riolo.
Pieve di Monti di Villa.
Monti di Villa.
Riolo.
If you look really carefully through the trees you can see Bugnano, the abandoned village.
Biribisso is a great restaurant in Granaiola…must go back soon.
…gorgeous Graniaola.
I went to a lovely party in Montefegatesi just before I left for Australia. Montefegatesi is one of my favourite villages, and we walked almost to the top to the house of our friend.
The house is perched on the side of a hill overlooking the gorgeous valley below.
…a pool with a view.
The sun goes down over our mountains.
Montefegatesi is a wonderful mountain village…a great place to watch the sun set.
It is almost time for the annual art competition in the park at Villa Fiori.
It is bound to be a great day on 12th July. The day kicks off at 8.00 for the participating artists and lunch will be at 12.30pm. Even if you are not an artist it is interesting to watch the artists at work.
As well, the main street in La Villa will be closed to traffic on the evening of Friday, 10th July. Ristorante del Sonno will have tables in the street for a fun evening.
There will only be a few pedestrian only evenings this summer, so make the most of it.
The area around Bagni di Lucca and the nearby Garfagnana produces delicious honey. In spring and summer the mountains are filled with flowering trees bees love, especially acacia, tiglio and chestnut.
My friend Heather Jarman took me to visit delightful Francesca, who keeps bees on her agriturismo, Al Benefizio near Barga, to see the busy little bees in action. Chestnut trees were coming into blossom and the bees were out collecting nectar.
Each beehive has between 40,000 and 60,000 bees working to produce honey. Once they have filled their own hives with honey to feed the community the beekeeper puts more levels on top and the industrious creatures keep working to fill those too.
The nectar is loaded into trays of wax honeycomb. Each of these trays can be filled within a day. There are scout bees who fly out and find suitable flowers. They fly in a 3 kilometre radius of their hives and like to take nectar from the most numerous blossoms. When the nectar from these blossoms is exhausted they will move onto another type. This is how it is possible to have honey from a single blossom. The beekeeper needs to watch to see when the blossoms they want honey from are at their most prolific.
Once the filled trays are collected they are put into a machine which scrapes the wax off.
They then go to a centrifuge which spins the honey out of the frames. Francesca uses no heat to process her honey. It is allowed to settle slowly to allow sediment and wax to go to the top or bottom of the honey.
Wax from the honeycomb is melted down and collected in blocks. Francesca then sends these books to be melted and turned into new bases for the bees to work from to build new cells for the honey. The bees could do this themselves, but having a good start allows them more time to do other things. There is one group of bees whose only job is to flutter their wings in front of the wax cells to evaporate the water from the nectar until it is the right consistency for honey…they are a very organised community.
Francesca took us to one of her gorgeous old wooden tables under the cover of strawberry grape vines to sample her delicious honey. She drizzled acacia, tiglio and chestnut honey on pecorino cheese for us to try.
The acacia honey is light and almost clear. The chestnut honey is much darker and has a much stronger flavour. Tiglio, or linden, is somewhere in between.
Francesca’s bees work hard on her gorgeous property which overlooks Barga…what a spectacular view. Guests also get to enjoy the view and the lovely gardens which surround the cottages. I would love to stay here and pick the cherries from the trees. Soon there will be plums and figs ripe for the picking. There are also olive trees and a prolific vegetable garden.
There are 3 apartments to rent at Al Benefizio. La Stalla has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a wonderful private terrace with a spectacular view.
Il Fienile has a bedroom, bathroom, living area, kitchen and balcony.
Il Governo is a double room with bathroom. It was not available for me to see, but I’m sure it is just as lovely as the others.
Guests are free to wander in the terraced gardens, swim in the pool, meet Jubi the donkey, say hello to the chickens and tiny wildlife and delight in this gorgeous part of Tuscany.
Heather and Francesca work together to introduce visitors to a part of Tuscany they might not otherwise see. I visited Al Benefizio in late spring, a wonderful time to see the area. I think spring and autumn are the best seasons to see our beautiful area, you avoid the crowds and the countryside is at its very best.
Al Benefizio is a great place for weddings…and wedding photos. I think the old bed filled with hay is brilliant…these photos came from Francesca.
Al Benefizio…www.albenefizio.it
Heather Jarman…www.sapori-e-saperi.com
After a lovely evening with friends in Benabbio I was delighted to see a beautiful sunset. I walked from the top of Benabbio to the lower car park. It was quite late, 9.45pm, and I caught the last rays of sunlight disappearing below the mountains.
It is easy to see why people live in these gorgeous mountain villages. The views are incredible at any time of the day and in every season.
To help celebrate the beginning of summer there was a market in La Villa. Rosi was there with her camera to share the event with us.
A good crowd gathered to enjoy wandering through the many stalls.
There will be another market on 24th August.
On Saturday 27th June at 8.30pm there will be a procession in Pieve di Monti di Villa to celebrate their patron saint St. John the Baptist. There will be food and dancing to follow…thank you Francis from London to Longoio and Beyond for reminding us.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 