Behind the Hedges in Northern Tuscany
by Gail Rickey, Houston, TX
Our two weeks in northern Tuscany was a cultural delight studded with walled cities to explore, country restaurants to savor, and hospitable Tuscans eager to share their country with us. We drove along lanes lined by olive groves and green vineyards, up to a castle town on the edge of the Alps, and down to the shores of the Ligurian Sea with captivating views of Cinque Terre. We built up memories of vivid landscapes, art treasures, and hospitable people. Smell a pizza, taste rosemary, hear the lilt of someone saying buona sera, and it all comes rushing back.The travelers in our group were two couples, longtime friends, who set out to experience northern Tuscany together. We all live in Houston. One of us has Italian heritage. Two of us were willing to drive on narrow roads and Autostradas and everything in between. The other two of us preferred sitting in the backseat, occasionally offering opinions about the route, but mostly absorbing the sights around us. Pat and Gail Rickey had traveled to Tuscany ten years earlier and were eager to see favorite places again. Larry and Marilyn Angelo were excited to be in Italy for the first time, seeing all of the sights that they had heard about from their many friends who had been saying for years, “You have to go to Italy.”
So here we were, ready for discovery and adventure. We stayed at Fattoria di Migliarino, about 10 kilometers northwest of Pisa and 15 kilometers southwest of Lucca. This sprawling estate has been in the Salviati family for hundreds of years. Today, Giovanna and Marino oversee a staff that keeps the farm humming. Lodging is in apartments that are independent and yet joined together in a long row. Each opens onto a graveled terrazza, with table, chairs, and an umbrella, perfect for end-of-the-day wine sipping, relaxing, and socializing with other Untourists. The grounds are immaculately groomed. The large garden-encircled pool awaited us at the end of a day of exploring. Flowers, especially roses, abound. So do hedges, carefully concealing anything that isn’t particularly aesthetically pleasing, like the laundry guests hang out to dry!
Most of our days began and ended on our private terrazza, a place of peace and beauty. After breakfast, off we’d go for our day’s adventure. Here are some of the highlights of our travels.
DAYTRIPS
Pisa
We arrived fairly early (9:30 AM) on a weekday. We bought a combination ticket to climb the Leaning Tower and visit both the Duomo and Bapistry. No problem with crowds, which definitely build during the day and on weekends. Another day, we visited Campo Santo cemetery (dismiss thoughts of any other cemetery you have ever seen, worth a visit), which is also part of the compound known as Field of Miracles.Beyond this part of town that every tourist visits, we enjoyed Church of Santa Maria della Spina (tiny jewel box of a church built into the banks of the Arno), and strolling through the university area and along Borgo Stetto.
Lucca
The city is surrounded by a wide earthen wall. Unlike most city walls, this one is so wide that people stroll, hike, bike, and walk their dogs. We strolled. We climbed Guinigi Tower (288 steps) with a panoramic view and seven small oak trees growing from the top. The Cathedral and San Michelle churches are each distinctively beautiful. On Sunday, we returned for Mass, which is at 11 AM at both churches.Outside Lucca--Garden of the Villa Reale di Marlia
We spent two hours leisurely strolling these whimsical gardens, unlike any that we have ever visited. Laid out in the second half of the 17th century, this sprawling expanse features a water theater around a semi-circular pool decorated with statues of gods, a garden theater created out of sculpted hedges and statuary, a lemon garden with huge pots of lemon trees, and lots of fanciful creations. Swans glide across the pools, goldfish swim, statues spout water. For many years the garden and its villas were owned by Napoleon’s sister, Elisa.The main villa is now boarded up and so are the side buildings, giving an air of mystery to the place. We visited on a Saturday afternoon; amazingly, we had the whole estate to ourselves. We felt like children, visiting a fairyland that no one else knew about.
San Gimignano
Charming small town entered through one of several gates, surrounded by walls and accented with 17 tall towers. From the distance, it’s known as the Manhattan of Tuscany. Within the walls, it’s a quaint little town, lined by alluring shops and sidewalk restaurants. Steep lanes lead to the Piazza della Cisterna; legend says that if you circle the cistern, you will return. I made sure to do so.We sought out scenic overlooks from inside the walls, bought San G. wine, had a gelato (my favorite of the entire trip: orange chocolate) and finally found the newly opened Leonardo da Vinci Museum, which we highly recommend. Though we were to later visit the town of Vinci, famed for its Leonardo museum, this one is different. You can actually touch, turn, try out some of the master’s inventions. My favorite was an octagonal mirrored chamber that you can walk into, closing the door so that you are surrounded by mirrors that transport your image to seeming infinity. Leonardo devised such an octagon saying that the wits of the painter want to be as a mirror. Though I’m not a painter, I’ll never forget the sensation of being in the Mirrors Room; I saw myself in a different way than ever before.
Volterra
Since Volterra is a short drive from San Gimignano, we had intended to visit both cities on the same day. Thankfully, we changed our minds, mid-San Gimignano visit, and decided to return, giving Volterra a day of its own. Wise choice, since we spent six hours in Volterra and could easily have stayed longer.This town has the most medieval feel of any that we visited. On a high plateau, the windswept town (I wished for a jacket) seems a world apart. Buildings, dating back to 1208, are large scale. Cobbled streets are steep. Shops, many selling alabaster, are tucked inside buildings along the streets, but only every fifth or sixth door along the sidewalk opens to a shop, unlike San Gimignano where shops are in every conceivable space.
The premier site in town is the Etruscan Museum--Museo Etrusco Guarnacci. One of Italy’s best archeological museums, this one displays artifacts from the surrounding region. The museum’s headsets were a great help in understanding what we were seeing.
Also, well worth visiting is the cathedral, one of the most beautiful we saw in all of Tuscany, with columns of pink and rose, blue-gray marble walls, a coffered ceiling, and lots of artwork tucked inside side chapels.
A combination ticket took us to Pinacoteca which is the main museum and to two smaller ones. Then we climbed the stairs of the Palazzo dei Priori (1 euro) and were glad we did. The town council has been meeting inside the adorned-with-art main room since 1257.
After looking at virtually every alabaster shop we passed in town, we made a few purchases at one of two shops on the outskirts of Volterra, where prices were less.
Vinci
We only had a few hours to spend in Leonardo’s hometown. We climbed stairs to the core of the tourist area, which is highlighted by the Museo Leonardiano (the primary museum; there are two others we didn’t have time to visit). Several floors to tour of Leonardo inventions (no touching or turning here). Leonardo with his wildly-creative mind was, to say the least, way ahead of his time. Floats for walking on water, pole-erecting machine, screw press for oil, spotlight, emergency bridge, tank, multi-barreled machine gun, zillions of others. On the adjoining plaza is a large model of the artist/inventor’s Vitruvian Man (also pictured on the 1 euro coin!).If I could return, I’d hike the two-kilometer trail to Leonardo’s birthplace in Anchiano. Guidebooks describe it as further into the hills, past fields of poppies. Enticing.
Siena
Such a beautiful unique city deserved more of our time. It’s about a two-hour drive from Migliarino. Parking is a problem. We drove around for a long long time trying to find a spot. Once we found one, figuring out the pay machine (first one was broken) became an ordeal. Then figuring out where the heck we were in relation to the historic center of town was another. Tips: leave home early (we thought we did, but not early enough), research parking before you leave (we thought we had), and have patience (mine ran out).Once we were standing on the famed Campo, we got oriented and made the best of the rest of the day. We started with the Duomo an absolutely stunning Cathedral, both on the outside and inside. Pat and I had been to Siena before, so we left Larry and Marilyn to tour the Baptistry and Museo dell’Opera del Duomo while we stocked up on paneforte, a renowned local fruitcake that is even better than I remembered, and visited the Sanctuary of St. Catherine, in the house where Catherine grew up. With its two chapels, the sanctuary is a place of calm, peace, and serenity.
Florence
The culturally-rich city deserved an overnight stay, but since a focal point of our trip was Cinque Terre where we spent one night, we decided to cram as much as possible into one day in Florence. Larry and Marilyn returned for a second time about a week later, realizing that they hadn’t gotten nearly enough of the famed city on a one-day trip.Based on the advice of our Untours host, Cathy Comparetto, we took the 8:45 AM bus from the Pisa airport to Florence. The bus ride is about 1.25 hours, and arrives fairly near major sites.
SO much to see in Florence. We created a sampler for ourselves, enjoying the essence of the city. First we visited the Duomo, the Bell Tower, and the Bapistry. Then we headed to the Accademia (Michelangelo’s David is the most popular work here), but the line was very long. We had advance booking at 1:30 PM for the Uffizi, where we spent two hours. After the Uffizi, we tried again at Accademia and had only a 30-minute wait.
We were glad that the bus was taking us home. Highway construction along the highway, but we could relax and let the driver deal with it.
Cinque Terre
As we began planning our trip to Italy, Larry and Marilyn noted that the place they most wanted to visit was Cinque Terre. We decided to spend a night in Monterosso, hike the trail linking the five villages the next day, and return home to Migliarino in the late afternoon. All of the published advice is to avoid Cinque Terre on weekends, due to heavy traffic on the trail. We booked a hotel room, right on the beach in Monterosso, for the first Tuesday of our northern Tuscany stay. As it turns out, that meant that we missed Untours’ sponsored boat trip on the Arno on Tuesday afternoon, which we regretted.Trains connect the Cinque Terre towns (northernmost town is Monterosso al Mare, followed by Vernazza, Corniglia, Manorola, Riomaggiore). Boats run the route some of the time, but their schedule is weather-dependent. Some hikers hit the trail early (a trail ticket is required, available at the train station), beginning in Monterosso. Others ride the 9:30 AM train to the end of the trail at Riomaggiore (13 minute train ride) and walk from south to north.
From my journal: Hike Day! The weather is absolutely stunningly gorgeous. A vendor along the path confirms our guess that this is a superlative, ‘unusual,’ he calls it, day. Cool, bright, clear.
The views along the trail are incredibly beautiful. Arriving at each town is an accomplishment! Nobody talks about the mileage between towns. Ascents and descents (and the steepness of each) matter more than actual distance. Here are average hiking times between the villages, according to the Cinque Terre Hiking Map: Monterosso-Vernazza, 1 hr; Veranzza --Corniglia, 1 hr; Corniglia-Manarola1 hr.; Manarola-Riomaggiore, 20 min. For our group, the time from beginning to end of hiking was about six hours, which included a leisurely lunch at a restaurant in one of the towns.
On the way to Cinque Terre, we had taken the scenic route along the seashore (slow but interesting), with lots of stops along the way including Cararra and Fostinovo (see below). This time, we took the speedy route, arriving back at the farm in 1 hour. Tired and sore, we relaxed on our terrazza and relived our adventures.
DRIVES
Fostinovo
Fostinovo is a tiny hilltop castle town dominated by a CASTLE! We had read about it in another Untours trip log. Fascinated, we decided to seek out this 12th century castle on our way to Monterosso/Cinque Terre.On the winding road up the hill, we spied a wild and crazy restaurant with the name Il Sevatcio. Quickly we turned around to have a look. We found a pizzaria, closed, decorated with zanily painted motorcycles. Motorcycles EVERYWHERE atop the building, along the driveways, adorning the grounds. How we yearned to talk to someone who could tell us about it.
But alas, Il Sevatcio was not the only thing closed that day. Unfortunately for us, the day to avoid Fostinovo is Tuesday, which of course, was the day we visited. Not only is the castle closed, but so is everything else in town.
We ended up having a wonderful time, wandering through winding streets and stepping into two (unbelievable for a town this size) lovely churches. I felt like Goldilocks, half expecting the three bears to come home to their dinner. But they didn’t appear, and we immersed ourselves in the atmosphere of the deserted village.
When we first arrived in the vicinity, we kept looking for the town itself, expecting it to be by the roadway. We saw a parking lot (empty, with steps to the castle). Our plan was to save that for after lunch. Well, it turns out that we needed to climb the stairs to find the town as well as the castle.
But we were hungry, so our first priority was lunch, which we sought out down by the road. A handful of restaurants were sprinkled about, though we saw more signs to restaurants than actual restaurants. The one where we decided to stop was very authentic, very local. The person who greeted us had to call to the kitchen to find the token English speaker. Could we see menus, we asked, in halting Italian. I AM the menu, he informed us, reciting the four choices for the day. Pat and Marilyn did somersaults over the gnocchi with walnut sauce. At the end of the meal, our waiter introduced us to the local priest, who offered to converse with us in French. (Regretfully, we had to decline.) The room adjacent to where we ate was abuzz with schoolchildren. I later realized that the restaurant probably acts as their school cafeteria, since we later heard their voices below us from the castle grounds.
A magical stop, not mentioned in most guidebooks. http://www.castellitoscani.com/fosdinovo.htm
Garfagnana Region
We drove north from Lucca to the Garfagnana Region. First stop was at Borgo a Mozzano, home of the Ponte della Maddalena, or Devil’s BridgeBan ancient bridge over the Serchio River with an unusual shape, and a legend to go with it.At Barga, we entered through one of the three gates and climbed to The Cathedral. From this 1,300 foot viewpoint, we had a great view of countryside, backed by the Apuan Alps and the Apennine Mountains.
On to Grotta del Vento (Wind Cave). A thrilling drive, up winding roads through beautiful mountains. Luckily, we arrive just in time for the 3 PM tours. Even luckier, the four of us got a private tour with an English-speaking guide. On the hour-long walk through the beautiful cavern still active, with its stalagmites and stalactites, we learn that the formation we Americans call soda straws (skinny hollow tubes) are called spaghetti in Italy! How appropriate!
Chianti Country
First stop was a picturesque little town, Castellina in Chianti, where we strolled and shopped. A short walk from downtown, we visited Etruscan tombs, a simple spot, with no guards or entrance fees just four ancient tombs that reminded us of the ancient heritage of this region. On to Radda, another charming little town to stroll around.Next stop was for lunch at La Bottega in the tiny town of Volpaia (the restaurant seems to be the town). Castello di Volpaia wine estate surrounds the town. This small restaurant, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, is extremely popular. If you yearn to eat on the patio overlooking the valley, make reservations at 0577.738001. Closed Tuesdays. We were there on a Monday. No chance of eating on the patio; we were just glad to get a table, and to sample excellent Chianti cuisine.
From there we took a dirt road* (quite by accident) to Panzano where we caught a glimpse of charismatic butcher Dario Cecchini, featured in many guidebooks. Our last stop was Greve, which turned out to be a disappointment in comparison to Castellina in Chianti and Radda. The Wine Museum where one pays for samples according to the price of the wine was alluring, but we had a long drive back home. Maybe we should spend a night there, next trip.
*The highlight of this route was seeing a cinghiale (wild boar) run across the road. In Greve, we saw many stuffed versions of this animal, but none as much fun to view as the real-life one that sprinted in front of us.
FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
Near Migliarino
The Club: This restaurant is part of a nearby trotting club. The description of Untourist Asta Roberts (Spring, 2003) is so great, we had to try it. Dining here was one of my favorite experiences of the whole trip. Speaking Italian would have helped from making the reservation to receiving the bounteous array of foods served. If you have an Italian-speaker with you, take him/her with you. If not, just enjoy! It’s an experience!Rusticello: A large restaurant a short drive away. Good service, nice atmosphere. Excellent fish, pasta, and more. We ate there twice. My favorite was orata with olives, potatoes, and tomatoes.
Torre del Lago
Ristorante Chalet del Lago: Elegant restaurant right on the lake. Beautiful table setting. Excellent food. The group favorite was sea bass. www.chaletdellago.itButterfly Restaurant: Part of The Butterfly Hotel. Simpler than the Chalet, with great food. Orate with sun-dried tomatoes was my choice. Music from Puccini’s operas plays in the background. Blue tablecloths. Views of the lake less than a hundred yards away.
Lucca
Ristorante Puccini: Elegant service, excellent food. We ate on the patio for Sunday lunch.Our own backyard, literally
As much as we enjoyed a number of area restaurants, some of our favorite dining was at home. Through Untours, our hosts supplied us with an unusually generous amount of food, some from the Fattoria’s own store. On our first day we found the huge Le Clerc grocery about four kilometers away and enjoyed shopping there. Then there is the bakery in Migliarino, and fresh produce in several village plazas. At the end of a long day of driving and sightseeing, sitting on our own terrazza with local olives, cheeses, salamis, fruits and vegetables, and of course, wine, was very appealing.UNTOURS HOSTS
Cathy Comparetto, assisted by her husband Ciro, is a real treasure. She is bright, creative, hospitable, and deeply committed to her job. At the orientation on our first morning, she buzzed from one of us Untourists to another, checking with us to see what we needed to know, find, understand. She had cell phones available for rent, which proved to be very helpful throughout our stay since there was no phone in our apartment. She also offered GPS navigators, which some Untourists rented.Throughout our stay Cathy and Ciro were available by cell phone if we needed them. One afternoon, Ciro escorted some of us to an area winery as an optional outing. Riding his motorcycle through Lucca and along twisting streets, he shepherded us to the right spot. This charming couple definitely enhanced our stay in northern Tuscany.