My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Sunday we moved from Montecarlo just east of Lucca to a lovely former hunting lodge, Abergo Villa Marta, just south of Lucca. They are only fifteen miles apart so we had lots of time to site see. We spent the day exploring Lucca.
My suitcase and I at the gate to Villa MartaVilla Marta
You may remember I love it when serendipity puts us in a town when a festival is happening. A week or so ago we happened to be in Stroncone for the Chestnut Festival. Well it happened again! We are in Lucca for the annual Lucca Comics and Games Festival. Today is Halloween. There has been no mention of Halloween in Lucca, but there have been lots of great costumes.
Batman
There were a lot of people and many tents and venues where you needed tickets to get in. We enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful buildings and churches.
St Martin CathedralBasilica of San FredianoSt Michael’s Church in Lucca
Lucca is the only Italian town with an intact wall surrounding it. You can walk all around the town on the wall. We found a bench and people watched and enjoyed the beautiful fall day.
On top of the Lucca wallLucca WallDuke and I are on the Lucca Wall
For dinner we ate at a Michelin listed restaurant less than a mile from Villa Marta, LaCecca. We had a great dinner with a very entertaining and friendly waiter.
Comics and Games festival posters in the restaurantBeef with potatoes and zucchini Veal scallopini
When we left our hotel Friday morning we stopped at the post office in the village so I could mail a card. There were three people ahead of me, all waiting outside for their turn to enter the post office. About 30 minutes later when I got to the front of the line the woman behind me, who was accompanied by her young daughter, about seven years old, started talking to me in rapid Italian. Although I didn’t understand a word it was clear she really wanted to go next. I said OK explained I don’t speak Italian and asked the seven year old if she speaks English. She shyly said no. I let the lady go ahead of me. There seemed to be a lot of drama relating to her transaction. Meanwhile the seven year old was pointing to random things and saying “red, orange white, blue.” A bit later she started “Monday, Tuesday Wednesday…. “ She wouldn’t make eye contact with me, but pretty soon she started showing off her ability to count in English and say “Hello, Good bye” it was pretty cute. Her mother finally finished her business twenty minutes later. And I was able to buy my stamp. The clerk was very apologetic. My transaction took two minutes. And we were on the road fifty minutes after we arrived at the post office.
As we drove north through Tuscany we continued to see beautiful fall colors.
Tuscan countryside
We visited the Florence American Cemetery. It has the graves of over 4,000 Americans who died in WWII.
Florence American CemeteryFlorence American CemeteryFlorence American Cemetery
Our dinner can be added to the best of the trip list. Casta D’Uva had wonderful ambiance, great music, great service, and excellent food. I loved that the owner seemed to know a lot of the customers. At least three times he came in and sat down to chat with the people at a table.
Casta D’UvaThe flavor combinations were sublime.. especially the tomato. Shrimp risotto Pork, potatoes, and fruit preservesFruit soup
We are staying at Borgo la Torre in the little town of Montecarlo about half way between Florence and the Italian west coast. It’s a beautiful and comfortable place. We will be here two nights. That’s nice because by the end of a two month trip I srart to get tired of packing up and moving every day. Our plan is to continue moving north and eventually fly home out of Milan in just over a week.
After another great breakfast at Villa la Palazzetta we headed north again. Not far down the road we stopped at the Castiglione d’Orcia olive press. They have a tasting room. Their olive oil was really good but the bottles were all too big to carry in my suitcase so we just bought a small jar of local honey.
The Source of the OilTasting olive oil
I’ve been wanting to see someone harvesting olives. We finally saw a guy today. To harvest he spread out a net under the trees then used a kind of motorized branch shaker. You can just see him in the picture below.
Harvesting olives
We stopped in Sienna and explored a bit. We parked the car just outside the Porta Tufi. We had coffee on Il Campo, the main square where they have their Palio horse race twice each summer.
Sienna City Hall
Next we visited the Duomo, Sienna’s Cathedral. The people lifter working on the front of the building seemed to be removing vegetation.
The DuomoCleaning the facade
We are staying just a few miles north of Sienna. We have what I think must be called the tower room it has a 360 degree view. The toilet is down a couple of flights of stairs and the windows are a bit dirty but it is an amazing place to spend the night.
The place we are staying, Villa la Palazzetta, is in the Orcia Valley area of Tuscany. It is a wonderful place to stay. It’s way out in the country, beautiful and very peaceful. We had a great breakfast there this morning. All the baked goods were home made and delicious.
Breakfast at Villa la Palazzetta
After breakfast we went for a drive to see some of the Nearby Tuscan towns and countryside. First we stopped at Castiglione d’Orcia where we had eaten dinner Tuesday night
Castiglione d’Orcia
They are currently harvesting olives. The press in Castiglione d’Orcia looked very busy.
OlivesA box of freshly harvested olives.
Next we went to Pienza.
PienzaPienza
And finally Montepulciano.
Montepulciano
It was so nice to have a crisp sunny Fall day. We decided to go back to Villa la Palazzetta where we are staying and spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the sun.
Marion's Blog 