Barga Blues Festival and The Devil's Bridge

The pool- there was an amazing view of Barga and the
surrounding mountains.

This past weekend we took a little road trip down to a small town called Barga. It's in Tuscany, in the province of Lucca. It's about 40 km from the sea, so we thought we might spend some time at the beach. When we saw how nice the hotel was, we scrapped that idea and sat by the pool all weekend. It was great!!

Barga in the evening

The great thing about Tuscany is that there seems to be a festival going on every weekend in the summer. This weekend was no exception. There was a bbq and blues festival going on in Barga, and it was really fun! They had bands set up in all of the little squares, tables selling things, the stores were open and the entire city showed up to celebrate the occasion. Surprisingly, there are a lot of young families in Barga- we couldn't walk down a street without getting held up because there were a bunch of strollers blocking traffic. It was a little unusual for me. When we go to these small towns in Italy, the population always seems to be older and we don't see as many young adults. Maybe they are all hiding when we go to the small towns? It was fun to see some people our age!

Some interesting art we found in the city- painted umbrellas

This was the car for Trattoria di Riccardo
LOL

This was a sign we followed to find one of the bands playing
in the city, they also had a pork roast and other yummy foods 

One of the popular places that night- we counted between 5 or 6
strollers that were just hanging out by the this bar. There was a
serious traffic jam!

Another fun part of this weekend was seeing the "Devil's Bridge" (really it's called Maddalena's Bridge) on Saturday. The morning was overcast, so we took advantage and went to see the bridge before lying by the pool in the sunny afternoon. It was only about 15 km away from our hotel near a town called Borgo a Mozzano, so it was a quick and easy car ride. This thing is crazy! You see pictures and think it looks interesting, but when you actually climb the bridge, it's unbelievable how steep it really is. It took me a while to climb it with the preggo belly. I think Ragnar would be interested in seeing this bridge- he's a bridge engineer in Drammen.

The Devil's Bridge

Here is the local legend (found on The Florentine, but most versions I've found have the same story):

"Popular legend that tells the story of a clever and respected master builder who lived in a village on the banks of the River Serchio. The villagers asked him to build a bridge to connect their village with the one across the river. He set to work immediately, but he soon realised that the construction was not progressing as quickly as he had promised. Being a man of honour and wanting to keep his word, he became very unhappy and quite desperate. He continued working very hard, day and night, to finish the task within the time agreed upon in the contract, but the work proceeded very slowly. The days flew by.

The arch on the far left was added on to allow traffic through

One evening, while the master builder was sitting alone on the banks of the Serchio, looking at the work that was still to be done and thinking of the shame he would suffer for not having completed it on time, the devil appeared to him in the form of a respectable businessman. He approached the master builder and said he could finish the bridge in a single night-if the builder would promise him the soul of the first one who crossed the bridge when it was completed. The builder accepted the proposal.

The steep climb up to the top

The following day, the village had its beautiful bridge that can still be seen today near Borgo a Mozzano. The townspeople were astonished and delighted. When they went to congratulate the builder, he ordered them not to cross the bridge before sunset. Then, worried about his deal with the devil, he set off on his horse for Lucca to ask the bishop (who became Saint Frediano), for advice. This saintly man told him not to worry: he should let a pig cross the bridge first. That is just what the builder did. The devil, furious at having been tricked, threw himself into the waters of the Serchio." After the devil returned to the water, it was said that if you stand on the bridge gazing into the water for too long, the devil would rise up and take you, still looking for that one soul that he was promised.

We spent a lot of time admiring the bridge; after all it was completed before or around 1100! Since then, it has had one or two restorations due to damage from flooding, and they added an archway along one side of the bridge for traffic to drive under, but otherwise it's construction is the original. It was a part of the Roman Road from France and people would use this bridge on their pilgrimage. It was fun to think of all of the people from history that could have crossed it. For example, I recently read a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine. She passed through this area a few times, once on the second crusade. She could have crossed this bridge with an army of crusaders.

Our view from the room on Sunday morning, the mountains
reminded us of the Dolomites. They were a lot bigger than
I thought they would be!

After three days of relaxing by the pool and enjoying Barga, we headed home. It was a fun weekend!! I'm looking forward to going back to Barga next year. If we are still living in Italy at that time, we plan to come back for the Blues festival next summer.

Cantine Aperte part 2

Good morning! This was outside of our B&B that Sunday
morning.

On the Sunday of our weekend in Tuscany we toured the open cellars on the south side of Tuscany. We were near the border of Umbria and visited Montalcino (a very hilly medieval town), Uccelliera winery, Felsinà, Poggio Antico and a place where we didn’t buy the wine. Each place gives a tour and explains the fermentation process, samples their wine and usually has snacks. Since I wanted to go to Siena and Josh did that for me on Saturday, it was my turn to let him try some wine and be his driver. I have to admit, it wasn’t as fun just watching someone drinking wine L

Josh was up to see the sunrise

We also visited Montalcino and spent some time walking around the city. This was definitely a tough day for me! After all of the walking on Saturday in Siena and Pienza, I was pretty tired. When we arrived in Montalcino we parked at the wrong spot and had to walk all the way up the hill to the town. We later found a parking lot at the top of the hill near the city center… Next time. Unfortunately, after we got up to the town (after much huffing, puffing and taking breaks to let my heart rate return to normal on the long staircase), we realized that the entire town was made of really steep hills. It was rough! My poor body didn’t like that at all and started to reject the idea of movement. We had to stop for lunch so I didn’t pass out (literally). It’s so frustrating that the things I had no problem with before are suddenly the most difficult tasks! Honestly, I can’t wait until Bambino comes so I can get back into the shape I was in before!

A church we found after we got up the hill into Montalcino

a steep hill we had to go down after we got
into Montalcino...

Had to get this one for Josh's Mom- she loves Charlie Brown!

In the city center of Montalcino

Inside the fortress at Montalcino

Uccelliera gave us the best tour of the weekend. She took us into the cellars and showed us the special barriques they have, and even let Josh taste the wine straight from the barrel. He was able to taste how the wine is at different stages of the aging process, and then even tried a mixture of two barrels. By far it was the best tour we’ve ever been on. Unfortunately, I had to watch- but it was fun to hear the explanations of everything. They also sell olive oil, so we were able to taste that.

Uccelliera means "bird house" in Italian. This used to be the birdhouse.

The special barriques

A huge monastery we found on the way to Uccelliera

Felsinà is another fun winery to go to. We took a tour of their cellar last year when Josh’s mom and Mike came to visit us, so this year we only did the tasting (again, I watched). Although, I was able to try the olive oil (which is amazing!). They have a huge key to get into the cellar and this time we got a picture of it so you can see how HUGE it is!!



The HUGE key! It's about the size of Bambino

the first pour

After a long day of wine tasting, it was time for me to drive back to Milan. I was so happy to be home! We didn’t get home until after midnight that night and I completely crashed. This was a rough weekend for a pregnant woman with all of the walking; thankfully Cantine Aperte only happens once a year! If you’re not pregnant, it’s great though. And I should add that even though I couldn't partake in the fun, we met some really fun people and got to see some beautiful sights. Not to mention Josh really enjoyed himself- so it was a good day :)

the grapes were just starting to bud

Cantine Aperte

Every year there is a weekend in Italy called Cantine Aperte (Open Cellars), and it’s usually on the Sunday over Memorial weekend in Tuscany. We found ourselves back in Florence on Memorial weekend for the third time since 2006 as a result of the timing. Instead of staying in Florence the whole weekend, we decided to tour around Tuscany and see some new cities including Pienza, Montalcino, and we went back to see Siena for the second time.

My favorite- the mezzaluna pasta (half moon pasta stuffed with
ricotta and topped with pears and truffle)

The amazing Limoncino

After driving down on Friday afternoon, we went back to Cinque di Vino for dinner. We visited this restaurant with Josh’s mom and Mike when they visited last fall and it’s in a small town called San Casciano. It was worth going back! The food is so good and everything they use is local, fresh food. And of course, Josh couldn’t pass up the opportunity to have more of their amazing limoncino!! That same night there was a small food festival in the park outside of our restaurant. They had a lot of wine, meats, and even Sicilian Canolo! Of course we had to try them and it was pretty good. It doesn’t live up to the Canolo we’ve found at our pasticceria here in Milan, but it was still good J

Siena

an interesting fountain we saw on the walk into the center
of Siena from the parking lot

The old wooden doors on the Town Hall- it even had a doorbell...
I thought that was strange.

Outside the town hall- they have these hooks (to me they look like
places that were used to tie up horses)

The Town Hall

On Saturday, we drove straight to Siena in the morning. Siena is an amazing city! It’s small, but a lot of walking for a pregnant woman! It was good exercise. Every building seems to be 700 years old, and it’s similar to Venice in the fact that the buildings are a little run down. But this just adds to the charm of the city. We found a parking lot closer to the city center than on our previous trip- that was nice for me! And we toured the Town Hall Museum which was an amazing example of the Tuscan Gothic style, and medieval life. After that we grabbed some pizza and explored the city a little bit. After a little rain passed, it turned out to be a beautiful day! So, we did what the locals do- we sat in Piazza del Campo and enjoyed the sun for a while before heading to our B&B for the night.



View from the back side of the Town Hall

An interesting window display...



I love lamp!

Enjoying the sun

Our B&B was right outside of Pienza- another beautiful city! The B&B was great and I really want to go back. Our room was huge- it had a bedroom, bathroom, living room/dining room and a kitchen. They even had a really nice pool outside. I hope to go back this summer when it’s a little warmer so we can swim. After checking in, we headed into Pienza just in time to see all of the little shops closing. Unfortunately, in small towns in Italy everything closes before 7PM on a Saturday. On the bright side, we were able to catch an amazing sunset overlooking the Tuscan hills! Josh was able to get some nice pictures.

Pienza

Watching the sunset in Pienza

Since our room had a kitchen, we decided to hit up the local grocery store and cook dinner that night. It was a nice romantic dinner at the B&B with my hubby. After a long and tiring day that was a great idea.

 

The next day we toured some wineries for Cantine Aperte in addition to Montalcino. I’ll post more about that in a bit since this one is getting long and we have a lot of pictures… Stay tuned.

the view from our B&B

There's a bathroom on the right!

On our final day in Tuscany we planned to meet up with "Uncle" Joe and spend the day with him. It was a great family reunion for Laura and Joe (as well as Bill the Hobo). Joe was Laura's brother in law and they were very close, but haven't seen each other in about 10 years. We met up with Joe in a small Tuscan town called Greve where he was trying to hide from us in the main square. In typical Joe fashion, he snuck up on us when we were waiting outside of wine shop for Josh. Anytime there is a wine shop, we lose Josh. It's like a moth to a flame, he can't resist!

There was a little fair in Greve when we arrived, this guy was
selling his paintings in original frames (IE: door frame, boxes, etc)

This butcher shop is very famous- it was HUGE!
Maccelleria Falorni

the rooster is the symbol of Chianti country

Joe led the way to a restaurant called Locanda Borgo Antico where we had lunch. The weather was perfect that day and the leaves were starting to change, it was a beautiful drive through the winding hills and vineyards. Joe drove with Mike and Laura, and Josh and I followed in the Opel. They introduced me to Bill when we arrived at the restaurant, and I have to admit that I just don't understand the obsession! Bill is a doll smoking a cigar that was a prominent figure in the Stone family when Joe was a part of it. He now resides with Joe in Tuscany and has adjusted to life in Italy very nicely. They treat him like part of the family... what did I marry into!? :)

Bill the Hobo and his new friend Cinghiale



Laura was wearing her new jeans/boots

We enjoyed some great stories from Joe- we learned about how he designed some of Prince and Apollonia's shoes from Purple Rain, and other fun stories about his brushes with fame while working at Ferragamo. We also enjoyed Mike's story about how he was on top of a pyramid in (Mexico?). While he was filming the skyline his camera panned over Bono standing right by him. It was a double take and he ended up talking to Bono on top of a pyramid! Unfortunately Bill wasn't able to share any similar stories; he was left in the car. The only brush with fame I have is selling some shoes to Torii Hunter and his wife when I worked at Steve Madden. Not as exciting as Joe and Mike's stories!

Mike telling the story of Bono

After lunch we drove by the house that Joe and Laura's sister Barb used to live in, then it was time for some Gelato at a fantastic place!! This shop was packed with a line out the door, and there were about 50 flavors of Gelato. The name of the place is Badiani and we ended the day with the best Gelato in Florence. Joe was a little teary eyed when we had to say goodbye, it was a fantastic reunion for him and he really enjoyed the chance to catch up with Laura and meet Mike.

We started to head back to Milan after saying goodbye to Joe. The car ride was really fun! One song that came on was "Bad Moon Rising" by CCR. Laura mentioned that every time they heard this song in the past, they thought that the lyrics were "there's a bathroom on the right!" Now every time I hear it, I think of that!! It really does sound like they say "there's a bathroom on the right!" Here's a link in case you don't know what I'm talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE

They have really good spicey olive oil- it's sooooo good!!

A wonderful trip is coming to a close! Laura and Mike flew back to the US the next morning after some late night pizza from Pizzeria Spontini and the Pizza Nazi. They had to have it one more time. It was so great to have them visit Italy and we can't wait to see them again at the holidays! I have to admit, seeing them made me a little homesick because I miss all my friends and family so much!! I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to MN for the holidays!!! A little more than three weeks and I'll get to see my family again! :)