Italian Food
Some say the Italians taught gastronomy to the French. Italians are interested in the details of cooking. They use fresh ingredients and skilfully bring up the flavours without recourse to elaboration.

Groceries
Simple eating at home is a treat with such flavours and varieties. You can stock up in Montecarlo at the little alimentare in the centre or from smart supermercato in Altopascio. At Bucciano, the nearby village of La Serra will keep you in necessaries.

Restaurants
Good restaurants abound and the prices are sweet. You don’t need all the courses unless you haven’t eaten for a week. Montecarlo has many good restaurants and some simple street tables for a night among the locals. Bucciano has the village of La Serra nearby with an excellent restaurant and there are more in and around San Miniato which is some 15 minutes away.

Truffles
The tantalizing taste of truffles, once experienced, is never forgotten. The taste is so intense that they are used as a flavouring instead of a separate dish. San Miniato has a truffle fair each year and the restaurants around Bucciano offer truffle flavoured dishes. You must try some.

Olive Oil
Olives trees were brought from the Middle East by the Greeks who occupied much of southern Italy before the Romans. This why the presence of olives indicates a warm climate. Northern Italian olives as in Montecarlo and San Miniato grow slowly and produce less oil, but it has a concentration of flavour.

Florence
(Firenze in Italian, Florentia in Latin)



A walk across the Ponte Vecchio is obligatory. This is the old bridge; the others were lovingly re-built half a century ago to the old design. Gold and jewellery shops were assigned to the bridge by the city council centuries ago because they are small and their rents would finance the maintenance of the bridge, rather like London bridge, which also was built in about 11th Century. There is a private corridor running over the shops on one side for the private use of certain of the nobility.

The view from the top of the duomo is spectacular. You can climb to the top through a tiny stone staircase up in the thickness of the wall and over the arch of the stone internal dome which is under the weather dome.



The structural design of a dome over so wide a space was eventually solved by Brunelleschi well after the cathedral was started. The walls were not clad originally. That was left until a benefactor donated the money, some half a millennium later. Old churches can be seen elsewhere waiting for their cladding and a benefactor.

Golf
Golf is growing in Italy, although playing the ball where it lies is not really in their nature. The courses are of club standard and many local competitions are held.

Mansions and Gardens
Grand garden design seems to been invented in Italy. The style of many mansions in UK was learnt from Italian gardens in former centuries. Many of the plants now purchased in UK, by gardeners wanting lush display, are supplied from Pescia.

Villas to visit include:

• Boboli Gardens - Florence.
  Piazza Pitti Behind the Pitti Palace in Florence
  Open daily except Monday : 09.00 - sunset,
  Ring to book a ticket time 055 218 741
  
• Villa Torrigiani - Gardens by Le Notte who designed Versailles Camigliano, 7K North-East of Lucca
  Closed Tuesdays and for ore de pranzo ie:12.00 to 15.00.
  
• Villa Garsoni - Vast downhill water gardens that took a hundred years to build
• Collodi, near to Montecarlo, off S435 towards Pescia
  Open March to November 9.00am to sunset. Free

Events ~ Just some of them:
Lucca : Medieval Parade and antique markets
Siena: The Palio horse race
Torre del Lago Puccini Opera
Open air Puccini Festival

Happy Holiday