Raacho Trekkers
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Lovely pictures. In which month did you visit these places?
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2023, Spring in Northern Italy - Florence, Tuscany, Liguria, Piedmont, Lake Orta
- Thread starter BEERMAN
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2023, Spring Northern Italy part 4
April 11-25, 2023We slept comfortably through the night in the quiet "Renaissance Apartment". We packed fairly light for this trip so keeping up with laundry was required. The apartment had a washing machine but no dryer, I find that the norm in most places we stay. After hanging what we washed we walked out onto the cobble stones shining from the recent drizzle.
A few steps away we grabbed coffee, tea and a couple nice croissants on the Palazzo Piccolomini. The weather was calling for rain through the morning,...how should we spend a rainy day? BAGNI SAN FILIPPO! We figured a little rain couldn't spoil a natural hot spring! After breakfast we packed a dry bag with towels, water shoes etc, and then stopped next door at the Macelleria del Corso for a couple take away panini sandwiches with ham and cheese, Pecorino of course!
The FREE natural hot springs were located just south about 25 Km-30 minutes. The town of Bagni San Filippo is located in the municipality of Castiglione d' Orcia, if you blink you'll miss it! We drove the one way loop around the town to scope out parking, there is free parking down at the bottom, but for 1.5 euro per hour we parked close to the trail head. By the looks of the parking we knew others thought it was a perfect day for this activity. There are small pools along the trail that were tempting, but I read to be patient and walk just 5 more minutes to a large calcic rock formation known as La Balena Bianca, The White Whale. AMAZING!
There were several people around, but plenty of vacant turquoise holes to immerse ourselves. The temperature varies from different spots, but we found a nice pool for two that was typical hot tub temperature and a wall next to it had water cascading down at probably 110f, it felt incredible! We half sat and leaned back into that warm sulpher shower for the longest time!
We spent about 2 hours happily moving from pool to pool, thinking about the historical figures who sat in these same pools, cool. The calcic rocks have a natural grit to them, so slipping wasn't an issue. It drizzled most of the time we were soaking and when it slowed we dried off and headed back to the car, we were smart to bring spare dry clothes! Once in the car we could already see our skin turning white from the sulpher water, we didn't see any bathhouse facilities so back to Pienza for a shower! My black swim trunks turned light gray so we did another load of wash! Additionally, on our way back we saw a cool castle, Castello di Spedaletto, had to take a pic. Come to find out it's from the 12th century and offers a very nice "farm stay"!
The skies were clearing up, so we walked and walked with a little shopping in between. We found a cool shop in the center of town that had local hand forged furniture, lighting and art. The shop keeper told us we should visit the Biagiotti metal workers shop just outside of town, so we did. I dabble in making live edge furniture at home and I would love to have access to this eclectic shop for my projects! Giovanni described what they create at their large shop, pretty much anything you can think of! check it out www.biagiottipienza.com
We tried to make a reservation at the highly recommended Trattoria da Fiorella, no luck again ugh. As far as reservations you're best to check in at lunch time. I think it was 5:30'ish and most restaurants were closed up with nobody insight, but fortunately the owner was at Trattoria da Fiorella and I was able to make a reservation for the next night! Now I said "no luck" or were we actually "lucky"? as we searched for a restaurant in a courtyard a nice man named Christopher (aka Chris) asked if we needed help, we said not really we're just looking at restaurants. He said he owned the restaurant we were walking towards and would be happy to have a table ready for us when they open? we said absolutely! He was finishing unloading items for the restaurant and said "I'm going to have a beer would you please join me?" we wouldn't do this at home, which is unfortunate, but we said sounds great thank you. Unsure of where he was taking us we walked to the edge of town, talking all the way....are we going to a house? Turns out he is also the owner of a craft beer bar called Prosit, alrighty then! The bar is nice, great selection of beer, wine, cheese, meats etc. Wonderful talking with Chris, his english is great perhaps because his wife is from Arizona! so he knows the US pretty well too. After he left for the restaurant we stayed for maybe an hour listening to older rock and roll, it feels like a younger local hangout, great change of pace!
We walked into the small courtyard and through the door to IL Rossellino at 8:15 and our table was waiting for us. The restaurant is cozy, maybe 6 tables? there is courtyard seating, which would be outstanding, but the weather decided against that. Chris came over and described the menu for us, then a bottle of house wine, it was good!. (FYI, tomorrow we take the wines up a notch in Montalcino...but I digress) We started with a couple appetizers. The tasty pomodoro sauce with fresh burrata and rustic bread can actually serve as my meal, but I did order my favorite RAGU! Since visiting Italy and experiencing their various ragu's I've been making my own, the hours spent "caring" for the sauce is obvious when you have great ragu, and Rossellino's chef cares about his ragu! My wife started with an egg cooked at low temperature with asparagus and pecorino, she loved that! She also had Cacio e Pepe with artichoke which was also very nice.
Our meals and wine were very good, but the atmosphere makes or breaks the experience sometimes. There was a locals birthday celebration next to us and they were having fun. A young couple from Aosta were very nice and another couple from Rome chatted with us as the traditional digestives were delivered with our dessert wooopWOOOP! Chris brought 3 bottles of Stille di Meditazion and said see which one you prefer, I've never seen this brand so I did try all three! After dessert, coffee and finding my favorite digestive 3 times we started to leave, but the gentleman from Rome was trying to get us to sit and drink at their table...Chris rescued us and we were able to respectfully say our farewells! It was a VERY FUN DAY!!
To be continued.....
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Striking work, thanks for the link!
wco81
100+ Posts
What they call SUVs in Europe are often hatchbacks and they're about the same size as sedans or the traditional 5-door hatch backs.
You almost have to duck as you enter and exit the car or stick your head out the window when backing up for instance.
If it's like a US SUV, you might struggle to find roomy enough parking spaces, even in rural Tuscany.
Often you go to places like Assisi and the closest you can part of the centro storico is this garage right at the base of the walls and some of the spaces there may not be 2 meters high. Not to mention you often have very little space to the sides because of supporting columns.
I would prefer cars which have enough boot space for both my large suitcase and my carryon roller and in the compact category, they barely fit. I drove the Renalt Kaptur recently and it would not fit both, had to put the carryon in the back seat.
The economy category of cars may not even fit the larger suitcase in the back.
But they're certainly easier to park in these tiny spaces.
wco81
100+ Posts
Here are some pics I took in Pienza, including the Gladiator road lined with cypresses.
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2023, Spring Northern Italy part 5
April 11-25, 2023This morning I opened the windows to hear the church bells chime, I always like that. The weather was calling for a chance of rain again, but the blue skies looked promising. Last night after dinner we finally booked our next two legs of the trip, first San Vincenzo then on to Rapallo. Not sure why we had trouble deciding on those 2 stops, but we were happy to have that done, now we could focus on the present.
Today would be a wandering day bouncing from beautiful place to beautiful place. First stops were simply along the winding roads through Val d' Orcia, absolutely amazing!
Next was a quick visit to San Quirico d' Orcia. We really liked the feel of this small town, a few shops and restaurants and a GIN BAR! Their coffee was good too! Highlights...medieval churches and the not to be missed Horti Leonini Renaissance Gardens!
Next stop would be Montalcino, home of Brunello wine! Did I mention it was my BIRTHDAY?!!
Chose Trattoria I' Angolo for a great lunch, I had lasagna and my wife had a stew of some sort, both were perfect! We ordered the house red and really liked it, then my wife mentioned it was my birthday lunch. I guess the word traveled and a nice gentleman "bartender" came over and said if we liked that wine please try this, and then this and then a few more.....fortunately he was only bringing out tasting portions! Dessert and coffee followed this great lunch without asking, waitress simply said happy birthday from us! Our favorite wine was a 2014 Tassi Brunello Montalcino. After a beautiful lunch and many "free" tastings I asked the bartender for a bottle of our favorite for our travels and he smiles and says "allow me to introduce you to Mr. Tassi!" he just happened to be standing there! I introduced him to my wife and we told him how much we loved his wine and we would patiently wait to enjoy it on Lake Orta! That was a great birthday lunch! I wish I could remember the bartender/waitress names (not sure if they are the owners?)....here's a pic if you know?
Montalcino is a small town, we spent about 2 hours walking all over the place including the impressive fortress and Madonna del Soccorso from the early 14th century.
Soon we were heading to Bagni Vignoni, famous for another thermal hot spring. This town was lovely, but much smaller than I thought it would be. There are a couple of restaurants and shops. We walked the picturesque town in less than an hour and returned to find a parking ticket on the car, ugh. We thought we were in a one hour parking lot, but after asking around we needed to display a "paper parking pass" that has a dial on it to set your time, we didn't have a "paper dial" and didn't know to do that, how/where does a tourist get one of those? Several rental cars had the same ticket. We were told we would have to go BACK to San Quirico d' Orcia to pay the fine ugh ugh! That scam payment will have to wait until tomorrow.
Oh well, back towards Pienza. Chris at IL Rossellino Ristorante told us if we wanted the best Pecorino cheese, IN THE WORLD, we should go to Cugusi's on the backside of town towards Montepulciano, so we did. They actually have won many recent World Cheese awards, including a couple Super Gold Victories! What a cool and beautiful off the beaten path location. We bought a small wheel for friends and a large wedge of the coveted Gran Reserve for ourselves as well as a second wheel just because!
Back in Pienza to fare la passeggiata! The peaceful walkways around the cities walls offer a great vantage point for colorful sunsets. I swear there's no better views in the world. We ended this memorable birthday with dinner at Trattoria da Fiorella. Rabbit was recommended and it was delicious with a bottle of Brunello! There was another birthday celebration and we talked with the nice couple from Canada, the woman asked how old and I said 60, she said "you're just a baby!" she made my already perfect day that much better! To be continued....
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I’m sorry for the delay, I’m in the mountains away from my computer and photos. I will post part 6 early next week!
whelanluke
New Member
I love this weather, although m living in Perth but like spring of all areas.
Luke Whelan
https://perthisok.com/
Luke Whelan
https://perthisok.com/
Pauline
Forums Admin
It’s called a parking disk and there should be one in the car. You can buy them at tobacco shops. Set it to your arrival time and put it on the dash. If you don’t have one, write your arrival time on a piece of paper and use that. These are common in Italy and throughout Europe.
Fantastic photos! I need to catch up with the rest of your report. I love this part of Tuscany.
We drove to the main parking lot with the pay meters, but it was full. Couple hundred yards down hill was this section with maybe 10 spots, had those signs but no pay station. In my area if there's a one hour limit, but no meters, it's sorta honor code? but lesson learned, we now know to purchase "THE WHEEL" or ask the rental car company if they provide one. I always have pen and paper, Thanks for the info!
berliej
10+ Posts
What a perfect way to spend a birthday. We spent a week in the area some years ago, rented an apartment in Montalcino and travelled around the area. Your pictures brought back so many wonderful memories.. Thank you!
2023. Spring Northern Italy part 6
April 11-25, 2023Pienza, we had a wonderful visit! For us, it's a perfect hill town, I could live there. Next stop on the very last minute itinerary will be San Vincenzo! It's roughly 100 miles to the coastal town and should take around 2 hours. Why San Vincenzo? we struggled with this location, we could have continued up the coast a couple more hours and stayed somewhere for 4 nights, but decided to break the coast into 2 two night stays. Before leaving Pienza we enjoyed coffee and croissants on the Palazzo Piccolomini. Grabbed panini sandwiches from the butcher shop and stopped in the Duomo di Pienza to light a candle.
On the way out of town we topped off the tank and stopped at the Pienza post office, nothing to mail...but my wife discovered we could pay our parking ticket from Bagno Vignoni there, easy peasy! I have always wanted to see Monticchiello, so off we went. If you drive the rolling roads of Val d'Orcia you'll find it difficult not to stop and take photos around every bend!
Monticchiello is a short distance away, however in the opposite direction of San Vincenzo, no problem! We considered staying in Monticchiello when researching lodging, it's even smaller than Pienza! It has incredible charm and was surprisingly absent of people. .
We meandered in and out of lovely cobblestone lanes until we found ourselves in the compressed center of town, complete with the always present and classic cathedral and perhaps 3 restaurants. I had read about Ristorante Daria, we stopped there to have lunch before heading to the coast. It's a wonderful restaurant, very welcoming and comfortable. The waiter was great, we decided on a couple light dishes and a glass of house red, these pics will show the care and class that is given to their creations, outstanding!
After coffee and a little more walking we hit the road. The drive to the coast was pleasant and uneventful. The only side trip was to a rural gas station for coffee, fyi I avoid gas station coffee in my hometown, it's almost guaranteed to be awful. I enjoyed watching a couple truckers order double espresso and with one swig they were back on the road! We only had a half hour to get to our destination, but the coffee was so good.
We could finally see the blue Ligurian Sea in the distance. As we approached the marina town of San Vincenzo we searched for parking, quickly found a free spot a block from the apartment. The apartment is next to the convenient train station. It was self check in and it went smoothly. The one bedroom apartment was bright, clean and had everything we needed, small balcony was a plus ! Time to explore and find that beer!!
It was mid April, so a little early in the season for all of the businesses to be open, but several were. We strolled the lovely promenade Passeggiata del Marinalo and out onto the long sea wall to get a wonderful view of the port. For Italy, the town feels younger and a little more modern, nice sailor vibe. It was nearing sunset, so we found a marina bar and sat outside enjoying the sights, amazing colors and of course a couple "sundowners"! Our waiter told us who had his favorite brick oven pizza in town, so we kept it simple and found the restaurant conveniently 1 block from our apartment, very good pizza! We didn't and still don't know a lot about this area, so after dinner we worked on tomorrows plans...do we train? drive? north? south? ....stay tuned!
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whelanluke
New Member
If I had to choose, the ravioli from Daria would be what’s for dinner! But i don’t think I’ve ever had a bad pizza in Italy?
DDTraveler
10+ Posts
Wonderful write up and photos! We'll be in Livorno later this Fall.
Next report in a few days incudes Piombino etc. have you been to the area?