Stone, Sea, and Sun: A Journey South

May 17, 2026 by JLF

April 25 – May 7, 2026

Italy is made up of 20 regions, think of them as the Italian equivalent of USA’s states. Jim and I made a promise to ourselves after we moved to Italy: we want to visit all of them. This trip let us tick three off the list in one go: Basilicata, Puglia, and Molise. This trip was our best “let’s explore a new region.” We saw a lot, did a lot, but had enough down time to enjoy it all.

We hadn’t expected it, but the unofficial themes of the trip emerged quickly: birds everywhere we looked, and wildflowers carpeting every hillside and roadside. What lovely surprises!

Part 1 – The Volcanic South: Venosa & Matera

Our first stop was an overnight in Venosa, a friendly town in the northern part of Basilicata. We happened to arrive on April 25th, Liberation Day, a national holiday, and the whole town was out celebrating. There was a festive energy in the air that made the most ordinary piazza feel like a party. Very big and imposing castle in the main piazza, along with nice Roman ruins and a half-built basilica made this town more than just an overnight stop.

Venosa castle in town — *This beautiful castle dominated Venosa’s main piazza.*

Venosa abby and roman ruins — Just outside of Venosa, an archaeological park preserves the ruins of the ancient Roman colony of Venusia, birthplace of the poet Horace, alongside a massive 13th-century unfinished basilica. It’s like visiting a construction site of a medieval church when all of the workers have left for the day.

We then visited the Elena Fucci winery, where we tasted her Aglianico del Vulture — a rich, volcanic red wine that is one of the south’s best-kept secrets. The name comes from the ancient volcano nearby, and you can almost taste the mineral intensity of that land in the glass.

*Elena Fucci, Jim and JoAn. Unlike many Italian wineries with centuries of heritage, Elena Fucci built hers from old family vines that had never been sold commercially.*

The drive to Matera was a delight in itself. Birds of prey circled above the ravines, and we pulled over more than once just to watch them and take pictures. Basilicata is a rugged, largely untouched landscape of rolling hills, deep ravines, and ancient volcanic peaks.

Red Kite — *We saw both Red and Black Kites soaring over the countryside.*

Matera is difficult to describe – not beautiful in the typical Italian sense, but striking. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on earth, with cave dwellings carved into the limestone ravines, called the Sassi, that date back over 9,000 years. In the 1950s, the Italian government considered the Sassi a national embarrassment and forcibly relocated its residents to modern housing; decades later, UNESCO declared those same caves a World Heritage Site. Today the Sassi have been transformed into boutique hotels, restaurants, and museums. Matera’s striking landscape has drawn filmmakers for decades, serving as the backdrop for Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”, the James Bond thriller “No Time to Die” and many more.

We stayed in the old part of town in a hotel where our room had literally been carved out of the rock. The spa was a bonus and a very welcome one after a day of walking. Getting around the Sassi on foot is rather difficult, with lots of iffy steps, the streets wind and double back on themselves in ways that make maps almost useless. We took a tour in an Ape, one of those tiny three-wheeled vehicles that are perfectly suited to navigating narrow lanes. It was the best possible way to get our bearings. It’s an odd feeling to know that you are just a few minutes away from your destination but you aren’t sure how to get there!

Matera during the day — *The Sassi of Matera: 9,000 years of human habitation carved into limestone, once considered an embarrassment, now appreciated for its history and raw beauty.*

Matera church in rocks — *The Sassi churches of Matera were carved directly from the cliff face, sacred spaces hidden inside the stone itself.*

Matera inside of church — *Standing inside a cave church in the Sassi, surrounded by Byzantine frescoes still vivid after a thousand years.*

Matera Ape tour — *We zipped around Matera’s tiny streets (but not the steps!) in this Ape.*

Matera inside cave home — A reconstructed cave home in the Sassi, one room for the whole family, and often the animals too. In the 1950s, the Italian government declared these dwellings uninhabitable and forcibly relocated some 15,000 residents to modern housing.

Matera hotel room — We stayed in a beautiful cave hotel room. Today it is ruggedly elegant.

Matera spa — *Our hotel had a beautiful spa carved out of the rock, including this wonderful hot mineral pool.*

Matera at night — *Nine thousand years of history, lit up for the night.*

Part 2 – Baroque Puglia: Lecce

If Matera is all drama and geology, Lecce is all elegance and exuberance. Known as the Florence of the South, Lecce built its reputation during the 17th century when the Catholic Church funded a building boom of extraordinary ambition. Local craftsmen worked a uniquely soft, creamy-colored limestone into facades so intricately carved they look almost lacy. The style became known as Barocco Leccese, and it is unlike anything else in Italy.

On two different evenings we went up the bell tower of the Duomo to watch the city change in the fading light. The first evening was about the architecture — the way the golden stone glows at sunset is something you have to see to believe. The second evening was about the birds. Kestrels and swifts by the hundreds flew around the tower in formations that seemed almost choreographed. We stayed up there longer than we intended both times.

Lecce Duomo and Bell tower — *Late afternoon light on the Piazza del Duomo and its grand bell tower.*

Lecce Duomo detail — *Lecce Baroque in detail: saints, scrolls, and sculptural flourishes cascading across the golden facade of the Duomo at sunset.*

Lecce, in Bell Tower — *Goofy selfie from the bell tower with the beautiful golden city in the background.*

Eurasian Kestrel in flight — *We saw Eurasian Kestrels in Lecce and Eurasian and Lesser Kestrels in the countryside.*

*The Altare Maggiore of the Chiesa del Gesù — twisted columns, intricate sculpture, and the warm glow of local stone. Lecce Baroque at its most extravagant, dated to 1699.*

*The Basilica di Santa Croce: Somewhere behind all that carving, there’s a church.*

Our wine visit took us to the Leone de Castris winery, one of Puglia’s most historic producers. We tasted several wines, but the highlight was their Five Roses rosé, which has long been one of our favorites. We finally learned the story behind the name — which I’ll leave for you to discover if you visit. Some stories are better told in person.

Part 3 – Trulli, Coast & Countryside: Ostuni → Alberobello → Trani

I plan our trips carefully, but I’ve learned over the years that the willingness to adapt is just as important as the planning. This stretch of the trip gave me several opportunities to do that.

Ostuni, the White City, perched brilliantly above the olive-covered plain, was on our list, but the day we’d earmarked for it turned out to be stormy. Rather than wander a hilltop town in the rain, we pivoted to a nearby cave system that friends had recommended: the Grotte di Castellana. What an unexpected treat. The caves are vast and otherworldly, and they kept us completely dry while the weather sorted itself out above ground.

From there we headed to Alberobello, the capital of the trulli. These remarkable cone-roofed limestone dwellings date back to the 15th century, when local farmers built them without mortar on orders from the ruling Count of Conversano, the idea being that a mortarless building could be quickly dismantled if a royal inspector came to levy taxes on permanent structures. The trulli were essentially a centuries-long tax dodge, which somehow makes them even more charming. The town was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 and today has over 1,500 of these extraordinary structures.

We didn’t just look at the trulli — we stayed in one. Our trullo had a terrazza with an amazing view over a hillside covered in those conical roofs, one cone after another as far as we could see -and even one trullo church! We took a walking tour, wandered on our own, but found that living inside one (the thick stone walls, the cool air, the unexpected coziness) told us more than any guidebook could.

Alberobello, our trullo — *We rented this adorable trullo for two nights.*

Alberobello, our trullo inside — *Inside was cozy and modern, but you could still see the traditional elements of a Trullo like the fireplace and the shape of the ceiling.*

Alberobello, our terrazza — *We had a spacious and comfy terrazza with an incredible view of the town’s hill filled with Trulli!*

Alberobello, view from our terrazza — *This view doesn’t get old… This part of town was very touristy and most of the trullis were shops, restaurants, or museums. But still adorable!*

Alberobello, Trullo church — *Even this church gets a conical roof in Alberobello!*

Alberbello adordable Trullo — *This had to be one of the cutest Trulli that we saw. Our walking tour guide explained that if there were flowers out front, that someone lived in the Trullo. That makes it even more special!*

Alberbello pretty terrazza — *Some stores had beautiful terrazze that you could visit – and I loved the flowers on this one!*

We made another unplanned detour when we dropped a winery visit in favor of a day in Bari. The highlight, without question, was enjoying the back street where women were making orecchiette pasta by hand, just as their grandmothers had; rolling and shaping each little ear of pasta on wooden boards set out in the open air. We bought a bag and were surprised at the thickness of the pasta… not quite our favorite, but I am glad that we experienced it! As for the city itself, a friend had warned us that Bari is “Puglia’s version of Naples” — chaotic, crowded and loud. He wasn’t wrong. We appreciated the orecchiette women and moved on.

Bari pasta lady — *Flour, hands, and a lifetime of practice. Bari’s famous street pasta makers are a living tradition.*

Our final stop for this part of the trip was Trani, a coastal city that doesn’t get nearly the attention it deserves. It flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries as a powerful maritime hub and a departure point for the Crusades, and its glorious Romanesque cathedral is built from a blush-toned local stone and seems to rise directly from the Adriatic Sea. The city had a wonderful ease to it: people out walking, enjoying themselves, not overwhelmed by visitors. After some of the more tourist-heavy stops on this trip, it felt like a gift.

We got a bonus we hadn’t planned on. Driving back to our apartment one afternoon after visiting Castel del Monte, we stumbled into the tail end of a procession for the town’s patron saint, exactly the kind of scene you imagine when you dream of southern Italy. Priests in robes, banners swaying overhead, and a brass band filling the streets with horns and tubas. It was like something out of a movie, and I wished we’d known about it in time to see the whole thing. No pics, only fleeting views…

Trani duomo — *Trani’s cathedral dominates the seafront piazza — Romanesque architecture at its best.*

Trani Duomo seafront — *Where stone meets sea: Trani’s 11th-century cathedral standing watch over the Adriatic as it has for nearly a thousand years.*

Trani Duomo interior — *Romanesque restraint at its finest: the interior of Trani’s duomo lets the stone do all the talking.*

*Castel del Monte: Frederick II’s geometric masterpiece rises from the Apulian plateau — eight towers, eight sides, and eight centuries of mystery.*

*Lots of birds of prey in the countryside near the Castel del Monte, including this Eurasian Marsh Harrier.*

Trullo in countryside — *The countryside is scattered with trulli, many of which are still used today to store equipment and supplies for local farms.*

Part 4 – Forest, Frontier & the Road Home: TorreVento → Foresta Umbra → Molise

We made one more winery stop in the foothills near Castel del Monte before heading north: TorreVento, set amid vineyards and wildflowers and more of those wonderful birds. Then we pointed the car toward the Gargano Peninsula and the Foresta Umbra, the Shady Forest. On the drive up to the forest, we passed two roadside shallow ponds filled with flamingos – quite a surprise! We pulled over, stared and took lots of pictures.

*We spotted Greater Flamingos in two shallow ponds right along the road. What a surprise!*

Greater Flamingo pair — *And here is a lovely pair of Greater Flamingos.*

Juvenile Greater Flamingo ready to fly — Young flamingos are born with grey-white plumage — the iconic pink comes only with time and diet. It’s the carotenoid pigments in their food, primarily brine shrimp and algae, that eventually turn them the color we know.

The Foresta Umbra is the ancient heart of the Gargano National Park, one of the last remnants of the primeval beech and oak forest that once blanketed much of Central Europe. Its beech forests are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and driving into them you understand why — the trees are enormous, the light filtered and green, the silence deep.

Getting to the forest, however, tested our nerves. The road up was technically two-way but wide enough for only one car. We inched past four or five oncoming vehicles in a series of white-knuckle negotiations, each car easing half off the road to let the other squeeze by. The views were stunning, but the circumstances made it difficult to enjoy.

The destination was worth every hairpin turn. We stayed at the ELDA Hotel, a lovely property tucked right in the midst of the forest, in a cottage outside the main building with a table set perfectly for sitting outside, watching birds, and playing cribbage. We took a lovely walk through the old-growth forest to a quiet pond. The birdsong there was remarkable. I’ve been to a lot of beautiful places, but that morning walk felt like something set apart.

*Foresta Umbra, the peace and serenity of an old-growth forest.*

From the forest we crossed into Molise —the third region of this trip. Molise is tiny and largely overlooked region, which turns out to be precisely its appeal. The landscape is beautiful and peaceful: forested mountains, green valleys, and agricultural plains. We visited the Claudio Cipressi winery, and his story is worth telling. In 1990, an agronomist friend mentioned almost in passing that Molise farmers used to grow a grape called Tintilia. The variety had nearly vanished; it was too difficult to farm, too obscure to bother with, and quite acidic. Cipressi, who had come to winemaking from a completely different career, became obsessed. He cultivated the grape, submitted it to university researchers, and eventually helped get Tintilia officially recognized as a unique indigenous variety and entered on Italy’s national registry. He tweaked his vinification process until he could consistently produce a well-balanced wine, albeit with several years of aging before its release. Today he is widely credited with saving it from extinction. The wine is wonderful and the landscape around the winery was breathtaking. We bought way too much.

Molise vineyard — *The rolling hills of Molise with Claudio Cipressi’s beautiful vineyard.*

Claudio Cipressi winery — *Jim is always very engaged during any wine tour with lots of questions about production methods.*

We drove home via an overnight stop outside Orvieto, arriving back in Lucca by noon the next day. Nearly two weeks, three regions, flamingos by the road, orecchiette women, cave hotels, a nearly-lost grape variety, and more birds than we could count — but no itinerary could have planned for the wildflowers that added their own vivid surprise to every road we traveled, from the rocky hillsides of Basilicata to the sun-drenched fields of Puglia. What a trip!

Discovering Spello: The Art of Le Infiorate Festival

July 26, 2025 by JLF

In June, Jim and I spent twelve days exploring Umbria, the stunning region just southeast of Tuscany. I shared plenty of photos on Facebook of the towns we visited — each beautiful in its own way — but I held back on Spello. Why? Because what we experienced there simply cannot be captured in a few pictures or captions. Spello deserves more. It deserves more — a story.

And that story is about Le Infiorate.

Every year, on the feast of Corpus Domini (Corpus Christi), the streets of Spello are transformed into a living canvas—flower carpets that stretch for meters, designed and laid down entirely by hand using flower petals, leaves, and seeds. No glue or adhesives are allowed; instead, water is misted on to keep the petals fresh and in place. The effect is dazzling: sacred art underfoot, created in the middle of the night, and gone by sunset the next day. The official website is https://www.infioratespello.it/.

Here’s a brief overview of the main events of Le Infiorate:

Saturday Morning–Afternoon: Local groups mark the street with large design templates and set up tents to cover the designs from wind and rain.
Saturday starting at 6pm: Volunteers begin work and continue through the night, preparing thousands of flower petals, carefully separating colors and textures, then placing petals by hand onto the designs using tweezers, cards, and their hands — with plenty of chatting, singing, and sharing food.
Sunday at 8am: All designs must be completed, because the judges start their walk through town assessing each carpet in several categories.
Sunday at 11am: A religious procession passes over the flower carpets, a symbolic act that also marks the end of their brief lifespan.
Sunday Evening: The streets are cleaned, and the petals are swept away, leaving only memories—and lots of photos—of this fleeting, floral art.

We arrived on Saturday morning and, to our surprise, discovered that our apartment was right along the procession route. Throughout the day, we explored the town and saw around 60 different flower carpets designs. However, we paid special attention to the one just outside our door. I used photos of that particular design to illustrate the Infiorate process.

Saturday 11:00 AM: Each group has a tent for their work. They place a large white sheet of paper with the design and colors of the flowers on the street. They may use wallpaper glue to secure it.
6:00 PM: The group begins preparing the flowers. They use scissors to cut the petals from the flowers.
The flowers are ready!
11:00 PM: The group places the flowers on the design. They use their hands, small cards, and tweezers. Many also talk, sing, and eat!
Sunday 6:30 AM: Almost finished. Judging begins at 8:00 AM.
Many groups display signs that explain their design and the message or meaning behind it.
7:30am Final touches!
8am It’s done!
10:15 AM: The carpet is finished! The crowd waits for the procession.
12:00 PM: The procession, which started at 11am and took one hour to reach our appartment.
After the procession, you can see the flowers are all messed up.
5:45 PM: Street cleaners begin clearing the flowers.

There is a tremendous amount of work needed to prepare the flowers, so some groups invite visitors to help. We found one of these groups and helped for about an hour. So much fun to participate in the activity!

Jim, hard at work with the others gathered around the table
We cut all of the petals! And a container full of white petals too!
Here they are using petals like we prepared

The designs are created and judged in four categories:

CARPETS / QUADs: flower displays of at least 24 square meters that represent a religious theme in a figurative, abstract, or symbolic manner. These dimensions are reduced for particular narrow streets.
FIGURATIVE CARPETS: flowered carpets measuring at least 12 linear meters or 12 square meters, but less than 24 square meters, in which at least one figurative element is present.
UNDER-14: flowered carpets measuring at least 12 square or linear meters created by groups whose members are under 14 years of age.
GEOMETRIC CARPETS: flower carpets of at least 12 linear meters, in which the repetitiveness of the shapes prevails.

Here are pictures of designs in each of these categories, along with some street scenes.

Quad category
Main piazza, with people checking out one of the carpets with a ladder that gave you a better view.
Figurative category
Under 14 category
Cute Ape truck filled with flowers
Under 14, Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who passed away in 2006, is being called the first Millennial saint.
Geometric category
Geometric category, on a narrow street with too many people!
The streets were one way – even for pedestrians. But our apartment was on the street, so the police let us proceed (very slowly).

Another flower contest, Finestre, balconi e vicoli fioriti, is also held that brings color and creativity to windows, balconies, and alleyways. Displays are judged on beauty, originality, and how well they highlight the town’s historic architecture. These blooms give Spello a lasting charm. Here are some photos that capture that beauty.

If you are considering visiting Spello for Le Infiorate, here are a few tips for you:

Go! It is worth it!
The 24-hour period from 4pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday gives you an opportunity to watch (and participate!) in the preparation activities, see the completed designs, and watch the procession. If you can only go on Sunday, get there as early as possible, preferably well before 8am.
Stay in the town of Spello if possible. I made reservations six months in advance and there were few rooms available. Plan early, but also check for openings later if that is your only choice.
Reserve a parking space online then walk into the city. We brought only what we would need for the two nights, because the hills are steep!
Be prepared for crowds and focus on the beauty and community spirit instead.

Le Infiorate may last only a single weekend, but the spirit of creativity, community, and beauty lingers all year. Whether you come for the fleeting floral carpets or stroll through flower-filled alleyways in another season, Spello offers something truly special. It’s a town that celebrates art, honors tradition, and welcomes visitors with open arms—and, of course, plenty of petals.

We’re so grateful to have been a small part of it.

Flower farms

June 26, 2022 by JLF

Saturday morning, Jim, Ilene, and I headed to Massarosa, a small town about 30 minutes from Lucca. Once a year the farms of Massarosa open up to visitors. We visited a farm growing lotus flowers, one for saffron (but the flowers were not blooming currently), and one for lavender. Yes, these are farms for flowers!

Lotuses at “I Campi di Ninfa”

A lotus blossom farm! This must be one of the world’s most beautiful crops.
The lifecycle of a lotus blossom: the bud, the blossom unfolds, fully open, then the petals drop off.
A purple visitor for the blossoms

Next stop – a lavender field

And other beautiful flowers too!

A eucalyptus farm!

Sunflowers – no, then yes!

We had a wonderful visit to Massarosa but were disappointed that the sunflower fields were not in bloom. So we headed back to Lucca on the Autostrada. Ilene saw two fields of bright yellow sunflowers and I jokily asked Jim if we could go find them. He said yes and we were off on another adventure… trying to find fields of sunflowers that we had seen 10 minutes ago on the Autostrada. Ilene and I were overjoyed to be completed surrounded by sunflowers – more than either of us had ever seen. Thank you Jim for being so very patient on our pursuit of all of these flowers. Ti amo!

Two unopened flowers in a field of mature flowers

Thanks to Ilene for the great “people” pictures in this post and for going with us on this adventure. You can read more about Ilene and Gary, her husband, on their blog called “Our Italian Journey“.

La Foce, Etruscans, birding, and more for my Birthday trip

June 20, 2022 by JLF

In 2015, I was planning our next trip to Italy and discovered La Foce, a beautiful villa and garden set in the valley called Val d’Orcia. I added it to our list of things to do, but we never made it there. The garden was opened only certain days and hours, and we just couldn’t squeeze it in. The next year, I tried again with a similar result. I’m not sure how many times I tried, but the logistics always got in the way. So as my birthday was approaching this year, I decided that we would visit La Foce. There is a Bed & Breakfast on site with a two-night stay required and a tour of that fabulous garden included. I booked it!

First stop: A very unique wine tasting

We left Lucca early on my birthday and drove 1.5 hours to our first stop – a winery called Podere Il Carnasciale. This is a very small “cult” winery that makes a thousand cases per year, using a very interesting grape called the Caberlot, a natural crossing between Cabernet Franc and Merlot. We met the winemaker at a nearby cemetery (you can’t make this stuff up!), and he led us on multiple gravel and dirt roads up the mountain. He showed us their oldest vines (planted in 1985) then led us to the barrel room. We didn’t do a traditional tour and tasting, but instead had our first ever barrel tasting. Their 2020 vintage is ready for bottling, so we tasting wine directly from 4 out of 6 barrels of their different vineyards of Caberlot. Although they were all Caberlot from the same year, it was interesting to smell and taste the differences that comes from different locations. What a cool experience! You can read more here.

Entry to the winery
Their selection of wines
Their small barrel room
Marco, the winemaker, giving us a taste of wine directly from the barrel
Marco and Jim preparing the glasses for tasting
View from the winery
Beautiful Cypress trees line their driveway

Pienza, hilltop town of Tuscany

Pienza was a modest village until one of the villagers became Pope Pius II. He transformed his village into the “ideal city of the Renaissance” and we saw many tourists enjoying the atmosphere, sites, and panoramic views. In three years a central square was rebuilt with the Town Hall, the Papal Palace (Palazzo), and the Cathedral (Duomo).

Pienza Town Hall with gorgeous loggia
Interior courtyard of the Pope’s Palazzo, including view of the countryside
Exterior of the Pienza Duomo, designed based on the Renaissance ideals
Ceiling of the Duomo
View of the countryside, between the Duomo and the Palazzo
Iron ring for tying your horse – this one is very decorative!
The GPS directions took us through this alley to our lunch restaurant!
Pici (handmade very thick pasta) with pancetta and tomatoes. Typical dish of Pienza

La Foce – finally!

“La Foce is a large estate in the Southern Tuscan region of Val d’Orcia, midway between Florence and Rome. La Foce lies on the Via Francigena, the ancient road and pilgrim route running from France to Rome. It has been inhabited continuously for many centuries. The Villa was built in the late 15th century as a hospice for pilgrims and merchants traveling on the Via Francigena.

In 1924, Antonio and Iris Origo bought the dilapidated estate. The villa was restored by the Origos in the 1920s. The fine gardens were designed by the English architect Cecil Pinsent. The Origos employed 25 families and started a school to teach and ensure the well-being of some 50 local children. They also built 35 dwellings in the 1920s to 1930s for tenant farmers.

The book War in Val d’Orcia by Iris Origo is set at this estate, which at the time contained 57 farms on 7,000 acres. [The book is based on Origo’s diary during World War II and tells of the day-to-day experiences and struggles that occurred as the war was fought all around them. I read this book a few months ago.]

Descendants of the family still own the property today and operate it as a resort.” [excerpts from Wikipedia]

Front gate to La Foce villa… makes you wonder what is beyond the gate…
Lots of flowers in this courtyard where we checked into our Bed & Breakfast
Official greeter of La Foce
Kitchen of the La Foce villa
We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast onsite at the La Foce estate. Those doors lead to our room.
Such a pretty building with flowers all around!
Flowers everywhere!
My first ever taste of a white mulberry! Yumm!
Jim spotted this hare a number of times. Those ears!

The Cypress Tree is a common feature of the Tuscan landscape. These very tall evergreen trees produce leaves that are dark green in color, and maintain this color throughout the year. They are also a symbol of the Italian landscape. A typical element of a Renaissance painting is a landscape in the background; if you look closely, you’ll notice that the landscapes look remarkable like today’s Tuscan landscape including the ubiquitous cypress trees. Today you will find many photographs taken of the landscape, including a few of the S-shaped streets lined with cypress trees. One of the best examples is on the La Foce estate and was part of the landscape directly outside of our room! I took pictures several times throughout the day to see how the light impacted the scene. The yellowish color is from the spring wheat that was ready for harvest. I’d like to return when the wheat is brilliant green.

Our garden tour was scheduled for 11:30am on Thursday and it was already very hot. Although I had seen many pictures of the gardens, I was surprised at the impact of the combination of the formal gardens with the gorgeous landscape of Val d’Orcia. It was simply spectacular!

Thursday afternoon we drove 30 minutes to Lago di Montepulciano, a nearby lake with park. They even had birdwatching tours available and I had booked a tour for 4pm. Why they would have such a tour at 4pm is beyond me… To date, our birdwatching experiences in Italy have not been nearly as productive as those in America; there are simply fewer birds here. So with tempered expectations, we made the drive. We met a lovely young woman who is continuing her studies in Environmental Science and she took us on a personal tour of the lake, including quite a large hide. Cost of the tour was €5 each! And here are my best pictures:

Cormorant
Mallard

Last stop: Chiusi, Tuscan town with rich Etruscan history

Before the Roman times, the Etruscan people lived in Italy (Tuscany and a bit beyond) from roughly 750BC to 90BC. The Etruscans were an advanced civilization with rich mineral resources and as a major Mediterranean trading power. Archaeologists have discovered a lot of artifacts from the civilization, mostly where they buried their dead. Jim and I started getting interested in learning more about the civilization and can’t resist visiting archaeological sites and museums. While in Chiusi, Jim went on a tour of some tunnels underneath the Cathedral. The Etruscans had created this series of tunnels to collect rainwater, which, filtering through the layered sandstones and sediments of the hillside was channeled into wells and then drawn for domestic use. The Romans also used the tunnels, but skipped the filtering aspect, so many people got sick. [I skipped this activity because it involved lots of steps and I’m still very slow on steps.]

Etruscan gravestone, a funerary sphinx, showing clear influence of Egypt on Etruscan civilization
Canopus of Dolciano, a cinerary vase with a head-shaped lid. The intent was to humanize the urn with the deceased to recover his physical integrity after his death.
Part of the Etruscan water system under Chiusi

After Chiusi, we headed home to Lucca. It was a great birthday adventure! Thanks for reading this lengthy post, and I hope that you enjoyed learning about some of the smaller, less touristy locations of Italy.

Fields of flowers – or not!!!

July 11, 2021 by JLF

Tuscan summers are a bit too hot for me but for a field of flowers, I will grab my camera gear and face the fiercest summer sun. They always seem to lead to adventures as well…

Update on 1 August 2021 – Ilene has posted about flowers in Tuscany with pictures from our joint trips. Be sure to check out her blog called “Our Italian Journey” and the posting about the flowers. If you’ve ever considered an extended trip to Italy, you could learn a lot from Gary and Ilene!

Massarosa – lotuses and lavender

This small town is about 30 minutes from Lucca and has several farms that grow flowers commercially. Visitors are encouraged to discover these locations, take photos, and enjoy the spectacular scenes. Jim and I set off one Saturday morning for Massarosa to find lotuses, lavender, and sunflowers. I was very pleasantly surprised when this gorgeous lotus field was less than five minutes down a paved path from the parking lot!

Then we head off to find sunflowers using their published map. We found two fields, but we were toooo early and none of the sunflowers were blooming yet.

Next stop… lavenders. Well, this also proved to be a bit difficult. But after driving down impossibly narrow streets and across fields (that I THINK that we were allowed to drive through), we discovered a most wonderful field of lavender.

I was so excited about our new discoveries that I returned with Ilene, a friend from Lucca, just a few days later. She was wowed by the lotuses, then we set off to find the lavender again. This time, I would turn before “those greenhouses” that Jim and I saw and he was certain that we would easily find the lavender farm again. We wandered through even more backroads and across another field, had a few close calls with parked and moving cars until I declared “There will be no lavender today!” When I returned home, Jim informed me that I should have turned AFTER “those greenhouses”. Perhaps we will try again…

Castelluccio di Norcia

Ilene’s landlord told her about this very small town in Umbria that also has fields of flowers. I was blown away at the pictures posted on this town’s website. I left one picture on the screen and Jim thought that it was a painting, not a photograph.

I recognized that these are professional pictures, most likely taken during the very best year from the best vantage points at the best time of the day. But if I could see these fields and get a few pictures – even if they weren’t quite a beautiful as the published pictures then I would be very happy. (To be clear, I did NOT take the pictures above. They are from https://www.castellucciodinorcia.it/fioritura-castelluccio-di-norcia/)

So plans were made to travel to Umbria with Ilene and Gary. The drive would be about four hours and we would stay at a town nearby for one night. The first afternoon/evening we would find the fields of flowers and enjoy the flowers with the afternoon/evening light. The second morning, we would return to the fields of flowers to see them again in the morning light. And of course, we planned to stop at a few quaint towns for our lunches.

We set off on Wednesday morning on time. The ride was pleasant, driving through Tuscany and into Umbria. We stopped in Montefalco, a small town that specializes in a wine called Sagrantino. We wandered through the town, ate pizza and sipped on Sagrantino. Along the way I spotted a field of sunflowers, Jim stopped, and Ilene and I popped out of the car to snap a few photos. I finally got my sunflowers!

We arrived in Norcia, the nearby “larger” town, where we would be staying for the night. We drove to the hotel using Google Maps, only to learn that the check in was at a different location and our rooms were at a third location. The town was small, so it was just a small annoyance. We checked in, relaxed for just a few minutes, then we were heading to these picturesque fields of flowers. I knew that the drive would take about 30 minutes and we would be going through mountains. It was quite a challenging drive, but Jim seems to take the crazy driving in stride. We saw many beautiful scenes, but no where to stop along the narrow roads. At this point, I was hoping that the drive was worth it!

We finally arrived and Ilene declare “This can’t be it!”. We got down into the valley, near where the other visitors parked and walked into the field. Here’s one of my first pictures:

Yep… a few poppies and a few purple flowers and lots of brown/yellow/greenish grass. We wandered around a bit and found some nicer areas, but we were all disappointed. We chatted with an English-speaking visitor and she confirmed that this year was just not as beautiful as other years. I tried to stay positive that it would be prettier in the morning light.

So, we returned the next morning and the light was better. We walked to a few different areas and saw a bit of the beauty that we were expecting.

We also enjoyed watching a shepherd command his sheepdog to move the sheep across the road. Once the dog got started, it took only a few minutes to move the entire herd. Fun to see in “real life” – not an exhibition or show, really moving sheep around!

Mandatory selfie in field by Ilene… We had a lot of fun!

Norcia, as described by Jim

When JoAn told me that we were going to visit Norcia in Umbria, it did not register that this was the one of the cities that was almost complete destroyed by an earthquake in 2016. I remember seeing the devastation in the news and thinking how can they recover?

On arriving in Norcia, we were following JoAn’s directions (with the aid of Google Maps) and we ended up driving through the city looking for our hotel. Not thinking about the earthquake, I was surprised by all the new construction work going on. Later as we walk around the town the realization that we are walking on streets that were completely filled with rubble five years ago started to set in. There are still many buildings boarded up and reinforced. There are parts of town that are fenced off. Outside of town there many temporary buildings for shops, restaurants and homes. In town we see the remains of the cathedral where restoration is years away from completion.

But to my surprise, I did not sense despair. The atmosphere is one of survival and hope. Even with COVID, the resiliency of the people is evident. Many shops and restaurants have reopened in the city. There are streets where the restoration is completed. In the main piazza next to the ruins of the Cathedral there was a big screen setup to watch the Euro 2020 soccer tournament.

When we see news stories of similar destruction around the world it often seems far away. But this visit brought the reality of physical and human impacts into focus. I would like to visit Norcia again to see the progress and support the people in a small way.

My Next Adventure

I retired in Italy!

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