Last day of holiday

18th October  - Frank's birthday

Too tired to walk to the Sommocolonia, a village on a hill above Barga.(so we had to drive)  Access is via the narrowest of roads, so it was a big surprise to see that there was a bus stop up there, just glad we didn't encounter the bus on our way up or down. It would have to take the prize as the quietest town we have encountered on our travels - not a soul was seen, Frank said he heard 2 women talking, but all I heard was a dog bark. The town was hit hard in WW2 by US fire, most of the town including the church destroyed, but belltower saved. Looks like all forgiven as there are several US flags around and a memorial to a US soldier. There is also mention of the "Buffalo soldiers" 92nd Infantry Div, all black soldiers who dug in in the area againt the Germans most losing their lives. After the war there was no mention of them in official US reports.

That's all, tomorrow we drive to Milan for flight home on Saturday.

Sommocolonia established by Romans as fortress & lookout

Sommocolonia

Sommocolonia

Sommocolonia belltower, one of few original structures left after WW2

View down to Barga from Sommocolonia

Drama in Barga

17th October

Set off early for a walk in the hills around Barga, but on the way out of town were stopped by the sound of someone calling for help from one of the houses. When we approached the front door there was an old woman, very distressed, in a wheelchair at the front door, she kept repeating that her son hadn't come out of his room and the door was looked. Luckily  a car went past at this juncture and we hailed the driver and  he came and after speaking to her ( apparently she kept saying "go to his window and look in" Trouble is in Italy they always have the external shutters down), he called the police  ... or so we thought...  after 15 minutes a car pulled up and uniformed officer goes to the front door, no she can't enter the house, she is just the civil police. Finally after 40 or so minutes 2 cars of real police came to investigate. In the meantime a woman had come out onto the balcony above (looked like 2 apartments) had a gander and gone back in. Really! you can't tell me she wouldn't have heard the screaming. Also it was rubbish day and the neighbours had their bags on the street, but this house had several bags just out the front door, what, no-one noticed? Anyway when the real police arrived another lady came from down the street and she said that woman's son, about 70, who she lived with, had recently had a heart operation., so who knows what has happened. We abandoned our walk and passed the ambulance on our way back to town.

Change of plans and we  drove to Coreglia Antelminelli, yet another hilltop town. 9th century church of S Martino is one of the oldest in the Lucca region.

Remnants of a 16th century fresco above archway Coreglia Ant

Pre- Romanesque S Martino, dates to 9th C

Fresco of Our Lady of the Ascension S. Martino

Lovely old florentine villa .. for sale

Can't I at least have the statues?

In Italy death announcements are pasted on noticeboards around town, sometimes with photos

Lucca

Tuesday 16th October

Hit the roads again destination Lucca, 37 ks away. This time I managed to cross off all the items on my list.  The old centre is surrounded by 16th and 17th ramparts, ie yet another walled town centre. The ramparts are wide enough to walk or cycle along.

Lucca is the birthplace of composer Puccini and the home of his birth is now a museum. I found the museum so interesting, the grand piano he composed operas on, costumes of first performances of Madame Butterfly and other operas, lots of personal correspondence on display between him and the mrs, a married woman who he only married when her 1st husband died. Sounds like he liked the ladies as correspondence between them was a bit fiery.

We also looked at a few more churches - Frank is sick to death of churches (sounds normal for a husband). The most interesting was one which sounded like it may have been the original Lucca Cathedral, S. Giovanni and Reperata. It had excavation underneath of the original church from the 4th century, parts of the mosiac tile floors intact. The existing church was built on top in the 12th century.
The new Duomo - S. Martins (building started in 1063) is in the same piazza and is quite a sight, with pink and green marble exterior - not as gaudy as the Florence duomo though.

Down a Lucca street to Guinigi Torre - of course we had to climb it

Birdseye view of Lucca from Guinigi Torre

Most ghastly exposed body of S Davino of Armenia in S Michele Church in Lucca. He is patron saint of the headache as his pilgrimage he sustained injuries to his head

Enthroned Madonna and child fresco in S Michele church

Della Robbia glazed terracotto Madonna and child

Statue of Puccini with his childhood home in the background

Puccini's grand piano

Excavation of Baptismal font in 1st Barga duomo, 4th C

New duomo from the belltower of old duomo

Ceiling in S Martin's Duomo

Beautifully carved marble sarcophagus for Ilaria del Carretto in Duomo

Barga workers lunch

Monday 15th October

A slow walk aound centro storico - old Barga - lots of atmosphere to absorb. Quiet little streets wind around ever upward ... a very nice way to while away the morning.

Lunch today at well reputed Rossi Alimentary, it's a grocery store which does a worker's fixed menu lunch.  The place was really buzzing,  the owner loudly shmoozing the patrons, none strangers by the sound of it, lots of f... Juventas etc. Anyway fast n dirty lunch, choice of 3 primo and 4 secondo - we chose  gnocchi ragu - delicious and I had the arrosto misto (mixed roast), pork and turkey for secondo, Frank had caprese - not sure why, tomatoes give him ulcers! washed down with half a litre of chianti. All this for 10 euros each  ... amazing. It felt like a long walk home along Via Roma with our full tums, but really only 1.1ks. Via Roma long straight gracious avenue of chestnut trees lined with lovely florentine style villas, some well maintained, other slowly disintegrating sadly.

Porte Reale Barga

Interesting pulpit, Duomo Barga

St John the Baptist Baptismal font 14th C, Barga Duomo

12th C Holy water font Barga Duomo

12th C fresco in Barga Duomo

View from Barga Centro Storico

Another hilltop town from Barga

House built into the old town wall, Barga

Typical florentine villa along Via Roma Barga, this one a hotel

Grotto del Vento

Sunday 14th October

A few miles from Barga is Eremo de Colomini , a hermitage built into the front of a cliff face 1000ad. The cells of the monks are apparently caves chiselled out of the rock etc, Very peaceful place if you wanted to get away from it all!

We continued on to Grotto del Vento - wind caves. We took a 2 hour tour which involved many many stairs, but the limestone formations were amazing. Frank thought Naracoorte caves better, but it's many years since I saw those so I can't comment. We continued down into the bowels of the earth just for the hell of it. I think it was to illustrate that further down the lack of an impermeable layer prevents the stalactites and mites from forming, ie there was a stream down there with a sand bed which allowed the water to drain away. Of course while we were down there we get the imformation that when it rains the cavity floods completely. Bit late!

Eremo de Colomini, facade

Inside Eremo de Colomini

Confessional Eremo de Colomini

Stalagmites in Grotto del Vento

Down into the bowels of the earth

Site of allergy experiments where up to 7hours is spent in the cave

Tuscany

Saturday 13th October

Decamped from Veneto to Tuscany, to Barga to be exact.  Three hours on the toll roads will age you 3 months... at the least!  Anyway the last 100ks was on b roads and not nearly as fearful.
Barga is a walled hilltop town in northern Tuscany, it's narrow winding streets all climb to the romanesque Duomo on the top of the pile. The nearest big town is Lucca about 40ks to the south. We are staying in the lower town, 5 minute walk to the city gate.

It's not unusual to hear Scottish accents here because there was a migration to Glasgow at some time in history to teach the Scots how to make icecream!

Old Barga from our hotel balcony

Venice

 Friday 12th October


Early start for me today ....   catching the bus to Vicenza and then train to Venice. I actually had to set the alarm - we've been sleeping so late! Frank catching up with relatives prior to our departure.
Venice same as usual...  teeming with people, but stunning, beautiful, unlike anything else and so atmospheric.  I had a lovely day wandering the "calles", some v busy on the beaten track (S.Lucia train station to St Mark's Square) but off it, almost deserted.  I even found a couple of churches I hadn't seen before. One was San Geremia which houses the remains of St Lucy/ Lucia of Syracuse, Sicily, a martyr in the 1st c ad. Apparently she is revered as a saint in most christian religions, perhaps the train station is named after her? In another church I saw  a Last Supper painting by Tintoretto..  it looked like a rowdier affair than Da Vinci's version which Marian and I saw last year in Milan.   A day in Venice always seems to end in a mad rush to the station   probably due to   many dead ends and wrong turns.

Busy Venice street

Beautiful Venice canal

Chiesa Madonna Dell'Angelo

Thursday 11 October

Today we retraced the route Frank's mother used to take once a year up the mountain - albeit in the car, (thank goodness) not foot. Reading between the lines, looks like Stations of the Cross on Good Friday was the occasion. Route  goes from nearby town Piovene Rocchette, up through sphincter-clenching narrow one-way backstreets (would the car fit? - no wonder they're so fond of the fiat punto) then hairpin turn after hairpin turn up the mountain past the stations of the cross to the Chiesa Dell'Angelo. Very sweet little church.

In the past this historic path was traveled by the Girolimi friars to reach the Sanctuary (little remains apparently) at the top of the mountain. The track up to the top was foot only and we didn't have our walking shoes, bad luck.

Afterward we revisited Tezze, a one street town up the mountain for a coffee, really a sweet little town, a bit arty farty now. In the past if the priest from Caltrano had to walk up to give someone the last rites, he wore his clogs so he didn't wear out his good shoes.

Chiesa Madonna Dell'Angelo

Chiesa Madonna Dell'angelo

Station of the Cross on route up the hill

Station of the Cross

The Tezze street

Artwork on Tezze house

Sweet little St Rita Tezze

Mrs C's childhood home, now done up