Tuesday Mar 10th - Friday Mar 13th – Day Tripp’n

This week we did a couple of day trips around Tuscany. On Tuesday we drove to Pietrasanta in the morning. It’s a cute little town that was (and still is) the Italian centre for bronzing statues and works of art. There are several large plaster casts of works that have been bronzed there and are now on display in parks and municipal squares all over the world. From there we went down to the beach at Forte dei Marmi to have lunch. Forte dei Marmi is the Palm Beach of Italy with high end stores and overpriced goods (read Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc.).  We had lunch outdoors again, sitting in the warm sunshine

The main square in Pietrasanta

The art studio where they bronzed the statues is now a museum

...where they have some of the molds of sculptures that have been bronzed

A tornado hit the area just before we arrived in Lucca and the damage to trees and homes 

was still evident in Forte die Marmi

... but the shops were still open

There is a long pier on the beach that provides a great view of the town and the Carrara Mountains

The beach is very large and in the summer is packed with vacationers

Another great lunch

On Thursday, we took the local bus to Florence and spent the day there (see separate POST for that day)

On Friday we jumped in the car and drove down the Chianti wine trail, stopping at our favourite winery, Costello de Verrazano to sample (and buy) some wine. We also stopped in Panzano to visit the butcher. This is no ordinary butcher, but one who is famous throughout Tuscany for his meat. He has also been a guest on David Rocco’s TV cooking show. When you walk into the shop, you are immediately offered a glass of wine and a sample of anti-pasta as you make your meat selection. We purchased a nice piece of beef to try at home.

We continued our journey through the Tuscan countryside and ended up in Volterra, the alabaster capital of Italy where we had lunch and shopped for some alabaster trinkets. We got home by 5:00PM and went out to dinner at Trattoria de Leo where I had fried rabbit and Charlotte had osso bucco. It was a delicious traditional Tuscan meal.

We always stop at the American WWII cemetery to pay our respects to the fallen soldiers.

The Tuscan countryside is very picturesque with all the hills and vineyards

...and old castles

The butcher shop in Panzano has some very creative marketing. After 2 glasses of wine and some fancy anti-pasta, who can say no to paying 30 Euros for a piece of meat.

The main square in Volterra, the Alabaster capital of Italy