alison

I just came across this area -- not far from where we will be staying in CT and we will have a car. Is it worth it to explore this area? Haven't seen anything about it in guidebooks, but panigacci in Podenzana sounds great (can you get it without meat?) and many of the little towns sound lovely.
Anyone want to share their experience in this area? Is it worth 1/2 day trip and, if so, to which villages?

sheila

I've been and stayed for a week and liked it hugely. It's very pretty, very underdeveloped, and untouristy. Good food, and mere feet away from the Ligurian riviera.

I have a trip report somewhere, that I'll post for you when I get home.

alison

thanks, Sheila - I have your trip report. that's one of the threads that intrigued me! I just wanted to hear from others and specifically about the panigacci.

sheila

Oh, OK

tuscany_tyke

well worth a visit. real italy.Not many tourists so under-developed but advantages of less crowded and good cheap food. Loads of castles and fortresses ( is renowned for them ) Pontremoli is an excellent base and an interesting town with really good market.

Zerlina

Have a look at the blog of an American who spends half the year in the Lunigiana:
http://wanderingitaly.com/blog/

But I'm not sure how much you can see or do in half a day...

vincenzod

Lunigiana ?!!?
Lunigiana ?!!?!
But, please, you're talking about one of the best area of the whole of Italy !
I love Lunigiana at the same level as I love my beloved Penisola Sorrentina and Romagna.
Oh, my God.
You have to know that Lunigiana is not completely Tuscany, altough if formally it is in the province of Lucca and also it is not Liguria, yet.
Lunigiana is . . . Lunigiana, its ancient roots are in the Luni people, more ancient than Romans.
There are jewels towns in Lunigiana: first of all Pontremoli, then Aulla, Filattiera and Fivizzano.
But do not spend there half a day, please.
Stay there at least two nights so that you can really be in touch with this magical land; otherwise,I am serious, do not go there and save your time for next time.
When I talk about the small hidden treasures of Italy I have Lunigiana in my mind.

Vincenzo

vincenzod

Sorry, I made a mistake; Lunigiana is in the province of Massa Carrara, not Lucca.
So, you're close to Alpi Apuane and Colonnata if you want to taste its Lardo, the famous Lardo di Colonnata.


Vincenzo

ekscrunchy

I am also intrigued by this area after reading about it in Fred Plotkin's wonderful book about Liguria.

Sheila: Would you mind posting the link to your report as I could not seem to find it?? Where did you stay?

Thanks!

ekscrunchy

http://www.terredilunigiana.com/eng/

sheila

ekscrunchy, I suspect I'd lose the will to live trying to track it down in here after all these years.

However, I THINK I've still got it on the PC at home, so I'll try to track it down and repost it.

We stayed here:-

http://www.watermill.net/

ekscrunchy

Thanks, Sheila! The Watermill looks lovely! Did you take any of the classes?

I was so intrigued by mention of this area in both the Plotkin book and the Cadogan guide (where it is described as an "unspoiled" region) that I had to learn more. If it is not too much trouble, please post your report!!

Many thanks!

sheila

No, we didn't. We were guests of one of the owners, lucky us.

sheila

OK. This was it, but I edited out the stuff you wouldn't car about:-

We have just had a week’s holiday in the Lunigiana, in Northern Tuscany, Italy.

The weather was (mostly)really good; the scenery was unlike the bits of Tuscany you think of with hot filed and tall cypresses and poplars and red poppies in golden grain; it was mountainous and undeveloped and really quite excellent.

Leaving Aberdeen, we flew BA to Gatwick then through to Milan Malpensa. Malpensa was not the most ideally placed airport- Pisa would have been best and Florence better, but we couldn’t fit it together through any of them.

Malpensa was big and airconditioned and not very busy, which made a nice comparison with Gatwick on Bank Holiday Saturday

The car hire was through Avis. I now have an Avis Preferred card and the deal was pretty good- 8 days in a class B car for £123.

We drove down the autostradas from the airport to Milan, (A4)from Milan to Parma,(A1) then from Parma to Aulla, (A15)where we turned off. We had thought about going to Genova (A26)then down the coast (A12)- roughly the same mileage. There is a huge section of the autostrada between Parma and Milan which is falling down and therefore down to one lane, and we would have been better with the other option. We had very large scale maps for the area we were going to but used a Rand McNally International series for the main roads and motorways and it was fine. Minor problem with the motorway:- we came on at Milan through the wrong gate, didn’t get a ticket, so couldn’t pay the right amount when we got off. Do not go through the gates marked Telpass or Vincard. You need one with a barrier. The man was very nice and I still don’t know if we paid a fine or not.

The Lunigiana is utterly undeveloped. I’m almost afraid to mention it in case y’all go and fill it up. We were staying with friends who have a converted watermill in a village called Posara (which has 5 apartments and is let when they’re not sharing with friends- see www.watermill.net). It’s on four levels and has a huge garden next to a small shaded river, with terraces and grape arbors and balconies and everything. Very get-away-from-it-all. Not somewhere for kids, but an ideal retreat for romantics or relaxers, or indeed hillwalkers. Posara has not a lot about it (one little bar) but it’s 2 minutes’ drive- 20 minutes’ walk from Fivizzano, which is a lovely little town with lots of shops and bars and gelaterrie and cafes and things. Great big square to sit out in.

So we all went out to a local Agrituismo-La Pradusclla- for supper. No menu, just what was in the kitchen. Very good.

Sunday, no-one did anything till lunchtime, when we all went up to Il Giardinetto in Fivizzano for lunch. It had been booked before it was recommended to me on the Hosted Forum, but it was really great- 4 hours. Followed by a long siesta. Meal for £8 with all the wine we could drink £100. And the food was excellent.

Monday, we went to Lucca. Lovely mediaeval town. Lots written about it here already. Highlight for me was the amphitheatro. Nice cathedral- superb crucifix, which walked to Lucca on its own. Couple of nice towers to climb, including one which has an oak tree growing out of the top. Pizza and wine lunch at K2 pizzeria just outside the amphitheatre. Drove back through the hills of the Garfagana.

Tuesday 5 of us went up a mountain. Surprising though it may seem the Apuane Alps are in Tuscany. We climbed a fairly spectacular mountain called Pizzo d’Uccello from a village called Vinca (got above the snow line); then drank beer when we got down. Sun broke through the clouds for the first time whilst we were at the top of the hill. Maps (Carta dei Sentieri e Rifugi) obtained from Stanfords in London prior to departure. At night went for supper in another agriturismo called Il Bardellino. This one was flasher-has its own pool, garden and superb food. They make and sell their own wine

Wednesday was pretty quiet. I spent the afternoon flitting between the sun terraces and the kitchen- dinner for 10 with white fizzy wine-great.

Thursday my longsuffering spouse insisted on an outing. Visited Pontremoli on the other side of the mountains. Lovely mediaeval town with a castle and a cathedral. Used to be the capital of the Lunigiana. Terrific square for hanging about in. Great café (Café dei Svizzerie- all Arts and Crafts interior, good icecream and stunning loo- which may have been its greatest asset, at least in my eyes!). Had lunch at a super Trattoria which was recommended(they don’t advertise) Da Busse. There’s a sign on the door which says “We don’t serve mushrooms” Went back home the long way again- through spectacular mountain scenery. The drive took about 2 hours. We could have done it in 40 minutes on the motorway

Friday, was the piece of resistence. 3 of us drove down to a resort town on the coast called Lerici, and caught a boat (Navigazione Golfo dei Poeti) to the Cinque Terre. Things I wished I’d known in advance?
1. You need coins or cards to pay the parking meters in Lerici. No-one knows where you get the cards, and did you ever meet anyone with 25,000lire in COINS on them? So we caught the boat by a hair’s breadth.
2. The first boat is at 8.30, not 9 30am, and if you’re going to walk in the summer, you need the early boat.
3. You have to change at Portovenere on the way back (of which more later).
The boats take about 2 hours to get to Monterosso the furthest away Terre, stopping at all of them except Corniglia, and also stopping at Portovenere. They go back and forth all day so you can go between them by boat.

We chose to get off at Vernazza- excellent gelato- and walk to Monterosso. Lunch in Monterosso was the only unsucccesful meal of the week. Can’t remember the name of the restaurant, but it was something like La Compagnia, up a lane. The food was OK, but the service was dreadful, and they gave us a non-legal bill which was wrong in our favour. We didn’t even get a “thanks” for drawing that to their attention. Took the boat back to Vernazza and spent a couple of hours there before returning.

Missed the announcement about changing in Portovenere so ended up in La Spezia. Had to get a taxi back to the car and got back about 3 seconds before everyone was due to leave for dinner at Il Giardinetto again

ekscrunchy

Sheila, many thanks!

Reading your mention of Aberdeen reminded me of an area (I think in Tuscany, maybe near Lucca) that is very popular with Scottish tourists..an area in which most of the tourists are, in fact, from Scotland. I cannot remember where I read this, but could this be the area I am thinking of?

ekscrunchy

I just remembered: The town is Barga, near Lucca in the Garfagnana..."the most Scottish town in Italy."

sheila

We have a phenomenon in Scotland, known as the Tally-Scots. They're 2nd, 3rd and even 4th generation Italians who came here at the start of the 20th century. They come from all over Italy and they all go home for a month in the summer

I nicked this off another web site:-

What is the connection between Barga and Scotland? Barga describes itself as "the most Scottish town in Italy", but there are very few Scottish people living here; in fact we don't know of another Scottish family living in Barga Vecchia. There are though many, many Barga families who have lived in Scotland, and have returned and many more Barghigiani who still live in Scotland and come back to Barga regularly to visit family. Ask any Barghigiani if they have a Scottish relative and the answer is usually "tanti cugini!" There is a page on Barganews dedicated to the Scottish presence in Barga www.Barganews.com/Scotland There is also a fascinating book on the subject entitled "They Took the Low Road", by Bruno Sereni, published by the Comune di Barga.

ekscrunchy

Very interesting! I was led to investigate Barga a few years ago after reading the reviews of a B&B in the town on TA; the Casa Fontana receives the best reviews I have ever noticed on Trip Advisor. And I had forgotten about it until reading your report and noticing the mention of Aberdeen! Yet another destination in Italy to put on the list.....

IdyllicItaly

Several years ago, while staying in Cinque Terre, we took a day trip to Bagnone in the Lunigiana. We took the train from La Spezia and then a short bus connection. We'll never forget that train trip because we, and others, were waiting at Binario 1 but the train departed from Binario 1 Tronco, which was some distance from Binario 1. After missing the first train, we discovered our mistake and caught the second train.

I had fallen in love with a picture of an inn in Bagnone, which also has its own restaurant. (The photo was in a brochure of rental properties in the area.) In fact, I had written to them for more information but hadn't received a reply before we left for Italy.

Here is my description of the inn and restaurant:

Bagnone (N. Tuscany)
Locanda La Lina, Piazza Marconi, 1; Tel. 0187/429-069; 54021 Bagnone (www.lunigianaturistica.com/)

As yet, no web site of its own, this lovely little hotel (five rooms) with an excellent restaurant is in the main square of a picturesque village in northern Tuscany. After a wonderful lunch here, we went to pay by credit card. The owner looked at my credit card, smiled, opened a drawer, and pulled out the letter I had written to her, inquiring about the hotel and restaurant. She had just responded to my letter. She then graciously showed us three of the very attractive rooms, furnished in antiques with sparkling bathrooms.

Here is a link to more information about Bagnone: http://www.ahouseintuscany.co.uk/location/localinfo/.

IdyllicItaly

I just discovered that the link (www.lunigianaturistica.com/) no longer works. However, the second link I included does and has some excellent information.