Author: Susan

Wednesday: Viareggio

Posted on by Susan

It rained for so long and so hard last night that the power was out this morning and water had come in under the balcony door in both of the two bedrooms in our house. Since the floors are a nicely finished wood, I dont think water comes in very often if at all. It seemed to be an unusually heavy and constant downpour.

Our host texted me first thing this morning to tell me where the circuit box is and how to reset the breaker. A half hour after I did that, it rained hard again and the power went out. I reset for a second time and we were good (= hot coffee).

It continued to pour most of the day, with thunderstorms regularly. We had planned to take the train to Cinque Terre today, but will try that tomorrow. Today we ran some errands, got food to make dinner, and hung out – a nice quiet day except for the rain hitting the roof.

photos: a lime tree across the street from where we are staying. The limes are huge and round; our Airbnb home; the scene almost all day today

Tuesday: Viareggio

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Today we explored the seaport city and found that it is wonderful. It was a nicer day that yesterday, with the sun occasionally peeking through the clouds.

We went to the yacht building area alongside the Tyrrhenian Sea and checked out some of the huge boats in progress, getting as close as we could near the off-limits work area. The nearby marina was chock-full of fantastic-looking boats. I cannot imagine what summer must be like here, since even with few tourists around (well, we saw none aside from ourselves) the city seems bursting at the seams.

We walked along the beach and the sea was sure acting like the ocean today, with waves one right after the other. The temperature seemed to be about 60 degrees F, and it would’ve been fun to take a dip if I had thought to toss my suit in the car.

We had lunch at Trattoria Giorgio, a charming restaurant that was on a side street from the beach. My spaghetti with squid was excellent, as was my traveling partner’s spaghetti with clams. In talking with the owner, we learned that his father started the restaurant fifty years ago. He got sad talking about his dad, who must have worked so hard to get the small restaurant going.

Yesterday, our Airbnb host suggested a patisserie in town, so we stopped there before going back to our rental house. Well, I jumped out of the car since there was nowhere to park and tons of traffic at 5pm.


photos: Viareggio looks a little llike parts of Florida. The bike lane is as busy as the road at some times of day; a part of the marina; a hangar for mbvaking huge yachts. There’s one in progress on the right.

Monday: Viareggio

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It was bittersweet to leave Siena late this morning. Our hotel – Hotel Ravizza – was so comfortable and a great place to stay and Siena is a wonderful city. But we will be in Viareggio for the next few days and I’m sure we will live it there too.

We stopped for lunch in Pistoia, an old city about an hour from Viareggio. It is Monday, so many restaurants are closed but we found a good place for lunch and spent some time there since check-in for our Airbnb was at four o’clock.

We drove around Viareggio and checked out the marina. The largest and most expensive yachts in the world are made here by Benzetti boatyard. They are spectacular to see, but since it was pouring rain we couldn’t walk around at all. We will do that tomorrow.

We will also take the train one day to Cinque Terre to hike and see the five seaside villages and beautiful views. We are hoping for some nice days ahead after almost a week of rain but we will make it work regardless. For now we are settling in at Viareggio.

photos: seen along the way as we drove today – a farmer apparently has a sense of humor about hay bales; this evening’s view from our Viareggio home; little round eggplants for sale

Sunday: Siena

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Our last day in beautiful (but still very rainy) Siena was mainly a lazy and relaxing one. We got laundry done, which took a few morning hours. The streets were pretty much empty – so different from yesterday evening.

We went back to the Boccon del Prete restaurant for lunch (we had been there a few days ago). With many places closed on Sunday, it seems lunch spots are at a premium so we felt happy to get a table and have a delicious spaghetti-with-meat- sauce lunch.

Tomorrow we leave Siena drive to the Viareggio area to enjoy a few days of exploring there. It is two hours from here and on the watee. It will be a nice change of scenery although the 7-day forecast doesn’t look great right now.


photos: Siena looking like a postcard; the book exchange – I love finding this in a place I’m staying; Siena – empty of people this morning

Saturday: Siena

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Today was another rainy day in Siena, but that’s okay. We still made the most of it.

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out for a stroll around the city. We ended up at the Museum of Torture, which I never should have gone into. Medieval methods of torture are so awful that I get nauseous just thinking about them. Sure enough, this museum was certainly well equipped, with ancient gizmos designed to get a person to admit their guilt, suffer horribly, and slowly die.

I walked the experience off and we had lunch at Osteria Babzuf, a restaurant the hotel staff had recommended. We were glad they did – it was a small cafe, it had delicious food, and it was a comfortable, relaxing stop.

We browsed around some shops after that. An interesting butcher shop, La Bottega a Rosano, has been around for over 300 years, passed down from fathers to sons. The entire family apparently lives upstairs and it is a tiny shop, made smaller by the many types of meat hanging from the ceiling and salami displayed in the cases. Photos are not allowed – they aren’t trying to be a tourist attraction. Still, it was a fascinating place to see.

It rained off and on for the rest of the late afternoon and evening, heavily at times. We spent some time in a patisserie waiting for it to lighten up and eventually went back to our hotel.


photos: fun tiny art at Osteria Babzuf; the Piazza del Campo; a room at the torture museum, I photographed none of what I saw there.

Friday: Siena

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Today we moved out of our hotel located outside the walled city and into one inside the walls. We had reserved this hotel a while ago and it is a very old, magnificent place to stay.

There are strict rules about cars in the city, with steep fines for offenders. The hotel has a parking lot but it is a little bit tricky to find. We got ourselves checked in and also got a restaurant recommendation for lunch.

Today and tomorrow are holidays in Italy, so some people take a long weekend away to cities like this one. Our lunch at the recommended Boccon del Prete was terrific, and the small place filled up quickly at noon.

We hope to take a tour of the top of the Siena Cathedral here – apparently a small narrow staircase brings visitors to near the roof – a vantage point that is said to be spectacular. We will see if a tour works out for the time we are here.

For now, we will enjoy the very pretty views.

photos: a gorgeous view; the ceiling in the hotel; escargot with olives👍

Thursday: Siena

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We left our fabulous Scandicci villa this morning and headed to the walled city of Siena where we will spend the next few days.

It is hard for me to believe that once again we parked our car and then hours later could not find the lot. Here’s how easily it can happen in a walled city: (1) park the car, (2) walk in via the grand arched entrance (there are about five of them in Siena, I have come to learn), (3) walk around inside the walled streets with very few cars, have lunch, walk into a few shops, walk along some narrow almost-alleys to look around, (4) decide to get the car and check in at our hotel.

Attempts to retrace our steps didn’t work. We had walked all over in the three hours we were there. Yes, we had taken photos of where we parked, but that that didn’t help because there are so many entrances to the walled city, each about a 15 minute walk.

I put the parking receipt address in my phone and it brought us to a lot on the other side of the city, maybe the main lot but not where we were parked.

It rained, sometimes very hard in the 90 minutes we were searching. Finally we saw an available taxi and I showed the driver our parking receipt. He knew where the lot was located based on its name, which my GPS didn’t recognize.

It turns out it was a surprisingly long 10- minute cab ride away. I don’t know how we would have found the car otherwise. We would likely still be walking around.

We checked in at our charming old hotel, our clothing stuck to us from the rain. The receptionist, Alicia, was a gem, telling us in her very sweet English that she would give us the “best room possible” and then she walked us to it (I guess so we wouldn’t get lost).

We will explore more of Siena tomorrow. We can leave our car at the hotel and use the map Alicia gave us.


photos: bike outside a restaurant in Siena; lunch starter; this bar made me smile as we walked by

Wednesday: Florence

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Today we took the tram in to Florence so we wouldn’t have to worry about parking or traffic in the city. The tram station is just a 15-minute drive from where we are staying and the huge parking lot is free. It was a very good decision all around, since the city today was full of people, buses, cars, and general busyness. Plus, it was a great day to be walking about.

We first went to the Duomo Cathedral, and the outside of the huge building is almost as impressive as the inside. It’s beautiful, with light-colored marble that has survived the years well since it was built at the end of the 13th century.

We had been inside the cathedral and gone to the top about 15 years ago, so with the long line to enter (it is free) today we didn’t feel the need to go inside and not be able to get near the artwork. Still, it is quite a fantastic sight to see from the piazza.

We went to the Uffizi Gallery next and spent a few hours checking out their ancient masterpieces. Again, it was crowded but it is surely tons worse during the height of the tourist season.

We left there and walked along the Arno River where a lone sculler had the entire stretch of river to himself and he seemed to be happily moving along.

By then we were ready for some coffee and amazingly the cafe had sfogliatelle, more commonly known as lobster tails in the US (when you can find them). First we split just one, then of course got another one because they are so perfect.

photos: a sculler on the Arno River in Florence this afternoon; sfogliatelle😍; the beautiful exterior of the Duomo Cathedral

Tuesday: Around Tuscany

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Today we set out to see the Villa Medici at Cafaggiolo near the Mugello region, about 45 minutes from where we are staying in Scandicci. The villa is notable because so many important events took place there during the Italian Renaissance, and its architecture is supposedly fabulous.

Although we found the huge villa, it is completely under renovation and closed to the public. We could not even get close enough to take a picture and there was nowhere around to park, but this summer home looked very impressive and perhaps we can revisit it in a decade or so when renovations are complete.

We still had a wine and olive oil tasting coupon for another wine producer not far from where we were yesterday, so that was our next stop. Their olive oil was so fresh – just made this week, and was the best ever. We got some to take home, if we can avoid opening it.

Next we went to San Gimignano, sometimes referred to as the “Manhattan of Italy.” The buildings there are tall and ancient, and there was a lot going on there. We encountered more people, mainly busloads of tourists, than we have seen in all of Italy. (Most of them were speaking English, which we hadn’t heard in a while.)

There were many small shops in the city, and we walked all over, not realizing we would have trouble finding our car. Every single time we have parked anywhere, we have taken a picture of where we are. Not this afternoon.

It took us 45 minutes through the maze of narrow streets, but we finally found it as the sun went down. Another five minutes figuring out the ticket payment machine and we were on our way back to Scandicci.


photos: our hosts set a beautiful table for us every morning and begin our day with a huge breakfast; the panoramic view from Mugello; an empty street in San Gimignano at the end of the day, after visitors left on their buses and we tried to figure out where our car was parked.

Monday: Barberino Val d’Elsa

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Our hosts in Tuscany gifted us with a wine tasting coupon, so we headed to Barberino Val d’Elsa to check it out late this morning after another grand breakfast.

We made a stop along the way and when we got back into the car, the Check Engine light was on. The nearest Citroen service station was 35 minutes away in Florence, so away we went. The mechanics there were so nice and took a look right away, fixed whatever it was in a half hour, and charged us nothing.

We left busy Florence ( we plan to spend tomorrow or Wednesday there, but go by train) and went to the wine tasting, which was very good and it was interesting to hear about the wines they produce. After, we drove the long and winding dirt roads to the vineyard where their wine is made and got a fantastic nice long tour of the facility by one of the owners.


photos: the narrow road into the city. Below: an easy way to move furniture out of an apartment; olive trees are all over the place