Barga has a vibrant live music scene and Friday night is Jazz club night!
Tonight we had a group Massa, great live band with lots of Beatles and 70s Rock. We danced the night away
Brilliant
Friday 30 March 2012
Tuesday 27 March 2012
A nice Ride
We took some time out today to take Shane and Perry for a hack. We dropped down the old mule path in front of the bar at Renaio, passing through the beech woods down to Bebbio. The Hack is easy enough on grass and rocky soil, but quite steep in places. The views are wonderful, especially this time of year when the leaves are yet to form on the trees. We passed little Contadini cottages and then hit the road and returned to Renaio. Our neighbours saw us coming and as usual invited us in for coffee and then dinner!
Not a bad way to end the day!
Not a bad way to end the day!
Monday 26 March 2012
Barga Jazz Club
In the Autumn, Winter and Spring, the frenetic "Al fresco" music scene dies down and goes "inside".
One of the main venues for live music during the winter months is the Barga Jazz club, an intimate venue in Barga Vecchia. Although labeled as Jazz club, it does stage a wide range of music, from Soul to Country and Rock. better still it only costs 10 Euro as year to be a member and entry there after is free!
If you are in Barga, perhaps staying at Sensone Nature Retreat, it is well worth a visit on a Friday evening!
Sensone Nature Retreat
One of the main venues for live music during the winter months is the Barga Jazz club, an intimate venue in Barga Vecchia. Although labeled as Jazz club, it does stage a wide range of music, from Soul to Country and Rock. better still it only costs 10 Euro as year to be a member and entry there after is free!
If you are in Barga, perhaps staying at Sensone Nature Retreat, it is well worth a visit on a Friday evening!
Sensone Nature Retreat
Tuscany Barga Walk / Hike
Sensone is located about 11 kms from Barga in Northern Tuscany, Italy, in a little village called Renaio. in fact you can walk out of Sensone Retreat, walk the mountains all day and never hit a metalled road.
One of our little walks is from the Mostrico Bar at Renaio (a great place to eat Pizza and drink the local vino), down to the City of Barga. Although Barga is a City, it has less than 10,000 people and is a stunning place to pass the time, full of music in the summer (famously for Bargajazz and Barga Opera festivals, as well as great food!
Trekking in Tuscany can be very varied, ranging from rolling hills, rugged coastline to stunning mountains, and Renaio certainly has the stunning mountains!This particular walk is relatively low level leaving from 1090 m and dropping down to 410m and is a departure from our usual range of high mountain itineraries.
Leaving Renaio, we ramble down the old mule track towards Barga, penetrating the Beech and Chestnut forests and diving down the steep valley. We also use this particular walk for our Horse Trekking Holidays, so although the terrain is steep, its certainly not hard - even for our for our four legged friends! If we are in season, we may even find some Porcini mushrooms, the much sought after fungi that we find in abundance in this area.
The views over the Garfagnana is stunning and we have fine views of Sommocolonia - an ancient hilltop Roman fort that was also a key stronghold of the German army in second world war. This village although picturesque now, was the scene of ferocious fighting and a key part of the Gothic line, I will tell that particular story in another blog post!
For a short time we join the old road before heading off on the old mule track, dropping down through Acacia woods and little cottages nestled comfortably into the mountain side. Finally after after two hours of walking we drop into the new part of Barga and head down to the Alpino bar for a well earned beer!
Walking down is easy, but walking back is more of a challenge as we rise over 500 metres, but its a sobering thought that the children of Renaio used to walk this road to and from school each day - perhaps taking 3-4 hours of walking each day to get a secondary education. Even more impressive is the thought that they still did the same walk in deep snow during the winter nights with no lighting.
I have talked with many locals who thought nothing of doing this walk every day, some even had to walk a further 8 kms to catch the train to Pisa or Lucca to get to University or indeed work.
Perhaps if our children had to do the same walk, they would have taken their time at school a bit more seriously!
One of our little walks is from the Mostrico Bar at Renaio (a great place to eat Pizza and drink the local vino), down to the City of Barga. Although Barga is a City, it has less than 10,000 people and is a stunning place to pass the time, full of music in the summer (famously for Bargajazz and Barga Opera festivals, as well as great food!
Trekking in Tuscany can be very varied, ranging from rolling hills, rugged coastline to stunning mountains, and Renaio certainly has the stunning mountains!This particular walk is relatively low level leaving from 1090 m and dropping down to 410m and is a departure from our usual range of high mountain itineraries.
Leaving Renaio, we ramble down the old mule track towards Barga, penetrating the Beech and Chestnut forests and diving down the steep valley. We also use this particular walk for our Horse Trekking Holidays, so although the terrain is steep, its certainly not hard - even for our for our four legged friends! If we are in season, we may even find some Porcini mushrooms, the much sought after fungi that we find in abundance in this area.
The views over the Garfagnana is stunning and we have fine views of Sommocolonia - an ancient hilltop Roman fort that was also a key stronghold of the German army in second world war. This village although picturesque now, was the scene of ferocious fighting and a key part of the Gothic line, I will tell that particular story in another blog post!
For a short time we join the old road before heading off on the old mule track, dropping down through Acacia woods and little cottages nestled comfortably into the mountain side. Finally after after two hours of walking we drop into the new part of Barga and head down to the Alpino bar for a well earned beer!
I have talked with many locals who thought nothing of doing this walk every day, some even had to walk a further 8 kms to catch the train to Pisa or Lucca to get to University or indeed work.
Perhaps if our children had to do the same walk, they would have taken their time at school a bit more seriously!
Sunday 25 March 2012
Walking in Tuscany
Walking the Appenine Mountains of Tuscany is something quite special and we are just coming into the season where the snow is getting sparse and the mountain passes will soon be open once again, we can put on our boots and do some serious walking! Every year we run a series of walking weeks for people who want to do some mountain walking whilst soaking up the unique ambiance of Tuscany and the memories of last years program is still very fresh in my mind.
We love the walk from Renaio over to Lago Santo, crossing from Toscana into Modena using the high mountain passes. This walk is especially rewarding as Lago Santo is a lovely lake set high in the Mountains, in many respects quite remote, even though there is a nice Bar tucked away behind the trees and even better, our local Comune has its own refuge by the lake which we as residents can use as a overnight stay.
Last year we did stay at the refuge one night, ate great food around an open fire and drank the local wine, however the hike that really sticks in the memory was the undertaken at night from the Toscana side over to Modena and then back again!
We planned this walk with the benefit of a full moon and left Renaio at 6.00 pm a group of 10 people, cheating slightly because we took the jeep and another 4x4 up the mountain as far as the Foreststrada would allow. Having parked the cars, we set off through the Beech forest, a fairly stiff initial walk, passing just below Mt Giovo (2000m), the views looking out over the Garfagnana Valley were quite spectacular in the setting sun! The walk to Lago Santo is not that challenging in the summer, anyone can do it with a good pair of boots, in the winter its quite a different matter, thankfully this was midsummer and the air was warm and fragrant!
After about a further hour of walking we descended from the open peaks and down into another Beech forest and very soon, we saw the lake water glinting through the trees.
A further 10 minutes and we were sitting in the little bar, ordering local trout, wild boar and a fabulous dolce of Myrtille and Gelato, the whole menu either caught from the lake, or harvested from the immediate mountain, nothing having traveled more than a couple of kilometes to get to our plates! After spending a good couple of hours enjoying this fine meal, we noticed that it was completely dark outside - not surprising as it was around 11.30 pm!
Exiting the bar, we were a reluctant group of hikers at that moment - full of great food and with the second part of our hike in front of us - but it had to be done!
Walking out of the lake area, it soon became clear that we were better off not using the torch's, in fact the moon provided sufficient light to walk effectively. We walked back out of the Lake area and reached a remote spot where many years ago the Germans had set up a second world war Machine Gun post. We sat down at 1pm and ate a little extra snack of local cheese and red wine, taking in the mountain air and listening to the sounds of the mountain, it was magical and we gradually fell quiet and took in the moment. Looking at the old stone ruins of the sentry post, I could imagine the Soldiers, sitting high on the mountain, away from any roads, any friends and subject to attack from the local partisans, the whole spot is just full of ghost's from the past, all at last a Peace - wonderful!
Marching on wards we peaked the mountain once more, but this time we could see the lights of the whole Italian Riviera set out below us, what a great sight, stood together and tried to get a few decent photo's, but it was just so hard to capture the moment - perhaps its better to keep the memory instead!
We arrived back at the car at around 2.30 and by 3pm we were all back at Sensone, many us were so excited that we sat outside on our decking and watched the sun come up in a blaze of orange - another pristine moment and a special night that will stay with us forever.
I can't wait to do it again this year!
We love the walk from Renaio over to Lago Santo, crossing from Toscana into Modena using the high mountain passes. This walk is especially rewarding as Lago Santo is a lovely lake set high in the Mountains, in many respects quite remote, even though there is a nice Bar tucked away behind the trees and even better, our local Comune has its own refuge by the lake which we as residents can use as a overnight stay.
Last year we did stay at the refuge one night, ate great food around an open fire and drank the local wine, however the hike that really sticks in the memory was the undertaken at night from the Toscana side over to Modena and then back again!
We planned this walk with the benefit of a full moon and left Renaio at 6.00 pm a group of 10 people, cheating slightly because we took the jeep and another 4x4 up the mountain as far as the Foreststrada would allow. Having parked the cars, we set off through the Beech forest, a fairly stiff initial walk, passing just below Mt Giovo (2000m), the views looking out over the Garfagnana Valley were quite spectacular in the setting sun! The walk to Lago Santo is not that challenging in the summer, anyone can do it with a good pair of boots, in the winter its quite a different matter, thankfully this was midsummer and the air was warm and fragrant!
After about a further hour of walking we descended from the open peaks and down into another Beech forest and very soon, we saw the lake water glinting through the trees.
A further 10 minutes and we were sitting in the little bar, ordering local trout, wild boar and a fabulous dolce of Myrtille and Gelato, the whole menu either caught from the lake, or harvested from the immediate mountain, nothing having traveled more than a couple of kilometes to get to our plates! After spending a good couple of hours enjoying this fine meal, we noticed that it was completely dark outside - not surprising as it was around 11.30 pm!
Exiting the bar, we were a reluctant group of hikers at that moment - full of great food and with the second part of our hike in front of us - but it had to be done!
Walking out of the lake area, it soon became clear that we were better off not using the torch's, in fact the moon provided sufficient light to walk effectively. We walked back out of the Lake area and reached a remote spot where many years ago the Germans had set up a second world war Machine Gun post. We sat down at 1pm and ate a little extra snack of local cheese and red wine, taking in the mountain air and listening to the sounds of the mountain, it was magical and we gradually fell quiet and took in the moment. Looking at the old stone ruins of the sentry post, I could imagine the Soldiers, sitting high on the mountain, away from any roads, any friends and subject to attack from the local partisans, the whole spot is just full of ghost's from the past, all at last a Peace - wonderful!
Marching on wards we peaked the mountain once more, but this time we could see the lights of the whole Italian Riviera set out below us, what a great sight, stood together and tried to get a few decent photo's, but it was just so hard to capture the moment - perhaps its better to keep the memory instead!
We arrived back at the car at around 2.30 and by 3pm we were all back at Sensone, many us were so excited that we sat outside on our decking and watched the sun come up in a blaze of orange - another pristine moment and a special night that will stay with us forever.
Just the best Pizza
We went with four friends to our local bar at Renaio, Friday, Saturday and Sunday they add Pizza to their menu, principally because Luca the Pizza chef works all the other nights behind the bar ( as well as doing his day delivery job).
His pizza is however spectacular, using in season local ingredients. An example of this is the Porcini Pizza, twice a year we get the special treat of eating fresh Porcini ( mostly collected from our land), layered on a fresh Pizza and of course followed up with Myrtilles and gelato - absolute heaven!
Last night was just a great mixture of fresh food and we ate like kings!
His pizza is however spectacular, using in season local ingredients. An example of this is the Porcini Pizza, twice a year we get the special treat of eating fresh Porcini ( mostly collected from our land), layered on a fresh Pizza and of course followed up with Myrtilles and gelato - absolute heaven!
Last night was just a great mixture of fresh food and we ate like kings!
Thursday 22 March 2012
The difference between Italy and the UK?
I think I know what's different, it's been clear that something is missing here in Italy and I think I have found it - Carpet Stores, Carpet Warehouse, Carpets in general in fact!
Back in the UK no self respecting shopping centre or trading Estate would be complete without a Carpet shop, but I have to say, I don't think I have seen one over here.
In fact, I don't actually know anyone who has a fitted carpet!
How strange, I guess people have them, or is it just a British phenomena? Perhaps I could start a whole new business bringing carpets to Italy!
Back in the UK no self respecting shopping centre or trading Estate would be complete without a Carpet shop, but I have to say, I don't think I have seen one over here.
In fact, I don't actually know anyone who has a fitted carpet!
How strange, I guess people have them, or is it just a British phenomena? Perhaps I could start a whole new business bringing carpets to Italy!
Emergency tyre repairs
Having suffered a blow out last June, I took my wheel and tyre into the local tyre shop in Barga. I went to collect it five times and each time there was an excuse as to why it want ready! I then finally went down and asked for my wheel back and then they couldn't find it!
Time went on and I considered buying another wheel, but the problem was that I couldn't find the exact aftermarket alloy wheel to match the rest of the car. But today, the local try man came up to me in town and said that my wheel was ready - 9 months after I took it in!
Italia!
Time went on and I considered buying another wheel, but the problem was that I couldn't find the exact aftermarket alloy wheel to match the rest of the car. But today, the local try man came up to me in town and said that my wheel was ready - 9 months after I took it in!
Italia!
Wednesday 21 March 2012
Dinner Renaio style
Once again we have had dinner with our friends Diana, Sergio and family. Our horses are right next door to their house and we always get called in for a coffee, lunch or dinner! What great people, without them, in the big Feb freeze, we would have been without water for three weeks, but they let us use their shower, fill up our containers and fed us most days. They really are the salt of the earth!
They did forecast rain again!
One thing I find is the locals are very pessimistic about the weather, so strange when we have so many bright and wonderfully sunny days! Take the last two days, showers according to the forecast, Brutto, according to the locals and what do we get? Lovely sunshine! So today we wale up to warm sun and not a cloud in sight! 
Tuesday 20 March 2012
Any one Rollerblade?
You see we have this hill, it's pretty big and very steep. It connects our little village to the valley floor and it twists and turns like any good mountain road should do.
It starts at 1000m above sea level and drops down to about 300 metres and it is just begging to be rollerbladed, or even roller skates - come to that!
We tried it a few years ago, two of us strapped on some cheap rollerblades and accelerated off down the hill, the result was a broken arm and badly broken leg - sorry Rob!
I drive the road very frequently and each time it feels like a big scary off piste ski area, begging to be skied, or in this case roller-skated.
A challenge, a Mount Everest in my back yard, will I ever manage it? No idea, but if anyone wants to try it, you will rack up some YouTube hits and I will buy the beer!
It starts at 1000m above sea level and drops down to about 300 metres and it is just begging to be rollerbladed, or even roller skates - come to that!
We tried it a few years ago, two of us strapped on some cheap rollerblades and accelerated off down the hill, the result was a broken arm and badly broken leg - sorry Rob!
I drive the road very frequently and each time it feels like a big scary off piste ski area, begging to be skied, or in this case roller-skated.
A challenge, a Mount Everest in my back yard, will I ever manage it? No idea, but if anyone wants to try it, you will rack up some YouTube hits and I will buy the beer!
It's a dogs life
Patch has been working hard all day and deserves a few minutes relaxation with his boss!
Monday 19 March 2012
Life in the Mountains
This photo is the view from our front door and was taken in the Autumn! When we first viewed our property some 12 years ago, the view was the
clincher on the deal! I remember the day well, we drank a glass of wine sitting on the door step and looked at the view, my wife said "buy Sensone for me" and how could I refuse!
clincher on the deal! I remember the day well, we drank a glass of wine sitting on the door step and looked at the view, my wife said "buy Sensone for me" and how could I refuse!
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