{"id":2835,"date":"2015-07-25T08:37:35","date_gmt":"2015-07-25T07:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2015-07-25T08:44:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-25T07:44:37","slug":"bagni-di-lucca-and-the-grotto-of-the-winds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/?p=2835","title":{"rendered":"Bagni di Lucca and the Grotto of the Winds"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had two thoughts after leaving Genoa. Where can we go that won\u2019t find us competing with the bus tour groups that are Italy\u2019s typical summer fare? (Apologies to the Umbrella ladies) Let\u2019s type into Google: \u201cBack roads of Tuscany and Umbria\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then we found Bagni di Lucca, small and quiet in a valley close to Lucca. Bound to be quieter and cooler in a mountain valley, right?\u00a0 First, if you type in Back roads into Google, when you go to Google maps, be careful because it has heard you want back roads and it takes you that way.\u00a0 We were on some very obscure roads between Genoa and Poggibonsi, where we first lost phone signal and started using signs, drove for miles on a barely paved road to a wonderful caf\u00e9, but turns out it was only open for dinner. Look at a map for Lucignano d\u2019Asso or Ristorante Casa Bandini, Poggibononsi. \u00a0In Montereggio, we finally found a place to eat and got back on the auto strada. We knew we were close to Bagni di Lucca, when we passed the bridge Pont de la Madeleine<\/p>\n

\"Pont<\/a>
Pont San Madeleine Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bagni di Lucca might be just a little too quiet, perfect for private parties and weddings, but you would want to expect a very quiet time here. What was perfect for us, is that the best local restaurant created\u00a0dining a la strada otherwise known as “Let’s close the road and put the tables outside, because it is just to damn hot.” They had \u00a0excellent live music each evening, everyone was was there. \u00a0There is no air conditioning in this part of Italy and it seemed imminently sensible to just divert the traffic. The weather cools off as soon as the sun goes down, everyone was happy.<\/p>\n

\"new<\/a>
new definition of Street Food<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Knowing the next day was going to be hotter still, a drive to Garfagnana and the Cave of the winds, where it is 10.7 C all year round. It was a great drive, we felt like we were in Switzerland and a two hour tour of the Caves in cool, ultra-healthy air was sensational.<\/p>\n

\"Grotto<\/a>
Grotto\u00a0del Vento<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Town<\/a>
Fornovolasco in the Apuan Alps in Northwest Tuscany<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you do go to Bagni di Lucca, go in June or September, because there are plenty of walks. We followed the passegiata there, that Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning would stroll. For my return, I will be heading back to Garfagnana.<\/p>\n

\"Poet's<\/a>
Poet’s passegiata in Bagni di Lucca<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had two thoughts after leaving Genoa. Where can we go that won\u2019t find us competing with the bus tour groups that are Italy\u2019s typical summer fare? (Apologies to the Umbrella ladies) Let\u2019s type into Google: \u201cBack roads of Tuscany and Umbria\u201d. Then we found Bagni di Lucca, small and quiet in a valley close … Continue reading Bagni di Lucca and the Grotto of the Winds<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,48,73],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-2835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventures-2","category-antiquities","category-italy","tag-tuscany"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3VxXq-JJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2835"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2845,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions\/2845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merrington.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}