Montecarlo
As newcomers to
Montecarlo we wanted to spend some time of our vacation to learn more about
this smaller Tuscan town and its surrounding. By coincident I popped into
Tripadvisers recommendation of Discover Lucca with Elena - Day Tour. According this she even lived in
the same street as us in Montecarlo and should be good to give us some inside.
Some I know we could have read, some is information
that goes by speak and I have learned that at times I remember more when I get
it into my ear and not my eyes by reading.
Elena picked us up as agreed at Casolare dei Fiori
and we drove up to Montecarlo. Parked the car and found a place outside the
town to take a view across to the local cemetery. Going almost 1000 years back
in history this cemetery could have been the old town that once was moved to
the hill of Montecarlo in 1433.
Montecarlo is made step by step from one “tower” to
five defending to Lucca from Florence. I have been writing about Montecarlo
before so I do not want to dig into all the history other than what we got to
see and have not presented before.
The local cemetery
Have a guid you will obtain to see and learn the
smaller things the books will not tell you when you read the history and you
need that special person to guide you into them. We got to see the local
theater, small but interesting with is concerts and other arrangements during
the year.
From the theater
We got to meet Erica Galli who runs the local B&B “Antica DimoraPatricia” and was shown around in this historic building that Erica have made
sure to put her own touch to for you to feel at home and put back in time. Even
histories back to Puccini and the many special families that lived here.
In the cellar of the B&B there even was a Wine museum
and if you wanted some wine tasting of local wine.
We headed for the fortress and had an interesting tour
around along with the person that looked after it. Today it is owned by a family
who keep an interest to have the fortress open to the public as much as
possible.
After a small stop at the Osteria Fortezza for something to
drink in the warm weather we headed to a winery. One of two we should have
visited. No reason to why we ended up only with one. Either or, this one “AziendaAgricola Enzo Carmignani di Elena Carmignani” ended up to be one of the best we
did during the vacation. Learned about one of the hidden treasures of
Montecarlo and was invited back for a wider tasting two day later with a lot of
locals.
I must say that it is an advantage to take some of these
guided tours and I can recommend Elena who did our tour even we got a bit disappointed
missing out on one winery as long as it is a special interest of ours. She is
born in Lucca so she know Lucca very well and all the surroundings, just drop
her an email and she tells you what you can get of alternative guiding. Hope to
do some cooking lessons with her as well one day.
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