Murano (Veneto), Italy June 2025 (Tour 11)

We came to Venice for a 2 week honeymoon immediately after our wedding. It is perhaps appropriate, therefore, that we should have returned to the city on the 34th anniversary of our wedding – 1 June 1991.

We were off to visit the Venetian island of Murano. Despite many previous visits to Venice, Vanya had not once been to Murano and she wanted some Murano Glass to take home to the UK. I’d been once before; in 1968. I was dragged there by my parents and forced to endure a glass factory and glass blowing tour (which I’m told is an essential part of any visit to Murano but; for a 14 year old boy?!?) and that experience rather soured the place for me. Whatever my prejudices, it would have been a tad foolish of me not to take Vanya there and; besides, I didn’t enjoy my first visit to Chioggia but the follow up visit proved an absolute delight – see previous blog.

With a little over 6,000 inhabitants, Murano is the second most populated of the Venetian Islands. In common with all the other islands it’s principal industries used to be fishing and salt production but late in the 13th century these industries gave way to artisanal glass making after the rulers of Venice decreed that all of the city’s glassmakers should be housed on Murano so as to limit the increasing fire risk caused by the glassmakers furnaces. It was an inspired decision because on Murano the glassmakers were able to work together to perfect their art and the island flourished with Murano Glass became renowned throughout the world. Indeed, Murano’s name is now synonymous with glass making.

Our campsite, Hu Camping Venezia, runs a regular bus shuttle service to and from Tronchetto which is on Venice’s main island of San Marco. The shuttle takes about 10 minutes and from there it is another easy 10 minute walk to the vaporetto stop at Piazzale Roma, where there’s a frequent water bus service to all the major islands, including Murano. As we arrived, there was a huge queue for the Line 3 vaporetto to Murano (it was a bank holiday weekend) but Nala was in her water wheels, thus qualifying as disabled, and we were able to jump the queue with only those who had bought VIP tickets going ahead of us. Great result, not least because we were stood in one of the least crowded parts of the boat!

I’ve always enjoyed riding the vaporetto (for me, it’s an essential part of any trip to Venice) and our journey to Murano Colonna (one of half a dozen stops on Murano) took less than 25 minutes and was smooth throughout.

Everything changed within 2 minutes of our exiting the vaporetto. Murano was packed and we were faced with having to force a passage through countless tourists thronging the narrow paths alongside the canal which separates San Pietro from Santo Stefano. In case you don’t know, Murano comprises seven small islands (all linked by bridges) with the three most interesting being those of San Pietro, Santo Stefano and San Donato. All three have plenty of shops selling Murano Glass but San Donato also holds the Vetro Glass Museum (previously a 17th century palace, the Palazzo Giustinian) and the beautiful 12th century Church of Santa Maria e San Donato (also known as the Duomo di Murano). Walk the length of San Pietro from Murano Colonna and you can cross the Ponte Longo to San Donato.

Having said that, walking the length of San Pietro and crossing to San Donato was the last thing on our mind. It was hot and very crowded and the first thing we did after disembarking was to find a cafe with shade and some cold drinks while the crowd from our vaporetto dispersed.

It was a good decision. A half hour later we were able to amble the length of San Pietro and cross over to Santo Stefano for a while, until Vanya had her fill of sightseeing and bought a couple of very nice wine glasses (which her mother paid for as a wedding anniversary present). Two of the most interesting features on Santo Stefano are just metres apart. They are the Clock Tower (the Torre dell’Orologio) and a blue sculpture known as the Comet Glass Star which was crafted by the Master Glassmaker Simone Cenedese in 2007.

Three hours of browsing glass shops on Murano was more than enough for us, even with copious drinks breaks, and so we retraced our steps to Murano Colonna and took a vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma.

So that’s it – Murano will never be listed among my 3 favourite Venetian islands. It doesn’t compare with San Marco (for history and pageantry); nor Burano (for fishing, colour and lace); nor Torcello (with it’s tranquility and relative abundance of green grass and trees) but; I do rate it above Lido (notwithstanding Lido’s incredible beaches) and; I would visit it again (should we need more Murano Glass). The facts are (a) I’ll never tire of riding the vaporetti (and you have to use a vaporetto or similar to get to Murano) and; (b) it’s always pleasant sitting in an Italian bar drinking coffee and watching the world go by (and you can do that in Murano, just the same as anywhere else in Italy) and (c) there’s no getting away from it, Murano has the most extraordinarily, beautiful glass.

Oh, and Vanya is delighted with her new glasses…

Chioggia (Veneto), Italy May 2025 (Tour 11)

Our next port of call, after Monte Argentario, was to be either the Venetian island of Murano (because Vanya wanted more Murano glass to take home to the UK) or Chioggia, a tiny island a little to the south of Venice (because I fancied a trip down memory lane). Venice would be a good jumping off point for both of those places and Vanya therefore booked us into (surprise, surprise) Hu Camping Venezia.

Most people would drive from Monte Argentario to Venice in the one day but that is not our style. Firstly, I dislike driving the Van any more than 3 hours at a time (so that I get to enjoy more of the places we pass through) and; secondly, Vanya wanted another stay at the excellent Hu Camping Norcenni at Figline Valdarno (so that she gets to enjoy more time in the best camp sites). We broke the journey at Figline Valdarno and that evening, while drinking some fine wines in the camp site enoteca, we formally classified Hu Camping Norcenni as a “Most Excellent Camp Site”.

As indicated above, the following day would see us drive to Hu Camping Venezia: our jumping off point for visits to Murano and Chioggia. It took us a little over 3 hours to get from Figline Valdarno to Venice and on the way, we passed the 4,000 mile mark on this tour. We also decided that we would visit Chioggia ahead of Murano. I’ve never been a great fan of Murano.

It was 1968 when I last visited the little fishing port of Chioggia. I had not long turned 14 and was on a family camping holiday on the Adriatic when a genial Italian fisherman (who was camped on the same beach and had become friendly with my parents) invited my brother and I to join him on a visit to his workplace (a fish processing plant on Chioggi) as a reward for our helping to teach his children how to swim. I kid you not. I don’t remember a great deal about the trip except that my parents were pleased to see the back of my brother and I for the afternoon and the fisherman was delighted to show off his new best mates to his work pals. I do recall not being very impressed with Chioggia at the time but; that may have had something to do with the fisherman taking us for lunch in the fish factory’s canteen and feeding us whitebait (or similar), washed down with red wine. Nowadays, I would love the experience but in those days I didn’t drink red wine and the thought of eating fish complete with head, fins, scales, etc made me want to throw up.

On this occasion, Chioggia proved an absolute joy! I cannot think of the words that will do the island justice but, we both fell totally in love with the place. It is almost all the best bits of Venice without the glitz and the crowds. It is how Venice must have been before it grew up and became overrun with tourists… and it’s cheaper.

Words fail me… and so, a few photos…

I took a great many more photos in Chioggia (regular readers of this blog will have noticed that there’s not one photo of a church, interior or exterior, included amongst the above and neither have I reproduced any of the photos which properly demonstrate this is still very much a busy fishing centre) but I trust those I have reproduced here provide some idea as to how magical this island is? Certainly, there are some positive memories of Chioggia now ingrained in my mind which will remain with me forever – the view along the canal from the Ponte di Vigo; walking the Fondamente Riviera Vena (without a doubt, my favourite walkway); eating cicchetti at a bar on the Corso del Popolo and sipping coffee outside the Hotel Grande Italia on Piazzetta Vigo to name but a few.

A wedding was in progress as we were wandering the streets and the happy couple seemed delighted when, during their photoshoot, I shook the groom’s hand, kissed the bride and wished them all the best for their future.

Next time I visit Chioggia I would be inclined to stay in a hotel so as to be able to sit on a quayside in the evening and watch the sun go down – perhaps with a good bottle of red wine and some whitebait or similar? I saw a couple of suitable looking establishments on Fondamenta Mario Merlin but; hey, I’ll be back more than one more time.

We’ll definitely return to Chioggia!

Monte Argentario – Porto Santo Stefano (Tuscany), Italy May 2025 (Tour 11)

Apologies. For many reasons (but mostly as a result of my website account having been temporarily suspended by Namecheap) it has been well over 3 weeks since I’ve been able to update the blog. During this time, we have continued our travels around Europe (it’s 22 June 2025 now and we are currently in the north eastern Dutch Province of Friesland) but; I’ve taken hundreds of photos and made copious notes about the places we have visited and; I’m reasonably confident I can bring the blog up to date in the not too distant future (barring any further unseen complications). Of course, the entries may be a bit shorter than normal.

I mentioned in my last entry (Suvereto, Tuscany, Italy) that Vanya has the bit between her teeth with regards to camp sites and had booked us into another Hu site (Hu Camping Orbetello – near Monte Argentario) which she wanted to check out. I think she sometimes forgets she is no longer a travel agent. No matter. Although nowhere near as impressive as it’s sister site (Hu Camping Norcenni in Figline Valdarno), there’s nothing wrong with Hu Camping Orbetello except it is a long walk from the campsite to the two places on the Monte Argentario peninsula which I most wished to see, namely Porto Santo Stefano and Porto Ercole. Result – I did a great deal of walking but ultimately missed out on Porto Ercole.

We made an early start from Figline Valdarno and travelled about 150 kilometres down through Grosseto to the campsite which is situated on a thin spit of land to the north of Monte Argentario. This thin stretch of land, which being made of sand is called a tombolo in these parts, separates the Laguna di Ponente from the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is part of the Med. Shortly after arrival I went walkabout along Strada Provinciale Giannella (SP161) which stretches the length of the tombolo and on into Porto Santo Stefano. It was a long, hot walk but it was easy enough until I reached the hamlet of Pozzarello; where the verge disappeared and I was compelled to walk along a very unsafe, narrow, winding road full of would be Italian F1 drivers. It wasn’t a long stretch of road and it soon gave way to a pedestrian path which followed the long disused railway line into the town but, it really wasn’t pleasant.

Monte Argentario and Porto Santo Stefano are sometimes referred to as Tuscany’s answer to the Amalfi Coast. Certainly, much of the peninsula’s coastline is picturesque and some of it’s villages are as arresting as those on the Amalfi Coast but… Porto Santo Stefano? Definitely not. Porto Santo Stefano is a small, pretty town with some considerable character but it doesn’t have the charm of the Amalfi Coast towns (e.g. Positano, Ravello, Maiori or Amalfi, etc). No, I think Porto Santo Stefano, with it’s abundant wealth and privilige, is better compared with Liguria’s Portofino or, more accurately, Rapallo. Neither Rapallo nor Porto Santo Stefano have the quiet sophistication of Portofino and/but, unlike tiny Portofino, their harbours can accommodate numerous large, very expensive motorboats. I feel a rant coming on.

Porto Santo Stefano’s beaches are fine (of those in and immediately around the town, Spiaggia La Cantoniera stands out) but; what I enjoy most about Porto Santo Stefano is it’s lively waterfront promenade (the Passeggiata lungo el Porto) which is dotted with just the right variety of cafes, bars and restaurants; a few shops (including two really impressive fish counters) and; two ice cream booths (selling the very best Italian ice creams). It’s a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

On the down side, there are far to many ostentatious motorboats cluttering not only the town’s TWO port areas (the old Porto Vecchio and the new Porto del Valle) but almost every available remaining inch of the beautiful quayside. The quayside should be reserved for traditional fishing boats, not giant motorboats and; the overweening owners of these behemoths should be instructed to anchor them offshore or, at least, to keep them in the port areas and leave the quayside for local fishing boats. I mean, how is anyone supposed to take decent photographs with these monstrosities obstructing any and all decent photo opportunities? Rant over. I think I need to stop and have a glass of wine.

The walk into town in the day’s heat took more out of me than I thought and I spent far too long sitting, enjoying a very large beer (and an ice cream) on the seafront. I did find the energy to wander some of the old town up and around the 17th century Spanish Fortress but I wasn’t inclined to enter the fortress which contains a small museum but, for the most part, is now given over to cultural events and exhibitions. I also took a quick look inside the town’s principal church, the Chiesa Santo Stefano, but; with the long walk back to the camp site ahead of me, there was never going to be enough time to visit Porto Ecole. I understand Porto Ecole is considerably smaller and quieter than Porto Santo Stefano and I think I would prefer that but that will have to wait until another day.

The last word goes to the camp site. It’s beaches are great…

Suvereto (Tuscany), Italy

Having stayed a third full day at Hu Norcenni Girasole in Figline Valdarno, we felt it was time to move on. Our next stop would be yet another Hu Site (Camping Park Albatross) – Vanya now had the bit between her teeth so far as campsites were concerned.

Hu Camping Park Albatross is located between San Vincenzo and Piombino in the province of Livorno. We drove through San Vincenzo as we made our way south to the campsite and were not overly impressed by the place but, no matter, our primary reason for heading this way was to visit either the tiny island of Elbe (which was where Napoleon Bonaparte spent an all too short period of exile before Waterloo and which can be reached by ferry from Piombino) or the Tuscan hillside village of Suvereto (which is one of the ‘borghi piu belli d’Italia’ – one of the most beautiful villages in Italy). We settled on the latter, it being just 10 miles or so inland from where we were camped.

Suvereto, formerly known as Castello di Sughereto, is a remarkably well preserved medieval village of some 3,000 residents in an area of Italy known as the Maremma. This area of almost 5,000 square kilometres encompasses most of Tuscany’s Grosseto Province and extends along the Tuscan coast as far north as Cecina and as far south as Civitavecchia in Lazio. It fills much of what was once Etruria, home to the Etruscans, and is perhaps the wildest part of Tuscany. This is largely due to the Romans who, after finally defeating the Etruscans in 396, failed to properly care for the canals and drainage systems developed by the Etruscans. As a result, much of the land deteriorated into swampland, with malaria became rife, and only the hilltop villages (the likes of Suvereto, Pitigliano, Massa Marittima, Montegiovi, Canneto, Buriano, etc) continued to prosper. It wasn’t until the early 19th century that the Grand Duke Leopold II set about restoring the drainage systems and the land was properly reclaimed.

There are two entrances through the largely intact walls which encircle the old village; the north gate, the Porta di Sassetta, and; a south gate, which lost it’s original name when it was rebuilt in 1857 and seems now to be known simply as the ‘new gate’. The entrances are connected by the village’s main thoroughfare, the Via Magenta. We entered using the new gate from the Piazza Vittorio Veneto but not before taking breakfast at a small coffeeshop, the ‘La Gattubuia’, which is esconced in the old walls on the Piazza. It was a lovely way to start the day; just sitting in the shade for a while and drinking coffee on this pleasant little square.

Of course, it was Vanya and our dogs who spent most of this short time on the square because, also on Piazza Vittorio Veneto are two churches, one alongside the other, which simply had to be explored. One is a very plain salmon coloured church, the Church of Saint Michael Archangel, which was built in 1881 but abandoned soon after and turned into a small museum (the Museum of Sacred Art). The other is the village’s primary church, Chiesa di San Giusto Vescovo. This church was built on the site of earlier Christian structures some time in the 10th century although, it wasn’t completed until 1189. It is named after a former Bishop of Volterra and; while it too doesn’t have a particularly impressive exterior, there are some interesting features inside.

The Chiesa di San Giusto has some interesting history about it too. In 1313, the Holy Roman Emperor (Henry VII of Luxembourg), who was not liked in these parts, was allegedly poisoned while taking holy communion and his body was temporarily interred in the church pending an investigation into his death (he died aged just 38). Franciscan monks from the nearby monastery then roasted the Emperor’s body over a fire and removed his head and boiled it. Now, why would they do that? Was it part of the internment process or were they seeking to conceal evidence of poisoning? I doubt I’ll ever know.

After a second cup of coffee, Vanya and I made our way up the Via Magenta into the old village. Suvereto is a compact village full of medieval stone houses linked by a maze of mixed stone, paved and cobbled streets and alleys. It is mostly pedestrianised because, with the exception of Via Magenta, the streets are too narrow for four wheeled vehicles. Moreover, it’s a mountain village with some steep streets which often give way to covered walkways and staircases and these too make it difficult for vehicles. You only need look at some of the photos I took to realise this.

We made it to Suvereto’s equivalent of a town hall, the Palazzo Comunale, before Vanya’s concern about Nala’s ability to negotiate the steep streets in her ‘walking wheels’ prompted a return to the La Gattubuai. Before anyone gets too excited over the impressive looking Palazzo Communale, it is not open to tourists. I asked for a look-see and was politely declined.

Vanya was happy for me to continue my exploration of the village. I made my way back to the Palazzo Communale and then on to the village’s highest point, the 9th century castle ruin of Rocco Aldobrandesca. The ruin is being restored by the municipality but it is difficult to believe it was used as a private residence from 1800 up until as recently as 1950. It is very much ‘work in progress’. No matter, the short walk up to the ruin is worthwhile if only for the splendid views over the thickly forested Val di Cornia with it’s many chestnut trees, cork oak plantations, olive groves and vines. A little aside, did you know that the cork oak can regenerate it’s bark? It takes about 9 years.

The descent on the far side of the Rocco Aldobrandesca leads around to the Porta di Sassetta and the top end of the Via Magenta. This would lead me back to Vanya and our two dogs at La Gattubuai on the Piazza Vitorrio Veneto and, with a few short diversions, allow me to explore the rest of the village.

One of the more interesting buildings on the Via Magenta is the Chiesa della Madonna di Sopra la Porta. From the outside it looks like just another chapel but inside it is something else. Much like the time travel vehicle, the TARDIS (from the TV programme ‘Doctor Who’), the church seems to be far bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. For those who have never watched the TV programme (could there be such people?), TARDIS is an acronym for Time and Relative Dimension in Space and; thanks to “dimensional engineering beyond human comprehension”, the Tardis has the ability to fold one space inside another, thereby allowing it to be bigger on the inside. Simples!

Another interesting feature of the village is to be found alongside the 16th century Chiesa Crosifisso. It is the old cloister of a 13th century Franciscan monastery which now serves as a tiny square in the village, the Piazza della Cisterna. Some of the monastery buildings were knocked down and used to build the Chiesa Crosifosso and, more recently, others were converted into private houses. By the way, it was monks from this monastery who ‘handled’ the body of Henry VII of Luxembourg, whom I mentioned earlier in this blog.

There’s also some interesting street art in this area but I cannot tell you anything about these pieces.

I’ve just realised how much I’ve written about Suvereto and I haven’t got around to mentioning the area’s red wine with it’s DOCG label. I’ll leave it at that except to say that we were so pleased to have visited this village. It’s a pocket of wholly authentic rural life (I read that description somewhere and/but it really does suit). There is also a real lived-in feel about the place and we highly recommended it as somewhere to visit.

Figline Valdarno (Tuscany), Italy May 2025 (Tour 11)

Being just 15 miles south east of Florence, the historic town of Figline Valadarno is only about 85 miles from Torre del Lago Puccini but; in terms of the weather, it was a million miles away as we arrived. The sun was shining; there was barely a cloud in the sky and; it was warm. Moreover, it was set to stay that way for the forseeable future.

I know I’ve been rather going on about campsites during the last weeks (which is rich coming from someone who used them only rarely in his early tours) and I’m sorry about that but; Vanya once again did us proud with the 5 Star Hu Camping Norcenni Girasole Club just outside of Figline Valadarno. I’ll write more about the Norcenni Girasole at the end of this blog (such that you can skip it and move on if you are not particularly interested in camp sites). For now it will suffice to say it is to be listed as an Excellent Campsite – only our fifth in the last 7 years.

Figline Valdarno is, for me, a quintessential Italian town; not necessarily for it’s landmark attractions and monuments (although it does have a couple of places of interest) but; for it’s pure Italianism. It’s one of those places where I’m content to lounge in the main square over a coffee; watching and listening to old men noisily playing cards at tables outside the cafe-bars and middle aged women chatting and laughing with neighbours by the fountains or haggling good humouredly with shopkeepers over the price of tomatoes – all of it so very Italian. I did just that for an hour. I sat in the early morning sunshine, sipping coffee outside a bar on Figline Valdano’s main square (the Piazza Marsilio Ficino) and revelled in it.

The Piazza Marsilio Ficino (named after a famous 15th century humanist philosopher whom, I confess, I have never heard of) is in itself one of the town’s principal attractions. It’s a large rectangular piazza (more like a trapezium really) which was designed to hold a large farmer’s market. It is almost entirely surrounded by arcades except for access points and one corner where the town’s 13th century Collegiate Church of Santa Maria holds pride of place. I cannot say for sure that the piazza is still used as a market place (it probably is) but the arcades are home now to a handful of bars, a few shops, some offices and, at the opposite end of the piazza to the church, a former 14th century hospital (the Spedale Serristori) which closed in 1890.

Alongside the Piazza Marsilio Ficino, near the church, is another much smaller town square, Piazza Bianchi. This holds the 14th century Palazzo Pretorio with it’s attendant tower. Originally home to the town council, it is now used to store town records but, for a short period in the 19th century, it was also used as a prison. At the foot of the tower is a small chapel dedicated to the town’s soldiers who fell in WWI.

Another significant building in the town is the Teatro Comunale Garibaldi. This 19th century theatre, named after Guiseppe Garibaldi, is used to host theatrical and/or musical performances and can accommodate an audience of about 500. Judging by the many old posters adorning it’s walls, especially on the stairwell, this theatre has hosted some quite spectacular events since it’s inauguration in 1872. I was unable to access the auditorium. The entrance was closed whilst, inside, a pianist was rehearsing a movement from Beethoven’s 9th (the Choral Symphony). It was a joy standing outside listening for a short while – an Ode to Joy, I hear you say. Sorry.

Outside, to one side of the theatre and underneath some of the old town walls, is a fenced off area which is used as a summer arena (music and theatre productions) and can accommodate an audience of up to 180 but, again, I couldn’t gain access.

I wandered the town for a while but, because I had spent so much time ‘people watching’ on the Piazza Marcilio Ficino and ‘eavesdropping’ on the pianist in the Teatro Comunale Garibaldi, I didn’t get to see much else but; I don’t regret a minute of it. I suspect we’ll return at some time in the future.

Okay, a little about Hu Norcenni Girasole Camping. It really is first class. From the moment we started the check in process until the moment we left, it was almost perfect. We booked in for two nights and almost immediately increased it to three so that Vanya could enrol in a cookery class and perfect her Ravioli. We would have stayed longer except we had already lingered in France for 7 days at Esterel Caravaning and we needed move on, deeper into Italy. Having said all that (and this is a postscript), we returned to Hu Norcenni Girasole for another night when retracing our steps through Italy.

The site is super pet friendly and has all the facilities you could need and more. It provides a regular shuttle service into Figline Valdarno and coach trips to Florence and Siena when demand warrants it. We have stayed at three Hu Campsites in total and all are good but Hu Norcenni Girasole is very much a step above the others. The service ethos from it’s staff is as good as I have seen anywhere (and that includes some of the world’s top hotels) and it operates two features which set it apart from the others: a well stocked enoteca and well informed sommelier (where we chose to drink wine most nights, in preference to the more crowded and noisier bars) and; a top chef who offered cookery lessons to small groups. Under Chef Mario’s tutelage (the chef has worked all over the world and even cooked for the late Queen Elizabeth II), Vanya was able to perfect a home made ricotta and spinach ravioli which even I enjoyed (and I’m not a great one for pasta and have never been keen on spinach).

Oh! And the cooking…

j

Torre del Lago Puccini (Tuscany), Italy May 2025 (Tour 11)

It was late afternoon when we left Sanremo and I was pleased I didn’t have to drive too far to our next stop, Camping Bella Vista, just 40 miles east near Alabenga in Liguria. We’d stay there just the one night and then head down through Tuscany to Torre del Lago Puccini. The weather forecasts for the north of Italy looked unsettled for the next couple of days but were more promising further south. As it happened, the weather in both Liguria and Tuscany proved awful over the following days and we very much missed out on Albenga and, even more disappointing, Torre del Lago Puccini.

A quick note regarding Camping Bella Vista: It’s in the countryside just a short drive from Albenga. It is a welcoming and tidy little campsite. The couple who run it (a friendly local chap and his Dutch girlfriend) employ a small army of Dutch students to help out and all speak very good English (which makes life so much easier in Italy). The site would have been included in my list of recommended campsites had there been a restaurant or foodstore either on site or in the immediate area but there’s nothing within walking distance (as yet). The bar was okay and, while we were there, I was introduced to a couple of the local wines (from the ‘La Vecchia Cantina’ winery) but, man cannot live on alcohol alone. I was tempted to stop off the next morning to buy a couple of bottles of the winery’s Scuvea Rossese red wine but La Vecchia Cantina is inaccessible to anything other than a small Fiat and, anyway, we really wanted to get on to warmer weather.

The next morning we drove south into Tuscany and paused on the Versilia Coast at Torre del Lago Puccini. I was really excited at the prospect of going to Torre del Lago Puccini. The town was originally named Torre del Lago (after the tower which once stood on Lake Massaciuccoli) but; in 1938 the town changed it’s name to Torre del Lago Puccini in honour of the great Giacomo Puccini (one of my favourite composers – La Boheme, Tosca, Madam Butterfly, Turandot, etc) who lived there from 1891 until his death in 1924. The tower is long gone. It is said Puccini built his house (Villa Puccini) on the site of the old tower but no one knows for sure. What is certain is that when settling in the area, Puccini described it as a “real paradise on earth” and; he lived there for the rest of his life and; he wrote almost all of his great works there. Villa Puccini is now a museum dedicated to Puccini and his works and he’s buried there (together, I think, with his wife and son).

Every summer Torre del Lago holds a Puccini Festival in a specially built open-air theatre (the Gran Teatro all’Aperto Giacomo Puccini) which was built alongside his villa overlooking Lake Massaciuccoli. It holds just 3,300 people but wouldn’t that be an event to attend?!?

Unfortunately, it rained almost the whole time we were in Torre del Lago Puccini and we got to see next to nothing of the area but, keep your fingers crossed, the weather forecast just a little to the east is excellent. Figline Valdarno here we come.

Sanremo (Liguria), Italy May 2025 (Tour 11)

We awoke to the most perfect weather. The sun was shining, the sky was clear of clouds. There was no wind and 23 degrees centigrade was forecast. Great. Vanya found a decent looking campsite through ACSI for later in the day (Camping Bella Vista in Alabenga). I called them to check availability (the lady at the other end of the phone laughed out loud at my Italian) and; before you knew it we were continuing on our way to Italy with smiles on our faces. Yesterday’s bad weather was nothing but a dim and distant memory.

Vanya wanted to stop by Sanremo for lunch (a town just over the border in Italy that she had never seen). I’d visited Sanremo (often incorrectly written as San Remo) during my first tour in the Van and didn’t enjoy it much but; that could have been because snow was falling at the time. This time the weather was so different and I really enjoyed the place.

Once again Park4Night did us proud, leading us through Sanremo to a huge pay carpark down on the seafront towards the town’s centre. We had to do a couple of circuits of the carpark to find an entrance big enough for the Van to pass through but we made it. We orientated ourselves using the old Russian Orthodox Church (which was visible from where we parked the Van) and were delighted to discover we were only a few minute’s walk from Sanremo’s famous casino, which is about as central as you can get in the town.

The first place to visit had to be the Russian Orthodox Church, a thought provoking reminder of the Russian aristocracy which used to frequent Sanremo in their thousands before the Russian Revolution of 1917. Set amongst some amazing belle epoque buildings the tiny Russian Orthodox Church of Christ the Saviour, Saint Seraphim and Saint Catherine (to use it’s full name) is a joy to visit. The church was commissioned by the Tsarina Maria Ferodovna, widow of Alexander III and mother to the ill fated Czar Nicholas II although; construction didn’t commence until 1912 (well after her death) and; because of the Russian Revolution in 1917, it was never quite finished. With it’s 5 multi-coloured onion domes surmounted by Russian three armed crosses (and a belltower), the church is easily recognisable. The insides of the orthodox churches are usually very colourful. However, the interior of this one is neither as large nor as spectacular as some I have seen (it’s pale blue walls are smothered with icons) but it is still remarkable.

From the Orthodox Church we walked east along the Corso della Imperatrice (named after Maria Ferodovna) to the mostly pedestrianised Via Giacomo Matteotti which is Sanremo’s best shopping street in terms of fashion stores and designer brands. This street fronts Sanremo’s old town which is known as La Pigna – Italian for pine cone (presumably because of the way the streets are set out?). Turn inland into any one of the narrow streets or alleys which feed Via Giacomo Matteotti and you are into Sanremo’s old town.

On our way to Via Giacomo Matteotti, at the end of Corso della Imperatrice, we passed the elegant Art Nouveau building which is the Sanremo Municipal Casino. This is Italy’s answer to the Monte Carlo Casino and, except for a short period during WWII when it was closed by order of the Italian King Victor Emmanuel III , it has been open since it’s inauguration in January 1905. Entrance into the casino is free but, dressed as casually as we were and having our dogs with us, we didn’t even consider entering the building but, by all accounts, it is as impressive inside as outside (complete with Murano Glass chandeliers).

La Pigna is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways and is as pretty a medieval old town as many we have seen on our tours and it’s not as expensive as you might think. Using Vanya’s famous ‘pizza cost reference system’, pizzas in San Remo come in at about 8 Euros for a Margharita which is below average for medium to large towns in the north of Italy.

San Siro Cathedral sits at the lower end of La Pigna and, although there is some dispute over it’s age (I’ve read it is of 9th, 12th and 13th century construction), it is supposedly the oldest religious building in Sanremo. Having said that I have also read that most of the current building stems from the 17th century. Behind the San Siro Cathedral is the famous central Piazza San Siro and it was a hive of activity as we passed through but, honestly, it’s nothing to write home about.

At the top of La Pigna, at the highest point of the town (even above the enchanting Regina Elena Gardens), is another religious building; the 14th century Sanctuary of the Madonna della Costa with it’s famous wooden statues. It’s definitely worth a visit.

I mentioned the Regina Elena Gardens. Sanremo is known as the city of flowers and these gardens, together with those at Villa Ormond on Corso Cavallotti (to the east of the town), are a must-see even for those with absolutely no horticulteral knowledge (such as me). The views over the town from the oasis which is the Regina Elena Gardens are spectacular and the Garden at Villa Ormond is full of exotic, rare plants; some of which are massive (they remind me of Poolewe Gardens).

We didn’t get to see the extreme west of the city, where the old harbour and the 17th century Santa Tecla Fortress are located (Nala, bless her, was worn out) but; the car park we used is perfectly placed to visit the whole town and that includes the nearby harbour.

We did however get time to take some lunch and test out Vanya’s ‘pizza cost reference system’…

A final observation about Sanremo. I couldn’t have been more wrong about the city following my very brief visit during Tour 1. It has so much to offer. I highly recommend it as a place to visit and; it really hasn’t lost any of it’s belle epoque glamour. We’ll definitely be back.

Pietra Ligure (Liguria), Italy September 2023 (Tour 8)

Leaving Lago Le Tamerici we drove north; making for Camping dei Fiori, a campsite in Pietra Ligure which I think is part of the Pian dei Boschi hotel complex. We would stay in Pietra Ligure for just one night as we were due in the small French town of Monteux the following day. Vanya had booked us into Monteux’s Hotel Le Blason De Provence, a highly recommended boutique hotel just outside of Monteux on the road to Carpentras. We were going to spoil ourselves for two or three days but more about that later. First, let me write a little about Pietra Ligure. I really liked the place and will most certainly return.

Pietra Ligure is a popular seaside town, half way between Genoa and San Remo, on the Riviera Ponente (part of the Italian Riviera) and it is named after it’s castle perched up on an imposing limestone cliff known as La Pietra (which translates as the stone or the rock in English). There has been a castle on this rock since the time of the Roman Empire but the current structure dates from the 16th century.

It took just 10 minutes to walk from Camping dei Fiori to the beach and another 5 minutes to reach Pietra Ligure’s historic old town (the largely medieval Borgo Vecchio)… and what a little gem it is!

Hemmed in between the sandy beach and a series of low hills which form a backdrop along much of this coast, the old town is built mostly of a pastel coloured stone and comprises numerous narrow shaded alleys (known as ‘caruggi’ in this part of the world), many of which are topped with arches and lead through or to small squares or courtyards. Interspersed with shops and cafe-bars and almost entirely pedestrianised, the caruggi are brimming with character and lend the town a very local flavour and feeling. I love them.

At the centre of the Borgo Vecchio, on the town’s main square (the Piazza San Nicolo di Bari) is an elegant, cream coloured, Romanesque style church – the Basilica of San Nicolo di Bari. Inside its beautifully carved doors this church is sumptuously decorated with sculptures and stunning artwork. The inside of some churches that I have seen during these tours have been overelaborate, almost gaudy, but this is a jewel of a church and no photos I took can do it justice.

Pietra Ligure is not a large town (just 8,000 residents outside of summer) and it didn’t take long to explore the Borgo Vecchio. I knew too that I would be returning later in the day with Vanya and so, after tearing myself away from the Basilica, I made my way on the beach and then on to the Borgo Nuovo (the new town).

I was most impressed with the beach area. There’s a long sandy blue flag beach, a sizeable pier from which numerous anglers seemed to be enjoying themselves and a wide seafront promenade lined with palm trees. Most important, given Italy’s proclivity towards private beaches (regular readers of this blog will know that I abhor private beaches), Pietra Ligure has determined that a large central part of the beach should be open to the public. Moreover, the town has at least one and possibly two dog friendly beaches complete with dog showers. Respect!

The next day, we were moving on into France. Sadly, we didn’t have time before leaving to return just a few kilometres back down the coast to visit two of Italy’s most beautiful villages – the Borghi piu Belli d’Italia of Borgio Verezzi (with it’s Valdemino Caves) and Finalborgo (with it’s annual medieval festival) but, we’ll be back.

On to Monteux…

Lago Le Tamerici (Tuscany), Italy September 2023 (Tour 8)

It was time to head north. We were always going to be on a tight schedule this tour and, anyway, towards the end of September the majority of campsites in the south of Italy tend to close for winter. France beckoned. Vanya picked out a small campsite (44 campervan pitches) back in Tuscany halfway between Pisa and Livorno and so it was that we set off for Camping Lago Le Tamerici.

Camping Lake Temerici is an outstanding little camp site on the side of a small lake in the Coltano Nature Reserve – large grassy pitches, decent facilities and a warm welcome from the proprietors. There’s also a very good restaurant on site which for the most part relies on their own locally produced meat and vegetables (just as well because there is very little else in the immediate area).

We were fortunate to arrive on a warm sunny Sunday afternoon. The place was packed with day trippers but we were assured the great majority would leave before sunset and we need only reserve a place in the restaurant if we wanted a table on the porch overlooking the lake. I did just that and, after updating my Face Book account over a large glass of the local artisan beer, went off for a short stroll around the lake.

It turned out to be a beautiful evening with a great sunset but, the food and wine (a Tuscan Vermentino) were such that I couldn’t be bothered to move from the restaurant to take any photos.

Campeggio Lago le Tamerici proved a great find and we would certainly return. Nearby Pisa does little for me but Livorno I do want to see more of and this campsite works for me.

Anzio (Lazio), Italy September 2023 (Tour 8)

We drove to Anzio by way of Orvieto in Umbria.

Anzio is a fascinating medium sized town of some 50,000 inhabitants on the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 30 miles south of Rome. In the Summer, it is very popular with Roman holidaymakers (some 40% of houses in Anzio are second homes to people from Rome) but, outside of those months it is usually quiet. The town, with it’s sandy beaches and a pretty little harbour (a departure point for a ferry and hydroplane service to the nearby Pontine Islands, although Formia is the primary port in this regard) was very quiet as we arrived.

We had the dogs with us and were therefore unable to make the trip to the Pontine Islands but that is an archipelago we will most certainly visit in the future. Only 2 of the 6 islands are occupied all year round (the islands of Ponza and Ventotene) but Palmarola and Zannone are inhabited during the summer months and all six islands have stories to tell; even the deserted Santo Stefano (a penal colony until 1965) and Gavi (now a wildlife refuge).

Anzio is steeped in ancient and modern history (with a fair bit in between although the place fell into decline during the Middle Ages). At the time of the Roman Empire, the combined towns of Anzio and Nettuno were known as Antium and was the birthplace of two Julio-Claudian Emperors (Caligula who reigned 37-41 AD and Nero who reigned 54-68 AD). During his reign, Nero developed an enormous, magnificently decorated palace in Antium (the Villa Imperiale di Nerone or Nero’s Villa). Covered in a precious white marble it stretched 800 metres along the beach and 300 metres inland. No doubt with the palace in mind, a subsequent emperor, Hadrian, described Antium as one of the prettiest places in the Empire. There’s not a great deal remaining of the villa but it’s footprint is largely intact.

Anzio’s beaches once again became a centre of attention in January 1944 when during WW2, “Operation Shingle” saw troops from the USA, Great Britain and Canada invade them with a view to compromising the German 10th Army and liberating Rome. After a promising start (i.e. a 7 mile beachhead established and an open road to Rome for the loss of just 13 Allied dead) the invasion stalled and developed into one of the more savage battles of the war (more than 43,000 Allied casualties) with Lieutenant General Mark W Clark and his subordinate Major General John P Lucas combining to totally screw the operation up. Lucas (described by Winston Churchill as a ‘Stranded Whale’) was relieved of his command and sent back to the USA after sitting on the beach for 8 days and doing nothing while the Germans rushed their 14th Army south to support their 10th Army. Clark too should have been returned to the USA for tolerating Lucas’ inertia and then deliberately ignoring the orders of his own Commanding Officer (General Sir Harold Alexander) as he sought to retrieve the situation. Lucas’ replacement, Major General Lucian Truscott of the US 3rd Division wrote that “had Clark held loyally to General Alexander’s insructions… and not changed the direction of my attack… the strategic objectives of Anzio would have been accomplished in full”. The US military historian Carlo D’Este was more critical saying that Clark’s actions in disregarding Alexander was “as militarily stupid as it was insubordinate”. Clark kept his post. No surprises there since he was a close personal friend of Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces.

Except for a few words about the war cemeteries I perhaps need to draw a line under the Battle of Anzio. It will suffice to say there is a great deal in the town and it’s immediate surroundings to remind any visitor of Imperial Rome and the Anzio landings of 1944.

There are three war cemeteries in the area immediately surrounding Anzio; two British & Commonwealth cemeteries (‘Anzio War Cemetery’ and ‘Beach Head War Cemetery’) and the USA cemetery at Nettuno (now known as ‘The Sicily-Rome American Cemetery’ after US cemeteries in Salerno and Sicily were closed).

I took the time to visit the well maintained Anzio War Cemetery and during my walk back to a beach car park where I’d left Vanya with Nala and Beanie, I passed the charming 17th century Villa Adele, a significant part of which is now a museum, the Museo dello Sbarco di Anzio. Initially,the museum’s focus was directed towards the area’s archaeological finds but, perhaps unsurprisingly, four rooms have since been dedicated to the Battle for Anzio; a room each for the USA, Britain & the Commonwealth, Germany and of course Italy. A small part of the museum is centred around a Lieutenant Eric Fletcher Waters, a British officer who landed at Anzio and lost his life in the ensuing battle. His son, Roger Waters, grew up to be a co-founder, bass player and principal lyricist of Pink Floyd and; one of Pink Floyd’s singles, “When the Tigers Broke Free” (originally entitled “Anzio, 1944”) tells the story of his fathers death at Anzio.

Close to Anzio War Cemetery is the Basilica di Santa Teresa. That’s Saint Teresa de Lisieux (the Saint I wrote about in my blog on Alencon earlier this year – Tour 7) and not to be confused with Saint Teresa of Avila or Saint Teresa of Calcutta or any one of the other Saint Teresas’s). The Basilica, which was built between 1926 and 1939, is very imposing from the outside (especially having regard to it’s huge belltower) and it is supposedly very impressive on the inside too but a wedding ceremony was underway as I arrived and I wasn’t inclined to hang around.

One church I was able to access is the Chiesa dei Santi Pio e Antonio on Anzio’s main square, the Piazza Pia. Having been consecrated in 1885, this neo classical style church is a little older than the Basilica di Santi Teresa and, if not so imposing, is far prettier.

Back at the Van, Vanya and I planned our next move and we determined to drive north along the coast and seek out a good seafood restaurant. This whole area is justifiably famous for it’s fresh fish. We found the perfect place some 16 miles away on a wide sandy beach in Torvaianica. The food, the setting and the mood were truly great. From Vanya’s perspective however that all seemed to fade into nothing against the new drink she discovered at the restaurant – a Prosecco & Lemon Sorbet. Honestly, she was in seventh heaven. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of that drink…