An Italian Easter

Italy knows how to put on a holiday show and Easter (Pasqua) is no exception. The Easter season stretches from pre-Lenten Carnevale celebrations, to the processions for Palm Sunday and Good Friday, to solemn Mass on Easter Sunday and finally to Pasquetta, the Monday after Easter.  

Pretty Easter decorations in a shop along Via San Georgia, Lucca

The season is at its best when the calendar places Easter late in April, allowing it to unfold along with the Italian primavera (spring). This year April has been glorious here in Lucca - warm days, occasional spring rains, wild flowers in bloom along the city walls, trees in full flower, and - my personal favorite- gorgeous trellises and walls overflowing with wisteria blooms. (We’ll give you a taste of the natural beauty in next week’s post, so stay tuned!)

Shop window, Via Roma, Lucca

​The shops are overflowing with Easter decorations and window displays. And the chocolate shops! Huge chocolate eggs containing hidden surprises, candy eggs, and lots of chocolate Easter chickens. And really, given that bunnies don’t lay eggs, don’t chickens make more sense?  

Yesterday was Easter Sunday; today is Pasquetta or “little Easter.”  It is celebrated as a national holiday and a day for picnics and casual celebrations. I’ll celebrate with visiting friends, a walk through town to see the colorful wisteria, window gazing, and a toast to an Italian Easter.   -post by JMB

Translation: Better an egg today than a chicken tomorrow!

Camellias and Tea with a Japanese Flavor in Tuscany

The camellia (camelia in Italian) is a prized flower in the area of Tuscany around Lucca. So much so that each spring there is an annual camellia festival that takes place in some of the villas in the countryside around Lucca and in the small town of Sant’Andrea di Compito. 

I was able to visit Sant”Andrea during the festival in 2018 and was enchanted by the town, the festival, and those lovely flowers.

My memories were so wonderful that I was looking forward to making a return visit this spring.

This year the Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia festival marked its 30th anniversary with a special celebration that combined the beauty of the flowers (scientific name Camellia Japonica) with an exhibit reflecting the Japanese culture from which the flowers get their name and from where they were originally imported to Italy.

Ribbon cutting ceremony to open the exhibit at the Antiche Camelie della Lucchesia festival, 2019

The focus of the Japanese exhibit was on tea - growing, processing, and serving. The connection with tea is that a species of camellia (scientific name Camellia Sinensis) provides the leaves used in making tea. Along with the many beautiful flowering camillias, there is also a garden in Sant’Andrea where the tea plants are grown.

Tea plants are raised in the Antica Chiusa Borrini, a large walled garden in Sant’Andrea di Compito.

The Japanese exhibit included a demonstration of the antique method of processing tea leaves by hand - a labor-intensive process that involves kneading the fresh green leaves over a heated surface to elongate and dry the leaves. The process takes five hours. 

Processing the newly harvested tea leaves the old-fashioned way - kneading over a cloth-covered surface heated from below

There were also tea tastings (delicious!) and displays of Japanese tea accoutrements including tea pots, whisks, and cups, as well as a market selling a variety of Japanese items.

Of course there was also the traditional annual display of camellia blossoms, a plant market, and artisan stands. After visiting the market we strolled through town, admiring the beautiful houses, villas, stone walls and gardens - with the camellia as the star among flowering forsythia bushes, fruit trees, and wildflowers.

The entrance to the garden of Villa Borrina

I enjoyed finding this unexpected bit of Japan in Tuscany and learning the history of the camellias, both their visual beauty and their flavorful use in tea. Italy is full of delightful surprises. -post by JMB

Sant’Andrea di Compito on a lovely early spring afternoon

Lake Massaciuccoli in Tuscany

When picturing Tuscany - beautiful cities, art, fabulous food, rolling hillsides, umbrella pines and Cypress trees - it’s easy to forget the area is also home to coastline, lakes, and nature preserves. Recently, I was able to visit one of these lakes with a small group of students and teachers from Lucca Italian School. This was a different slice of Tuscany, and one well worth visiting.

Along the eastern shore of Lago Massaciuccoli

First, a bit of history. Once upon a time, the areas of coastal Tuscany, including Lucca, contained large areas of marshland. Teeming with wildlife, these areas frequently flooded, causing problems for nearby cities (damage, mosquitoes, malaria). Eventually, many of the wetland areas disappeared, some naturally and others drained in the name of creating more livable environments for humans and a greater productive land mass.

Late afternoon sun on Lake Massaciuccoli

Today the largest remaining wetland in Tuscany is Lago Massaciuccoli (a bit of a tongue twister, pronounced Mass-a-choo-co-li).  It lies about 12 miles (18 km) from Lucca, an easy 35-minute car ride.  There is also a bike path that begins just outside Lucca and goes all the way to the lake.  Lake Massaciuccoli is also connected by a series of canals to nearby Viareggio and can be reached by bike path from that city as well.

Lake Massaciuccoli has two very different shores. On the west, closest to Viareggio, lies the town of Torre del Lago. Here, in a beautiful lakeside villa, Puccini wrote many of his famous operas and also hunted in the areas around the lake. Here, too, is the Teatro Puccini, home to the Puccini Opera festival. This is the “civilized” more urban part of the lake. On this visit I skipped the western shore and headed straight to the “wild side” on the eastern shore

The entrance to the Oasi LIPU wetlands at Lake Massaciuccoli

​On the eastern shore, by the tiny town of Massaciuccoli, lies the Oasi LIPU protected wetlands, a wild bird sanctuary. The edges of the lake, full of marshes with tall reeds, are crossed by wooden boardwalks that skim just above the water and have small observation blinds at key points, allowing visitors to watch the wildlife while hidden from view.  Staying still, quiet, and out of sight allows for great bird watching.

The boardwalk path through the marshes

There are informative signs about wildlife and flora posted along the boardwalk and in the observation points. Also offered are guided bird-watching expeditions and various types of boating expeditions (canoe, kayak, and larger tourist boats). This is a great place to sit with a pair of binoculars, walk along the boardwalks, listen to the sounds of bird calls, or peer into the shallow waters to see what lies beneath.

Literally a bird’s-eye view

This peaceful place provides a nice side trip from nearby cities, a chance to experience the “wild” side of Tuscany, and an easy walk along the boardwalk.  I visited in mid-March when plants were still in winter mode, the dried stalks of last summer’s flowers had a beauty all their own.

Late winter in the wetlands of Lake Massaciuccoli

 A stop in the town of Massaciuccoli provides a good spot for a coffee, lunch, or a glass of wine post exploration. There is also a nearby  archeological site - but that’s a topic for another post. -post by JMB

No Translation Needed

Now that I’m living in Italy, I feel some pressure to improve my Italian language skills. I try to do all of my “business” (shopping, setting up a phone contract, arranging shipping, etc.) in Italian and, thanks to some very, very patient locals, I am mostly successful. I am also taking a weekly semi-private lesson (with my friend Claire) at the wonderful Lucca Italian School (also known as LIS). I have a fabulous teacher in Antonella, who patiently explains (as many times as I need) the use of the passato prossimo versus the imperfetto past tenses, prepositions (oh - the horror of Italian prepositions), and - heaven help me - the use of the congiuntivo. Grazie Antonella and LIS!

Two recent attempts at translation brought unexpected results. First, I went into a home goods store to buy a muffin pan. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out the word for muffin pan and I had forgotten to look it up before leaving home. I found the pan high on a shelf and asked the man working there to please reach it for me.  As he handed it to me, I asked, “Come si chiama questo tipo di teglia in Italiano” (what do you call this type of baking pan in Italian)?  With a quite serious look on his face he answered me -”si chiama teglia di “muffin.” Muffin, no translation needed. We both got a good laugh over that one! 

The pink variety is a visual treat.

Walking through town I noticed beautiful magnolia trees just beginning to bloom along Corso Garibaldi. Pulling out my dictionary, I looked for a translation for magnolia tree.  I know that a hydrangea is an ortensia and a wisteria is a glicine, so surely there should be an Italian word for a magnolia, right? It turns out that in Italy, a magnolia is, well, a magnolia (named for a French botanist). And, although I associate them with the American South, magnolias are actually common in Italy, often growing into huge trees. In March, they light up Lucca with their beautiful white and pink blossoms. 

So - no translation needed - we hope you enjoy these photos of the beautiful magnolias of Lucca.         \

-post by JMB

Winter in Lucca

The big snow of 2018 created a magical winter tableau. We’re still waiting for snow this year. Photo by David Priest, used with permission.

Winter in Lucca – short days, chilly to downright cold temperatures, bare tree branches and vines, rain (sometimes LOTS of rain), and occasional snow. The weeks after the end of the holiday season, between Epiphany in early January and the beginning of Carnevale in late February / early March are quiet. This is time to catch one’s breath and rest after the hectic holidays. The city of Lucca is resting too. There are fewer tourists in general and a notable absence of larger tour groups wandering through the streets.

Spring, with a promise of sunny days and the emergence of green leaves and flowers, feels a long way off. The big summer music festival is months away, though the advertising has many people here excited with anticipation – Elton John in June, Sting in July – something to look forward to on long winter evenings.

Bare wisteria vines await the blooms of spring

While it is definitely “off season” here in Lucca, there is still a lot going on, which makes winter a pleasurable time of year. The cold temperatures are invigorating (so different than the milder winters of New Mexico). I now have a collection of hats and scarves and happily venture out even when the temperatures are low or it is dark outside. The cafes have mostly pulled their tables indoors but they remain open and people still meet for the evening aperitivo hour – though the bright orange of a summer spritz has mostly given way to glasses of wine and warm drinks.

Bundled up to shop at the outdoor Saturday market

The local markets continue throughout winter. At the antiques market, shoppers dress warmly to browse furniture, linens, books, tableware, clothing, and assorted collectibles. I’ve done a bit of shopping there this winter – a tablecloth for my terrace awaits warmer weather, a pretty glass vase graces my dining room table, and colorful digestivo glasses make me smile every time I see them.

The weekly household market, just outside the walls in Piazzale Don Baroni, sells everything from shoes to lightbulbs, frying pans to bras. There are also plenty of flowers to buy and food products (including meats, cheeses, honey, fresh fish, nuts, and beautiful oranges and clementines from Sicily).

Lucca’s wall as seen from a window at Lucca Italian School

Lucca is known for its music, which continues even at this time of year. The Associazione Musicale Lucchese has concerts scheduled throughout winter – often in the small theater of the Boccherini Institute. 

There are also performances at the Teatro del Giglio – opera, plays, concerts.

And, of course, Lucca Italian School is still busy with students who have come to study Italian during the quiet season.

In addition to these activities, winter in Lucca is simply beautiful. Picture walks through uncrowded Medieval streets, strolls along the wall on bright winter afternoons, dazzling winter sunsets, and distant views of snow-capped mountains – that is winter in Lucca.  I’m still hoping for a dusting of snow. -post by JMB

A sunny winter day on the walls

Distant snow capped mountains

Winter sunset