July is at almost at its end and the heat in Florence is stiffling. So this weekend I am planning once again to take off and the destination will be Pistoia. I personally love this city because when I go there I feel like going back to my childhood since as a small child, my parents would take me to Pinocchio’s Park in Collodi on my birthday. So I want to go back to the Park and take advantage and also visit the Garzoni Garden, a beautiful example of a Renaissance and Baroque Italian garden, and the recently opened Butterfly House, both located next to the park. After Collodi I want to go to Pescia, a town famous for its flowers. It’s a delightful city with many things to see, including the Cathedral and the Palazzo del Palagio.

Sunday morning, I am then headed toward Pistoia to attend the Joust of the Bear, an ancient tournament dating back to the 13th century. The Joust is between knights of the various quarters of the city, challenging each other in Piazza Duomo to use their spears against the bear. Tickets for the bleachers to see the joust can be purchased at the APT office in Piazza Duomo. Even though the tournament doesn’t start until 9.30 pm, there are many other related events throughout the day so I am intending to spend all day there. The city has a beautiful city center with many noble buildings, such as the Palazzo dei Vescovi and Palazzo Pretorio, stunning churches including the Cathedral of San Zeno and the Baptistery of St. John, and characteristic streets such as Via degli Orafi, one of the oldest streets. There are also other monuments and museums worth visiting but I am not sure I’ll get to do all that on Sunday. Pistoia really does deserve to be visited, a town not on anyone’s usual itinerary but for this reason all the more beautiful to discover. Definitely off the beaten path! Anyone else can make it on Sunday to the Joust of the Bear?

If you happen to make it to Pistoia this weekend, hope you enjoy both the event and the city. Have a nice weekend overall!

I haven’t yet planned everything I will do this week end. The only thing that is certain is that I’m heading to Mercantia in Certaldo tonight. I’m going to go see this great Festival of Street Artists that I liked very much in the past. I’ll be in Certaldo around 8 pm and after taking a look at the market in the lower part of  Certaldo and dinner, I’ll climb up to upper Certaldo to go see all the events.

On Saturday I’m planning a morning of total relax. After lunch, I’m planning to go to Cerreto Guidi, a nice Renaissance town about 35 min driving distance from Florence. There is Medicea, an event about culture, food and wine. At 6 pm the “historical reconstruction of threshing”, as well as wineries will open, with wine tastings and art exhibits. At 9.30pm a guided tour will be offered within the beautiful Medicean villa of  Cerreto Guidi. This Renaissance villa, turned into the Museum of  Hunting and of the Territory, was built by Buontalenti as a hunting villa for the Grand Duke Cosimo I.

I have yet to decide what to do on Sunday. I’d like to go to San Gimignano, where a new and very interesting museum opened two weeks ago. The museum is called San Gimignano 1300 and is a spectacular and extremely detailed reconstruction of this beautiful medieval city in Tuscany at that time. It should be really impressive. On the other hand, I’d like also to go to Palazzuolo sul Senio in Mugello for the medieval festival “At the Ubaldini’s Family Court”. The peculiarity of this festival is that this year it’s an historical reenactment of the heroic deeds of Roland. There will a free shuttle bus service from Florence and Pontassieve.

I think I’ll wait and decide on Saturday night what to do on Sunday. In the meantime I wish you a nice weekend!

This weekend I want to escape from Florence. Maybe because this week has been really hot, but I need a break from Florence’s heat.

Viareggio on the coast. We’ll be there for dinner because I want to eat seafood on the beach at sunset. After dinner some night shopping along the “Passeggiata”, one of the most famous shopping streets in Versilia. I cannot avoid shopping because the sales season has just started in Tuscany!!!

On Saturday morning I’ll visit the exhibit “From Fattori to Casorati. Masterpieces from the Ojetti Collection” at Matteucci Center for Modern Art. It is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm and displays some unique Italian masterpieces such as After the battle of Magenta by Giovanni Fattori. Then I want to spend my day on the beach sunbathing and taking swims in the sea. In the late afternoon, I’ll move on to Lucca for the celebrations of San Paolino. This year celebrations will go on for 3 days. On Saturday from 6 pm till late night the borough of San Paolino in the historical center of Lucca will be animated by a medieval festival with musicians, costumed characters and shops open.

On Sunday I’ll spend the day in Lucca. First I want to bike over Lucca’s ancient walls. The walls are incredible and from up there you can enjoy a beautiful and particular view of the center. Then I want to visit Lucca and see San Michele Church with its particularly rich facade, the Cathedral of San Martino, displaying the Holy Face, and the Cathedral Museum, the famous Amphitheater Piazza and all the other monuments of Lucca. Starting at 8.30 pm the Luminara of San Paolino, a costume parade that lights up the center of Lucca, begins in Piazzale Verdi. The parade ends up at San Paolino Church for the blessing of the Palio around 10.30 pm.

Even though I won’t be in Lucca on Monday, the celebrations of  San Paolino will end with the Palio of  San Paolino or Palio della Balestra (Brossbow) starting at 10 pm in Piazza San Martino.

Have a nice weekend!

Finally it’s summer with hot days, unfortunately the heat has also called given life to lots of mosquitoes as well. The gray rainy days of just two weeks ago are a memory and summer begins with the first Palio of the year. In fact, today July 2 is the Palio of Provenzano. I won’t go to Siena but I’ll watch it on TV while sipping something cold in the company of friends.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I want to relax. I’m planning a day out at the swimming pool. There are several outdoor public pools here in Florence (Bellariva along Lungarno Aldo Moro, Costoli near the stadium and Pavorniere at the Cascine) but I want to go out to the Tuscan countryside in Greve in Chianti where a very nice outdoor pool is surrounded by olive trees and vineyards. For dinner I’ll head to Certaldo, the birthplace of Boccaccio. The “In the dream of Sir Boccaccio” will be taking place, bringing to life Boccaccio’s characters. Starting at 7.00 pm, the streets of the old town are animated by the historical parade made up of 180 actors in beautiful medieval costumes that will then recreate scenes from Boccaccio’s Decameron.

On Sunday I’m planning to go to the great medieval festival in Monteriggioni called Monteriggioni di torri si corona (Monteriggioni Crowned with Towers). The festival brings Monteriggioni back to its ancient medieval splendor for two long weekends in July. Knights’ tournaments, jugglers, jesters and musicians animate this beautiful medieval fortress. Events start at 5.00 pm and go on until 11.00 pm. I prefer going on Sunday because Saturday is a really crowded day. The best day is generally Friday, but I do have to work sometimes

Hope everyone has a nice weekend in Tuscany!

A year is passed and June has come. On the third Saturday of June there will take place a great medieval festival, very famous in Italy: La Giostra del Saracino or the Saracen Joust of Arezzo.

The Saracen Joust takes places twice per year (June and September) in Piazza Grande, beautiful square in Arezzo. This year it’s on June 19th at 9.30 pm. But the festival starts on Friday 11th when Captains take the inaugural oath and the draw of sequence of carriere (charges). Every day from Saturday to Tuesday there are the heats around 7.30 pm.

The Joust animates Arezzo for one week. In the tournament the 8 jousters or knights of the 4 Quarters of Arezzo (Porta del Foro, S. Andrea, Porta Santo Spirito and Porta Crucifera) fight each other to win the golden lance. Every jouster gallops his horse with wooden lance against the Buratto and its shield. The Burattto is an armor-plated dummy holding a shield that is divided into sectors corresponding to points. The jouster has two runs along the lizza (jousting track) that runs obliquely in Piazza Grande. The Joust is won by the Quarter whose jousters obtained more points. The price is a golden lance.

The day of the Joust starts at 7.00 am with the first mortar shot and at 11.00 am the second one announces the parade of the colorful procession with over 300 costume characters. At 7.30 pm there is the blessing of the jousters and then the parade goes from the Duomo to Piazza Grande. At 9.30 pm, just before the start of the tournament, there is the flag-wavers performance.

The Saracen Joust is certainly a beautiful medieval festival, whose origins date back to 16th century, that animates Arezzo every year with colors, sounds and flavors coming directly from the Middle Ages.

Finally June has arrived! From the weather you wouldn’t say it, but I’m not worried for my plans for this weekend in Tuscany. Yes, this weekend I don’t plan to stay in Florence but plan on going around Tuscany. So, these are some of my plans.

Saturday morning early wake up, about 9.00, because I want to go to local markets. First I want to go to Impruneta and then to Greve in Chianti. I want to have a “light” lunch in Greve eating some schiacciata (Tuscan bread) filled with sbriciolona (a typical ham) at the Macelleria Falorni in the main square. Then I’ll head to Siena, have to be there before 5 p.m., because at that time starts a big treasure hunt in the historical center. The event is the conclusion of the great wine festival Chianti è. The treasure hunt will also meet the traditions of the Palio and will end with a typical dinner in Contrada. English speaking staff will assist you and reservations are required.

On Sunday I’d like to go to Cortona for the Giostra dell’Archidado. This a beautiful Medieval Festival, whose origins date back to the Middle Ages, animating the streets of Cortona with more than 300 people dressed in rich historical costumes, as well as knights and horses. At 11 a.m. there is the last heat, called Provaccia, and at 5 p.m. the horse tournament takes place. If you’re in Cortona on Saturday, there is also a special parade and flag-throwers the evening prior.

If instead I’m too tired after the treasure hunt in Siena on Saturday, I’ll go to Montespertoli for the Chianti Exhibit. It is an important wine and food festival that on Sunday features a nice handicrafts market. You can taste good Chianti wine and local products. On the way back from Montespertoli I can stop in Chiesanuova for the Pine Nut Festival. I like this festival because it’s still a genuine Tuscan festival, where you eat good food, drink excellent wine and don’t spend too much.

So, I have not yet figured out my plans for this weekend in Tuscany, but I’m sure I’ll have fun! How about you – share your plans with us!

The tiny village of Serravalle Pistoiese, just 10 kilometres from Pistoia, is preparing to dive into the past with the Medieval Fair organized at the Rocca di Castruccio from May 22 to 24.

Serravalle was the most important castle for the Ghibelline city of Pistoia, both reaching the peak of their splendor and importance at the end of the second century. The Medieval Fair celebrates the ancient glory of Serravalle at the beginning of the 300s, bringing back to life the old fortress with its garrisons, artisans, merchants and all the places and personages which animated the castle at that time.

The Fair will start on May 22 with a medieval dinner and continues over the following two days with many events and exhibitions that take us back to that era.

On Saturday 23 at 10 p.m. we highly recommend attending the show by the medieval-inspired musicians of the Compagnia la Giostra. We have seen this high energy group perform in other important medieval fairs around Tuscany (such as the Monteriggioni fair in July) and we have been big fans since the very first time we heard them! We’re planning to attend the fair this week in Serravalle to not miss the show of our favorite medieval group and the rest of the fair.
Has someone else attended in the past or is thinking of joing us? Let us know what you think!

We just got back from the year AD 1398 as did the hundreds of people that attended the medieval festival in Volterra this past weekend, the city’s largest annual event. We also got back to work after our short holiday, and that made it especially hard to return to modern times!

On Sunday August 24th for an entire day for a small fee of 9 euros we entered medieval Volterra and we were able once again to imagine how it was to live in that age.

We walked among people dressed in medieval clothes: dueling knights and beautiful dames, nobleman and peasants. It was very realistic, the people of Volterra take a lot of care in all of the details needed to recreate the Middle Ages for this festival (which is also the main event for the city), and they all looked very believable as medieval citizens. A few times we saw an armored knight or other costumed personage talking on a cell phone (you know how hard it is for us Italians to part from our “telefonini”) but aside from this we were back in time.
We almost rented a medieval dress ourselves to join in the medieval pageantry, it was not too expensive (with about 30 euros you could buy one of the most basic dresses or rent a more elaborate dress), but not all of us were ready for this step
Everywhere we went there were handicraft stalls of typical mestieri (handicrafts) like leather goods, wooden carvings, silk stringing, cloth making, and of course – being in Volterra – alabaster handicrafts. My new little owl in alabaster is watching me right now while I type this post. And let’s not forget the local food which was really good and not too expensive after all. We could taste different kinds of pecorino cheeses (one stand had free slices to taste, I visited it at least 10 times, then they started hiding the cheese as I approached..). The necci were also a pleasant surprise (a flatbread made with chestnut flour cooked in a hot, two-sided griddle, filled with ricotta), and we tried different kinds of focaccine, sweet or salty. There was also a lot of grilled meat that filled the air with its aroma around lunch and dinner time..

Then there were the many medieval-themed attractions. The flag throwers were really good, with several companies in addition to the Volterra one. It is definitely easy to see that in Tuscany there is a great school that prepares the next generations of flag throwers. During the evening there was an historical crossbow shooting tournament. Crossbow is a fascinating weapon and the crossbowmen were so good that they basically never missed the target: it was almost boring! The knight duels were probably interesting as well but unfortunately we missed most of them.
Jugglers, jesters and wandering entertainers alternated jokes with amazing acrobatic feats. We enjoyed the shows of I Giullari di Davide Rossi, which mixed good demonstrations of ability and participation by the public. Messer Lurinetto whose specialty is playing with words, was able to improvise rhymes and jokes, both during his shows and while presenting the crossbow tournament.

Music is usually one of the main attractions for me at this kind of festivals: you often get the chance to get to know some really good musical groups whose work is influenced by sounds of this period. In this edition of Volterra AD 1398 there were several bands specialized in medieval music, they were all good, each with its own style: from the more serious and historically accurate “La Rossignol“  that performs court dances to the engaging and entertaining La Giostra (of which we will soon provide some video). This time we also discovered the Barbarian Pipe Band, a group that relies only on pipes and drums to deliver some powerful, rhythmic music inspired by medieval themes. For those who knew a few steps or were willing to learn, La Rossignol provided the chance to participate in a courtly dance with partners in the middle of the square.

With so many interesting attractions it was a real shame that the program that they gave us was not detailed at all. This year, for the first time, the location of the festival was outside the main historical streets of Volterra, in two of the parks still within the city walls. It was a wonderful location, especially the Parco di Fiumi, but the festival extended over a large area. The program was very vague and failed to tell people what exactly was being planned where and at what time, and even if we asked for more details at the information tables, we weren’t able to receive any. This way we often ended up wandering (and walking several kilometers) looking for a specific show (we missed La Giostra 2 times out of 3, even if we were looking for them!), and this in the end was frustrating both for the people and for the artists who said at times they had really small audiences. We really hope that next year the festival’s organizational committee can provide a much more detailed program, or at least go back to the original location inside the city that made it easier to wander and find the performers.

Apart from the ambiguity of the program, the Volterra medieval pageant was interesting and fun, both for those who, like me, are intrigued by the Middle Ages, and for those who just wanted to spend a day having fun and eating good food.