After a slow start today (Sept. 19), we decided to do a little exploring around the area. We drove down to the closest town to us called Bagni di Lucca. We visited this town when we arrived to get groceries so we knew our way to the street parking. We walked through the little park and made our way to the tourist information where we picked up some maps and info on vineyards near us (this will be another adventure!). The town was very sleepy at 10 am so we decided to drive to the next town (basically west of us) called Fornoli. Fornoli wasn’t much of a town but it did have an old suspension bridge that was quite interesting. The bridge (called Ponte delle Catene) was built in 1840 to replace a stone bridge built in the 1300s.
Our next stop was a town called Barga. We were expecting an old town but instead it looked fairly modern with lots of shops along the main street. We walked along this street but didn’t find much of interest although there were more people walking around here than all the other towns put together!! We left Barga and headed for another bridge called the Devil’s Bridge – its proper name is Ponte Della Maddalena. The ancient stone pedestrian bridge spanned the Serchio River and was built in 1100. We walked across the stone bridge and had a great view of the river valley.
Our last stop was back in Bagni di Lucca. We had lunch at a cute little cafe and then did a bit more grocery shopping before heading back to our place on the hill!! Tonight we’re planning to have dinner at one of the two restaurants in town!!
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 