The Etrurian trip

Legend

Driving

Carceri, Italy ‐ Jun 8, 2024

192 km
"Vulcano" di Monte Busca ‐ Jun 7, 2024

158 km

Ok, from the pics is not that cool, but this is a methane eternal fire that has burned since the 15th century. There were many people just chilling around, having dinner or a drink
Gubbio ‐ Jun 2, 2024

20 km
Parco Regionale del Monte Cucco ‐ May 31, 2024

31 km

Cucco means "cave" as in empty.

+12
Fabriano ‐ May 26, 2024

I lost my pics from the paper museum of Fabriano, but the best part of the museum was the soon-to-retire guide that was making adult jokes to the elementary school classroom visiting the museum. Also, we stayed in the parking lot of the swimming pool, surrounded by bakeries, which is good.
Sarnano ‐ May 20, 2024

28 km

We came here because Baco is sick, and here is the closest vet. Here we found also a mechanic who fixed the problem with the Turbo of our engine, so now we can again climb the hills with ease! We didn't plan to come here, but we spent many days, and it's actually a very nice place. It has cute hikes to waterfalls around the village. It has an elevator from our parking to the historic centre, all the shops we need (Like a hardware store to make a copy of the van's keys) and we also got to see th [...]
e market.
Fiastra ‐ May 18, 2024

136 km

The last Kilometers of the road to come here were hell. The road was very narrow and windy, and the surface was full of pot-holes. On top of this, the turbo of our engine broke, so I had to go very slowly using the second gear (and sometimes 1st gear) But the lake is beautiful, we are staying in an amazing location, and internet is really fast! So worth it.

+2
Titignano

30 km

+7
Orvieto ‐ May 12, 2024

33 km
Sant'Angelo

20 km

Sant'Angelo was just a normal village, actually a pretty depressing and abandoned one compared to all the others we visited, but they had a great idea...they took advantage of a European project to create huge murals about fairy tales on many houses in the village. I think atm they have 25+
Repairing spot

8 km

After 1 and a half months of travelling, it was time to stop and do some fixing!
Civita di Bagnoregio ‐ May 10, 2024

85 km

+7
Montepulciano ‐ May 8, 2024

13 km

We briefly visited Montepulciano one afternoon. Although a very nice village, after Pienza, it wasn't worth an entire day. We stayed 2 days outside the temple of San Biagio, and that was a great location. We had amazing views and to play and train in the garden of the temple was a hit for me.

+17
Pienza ‐ May 6, 2024

14 km

Pienza is the most beautiful village I saw on this trip, and it was designed to be. It was designed in the year 1462 to be the ideal city for the time and was taken as a model by many other cities after it. We got an amazing parking location, in a very calm parking lot that was just on the side of the panoramic walk that goes straight inside the old city walls. Pienza is also famous for a Pecorino cheese that is milder than the normal Tuscan Pecorino, and I confirm that I love it.

+5
Bagno Vignoni ‐ May 5, 2024

23 km

Supposedly here there should have been free natural hot springs. It is all true apart from the fact that once the water reaches the free part of the pool it's not hot anymore. The water is collected in the big open-air cistern in the centre of the village (pic) and then through small canals on the ground flows down the tiny waterfall (pic) to the free pool (pic). The village is very tiny, just some houses around the water pool and it's in use as a thermal spa since the 700'

+3
Bosco della Ragnaia

3 km

A peculiar location Bosco della Ragnaia. It's a huge private park, owned and landscaped by an American artist. It's free to visit and kids under 14 are not welcome :D

+2
Panoramic spot ‐ May 4, 2024

90 km

We spent a night here, just an opening on an unpaved road in the hills, but WOW. Great sunset and an amazing sunrise with the fog at the bottom of the valley and a hot air balloon flying around. Baco found a small deer (capriolo) and a pheasant hidden in the grain fields.

+3
Castelfranco Piandiscò ‐ May 3, 2024

48 km

We came here to see the weird rock formations that are in the pictures. They were created by an ancient lake. A pleasant walk in this tame nature. The nearby village, Castelfranco Piandisco' is also very cute. Finally, here I found a good bakery that has tasty bread. Pity I didn't take any pic of the village.

+3
Florence ‐ Apr 30, 2024

19 km

After weeks of being in small villages and cities Florence feels very very crowded. The fact that tomorrow it's a national holiday in Italy doesn't help with the number of people around. We got the last spot in the camper area that will be our base for the next 3 days. As mentioned in my previous log we came to Florence now to meet Riccardo and Sonia who are here on Holiday. At the last moment, Wanni (Sara's sister) decided to hop on a train and spend 2 days in Florence too. We got 2 days of rai [...]
n, a bit disappointing because it made moving around more difficult, being surrounded by people with umbrellas, and Baco is now a very smelly dog.

+3
San Casciano in Val di Pesa ‐ Apr 29, 2024

57 km

Mechanic troubles

I bet there are 2 questions here. Why are we moving north and why are we stopping in San Casciano in Val di Pesa, which is quite unremarkable compared to the other stops? Well, to answer the first que...
Siena ‐ Apr 27, 2024

57 km

Siena's historic Centre is amazing. The best in Italy maybe? It is very dense, you can feel that this is a big and rich city. It is very well maintained, without graffiti or abandoned houses. Each palace is rich in details and all the squares have something unique to offer. Piazza del Campo, the main square where they do the Palio is beautiful. We couldn't book a walking tour because they were all full, so we played a treasure hunt game on my mobile that made you walk through the most important [...]
parts of the city.

+10
Monteriggioni ‐ Apr 24, 2024

26 km

This is a very small walled village on the top of a hill. There are 40 people living there according to Google. We visited on the 24th and 25th, which is a national holiday in Italy, therefore it was packed with people. Crazy to see such a small village full of people walking everywhere. Big money for the only 2 restaurants and 1 ice cream shop! Since we slept there we managed to also see the village empty, much more charming.

+2
San Gimignano ‐ Apr 25, 2024

45 km

Just wow. This city is really stuck in medieval times. Of course, there are crappy souvenirs shop, but nowhere can be perfect. It was really difficult for us to park the camper as they forbid campers from all the parking, so we had to walk half an hour to enter the city walls. Definitely don't come here on weekends or holidays because it will be packed with people.

+7
Fiume Era ‐ Apr 21, 2024

This Sunday is going to be a day to relax. After some groceries, we went to the rivers of this stream to enjoy a meal outside, a sunbath and play in the water with Baco. Sadly there is no internet, so we cannot stay for the night, as tomorrow we have to work.

+2
Pisa ‐ Apr 20, 2024

2 km

We did a free walking tour in Pisa with Alberto, it was quite interesting. Pisa resembles Padua in many ways, although smaller. It has a charming historical centre, a lot of university students and many ugly buildings from the 60s and 70s. Of course, we went to see the leaning tower but 25E to go to the top felt too much. We instead visited the cathedral, sadly while Sara was inside a very intense hail storm arrived and Baco and I got fully wet, even with the umbrella, so we had to cut short ou [...]
r stay in Pisa.

+3
Pisa (Tecnomat) ‐ Apr 15, 2024

33 km

We stopped at the last Tecnomat that we are going to encounter on this trip to buy all the pieces missing from our built, like the edges of the windows, the chain to lock the front doors etc. The location is very handy because 3min walking from the Tecnomat there is a train station that we are going to take Saturday to go to the city centre of Pisa. I didn't take pics of the tecnomat, so here are 2 pics of Baco.
Viareggio ‐ Apr 13, 2024

33 km

Leaving the Versilia region, we head to our first beach. As you can see from the pics we didn't pick the best beach day, but doesn't matter, it reminds us of the North Sea and Baco doesn't really care. Sadly tonight we discovered that the pipe that goes from the bottom of the sink to the outside detached from the sink, I guess because of vibrations, so quite some water fell on our kitchen gear. The air fryer was the most hit, so we decided to disassemble it to speed up the drying process.

+6
Cascata dell'Acquapendente

6 km

After 700m of altitude difference I was not tired enough, so with I decided to do another small hike with Sara and Baco. We drove few km of windy roads to reach the starting point of a trail that leads to a waterfall. It was a nice hike, but after my body was completely destroyed. Even now, the day after the hikes, that I'm writing I can barely walk. I'm bathing in Arnica gel to try to get better.

+3
Monte Forato Nord

15 km

Finally, the big hike I was looking for is today. The objective of this hike is the Monte forato summit, a giant arch of rock at the top of a mountain. To not miss on anything, I also did a via ferrata that was part of the trail to reach the top. The final stats are 10.2Km and 700m of altitude difference. Sara decided to not join and stayed in the van with Baco. I don't have any pic of the ferrata, because I didn't dare to lose my phone, it was easy apart from the very beginning.

+5
Querceta ‐ Apr 11, 2024

40 km

Finally, the new inverter has arrived! In an hour I managed to mount it and it works perfectly. It also has a remote button that we will mount near the heating control panel, so we can switch it off when not needed to save some battery juice. I also did here my health checkup for the swollen lymph node and all is fine. Sadly what's not fine is Sara's phone, which decided to stop re-charging. It is now under investigation at the closest repair shop. We never intended to visit Querceta, I never e [...]
ven considered it, but we are spending here so many days, more than anywhere else we planned XD
Capannori ‐ Apr 8, 2024

45 km

Villa Pierotti

While in Seravezza the Chinese inverter decided to stop working. I have to say that every single piece of Chinese gear that I installed broke. The inverter was the last Chinese component to survive, a...
Seravezza

10 km

Coming down from the Versilia Valley because I have a swollen lymph node on my leg. I went to the doctor who prescribed some meds and a test, so we went to the closest village with a pharmacy. No pics as the village is nothing special and/or I didn't have time to explore it properly.
Retignano ‐ Apr 6, 2024

66 km

We came to this valley to visit some abandoned mines and quarries. This is the edge of the marble area, next week we are going to visit some active quarries, but for now, let's start with some industrial archaeology. We did this pleasant hike on Sunday afternoon, after parking the van for the night and checking that there was internet connection for the days after. Of course, after the hike we got pizza. It's Sunday after all.

+7
Borgo a Mozzano

37 km

On our way to the next leg of our trip, moving from Pistoia's province to Lucca's province we continued to follow the river downhill. We stopped at Borgo a Mozzano, nothing special, but we had a nice Sunday breakfast at a bar, we did some groceries, filled in DIesel etc. The reason why we picked this village is the medieval bridge it has, very peculiar and impressive in its shape.

+2
Osservatorio astronomico della Montagna pistoiese ‐ Apr 4, 2024

6 km

+2

San marcello Pistoiese

04/04 This coming Saturday we are going to attend a talk about Astronomy for beginners at the local star Observatory, which is on the hills on top of San Marcello Pistoiese. Since we didn't stay at th...
San Marcello Pistoiese ‐ Apr 3, 2024

29 km

Today we entered Tuscany! We did it through a very narrow bridge on a river inside a slender valley. We arrived at San Marcello Pistoiese, and we came here because there is the second-longest pedestrian suspension bridge of the world.
Porretta Terme ‐ Apr 2, 2024

30 km

Poretta terme

April 3rd After leaving the wonderful Labante the plan was to stop in Riola to visit a castle, which unfortunately opens only during the weekends during this season. Not too bad, we did some grocery,...
Riola di Labante

106 km

+4

Riola di Labante

Before we left, we promised ourselves that we wouldn’t drive or arrive at a new destination after dark. The reason is that with the dark it's difficult to assess how safe a place is, or how to level-p...
Occhiobello ‐ Apr 1, 2024

104.5 km

100 km from home. We thought after months of preparation we had everything we needed....well, the first stop, just 1 hour after leaving home was a Chinese shop where we spent 90 euros. Apparently, we were not quite ready yet.
Carceri, Italy ‐ Mar 31, 2024