Daily Sketch No.10 Watermill near Barga, Tuscany

There are several old watermills dotted around the Barga area. This one is on the road to Sommocolonia. I liked the various outbuildings scattered around the main house.

Daily Sketch No.9 The Fornacetta, Barga, Tuscany

Just outside the walled city of Barga is The Fornacetta, a group of houses clustered around a narrow road that leads out to the surrounding hills.

Daily Sketch No.8 Hills around Lucca

The hills around Lucca offer wonderful wine and olive trails where you can drive around wine groves and terraces covered in ancient olive trees. The odd cyprus tree adds some vertical interest. The landscape is vastly diferent to the Garfagnana region where Barga is situated.

Daily Sketch No.7 Olive Trees in the Garden

Just down the road from us (35kms) is Lucca, a stunning walled city. The surrounding hills around Lucca are famous for the quality of its olive oil. We have a few young olive trees on our terraces which are famous for NOT producing any oil from the olives!, but the silvery green leaves provide some contrast on the terraces.

Daily Sketch No.6 Barga Duomo through the Trees

This area of Northern Tuscany is covered by thousands of trees, many of them Chestnut trees, the chestnuts made into the flour used for making pasta in times past. During Winter and early Spring, with no foliage on the trees, buildings can be seen but come Summer they vanish. This view of the Duomo in a month or so will be no more, just green foliage and tree trunks!

Daily Sketch No.5 Villa Biondi near Barga, Tuscany

This is the beautiful old Villa Biondi just outside Barga which is a Bed & Breakfast. I loved the box hedging leading up to the front entrance and the cast shadows of the trees on the faded facade. Sketched around 5pm.

Daily Sketch No.4 Barga Duomo with ‘Sleeping Man’ Mountain, Barga Tuscany

This is the most famous view of the Barga Duomo with the ‘Sleeping Man’ Mountain in the background so called as you can easily see the outline of a man lying down with his knees up. I drive past this view nearly everyday on my way down to Barga and everytime the colours are diferent depending on the time of day and the seasons. This was sketched around 4pm.