This little piazza in Barga Vecchia has been transformed in recent years by the Gelateria and the Mordimi restaurant and wine bar, especially at night with people eating delicious ice cream and sampling lovely food and wine.
This is the view from the terrace of Da Ricardos restaurant in Barga. Not a bad view while eating your pasta with a glass of vino!
Today, a trip down to Lucca to stock up on art supplies and a wander around, seeking shade from the hot sun. These trees in Piazza Napoleone always amaze, whatever time of year. Sculptural in winter and dramatically pruned early Spring, you would never imagine that they would develop such huge amounts of foliage in summer which supply welcome shade especially for these two cyclists!
Every summer the local Barga football club hosts the fish and chip festival. Dozens of long trestle tables are aligned under a huge tent, where friends and families meet to eat this very British dish but remember we are in the most Scottish Town in Italy! so it all seems quite normal except the slice of lemon with the fish (no malt vinegar). But the setting sun behind the distant mountains reminds us we are in still in Tuscany and not Britain!
Another narrow street in Barga, this is the bottom of Via Borgo, the start of an uphill climb from the Red telephone box. At least many of these narrow streets offer some welcome shade from the hot August sun.
Blue sky, sunshine and a British Red Telephone Box! It cannot be Britain as the sky would be grey and it would be raining. In fact, it is in the centre of Barga. Yes, there is a classic red telephone box in Barga, probably the only one in Italy although I did see a red London bus in Sicily a few years ago. The box was a gift to Barga from Mauro Cecchini, a retired fish and chip shop owner from Edinburgh whose family came from Barga. The fish and chip festival is also on..... well Barga is nicknamed the Most Scottish Town in Italy!
From most places in Barga you can see the Duomo. As the crow flies, getting from Piazza Angelio, the main piazza in Barga is not far, you can just catch a glimpse of the tower but it is all uphill and especially in the summer heat is literally an uphill task!
