Trekking Part II

The Maremma Park has neat walking trails with different routes that take you by 16th century lookout towers erected by the Medici's to protect this part of the Tuscan coastline, down rocky decents to the sea, through ancient olive groves, and under centuries old pines. This is a big park, completely natural and we'd visited it previously on several other occasions. One time we headed past the pasture of wild Maremma horses, the cows, and grazing deer to the Marina di Alberese. Not a marina for boats but a natural beach stretching for 25 km. Last week we headed out of Talamone (blog post: Trekking) where we walked along a ridge with the sea on one side and views of the valley, hills and mountains on the other. Then we headed by park bus to the interior for a walk that combined all of the terrains (plus a stealthy fox) with our neighbors Mario and Wanda. Mario, who is in his mid-70s, is an experienced hiker who just last year comleted a circumnavigation of Monte Rosso, a seven-day journey which took him over ice fields. They also run a huge farm with cows, vineyards, olive trees, geese, chickens and a couple of dogs and cats. Mario and Wanda were able to enlighten us further about the fauna and flora in the park. They showed us myrtle which was prized in ancient times for its medicinal qualities and is still made into a liquor in Sardegna that is used as a digestive. We were so happy that they suggested this trek and pleased to do it on a beautiful day in our last week in the Maremma.

















We encountered this little red fox on the beach and later the little scamp was photographed taking our entire package of GranCereal cookies. We had left our backpack open after lunch to stroll the beach and another park visitor caught the fox in the act with package in mouth, stopping to show us later on the trail.

Trekking

The Italian landscape is so gentle, the environment kind, all which makes trekking here enjoyable. We headed out of Talamone to the top of a ridge that forms the southern trail sytem of the natural park of the Maremma. On the well-maintained trail we often had views of the sea on one side and the hills and mountains on the other. As I walked along I thought not only how beautiful on this sunny day, but that there wasn't really anything ferocious to fear, most specifically bears or mountain lions. Then we visited a little nature education center in the woods just off the trail (a "didactic"). My eyes quickly settled on the viper, part of the fauna in the park--a poisonous snake that slithers around these parts. As it turned out, we only had one wildlife encounter and we think it was a little red fox but as it darted across our path quickly we didn't get a good look. The wild rosemary completes the experience. It grows everywhere on the trail and I picked some using it for a delicous white soup that I make whenever we need something quick. Here's the recipe:

White bean soup

Several cloves of garlic, chopped fine
Several sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped fine
Can of white beans, such as Cannelli
One liter of water
2 cubes of vegetable or bouillon cubes
Pasta, whichever you prefer
Olive oil

Saute garlic and rosemary in olive oil
Smash half of the beans and cook with garlic and rosemary
Add the water, the rest of the beans and bouillon cubes
Bring to boil
Add pasta until cooked















Now this is the way to finish a hike. Note the two cappucinno's--one with a four-leaf clover and the other with a star.


Clear skies interrupted temporarily with systems passing rapidly through has given us these beautiful cloud formations.



We've had a full moon this past week. It's so unbelievable bright that when it finally goes down in the morning it looks like the sun.

Gulf of Baratti

We found an elegant restaurant in a very unlikely place. On a recommendation from someone who told us we "had to visit the Gulf of Baratti" we headed right over. Surrounded by a natural park and the site of Etruscan ruins, some currently being excavated right on the beach, this is a pretty little bay. We would have easily missed this pretty and important place had someone not mentioned it to us and it makes me wonder--just how many other things are we missing. The restaurant, Canessa, sat over the water, was modern and the food beautifully prepared and presented. Next to us were two laborers (Tom surmised they were in construction) sat next to us drinking a bottle of wine and eating a beautiful lunch before returning to work. I have to think it is a more civilized way to live and a healthier way to work. After lunch, we headed up the hill to Populonia a city high over the Mediterranean with a castle that looks like a king's crown. Closed was a museum whose grounds are the site of an ancient Etruscan city. Across the street is a Roman necropolis.




After beautiful Baratti we headed to Piombino, the port city where ferries take people and cars to and from the Island of Elba. Piombino is an ugly industrial city. I'm sure there are parts of it to love but we didn't see them. Instead we headed to the harbor where small fishing boats were bouncing around in the very strong wind. The wind was so strong it lifted my heavy wool coat and whipped it around like it was a leaf. Which is why I thought this was worth mentioning. (First picture on this post.)

Petra

When you first glimpse Petra from across the valley, it seems at once like a modern place of worship and at the same time evokes something of antiquity. In fact, it is a winery that is but one of the latest projects of the Moretti family. The others being construction, luxury boat building, and other wineries, including L'Andana, which I spoke about in an earlier blog. Everything the Moretti's seem to do is first rate. Vittorio Moretti is the titular head of the entire enterprise with his three daughters each heading one of the business divisions. The building was designed by Swiss architect, Mario Botta, who has collaborated with Mr. Moretti on other projects.

A friend in Italy arranged for us to have a visit after I tasted the most splendid vino dolce from Petra that they brought over for dinner one afternoon. Research on the Internet peaked my interest further. We were lucky enough to have the winery's senior winemaker, Augusto, give us a three-hour tour and tasting. Augusto heads up the winemaking with the help of a handful of workers. Augusto is a young, bright winemaker who trained at the enology school in Pisa (the first) and brings intelligence and passion to his art. Visiting the winery was one of the highlights of our stay in the Maremma.

Are we the only tourists here?

Yes.

We headed for Massa Marittima on a not-so-great day but were pleasantly surprised when it didn't rain on us while there. We seem to surprise everyone with our presence, simply because there are no other visitors around. This city is charming, even in the middle of winter, though our Swedish waitress at a pizzeria on the main square said that it is "really boring" when the weather is bad because even the locals don't come out. And bad weather is what we've had the past week. Let's just say its been variable. In an hour we can have torrential rain, followed by sun and blue skies, minutes later driving wind, followed by more sun....etc. Fortunately, we are from a part of the country where this type of weather is not all that unusual and we simply put our rain gear on and head out. Some scenes from Massa Marittima below. For the record, Massa Marittima is the other town (Siena being one) that has a reputation for making excellent panforte. So as you can see, we had to purchase some (see shop below). A news article prominently displayed in the shop shows that Massa Marittima beat out Siena in a competition for the best tasting panforte in Italy. There you have it.

Massa Marittima used to be a mining town and its citizens prospered on the silver and copper deposits nearby. Many of the shops sell metal hangers, etc. The door pictured below is an example of the metal work here.

Also note the street sign, "Norma Parenti." I don't know who Norma is but my maiden name is Parenti. The Parenti's I know come from a rural village near Lucca so I doubt we can make claim to Norma.