Follow the adventures of Paul Pitzers and Grace Pitzer

Parma to Lucca

5/11/2016

Interesting Transfer Day

Walkway out to the "Stables" section, the oldest part of La Principessa Hotel

Lounge and bar area of La Principessa Hotel

May 4 was another nice day as we left Parma and headed directly west to Lucca. This takes us through the Lunigiana Valley and the Apennines Mountains which are very scenic with some old towns on the hills. Our first stop is in the charming medieval town of Pontremoli where a local guide walked us through the narrow streets. There were several squares in this hill town and we were fortunate that is was market day, adding some interest to the visit.

Before leaving the area we made a stop to visit Gratziella at her home bakery where she specializes in making the local bread called Testaroli. This is made from just flour and water: no eggs. She gets up very early in the morning to make these flat rounds of bread to sell to the locals and local restaurants. She has sixteen iron skillets where she has a system that allows her to make from 300 - 400 a day. She uses about 200 lbs of flour a day, with about 10 oz. in each piece.

We were served three kinds of Testaroli for lunch. One kind had pesto sauce on it, another had Parmesan cheese, and another tomato sauce. We ate out on the back patio and Gratziella was kind to sit and answer questions and show us where she stored the flour she uses. For desert she served us a very good cake called chumbeloni.

After lunch we headed further west to Lucca, arriving at the Hotel Villa La Principessa, an old palace. We had plenty of time to get settled in to our very large room, and explore the grounds before meeting at 6:30 for the "Welcome" drinks and food. The pool was large, but unfortunately it was being refinished, so there was no water in it. This is when we met the two new couples joining our group for the "Main Tour." We met outside the oldest part of the palace, on the patio next to what were the stables. The whole place was furnished with period pieces and made us feel like we were living in the distant past.

Tomorrow we venture into Lucca for the day. We look forward to this, as we only had a brief few hours there in 2001.

The adventure continues,
Grace and Paul