VUE

What To Do It was just aer breakfast on the second day in the Serchio Valley, but still early enough that the misty veil had not yet lied from the Apennines. Swallows gave chase, singing across the terrace and soon, we headed to the market in Barga, a nearby medieval village known for its imposing Duomo, Ristorante Scacciaguai and famed home of late 1800s poet Giovanni Pasocli. We rode in with Renaissance Tuscany's head chef, Salvatore Cavallaro, who took point on the produce we'd use later that day to prepare lunch (which included my gnocchi). Vendors at the Barga market were not reluctant to have us sample their wares, which included a few bites of the best Pecorino Fiore Sardo my taste buds won't soon forget. While Barga's market was a down-to-earth social affair synonymous with any visit to the Serchio Valley, the next day we pushed even deeper into the heart of Tuscany. With a morning that began at the crossing of Ponte della Maddalena (otherwise known as "e Devil's Bridge"), we trekked further inland to Bagni di Lucca best known for its quaint medieval villages and hot springs. Each village lives a very simple lifestyle, including the first I visited, Pian di Fiume, which depends almost entirely on itself for food and resources. Or as a local put it, "Everything you eat in Pian di Fiume grew up here or is from the earth." And that includes the pasta they hand make each morning. e further we traversed into Bagni di Lucca, the more their history unfolded, a story of living life in a way that is much simpler than ours yet, so very pure. As I passed through carpets of wildflowers and drank from a natural spring, I couldn't help but fathom what Emperors had marched through that very same route for safe passage to Rome. On my final day in the Serchio Valley, we visited the birthplace of the bio-organic wine I'd been drinking throughout my stay (one which seemed to abolish the modern hangover). When it comes to wine, Tuscany, of course, has stood the test of time ever since the Etruscans cultivated the first grapes thousands of years ago. At Podere Còncori in Garfagnana, a small local vineyard that started producing wine 10 years ago, they endeavor to revive the old methods of making wine using red syrah. More than simply organic, the winery uses no chemicals in their fields. "Instead of fighting against nature, we're trying to cooperate with the land," they said. As I took my final sip of Podere Còncori's "Melograno" and looked out across the vineyard, I finally separated myself from the pulse of Florence and embraced the mist-shrouded valley before me, Midleje's words echoing in my head: "is is an unexploited Tuscany." V U E N J . C O M 145

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