Day 28 – Florence to La Spezia

Originally I planned to spend the day in Florence, however since I still wasnt 100% I decided to move to La Spezia as quickly as possible, how wrong I was, I remember leaving Florence fairly early and didnt arrive to La Spezia till after midnight, you see Italian roads are not quite like Autralian, hairpin bends and small towns slow everything down, not to mention how much fun they are to drive. 🙂

I drove through Lucca, the first of many fortified towns i visit in Italy, quite cool really, but you really need a few days here to enjoy it and I had a date with the Cinque Terre.

Yet again I saw mountains and headed straight for them, the Parco Regionale delle Alpi Apuane region and to a place called San Romano.

I really wanted to get a clear shot of the Valley but to do so I needed to go on to someones property 😉 well that certainly wasnt a problem, for the next hour or so I sat and spoke to a local family who even had me taste their pickled fruits and cheeses asking for my opinion as they try and sell their products to local Hotels.

From left to Right, Onion (yum), Tangerine (yum), Orange (yum), Ginger.

The lovely family who showed me amazing hospitality, the lady on the right is the mother of the guy in the middle and the lady on the left is their close friend, really nice people.

Yum, fresh fresh bread, salami, sun dried tomatoes, pickled eggplant and zucchini, love road trip food. 🙂

Herro!!! he didnt come any closer, I tried though 🙂

I then made my way to a little place called Vagli Sotto and Lake Vagli, which was a recommended stop by the people I met earlier, history tells us Vagli Sotto is a commune in the Province of Lucca in the Italian region of Tuscany, located about 90km northwest of Florence. The Lake of Vagli, created by a dam in 1947, and the abandoned village of Fabbriche di Careggina, apparently when the dam is emptied it reveals the abandoned city.

Amazing!!!!

More amazing!!!

I spent the next few hours shooting this area as the sun set, now anyone who has been to Europe at this time of year knows that sunsets around 9pm, oops, I still had atleast 2 hours of driving till I got to La Spezia, hence arriving at midnight 🙂 the next dayI planned to visit the Cinque Terre.

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