R O I S
TRAVEL MAPS
Take a photo, tell about the photo.You who will read what you read, but where is it?
Unpretentious, ready to read
and go, without navigator, just a pinch of adventure,and a splash of probable unexpected.This is traveling. One click, a Moleskine, and a map.
WRITE WHILE TRAVELING
Writing, imprinting on an moleskine an event, a sensation, a place.
I composed a diary for every trip,where I wrote down what I saw through writing.I have told the places with our eyes. I have written about particular places where you should go at least once.Of course they are only fragments of life, crumbs that can enrich a trip even just by reading.
TRAVEL IMAGES
.. that's right, it's a journey
made of images of our do you travel around for the world.The photo, for those who observe it for the first time,can give rise to curiosity, amazement, and much more.
For us who publish them are our memory,that memory that over the yearsit can fade it can blur.
Images are salvation,love of discovery.click on the camera
will take you to the photogallery.
Tuscan motorcycle rally 25 26 27 May 2012
is
Tuscan holidays
After so much read on the forum www.v-strommers.it. Finally the day of departure for the annual national motorcycle rally has arrived.
Friday 25 May
At 9 I in the car and Roberto in the motorbike we left for the Val D'elsa.
The forecasts did not give good weather, in fact during the morning it had to rain heavily. Fortunately, it was not so, the sky remained gray, and it did not rain.
The highway was very busy and the trucks all lined up one after the other I saw them go by, and out of the corner of my eye I always kept my navigator active. At the Melegnano toll booth we only slowed down, what fun to have the telepass, only one what, the surprise you can see later on the PC how much that simple and fun slowdown costs you. Anyway, after a few stops for coffee you arrive nearby and exit Siena and take the ring road. I am used to three beautiful spacious and practicable lanes, although always with a lot of traffic, here on the contrary there are two the pavement is disaster and the lanes seemed even narrower to me. The navigator worked perfectly, you could not go wrong.Casole Val Delsa a perched village with a profile of the past, but before we go to the farmhouse booked via the Internet through Bikerhotel, with the discount. It's called Nerbona
I enter the address and I am happy to talk about it because the place is really welcoming, clean and young. Two guys welcome us, show us the structure, which will be our home for a week and then we see the apartment we have booked. Accurate as shown in the photos published on the website. It's called a tavern. The entrance once has a kitchen, sitting room and is in poor art style. The bathroom can also be used to turn you well.
The bedroom has three beds, the last place at the bottom is under a fireplace, naturally closed, sealed and painted like the walls in saffron yellow, the ceiling has exposed beams in contrast, walnut colored. A two-door wardrobe completes the furniture. After leaving car baggage we go to Casole to collect the passes for the gathering. The village is perched, the walls can be seen around, the climb is demanding but the bike responds well. The reception is where the Palazzo Pretorio stands, the picture gallery currently resides and the Rocca is a fourteenth-century fortress, one of the most important Valdesani castles, before arriving there you pass through the main street, its exposed bricks exude humanity , the shops overlook the small square where a well with a very particular statue stands in the center. The boys at the fortress give us a bag with the essentials inside to get to know the area. The first thing we do we stop to greet old friends , arrived from our area, and new friends arrived from other regions of Italy. The adrenaline for the next day's ride is very high. For dinner we all meet, but I say everyone, six hundred legs, at the Terre di Casole restaurant below the link
https://www.hotelterredicasole.it/it/home
To be mentioned for the patience the organization and the courtesy it has had towards the
our hungry stomachs, our sometimes not quite elegant ways of manifesting the
joy of the moment. We liked the Panzanella, the spelled salad, the divinely cut porchetta and the mixed cold cuts that he proudly laid on the tables not to mention the vinsanto
and typical cantuccini. Finally he cooked specific dishes for those people with some intolerance. Outside the parking lot the bikes were all in plain sight and at the end of the evening, only some remained stopped waiting for the following day, the others resumed their journey towards their homes booked prematurely.
Saturday morning.
The mayor of Casole granted the gathering that Piazza della Libertà is precisely the collection center.With centaurs with our engines we contaminated that place light years away from our busy city life. The shopkeepers with available faces left their shops to experience the event in order to share the first date with us.
9:15 am all ready, in the saddle. Quietly, as the committee had warned us, we left the village on a rubber tip. Today we should cover about 140 km.
A long biscione winds its way through the SP541, the relays, that is the motorcyclists with the orange bib, run alongside us, making the sign of closing the queue, not leaving holes. Then with a flicker you see them immobilizing a bus that was about to leave a secondary road. You see him standing there in front of a small motorbike, he the pachyderm of the road in front of Davide must give up and wait for the long black pearl necklace to end in the majority of cases.
The sky threatens rain we are in San Galgano
we put the bikes in the reception avenue in front of the entrance. With three euros (discount rn otherwise it would have been 4 euros per head) we enter, our eyes see a cathedral without a roof, collapsed in 1768 making the site even more impressive. There is a history of papal dynasties of wars and decay. Photos are a must. After visiting the gardens we take a path that climbs up to the Cappelle di Montesiepi where we find the sword in the rock right in the center of the roundabout. Time passes quickly and it is already time to start again. Now towards Massa Marittima taking the ss441 and then the sp 162 you can see characteristic villages vineyards, surrounded by many curves.The town of Massa Marittima welcomes us and we visit it willingly and we also take an excellent aperitif waiting for 13.30.
Unfortunately I do not enter the place of lunch because they have not been up to the situation.
After that the saddle is hot, in the meantime the sun has come out and we go towards Larderello.
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larderello
very interesting place. This area is called "the devil's valley" because of its boraciferous shower heads. It is a really strange town, steel pipes intertwine it, conglobate it. It is the first experience in the world of exploiting geothermal energy for the production of electricity. We park the bikes and in two groups they take us inside the factory, where a young man of about 80 explains how it works and what it is for. After so much amazement he opens a tap and the noise annihilates us. Steam rises towards the sky, now indigo, when he closes it again we are a little dazed, but the questions multiply and the little man answers every question. We ride the bike back down winding roads and arrive at the starting point by making an appointment for the evening. of Casole they left in our hands that on Saturday evening their beloved little square. Food is provided by the same restaurant on Friday Terre di Casole. Everything goes smoothly. Tuscan Appetizer Casalese soup, divine, Mezze manicole alla Cinta Senese "Braciata" mixed or rostinciane veal rigatino sausages. Dessert and coffee All perfectly coordinated and served on the square already set up in the early afternoon. From the stage the organizers start the thanks starting from the Mayor and so on. A show offered by the Black Dragon Company makes us fly time. We arrive at the end of the splendid evening of laughs and applause we also do the charity collection to be donated to an institution, and to finish the lottery where the sponsors make their products available.Well the time has come to give us an appointment the next morning, someone will surely arrive with a headache given the evolution of the evening.
Sunday morning
A little dazed for the evening before, but all are present as real knights of the twentieth century. We leave and take the SP 27 after many curves and counter-curves, after admiring wonderful villages where the residents greeted us happily, we arrive in Buonconvento
https://www.prolocobuonconvento.com/about/
We park the bikes right under the walls. The name derives from the Latin Bonus Conventus or happy place, but legends are not lacking even in this place.
Villa Rondinella is said that a truck driver was stopped by some boys who were taken to Villa Rondinella. The next day the truck driver returned to the villa, but it was uninhabited and had not been inhabited for years. So he phoned the carabinieri who after a few attempts managed to enter, but as already written, nobody lived for years. The truck driver, however, found a disturbing object: the cup where he drank the previous evening in the company of the boys. It is also said that those who dare to approach are stoned by the windows. So do not approach your trip could end at Villa Rondinella. Forever, of course we have stayed well away. In fact, we walked through the streets of the center, had an aperitif and bought some souvenir souvenirs.
Then seen the time towards Montepulciano this place is known for the wealth of excellent vines and where the noble wine of Montepulciano is obtained.
Due to some problems caused by other people, the organizers at lunchtime was not in charge of the long human cord that roamed the town in the throes of ravenous rattles.
After an agitated wandering, the indications arrive that lead us to a cellar.
So today it seems, but once it was a crypt in the Volpaia district.
http://www.contradadivoltaia.it
Upon entering the amazement was general. The brick vaults gave a sense of security, on the rounded walls hanging tapestries and flags of the Voltaia district, images of the palio complete everything. Unfortunately this is the last meal we will all have together. The cake dedicated to the meeting was truly created with taste. And it was also good !!! Well the time for the greetings is the saddest part, because you know that some friends you can see them only at the next meeting. The three days that distinguish this event make everyone live this event in lightheartedness, because there is no worry of having to choose to pay
of having to be first at all costs. No. For this occasion one is very condescending and unselfish. Cases where all these positive aspects can occur are rare.
When you leave you always leave a little bit of soul in the place you just visited, but this time. We stayed a few more days. So we said goodbye to everyone, but with less melancholy than the previous times.
Monday 28 May 2012 in Nerbona.
We wake up under a gray sky. It seems to tell us "Now that the meeting is over can you make me drip a little?" At the end we go out the day the grumpy clouds open and we go to visit the town that in these days hosted us Casole D'Elsa. At the bar for a coffee and we still meet two organizers who were handling the last things. We have a chat and then we visit the place. From there we go to Scorgiano by Claudia Martinez who manages a farm and a shop where you can find excellent cheeses and meats for wolverines, honey and jams to pair with cheeses and to finish the wines of the area. In fact, we go out with two bags and also 6 very fresh eggs. In the evening we went quietly on where to eat. Still a
http://www.hotelterredicasole.it/it/hotel-casole
Now the restaurant is livable, the terrace overlooks
on a Tuscan landscape to tear even a tear. The time is that of sunset and therefore the light is perfect for photographing. Roby took wild boar pappardelle with wild boar ragu for the second cut of beef with colonnata lard, all sprinkled with truffle.
I had a very soft risotto with the flavors of his garden, placed on the terrace in front and divided neatly into asymmetrical flower beds. For second breaded, divine vegetables. We accompanied this dinner with a Vernaccia docg from the Le Calcinaie di San Giminiano estates.
Coffee and 60 eurini bill.
Tuesday 29 May 2012
We begin our visit among the villages from Poggibonsi. There was the market, and this is like us, the only different thing is the speech which is sometimes incomprehensible. All those missing syllables and vowels seem to speak another language.
Saint Gimignano
The terraced car parks are located around the walls.
With the entrance ticket we head to the bus stop and we notice with
pleasure that stamping the same ticket in a machine installed them we can do
round trip from the town. Wonder!!! Perfect organization from there to a few minutes comes the "Thumb" is so called because of the minute size.
We go up and drop us right near the center, telling us that we can take it back without paying, we will pay everything at the automatic cash point of the parking lot at the exit.
We immediately visit the Collegiate or the cathedral (3.5 eurini apiece) We look around but the frescoes alas have almost all been absorbed by the walls, they are almost invisible except for that of Ghirlandaio. We also see the museum of sacred art, but we do not enter then The Grossa tower about 54 meters high. Here every family and resided there over the years had a tower built higher than the previous one, and now a legend about San Gimignano.
Do you know why San Gimignano is so called? No the saint could not get there. The only one of which the national patrology speaks belongs to Emilia-Romagna, lived around the fourth century and was elected bishop of Modena. To find a link with the 'town of the towers', which stands majestically on a hill straddling the Val d'Elsa and the Val d'Era, we must therefore rely on a legend, supported however by a 'document' that could give it the chrism of the historical event.It is therefore said that a young man from Colle Val d'Elsa, being in Modena on the day of the solemn funeral for the death of Bishop Gimignano, was dazzled by a large ring that the religious wore on his finger. The young man decided to take possession of it and, taking advantage of a moment of confusion among the crowd, tried to grab him. But the ring didn't want to come off. The thief pulled so hard that in the end the jewel remained in his hand along with the whole finger. The boy, at that point, managed to sneak away and run run came back with the precious stolen goods from his parts. Still terrified of the gesture, he took refuge in a country church and stayed there for three days and three nights. But when he decided to go out he noticed that the door was locked and that he had lost the good of sight. To the first rescuers the boy appeared destroyed: he handed over the stolen goods, dissolved in tears of repentance and immediately returned to see again. Both the ring and the finger are still part of the reliquary heritage of the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta; around the small temple, enlarged in the meantime, San Gimignano was born and prospered which, thanks to its history, its legends, but above all its works of art, is known all over the world and is visited by millions of people every year On January 31, the day in which according to a now more than consolidated tradition Gimignano would have died, a party remembers and celebrates the event. At 12 o'clock, after the solemn mass in the basilica, the monsignor receives the case containing the finger and the ring and from the churchyard he shows the relic to the faithful who in the meantime have occupied the square. Follows the blessing to the city and the traditional offering of candles by the highest municipal personalities. This year the celebrations will have a particularly solemn character because, if the accounts are correct, they will coincide with the 1600th anniversary of the death of the Modenese bishop.
Noon has arrived and we take a seat in one of the many bars in Piazza della Cisterna.
The square takes its name from the Cisterna below for the water surmounted by a monumental travertine balustrade. We order two cutting boards one of mixed cheeses and the other of cold cuts and two glasses of white wine, the Vernaccia of course. We get up satisfied with the lunch, less on the bill. 40 euros. Paid parking + 2 Pollicino tickets 8 euros for 4 hours of parking. In the afternoon we dedicate it to the search of the cellar. After a careful investigation we find a dirt road at the bottom of it a wrought iron gate reports "Tenuta le calcinaie"
http://www.tenutalecalcinaie.com/
after a short phone call from the number that was on the gate, Simone Santini arrives arriving from the vineyard. Tasting is a ritual, after which we go out with 3 cartons of bottles. 8 euros per bottle Vernaccia docg. Since 1995 the company has been producing grapes with organic systems and since 2001 winemaking is a certified organic process.
To finish we decide to visit the Crystal museum in Colle Val D'elsa
Don't miss it just opened on April 14th of this year and it's really interesting
particular. With 3 euros you enter. You go down and you already see hanging crystal glasses that fall plumb from the ceiling neatly inserted into each other with a nylon thread. The play of light they give is phenomenal. There is a sense of the visit Glass production, glass.
Wednesday 30 May
This morning I am going to Siena. The car park we used is San Marco south of the city. Taking Porta San Marco you go up, the houses are old the doors are low. You arrive in Piazza del Campi and 'wonderful despite the multitude of tourists who fill the shell. The source Gaia has always been there since 1419 Jacopo della Quecia obtained 2200 gold florins from us. Some photos and a visit from the I (tourist information) is located right in front of the building the city map is paid (1 euro), in exchange if I ask for a quick tour, the employee is very helpful to trace it on the map. Once out we reach after an avalanche of steps to the cathedral, on these steps Caterina Benincasa (today Caterina Da Siena) fell while she was going to the hospital of Santa Maira della Scala. Its pink marble is dazzling the midday sun illuminates it so much that you need sunglasses to be able to admire it. A visit is advisable (3Euro) we do not enter because there is an absurd crowd. So we take photos of the facade of Santa Maria Assunta it is in Romanesque Gothic style. Retracing the path backwards we also see the Facade on our right, that is, the unfinished work to enlarge the cathedral. This extension was decided to compete with Florence, but in the end it was not finished. We decided to go and visit the patron saint of Italy and Europe and protector of the goose district. The Sanctuary and the house of Santa Caterina Da Siena. We take the narrow streets and looking a little to the right and a little to the left and up and down we arrive. We see (you do not pay anything) the refetorio on the walls we read, through paintings, its change from when the parents wanted to marry her to when she cut her hair. In short, its history. A painting by Pomarancio (aka Cristoforo Roncalli) portrays her in the Miraculous Communion.The head of the finger and the fragment of a shoulder blade of the Saint are placed in the Church of San Domenico a little further on. We were unable to visit this place because it was closed, we go out and head towards Fontebranda
http://www.blogsiena.it/it/fontebranda-fountain-that-speaks-of-siena
it is the most ancient and imposing source of Siena.
We head towards Porta San Marco walking once again through the narrow streets of the city.
The cost of the P is 1.70 euros per hour we pay 6.80 euros the machine as usual gives the rest. The parking is a bit cramped, but with great caution we go out unscathed.
From the tourist chaos of Siena here we are in the peace of Radicondoli http://www.radicondoli.com a village of the past, where life has no rhythm, but a moderate path towards the end of each day. It counts about a thousand inhabitants, but also distributed in the neighboring villages. The alleys have remained intact over the centuries. The houses strictly of exposed bricks, the hanging laundry, the vases that color the windows. The sometimes very low tunnels do not allow us to reach the street below. We stop at the National Bar on the main street. The silence is broken by our two voices. We sit on the terrace outside, on the street. Nobody. We remain immersed in that tranquility for about an hour, then a motorbike stops right in front of it, puts the helmet on the mirror and goes towards a door, enters. Their world is another.
Thursday 31 May
Water in pits Moving the curtains of the window you could not see the swimming pool.
Fortunately, the weather improved around noon and today we take a motorcycle ride.
We take the SP52 towards Caste di San Gimignano. We know that the road is in the middle of vines and there are no short curves. We do not find a soul on this path. Just in Castel di San G.
we see a dairy. We stop after tasting various cheeses and we go out with many tasty packages. Pinzani
Let's go home.
Friday June 1st
Last day we decide to see some more villages.
Castellina in Chianti.
http://www.chianti.com/it/castellina-in-chianti/
You have to park before entering the town, the center is pedestrian as always.
The road leading into the square is always uphill. After admiring all around we arrive at the end of the street and take an underpass, so it seemed, instead it is a walk under the vaults as long as the parallel. Under the cover, you could smell all the smells, of a restaurant kitchen, of saffron, given the area, and of leather, leather. We enter a grocery and typical products shop, as always we take a bag full of goodies. Parking fee 1 euro per hour. Now towards Radda and Castello di Brolio. Here we find the cellars of Count Ricasoli. Unfortunately the castle is closed so let's take a walk in its park and its vineyards. I found another legend concerning the Count Ricasoli.Like all summers, even last year I was sent on vacation by my grandparents to the Brolio countryside, a place very nice but also very boring at times. During the day I wandered with my grandfather in the countryside and he showed me the vineyards, the olive groves of the cellars of Baron Ricasoli, in the evening then "waking" as he says, at the bar in the village where he is late to play cards and chat more and less. In this corner of the countryside there are few kids like me so I spent the evenings listening to the stories of my grandfather's friends; that year, in fact, I found myself in that of Brolio during a week in which a full moon was expected and, on this, in the evening at the bar they told me the story of Count Bettino Ricasoli or better, the story of his ghost . It is said that during the full moon nights, at the stroke of midnight, the count can be heard riding at idle speed in the vineyards around the castle and, once arrived at the fortress, his silhouette was seen falling from the walls and smashing to the ground; of course I didn't believe that story even though, listening to it, it amused me. That night, it was the first night of a full moon, intrigued by the fairy tale told to me, I take my bicycle and go to the streets, it is 11.59 pm and you still can't hear anything, between me and me I think: I knew it was alone a fairy tale, there is no knight in the vineyards…. I do not have time to finish the sentence that a terrible noise of hooves launched in a mad rush, I remain petrified for a second by fear, amazement, a moment that seemed to never end. Then I feel the horse approaching, the strong wind confuses me, I think I hear screams, laughter, then I get back on my bicycle and head home, I pedal as I have never cycled in my life, when I'm at the front door , I'm out of breath, I'm all sweaty but I finally feel safe! Before entering the house I turn to the castle and, from a distance, I seem to see the silhouette of a man falling from the castle walls. Oh my God, the story was not fantasy then it was a true story! I take a nice glass of hot milk and go to sleep. In the morning I wake up early and tell my adventure to the grandparents who have great laughs about my story, a little angry I leave the house and go for a walk, I don't know how I find myself under the castle walls and there where the night before I had seen the silhouette of a man fall, I find the crushed grass that had the shape of a curled up corpse! afraid I run home keeping for myself what happened and promising myself never to go to grandparents again when there is a full moon.
After this short fairy tale, we went home for dinner at the Terre di Casole restaurant.
Saturday 2nd June
Departure around 11 and arrive home without water and without traffic at 15.
Expenses
Car diesel 2 full 74+ 70
Petrol motorcycle 60 euros
OUR CREATIVE HOBBIES
Below is our showcase on the world. We liked being able to share our creations with the web objects, all completely handmade. For each object you will find a description and its use. It is obvious that being unique pieces, they cannot be identical, because precisely created one at a time, with patience and passion.if you have any ideasacome up when you see them, just contact us and your project will be carried out together.
THROW AN OKKIO
.... if you have come up to here, we thank you with this latest gem.Take a look inside this room and you will find little stories from our life.
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