Monday, February 08, 2010

What To Do on a Sunny Sunday...


The only Ferrari my husband may ever have...

What a wonderful feeling to wake up Sunday morning to almost blinding sunlight in our bedroom. (It’s been a long time, Mr. Sun.) And then to be able to go outside and have tea on the terrace holding my face up to the golden rays. Oh what a way to start the day!


It was definitely too gorgeous a day to waste with errands and chores around the house as planned. Lui and I decide to play hooky and brought our little friend, Simona, along with us for the ride...


First stop: pizza, really really good pizza.


La Siciliana..yummmmm...

Then we headed 30 minutes south to the bustling beach town of Forte dei Marmi for an afternoon passagiata and some window shopping. I happen to like “Forte”. It’s not the usual stop on the “americans trip to Italy”, because it’s not the typically envisioned walled hill town or tiny seaside fishing village. But it is a a quite charming resort area with lots of good restaurants, outdoor cafes, mid to high end shopping (yes, there is a Gucci, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana).


Downtown Forte

It also has a great wide open beach dotted with colorful umbrellas in the summer time and is one of Italy’s top nightlife destinations. It is also located on the main rail line that running north/south from France to Sicily, so not a bad base for exploring NW Tuscany (Pisa, Florence, Lucca) or Liguria (Lerici, Portovenere, Cinque Terre), and the Carrara marble mountains are its eastern backdrop.


So, if you are somewhere in NW Tuscany on a Sunday with nothing to do (ha ha), this is a nice and somewhat “off the beaten path” destination to explore.


On the pier (and the Apuane Alps in the background)...

Surfing the Med, bbbrrrhhhhh!

6 comments:

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Molto gelosa. I'm so over this rain.

Anyway, someone described Forte dei Marmi as the Hamptons of Italy. ha

I haven't been but it's on my list.

Anne in Oxfordshire said...

I am going to put this lovely place on my list too. We prefer to see some places that are not really touristy..be amongst the locals.

Diana Strinati Baur said...

We were down in Albisola yesterday - what a DIFFERENCE from Piemonte.... looks like you had a wonderful one, too!

Baci Baci

Heiko said...

Forte is pleasant and reasonably easy to find free parking even in summer. Although we tend to take our bikes down that way. Riding along the seafront, what could be better!

Gil said...

Looks like a real beautiful place to visit! Was it really that cold to warrant all the heavy winter coats the people were wearing?

PassagetoItaly said...

Thank you for sharing the off the beaten trail tip. I've been following your blog for quite a few months now, and I must say I enjoy reading it. I also particularly liked this post because you wrote about the area where my father's family is from, Carrara. One day, I hope to make it there to see where they lived. Currently, I'm pursuing dual citizenship, and that will be the comune I'll be working with.

Have a good day!

Catherine