Day 7 Vellano, Pescia, Italy

Villa Garzoni

Ah bliss. I woke the the biggest thunderstorm and downpour, which apparently happens quite regularly in this part of Tuscany. 

And when it rains it pours. I was rather chuffed for two reasons, one, a good excuse not to venture out in a hurry and paint my toenails and secondly a chance later to wear my raincoat I had so diligently purchased before leaving Christchurch.

I did go and visit the nearby town of Collodi. 

Collodi was the pen name of Pinocchio's creator, whose mother came from the village and he loved to visit here. The town has a Pinocchio park as well as the most beautiful gardens, the Garzione gardens, which also house the butterfly enclosure.

I was fortunate it dried up and the sun came out beautifully for the afternoon.

My Italian vocabulary is starting to expand to greetings for the appropriate time of day ('Hi' doesn't cut it here) but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I couldn't understand a word the upset Italian lady said to me when I was sitting in the garden at the apartment, having a beer. She was waving her car keys at me though and gesturing towards the car-parking area. Oops...had stolen her park apparently.

As you can't actually park in the village, everyones car needs to be parked outside the village, which must lead to some frustrations at time, especially when the offender is ignorant and from NZ! Won't do that again in a hurry!

Garzione gardens

Garzione gardens