11-day Tour to Lucca and
Slow Food Cheese, Bra, Italy
10 – 21 September 2009
“Cheese is milk’s leap towards immortality” — Clifton Fadiman
 Personally escorted by Heather Jarman of Sapori e Saperi Gastronomic Adventures in Lucca, Tuscany. Together we will enjoy a journey from Lucca and the Garfagnana in Tuscany to Parma and Slow Food Cheese in Bra (Piedmont), experiencing new flavours, acquiring new skills and meeting the locals, the artisans and Slow Food enthusiasts along the way.
ITINERARY
 Thursday 10 September
Arrival at Pisa airport or Lucca railway station (before 2pm). Transfer to Hotel Villa Moorings, Barga, our accommodation for 6 nights in the Garfagnana region north of Lucca. Welcome dinner at Villa Moorings prepared by chef and winemaker Gabriele da Prato.
Friday 11 September
Marble is the theme for today. We drive to the tiny village of Colonnata, above the marble quarries of Carrara which supplied the marble for Michelangelo’s David. But we are in search of the true lardo, a SF Presidium product, pork fat packed into marble basins with wild herbs from the mountain slopes. Lunch is in the lardo producer’s restaurant, after which we take a tour of a working marble quarry and then descend to a sculpture studio in Pietrasanta. Dinner at La Dogana, renowned for its seafood.
Saturday 12 September
A free day to explore the exquisite walled town of Lucca. Among its treasures are its landscaped Renaissance walls, the amphitheatre still bearing traces of its Roman and mediaeval origins, many churches, paintings and sculptures. You can shop at the morning street market and attend an evening Puccini concert. Dinner of polenta and pheasant at a village festival.
Sunday 13 September
A lazy Sunday morning exploring Barga or relaxing by the hotel pool before heading off to a fair in a mediaeval hilltop village highlighting producers of salumi (prosciutto and many local specialities). Fortified by our lunch of typical Garfagnana dishes served in the covered passageways of the village, we have a private tour of the gardens at Villa Reale: a tapestry of baroque fantasies woven into an English landscape park by Elisa Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon.
Tonight Lucca glows in the light of thousands of candles as it celebrates the Volto Santo, a carving of Christ which according to legend arrived miraculously in the city in the 8th century. Dinner at All’Olivo.
Monday 14 September
Today we allow ourselves to be guided by the season and forage for our dinner. If conditions are right, we’ll hunt for porcini. If not, there will be wild fruits and herbs or cultivated knobbly tomatoes. Whatever we find, we’ll bring back to Villa Moorings for our cooking lesson with Linda Turicchi, a native of Barga and passionate advocate of the food she learned to cook as a girl. Then relax with a glass of wine and enjoy the delicious meal you cooked.
 Tuesday 15 September
Off to Pieve Fosciana to find out how Luigi Angelini makes biroldo, another SF Presidium product. Next we visit an 18th-century water mill and a handloom cashmere scarf factory that weaves scarves for the top fashion houses of Europe. Opportunity to buy at well below retail prices.
Lunch at Il Vecchio Mulino (right) in Castelnuovo, where the tasting menu allows you to feast on an extraordinary array of the best produce the Garfagnana has to offer. We return to Barga via the ‘mechanical cow’ before our farewell to Lucca dinner at the Michelin-starred restaurant La Mora.
Wednesday 16 September
This morning we begin our cheese journey with a visit to Verano Bertagni’s dairy where we discover how he makes pecorino and why ricotta isn’t cheese. Next we wend our way through the spectacular mountain scenery of the Serchio valley for lunch and a visit to a farro farmer, who introduces us to this primitive wheat that was grown 10,000 years ago by the first farmers in the Middle East.
We continue to Parma where we dine at Ristorante Cocchi, founded in 1925 and still offering their carefully prepared specialities of Parma in a warm and cordial atmosphere. Our accommodation tonight is at a modern B&B just minutes from the parmigiano dairy we will visit in the morning.
 Thursday 17 September
We arrive early at Azienda Agricola Iris, where Umberto Avanzini welcomes us to his organic parmesan cheese dairy. We meet the cows, watch the whole cheese-making process and taste the results. We can nap on the way to our final destination, Slow Food’s artisanal cheese fair at Bra. Our accommodation for the next 4 nights will be at Fior di Farine (‘Flower of Flours’) in the picturesque town of La Morra, Piedmont.
Friday 18 September
As we approach Bra the scent of cheese wafts from the hundreds of stalls lining the streets of the town where Slow Food was founded. After a private cheese workshop, abandon yourself to the sybaritic enjoyment of cheese.
Saturday 19 September
Next door to Fior di Farine is the family mill, and this morning we tour the mill and learn to make bread with wild yeast. Lunch: bread and, probably, cheese. In the afternoon a wine tasting at Castello di Verduno, which makes Barolo, Barbera, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo — all the great wines of the Piedmont, followed by a sumptuous dinner in the castle’s dining room.
Sunday 20 September
Free day in Bra at Slow Food Cheese to explore those cheeses you missed on Friday and to attend Slow Food tasting workshops. Book online at: www.cheese.slowfood.com/welcome_eng.lasso. Farewell dinner at Slow Food’s own restaurant Boccondivino where you can be sure the menu is ‘good, clean and fair’!
Monday 21 September
Departure. Transfers are not included, however all assistance and travel information will be available.
Accommodation
Hotel Villa Moorings, Barga
3-star boutique hotel with swimming pool in newly restored ‘Liberty’ villa with original Cordati frescoes, located in gorgeous mediaeval town of Barga. www.villamoorings.it
Fior di Farine, La Morra
An upmarket B&B inspired by the owners’ desire to welcome admirers of healthy, genuine produce as well as those who believe that work can still be done with love and commitment. Careful renovation has given new life to this old house which has been a home to the family, boasting four generations of millers, for many years. www.fiordifarine.com
Bookings
PRICE PER PERSON: €2550 (Euros) (Minimum 8 People)
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT: €540 (Euros)
The Itinerary is subject to change if necessary due to weather or agricultural conditions or other events outside our control.
INCLUDES
- Luxury accommodation for 11 nights
- Local ground transportation for 11 days
- Daily breakfast, 6 lunches, 10 dinners
- Entrance to wine tasting, cheese tasting, Villa Reale tour, marble quarry, sculpture studio, cooking lessons, guided visits with producers
DOES NOT INCLUDE
- Airfares
- Travel and cancellation insurance
- Entrance to SF Taste Workshops at Cheese
- Wines and beverages, other than those served with meals, additional meals
- Personal expenses such as telephone, mini-bar, etc.
International travel advice
For more information on flights to Pisa International Airport, please click here. For information on arriving by train The Man in Seat Sixty-One gives much good advice.
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