the rocks of Elba Island

A big reason we chose to incorporate Elba Island into our road trip is Caleb's affection for rocks and minerals. In Florence, we had recently visited a mineral museum and a mineral/gemstone exhibition at the Specola. We found that many of the minerals and stones were found on Elba Island.

Elba Island is tectonics gone wild. There are so many varieties of minerals, vast differences across its' shorelines, you can see where the plates have been pushing against each other---it boasts of an explosive, rocky history. We managed to go to the mineral museum in Rio Marina (on Elba); it was fantastic---we were just sad some of the excursions and mineral shops were still closed (we traveled during the off season; a lot was closed---to open again in May).

Beyond Caleb's growing mineral collection (um... rocks are heavy... how do you plan on bringing them back to the states again?), Anthony actually gave a tectonics PowerPoint to his class recently---in Italian! Although he did not highlight Elba Island in particular, it gave us a good notion of Elba's plated fate (hey dad: did you like the pun?)---especially while absorbing information at the mineral museum.

Here are some pictures (more pics) of what we saw during our short stint on Elba Island: from sandy beaches to rocky granite lined shores, to piles of practically glowing-red dirt:

 

 

5 baths in Tuscany (aka hot springs, terme or bagni)

My goal for our week-long road trip was to visit at least one of the hot springs in Tuscany. I 'scheduled' time at the Bagni dei Saturnia on day 4. Little did I realize---that was the just the beginning. Although I only planned for one, we rallied and visited 5 baths in Tuscany (4 public, 1 private).

Public means: accessible to all, no changing rooms, no fees, open. Private baths are often associated with resorts or hotels, may have specific hours and seasons and are often modernized (including dressing rooms, lockers, etc.). Oh, and at least re: this wintery time of year, the private baths are busier.

I wanted free, open, authentic. So we went for public baths, though were fortunate to have a private bath fee inclusive in one of our stays so experienced the posh side of terme as well. In the end---private or public---no two baths are alike. In fact, they aren't even close.

The temperatures vary from body temperature to a the hottest of hot tubs. Some smell heavily of sulfur, and some only offer a faint glimmer of their sulfury source. Some baths are small, some large; some are more like a waterfall and others have all sorts of pools lined up for the taking. Some merge with large rivers, so you can jump from hot to cold... the experiences are as diverse as the baths that populate Tuscany---and there are many.

Here are 5 pictures and quick excerpts re: the baths we sought and sank into. All 5 are in Tuscany, south of Sienna. In order:

1. Terme di Saturnia: cascading waterfall pools, body temp. Out of a dream!
2. San Casciano dei Bagni: smallish, hot tub temps, relatively unknown.
3. Terme di Sorano: private. Included actual pool where boys used goggles; just above body temp. (can also pay for massage, other services, etc.). Quite busy.
4. Bagni di San Filippo: calcium deposits look like huge snow drift. Really hot water spilling over. Runs into river. Hiked a path to find it; boys LOVED this one!
5. Bagni di Petriolo: hot hot wonderfully hot. Smallish hot-tub like pools to populate with friends. runs into cool river---nice contrast. Busiest of them all (at least the day we visited). Bring wine!

For more pictures of baths and our entire 6 day Tuscan road trip, peek at our photo album. 

 

  

  

  

 

6 day Tuscan road trip (itinerary)

Our bags and bodies smelled of sulfur, we ran out of clean clothes (all the hiking and beach-combing and changing 'pool-side'), we refilled our take-along snack bag 4 times (once with a big mixed bag of homemade Italian cookies!) and our gas tank 3 times... we have souvenirs that include sand samples, rocks from hot springs, beach-combed minerals, 4 bottles of Maremma wine, olive oil from San Casciano, 2 tiny ceramic bowls (Volterra and Pitigliano), 1 olive-wood ladle and a rolling pin for making pici pasta (Sorano). Our camera batteries died one by one from overuse (hundreds of photos), and we recharged our GPS 6 nights in a row. Copies of our passports, my International driver's license, affirmation of lodging and round-trip ferry tickets...

All remnants of our 6 day Tuscan road trip (and all these pictures!)

I would have blogged our way through it, but was too busy driving (driving the back/forth and up/down hills and roads of hairpin-turn-trophy-land of Tuscany is not for the faint of heart OR the sensitive stomach) and connectivity was impossible. But no worries. We are home and there is much to share:

The boys' school had a week off during the last week of February, so I nabbed the opportunity to plan a road trip---there is so, so much to see! We decided to aim west and south out of Florence, instead of north or east (next road trip?). It is still winter, and the further north we go the colder it would have been (we had lots of sun, so it turned out to be a fantastic choice). I really wanted to visit at least one [public] hot spring---since they are highly touted and quite common in Tuscany. Here is the original itinerary I planned (and the RED includes all the extras we added along the way, aka our actual itinerary):

Day 1 (mon feb 22)
Lorenzo the Magnificent's Villa, designed by SanGallo: Poggio a Caiano
Leonardo da Vinci's house-of-birth (just outside the city of Vinci)
Volterra (Duomo, Roman ruins, dinner)

Day 2 (tues feb 23)
ferry from Piombino to Portoferraio (from coast of Italy to Elba Island)
Elba---Napoleon's country house
Marina di Campo---sandy beach (south side of island)

Capoliveri---hilltop mining village

Porto Azzurro---port and resort town, we ate dinner/pizza in the piazza

Day 3 (wed feb 24)
Rio Marino---Museum of Minerology (exploring streets, black-sandy beach, docks, bakery, red dirt!)
wicked awesome 'shortcut' drive through Rio nell' Elba (amazing views, one-lane mountain road!)
Portoferraio---Napoleon's city house
Portoferraio---Medici fortress
Portoferraio---dinner

Day 4 (thurs feb 25)
return ferry from Elba to Italy (drive through Maremma, south to Saturnia, Sorano, Sovana)
stop at wine shop in beautiful hill-top town of Scansano
Saturnia's hot springs
Sovana's Etruscan tombs (including famous Ildebrand Tomb)
special dinner at Agriturismo (Sant' Egle)

Day 5 (fri feb 26)
visit [public] hot springs in San Casciano
visit Pitigliano (famous for Etruscan caves, city built up/on top of rock)

visit Sovana (one-street city, mostly closed but quaint)

special dinner at Agriturismo (Sant' Egle) 

Day 6 (sat feb 27)
Bagni di Sorano

visit Sorano (walk streets, see caves, grab lunch)

visit Bagni di San Filippo (hot springs)
visit Bagni di Petriolo (hot springs)
visit San Galgano (famous abbey/ruins)
brief stop in Panzano
return car in Florence (whew!)
late night pizza from restaurant downstairs:)

Fond food memories:
1. we started out our trip with a batch of lunch box cookies in our snack bag
2. bag of classic Italian cookies from bakery in San Casciano dei Bagni (la fornarina)
3. meals at our Agriturismo (included starter, primi, secondi, dessert, apertif, vino/coke); highlights were tiramisu, eggplant appetizer, vegetable lasagna, ravioli, milk-braised beef... and walnut digestivo)
4. eating kiwis and blood red oranges while sitting in San Casciano terme (tasted so good!)
5. organic olive oil at Agriturismo
6. fantastic pizza/gnocchi/steak at restaurant in Portoferraio (happenstance)
7. cafe lunch/snack in Pitigliano: wild boar brochettes for Caleb, Ravioli for Anthony, Pecorino & marmalade, regional vino... and chocolate cake. 
8. buying Maremma wines from wine shop in Scansano

Where we stayed:
1 night, Volterra; Agrimonia
2 nights, Elba Island; budget-hotel Hotel Villa Ombrosa (no hidden fees, incl parking, breakfast, good location).
2 nights, Sorano; Sant' Egle

*all places included breakfast, a must. We also ate dinner our last two nights at Sant' Egle---it was divine. We will no doubt return!

**more in-depth road trip posts to come!