Ahhhhhhh la Festas

I know Renaissance dominates Tuscan art and we look forward to seeing beautiful Tuscany, however scheduling our month long family vacation I felt we needed other experiences as well and delegated each family member a job of finding other interesting venues .

Villa de Thomasis in Matraia was located in the hills high above the town of Lucca and gave us a panorama of the area and a view that was unbelievable. We all looked forward to learning about the village, the people and the celebrations within Matraia.. Matraia was in a celebrating mood and the Sagra( La Festas) was going full sing right when we arrived.

The villa was about 2 miles from the village and we decided to walk up to the Sagra and meet the town, and support their olive festival. Imagine walking into the village and arriving to the fragrance of grilled foods, and smiling faces and not knowing a word of Italian and being handed a nice bottle of local vino.

These hard working villagers won our hearts that first day and we were excited about staying in one place and venturing out each day to every corner we could reach, going as far as Montalcino and Cortina driving and some days riding the train or driving and hiking .

Sleeping in one place for the month's vacation was such a reward for us.. Easy living and a way to go.