Pistoia

Today's destination was Pistoia to visit the bonsai garden of our friend, Tomasso. Pistoia is about 2 hours drive north of Massa. So off we went in The Smart. 

Tomasso has a small but beautiful bonsai collection. The tree below is his show-stopper.

Sabina Juniper

After a tour of his garden, we came inside for a snack and chatted for a bit with his mom. She was very nice. She introduced us to her two dogs, one of which was a show winner, the other one was a couch warmer. She also made us warm  focaccia and mortadella and cheese sandwiches. They were yummy!

Afterward Tomasso had wanted to take us to see some other gardens in the area, but unfortunately it wasn't possible that day, so instead we drove into the center of town to see the sites. 

Cathedral and Bell Tower of San Zeno

The cathedral was originally built in the middles ages, was destroyed twice by fire and finally rebuilt in the 13th century.

Baptistery of San Giovanni

Built in the 14th century in the Gothic style decorated with white and green marble stripes. Similar to the travertine and alabaster stripes on the church in Orvieto.

Fresh pasta from Il Garganello

We stopped in at this fresh pasta shop. The lady working in the shop was also the one who made all the pasta. So of course we had to buy some to try at home. She also made all the pastry for the restaurant of the same name. So you know it was delicious.

Carbonara Cappellacci (little hats) 

Ira was hoping to find some pastries unique to the area, unfortunately the chestnut flour cake mentioned online is a basic dish made at home and not usually for sale in pastry shops. So instead we bought a few little pastries from a bakery nearby. One filled with pistachio cream, another with nutella cream and the other was a rice pudding pastry.

Pistachio cream filled pastry

They were all purchased at Forno Garbo. We can both attest that they were all delicious. It was just a quick tour of the center of town, as Tomasso had to go to work, but it was fun. 

On our way home we had to stop for gas. Ira paid in cash and instead of the machine paying out the change, it spit out a voucher, like a Las Vegas slot machine. He had to step inside to exchange the voucher for the change. Interesting, right?

That's all for now.

A dopo!

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