Going out to eat for Sunday Lunch is a tradition in Italy. You’ll hardly get a table in a Lunigiana restaurant on a Sunday afternoon if you haven’t reserved one, even in these economically challenging times.

Martha and I remembered with considerable fondness a Sunday meal we had in the town of Barbarasco, so last Sunday we wandered through the Chestnut festival and ended up at Albergo Ristorante Rolando. Just about a year ago we had a delicious Fritto Misto di Mare there.

We were all set for a repeat performance. And—we wanted some of the mixed seafood antipasti that looked good.

So, we got a seat on the terrace and they brought us menus. This didn’t happen last time, we just talked to the waiter. No matter, we found what we wanted on the menu and ordered.

The waiter shook his head sadly. No, they didn’t have much seafood. We could have stuffed mussels. Basta.

The disappointment must have been too much for him to bear. He winced, then motioned for us to sit tight while he ambled off to the kitchen. On return he said, yes, indeed, they could dredge something up for us.

The three plates weren’t bad, but they weren’t anything to blog about either. And one of them, of course, was the stuffed mussels.

We also wanted fish for a second course, but alas, ended up with grilled prawns, shrimp and calamari. Not a bad miss, but disappointing.

Then we talked a bit to him. This is what we neglected to do enough of in the first place. You see, Italians never trust a printed menu. They ask the waiter for recommendations. There’s a good reason for this.

He explained why they didn’t have much fish. It had rained recently, and then had turned sunny. “Everyone has reserved because the kitchen is full of wild mushrooms and boar and goats from the mountains and other game.”

You see, if we had followed our own advice and asked him what was cooking, we’d have been feasting of all the good seasonal foods they’d foraged for. Instead, they tried to please us with what little they had that we asked for. So, I can’t blame the waiter. He didn’t charge us as much as he could have, knowing we came up short on the antipasto course and didn’t get what we really wanted.

But dang, I’m sure kicking myself for not simply asking what was good in the kitchen.

Find out more: Ordering Good Food in an Italian Restaurant

We’ve had a spate of bad weather lately here in the Lunigiana. It’s been freezing overnight and we’ve had a couple of loud, thunderous storms that have dumped a whole lotta rain on Tuscany. But so what? The results are beginning to show, the streams are flowing and the trees colorful. The scene you see to the right was recorded just outside the town of Monzone, where we’d just eaten a great meal at the Allbergo Ristorante da Remo (find it on our Lunigiana restaurant map.

Fall is the time for taking walks. In fact, the city of Sienna has been at the forefront of the Halloween Urban Trek, so around October 31 you’ll find interesting walks in many cities. There’s a very interesting one in Bologna, but since we’re leaving for Provence the next day, we wanted something close to home.

It was then I found out that the trek in Massa (PDF) concluded with them (fakely) lighting the castle on fire. Who could resist that. I don’t know how they accomplish their Fuochi d’artificio, but maybe we’ll find out.

Find out about other trekking oportunities on our Trekking page.

I think He meant for knocking off the copper from Parma’s Cathedral with a bolt of His Holy Furor (see below), but maybe for Burlusconi…and my sniffles, too.

This was the view moments ago from my balcony.

We’ve just been through a huge storm in Italy that rattled windows with bursts of thunder and left us with standing water everywhere. This morning we’ve heard of lightening striking the belltower of Parma’s Duomo or Cathedral Thursday morning, a belltower we took photos of just 12 days ago, shown here (click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture). The top of the Duomo belltower is on the left in the picture; the Baptistery is shown on the right.

The lightning bolt apparently hit and travelled down the metal cross held by a statue on top of the tower, the ‘Angiol d’Or’ (Golden Angel), the thunder from which was heard throughout this northern Italian city. ~ Bell tower fire reveals 1st roof

Under the dome’s copper panels more lightening resistant, older ceramic tiles were revealed after the fire was put out. The belltower will be restored to its 13th century state.

There’s nothing like a disaster to allow you to look a little further into the state of oft-restored structures.

The Duomo itself underwent recent restoration to its facade and to the artworks within, and the pictures I took 12 days ago are found on Europe Travel: Pictures of the Duomo di Parma

This copyrighted post, called “Parma Duomo Belltower Fire”, first appeared on Wandering Italy Blog.

Towers, Italy has lots of them.  Pavia, for example is littered with them.  Italy’s nobles delighted in trying to outdo each other by building the tallest tower they could manage.

In this week’s photograph there is a famous tower, but it’s not in Pavia.

Can you tell me in which Italian city it can be found, the name of the piazza in that Italian city, and the name of the elegant building to which it is attached?

Happy guessing!

Can You Guess in Which Italian City this Tall Tower Can be Found?

Give me the name of the piazza in which it is situated and the name of the beautiful building of which the tower forms part.

Can You Guess Where this Tower is in Italy?

If no one manages to guess, I’ll give you a clue tomorrow.  I’ll also reveal the photographer who took this lovely dusk image with its ghostly figures too.

This is just for fun.

Answers on a comment, as usual!

PS Riccardo, please feel free to take part this week!  Many thanks for not answering immediately last week, as requested, too.

photography, italy, of italy, guess where, competition, quiz,travel