When I came to buy a house in the far outpost in northern Tuscany called la Lunigiana, I did it in part because I loved the simple foods found all over Italy. I loved the traditions, the festivals, and most of all the feast days.
Little did I know that even the "palazzo" or large building in which I now have an apartment was intimately connected with food and variety in the diet of the locals.
So, we took a peek into local food production in our tiny village, and created a feast from its bounty. Everyone is involved in producing foods from the vegetables in the family orto to polenta, wine, salumi and olive oil.
Location: Piano di Collecchia, Italy a tiny village which produces honey, corn for polenta, salami and more.
I hope you enjoy this celebration of local food in the Lunigiana. And let me tell you, if you don't like polenta, don't pass up polenta made correctly from folks who grow corn for their own use (and mill it in a 300 year old water driven mill). It's way different.
The Lunigiana is a bit difficult for tourists who don't speak at least a little of the language. If you don't fear interaction though, plunge right ahead, speak with your hands and your facial expressions and you'll be fine.
If you're looking to plan a large itinerary, then our Tuscany Maps and Guide will point out some of the best cities and rural areas to head to. You can also see our Lunigiana territory map.
Our Lunigiana Blog Category might be helpful if you want to know the inside scoop on the region.
If you like locavore food, here are some interesting reads:
Lunigiana Honey is Best The Lunigiana Antipasto Tradition Feasting and the amazing Azienda Agricola la Valley Pasta Fagioli with Alcide Anatomy of a Summer Feast in the LunigianaThe Garfagnana - It's the next region just south of the Lunigiana.
Lucca Historic Villas - which can and should be visited if you have a car.
Here are some travel planning tools that are especially useful if you're planning your first or second trip to Italy.
Join us on Facebook or head on over and register for our free Europe Travel Forum.
Find out what the weather might be with our month to month climate charts for major tourism cities.
We have a huge collection of Maps for every region and many historic territories and sub regions.