As Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said (slightly shortened): “No plan survives contact with the enemy”. Today, the first enemies were restaurants. We had a plan to get up and drive to an archaeological site with Etruscan ruins. Just next to the site, there’s a restaurant where we would have breakfast, then hike the site (a three-hour hike according to their documentation). From there we would go to a garden inspired by the Guel park in Barcelona, then head home in time for dinner.
The very first part of the plan went well. We did drive to the ruins, but we found the restaurant closed with no indication of when or if it would open. Now, most people would call our first meal lunch as it takes place around noon. However, when vacationing in Italy, we avoid their breakfasts, which are usually pastries and an insult to any French baker—for example, croissants with powdered sugar and jam in the middle. In any case, we just drove for half an hour and got up about two hours ago. We’re hungry and in no mood to start searching for food. Thanks to our friend Google Maps, we found a pizzeria open in a nearby small town (about a 15-minute drive). When travelling in Italy, pizzerias offer simple, quick fare. A pizza margarita is hard to miss, simple to make, and always good after all.
Arriving at our pizzeria, we were greeted with: “No pizza today.” I guess the pizza man took the day off. We’re too hungry to care, figuring that a bowl of pasta would work. We forgot an old saying: whatever you do, eating in Italy will take around 2 hours. That’s pretty much what we got.
A depressing caprese salad and two bowls of pasta later, we’re back on our way to the ruins. Part of the point of going to the ruins is that it’s a hike where you see Etruscan-era tombs. The staff at the information center was surprised to see two people ready to hike for three hours under the blazing afternoon sun at 32°C (as we did the hike, we understood why, as we saw nobody else on the trail).
Map in hand, we went hiking. We were informed that two hikes are available: the aptly named short hike took two hours, and the long hike took three. We chose the long hike, forgoing the chance to see the other park we wanted to visit. It was past 14:30 when we took the trail, and we couldn't make it to the park 30 minutes away and still be home in time for dinner at 20:00.
Aside from the map not being to scale, the site was impressively well-designed. The first third of the hike, where most of the ruins lie, follows an ancient stone road. It was reminiscent of the roads in Pompeii or Herculaneum. The Etruscan and Roman ruins themselves are well enough preserved and well documented. We even had the surprise of an art installation in the basement of one of the buildings.
We were a little disappointed to find that the Etruscan tombs were on the other side of the river, with no way to cross or visit them. Even if the site advertises them, they are not part of it. From what we could see from our side of the river, they also seemed barred off.
Nevertheless, we continued our hike beyond the ruins and stayed on the long trail. Two-thirds of the way in, we arrived at a pond where we finally found the explanation for all the cars present in the parking lot. We hadn’t seen another soul on our hike, yet the parking was full of cars. The answer is they are all swimming in the pond and the river. The site looked good and offered a fine pebble beach (not quite sand, but close) where you can plant an umbrella and lounge on a towel.
Leaving the pond, we made our way back to our starting point. All counted, it took a little less than two hours to do a three-hour hike. Leaving us with enough time to visit the Tarrot garden.
Having visited the Guel park in Barcelona, I thought I knew what to expect. And walking through it, you can kinda see the source of the concepts borrowed from Gaudí, but it’s just plain weirder. Great spot for a quick walk with the kids: it’s colourful, and many of the sculptures and installations are at their scale rather than mine. I’m no expert on Tarot, but I’m pretty sure a lot of acid or other mind “enhancing” drugs were taken to transform the concept of Tarot cards into these sculptures. In any case, we had fun seeing it, and 30 minutes later, we were heading home.
Our day, against all odds, turned out to tick all the main boxes of our plan, even if not how we thought it would happen. The last part of it was dinner. Since we had only Google Maps to guide us in choosing where to eat in the small town of Saturnia, and we had had a great meal the day before, we weren't sure we would get the same success. Well, Google Maps is a great travel guide. The second meal was a hit, too. Excellent execution and good service, we had a great time and left for our last night in Saturnia with full bellies.
