Today we explored northern Tuscany. We started from Lucca and drove north to the Ponte della Maddalena or "Devil's Bridge", where we got some great photos!! It is called Devil's bridge because according to the local legend, the Devil offered to build the bridge in return for possession of the first soul to cross it. The villagers agreed and when it was finished sent a dog over it.

We continued north past Barga and Garfagna to this little hamlet town called, Montefegatesi which is actually carved out of the Alpi Apuane Mountains. Dante lived not far from here and apparently was inspired by the Gorge running near the town to write a chapter in the Divine Comedy. They have a large statue of him at the highest point in the town, which Dave and I ascended. We went into the one bar in town to find that it was owned and operated by a very nice man who, lucky for us hailed from Scarsdale, NY!! It was a riot! We bought a postcard of the town and it turned out to be a real picture glued onto a cardboard backing. Right outside the town, the Botri Gorge looked like a beautiful hike but we couldn't do it because I didn't have closed toe shoes on.

Next, we drove through the Parco Naturale Delle Alpi Apuane, a very pretty mountainous park with lots of marble quarries. We learned that Michaelangelo spent the two most frustrating years of his life in this area working with the transport of marble because his patron, the Pope, had a disagreement with the marble suppliers of one of the towns in the park. The main road through the park is lined with small chapels in memory of the many who died in mining accidents. It was some wild scenery to see parts of the mountain missing; when the light hit it perfectly, it looked like ski slopes.

We headed to the Tuscan Riveria to the town of Viareggio, home of Carnival. It seemed totally out of place in this region. Outlandish, tacky, neon, kind of like Miami. We dipped our feet in the Mediterranean Sea, which was fun. It was hard trying to find a public strip of beach as most of the beach was owned by private beach clubs. We ate some bad fast food at a place called "Manhattan" and high tailed it back to the Villa to get some sleep.