John planned the most marvellous holiday in Tuscany, Italy, for the summer. We had the most marvellous time with Gioya and Marcello and his wife, they were lovely hosts.
We had a very joyful afternoon tea and BBQ with them where the fact that we spoke hardly and Italian and Marcello hardly any English made no difference at all. We were in a lonely farmhouse down a dirt and pitted track, deep in the Massa Maritima forests, with a glorious infinity pool that overlooked wooded valleys, volcanoes and surprisingly the chimneys of the Italian volcano-thermo electricity generations systems. The cooling towers were a bit like an elegant Didcot in the woods! But Italy, to her credit, has no nuclear power and 30% is generated using the earth’s heat and with photovoltaic (solar power) an easy option most houses are independent with ultra local cheap supplies. We visited Pisa and never realised how much more there was to the complex around the Torre Pendente (Leaning Tower). We all exhausted ourselves climbing up it - the lean has the odd effect of making you feel you are going down as you go up and then when you climb, in parts, it’s like the north face of the Eiger! Florence was lovely, Siena not our favourite, but the Roman and Etruscan towns of Volterra, Massa Maritima, Montereggione and San Gimignano were wonderful. Each had its own theme be it paper, olives, tomatoes, alabaster, flag tossing, wine (delicious Montepulciano at €1.30 a bottle) or coloured leather handbags. No two shops sold the same thing, there were slight variations that made you visit each shop before purchasing! We have never been to the area before but the children knew it from the computer game Assassins Creed, which was remarkably accurate. They knew where all the sights and sites were before we got there and directed us! The driving was hard work – something would look 2km as the crow flies and SatNag would say 16km to go. SatNag was right – all twisty roads and not a roman straight line in sight. You got good shoulders and neck muscles from driving round! Wales without the rain John called it.

Our holiday at Monna had everything we were looking for - friendly hosts, a beautiful apartment traditionally furnished in a wonderful old Tuscan house, lovely peaceful rural location, nice garden and pool. We alternated lazy days with other days when we visited Monday Volterra, Wednesday Siena, Friday Massa Maritima. Now in England in grey November we fondly remember those hot days of June in Val de Cecina and hope to return someday.

We 'd had a fabulous evening meal at Monna, sitting under the oak tree looking out across the valley and counting shooting stars. All we could hear were the odd grunts and snuffles of wild boar - or cingali - down in the woods. We struck up a conversation in wonderful "Englitalian" with Marcello as he was locking up his shed. The children were fascinated by the wild boar and Marcello offered to try spotting them, having explained about the hunting and local meats. He got his torch and we all walked down the path as he shone the beam around the bushes and woods and across the fields trying to pick them out. The Englitalian conversation , complete with many hand gestures and expressions, moved on to thermal springs and agricutural as we crept around the grounds. Well, we didnt see any cingali ! But it was a great evening that we will all always remember - simple, homely, with new friends and in a beautiful setting.
Oh, and in the morning, the pool was surrounded by cingali hoof marks - so it wasn't a dream!