Springtime in Tuscany: Flowers, Cherries & Lazy Tuscan Lunches

Okay, ciao ragazzi, welcome back to Vico Pisano. It's great to have you back again. There's been a lot going on since the last video and we really want to share these things with them, don't we? Absolutely. Now the weather is nice, we have many things happening in the summer here in Vico Pisano. In fact, since the last video, we've had two quite big events and a dreamy lunch with friends as well, didn't we? Indeed, indeed. The first event that all appears in Vico Pisano is Castello in Fiore, that is an event for two days, Vico Pisano filled with flowers everywhere. The weekend after, we were invited to our friend's house for lunch, that's Fran and Nick and they've just got the dreamiest views looking over a vineyard, so we'll show you that later as well. Now we have a cherry festival, always where they're from, which is 25 minutes from here in Hilltop Town, Bloody English, in Paesino Lari, in the countryside, not far away from here, beautiful events that... Again, it takes place every year, doesn't it? Yes, it does. We would like to show you, come with us, okay? Come, let's go. Andiamo! Ciao! The flower show in Vico Pisano is known as Castello in Fiore and it takes place every year on the third weekend in May. This year, it was held on the 17th and 18th of that month, marking the 13th edition of this wonderful festival of perfume and colour. Over the two days, the event attracts thousands of visitors, not just from Vico Pisano, but also from other parts of Tuscany. The main hub is our central piazza, but the festival spills out onto the smaller piazzas and winding medieval streets. During this two-day festival, Vico Pisano seems to transform into a giant nursery meets garden centre, where you can buy everything from tiny flowering succulents to full-size citrus treats, heavy with oranges and lemons. Like with most Vico Pisano events, it's also a great chance to catch up with friends. This year, one of my oldest friends, Nancy, flew in from England to experience the festival and by now, even she bumps into familiar faces, who you may now recognise too. So, it looks like we're going to have a sale here. Look at this beautiful plant. I know a place where that will look beautiful. So, these guys here, I've just been talking to them, they're from Pistoia. And Pistoia is famous for its garden nurseries and trees and plants. And you'll find a lot of the big estates will buy their flowers from somebody in Pistoia. So, Lorenzo and I were very lucky yesterday. We were gifted a beautiful rose like this, a climbing rose. It does feel very spoilt. It's now in the garden, not planted yet, but we'll take you to see that later. We headed for lunch at Taverna Aurora, ideally located in the main piazza and known for its traditional Tuscan food. We were a lively mix of old and new friends. Somehow I ended up filming our table, just as we all fell into hysterical laughter. Clearly, it was the pollen and the good company. After lunch, we made our way back to the festival. The fun continued with face painting, enjoyed by both children and adults alike. There's always something hands-on and joyful at these events, and it's lovely to see everyone getting involved. Nearby children were playing traditional games. No screens, no tech, just the kind of simple old-fashioned fun that always brings a smile. Like many festivals here in Vicopisano, Castello in Fiore offers much more than flowers. You'll find stalls filled with one-of-a-kind pieces from local artisans, beautiful handmade items that really capture the spirit of Tuscany. And of course, there's always music or entertainment tucked into a corner. This time, a lively brass band made its way through the streets, bringing big smiles to everyone they passed. Street food vendors also set up throughout the village, adding even more flavour to the day. We especially loved this retro VW camper van that had been transformed into a cocktail bar. It was such a fun surprise. As the sun began to set over the hills, the atmosphere changed again. The colours of the flowers grew deeper, almost glowing, and others seemed to dance for joy. Just another magical moment from a Vicopisano festival. The following weekend, we were invited to lunch with our friends Fran and Nick, who live in the countryside near the small town of Lari. They've been lovingly restoring their beautiful old farmhouse, Casa Pioppo, named after the magnificent poplar tree that stands tall in their garden. It was one of those perfect pre-summer days, with the sun shining brightly and everything in bloom. Lunch was a joint affair, with each guest bringing a dish to share. I made two salads, a Tuscan farro salad and a raw fennel salad. Do you want that, little carp? That would be wonderful, yeah. So we're using this wonderful olive oil, which is produced by Fran and Nick themselves. Bravo, bravo. Fantastic. Splashes of olive oil on the fennel salad. In fact, most of the dishes were vegetarian and all were delicious. However, there was some carne to keep the carnivores happy. We sat at a beautifully simple table, tastefully decorated with wildflowers. The views across the valley and the vineyards are stunning. It was lovely to catch up with old friends, some of whom we hadn't seen for a while, like Owen and Niamh, who you can also follow on YouTube at Armani Volterra. It was one of those blissful afternoons that makes you lose track of time. We could have stayed there until sunset, to be honest. But we were on a mission. The Cherry Festival in nearby Lari was calling, so off we went in convoy to see what the festival had in store. Lari is normally a sleepy little hilltop town, but on Cherry Festival Day, it's positively bustling with locals, visitors, music and the scent of cherries in the air. As we made our way towards the historic centre where the heart of the festival was taking place, we passed a little shop front, which could easily be missed, unless of course you spotted the charming honey and mustard coloured Fiat 500 parked outside the door. It had a way of stopping people in their tracks. Behind that shop front is something quite unexpected, a medieval grotto used for aging cheese. It belongs to the Busty family, who've been producing cheese in this region since 1955. Step inside and you're immediately hit with the rich, pungent aroma of maturing cheese, an intense but fascinating experience. The cave isn't open every day, but on a special occasion like the Cherry Festival, you can peek inside for free and even get a little taste of their cheeses. If you're not lucky enough to visit on a festival day, private visits and tastings are available too. I'll leave the link in the description below. After that flavourful detour, we set off again towards the town centre, but didn't get far. This time we were drawn into a traditional butcher shop, home of the famous cherry salami. The butcher, Davide Balestri, makes a salami all year round and on this occasion he also sampled a cheese infused with cherries. We followed the crowd towards the banks of Cherries, but then we were distracted again. This time we popped in to visit friends of Fran and Nick, who have a delightful little shop in town. Laven Titani is a local artist with shops both in Pisa and Lari where he grew up. He has a passion for Italian history and civilisation and his art focuses on screen printed or digitally rendered artwork that depicts iconic local landmarks and historic village scenes in a playful and stylised manner. Look here, there's even a print of Vico Bisano. But here we are with the creators. There's Lavanti who's the artist and Elisa is the... I help him. You help him? Translation. Oh that's fantastic, you help with the translation. So I'm just looking at these books that you've got here. So what's the first one here? This is a book about pasta. There are pasta recipes from all over Italy. And of course they are all made with Martelli pasta. Wow, the best. The best pasta. Look at all these illustrations, aren't they fantastic? And you've got all the recipes. Amatriciana. Wow. And this is a very interesting book. That's the one I want. It's a pizza recipe book. Yes, I'm going to get that. And Elisa will explain. Okay, and Elisa explains. These are recipes from pizza. Okay. So pizza is always cooked for, I don't know, some special occasions and for Easter for example. So that's like an Easter cake, isn't it? Yeah. So does this book come in English as well? Not yet. Okay, not yet. It needs to be in English. Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you. Eventually we made it to the market stalls, overflowing with cherries and cherry-infused everything. Or at least they were earlier in the day. After so many distractions, most of the cherries had already gone. And to top it off, we'd somehow lost a few of our friends along the way. There was really only one thing to do at this stage. Sit down and enjoy a cherry mojito at a historic Lari bar. After all, it was aperitivo time now. As we sipped on our cherry mojitos, we were entertained by an all-girls street band called Girlesque, which just rounded off the enjoyable day nicely. Cheers!