ITALY 2022 – PART 11

We are now getting closer to the coast of the Ligurian Sea. Here we visit La Maremmana. It is a buffalo farm where they use the milk from the buffalos to make the mozzarella di bufala, buffalo mozzarella, and other cheeses as well as butter and milk. We arrived in the morning because we wanted to see how the real mozzarella di bufala is made. The buffalo mozzarella is made in 4 sizes and was produced directly into the basin where they were picked up for the shop. It was very interesting and later we enjoyed a cheese plate with a selection of delicious buffalo milk cheeses. The tasting menu also included some ham, bread, water, and a glass of white wine. And we must admit, the mozzarella di bufala from La Maremmana, and also the buffalo ricotta was the best we have ever tasted. If you ever come to the area around Grosseto, you shouldn’t miss out on a visit to La Maremmana. After this fantastic visit, we drove north, to Italy’s longest cypress road, the over 4 km long and straight Strada Provinciale Bolgherese, also known as Viale dei Cipressi, Cypresses Avenue and is supposed to have 2.400 cypresses in total along the road. The road ends with the little but famous wine village Bolgheri. Bolgheri is almost 1.000 years old. But only about 50 years ago, it was recognized for some “Super Tuscans”, like the Sassicaia from Tenuta San Guido. In general, there are many wineries in the Bolgheri area. And it’s a cosy and relaxed village. Then we continued north, after having shopped for groceries in another Conad – we are still impressed by the selection in the food departments of Italian supermarkets. This day our trip ended just south of La Spezia, where we’d found a camper site just on the other side of the road of the beach by the Ligurian Sea. Just a few weeks before our arrival, the area here was within a few minutes hit by gales, tornadoes and sea surges. Some people were killed, and many were injured. Roofs were torn off houses, and hundreds of trees broke or toppled. Now the situation has normalized again.