Barga.

Around midday we drove in into the local mountains behind Lucca, part of the Appenines, to drive along the river Serchio and to visit the hillside town of Barga. This proved to be a pleasant place with a nice large church on the top of a hill, with wide vistas. The presence of America visitors, though not in large numbers, was evident this day, and there was a large group of older women making tentative watercolors under the guidance of a weary-looking middle aged man. We had a nice lunch at a local bar where the owner/waiter was intent on exercising his English with us (normally we take small offense at this, but he clearly hoped to be helpful). In the end, we served the ball into his court by asking for directions - in English - but in his response he was obliged to switch back to Italian, so we won a small equalizer there. Such is the stuff of our linguistic adventures.