We woke up to a stunning morning- flawless blue sky, birds singing, and the chook next door going off tap whilst laying a bumnut.

Usually we stay put on the weekends as the roads are more nuts and goes from plain maniacal to suicidal lunacy Mach 2 but to sit around loafing today seems somewhat sinful so I am trying to coerce Tarn into visiting some of the local villages.

It's very hard to put in words how the villages are structured here as they have no correlation to home. For example our village San Romano is considered the head village of the 26 square kilometre patch which includes Sillicangana, Villetta, Verucole, Vibbiana, Orzaglia and Caprignana.

Now Sillicangana has a baker, a small grocer, and a butcher. Viletta has a grocer, a restaurant (both overseen by old mate), a large tabacchi, and a train station. San Romano has a small tabacchi whose sole trade seems to be bored locals playing the poker machines and a restaurant which has been closed everytime I have passed, so how is this deemed the head village?. My guess is it us only because it is geographically in the middle. But then again logic is a rare visitor here, and frankly that's half of the allure - Italy will always entertain (although 2 weeks in San Romano without internet access won't unless you have no interest in the outside world and have a fetish for Arab phone sex ads) and is never dull due to it's surprising lack of common sense.

I decided to ditch the map and just drive the road to Aulla much to Tarn's apprehension as we seemed to be climbing up the alps at a fair incline but the road leveled out and we stopped for an impromptu al fresco lunch at Lago Gramolazzo which popped out of the horizon. Unfortunately the pickings were slim so we dined on San Carlo chips and Sprite rather than the exotic picnic lunch we hoped for.

The little picnic ground in Gramolazzo whilst spartan offered a lovely vista to wolf down the carbs, saturated fats and sugar - three of the five major food groups in Italy (the other two being tobacco and alcohol).

We then ventured on and arrived in Minucciano which was unique with it's round tower as opposed to the standard square ones which dominate most of the village landscape.

We could not stop as the three parking spaces in town were occupied by 7 Fiats, 3 Alfas and a transit van. 2 Ford Fiestas and a Piaggio had to make do with the zebra crossing. So we went on towards Aulla until Tarn lost her nerve just out of Pieve San Lorenzo when the views ceased being majestic and projectile vomiting became a sudden possibility.

So being the caring husband (and having Italian blood) I did a swift 3 point turn on a blind corner a mere 700 meters above sea level with a 2 inch high concrete edging separating the road and gravity in a car with all the responsiveness and finesse of a three legged cow in leg irons going down ten flights of stairs. Piece of torte.

Once Tarn had started breathing again we had reached Piazza al Serchio where we stopped to cash in on the Euro's overnight dive and Tarn admired the view from Giuseppe Garibaldi park in the car some 30 meters from the nearest edge of anything.

Thankfully the drive to Firenze only takes in the tame alpine streets towards Castelnuovo which we have done a dozen times and then her passenger issues are the property of Trenitalia and I am off the hook at last.

I am also off kitchen duty tonight as we are going to try out old mates trattoria. Old mate has served us well in the grocery department for the past fortnight so hopefully his pizza and pasta is as handy.

If you ever find yourself in the Garfagnana and you want a great meal then Il Grotto (old mate's joint) is a must. The best pizza in Italy as far as toppings by light years.

Pizza here consists of a thin base with cheese and tomato and a sparse topping of choice. Well old mates pizza you taste the topping not just the base and tomato. The soup was a hit as well and all the deserts are hand made including the gelato.

Il pasto era squisito vecchio compagno.

One thing which irks me at home is the b******ized pizza toppings like Nutella and Vegemite and I get quite antsy at the Italian iconic food being disrespected but no more after the French fries and hot dog pizza the Italians serve up. I saw it first in Venice and figured it was just for the tourists but last night a couple of locals were hoeing in to this monstrosity, so if the Italians themselves don't care why should I.

The Italian produce integrity police has left the pizzeria.

Buona notte