Around the courtyard and behind our three-storey Tuscan houses there are two ancient watermills, one built in the 17th century and the other in the 19th. Their millstones and workings are still intact and we are slowly restoring them. Waterpower was used not only for producing wheat, maize and chestnut flour, but also for crushing and squeezing olives for their oil.
The large walled garden has a vine verandah and rose pergola. For meals in the sunshine there are millstone tables, a barbecue and a wood burning oven where the adventurous can try their hand at cooking pizza. Another garden leads off the courtyard and has lavender beds and kiwi fruit trees, while the riverside gardens feature a plunge pool (the old olive press reservoir), a shaded terrace and bamboozery.
Posara is a small friendly village, with ancient houses and narrow alleyways, surrounded by vineyards and fields of maize and sunflowers.
Fivizzano is a walled Medieval market town, complete with castle (just to the North) and a Medici fountain in the main piazza. There are lots of shops, both mini-supermarkets and small shops selling local produce, notably ham, salami, cheese and wine, and plenty of cafés, ice cream parlours, restaurants and pizzerias. You can hire a tennis court in Fivizzano and there is a big outdoor swimming pool near the mill, on the road towards the coast. Above the town, the scenery becomes spectacular, with beautiful views over the mountains, olive groves and chestnut forests.
Despite its rural quiet, Posara is only 40 minutes drive to the coast and the beach resorts in the Gulf of the Poets (Shelley and Byron swam here) and even less from the autostrada to Pisa, Lucca and Florence.
At nearby Pontremoli there’s a small, but fascinating, museum of enigmatic Etruscan statues. If you tire of making excursions by foot or car, a train from nearby Soliera will take you through the hills to Lucca, skirting the Regional Park of the Alpi Apuane.
From La Spezia, there’s another train journey through the cliffs and coves of the Cinque Terre, five fishing villages in spectacular settings. A walk from Monterosso to Vernazza along the clifftop path (about two hours) is an unforgettable experience.
