The Forgotten Riola in Pistoia Mountains: Part 2

We have now just tasted a modicum of personal freedom, since a few days we can move around the region without self-certification, visit friends, go out to lunch or dinner. Little things that we have sorely missed during this lockdown period.

Unfortunately, small businesses, bars, restaurants, are the ones that have suffered the most. Summer is just around the corner, the money everyone has in their pockets is tight, and holidays this year seem like a pipe dream, since we have been idle for more than two months.

But the heat is coming, and with the heat comes the desire to move, to go to the beach or the mountains in search of some relief from the heat. So let us try as much as possible to help small businesses in our region, perhaps in our province, since we have beautiful places in the mountains.

Let's look for small restaurants, inns, groceries, scattered in the mountain villages, where we can find delicious dishes at modest prices that we don't eat every day, such as tagliatelle with wild boar or venison stew.

And maybe buy local cheese, sausages and salami, and chestnut flour. And at the same time take our grandparents or our children for beautiful walks in the woods, perhaps having a nice picnic on the bank of a stream.

I remember how years ago on the Pistoia-Riola road, after the Cascina and before the Monachino on the bank of the Limentra, there were many families eating on the stream, children playing, old people with their deckchairs taking naps under the trees with the gurgling of the stream inducing them to take a nap.

There were so many people, so many that if you didn't arrive early you couldn't find a place and had to move further down, towards Monachino, where there was no shortage of cosy places anyway.

I remember that there was a place between Acquerino and Monachino where, I don't know who, they had put tables with wooden benches and grills on stones for barbecues. Now there is nothing left unfortunately.

Our territories, in all these years, have been almost forgotten by most. What little there is is done by locals who are trying tooth and nail to hang on to an area that offers them almost nothing.

And that's really a shame, our mountains are beautiful, the forests, the streams, the little brooks, the flora, the fauna, it's all a world to be discovered just a few minutes from the city.

Rediscover the snack with fresh bread and good wine in front of the small bars and taverns where you can stop after a nice walk in the woods. A nice dinner or lunch with family and friends. Linger afterwards for a chat or a game of cards.

Rediscovering the pleasure of being together, exchanging opinions, memories and perhaps listening to grandparents tell about times gone by that to today's generations seem medieval or so.

To also teach our children respect for nature, for the forest and its inhabitants. Accustom ourselves, at least on Sundays and while the summer lasts, to a healthier, less wasteful and more rewarding life. There will be time to travel abroad again, but in the meantime we can enjoy all that we have around us, and that really is no small thing.

Feel free to share your experiences in the comments, we will also be happy to see some tips on some fascinating and wild places or routes as well as some places to rest and refresh.