Matured Cheddar, Blue Stilton! The German chain supermarket leaflet even also showed proper British-baked digestive biscuits and Scottish shortbread. To say nothing of those lemon muffin cup-cakes. Fish and Chips too! Definitely worth a visit to our local Lidl store. Of course, many snobs will censure us for admitting a craving to buy British food in a country boasting some of the finest culinary products in the world. (Italy has 267 protected food products as distinct from the UK’s 69). However, others may sympathise with us who have been reared largely on solid (or stolid?) British fayre.
After our brilliant morning yoga session in Bagni di Lucca’s public garden under the guidance of guru Martyn Sheldon we decided we’d indulge in shopping for British food, jump into the car and head for Lidl.
Avoiding Lucca’s outlet which we thought might have already sold out of the precious vitals we chose to head for Pescia’s store.
We selected the Brennero road towards Abetone. Turning off on the mountain road towards the Tibetan-like steepness of Lucchio we headed for the hamlet of Zato. In this little settlement of shepherds we’d previously purchased some really excellent cheese made with milk from the local goat and sheep herds.
Beyond Zato the road’s asphalt surface disappeared and we started to manoeuvre bumpily over a gravelly and stony surface made up of red rocks and earth. However, because of the weeks of almost rainless weather although the going was slow it was not too hard thanks to our four-wheel-drive veteran Fiat Panda and Sandra’s brilliant rally-honed advanced driving skills.
At the top of the trail the tiny chapel of Croce a Veglia, a timber cross and a stupendous view greeted us. To the north the Lima valley stretched to the Apennines of Abetone. To the south the softer contours of the Pesciatina valley, (also known as the Pesciatina Switzerland because of its similarity to certain landscapes in the centre of that country) spread before our wondering eyes…
It was a truly glorious panorama. I thought to myself how different this was from a standard trip on a number 53 bus to our local Lidl store in south-east London!
The road suddenly regained its asphalted surface and we traversed past the ten ‘castelli’ or ancient villages of the valley. I have described this charming area of the Apennines in previous posts at:
And at
Tuscany’s Own Switzerland | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com).
so won’t here!
Reaching Pescia we had a pit stop at a friendly bar close to the ancient church of San Francesco which boasts the oldest known portrait of the saint who preached to the birds and tamed a wolf.
Pescia is a delightful Tuscan city without any of the ghastly tourist crowds infesting Florence and now unfortunately Lucca. It has a lot going for it including the Palio festival which takes place at the start of September. (For details see Palio Città Di Pescia – Un tradizione che non passa mai di moda (paliocittadipescia.it)).
I’ve written extensively on Pescia in my posts at Strawberries at Montecarlo and Mediaeval Times in Pescia | From London to Longoio (and Lucca and Beyond) Part Two (wordpress.com)
and at:
We then headed for the object of our expedition: Lidl. Not as crowded as Lucca’s branch, Pescia retains the lines which makes this an appealing place to shop and ….we did find those English food products including the prized Blue Stilton!
As it was Fish Friday on our return to base camp at our new home we put the fish and chip packet to good use only to discover that in fact the fish was a strange breed from Alaska and that the whole lot refused to produce the characteristic batter when fried but dissolved itself into a milky stew. What eventually emerged was a sort of fish kedgeree and certainly not what was promised on the cover illustration. However, as by this stage we had become rather hungry we munched our way through the whole lot and found it quite palatable.
The lemon cup-cake muffins went rather better and I made up a dessert with them adding lemon sorbet which went down a treat in the still super-hot evenings our area continues to experience.
My verdict on our expedition to Pescia’s Lidl? It’s OK if one likes to do some skilful off-road driving and encounter some of the most breathtaking views in our part of the world. However, it may be somewhat more convenient to head for the Lucca store using the standard route in future. (PS we did return from Pescia via Marlia…)
And as for that ‘British food’. It’s all right for a taste every now and again if such patriotic cravings cannot be resisted. However, we are residents in Italy and wish to fully immerse ourselves in that country’s experiences, integrating our tastes with its extraordinary culture extending from artist’s studios to sports cars engineering works to haute couture to the delights of its multifarious culinary traditions. I think, under the circumstances, that even we can afford to go without Blue Stilton and, instead, eat equally delicious Gorgonzola!
Having written this I am reminded of an elderly English couple who used to live in the Bagni area but have since removed to France. They invited me once to Sunday lunch at their place. It was a truly delicious spread and very British with roast beef, boiled potatoes, mint sauce and carrots followed by apple pie and custard. I felt very nostalgic and commented ‘how wonderful that you have managed to create a truly traditional Sunday lunch.’ ‘But that’s the way we usually eat here’ replied the cook. I later discovered that the most this otherwise very personable couple ventured into Italian food was to order an occasional pizza at the local bar.
It remains, however, a great pity that Italian supermarket shelves, in addition to their own local extraordinary variety of cheeses, are filled with French, Dutch, Greek and German varieties but none from the Island Kingdom! Even before the damnation wrought by Brexit this was still largely the case and now it appears to be even more so. A pity, For what harm could a slab of mature cheddar do on an Italian supermarket shelf I ask myself?