Mirò is our new favourite restaurant in Lucca. It's a trattoria located via del Fosso, near Porta San Jacopo (see map).

The atmosphere is warm and friendly, there are about 10 tables inside, and the newly opened patio is really nice at night.

The menu is short but really excellent. My favourite appetizer is the crostini di radicchio é camembert: warm toasts of camembert cheese and cooked radicchio... yum! The crostini di salsiccia (sausage toasts) are also excellent.

All the pasta is home made, following the recipe of the granmother of the owner. The classic tortelli al ragu (meat ravioli, a Lucca specialty) are very good, but the gnochi con polpo (gnochi are potato dumplings, served with octopus) wins the price for primi.

As for main courses, we usually only order appetizers and pasta, but when we got the tagliatta (T-bone steak) is was perfect.

Desserts include the usual tiramisu, and pana cotta, as well as a very good dolce a la crema, a cup cake filled with cream and toped with wild berries.

Prices are generally on par with or a little cheaper than other trattorias.

Mirò is a little bit out of the way, although it is a few minute walk from Piazza Santa Maria, and quite close from the end of via Filungo, but it deserves a visit, as really the quality of the food is excellent, including some unusual dishes, and the service very friendly.

It is also the perfect place for a great rehearsal diner.

Practical information

Address: via del Fosso 213, Lucca
Tel: 320 8134791

Open for lunch and dinner, closed on Tuesdays

The Parco Avventura can provide you with a fun day trip from Lucca.

The parc itself is located in a forest in the Mediavale (the middle Serchio valley). It offers 3 percourses made of various rope bridges, between the trees.

You will find Parco Avventura 1h30mn North of Lucca, in San Romano en Garfagnaga. To get there you need to take the road toward Castelnuovo en Garfagnana (if Castelnuovo is not signaled, follow signs to Abetone), then after Castelnuovo go towards San Romano (you will turn left soon after Castelnuovo), there are signs to the parc right after passing the village of San Romano, to your right. See map.

The main attraction of the park are the 3 percourses in the trees, 2 for adults and 1 for kids (1m and above if I remember correctly, our son was less than 6 when he did it the first time). You rent a harness and a helmet, go through a simple session on what to do in the trees (pay attention though, if you don't follow the directions properly you will have to do it again) and voilà! You're off to the trees. You climb on the first platform, and from then on you go from one tree to the next using all sorts of different rope bridges. Instructors are always around, to help you if you need, or to remind you to follow the safety instructions. Kids are always supervised by an instructor.

The park also offers a nice (and shaded!) picnic area, with wooden tables, so when it's really hot in Lucca, it is still a nice place to spend the day even for those who'd like to stay closer to the ground.

And once you've enjoyed the trees, you can take a short (30mn) walk from the park to the 11th century Fortezza delle Verrucole, ask the instructors in the park for directions, it's faily easy and you really can't get lost.

So it looks like the Gormiti are not just an Italian phenomenon after all. Our first Gormiti post we got quite a few visits from people from all over Europe, looking for more information about those terrible creatures. France, Denmark, Poland, the UK, Hungary, Spain, Ireland, Finland... it looks like they are all over these days.

The new year also brough us all new Gormiti. All the previous tribes have been changed by yet an other dramatic energy surge, so we now have 13 tribes, and 84 new figurines. All the details, in italian, at Gormiti Final Evolution.

And of course, here are some more "Gormiti da colorare" for you to enjoy (click on the pictures to enlarge them).

So what do we do in the off-season, when there are no weddings in Lucca? Seasonal activities include picking olives in November, skiing, the closest ski resort is Abetone, about an hour North-West of Lucca, and ice skating.

In December there is usually an open-air ice rink in Lucca, in Piazza Grande. Then there is at least one open year round in Cerreto Laghi, an hour and a half North. In January and February though, the closest one is a small ice rink under a tent in Lido di Camaiore, 30 minutes away, by the beach.

It's fairly small, but we found it not too crowded on a Saturday afternoon, so we thought it very pleasant. This year it is open until February 25th, and charges €6 an hour, including the rental of the ice skates.

If the weather is nice, after you're done, you can then enjoy a nice stroll on the boardwalk. All in all a great day trip, especially for kids.

Links

• map of Lido di Camaiore
• Cerreto Laghi (in Italian)