33. Parco dell'Ucellina (and Siena)

One of the many places that people have recommended is the Parco dell'Ucellina (little bird park) It's a national park down in the south west of Tuscany, an area of outstanding natural beauty, wild, rural and untamed (jst like Annette!)

It's quite a long way from Florence and we're not sure of its exact location, so today is a bit of an experiment...

We leave home at about 11.00am, with lunch and swimsuits packed and take the route through San Casciano, Colle VAl d'Elsa and Volterra. From there we head south west through Massa Marittima and on to Fllonica on the coast. Here we find quite a nice beach and stop for lunch and a sunbathe.

We driveon towards Grossetto and find another nice beach beyond a pine forest, but we must press on to Ucellina... Only a bit further and we're there!

No signposts of course, but it's more of a region than a town. The region which Ucellina is part of is called the 'Maremma.' There is one long road down to the beach at a place called 'Marina di Alberese.' We come across a baby wild boar nonchalantly ambling along the road, not seemingly worried about us at all! By now it's getting quite late, but we've found the park and at Albarese there are small, secluded, sandy beaches of powder white sand... we will just have to get here a bit earlier to enjoy them! Apparently we've taken the 4-hour scenic route!

Our journey home takes us by way of Siena. So impossible to pass up. We park the car, take a stroll to the Piazza del Campo and stumble on an interesting looking restaurant for dinner. It's called 'Hosteria il Carroccio'.
(Here's the trip advisor link!)
http://www.tripadvisor.it/Restaurant_Review-g187902-d696583-Reviews-Hosteria_il_Carroccio-Siena_Tuscany.html

On the wall there are photos of famous film stars, including Tom Hanks...and very tasty the food is too! Well if it's good enough for Forrest Gump, it's good enough for us!


(Original journal entry 18/5/02)