Dear Mike and Fellow Pinheads,

We stayed in Pieve di Compito, which is about 5 miles south of Lucca and
northeast of Pisa.  I see by the many maps I now have of the area that
Fornacci di Barga is in the (reportedly) beautiful mountains north of Lucca.
We almost went hiking there but gravitated to the beach instead.

One night is burned in my memory.  We (Ed and I) were walking back from
dinner at the local restaurant, Il Ponte, after a bottle of Montecarlo
bianco, a very nice local wine, and after a very good fish dinner.  A
neighborhood beagle politely accompanied us on the road to our hill,
intelligently stopping at the bottom.  The night was slightly cool, as most
were, and not very dark, probably because it was midsummer and the Compitese
hills are far enough north to stay light.  The lights of Lucca, a medieval
walled town, also contributed to the light sky.   It was dark enough to see
the big dipper and a couple of planets.  The white gravel on the steep road
up the hill to our house easily marked the way.  The leaves on the olive
trees glinted silver in the moonlight and thousands of fireflies lit up the
terraced olive groves.

I have photos of the house and views, we bought a disposable camera for that,
but I can't figure out how to send them in less than 10 minutes download time.

Missy Dierickx