We decided to kick off 2018 with a trip to a couple of the cities of the Po valley - the "Pianura Padana" as it is called. We caught the train up the Garfagnana valley to Aulla, then on to Parma, where we stopped for lunch at a restaurant we know, then onwards to Cremona where we spent three nights.
The Pianura is very different from the Garfagnana - a flat plain with large arable and dairy farms. With such a low water table, rice is grown in many parts.
Cremona is world famous as the birthplace of the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari, and we have an interest in the nearby small town of Crema, which we know of because Pietro was born there ...
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| The fog clears as we prepare to leave Barga |
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| A busy Piazza Garibaldi in Parma |
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| Barbara eyes up the plate of "Pasta fritta" (delicious fried dough - so much better than it sounds!), and wonderful Parma ham (just out of shot) |
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On the plain, many of the old farms were historically practically small villages
(Always difficult to take a good photo from a moving train ...) |
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