As Easter approaches I thought it would be interesting to describe the truly Italian events that happen in the area of Villa rentals in Tuscany as Easter week approaches, firstly in the entire region of Holiday villas in Lucca there are a myriad religious processions that occur on Palm Sunday, the nearest procession to La Collina del Sole will be Sunday 24 March from Ceserana to La Villa both villages are a gentle walk downhill from this Lucca Villa Rental then on Easter Friday the procession of the Via Crucis which commemorates the stations of the Cross will be in Trepignana. Why not make this year a first in discovering the area around Villas for rent in Tuscany which is rich in all types of tradition, as Tuscany is steeped in history, legend and tradition both religious and secular, which means that when you rent a villa in Tuscany you will also have a huge choice of places of interest experiences and recreational activities. While we are on the religious aspect of this season, it is also worth reflecting that for the first time the Pope who is the head of the Catholic church is Latin American, Argentinian to be precise, another first is that he is not European, he is also known a Francis the First, or Francis the humble after St Francis of Assisi, and already on his first days Francis the First has shown refreshing humility in dispensing with the papal limousine and going about his daily routine very much as “one of us” he has also explained his reason for taking St Francis of Assisi’s name and as a Jesuit priest he is known for his charisma and humility, a welcome breath of fresh air has arrived !

Other special treats that happen at this time in the Garfagnana region is the baking of the Easter cake called Passimata it takes 3- 4 days to bake and uses, flour, bread yeast and raisins together with aniseed, it is delicious and very distinctive, and is very much THE Easter sweet of the region, whereas in the rest of Italy they bake a type of panettone bread in the shape of a dove. Traditionally on Easter Sunday lamb is cooked as the main meal, and eggs are boiled with either violets and yellow onion peel wrapped around them so the design of the violet is “stencilled” throughout the time it takes to hard boil the eggs, or for a less labour intensive method the eggs are hardboiled alongside red onion, yellow onion and / or red cabbage leaves to tint the egg shells, using the natural colours found in these vegetables. Another activity on Easter Sunday is to play the “rotolino delle uova” or a hardboiled egg race, in which a round area is prepared where there is a gentle incline, each participant brings 6 eggs and teams are formed, the trick is for your egg to hit all the other eggs as it goes down the incline. This year it will be held at Ceserana a 15 minute walk from La Collina del Sole On Easter Monday all the families of the area have a massive open air pic nic ... a great way to get to know everyone in the area ... and who said Italians don’t know how to have good clean fun !