During October Northwest in Motion traveled to Italy to meet with our retail suppliers and do some sightseeing.
Our retail manager Francesca Carmichael was born and raised in Cremona. It was awesome to have a local guide.
Read Francesca’s Italy train travel tips.
Pescia is a small Tuscan city that was conveniently near our supplier Natali Sports Wear.
Founded in 1968 by Natali Bruno, Natali Sports Wear is a family-owned company that produces clothing for cycling, running, and leisure. The first batch of inventory we got from them included classic black/reflective wind vests and jackets that have been popular. For 2022 we are collaborating with their designer on custom jerseys based on feedback and our own inspiration.
Francesca also thought it would be fun to hang out in a smaller, off the beaten track city before venturing to Florence.
Pescia is notable in that it’s associated with the author of The Adventures of Pinocchio, Carlo Lorenzini. He spent part of his childhood at nearby Collodi, and adopted the pen name “Carlo Collodi.” Lorenzini/Collodi authored the Pinocchio stories in Pescia, and Pinocchio Park is in Collodi.
After a productive meeting with Natali’s staff, we checked in to our lodging and went for a walk around town.
(Trying a new image format: To view the full captions, click on the three dots below each image.)
We happened to wander on to a section of Il cammino di San Jacopo, a trail that follows a two-thousand year-old route connecting Florence and the port city of Livorno.
Formally broken up in to six stages, the route includes a number exceptional historical, artistic, nature, and religious sites, including seven of the most famous cathedrals in the world.
We navigated a short section of the trail up through an olive grove to get a great late afternoon view of Pescia.
One of my requests to Francesca as our tour guide was to eat local specialties as much as possible. Indeed, we hit the jackpot almost everywhere we visited.
That evening we ate one of the best meals of the trip at Locanda sotto i portici.
Read about the other parts of the trip:
> Cremona
> Florence
> Tuscan Hills: Il Bigallo/Poggibonsi/San Gimignano
> Ravenna
> Venice/Castelfranco Veneto
