Griffin in Pistoia, Italy Day 5, July 1, 2026
This was a more relaxed day. On the bus at 9:15 AM and back in the pool by 6 PM. I only logged 3.5 miles walking. And most of what we did involved eating. Nonetheless, it was a full day after all.
Most of our activities were in the town of Pistoia, about a 30 minute drive east and a bit north of Montecatini. It’s a good sized town with a medieval center. The most significant industry was a whole flock of nurseries, mostly raising shrubs and trees for landscaping. Pistoia is well known throughout Italy and Europe as a prime source of landscaping materials.
On the way, the kids hacked into the bus’s speaker. Lots of eye rolls from the young ‘uns when the oldsters started doing the hand motions to “YMCA”.
Our first stop in Pisoia was a chocolate factory. The owner had studied chocolate making in Switzerland for 20 years before coming to Pistoia to open his own small-scale factory. He mostly imports chocolate pellets - chocolate that has been cracked open and the shells removed - and does the rest of the processing to produce 70% dark, milk and white chocolate. He had the equipment, however, to start with a cocoa husk, reveal the nuts, split the nuts open to reveal the chocolate, separate the chocolate from the husks (using a hair drier) and process the resulting chocolate in liquid form to create bars and other decorative products. The kids got to try their hand at the steps he demonstrated. The emphasis here is on quality, not quantity.
We visited a town market, an open air affair where vendors sell clothing, trinkets and fruits and vegetables. Griffin wanted to do some souvenir shopping for his mom and sister. One item he picked out (I won’t reveal what or for whom to preserve the surprise) was priced at 10 Euros. Our guide Alessio, told us to bargain for a better price. Here’s Griffin’s dialog with the vendor:
Griffin: Can I have this for seven euros?
Vendor: Eight
Griffin: Seven and a half
Vendor, OK, seven
He drives a tough bargain, that Griffin does. Proud of him!
Next, a short walk through town to the restaurant Fiaschetteria (there are two in Amsterdam and two in NYC run by the owner’s kids) where an appetizer course was followed by a wild boar pasta dish that really tasted great. It wasn’t a big hit with the kids, however. Dessert was a fresh fruit cup.
Next, a wa;k through town to a candy shop where they make their own confetti candy. Confetti to us is something you throw out the window on a parade, but here it means a combination of tastes blended together. Candy-covered almonds, for instance. Confetti has a long history in Italy, including a variety that has been used by a husband to poison his wife. There is, fortunately an antidote confetti version. The color of the confetti has a meaning (for weddings, anniversaries, divorces, etc.) as does the number of pieces of confetti given.
Most of the equipment dates from the 1970s and 80s, but there is one kettle from 1942. During WWII the building we were in, an old church, was used as a warehouse with the main facility near the train station. The factory was bombed, a total loss, but the remaining kettle, stored in the warehouse, was undamaged. The operation was revived in the old church building.
Back on the bus, heading back to Montecatini by way of the village of Le Molina where we visited an olive oil factory. This operation has as many as 50,000 olive trees and processes olives for smaller growers in the region. It’s a very much mechanized process, especially the harvest where machines shake the trees to drop the olives into an umbrella device, thereby greatly reducing the number of employees doing otherwise backbreaking labot. Machines in the factory do the rest: removing twigs and leaves, crushing the olives, filtering the oil and bottling the resulting extra virgin product. Acidity levels define “extra version.” Oils exceeding the limit are not extra virgin, especially if other processing is used.
We were given four versions to taste on bread, each version coming from different olive varieties that are harvested at different times of the season. Young, partially ripe olives have a stronger taste.
When buying olive oil, be sure it’s cold-pressed, extra version and 100% Italian.
And finally, back to the hotel for an hour in the pool, followed by a walk downtown to our new favorite gelato shop for dinner. Everyone had enough to eat during the day so another sit down meal wasn’t required.
Walking back, we passed several decrepit hot springs saunas that in their heyday must have been very impressive. Sad.
Tomorrow it’s an early morning to Florence by train and back home by bus.
