Montecatini Terme

In total I’ve stayed in Montecatini Terme just over 6 days during two trips.  On the first trip my sister and I were meeting a group for a walking tour of Tuscany and we came in a day early after spending several days in Firenze and Chianti with my niece. 

On the second trip we had been in Bologna for several days.  Both times we took the train to Montecatini which runs fairly frequently from both Firenze and Bologna.  The only problem we had on the trip from Bologna was that we barely had time to make our train change in Firenze due to a late arrival.  Plus it’s important to know that you get off at the second station in Montecatini, Centro, not Terme. 

I’ve divided this post into Things to do and Places to Go, Walkabouts, A Wine Tour, Where to Eat, Where to Stay and Where not to Stay.  In each section, I’ll give information from both trips.

Things to do and Places to Go

Montecatini Alto

One of the best things to do in Montecatini Terme is to take the little cable car to Montecatini Alto, a small hilltop town high above the main city.  To reach the station and ticket office take Viale Verdi to the edge of Parco delle Terme and  then follow the curve to viale Armando Diaz.

On our first trip we  walked to the funicolare Sunday morning, arriving about 11:30 am.  A cable car arrived at the station soon after we bought our tickets.  The ride up was lovely and didn’t bother my vertigo.  Like most hilltop towns, there is a wall circling the entire town.  After we reached the station we walked over to the wall and took some pictures.

We followed the wall about half to two thirds of the way around the town then hiked up to Chiesa della Carmine where I lit a candle for my family. [We were following a grandfather and his grandson and a little dog and took some pictures of them because they were so cute.] We walked back down a street to the right of the church but  ended up back where we started.  We continued on the ‘ring road’ until we reached the main piazza.  We stopped at a couple of shops and I bought some post cards.

After a stroll around the piazza, we settled on one of the restaurants having a birra and a focaccini.  While sitting and people watching, we saw a couple walk into the piazza with a ferret on a leash.  We laughed ourselves silly.

It was close to 2:00 pm by then so we used the bagno, paid and walked up to another church and tower (or up a hill to the side of the church, in my case.)  I found a plaque saying the patron saint of Montacatini Alto was St. Barbara which I thought was pretty cool.  She’s also the patron saint for fire fighters, ergo the rather odd equipment next to the church.

We tried a few side streets as we walked back to the funicolare, taking some more pictures.

There was a big crowd already for the first afternoon car so we waited inside until it loaded up and left.  When the next car came, my sister wanted to stand in the front but I squeezed into a seat as far back as I could get.  As we dangled there loading (stuffing) people into the car, I was in full press panic mode but it was an uneventful and pretty ride down.

On our second trip we took the funicolare to Montecatini Alto on Sunday afternoon. We got to the funicolare about 2:05pm and they started selling tickets at 2:20pm.  Dangling from a cable car is not one of my favorite things, but you get incredible views of the valley. Plus as you get to the station in Alto, there are more beautiful views out over the valley as you can see in the pictures below. We saw some people hiking up a steep path near the cable car route and I’d be willing to try it some time.

We found the main piazza (Piazza Giusti) after a couple of tries and went to the same restaurant as two years ago.  This time, though, the owner/manager was extremely, unfriendly insisting he was busy and we could only have panini.  He charged us 5 euros for tiny panini and 6 euros for a tiny beer, 3+ euros for water and 2+ for espresso.  So just before we left, I wrote a nasty note on the bill.  Still sitting in the piazza is  great for people watching.  We saw some exhausted cyclists coming into the piazza but nothing as interesting as the ferret on a leash that we saw on the previous trip.

The map at the link below may be too small to read but you can orient yourself by looking for Piazza Giusti  (the area ringed by numbers 6 through 9) then follow the street to the church and torre, numbers 11, 12 and 13.

montecatini alto map

We walked up the steep street to the church of St. Barbara. (I don’t think that’s the correct name but that’s how I remember it.) We continued around the torre (tower), then walked the ring road taking photos, finally returning to the piazza. 

The gallery below shows one of the 6 remaining torre, along with the streets and ring road in Alto.

We then sat at another bar and had lovely spritzes for 5 euros.     We got to laughing about the owner wearing two different colored shoes.  I took pictures to try to convince my grandson that it’s the latest style.

We accidentally took the long way around to get back to the funicolare but enjoyed the walk, then caught the 5:30 pm tram down.

The Mercato

Montecatini  has a fairly extensive open air mercato just off viale Verde. There’s a huge range of merchandise, both in terms of quality and type–leather, clothes, household goods, etc. Some is just Chinese junk but a number of shops have quite nice products made in Italy.  On our first visit we walked through a couple of times.  I was hoping to find something with which to replace the yoga pants I left in Firenze and my sister was looking for (and did buy) a jacket.

On trip two we walked through at least twice and I came very close to buying a lovely scarf that was made in Italy but decided I’d better save my euros.

Walkabouts

Viale Verde and Parco delle Terme

As its name suggests Montecatini Terme has a number of thermal springs and the walk from Piazza del Popolo along Viale Verde and into Parco delle Terme is especially lovely; lush greenery, palm trees, flowers…..  And once in the park you can easily spend an hour or two walking around enjoying the ‘thermal spas’ and the setting among the trees and flowers.  It’s not difficult to understand why it was named a UNESCO World Heritage site because of its ‘thermal springs and spas.’  However, I’ve never understood why some of the facilities are abandoned while others appear to be incredibly luxurious.

And often there’s some type of ‘event’ happening along viale Verde.  One year as we returned from Montecatini Alto,  we ended up in a crowd of people at a classic car show between Piazza del Popolo and viale Manzoni.  Again I took some pictures for the boys who are  car crazy, especially about Italian cars.

From Piazza del Popolo along via Marruota

I ‘discovered’ this nice walk on our first trip, when my sister wanted to look at churches and I just wanted to relax.  After walking through Parco delle Terme, I walked  through Piazza del Popolo.  I think it’s an exceptionally pretty piazza, with its palm trees, flowers, and fountains.  Plus the piazza itself is made of some type of polished stone.  Like many piazzas in Italy there are numerous shops and restaurants encircling it.

 

From the piazza I started up via Ricasoli to via Marruota. By then I was hot and tired so started looking for a place where I could sit on a patio and stumbled on the New York Bar.  The bartender waved me out to the terrace and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.  While there are a lot of businesses along via Marruota, I found much of the architecture unusually attractive, noting in my journal:  There’s a beautiful building across from me in shades of gold and yellow surrounded by palm trees that reminds me of Sevilla.

On our second trip after checking into the dismal Hotel Reale (see below) I thought my sister might enjoy seeing this area so we wandered to the NY Bar  on via Marruota.   We had ‘una birra e un vino’ and some snacks, and relaxed while people watching.  We not only enjoyed the people watching but being able to use their wifi which resulted in our being able to take a wine tour.  (See below)

I hooked on to their wifi and found an e-mail from Come and See Italy saying they had room for two on their Monday wine tour, something I’d tried to book before leaving on our trip but at that point it was full.  So after we finished our drinks, we walked over to their offices and made our reservation.  I later wrote that I was very thankful the tour came through or my sister would never have forgiven me for the dud of a hotel.

Montecatini Modern Art Gallery

On our second trip we saw notices of a  Kandinsky exhibit in Parco delle Terme but it was 16 euros which we decided was a little too pricey.  So when we saw a sign for the Modern Art Gallery while ‘fannying about’ we decided to check it out.  Sunday morning about 10:30-10:45am, we walked to the Palazzo Communale and toured the Modern Art Gallery which was very nice and free.  The best part, I thought, was a painting by Joan Miro and the docent’s explanation of how the gallery received it.  I’ve scanned in parts of a brochure on the gallery and here’s a link, montecatini art gallery, along with a few pictures from the gallery.

Vinci and Sommavilla wine tour

Come and See Tours (Highly recommended) https://www.comeandseeitaly.com/

Before leaving for Italy I tried multiple times to make an online reservation but had problems with Come and See’s payment platform.  I, then, made a reservation through Viator which they canceled the next day.  My sister and I considered renting a car for a day and driving there ourselves but the car rental would have been more than a $100.  We decided we’d stop on our way to San Leonino which wasn’t the best solution.

So as I wrote above, while sitting at the New York bar our first afternoon, Come and See contacted me  and we were able to walk over to their office and make a reservation.

We thought Vinci was a lovely town but as I mentioned in my journal entry below, it was difficult to enjoy it due to the gale force winds.  Still we got some beautiful photos. And best of all my sister loved it which made up for my bad choice on the hotel.

Here’s my journal entry:   We had a super nice guide and a nice group of people.  The down side was that by the time we got to Vinci, we had gale force winds which made both walking around Vinci and sitting outside for the tasting very difficult.  But we had 4 big glasses of wine; one white and three red + bruschetta, salami and cheese then vin santo and biscotti inside the winery.  Sue bought 2 bottles of wine at the vineyard.  Then we all sang Volare on the way home.   It was a great way to end our stay in Montecatini and I wrote a review highly recommending Come and See Italy.

You can read about more wineries in my Vineyards and Enotecas post.

Where to eat

Il Gatto Bianco

(They just have a Facebook page but here are the TripAdvisor reviews https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g194830-d2370902-Reviews-Il_Gatto_Bianco-Montecatini_Terme_Province_of_Pistoia_Tuscany.html )

In 2016 we stumbled on this little restaurant which is about a 15 minute walk from the centro.  We had a fabulous dinner, mainly because our waiter, Edison, was super nice despite being the only waiter on an extremely busy night.

We asked him his name as we were finishing our meal and he said ‘my mother’s sister named me so I would be a bright light; so far not so much.’  But my sister and I disagreed.  He is a very bright light.

I ordered a mixed seafood grill and my sister ordered a spaghetti carbonara.  We oohed and aaahed over the presentation of the carbonara and Edison said, “hers is better’ and it was; a beautiful plate of langostini, prawns, a fish filet and the obligatory squid. (I have to admit I’m not wildly fond of squid and was trying to hide it when Edison told me I wasn’t finished.)

We returned to il Gatto Bianco on our second trip and it was as quiet as it had been busy our first visit. (Plus we had to wait outside for about a half hour because Tripadvisor said it opened at 7:00 pm.  Nope. 7:30 pm) I had gnocchi in tomato sauce and my sister had her usual carbonara.  We shared crostini and a nice bottle of white wine.  Our waiter was pleasant but definitely not Edison.  By the time we left there were only 7 other tables of people sitting outside and none inside.

Il Vicolo

http://www.ilvicolo.eu/

We ate at Il Vicolo in 2016 and as I recall, we each had a glass of prosecco, pasta, wine and dessert for under 30 euros.  I chose a pasta with pesto sauce that was the best I’d ever had.  We liked it so much we put it on our restaurant list for 2018.

In 2018 we went twice.  The second time was great; the first time not quite as good.  Both times I made reservations and both times I was very glad I did because it was extremely busy with only two wait staff who never stopped running.

Our first night was Sunday evening after our visit to Montecatini Alto.  When we got to Il Vicolo it was packed and we had to wait for a few to get a table.  We didn’t mind that much because we ran into a Brit couple we’d met at the train station and had fun talking with them.  When we finally got a table, we realized how hot it was on the patio since there was no air moving and people packed in very closely. 

By the time we got served, it started to cool down and clear out.  We had pasta, salad, wine and crème brule’ for 31 euros; almost the same as our last visit and always good value.

Our second time (the very next night) it was extremely windy and cool.  As we walked up one of the wait staff called, ‘Barbara,’ and was happy to seat us inside.  We had an excellent pizza, more wine (which we didn’t need since we’d been to a wine tasting), insalata mista,  dessert and limoncello.  It was all delicious.

Caffeʹ Biondi

(They don’t have a website but here’s the TripAdvisor page https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g194830-d8404197-Reviews-Caffe_Biondi-Montecatini_Terme_Province_of_Pistoia_Tuscany.html )

We didn’t eat at Caffeʹ Biondi but I want to give them a shout out for being very nice to us on the Saturday night we returned from Pisa.  Having eaten a huge late lunch (see my description of i Porci Comodi in my  Pisa post), we decided just to go out for drinks and dessert. 

Here’s what happened.  After circling Piazza del Popolo a couple of times finding everything too busy or expensive, we returned to the bar/restaurant at the hotel around the corner from Hotel Reale.  We asked if we could have a wine and dessert and the waiter said ‘of course.’  He seated us towards the back of the terrace, then ten minutes later another waiter came out and said the table was reserved. (As an aside the whole town was absolutely packed with what looked to be mainly locals.) 

Embarrassed and pissed we circled the piazza again and finally settled on Caffe Biondi, or more accurately they settled on us.  We walked into the café and the manager signaled for a waiter.  We were immediately seated outside.  We had two prosecchi and a chocolate coated flan that was phenomenal.

 Plus we had a front row seat to the craziness in the piazza—hundreds of people in every possible outfit. The gallery below shows the restaurant that kicked us out along with Caffe Biondi and the craziness around us.

Where not to eat

La Pecora Nera

Since this restaurant is attached to Hotel Ercolini and Savi where my sister and I were meeting a walking tour and also was ranked #1 on Tripadvisor, we decided to try it the Saturday night before meeting our group.

Initially the front desk told us the restaurant was booked then later said there had been some cancellations.  Since it was our first time in Montecatini Terme, we decided to take one of the cancellations.

We arrived a few minutes early and were curtly informed that we did not have a reservation.  When I informed the waiter/maître d’ that I had been there when the concierge made the reservation, he hurried down to the front desk then had a whispered conversation with some other staff in the hallway, each of whom seemed to be saying, “not in my restaurant.’

We were finally seated in a room by ourselves and as one of the wait staff poured our prosecco, she whispered ‘complimentary’ as if she thought we were too gauche to know.

By then we were so uncomfortable, we ordered as little as possible to get out of there—ossobuco for me, which was OK but I’ve had better, and cheese stuffed crepes for my sister, which were very good.  We sat alone for 20-30 minutes while the staff peeked in at us every few minutes as if we were animals in the zoo.

Three Italian couples were eventually seated in the same room, one of the women carrying a dog who was treated better than we were.  Then a large Italian family came in.  After that the wait staff were in and out constantly refilling wine and water glasses at the other tables but barely looked at us.

We were finally able to get someone’s attention, and ordered an espresso for my sister and a profiteroles to share.  The waitress practically flinched and rolled her eyes.  We couldn’t get a check so we finally got up and went into the hallway and were hustled to the front desk to sign the check as though they thought we would leave without paying.

Our tour group ate at Pecora Nera on the first night of the tour.  I wrote in my journal that it tasted like leftovers from the night before.  At least they were generous with the wine and several of us sat and laughed and finished it off.

An unnamed restaurant near Parco delle Terme

One afternoon, after fannying about town, we went in search of a restaurant we had seen  near the park.  We just ordered bruschetta and a caprese salad plus birra e vino.  The caprese was delicious but the bruschetta and service, not so much.  Plus we got charged 37 euros due to the coperta e pane (cover and bread) charges.  Still the location is lovely and it provided a much needed respite from our walk.

 

Where to Stay

Hotel Ercolini and Savi

The tour group was booked into this hotel so we added an extra night upgrading our room in the process.  Other people said their rooms were tiny and their beds were hard but we were quite comfortable.  I loved their terrace and we sat outside almost every evening (and some afternoons) having our wine.  For some reason I didn’t take photos of the terrace or interior but here are a couple of pictures of the area in front of the hotel.

Where not to stay

Hotel Reale

I chose this hotel over Ercolini and Savi where we stayed in 2016  partly to save a little money and partly because it looked gorgeous on line.  Here’s the review I wrote after our stay: I told myself I’d never get fooled again by a web site but once again I got sucked in by pretty pictures. What looked to be beautiful hotel with a garden and pool is a 1950’s throwback with tiny rooms, plywood furniture, no fridge and a hairdryer and phone from the Flintstones. Add a surly staff that won’t make dinner reservations and you have the stay from hell. The coups d’grace was being told that the hotel chef was excellent. Dinner [which we had one time only] was mediocre at best.

The one positive was a good location, close to the main piazza and an easy walk to the park and funicolare to Montecatini Alto.  I used the pool once after a long hot day of walking. I wrote: I just did a few laps in one of the coldest pools ever; rivaling the cruise ship.  But man it felt good and hopefully it helped my hips and ankles which are killing me. And I do have to say that the front garden and pool were pretty and made for a nice place to sit and relax especially after a hot day.

Both Montecatini Terme and Alto are charming towns.  And it is easy to visit other areas in northwest Tuscany using ‘Terme’ as a base.  In honor of it being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, here’s another gallery of Parco delle Terme.

 

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