I photographed these wild blackberries as I hiked through Franciacorta’s peatlands this afternoon after lunch.

What an amazing, gorgeous visit! Super hot today but the marshland trails were wonderful.

With highs in the 90s, today probably wasn’t the best day for hiking in a swamp. A beautiful swamp. But a swamp nonetheless.

But on a cooler day, I can’t recommend it enough. Here’s a post on my visit and hike that I wrote for the Franciacorta Real Story blog when I got back to my hotel in Brescia. (Yes, the Franciacorta consortium actually pays me to do this stuff; sweet gig!)

It’s really worth checking out… and really interesting to learn that peat was once a major source of fuel here (in the 1700s).

Of course, no visit to Franciacorta was going to happen without a stop at Vittorio Fusari’s Dispensa Pani e Vini, one of my favorite restaurants in the world.

An Italian artisanal beer and Vittorio’s cotoletta alla milanese sandwich, served with a schmear of puréed potatoes… my goodness, that was awesome.

Some say that the restaurant just isn’t the same since Vittorio went off to cook in Milan. But I say hogwash.

A perfect Sunday afternoon in Franciacorta, if you ask me.

Check out the peatlands here. Really cool stuff.

Buona domenica a tutti!