Stiava is a tiny, typical village which can be reached either by motorway or driving through Via Sarzanese passing from Lucca; this road offers very charming spots, evocative views and threads pilgrims footsteps on the Francigena way that more or less followed its itinerary. This little wonder located in downhill of Versilia, Northern Tuscany, has preserved its authentic taste of small community. There was a time here where each family had their own skills and jobs: one would be the farmer, one would be the baker, there would be a tailor, a plumber and a blacksmith for sure. Things have changed. Old pals complain about the new comers because they do not mix up with the locals. They bear in mind a time in which everybody’s business was your own, when everybody helped each other and trusted other people’s words by simply shacking hands.

That was the time when Italo Marchetti, at the age of 15, walked his way at night to the closest wheat mill, a few kilometers away, to buy a ‘ballino’ (sack) of flour: that was necessary to bake his bread the next day. That very same man has grown up in time and experience and is today one of the most acclaimed maître chocolatiers and bakers’ of the area - and Europe.

He did pay attention to those suggesting to move to a more appropriate location - bigger, more appropriate, closer to transportation and ‘things’ - however he kept his laboratory and shop in Stiava, his small beloved town, where still today eggs come from local farms in the surroundings, as well as butter and the 00 flour: one will be surprised in reading how short is the list of ingredients at the bottom of his products. Basically it is no OGM, no preservatives, just flour, salt and water.

Italo says, “A piece of cake is just a mix of simple ingredients and Lievito madre” (original yeast which has been kept in the family house for years in a piece of dough, refrigerated until needed for the next batch of bread or cake) - well, one might need further efforts and ingredients to achieve results in the same legue of Italo, count some tens of years of experience, talent and passion in the number.

If you know Tuscany and tuscans a little you probably know that you will not find any sign or direction to Marchetti Italo’s Baker’shop when passing from Stiava, but you will be able to get this information asking one of the guys sitting outside the local bar: that’s the eternal dicotomy of this part of Italy, the epitome of understatement, the ‘tuscanity-built-in’. As you step inside this petit store you’ll be slammed by a mix of scents: freshly baked bread, biscuits, chocolate and whatever is coming to life in the oven, a carnival of authentic tastes that can push our human mind back to childhood and grandma’s pies in a fraction of a second, regardless where we come from.

Please don’t be shy and ask Pina or Ilaria, the family members still helping Italo today, to make a tour of the lab and get a bite of fresh focaccia bread. Kids will go crazy and you will want to replicate the recipe at home - probably you’ll start growing you own “Lievito madre” as family dowry as well: Tuscany leaves you with ideas that change your daily house routines in an atavic way and Italo’s makes no exception.

If you were to think that this is the one and only activity surviving to e-commerce, multi brand stores and mass-produced items, you will be nicely surprised how Stiava, a little remote name on a map, can boast authentic artisan shops and boutiques.

And infact hundreds steps from Italo’s, his youngest daughter is running an art&crafts activity, as creative and succesful as her father’s: Veronica Marchetti’s atelier is a sheer tailor studio, where customers can just drop by for shopping and spend hours in choosing fabrics, prints, shapes, models.

Veronica is in fact a young, charming woman who studied in Ferragamo’s Polimoda Fashion School in Florence, worked as intern for Blumarine as well as a fashion designer for Massimo Rebecchi in Viareggio. She is now sought after by the “upper class” of the region for her tailor made pret-a-porter as well as couture dresses.

What makes Veronica Marchetti Atelier an unequalled corner of excellence is her endeavor in committing only on local women-power such as old ladies who learned the needlecraft art from their mothers or simply attended a sewing school which was settled in Stiava long time ago: keeping it local and highly specialised, perfectly tailored, this is her mission and key of success. Shirts and trousers are refined as accurately as high fashion mason by skillful hands under Veronica’s supervision. Veronica and her father Italo are preserving the memory of the artisan knowledge vivid and intact in time.

My name is Serena and I am a concierge operating in a company where we love to create bespoke experiences off the beaten tracks. We propose some unusual itineraries to families and groups staying in the country villas or resorts around Lucca and Montecatini. In fact, apart from the mainstream tours of major historical cities and activities, Tuscany is made of a thousand fascinating and ‘unexpected’, magnificent realities just around the corner.

My friends and clients Julie and Simon were staying at Villa Roseto in Monsummano during Easter holidays this year and could not enjoy much outdoor sightings and strolls because the weather was weird and rainy for the season, so I suggested to take a day off dedicated to shopping and tasting, yet discovering the most authentic side of Tuscany: Stiava it was.

Julie just fell in love with Veronica’s curly red hair and allowed her take measures of her whole body to tailor an embroidered bikini coverup for next summer, meanwhile Simon chose cuffs and collars for a tailor made Italian style shirt. After a few hours absorbed in fashion addiction, they welcome a freshly baked tray of croissants and butter biscuits with hot chocolate by Italo’s: a blessing of a day for both of them. Coverup, shirt and chocolate were later on sent via express courier to their home in Lancashire, while the memory of that day it’s told to have remained in their hearts since then.

For more information:
www.wishversilia.com
www.villaroseto.wordpress.com