Has anyone been to the hill town of Barga or any of the surrounding area in the Tuscan region of Garfangana?
I confess I'd never heard of it until I recently stumbled upon a snide travel blog written by some guy who "thanked" Rick Steves and other travel writers for herding the lemming-like hordes of U.S. tourists every summer to Cinque Terre so that equally scenic surrounding areas like Garfangana could be "saved" for discerning independent travelers. It was easy to write off the blogger's bad attitude, but when I Googled Garfangana, I was surprised. It does look like a relatively undiscovered gem, with beautiful mountains and lakes, picturesque hill towns, ancient thermal springs, and a cool local food scene. (I swear - I don't work for the Garfangana tourism board!) I didn't notice many vineyards or cypress trees, but other than that it seemed to be a pretty enticing slice of rural Italy.
Has anyone been there? Is Garfangana's relative low-profile merely a matter of it being surrounded by other, more iconic Italian landscapes and destinations? Or is there some fatal flaw that keeps people away? (About the worst thing I've seen written about it is that the bus and train connections are slow.) We love to hike, so we're thinking it might be fun to hit Garfangana for a day or two before or after Cinque Terre. I'd love to hear from anyone who's been there. Thanks!