New York City-based restauranteurs Shelly and Marilyn Fireman had been going on vacations to Tuscany for more than 30 years. They once looked at houses to rent via faxes from travel agents. Their favorite place to stay was in the region’s northwest, in the hills between Lucca and Versilia. They kept coming back for the culture, artisans and sense of community—and for inspiration regarding cuisine that they could take back to the Italian restaurants they ran in the US.
In 1998, the owners of Bond 45 and Cafe Fiorello bought a vacation home in the city of Camaiore—a 300-year-old villa that sits between the Apuan Alps and the Tyrrhenian sea.
Dining and Cooking