Italy 2006 “Sampler Trip” Week 4 – Umbria!

Italy…..and most of Europe….just amazes me. After all these years so many of the same hotels, restaurants and cafes still exist, most with the same owners and menus! Over the years somethings have changed of course (usually prices!) but in reality almost 20 years later and many trips since our first I can still rely on some favorite spots still being around.

Sept 9 Sat

We have left Tuscany……I miss it already!!

We got lost a number of times today. Did make it past Siena safe and sound though…..and with both cars still together!

South of Siena is the Crete Sienesi. The landscape is drastically different than Chianti. No grapes here. I think someone said they grow wheat or semolina. It’s quite barren looking really, lots of brown/grey tilled fields, but the cypress trees stick out so much more. Not sure we saw that famous winding treelined road but so many others that are just spectacular…..all seemed to have gorgeous stately villas at the end. It really is very beautiful in a different way. I liked it a lot and would stay anywhere around here too in a second. The rolling hills are incredibly stunning.

Arrived in Asciano around noon. Market day and very busy. We parked in the first lot that we came to which was about as far away from the market as we could possibly get. Was a bit worried about leaving all our stuff in the cars…..all the additional acquired food that was taking up space so couldn’t really hide all the luggage….but that turned out to not be a problem as a couple of the guys were more than happy to not traipse around the market.

Asciano is a very hilly town!! Picked up more goodies and some porchetta buns and snacks for a picnic lunch. Stopped along a dirt road with a beautiful view to enjoy our picnic….until the bees came along!! Ack!! Lucky we had the buns cut in half because they were huge, even for the guys, but so yummy.

The plan was to head to Sinalunga and then Lake Trasimeno depending on the time we were making. That plan lasted only until we got twisted and turned around in Sinalunga and ended up in Torrita de Siena. Quite a pretty walled town and we probably should have stopped and explored but when we thought we’d found a place to park a lady in a uniform came over and started yelling and pointing her sign at a little passageway so we obliged and followed another car that she’d sent on their way. Another very narrow arched passage that we had to fold in the mirrors for. Out the other side and out of town too!! No idea what it was all about so we just carried on. Too bad because it looked interesting. They also have a palio here each year but using donkeys instead of horses. Back into grape growing territory…..vin santo is a specialty in this area.

We somehow ended up driving for what seemed like hours (one maybe!) through cornfield after cornfield. Found a spot to pullover and out came all the maps. Had not passed one sign that told us about any upcoming towns, not one that even told us the road number, so we didn’t even really know what to look for on our maps. Noticed that there was a big overpass only half completed off to the west and because our maps were nice and new showed the incomplete highway so we then at least knew we were sort of heading in the right direction. Finally saw a sign for Foiano and back on the highway towards Mercatale. Got our first glimpse of Lake Trasimeno. Was close to 3PM by then so decided to just head to the Casa.

Found Mercatale and the road that we needed to turn on for Casa Lucati. The road was not based on a number or signage but by landmarks like “the white building on the corner across from the……”!

Ah, the road to Casa Lucati!! What can one say, it was something else. We knew it was a rough road but it was REALLY a rough, white road. The first 50 feet off the highway was paved then graded gravel for about a kilometer then just gravel and lots of pot holes. BUT the views, as we bumped, grinded and climbed our way up, were just spectacular. Very foresty along part of the road then the trees would open to the valley and hills covered in olive groves. Lots of pine type trees the higher we went. A few sheep here and there, some on the road. We did pass a few houses but it’s really pretty isolated up here. It said it was approx. 8k up the road but it certainly seemed further and of course driving and dodging pot holes it took at least a half hour to get to the house. Arrived just before 4.

Casa Lucati is probably everyone’s dream home in Italy!! It is beautiful, the views are spectacular. It has a well equipped kitchen, lovely living room, big dining room, 4 ensuite bedrooms, a huge family room and second kitchen in the basement with a ping pong table and washer/dryer, all this plus “the barn” which is a separate studio unit with a glorious big deck overlooking the pool and the view.

Did the draw for the bedrooms and then S and B braved the road and went back to Mercatale to pick up a few things for dinner tonight. The rest of us sat out on the deck of the barn, cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the great view. That was until the sun started going down and almost immediately the wind came up and it got quite chilly. First time since arriving in Italy I think that I had to put a sweater on!

S & B came back with goodies to make burgers…..the guys were thrilled!! Nice big salad and great BBQ burgers.

R & G and B & S all headed off to bed quite early so Jill and Larry and Ken and I decided we were going to play ping pong. So much fun even though none of us know the rules…..although Larry said he did but not too sure about that! Discovered that there really was no need whatsoever for the table. Jill and I used the floor, walls, counter and the ceiling beams. We laughed so hard it was hopeless.

Off to Cortona tomorrow.

Another beautiful, warm day, until the sun went down!

Sept 10 Sun

Up early and out to enjoy my coffee and the view…..except there isn’t really anywhere right out the main door to sit. Jill and Larry got the barn and I didn’t want to disturb them, so went down stairs to where the patio area is which was quite pleasant and enough of the view to take in.

S & B decided to pass on Cortona so the six of us went off to explore in two cars.

Cortona is another favorite place. I have a lot of those I guess. It’s way up on a hill, seeing it as you drive up is spectacular. We parked in the first lot we came to and oh, what a civilized place this was! They have an escalator which saved a lot of energy for walking around the walls and up to the Fortezza.

Pretty sure this is the hilliest town yet. Wonderful little shops, a great bakery or two, restaurants and cafes, a cute gelateria with ice cream cone seats. Cortona TI office has one of the best city maps yet. Very easy and detailed so we didn’t get lost. Stopped at a cafe for coffee and delicious little dolci to get us started. Found a great little shop selling little olive oil soaps that are really fragrant but very light which will make great gifts for the girls at work. At a bakery they were just pulling fresh loaves out of the oven so we ended up buying a nice big one that Larry ended up carrying around all day. Piazza Republica and Signorelli are just lovely. I can see why Frances Mayes fell in love with this place. Was expecting it to be really busy and crowded but wasn’t compared to San Gim or Siena. Duomo looked lovely but mass was still happening so we didn’t go in.

Thought we’d be able to walk up to the Fortezza along the walls but we couldn’t so had to zigzag our way up using a few different streets. Stopped in the Chiesa de Santa Margherita. Not many people around so L and I wandered into the church for a quick look but sounded like they were about to start mass so we left but looking like it would be quite interesting to go through. It’s supposedly built around St. Margherita’s tomb. Nice little cafe next to the church so we had more coffee, cappucinos and espressos this time…..Ken and Larry had two!! The coffees were really good and I think the cheapest yet, espresso 1E and Capps 2E. When we left the cafe and came around the corner to the front of the church there was a monk standing at the door greeting people as they entered!

Coffees gave us the energy we needed to get the rest of the way up to the Fortezza because it was all up hill, quite steep in a few places. Fortezza de Girafalco was built in the 16th century for the Medici. 3E gets you in to wander around. There was an art exhibition but most of it was very modern stuff. A few nice water colours. Once up there the views were awesome. You can see for miles in every direction. You can also see the old walls of Cortona and just how big it once was.

Stunning views of Tuscany and Umbria in all directions from Cortona.

It was quite a walk back down to Piazza Signorelli. I think Cortona must have the most churches of any of the towns we’ve been to, all were nice, very earthy looking. Pretty sure we passed at least 4 or 5 on the way to lunch.

Taverna Pane e Vino, very good. We all ordered pasta or pizza, or so we thought. Larry ended up with a salad that was ribbons of zucchini, twisted and tucked to look like a big green flower with a bit of shredded lettuce and anchovies in the middle……such a Larry moment!! He was a trooper though, a bit of olive oil and balsamic and he dug in. We did share some of our pizza with him. All the food, even Larry’s salad, was really good, the wine too! Huge portions. Lucky we got there when we did because 10 minutes later there was not a seat to be had. Our bill for 6 of us, which included a bottle of wine and two bottles of water, was 62E!!

Time to leave so the others went to check the train schedule in Terontola (for J & L to Rome later in the week) and Ken and I went to Umbertide (pronounced OOM-BEAR-TI-DEE) to pick up more groceries. Got there only to discover that not only was it Sunday and the grocery stores close early but it was also the annual Fiera dell’Agricoltura weekend in Umbertide. What a fun place!! There were booths and stalls set up for blocks and blocks selling all the usual market stuff….clothes, food, tons of candy etc. A big amusement park with rides, music blaring. Everyone along the street was sitting outside their apartment buildings visiting, chatting with everyone who walked by. The Italian version of a country fair!

There weren’t as many of the meat or produce stands as I was hoping like the roast chicken or porchetta guy. A couple restaurants were open and a deli type place. The deli guy came in off the street to help us. Picked up some different types of salami, cheese (to go with the bread that Larry had carried around all day!), some home made antipasto and a little bucket of olives. Wandered around a bit more and did think of calling Rae and telling them to come but decided we’d just head home. I think Umbertide would be a good place to check out one day, looks like there could be lots to see here.

You do not leave Umbertide the same way you came in!! One way streets so we somehow managed to get lost…..Citta de Castello was the next exit so we were definitely going the wrong way. Turned around and finally saw signs for Cortona so off we went in the right direction.

Home and sat outside with a glass of wine enjoying the view and telling everyone about Umbertide’s fiera. Was great until the wind came up and it got quite chilly. Had a great dinner and evening. Just put out all our goodies from today for everyone to pick at. The olives were a real hit. They were very meaty, quite a bright green and absolutely delicious. Did some laundry and a few games of ping pong.

Assisi tomorrow!

Sept 11 Mon

Another gorgeous day! The sunrises here are lovely. As the sun starts to come up it outlines the mountains and the mist in the valley goes from a fluffy white to a fluffy golden colour. Once the sun peeks over the top of the mountain the colours change again. Pictures just don’t do it justice.

Another favorite town!! Assisi is gorgeous, especially as you are arriving. As you drive up the road there it is at the top of it’s hill, just spectacular!! No pic which is too bad because again you just can’t describe how beautiful it is.

Beautiful Assisi…..I didn’t take a picture as we were driving up because I was in awe of the view so found this one online.

Luckily we were early enough to find great parking spots, the lot was still pretty empty at 9;30. Was about an hour drive.

First stop was the Basilica. What can one say about this place! I think we were all quite moved by it. It is one of the most spectacular churches we’ve seen. Just walking into it gives you goose bumps. We were rather “awed” by it. Hard to describe the feeling we had, none of us are religious by any means, except maybe Susan who was literally brought to tears!! Lots of people inside but it was so quiet, so much respect for St Francis and all he represented. Love, peace, simplicty, love of animals and birds.

The church has many beautiful frescoes and paintings. There is the upper and lower churches built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The frescoes on the walls of the upper church tell the story of St Francis’ life. It was quite badly damaged in the 1997 earthquake but you can see the restoration work that was done and is still going on. So much to see inside, you literally walk along with your head going up and down and sideways the whole time (probably why everyone is so quiet!). Downstairs the lower church is very dark and there is almost an eerie calm about it. St Francis’ crypt is down there. Many people sitting in the pews praying, some weeping, very moving to see and really felt like we didn’t belong, like we were intruding. This was the one thing that Susan had really wanted to see (she is Catholic and does go to church every now and again) and was quite overcome by the whole experience…..said she had never felt like that in any other church…..ever! Even Larry, who is Jewish, said visiting the basilica could very easily convert him!

We all met up outside and headed up Via San Francesco. Assisi is a very beautiful town. Incredibly clean, very hilly, lots of great little winding, some narrow, streets and alleys, buildings covered in trailing and potted plants. Lots of shops selling all types of religious knickknacks, souvenirs, etc. Piazza del Comune was small but very nice. The Temple of Minerva and Torre del Popolo and a dribbly little fountain make a great centerpiece. The stairs of the temple date from the 1st century BC, the temple from the 9th and the tower sometime around the 13th.

Found a great spot for lunch, can’t remember the name though. Up a little alley, not the best decor but the kitchen was open at the back so you could see them cooking away. Mother Teresa ate there…..her autographed picture with the owner was up on the wall! The food was excellent!! We should have known by now when they say the pizzas are only big enough for one person, they really mean 2 or 3. A bit smarter today so we only had 6 between the 8 of us and it was still a lot. A couple of birra to go with them made it even better! Lots of nuns and fathers/priests/brothers were enjoying lunch and a bit of wine too! Our lunch for all of us, including the beer, came to around 50E. The only negative for this place would be that once it got busy it got really warm inside.

After lunch we went in search of the Roman forum and arena, not to be found unfortunately. Down to the Basilica de Santa Chiara (Poor Clare’s) built in the 13th century. The poor Clare’s were the nuns of St Francis who were also lived simple lives helping the poor. Quite a plain church but with buttresses. Just wandered around, in and out of shops etc. Did think about going up to the Rocca Maggiore but was just too hot for any more hills today.

Leaving was much more exciting that arriving! B was bbqing tonight and wanted to pick up a few things. Saw a super big Coop just off the autostrada near Perugia but missed the exit so took the next one. Before we knew it we were IN the centre of Perugia. Had a great unplanned tour through the city and the ring road a couple times. What a nice place it was!! After passing the University a second time, both cars pulled over to do a map check, found our way back to the autostrada and to the Coop in Umbertide, where of course we got lost yet again trying to get out of town. Saw a sign for Arezzo so had to find a place to turn around and found the sign for Cortona heading in the right direction. Passed fields and fields of tobacco! Had no idea they grew it here. Lots of drying towers too. So many small side roads on the way home with the names of villages…..I hope we get a chance to explore some of them.

Dinner was excellent. We were able to sit outside a little longer tonight. No wind and very pleasant temp. Sat yakking and admiring the view with Cinzano and wine.

Tomorrow is market day in Gubbio so that will be our destination.

Great day in a beautiful city.

Sept 12 Tues

Beautiful sunrise this morning. A bit of a slower start for Ken and me and B and S. Rae and Glen and J and L took off early with the shopping list. Finally out the door around 10. Took about an hour to get to Gubbio. Busy of course because it’s market day but we did manage to get a spot, or sort of one, right by the Roman ruins (1st century AD). People just pretty much park wherever their car fits, so luckily someone pulled out with the same type of car.

It’s quite a big market with all the usual food stalls and of course the clothes and household goodies. Found the others and stopped for coffee and paninis and then off to explore. Gubbio is nice but not as attractive as the other towns we’ve been too. It’s also very hilly. There is Piazza Grande, which has a stunning palazzo, one restaurant and great views but it just seems to be missing something. J and L did the “bucket of bolts” funivia”…..they said it was quite breathtaking, literally!! But the views were amazing from the top and the only problem was having to take it back down. Came to the Fontana dei Matti (Fountain of Lunatics)….we did not walk around it three times! Had a look at the Roman ruins on the way back to the car and that was about it.

Home via a long way around…..through Umbertide twice!! Just how do we manage this?? Somehow we ended up on the other side of the railroad tracks that ran along the road we should have been on. At least it was on a different road this time so made it a bit more interesting. The others arrived home after we did……their detour took them to Citta di Castello!!

Nice afternoon relaxing. Sitting around having a glass or two of wine, a swim in the pool and enjoying the great view.

Blake bbqed chicken and pork chops, Rae and I made a bit pot of cannellini beans done with onion, pancetta, garlic and basil from the garden. A big salad with bocconcini. All was really good.

Only a couple nights left with all of us together so we had to get to work on all the wine that we’d been accumulating. Opened my last bottle of Lambrusco, which was really good.

No plan for tomorrow other than the wine tasting/tour/dinner that we booked through Gorgace.

Sept 13 Wed

Slept great, not up until 8! Must have been the wine.

Very hazy sunrise this morning.

Big breakfast this morning…..eggs, toast, fried the leftover potatoes, beans. All good.

J & L and R & G decided to go to Sansepolcro. Ken and I and S & B went to check out Lisciano Niccone. Found a great little cafe for coffee and brioche type bun filled with chocolate (v.g.) It’s a pretty small place, I think this cafe might be the only one in town. Cute little piazza with a fountain and a few apartment buildings and that was pretty much it.

S and B wanted to go back home so we dropped them off and went exploring further up the road. We decided to try and find the church that we see across the valley. It has to be quite large as it sticks out quite a bit above the trees. Just past our house the road going up/down that side of the mountain becomes paved but was not in any better shape than our gravel road. There were pot holes big enough for a smaller car to get lost in, was even a bit tricky in places for us to get around them. Where there wasn’t pot holes the pavement had heaved, a lot, like a foot or more so had to be very careful going over them. Very interesting drive for sure. Many, many crossroads with no signage of course. None of the roads were on our map but we did try a couple and luckily came back out on the “highway” at a village with a couple shops but mostly warehouses (Calzolaro?). Stopped at a little trattoria where we had lunch, which was very good. Couldn’t see the church anymore so just carried on until we came to a sign with a church on it pointing up a hill. Turned and started our way up but way too many hairpins and it seemed like it was still miles and miles up that road, which wasn’t in the best of shape. It looked pretty impressive, more like a castle than a church. Sadly though we decided to turn around when we could and start heading back home because we just didn’t know how long it was going to take and we had our dinner/wine tasting tonight.

The wine tasting/dinner was at Fattoria I Girasoli di Sant’ Andrea. Have to say it was a pretty disappointing experience after reading all the rave reviews!! It said it was a steak dinner (we knew not like at home), salads, antipasti, dolci, the tour and the tasting with Martin (our Gorgace contact that we book the tour thru) for 25E per person.

Started off with a glass of wine while waiting for everyone to show up. About 20 people altogether. The tour began just as the thunder started to rumble off in the distance. Tour was interesting enough then we all had to get into our cars and follow Martin down to the winery for the tasting and dinner. More thunder, much louder at this point, but was still nice enough. We were at a table for 8. Tasted a couple of their reds and white, one sparkling that was a bit sweet but quite tasty and another that was very, very sweet, perhaps a dessert wine but they didn’t really say. Was expecting little bits of bread or crackers and maybe some cheese to go with it all to cleanse our palates after each tasting but there wasn’t. The wine was good enough but we didn’t buy any because we still had wine at home that we had to finish off.

While all this was going on there was a camera crew off to the side of the driveway with a beautiful red ferrari. After our tasting we all went over to investigate and found out they were filming a commercial for something. The guys all got to have seat in the car. Fun.

Dinner was very odd. After the tasting they brought out the antipasti which was some little breads with tuna (v.g.), a pate and tapenade that was really garlicky but very tasty. Then we each got a slice of what appeared to be meatloaf, also good. Then came about a ladle full of what as like stew, also very tasty. We all kind of looked around and wondered aloud if we should eat or was something else coming to go with the stew??? We heard the next table asking if this was the steak and should they eat it now. All a bit confusing with no one, not even Martin (never saw him again), explaining dinner. Everyone started picking at it. Out came a salad of radicchio and what I think were anchovies (n.g.) Everyone had finished the stew when they came out with bowls of peas and a few minutes later with some roasted potatoes. That was it apparently because the next thing that came out was dessert, which was a fruit tart and some biscotti (v.g.). We weren’t sure if we should just get up and go or what. The people at the next table asked if we should just leave….we didn’t know. We all sat around for another 20 minutes or so thinking Martin, or someone would come out and say something, or to sell us some of the wine or thank us for coming, nada. Finally people started to leave so we did too. Oh well, it wasn’t bad, just weird.

Started to rain on the way back up our hill. At least the road wasn’t as dusty. By the time we got home it was just pouring and the thunder sounded like it was right on top of us, only a couple flashes of lightening though. This is the first rain we’ve had other than the storm our first night in Venice which seems like eons ago now.

Tomorrow Jill and Larry are leaving for Rome. R and G are driving them to the train station in Terontola very early. Blake is going to drive Ken and I down to meet them around 9 or 10 in Mercatale. We’ll then head off to Montepulciano and Pienza, B & S are off to explore on their own.

Good day!

Sept 14 Thurs

It rained a lot today!! Not all day but enough for me.

Met up with R & G just after 9. It wasn’t raining but mostly cloudy with the sun poking out every now and again. Still quite warm though.

Back into Tuscany! Decided to check out Chiusi first. Nice town, lovely little historic center. There is an Etruscan museum, a very nice cathedral and an underground city. We grabbed a coffee in the piazza and decided that we’d have a quick look around and then just head straight to Montepuliciano as the weather wasn’t looking too promising. Found a fun little antique store that had miniature liquor bottles. A friend collects them so picked up a couple unique ones for him. One was an artichoke, with artichoke liqueur, the other a coffee bean with of course coffee liqueur.

It was market day in Montepulciano so parking was a bit of challenge. Found a spot near the bus depot where the market was set up. Checked out a few of the stalls then up the hill to town. It’s actually right on the top as opposed to built into it or up to it, great views from just about anywhere. Walked thru the gate (Porta al Prato) and walked up and up and up! So many vino nobile places! Went in and out of all of them I think. Tasted at a couple of them and found a place for salumi tasting too! Monte has the best little alleys. Some were very steep (and narrow) but all filled with window boxes and doorways with pretty potted planters. Walked along the walls admiring the views, which were beautiful even on a bit of a dull day like today…..very humid though. Walked up to the fortezza but was not open (?) which was too bad because it sounded like it could be quite interesting.

Back down to Piazza Grande, nice but not the most spectacular that we’ve seen. The Duomo, which was unfinished, reminded me of the San Lorenzo (?) in Florence. Not too many people around and only one restaurant with tables set up outside, no umbrellas up, because of the iffy weather I guess. Loved the well with the lions and Medici balls.

Had a great lunch at the Caffe Poliziano. A glass or two of the vino nobile to go with the delicious frittatas with ham and some kind of wonderful creamy, rather sharp cheese and a big salad. Not too bad for the 4 of us at 70E. Too bad we couldn’t have sat out on the balcony to enjoy the view.

Stopped and bought our vino nobile on the way back down the hill. Had started to drizzle a bit on and off.

On to Pienza. Pienza, Pienza……oh my goodness what can one way about it!!! It is absolutely my favorite place. Sadly it had started raining so hard we had to go and buy umbrellas. And it was still gorgeous. Every street was beautiful, some really nice little gardens tucked down the alleys, flowers and plants everywhere. Will definitely have to come back on a bright sunny day, it can only be better and it was already pretty darn good!! Walked around the walls for a while but the view was so obscured by the clouds there was nothing to see.

Pienza is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was called Corsignano until Pope Pius II thought he would like to create a model renaissance city out of his hometown back in 1459. And he did it, although it never got finished in his lifetime. The piazza was a bit plain, not very big but seemed a little homier, cozy or something like that. The Duomo and town hall are quite small but lovely, also a pretty well. The Relais Hotels has taken over what used to be the cloister. It has a lovely porticoed courtyard with tons of plants and flowers…..would be a lovely place to stay!! Wandered around for a bit before it started raining just too hard to enjoy it anymore.

We’d planned on Montalcino as our next stop but was just pouring so started heading back towards home. The weather started getting better as we got closer to Lake Trasimeno so stopped at Castiglione del Lago. Drove along the lake hoping to find a spot to maybe come back to later for dinner but everything seemed to be some sort of a private beach club, so just headed up to town.

It’s quite a nice little place. The fortessa overlooks the lake and I’m sure on a nice day it’s lovely. Not too much open, maybe the weather or and extra long siesta today. Found a cafe to have coffee and snack and to warm up. Seemed a lot cooler here for some reason, maybe right on the lake??

By the time we’d finished the rain had started again pretty heavy so headed to somewhere closer to home for dinner. Tuoro sul Trasimeno is on the way up the hill leaving Lake Trasimeno. Seemed to be spread out all over the place and not the most attractive place. We found a place that had a segafredo zanetti sign out front so even if the food was only ok we knew they had good coffee. There was nothing out front that we saw that showed the name of the place….but they had a sign for “dining” (?). Had a huge outdoor area all covered with umbrellas that probably would have been packed if it hadn’t been raining. Inside was a bit strange….sort of like a big open bar and kitchen when you walk in, then you walk thru a big hallway where the staff parked their vespas/motorbikes and then into the first part of the dining room. There was another big dining area thru an arch. It was just 7 so there was only us and one other man. Very friendly, family run place. They spoke very little English and the menus were in all Italian but we were pretty good at reading it and ordering by now. Had glasses of their house red, which was really good. Started with antipasti. Delicious eggplant parmigiano. Rae and I each ordered one but truly we could have split one order. It was so rich and so good we did manage to eat it all! Only ordered the primi piatti because we figured they’d be huge and we did not need the secondi! All of them were excellent….and huge! Glen and I had the spaghetti amatriciana, Rae had some type of ravioli and Ken had the veal in marsala sauce and he was so excited because they had french fries, so had an order of those too. Everything was absolutely delicious!

By the time we’d finished our antipasti more and more people started coming in. The people at the next table were Swiss and were renting a place somewhere in town. They knew everyone in the restaurant so assume they were regulars. They’d brought their two huge doggies with them who very nicely sat under the table and never made a peep. The place was just buzzing by the time we left. Our bill for 4 was just 40E, excellent!

Home up the twisty wet road. Actually was a much easier drive at night because you could see headlights coming along at the curves, and no dust because of the rain.

Very wet tonight. I hope tomorrow is OK because we’re supposed to do a hike in the morning with Martin.

Sept 15 Fri.

Pretty socked in this morning. No nice sunrise, actually no valley or mountains at all! No rain though, just fog. We could barely see beyond our stone wall so called Martin to cancel. He said he was just going to call us as it would not be too pleasant hiking the hills after all the rain.

After breakfast we finished off our laundry and started to pack up and tidy up. The weather finally cleared up around 10 – 10:30. S and B decided to for a drive to Lake Trasimeno and we’d meet them at the little restaurant in Lisciano Niccone for lunch around 1.

The sun had come out by noon and was quite hot and steamy. Rae and I were prepping all our leftovers for our version of ribolitto soup for dinner. Once we’d done that we went off to meet S & B.

Lunch was very good. The place gets packed with guys having lunch and playing cards. They all looked like construction or maybe city work crews. The wine was flowing! Ah, that Italian stamina, have no idea how they could go back to work. Chicken parm for me, Ken ordered the steak that all the workers had ordered, everyone else had pasta of some sort. The portions were huge and the food was very good.

Left just after 2 so off to do a bit of exploring (and getting lost). Went to Castello de Reschio. Had passed the signs many times and could see the castello up on the hill. It’s not open to the public because people still live in it! The family has owned the property since the 12th century and are now selling off bits and pieces of it. It’s being developed for a mix of vacation rentals and permanent houses. There is an equestrian center where they breed horses, tennis courts, swimming pools, a restaurant and bar. It truly looks like something out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous! Ken wouldn’t let me take the brochure, or what was really more like a binder with all the information. Will have to check when we get home but think it is very likely way out of our league!

S & B took off back home so R & G and Ken and I went to find Preggio…..another road sign that we’d passed many times. What a find!! It’s a beautiful little hill town with gorgeous views. It was immaculate, everything so neat and tidy. There are a couple of restaurants and a little alimentari and not too much else but so lovely. The church looked very old. Asked the guy changing the lightbulb above the door if we could go in. “Si, si please, I come un momento”. We assumed very wrongly that he was like the handyman but when he finished and came back he’d turned into the priest!! He spoke in rapid fire Italian so we tried to explain that we did not speak Italian and did he speak any English….”si, si, a little”. Well no, like as much as we spoke Italian a little!! He was speaking mostly Italian with an English word thrown in here and there. Asked him to speak “lentamente” and got our phrasebook out. He took us on a wonderful tour that lasted about an hour……who knew there was that much to see and hear about in this little church! He was very proud of it and loved being in Preggio. It is the Chiesa de San Francesco. If we understood what he was saying St Francis started a convent here in 1200 something. There were paintings and frescos thought to have been done by Pinturicchio and a reliquary with a thorn from the crown of thorns behind the alter. He showed us the special light that had been put in to illuminate it without opening the little doors. There’s a festa here at Easter when it is carried around town. Two organs, only one is used now, neither are that old from the 1800’s. He was such a gracious man! We laughed together at our poor commands of each others languages and thanked him profusely for a long tour and sharing all the beautiful things in his church. He thanked us for coming and was happy he could show us. We don’t normally donate but in this case we all dropped a few euros in the box on the way out! A small price to pay for a wonderful experience.

Preggio would actually be a good place to stay. No nasty dirt road and only a few minutes drive up from the main road, gorgeous views, neat and tidy, a restaurant and a little shop for necessities.

Home to finish packing and have our soup and whatever other leftovers for dinner. The soup was delicious, finished the salumi and cheese and the wine and cinzano.

Tomorrow starts another adventure! Rae and Glen are off early tomorrow morning to catch a flight from Pisa back to London……we’re going to miss them! B & S and Ken and I are off to Massa Lubrense, near Sorrento for a few days before heading to Rome. I can’t believe where the time has gone! So much more of Italy to see!

Amalfi coast next……

Italy 2006 “Sampler Trip” Week 3 – Tuscany!

Sept 1 Fri

Another great breakfast put on my Enrico. He is just charming and makes a great cup of drip coffee!

Heard music coming from the road above……a funeral procession was coming along. No cars, other than the hearse. Lots of people walking behind it, a small band playing what sound like rather happy songs, not mournful at all. Went on for about 10 minutes so no hurry to leave as all traffic had stopped for it.

Enrico helped us down the steps with our bags and wished us well. I would stay there again in a second. We left around 9, thinking we’d make it to Florence by noon (hahaha…..)

Traffic has cleared and was a nice, if not nail biting, drive back down towards La Spezia. Considered stopping in Lucca but didn’t think we’d have time to see too much, or enough of it so decided we have to pass and just get on the autostrada direct to Florence.

Getting on the autostrada today was exciting! B was driving. We went thru the correct booth this time, grabbed the ticket which promptly flew out of his hand and started blowing across the road. The gate went up, he flew out of the car trying to catch the ticket, cars were lined up behind us of course….people were just looking at us shaking their heads….luckily most were laughing! It was really quite funny in hindsight. Managed to recover the ticket and get back in the car while the gate was still open and off we went! We did laugh after but lesson learned…..make sure you have a good grip on that ticket. Got glimpses of the Carrara marble mountains from the highway.

Stopped at an autogrill somewhere between the Livorno turnoff and Florence. This was the most impressive one yet! It had an actual restaurant, two really, groceries and wine, clothes and pretty well anything else you could think of. Grabbed some coffees, re-checked the maps for the route into Florence and prepped for a potential stress filled adventure. Was around 10:30 so still making good time.

Back onto the autostrada with no problems. Exited where we thought according to the map but somehow we crossed the Arno and were heading south….not good! Pulled off the highway and found a spot to park while we checked the maps AGAIN. A guy was standing beside his car so I took the map over, along with my Italian phrase book, hoping he’d be able to get us heading in the right direction. Between our limited knowledge of each others language and with the phrase book we got everything sorted out and that we should follow him…..BUT…..he had ran out of gas and was waiting for someone (brother I think) to bring some for him. He’d be there in a few minutes and we could then follow him because he was going to just about where we were. The guy came along with the gas and off we went. He was great, slowing down to make sure we were right behind him all the way. Got us all the way to Viale Fratelli Roselli and waved us on our way. Great. We promptly took the wrong exit at a roundabout. After many more roundabouts trying to not go the wrong way down one way streets and avoiding the streets where vehicles needed permits to drive, we finally made it to the Viva Hotel Laurus al Duomo. Stopped the car right out front, literally threw the keys at the desk guy and told him to take it away. He laughed and said he thought we were insane for even attempting to drive in Florence……he was right! Surprisingly it was just after 1 so not that much later than we thought.

The hotel is in just the greatest spot. You can see the Duomo from the street, it’s only a block away. Got our rooms and met down in the lobby to start exploring. We’re only here one night on the assumption that we’ll get back here for another full day but just in case that doesn’t work out we planned to cram in as much as is humanly possible today. 2PM and we were off. S and B decided to not venture off too far, they were going to have an early dinner. Ken and I headed straight for the duomo. Santa Maria del Fiore, what a magnificent building! We just walked right in. Just amazing. Brunelleschi’s dome is a piece of architectural history. The cupola painting is beautiful (Vasari, either scenes from the Last Judgement or the whole thing!) The marble…..floors, columns everything is fantastic….and huge. Not many people inside to could stand back and admire everything. Could easily have spent another hour in there but had to move on. Back outside tried desperately from every angle to get a good picture but virtually impossible. Got as much of the duomo, the campanile and baptistry into one picture as I could. There was scaffolding but still beautiful.

To Piazza della Signoria, A quick stop at Cafe Rivoire for a snack and a glass of wine. Great spot to take in everything….horsedrawn carriages, pigeons, statues, people!! Palazzo Vecchio is a gorgeous building, the spiral staircase on top is quite something. On to the Uffizi, which is pretty impressive from the outside. Still quite a line up to get in. Was familiar with some of the artwork but not art aficionados by a long shot so better to spend the time elsewhere.

Lots of vendors set up on the way to Ponte Vecchio. Wandered across the bridge and window shopped. Some really nice stuff but way over our budget. Supposed to be high quality but I don’t wear enough jewelry to know good from bad. Got some great pictures from both sides and up and down the river. Was the only really crowded place that we came to all day.

Started back up towards the Uffizi planning to go to Santa Croce but when we walked by there was no line up!! It was almost 5:30 and it closes at 6:30 so we paid and immediately went to see the Botticelli’s, Primavera and the Birth of Venus. There was no one else in the room except us!! What spectacular paintings they are and huge! Next was da Vinci’s Adoration of the Magi, Michelangelo’s Holy Family, Titians, Raphaels etc. There were 5 or 6 people at most in any of the rooms….truly a once in a lifetime moment to experience these masterpieces without crowds. Finally at 6:30 they started locking the the door to rooms as the last person left. On the way out there was a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, “The Mind of Leonardo da Vinci, the Universal Genius at Work”. It had many original drawings, working models and machines…..just amazing. The poor man was born about 500 years too early!! It was after 7 by the time we got out. So in future hitting the galleries late in the day is something we’ll keep in mind. Not enough time to see it all of course but better to see the specific things you want than not at all.

Just wandered around a bit trying to figure out where we were since the exit is on the other side of the building. Dug out the map and found that we were close to a restaurant recommended by people we chatted with on the Cinque Terre trail, La Giostra. Too bad they were booked until 10, which was a little too late for us. Found an internet cafe so stopped to check emails and update everybody on our travels. Ended up just having dinner at a place across from the duomo. Don’t think I even caught the name of it. Prices were good, food and wine was good. Had a couple glasses of wine, veal ravioli in a light creamy tomato sauce. Bill was 24E for both of us! It was a bit noisy because we were just about on the road but a good food and great location.

It was 9:30 so still had time to wander….the city is still very much alive at that time of night. Checked out Piazza della Repubblica, up and Via de Tornabuoni window shopping. Stopped for coffee at a little cafe down a busy side street. Over to Santa Maria Novella. A bit different around there. Some real ritzy looking hotels and restaurants and some pretty shady looking people hanging out in the piazza.

Just headed back to the hotel….did think about going up to the rooftop bar for a nightcap but we were done. I think we did pretty good for having only a few hours in Florence. Hope we do manage to get back here on a day trip next week. Still a lot to see. But at least we saw the Botticelli’s, so I’m a happy camper tonight.

Sept 2 Sat

Slept very well last night! I think we were pretty tired. Too much excitement, driving in Florence, the Uffizi and seeing all the things that I’d read about here.

Another beautiful day. Breakfast was served on the roof. A lovely little bar/breakfast room with a fantastic view of the duomo and campanile. The best hotel breakfast yet. Delicious coffee and a toaster……which made Ken very happy. Lots of different breads, buns, pastries, scrambled eggs, salami and cheeses and Belgian waffles. A variety of juices too. I think we ,between all of us, must have tried a little bit of everything. All was delicious and all with a view to die for! At 9ish every church bell in Florence started ringing (they do not have their clocks synchronized)……I think I just about cried with happiness….definitely a goosebump moment.

Had some time after breakfast before checking out so went to San Lorenzo and Medici Chapels. Shopped in the market……shoes, belt and a wallet. Found a great little ceramic store so bought a beautiful hand painted Christmas ornament.

Back to check out and have them bring the car around. The desk guy assured us that we couldn’t possibly get lost leaving. I’m pretty good with maps but it’s the one way streets here that throw you off. At least we now know to stay in a roundabout until we’re sure which exit to take….most of them have all the signage in the centre so you have to try and read it fast! Ken drove today, B was just to stressed yesterday and said he’s not driving again!

Actually did make it out of Florence, across the Arno and onto the Chiantigiana highway without any incidents. Lamole is only supposed to be an hour drive so lots of stops along the way to take pictures. We are in the heart of Chianti! It is just breathtakingly beautiful. I couldn’t believe it could get any better.

Arrived in Greve in Chianti around noon so lots of time to kill before heading to the house. Saturday is market day here. Stocked up on some essentials for our first couple of days at Casa al Prato. The market is really fun. A roast chicken guy……they cook the potatoes under the rotissierie, they smelled amazing, a porchetta truck, lots of veg stands. Everything was so bright and colourful. The macelleria Forlani had the most wonderful displays in their window and inside, lots of salumi, olive oils, balsamico and everything else you could possibly need. We picked up salad goodies, gorgeous fresh porcini mushrooms, meat, cheese (big balls of buffalo mozza!). B wanted steak so checked out the Coop. Also a great selection of produce, meats and deli goodies.

Called Marina to tell her we had arrived. She was still having lunch and asked to meet at the church in Lamole at 2:30. Had a drink and snack at one of the cafes and just had fun watching the market winding down for the day.

Lamole is about a 20 minute drive up a very windy and in some places very narrow, road from Greve. The views on the way up there are nothing short of spectacular…..breathtaking! So Tuscany! Once up at the top it was incredible. We can see Panzano on the hill across the valley. There are vineyards and olive groves in every direction. It was just like all the pictures you ever see.

Lamole is not very big…..there is the Lamole di Lamole winery, Ristoro di Lamole and a few clusters of houses spread out all over the place. The church is in the square, which is pretty small, just a parking lot really. Ristoro di Lamole was right across the street. This is where the Lamole Ring Road starts…..and upper and lower road. And the views!!!

Marina arrived at 2:30 on the dot with husband Marcello (I think??). We followed them down the lower road past the winery. Our house, Casa al Prato*, is in the first little house cluster, about 20 feet up an alley. It was exactly like is was pictured on the internet. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms. The kitchen upstairs is a good size with a nice big table and a huge fireplace. The living room has a couple of seating areas and a nice dining table too. A front yard and a backyard, a separate covered area with a wood-burning pizza over and also another covered are under the living room. I think he said it was originally built in the 15th century.

*it doesn’t look like this property is available anymore……too bad because it was a great space for 4 couples.

She showed us around and how everything worked…..her English is as good as my Italian so lots of sign language and pointing and hmmm’s and lots of laughing. While she was showing us around her husband opened a bottle of wine and made a lovely platter of salalmi, cheese and bread. We sat in the kitchen and ate and drank and laughed a lot for close to an hour. We used my Italian phrase book a lot! But was so much fun. He told us about another small winery just up the road. What lovely people they are!!

Off they went and we put our groceries away. Decided we’d wait until Rae and Glen got here to pick rooms. There isn’t really any view from the house or yard unfortunately but about 20ft down the alley to little road the view was awesome.

R and G arrived today from London via Pisa. Their flight was supposed to arrive at 1PM so we figured allowing an hour to get their luggage and rental car, an hour to be lost somewhere and the 1-2 hours it should actually take to get here, they would arrive around 5.

View from Ristoro di Lamole…..can see Panzano off in the distance across the valley.

Decided that the best place to wait for them was at Ristoro di Lamole because it’s at the fork for the upper/lower road. It was the best place!! Now I know why people drive all the way up here, it’s absolutely beautiful. We were too late for lunch but no problem getting a drink or a glass (or 2!) of wine, which they served with a yummy little taste of cheese with truffle honey! Had our first local chianti, which was very good. S & B only stayed for one glass, Ken and I ordered another and waited. They also have a very tiny little shop with local produce and a few bottles of milk…..and that is it for shopping in Lamole!

They arrived just after 5. They’d stopped at the fork in the road in front of the restaurant, so I yelled and waved. Parked their car and came up to join us for yet another glass. We were very happy to see them! Got caught up on all our separate travel adventures over the last week. What fun sitting there…..having a glass of great wine, with great friends and views to die for! We’d made it to Tuscany. Before we left we made a dinner reservation for Monday night. Jill and Larry arrive tomorrow from Venice……more fun!

Drove down the road to home, did a draw for the rooms and got settled in. Ken and I got the basement room, which is really almost a separate unit with a small sitting area and kitchen. The rooms are all colour coordinated. Ours was the blue room……each one had different coloured checked comforters, cute! Sat outside under the grapevine covered pergola for some antipasto appies, which would have made a great dinner I think. Thought we should start dinner before we cracked open yet another bottle.

It was not long after starting dinner that we discovered our phones didn’t work in the house. The walls are 30cm thick so I guess the signal can’t get through. We needed our phones because we had managed to blow the fuses in the house!! Luckily we had a flashlight and there was another on the counter in the kitchen (handy as likely this happens a lot!). The lights were still on downstairs and the fuse box that we did find seemed to only turn those on and off. So we finally had to phone Marina. She just laughed and said she’d be up in about 15 minutes…..I did try to get her to just explain where it was and we’d could flip it ourselves so she wouldn’t have to drive all the way up here but she said, “no, no….I come”!

The upstairs electrical box was in a little alcove in the living room behind some curtains…..if we’d had a bit more light we probably would have eventually found it AND I know that is something we should have asked about when they were showing us the place.

Once the power was back on we finished cooking and eating……pasta and fresh veg and more wine! Way too much excitement and fun for one day. Pretty tired and everyone ended up going to bed pretty early for us, around 10:30. The earliest night we’ve had yet!

Sept 3 Sun

Up very early today, 5:30!! Not even bright out but just could not lay there anymore. Went up and made some coffee……french press. Was very pleasant outside so went and sat out there with my coffee and book. Read for a good hour or so before the next body was up and about.

It seems we have a cat!! We’ve called him Arnaldo…..a very friendly little tabby that just came and went, in and out, as he pleased. Luckily we all like kitties. There are a few others around but more timid and wouldn’t get to close to anybody.

Jill and Larry arrive in Florence by train today. R and G were going to go pick them up but after telling them about our driving in Florence experience J and L will take the bus from there to Greve.

Today we went to market day in Panzano. Yesterday we only paid Marina for half of our rental (arranged this ahead of time as she wanted cash….), she has a shop in Panzano so we went to pay her the balance and stock up on goodies at the market. Her shop is lovely……small houseware decor type place selling candles, soaps etc. Her brother is “Dario the singing butcher” who’s shop is right next door. Was going to pop into his shop but was packed solid….and yes he was singing!! Maybe we’ll try another day.

Panzano was sort of an odd town. It’s very small with a newer part and an older part. Up the hill was a beautiful church with gorgeous planters up the stairs. The views from up there are unbelievable. The market is kind of right in the middle of town on the main highway (SR222) that goes right thru the centre of it. Very crowded and kind of hard to maneuver around and of course parking was way down the hill. A great market though….lots of fun picking out veggies and fruit. A roast chicken truck (with the potatoes on the bottom), the porchetta guy, a deep fried everything truck, all of which you have to take a number for service. We were number 57 and they were serving 32 so Ken hung around there while I checked out some of the other non food stalls. You can buy anything and everything at these markets, all at what seem like reasonable prices too. Shirts, pants, shoes, underwear (polka dot bras!!), pots, pans, towels, tools etc. Some very pretty bed throws. There was also a flea market with some interesting things.

Our number finally came up….Porchetta panini and some battered, deep fried veg (verdure frite) and deep fried polenta. Delicious! Artichokes were the best and it’s the only way to eat polenta!

Stopped in Greve on the way back for lunch. It’s really quite lovely with the market stuff gone. The Piazza Matteotti is big, wide open with a lovely church at the south end. There are some great little restaurants, a wonderful bakery that sells the best cantucci and a wine store with tons of variety. There is Le Cantine for wine and wine tasting, which we didn’t get to today, there’s a corkscrew museum too! All kinds of shops all the way around the piazza under a covered walkway. Beautiful linens and ceramics. Lunch was at Ristorante Il Portico. Very good. Bruschetta, the meat antipasti and cannelini beans done with just some onion and olive oil. A couple of birra and some vino, Ken had dessert and the total for 4 of us was 48E.

There is an odd statue in the piazza…..it’s a bronze of just the torso part of maybe David? Will check to see if there is something about it.

Picked up more bread. Have to say I’m not a fan of Tuscan bread. It’s very crusty and chewy and kind of tasteless…..maybe its because there is no salt??

A quick stop on the way up the hill at Vignamaggio to check out their restaurant. Mona Lisa was part of the family that originally owned the villa…..so she may have walked the same path thru the garden!! The grounds are very nice…….lovely gardens. The villa dates back to the 1100’s…some interesting history about it and the “black rooster”. Restaurant looks good, its an organic farm now and they apparently have a fantastic wine cellar too. Would be worth trying out I think.

Jill and Larry arrived as planned. R & G picked them up at the bus stop in Greve around 7:30.

Dinner tonight was tagliatelli with pork sausage, zucchini, yellow peppers and porcini mushrooms. Made a great salad with tomatoes, small white onions and the creamiest ever little bocconcini, which when we bought it at the market they put them in a bag and then added some of the oil that they’d been in. Managed to polish off four or five bottles of wine, but there are eight of us now so…..not bad I guess. We have lined up the empties on the hearth on the big fireplace in the kitchen!!

Lots more to catch up on. J and L are so funny!! They tell the best stories of their traveling trials and tribulations. Honestly if we didn’t know them and the messes they get themselves in you wouldn’t think this stuff could really happen…..but we know them and it does! Most people would get upset or mad but they somehow find the humorous side to everything. We laughed and laughed and as we drank more wine we got louder…..I hope the neighbours didn’t mind.

Was just a beautiful day, hot and sunny and lots of fun.

Siena tomorrow.

Sept 4 Mon.

Another glorious morning. Not up as early this morning but was first as usual….too much wine maybe!?

Was sitting outside having my coffee and decided to take a little walk further up the lane past the house next door. Beautiful little vineyard and at least a dozen olive trees. As I was coming back down past the house the bottom door opened and an elderly lady came out and waved. I said buon giorno and she started speaking Italian so I had to say “dispiace, parlo un po” to which she laughed and said “No english” so we both laughed. I tried to ask if the olive trees were hers but couldn’t remember the word for tree so just said “tu oliva” and pointed. “Si, si”, I said “bello”. I then tried to say sorry for all the noise, ” dispiace forte rumore”. She said “no, no” and made signs like happy. She then waved for me to come with her into her basement, or bottom floor. The shelves were lined with bottles and jars of all sorts of things. She handed me a small bottle of oil. I made motions of her pressing it….”si, si”!! I went to hand it back and she said no and said “tu”. Many mille grazies!! What an absolutely wonderful experience it was. And a great way to start the day.

I do wish I’d learned a bit more Italian…..pretty sure I sound like a two year old learning how to talk but it is fun to try and someone is always willing to correct you! We are so lucky that so many people speak English, or at least some.

Finally on the road by 10:30 thinking it would take an hour to get to Siena. We managed to keep our cars together just outside of Siena where a traffic circle got the better of the other car and off they went somewhere. We’d made arrangements to meetin Il Camp if we got lost enroute. Tried following the parking signs for the Stadio parking lot but sometimes they were there and sometimes not…..argh. Poor B was driving again and getting stressed out, very frustrating I know but he was ready to turn around and head back home…..just no! Finally found metered street parking near the Stadio so paid for the max of 4 hours and could always add more if we needed too.

First stop on the way to the Campo was the Basilica San Domenico. It is very austere inside, almost empty as in people or anything. A few pews some small pieces of artwork, lovely stained glass windows. There are bits and pieces of St Catherine inside, her head and possibly a finger I think, but didn’t see where they would be. Susan lit a couple of candles and on to the Campo to find the others.

Il Campo is huge! I’d seen pictures but wasn’t quite expecting this. You come around the corner and there it is!!

Quite a few people but didn’t seem crowded because it is so big. Found the others getting gelato. Lots of great cafes and restaurants and bakeries…….bought a piece of “panforte di Siena”, which was incredibly dense and absolutely delicious!

Wandered up and down lots of great streets…..many shops and cafes. The different contrade still had their banners up from the palio that was run a few weeks ago. Must be pretty exciting to be here when it happens. Found a fun place for lunch….pizza and birra! They were huge and I guess we really should have just split a couple but at least this way we got to try eight different kinds…..all very good.

The duomo in Siena is just the best….so far. The floors are uncovered for only one month each year, luckily September, and they are superb. We got the audio guides, which were OK but a bit hard to follow. Lots of interesting bits of info like the statue of St Catherine being the only female one in there. There were some really interesting paintings but the guide didn’t reference them, nor did the brochure that we’d picked up on the way in. The ceiling is beautiful. Unfortunately the outside was covered in scaffolding but saw enough of the gorgeous marble. The scaffolding is great because it is actually a picture of the outside, so even though you don’t see it….you do, sort of. It’s just a beautiiful building inside and out and I think I could have spent another hour in there just admiring everything, especially the floor.

Would definitely come back to Siena. I think it would be a great place to stay for a few days and enjoy the evenings without the daytime tourist crowds.

Worked our way back to our cars and headed for home. Getting out of Siena proved to be just as complicated as getting in…..we can now say we’ve driven thru the gates!! Just followed the cars in front of us and realized too late that we shouldn’t have gone that way. Saw the signs and cameras all over the place but just kept following the guy ahead of us. Came to a lady holding a sign, waving it like crazy and pointing to a very narrow archway that we needed to go down….we had to fold in the mirrors! She did not look too happy……going to assume that she had been posted there to re-direct all us tourists back out. I wonder if we’ll have a fine to pay. No sign of R & G in their car???? We were just about to Castellina when Rae phoned to see where we were…..said they’d taken a wrong turn somewhere and thought they were probably nearing the east coast…..too funny.

Everybody eventually made it home safe and somewhat sound. We have four maps and still manage to get lost!! The best one is the one I ordered from Chianti Tourism. It shows the “white” roads and has all the little towns, hamlets, villages etc. within the Chianti area, so great for exploring close to home.

Dinner at Ristoro de Lamole tonight. With the view and the great food this might just be the best restaurant in Tuscany. Haven’t really been to any others but this place will be pretty hard to beat. The service was wonderful. Everyone ordered something different so was fun to see the different dishes and have little samples. Bruschetta, tagliatelli with porcini sauce (they are in season), rabbit, duck with incredibly delicious crispy skin, beef steak that comes sliced and done to perfection, gnocchi with spinach and ricotta in a truffle sauce. Two bottles of Lamole de Lamole 2004 and a bottle of local trebbiano, white chocolate mousse for dessert. All was fantastic! Out comes the bottle of limoncello……apparently it is very bad manners to NOT finish the bottle so we of course obliged.

We had made the reservation for 7:30 to catch the sunset and it was a good thing we did because by 8 the place was packed. Not a lot of parking so cars were just parked wherever….in the little lot, on the road, double parked, some on the grassy area in front…..just like anywhere on market days! We left around 10 and people were still arriving. What a gem this place is and had we not been staying there we probably wouldn’t have attempted the drive up or down at night.

Back home to find we don’t have any hot water??? Except downstairs. Not sure what the problem is but will call Marina in the morning.

Pisa tomorrow for Ken and I. Rae, Glen, Jill and Larry are taking the bus to Florence for the day. S and B are having a quiet in day at home.

Sept 5 Tues

Another beautiful day.

The hot water dilemma was sort of funny….in hindsight. Everyone was up early and managed to get showers in downstairs. The Florence people had bought their tickets aready so had to leave by 8. B & S would be hopeless trying to communicate with Marina, so that left me. Her shop doesn’t open until 10 so we got off to a slow start.

In my best Italian I tried to explain “no acqua calda”. She tried to tell me something about “zero and one” but I had no clue what she meant. Luckily she had a friend with her that spoke a bit more English and we sorted it out. Someone in our group had flipped one of the switches (there are three!!) in the bathroom upstairs, probably thinking it was the light. On the switch 0 = Off and the I = On, which is what Marina was trying to tell me. We had a similar thing happen in the kitchen yesterday so should have had a look around before calling her I guess but who knew. As soon as I pushed the “one” I heard the water heater unit come on.

Finally off on our day trip to Pisa. Took the scenic route because we’d likely end up on it anyway. And scenic it was……just spectacular in every direction!! Drove thru Poggibonsi and Certaldo and then……I’m not really sure. More signs for roads and towns that weren’t on our maps. Came to Highway 67 which the map said would take us right to Pisa and it did! Ended up on Via Bonanno Pisano only a couple of blocks from the duomo and tower. Metered street parking, buy ticket and leave in car.

Campo dei Miracoli is quite spectacular. It is really beautiful with the baptistry, duomo and tower all right there…..lovely big very well maintained grassy area around it. There are a ton of souvenir stands across the walkway in. The duomo has to be one of the nicest ones so far. Not terribly crowded which was nice. Wandered around just enjoying the view. Did not go up the tower (had to pre-buy tickets and the time would have been too late). I think it’s just impressive to look at. Had a coffee and pastry break at a cafe with a great view of it all. Pisa is a big city but the campo, even with tourists, is a prize in the middle of it.

Drove through many nice little places on the way there that all seemed to have great restaurants and did think about trying to find one on the way home but just ended up stopping at the best ever autogrille. A buffet!!! Four or five different kinds of perfectly cooked pasta (in a buffet!!), and equal number of different sauces. Including bread 5.50E….amazing. I had the orecchiette with mushrooms in a fresh tomato sauce….was absolutely delicious, and of course one of the 1/2 litre bottles of wine to go with it. Ken saw they had burgers so got quite excited but unfortunately for him they’d ran out so he had the bistecca instead for 8E. One of the best and cheapest meals so far. Someone had told me that the food was terrible at the autogrilles, so either we have no taste, or they just didn’t hit the right ones.

Drive back was good…..no unexpected detours! Stayed on the A11 all the way to Scandicci and then on to the SS222. Home by 7:30. The others had just arrived home a bit before us so dinner was pretty much salani, cheese, bread and whatever leftovers we had. S & B did the Lamole Ring Road today and said it was good, so will give that a try.

Tomorrow is San Gimignano and Volterra! So much to see……a week isn’t going to do it so we’ll just have to come back!!

Sept 6 Wed

Another gorgeous day! Up early and our two car caravan was on the road by 9.

Just past Poggibonsi you can see San Gimignano off in the distance and it does look like a mini Manhattan!

Parked in a big gravel lot just below the town. Up and up we went…..lots of steps to get up to town from the parking lot.

Just before the last set of stairs to get up to town Susan got to experience one of the self-cleaning public bathrooms. Quite the contraption really. You have to put money in and the metal door slides open….like out of a Star Wars movie!! She walked in an all of a sudden the door whipped shut. We could hear her inside “oh just lovely” and “its rather dark in here” and “I hope the door opens”. We’re outside laughing but she wasn’t too impressed with the whole thing. “How does this door open?” We could hear a bit of panic in her voice and started bugging B about putting more coins in to get here out (he’s really cheap!!). Finally the door opened and she just walked right past all of us who were laughing. All of a sudden we hear a whoosh and the door slides shut and it sounded like a washing machine……these are self-cleaning bathrooms apparently!!! She did come around a bit later and even laughed about it.

San Gim is very, very pretty! Narrow alleys with flowers tumbing out of window boxes, extremely neat and tidy. And of course the towers…..there used to be 70+ of them. So much the typical hill town one hopes to see when here. It was very busy though, just tons of people. We all went off on our own to explore and then meet back at the Cisterna in a couple hours.

The line up to go up the Torre Grossa was just too long and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to climb up more stairs. I’m sure the view would have been spectacular. You have to go through the Civic Museum to get to the tower but could bypass the climber line up for a quick look in there. Wandered up through Piazza Duomo, up to the Ancient Protected Trees and the fortress. Walked along the city walls for a while admiring the beautiful views in all directions. Back in the piazza there are tons of great little shops selling products made by local artisans. Ran into Rae and Glen in a pottery shop, Ceramica Balducci, buying a unique drip-less olive oil jug that he designed.

The view from the wall is stunning no matter where you look.

Thought about having lunch but everywhere was just too crowded. I’m pretty sure there are bus tour groups today, probably every day! We all caught up at the cisterna and worked our way back to the cars. Got a bit twisted around heading to the parking but discovered the Chiesa San Jacopo al Tiempo…..what a little gem it is! Very simple church possibly from the 11th/12th century with some connection to the Templars but that’s questionable apparently, regardless is looks ancient. There is their cross above the door. It is attached to the old, or one set of walls. Small but very pretty rose window some frescos from the 13th or 14th century. And the original bell hanging on a stand at the side of the little piazza. The inside columns are quite plain but the capitals (?) on top have some very intricate carvings.

On to Volterra. Another beautiful hilltown. More narrow alleys, arches, tons of planters full of gorgeous flowers and spectacular views of Tuscany in every direction. Had lunch in an alley, Trattoria Il Poggio. It was literally an alley, really quaint with only four tables (more out in the front). Ravioli, lasagna, pasta with with fresh peas, salad, water and really good red wine in a beautiful ceramic jug!

After lunch we all split up and went off to explore. So much to see in Volterra…..almost wish we’d given it more than half a day!! A beautiful duomo, the fortress, a tower you can climb, the Roman ruins, the Etruscan museum…..and just wandering around the beautiful medieval streets. Lots of restaurants and places to grab coffees and pastries. My fave place so far I think!

Came across an alabaster sculpture demo happening in Piazza San Giovanni, near the duomo and baptistry (just beautiful….dome by Brunelleschi??). I was on a mission to find alabaster grapes to go with my terra cotta fruit (from Mexico). Found some that are so pretty and hopefully the right size. Also picked up a nice little cheese knife/spreader.

Volterra was much less crowded that San Gim so was really pleasant to visit. I would love to stay there.

Stopped at the Coop in Greve on the way home to pick up a few things for dinner. They were out of everything!! No porcinis!! No bread, but that’s OK our teeth can use a bit of a break, no pun intended but that Tuscan bread is just not that great (maybe because no salt??). Some of the shelves were almost empty…..I guess lunch is the main meal here so most shop early. Managed to get some chicken, some great looking green beans, a couple small balls of mozza and more wine.

Delicious risotto and salad…..one of the many great dinners we had.

Made a great risotto (even without the porcinis!!). Getting dinner ready is really part of the fun of a trip like this. Wonderful fresh ingredients, lots of wine and chatting and laughing. S & B aren’t real keen on the long day trips. He loves to cook so tomorrow they are taking the car and heading off to markets and making us a surprise dinner! The plan is to do the Lamole Ring Road walk…..we got the name of a small local winery to stop at for tastings. Lamole di Lamole is not open to the public unfortunately so can’t stop there.

What a great day!! I only wish we had more time……I can’t believe this week has gone so fast!

Sept 7 Thurs

Just another beautiful day. Can this weather last another 2.5 weeks for us??

Very slow start today. Everybody just sort of lounged around until 10-ish. S and B took off early for their shopping day. The rest of us finally got going on our Lamole Ring Road walk and what a great time we had!!

There isn’t much on the ring road but the views are to just die for! The hills up behind Lamole are covered in vineyards and olive trees with little clusters of houses, all of which have glorious window boxes and pots with flowers tumbling out of them, many of the houses are half covered in ivy and other climbing plants. Looking down into the valley is just the same……all vineyards with olive groves and little hamlets……just like the pictures of Tuscany. Must admit we did not do the whole thing…..was pretty hot by the time we hit the road. Found a secondary path/trail that took us back down to the upper Lamole road.

Found the winery, Le Masse di Lamole. Followed the signs up quite a steep dirt road in another little house cluster. Very small tasting room that already had people in there buying by the case so we figured it had to be pretty good. We just sat outside and “chatted” with an old guy that came along from one of the houses. He spoke no English, so the phrase book got a workout. Whatever he said or we said, we had fun and laughed a lot. Once the customers left the lady came out and we asked about tasting.

Her English was like my my Italian but she knew what we wanted. She explained (at least this is what we think she meant) how the Chianti now has to be 100% sangiovese grapes and how they can’t release last years until this years harvest is finished…..which is in the process now, some completed depending on the type of grape. We tasted two of their Chianti, one quite light and easy to drink and one really robust one that made your lips pucker. Two white wines made with local trebbiano grapes, one a bit sweet the other very dry and very good. And of course we tried with vin santo……everyone (except me) really liked it. The old guy outside was her Dad so he had joined us…..he’s quite the character and was lots of fun. We left with a bottle of everything that that we tasted.

The tastings were pretty generous so we were all feeling pretty darn good by the time we left. Sampled a few of the grapes on the vines along the road……thought it would be nice to have a bunch for our fruit bowl but didn’t think we should pick them

The upper road took us right to Ristoro di Lamole just in time for lunch! What a great time we had. Super lunch…I had the cipolle something with truffles that was just delicious, so garlicky and sort of like a mousse. Can’t remember what everyone else had…..think there were a couple salads and a lasagna. Had a couple bottles of prosecco and wine and then he brought out the limoncello!! Everybody that works there was so much fun so made our lunch even better! Made a dinner reservation for tomorrow night before we left……after 4PM!

All pretty tipsy on the walk back down the road. Guys walking way up the road ahead of us. We talked Rae into picking a small bunch of grapes (a little braver after all the beverages…..). A bit further down the road Rae tripped on something….maybe a rock or her own feet…..and down she went. Jill and I went to make sure she was OK and realized she was the one carrying the prized vin santo….grabbed the bag to make sure it wasn’t broken, it wasn’t, then asked her if she was OK….our priorities were a little skewed from the wine I think. The guys must have heard us so they stopped, turned around, had a look and just kept walking….. A bit of a nasty skinned knee but other than that she was all good. Asked the guys later why they didn’t come to see why she was laying in the middle of the road…..they saw us laughing so figured we had it all under control…..oh well, men!

Back home, Rae got her knee cleaned up and we opened yet another bottle of wine. S and B got back with bags of goodies and went in to get their surprise dinner started. We poured them some wine and then were banned from the kitchen until dinner!

What a terrific dinner!! Veal Parmigiano, stuffed zucchini flowers, roast potatoes and a beautiful big salad. All absolutely delicious. Pretty sure if we all didn’t like to cook he would have been making dinners like this every night…..really in his element.

Another fantastic day. The walk, the wine, lunch, dinner just everything.

I really think after dinner is one of the best times of day…….having a glass or two, chatting and laughing about what we did all day……just great!

Sept 8 Fri

Our last day here. How sad I am to be leaving Tuscany! So much more to see here.

This morning the girls went shopping and for lunch in Greve. Not food shopping and left the guys at home! They’re getting the piazza all set up for the wine festival that starts tomorrow (bad timing on our part!!) All the local wineries were setting up stalls for tasting. You buy a glass for 15E and you get to taste all the wines. Would have been fun.

Started with coffee and pastry at Bar Lepanto. Bought a couple of the Chianti rooster tee shirts for the kids, some beautiful linen tea towels, a little drawing of Greve and a few gifts to take home. Saw the guys wandering………said they too wanted to do some shopping but hadn’t made it any further than Le Cantine!

Back home to drop off our goodies and off to Volpaia and Radda via the white roads!! The map I ordered from the Chianti tourism people was the best. So much detail and it shows all the white roads too. They’re not always in the best of shape but definitely the shortest route to get to Volpaia from Lamole. It was a rather exciting drive……very rough road and very narrow in some places. Pretty sure we hit our heads on the roof a few times. BUT……talk about views!! We did not pass a single car on our way!

Volpaia is beautiful! Almost a little too beautiful and perfect. It’s been around since the 1100’s! The castello is now a hotel, there’s a couple of restaurants. Tons of restoration work has been done. It’s just a beautiful small town without a ton of tourists, which was nice. All the buildings have lots of plants and flowers. Great views too.

On to Radda…..thankfully the road became paved a little ways past Volpaia. Radda is another wonderful medieval village that probably hasn’t changed that much! A sign says that it has kept it’s “elliptical shape since the 14th century”. We found a wonderful enoteca down a passageway that was part of an ancient tunnel. Picked up a couple more bottles of wine and some balsamico that we could taste first. It wasn’t the real expensive stuff that’s aged for 12 years, but still very thick. It’s called “condimento” which I think means that something has been added to thicken it. There was a castle there at one time but only a tower is left today. Another great town to wander around, lots of shops, cafes, restaurants and just a very pretty place…..definitely would consider staying there. Not a ton of tourists and like all the other towns it was as neat as a pin!

Took a different road back that took us through Castellina in Chianti again but didn’t stop. It looks nice so I hope we didn’t miss anything.

Our last dinner in Chianti tonight. Ristoro di Lamole again. I really almost cried. It was as good as it was the first time and just as much fun. Sunset was beautiful. Out came the limoncello after dinner which we polished off with no problem.

Back to pack up, clean up and make plans for tomorrow. We’re first heading to Asciano for market day and since the drive to Casa Lucati, our home in Umbria for the next week, should only be a couple of hours we’ll hopefully get a chance to stop somewhere else on the way .

This has just been the best week ever!!! I’m not sure it can get any better!

Next up Umbria………..

Italy 2012 – Abruzzo Cooking School and Puglia – Week 2

Sat Sept 15

Oh what a night!! Looked like it was clearing up last night before we went to bed but was not to be! A wicked thunderstorm…..lightening, wind, rain. The outside shutter woke me up around 1:30AM banging around. Got up to close them only to find my feet wet!! The water was just pouring in under the closed inside shutters. As soon as I opened them, to get the window and shutters closed, it was like someone had turned a hose on and in thru the window the rain came……I was wet, the bed was wet, the night table was wet, ….the floor was even wetter!! Finally managed to get them all closed, and then the wind then blew thru the bathroom shutters and knocked the curtain rod down…..bathroom floor now wet too! Luckily Connie was up by then and we got everything put back and dried up, with our towels!!, and managed to get back to sleep.

Took our time this morning….didn’t have to be out of the room until 10:30, so we had breakfast then finished packing and had the hotel call a taxi to take us to the car rental office in new town Termoli (which is still rather old).

This was the first time that I’ve ever been asked to show my international drivers license! Just lucky that I had one (from our trip in June). Not sure what would have happened if I hadn’t. Connie was also a driver but they didn’t ask for hers…..good thing because she didn’t have one! Our car is a Fiat Twingo. Good enough…..the main thing was the luggage fitting in it.

Made it out of Termoli safe and sound and on to the SS16 south (trying to avoid auto routes…much more scenic and we had lots of time)…..following the signs to Bari. Just after crossing into Puglia we saw a gal walking along the highway…..all dressed up. Strange since we were really in the middle of no where…..vineyards and orchards on both sides of the highway for miles. Then we saw another…..and another! We’re a little slow I guess but we finally clued in to who, or what, they were! The grape harvest was in full swing with lots of workers…..so I guess this was a prime area for business opportunities. It went on for miles….just about all the way to Bari. Sometimes there was only one gal, sometimes two or three. Some just walking, others sitting in plastic lawn chairs at the side of the road…..or just hanging out in the back of pick-up trucks. Bizarre but very interesting!!

We were dying for a break and some coffee but the area seemed to be a bit sketchy to us. Besides the ladies, the road was in really quite terrible condition, lots of farm vehicles and trucks and a ton of garbage along with sides of the road…..so un-Italian! But that said, it’s really quite beautiful driving through this area…..vineyards, and the Gargano peninsula off in the distance. We kept on going until we came to an autogrille that had lots of cars and a tour bus.

The road was only one lane in either direction so a bit of a slow go to start. I did pass a few of the slow moving vehicles and was going around 100kms/hr and cars/trucks were still passing me! Made it to Alberobello around 3:30.

Excellent blog https://www.wanderingitaly.com/maps/puglia-maps-guide.html Not a lot of information on Puglia, compared to all the other touristy places in Italy. Alberobello, yes but beyond that all the travel books have very small sections for this area.

Called Francesca and she met us at the car wash. We followed her to the trullo. It was supposed to be 5 minutes from Alberobello, and I guess if you are a crow, it would be! It was quite isolated down a terrible gravel, potholed road that is only wide enough for one car. Stone walls along the sides, so not sure what will happen if we run into another car along that stretch of road. Took way more than 5 minutes to get here…….you can only go 2 kms per hour.

The trullo is absolutely lovely! Francesca gave us a tour. The only bedroom that was made up was the pretty master bedroom??? When we asked where the bedding was for the other big bedroom, she looked at us and started laughing! She thought Connie and I were a “couple”. LOL! Off she had to go, down that horrid road, to somewhere to get bedding for the other room. The kitchen is really big, which is nice with doors opening onto the covered patio. Lots of counter space. Nice big living room with a fireplace and one other teeny little other bedroom that we didn’t use. Ensuite was lovely, other bathroom was big and good enough….right next to the other bedroom. We flipped and Connie got the big room. Loved the dome ceilings!

The only problem so far has been the bloody millipieds! They are absolutely gross….some big ones that almost look like leeches, some very tiny and everything in between! YUCK! There were a couple on the ceiling in the kitchen….they curl up and fall asleep or whatever they do, and then fall down! Just gross. Got rid of those and figured out that keeping the patio doors closed seemed to stop them from coming in en masse. The covered area is really nice….big table, lots of chairs and a gorgeous view with trulli dotting the valley and off in the distance. The millis also like to climb up the walls outside and curl up on the ceiling of the patio too……a quick sweep with the broom got rid of them for a while. Connie does the sweeping…..I stand way off to the side horrified by those things!!

Off down the bumpy road to pick up some groceries. Shopped at the DOK…picked up some essentials (wine!) and back home. It got dark rather quickly and we really didn’t pay much attention to the road on the way in or out unfortunately. Completely missed the turn off from the main road (just about to Locorotondo before we turned around). Found “our” turn off and then the other turn off (thanks to the pizza joint in the middle of nowhere) to OUR road. All good until we came to a fork in the road….of course we took the wrong one. Kept going and going….pitch black by now and the road was just as bad as OUR road…..came to a dead end after a good 10 minutes. A gate with nowhere to turn around….ditches on both side of the road instead on stone walls! Argh!! I had seen a driveway of sorts back a little ways, so I started backing up with only the backup lights to keep us on the road. Was a little worried I was going to burn out the clutch. Finally came to the “driveway” which was only a couple feet before another gate. Connie got out and helped navigate the back and forth, inch by inch, so I didn’t end up in the ditch. Happy to say we made it, not without a bit of sweat! What an adventure! We also decided at that point that we would never go out for dinner….or after dark! Just too scary on that road.

Got home and immediately opened a bottle of wine. Connie did the milli sweep outside….had a glass or two and put together a tomato and onion salad, cheese and sausage, olives and crackers for dinner. Sat outside and chatted until just after 11.

No millis in my bedroom….thank god! Took a gravol.

Sun Sept 16

Slept good….wine + gravol! Up at 7:30. Coffee and milli patrol on the patio….all good after I swept and I think squished/crushed quite a few of the buggers. Had rained overnight!! Nice and sunny tho this AM. Some nasty looking clouds off in the distance. Not in a hurry this morning…..sat around drinking coffee and yakking until lunch time. Just going to Alberbello today.

Getting out of our road was no problem….we also made sure we noted some landmarks to make our return trip a little easier. That road is wicked. Really kind of worried about bottoming out the car in a few spots.

Took a good 10 minutes to get into Alberbello (not 5!) Just parked in the first lot we came to so a bit of walking, which was OK.

Ah, what can I say about Alberobello!! It is a place out of a fairytale! Very pretty, unique with the trulli. Very beautiful but also very Disneyland-ish! You can go on horse and carriage rides, tours etc. There are many, many tacky tourist souvenir shops as well as some really nice local artisan shops…some rather expensive. Wandered around for a couple of hours. Lots of trulli, of course. The church is beautiful. Found an artisan shop and bought a couple of really cute hand painted Christmas ornaments and some beautifully embroidered tea towels for gifts.

It was pretty crowded being Sunday I guess?? This is the first place we’ve been that had a ton of tourists from all over. Many Italian tourist also. The weather was a little iffy….hot and sunny alternating with cloudy, cold and windy and the odd drop of rain thrown in.

Stopped and had a coffee and a Panini (not good). Found an ATM then explored a bit more. Found a nice Prodotti tipici store hoping we’d be able to get some sausages but nothing in the way of meats left. Bought some more wine, sour cherry jam and artichoke spread.

Made it back to our trullo without any wrong turns….definitely much easier in the daylight.

Dinner was a beet salad, tomato bruschetta , the salumi and cheese we bought yesterday. All really good! Just the kind of dinner I like. We finished off the bottle of rosato wine.

I swear I am going to kill off the entire millipied population in Puglia! I found one in my room….on the floor. Caused me much anxiety! Thank god for gravol!

Mon Sept 17

Market day in Cisternino! http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/cisternino.php What a beautiful place it is! It’s one of the white villages from Roman/Greco times. Up on a hill with gorgeous views in all directions. The drive there was beautiful too…..through well tended countryside, trulli in every direction you look. Vineyards, orchards and olive trees everywhere. Very nice “country” road, in relatively good repair.

The market in Cisternino is fantastic! It’s huge on many streets and piazzas….the usual stuff….clothes, shoes, underwear, housewares etc. and food! The food was at the very end. Many veggie and fruit stands, a few cheese and meat trucks….no chicken or porchetta trucks though. Have decided that since we’re eating in, we’ll use some of the receipes from our cooking classes! Bought some veg for our sauce (4E) some parm cheese…huge big chunk for 3.42E that would have cost $15 at home. Meat for our sauce…2 veal chops, 1 large chunk of pork with the bone, and 4 sausages…all of which cost 4E! So basically dinner plus extra stuff for under 10E…pretty incredible really. We had a cooler bag and ice packs to stuck everything in there.

Walked back (uphill) to the car…..to find a ticket on it! 1E….I guess we parked somewhere we shouldn’t have but saw no sign anywhere….and there were lots of other cars parked there too, so who knows?? There was so much more of Cisternino that we could have seen but oh well.

On the road to Ostuni…..beautiful drive too. Ostuni is also a “white city”. Very, very pretty and hardly any tourists! Very “greek-ish”. Parked in a lot near the elementary school. Crazy! Because everyone arrived at the same time to pick up their kids for lunch. Absolute mayhem. People parking everywhere and anywhere, yelling and waving at their kids, the kids waving and yelling back, people honking their horns…..WOW! It was like they hadn’t seen their kids for months! Fun though to watch all the chaos! We pretty much had to just stop….almost impossible to even walk along the street.

Walked along the lower wall for a bit….the views are incredible! The valley below Ostuni is all olive groves, right to the sea. Blue sky, blue water and green olive groves….amazing. There really aren’t enough descriptive words in my head to come close to describing just how beautiful it is!

The old town, or centro storico, is lots of hills, stairs and narrow streets and alleys. You could hear people having lunch in their homes….talking, dishes rattling etc. After a 1/2 hour or so we ran into some tourists, otherwise not many people around at all. Nice to be able to wander all over with very few people. Lots of potted plants around the doorways, some very pretty doors with very elaborate frames of wood and carved stone. Many steps and lots of laundry! Finally hit the “touristy” area, which wasn’t very touristy at all! A few restaurants and shops but far from what Alberobello is like. Had lunch at a little bar….pizza for me, smoked cheese and meat, no red sauce (yeah!)….Connie had a tuna salad which of course was huge and could have fed a family of 4. A couple of Peronis and coffees.

Thought we were walking in the direction of the car but ended up at the top of the wall…..could see our car waaaaay down in the parking lot below. But walking around and down we got the best view of the centro storico.

Found a back road for Connie to have a go at driving (had been a while since she’d driven a manual transmission car). Followed that road for quite a while and ended up back on the highway next to the freeway. Used secondary roads all the way back to Alberobello…..just so much more scenic and less frenetic! A quick stop to pick up pecorino cheese, wine, water and bread on the way home.

Connie and I had a great time making our sauce, which was really good. Chopped, diced and cooked, laughed and talked and drank wine! Perfetto! Had orecchiette with it. Cheese and truffle honey and olives for appies first. We ate a lot but have lots of leftovers that we’ll have to finish off tomorrow. Coffee and the liqueur that Connie picked up.

Sat outside after I wiped out a few more millipieds…..they seem to come out at night when it’s cooler. Not as many though tonight…..I did find another one in the house…at least it wasn’t in my bedroom! To bed after midnight!

Tues Sept 18

Slept OK. Woke up at 5:30 but didn’t get up…..woke up again just after 7!

Off to Matera this morning….a little later than we’d planned. Did some laundry!

Took just over an hour to get there. Matera is just into Basilicata. Not a terribly pretty area enroute or once there. I guess all the brown dug up fields were probably wheat or semolina or something and may have been lovely in the summer but at this time of year it just looks barren or very stark. Not many olive trees or vineyards….not many trees at all! Roads were OK for the most part but lots of garbage….not really a nice drive at all, very disappointing after yesterday.

Matera, aside from the sassi, is quite a bit city. Seen lots of the blue “P” signs but never really came across any parking lots. We drove and drove for almost an hour. Finally found a lot by the bus depot. Then had to figure out where we were. Found the TI office hoping to get a map but they were closed for lunch….everything here closes for lunch around 11:30. Did manage to get a map from a hotel.

http://www.italyheaven.co.uk/basilicata/matera.html

The sassi are right in the middle of the city, so where we parked was about as close as one can get. The place was just about deserted except for a couple of Japanese tour groups…..just amazes me that there are so few people around….I know this isn’t Tuscany but so much to see….some people just don’t know what they’re missing! Bonus for us I guess.

The sassi are really quite amazing. From the front they look like pretty standard Italian hilltown buildings but once inside they are definitely cave dwellings! There are a couple…or 5….very poorly marked routes you can follow but we never did finish one before we ran into a different coloured sign and then started on that one. The streets are very, very narrow….some are just steps. It’s like you are in a big hole in the ground that works it’s way back up the hillside around it.

Had a great lunch at a little restaurant, Nadi, https://www.ristorantenadi.com/it/index.asp?nav=ristorante . We both had the pasta, I had wine and Connie had a beer. Excellent!

Me.

Connie

Off exploring the maze of little alleys. Lots of nice restaurants and B&B’s tucked away. We toured a “Casa Grotto”, which is a re-creation depicting life living in the caves years ago. On to a couple of the churches, Madonna delle Virtu and San Nicola dei Greci (Santa Claus!). Some very well preserved frescoes and cavernous rooms carved out of the rock. Lots of little nooks and crannies. There was a modern art display in there too but pretty weird stuff….like tables on their sides with electric cables around them…..hahaha…we thought they were getting it set up for the display but were told, no, this IS the art! Up to the duomo, only to find out it is closed for restoration work which was too bad because you could see the beautiful stained glass windows so can only imagine how lovely it would have been from inside. We spent about 5 hours there and probably could have spent even more time….really quite a place. It’s a UNESCO world heritage sight…..I see why. Definitely worth the time and effort getting there…..and back!

Got lost trying to find our way back to the car! Just as confusing trying to get out of Matera as it was getting in. Had hoped we’d get back home before dark but was not to be! Took many wrong turns before finding a sign for Gioia delle Colle (jewel of the hill/mountain….not!) but it turned out to be a bit of back road so the long way around. G delle C almost broke me! Would see a sign for Alberobello, exit the roundabout and never see another sign again…..only to turn around and end up at the same roundabout yet again. After the 3rd time at the same roundabout, decided to take the exit for Putignano instead because I knew we could get to Alberobello from there too. Made it to Alberobello, but came in from a different direction…..straight through the main part of town. Dark as anything but we didn’t even get lost coming home from there.

Leftover pasta tonight for dinner.

Will definitely put gas in the car tomorrow…..we’ve got 2 bars left but who knows where we’ll end up tomorrow!

Wed Sept 19

Up early for us today….off to the Grotte di Castellana. The millis seem to be slowly disappearing…..not sure if it’s because I’ve killed them all or really I think it’s just getting too chilly for them now…..hopefully they have snuggled in under all the rocks for the winter!!

Very uneventful drive….took about 40 min to get there. Big parking lot with 1 bus and a handful of cars…..not sure if it’s just not tourist season anymore or what……again, very few people really. Arrived just after 10 and the English tour started at 11 so went and had coffees and paninis (not good!) at the snack bar . Very clean washrooms!

http://www.grottedicastellana.it/en/the-caves/

Our tour had about 10 people. Tour guide was really good. We could only take pictures in the first part of the cave. We did the 2 hours tour (15E per person). We toured all the various “rooms”, seen lots of stalactites and stalagmites in varying stages of development…..it’s quite amazing what one little drop of what will do over millennia! The “curtains” were my fav….looks like sheets of candles wax drips. The cave was discovered by some guy in 1938. They figure there are still hundreds of miles of underground to be explored. At first it was quite chilly in the cave so I put my sweater on but as we got further and further into it (close to the “white room”) the humidity level increased at lot (really bad hair!!). It was strange in that it seemed to get pretty warm but my skin was ice cold! All in all a good tour, very interesting and lovely but this is not the most spectacular cave I’ve visited.

A quick drink and bathroom stop and back to Alberobello to pick up a few more things…..tea towel for me, a couple more Christmas ornaments for gifts, a nice golf shirt for Ken, and a visit to the tour office to get info on the trains to Lecce. Very helpful guy! Checked the internet to get the train times…..pretty much run once an hour, so no problem. Got maps for Monopoli and info on the Brindisi airport (driving time, exits etc.). Also asked about our 1E parking ticket from Cisternino….not to worry he said….I hope he’s right! Not very crowded to day at all. Bought a nice little print of the trulli. Stopped at the DOK…picked up a chicken and some snacks.

Home early! 5:30. Opened the wine and got the chicken ready, olive oil and fresh herb rub which I also put under the skin. Connie did the eggplant parmesan……used the leftover sauce from Mon. and a lots of cheese. Had lots of fun getting everything ready…..yakking and drinking our wine! The oven didn’t really brown the chicken very well or get the parm bubbling so changed to the convection mode, which seemed to work better…..not terribly easy when there are no manuals on what exactly all the knobs and stuff do! In the end it was all delicious!

Quite chilly tonight. What a difference a week can make. It’s like after the storms blew in Termoli, they headed south with us. It’s lovely thru the day though….except for the wind. If the sun is not out it’s definitely sweater and jean weather. Very uneventful driving day….did not get lost anywhere!

Thurs Sept 20

Lecce today! Up at 5:30 to get ready and drive into Monopoli to catch the train at 9:13. The TI guy said it was about a 1/2 hour Italian drive so we allowed a little more than 1 hour! Left at 7:50 and quite by accident ended up at the train station at 8:45. Followed the signs for Monopoli and then the ones for the train station…..we saw 2 and then no more! Ended up in a dead end parking lot which turned out to be the one for the train station….bonus! How lucky was that. And we could park all day for free! Amazing. You buy your train tickets at the bar next to the station. 7.10E each way so 28.40E for both of us return…..much better than trying to drive there and park etc.

The train stopped at many towns along the way, including Cisternino. Could see it up on the hill, also saw Ostuni…..both just lovely! From there the train runs pretty close to the coastline so everything looked very wind swept. Olive groves for as far as you can see. Definitely see why 70% of Italy’s olive oil comes from Puglia. Other than olive groves, a few vineyards here and there, but nothing terribly spectacular scenery wise. Some of the towns looked pretty sad with many derelict buildings, lots of graffiti and surprisingly a lot of garbage…..reminded me of around Naples!

The train station was about a 15 min walk from the centro. We arrived just after 11 when everything that wasn’t a restaurant was closing up for siesta. First to Basilica di Santa Croce. Covered in scaffolding….which was too bad but we could at least see the rose window. Inside it is quite beautiful but not as spectacular as we were expecting. All the pillars, capitals, side altars….everything has carved flowers, fruit, faces etc. It looks like someone went crazy at a pottery/ceramic shop sale! This is baroque at it’s best! A lot of the carving reminded me of della Robbia works….without the bright coloured paint. The ceilings are amazing though. They’re brown with lots of gold and have pictures in the middle. Really pretty wrought iron chandeliers between each pillar and then the dome. Each and every pillar has some…or a lot….of carving on the capitals…above, below, in the middle. That is what makes it unique, otherwise not one of the best that I’ve seen.

From there we went straight to the Duomo (Duomo di Maria Santissima Assunta) ….was worried it would close up for the afternoon. Nice belltower, which looked rather new but was from 1620ish. Very nice wide open piazza…..with nothing in it. Very plain from the outside but really quite nice inside. Ceiling was much the same, beautiful, almost byzantine, chandeliers, many, many elaborately carved/decorated side chapels/altars (one is Bernini inspired….looks like a mini baldacchino from St Peters), very pretty stained glass windows and lovely tile floors. Definitely a must see…..found it much more interesting than Santa Croce……more colourful, more alive!

Just after 1 by then so we found a nice little restaurant in an alley. We ordered the “frittini misti” to start but really had no idea what we were going to get. A couple of different kinds of croquettes (cheese and potatoes???), deep fried breaded olives (that were to die for!), deep fried meatballs…..which could have been horse meat , who knows….there is a lot of that on the menus down this way. It was all really good! For lunch I ordered the tagliatelli con agostinetta, which was one crayfish thing. The pasta and sauce was excellent. Connie ordered the calamari and prawns….also really good. And a 1/2 litre of white wine for me and beer for Connie. Then coffee.

It was a fun restaurant. Lots of people….really busy with some family groups. At one point some people had to move their table and chairs so that a man, who lived in the buiding across the alley, could park his car!! Family run business…..fun owner and wait staff. Not cheap though….44E. Was 3:30 by the time we finished!

https://trattoria-storica-san-carlino.business.site/ (Still there but has some terrible reviews on tripadvisor, so we must have hit it on a good day!)

While having lunch we’d made a list and circled stuff on the map that we wanted to see, so started off with the idea that we’d do the route working our way back to the train station. It had gotten really windy…..argh. Wandered around….over to the Roman forum ruin, which might have been nice but couldn’t really see much of it because of a “Red Bull Soccer Exhibition” going on inside…..lots of tarps and promo tents, people, soccer players etc. Some beautiful palazzo but unfortunately they were still closed (til 5) so couldn’t go in. Quite by accident we found Museo Faggiani http://www.museofaggiano.it/en/how-was-born/ ….which is quite small but set up really well and a very nice man at the entrance. He had bought the house and rented it out for years. Had some plumbing problems and as a result had to do some digging…..only then did he discover all the old wells and passage ways that went back centuries. Each area is numbered and you follow the route and the descriptions….besides the Duomo, I think this might have been the highlight of the day.

They call Lecce the “Florence of the South”. I would beg to differ with that description. It’s a lovely place and definitely worth the visit but it really needs a lot of work. Some very unique and lovely buildings with wrought iron balconies, intricate carvings surrounding beautiful (and huge!) doors etc. but the city needs a good scrubbing! A good powerwash is in order or however they’d clean the buildings. So much black (dirt, pollution??) on everything….such a shame really. I’m glad we went though.

Caught the 6:33 back to Monopoli. That was a little stressful in that the train didn’t stop at the same stations as it did on the way down…..and you couldn’t always tell which station we were at because of where the train, or our car, stopped (not at the station sign, which you couldn’t always read anyway). I knew we were close when I saw Ostuni lit up on the hill. Had to watch very carefully from that point, in the dark, to make sure we were getting off at the right station……you have only like 2 or 3 minutes, or less!

Driving out of Monopoli was a bit of a challenge. Many, many cars at that time of night and many narrow and one way street. Kept heading in the direction we thought was the right way and finally found a sign for Alberobello. The drive back was the same road that we came in on but it’s very dark at night….not a light to be seen. Took my time, not without cars right on my ass pretty well the whole way. They pass at any opportunity….or just pass anywhere, period….even on curves. Didn’t worry too much about the guy behind me but the ones coming towards me….you just don’t know if someone will come around a curve in your lane! The train arrived at 7:35 and we were home by 8:30…..did pretty good!

Opened the bottle of 2007 wine from our winery tour/tasting in Vasto. Leftover eggplant parm and the frittini that Connie had bagged up at lunch, cheese with the truffle honey, olives, sausage, artichoke spread. All good.

I think I have managed to put the millipied population into extinction…..or its too cold for them now. Only a couple of small ones lurking when we got home and none in the house the last couple of days!!

Sleep in day tomorrow. Martina Franca and maybe Locorotondo.

Fri Sept 21

Up at 6:30. So much for sleeping in!. Coffee outside, as I’ve done each day so far. Roosters crowing, dogs barking (morning, noon and night!). It’s very pretty when the sun is coming up….a bit of a mist over the valley that last couple days.

Slow start this morning…..I updated my journal. Connie had a nice sleep in until almost 10. Finally got going around 11:30.

Martina Franca….a bit of a stressful place to drive thru. Thought we had pretty good maps, and they probably were, but the big problem was finding the names of the streets…..not a lot of signs. Got honked at a lot LOL! After driving around for what seemed like forever we ended up in a parking lot that we’d driven by a couple of times already. It was empty except for a few cars, so even after reading the signs we still weren’t really sure if we should park. We did and it was OK luckily. Had a bit of a walk to centro storico though.

Martina Franca is quite nice…..also a white town. The old town is the usual narrow streets and alleys, but very well maintained and clean. Some pretty old buildings palazzo and churches. Lots of wrought iron railings, potted plants and flowers….quite lovely! Of course though everything was closed except for a couple of restaurants. We ended up at Due Agnelli, which was only OK. Service was a bit snooty really….maybe they were “the” ritzy restaurant in town??? Lunch was OK. I had the cavatelli and mussels and wine, Connie had pasta as well. They automatically added a 2.50E service charge, the first time we’d seen it anywhere down here. Total bill was 32E for both of us.

MF is really quite a nice place. Wandered around up and down and around the streets and through the piazzi. Absolutely nothing was open…..not even a place to get coffee or a glass of wine! But definitely quite enjoyable with so few people around.

Back to the car and thought about stopping at Locorotondo but was close to 5:30 already and had lots of packing and cleaning up to do. A quick stop in Alberbello to grab some cash and one last bottle of wine.

Was quite pleasant (no wind!) so we sat outside….had a couple of glasses of wine and chatted. Had all our leftovers for dinner and fried eggs and toast!

Got packed up before bed…..have slept pretty good the last couple of night without the damn millis to worry about…..none tonight at all! Called Francesca to make sure she was here by 7:30 tomorrow. Set the clock to 5:30.

Sat Sept 22

Up at 5:30 as planned. A little anxious about the drive to Brindisi, finding the car rental place etc. Our flight wasn’t until 11:20 and although the driving time was only supposed to be an hour, we know that isn’t always the case.

Cleaned out the fridge, took some of the cheese, sausage and crackers. Francesca showed up right at 7:30. Gave us back the 200E cash damage deposit and we were off.

Connie’s ceramic dish was broken…..cracked right in half! How that happened who knows…I haven’t checked mine so I hope it’s OK.

On the road by 7:45, thru Fasano and on to the highway (no toll) heading towards Brindisi. Even after being stuck behind a little old slow car we made it in just over and hour. Dropped the car at the rental place, which was really simple because it’s right next to…almost attached….the airport. Had tons of time…..a bit of wasted stress earlier! Check in was quick and simple….no problems. Went and grabbed coffees and dolci and just sat around until it was time to go thru security etc. around 10:50. Once thru security there is a food store…..an amazing food store!! Many different kinds of pasta, sauces, salumi, cheeses, jars of everything, dishes, you name it they’ve got it! Got some dried cavatelli for Steve (brother). Have to go outside and up the portable stairs to the plane. Very nice, pretty new looking airport. Easy to get to from the highway and very easy to drop off the rental car….good to know if I ever come back this way!

Flight to Rome on Alitalia was good…..first time with them for me. Just over an hour. Lots of hilltowns below…..quite interesting seeing them from above. On some of them, you could very clearly see the circular roadways and the zigzaggy roads to get up to them.

Luggage came down quickly and Eduard was waiting just as planned. It was nice driving through the outskirts of Rome and then recognizing things like Palatine Hill and Circus Maximux when we came to them.

Our hotel/B&B, In And Out B&B, was such a find! $99CDN per night. It’s down a little alley, Viale de Fico, just around the corner from Piazza Navona. Location is perfect. Eduard had to maneuver down alleys with restaurants….people actually had to pull in their chairs for the car to go by! Arrived at the B&B by 2. The room is HUGE, 2 single bed, huge bathroom, 2 windows overlooking a different alley with bars and restaurants. We finally have internet again so back in touch with the world! This place is almost a must stay next time I come to Rome.

https://www.trivago.ca/rome-44337/hotel/in-and-out—piazza-navona-1942065

We hit the streets of Rome by 3. It had been 20+ years since Connie had been to Rome so we thought we’d try and cover as much of it as was humanly possible in a few hours. Beautiful day….bright and sunny and really hot!

Walked to Piazza Navona, a 2 minute walk, then off to find Orso 80 to make a reservation for dinner, if possible. Had tried to eat there the last time we were in Rome….excellent reviews….but just didn’t work out so wanted to try it this time. Unfortunately it wasn’t open until 7:30 so nothing we could do…..I guess I could have tried phoning! Really nice leather shop across the street…..had a look around and bought a nice little black purse.

http://www.orso80.it/

Pantheon was our first stop……this building just amazes me every time I see it!! It’s HUGE, it’s unique and it’s old! Went through it quickly….saw Raphaels tomb again. Wasn’t as crowded as the last time.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva I think is my most favorite church in Rome! I love the obelisk and Bernini’s elephant out front and inside is just beautiful….ceiling is blue with gold stars and of course Michelangelos Redeemer sculpture. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risen_Christ_(Michelangelo,_Santa_Maria_sopra_Minerva) Lovely stained glass windows and altar. Spent over an hour inside….I touched the statue!! How exciting really to have touched something Michelangelo touched 500+ years ago. Lots of interesting art and a chapel that was painted by Lippi.

Off to Campo di Fiore. The restaurant that we wanted to eat at there wasn’t open until 7:15 and it was just 6:30, so found a café right in the campo and had a quick dinner….drinks and appies (fried veg, bruschetta with spinach and sausage). Sat and rested our feet and just took in all the action.

The campo is really a neat place with lots of stuff going on all the time. Guys selling those stupid glow in the dark/throw up in the air flying things, others selling purses and bags from blankets they’ve laid down….which they can quickly scoop up when the Carabinieri (?) come along . A few flower stalls left from the morning market (one of the best in Rome first thing in the morning!).

Stopped at Largo di Argentina https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/torre-argentina-roman-cat-sanctuary.

From the campo we walked to Vittorio Emanuele, just a massive building! Looking down Via del Fiore Imperiale you we saw the Colosseum lit up at night. Walked by the Foro Traiana and the Colonna Traiana (which they have a cast of in the “cast room” at the V&A in London). Next was the Trevi Fountain…took a bunch of pics and threw in coins, of course! Very crowded around there at night but quite lovely with the fountain lit up. Walked up to the Spanish Steps…..window shopped on Via Condotti!! Steps are just steps without all the potted plants (rhodos I think) that are out in the spring. Very crowded there as well.

Back to Piazza Navona by 10:30….really only the second time today that we’d sat down! Had a glass of wine, talked about our trip and people watched for an hour or so. Very busy place even at that time of night. It was a beautiful evening…nice and warm, no wind. We covered a lot of ground today! Rome is probably one of the most “walkable” cities ever!

Back to the B&B around 11:30 only to be met by a crush of people hanging out at the restaurants at the end of our street…..our window looks out over it. There must have been a few hundred people. Lots of coming and going, talking, yelling, cars, scooters…..the noise level was thru the roof! And thru the windows…..we hung out the window for a while watching all the activity…..noisy but fun! Had to leave the window open to get some air circulation. Finally went to bed just after midnight.

Sun Sept 23

Amazingly, even with all the noise, my head hit the pillow last night and that was it! What was more amazing was that, looking out the window this morning, there was virtually no mess left on that street! The street cleaners had been there very early and did a great job!

Left the keys at the desk and down the 3 flights of stairs. Our stay included breakfast but that didn’t start until 9! Eduard was outside right at 8:30. Half hour drive to the airport. Arrivederci Roma! I really enjoyed our whirlwind time in Rome. Traffic to the airport was horrendous but made it with lots of time to spare.

Thru security, flight was on time.

All in all I think this was a super trip! The cooking school week was fantastic! Way more than I had expected…..all the food and wine that was included was great. Cooking classes and “field trips” were excellent. The hotel, one bed and all was good. Weather was great the first few days then changed to fall (cold, windy, rainy) almost overnight. Puglia was very interesting…a bit strange though. Lovely in some areas and then really unattractive in others….and the hookers along the highway of course! Alberobello was very pretty/cute but probably a little too commercial/Disneyland-ish. Other towns, Ostuni, Cisternino, Martina Franca were very lovely and the completely the opposite of Alberobello….hardly any tourists. Just about everything (including the TI offices!) in the area closed for siesta…..good to know for next time! Matera was interesting but not very pretty around there at all…..and not terribly clean looking either. Lecce was a bit of a disappointment…..was interesting and certainly not an awful place but was touted as the “Florence of the South” so maybe had just set the bar for it a little high. Fun lunch tho. Driving was OK….the usual in Italy really. Signage has been an issue everytime I’ve been here…..no matter how many maps you have! Connie and I got along great…..good traveling companions are very important!

Italy 2012 – Abruzzo Cooking School and Puglia…..Week 1

Connie (a friend that I worked with for 25 years) and I talked about doing just such a trip for many years. We both love to cook AND to travel. A two for the price of one Groupon special popped up, thru a company called Edible Destinations by Epitourean. https://www.epitourean.com/master/345/a-taste-of-abruzzo-culinary-vacation Rather than just going all that way for one week, neither of us had been to Puglia, so we added a week there to our adventure. I’m doing this in two parts….first week at the cooking school, second week on our own in Puglia.

Sat. Sept 8

Met Connie at the airport at 6AM. Checked in, had coffee and off we went. A 3 hour stopover in Toronto then 8.5 hours to Rome.

Sun. Sept 9

Arrived on time around 9:45AM. Customs and immigration was crazy busy….the guy at the counter just waved us thru. Didn’t check or stamp our passports or anything! Luggage came down pretty quick and then found our way outside and the meeting spot outside the bookstore. Found the some of the group waiting for Fabrizio (our tour guide). Had a few hours to kill before everyone arrived. By 12:30 we were off! There are 16 of us. All Americans except for Connie and me.

A 3+ hour bus ride to Termoli. One stop for lunch/coffee break at an autogrille (coffee and a huge arancini). Termoli is right on the Adriatic in Molise, which has now merged with Abruzzo . Lovely old town with gorgeous views of the coast and big beautiful sandy beaches.

The hotel (Residenza Sveva) is referred to as “Alberghi diffuse” https://www.alberghidiffusi.it/?lang=en . Our room is a little odd….one big bed and one very tiny bed. Bathroom is big enough. We’re in #5, which is in a building just around the corner from the main piazza, with the church, restaurants etc., where the main part of the hotel is. We got checked in an met back at the hotel at 7:15 for our orientation, dinner and drinks.

They gave us two bottles of wine in the room! But no corkscrew so we met the neighbour, who kindly opened it for us! Funny, narrow little alley that you can almost touch the wall across from our little balcony. All the locals are sitting outside their doors, drinking their wine and visiting. Very warm, pleasant evening.

Had dinner at Ristorante Svevia (where our cooking classes will be) with the group. http://www.svevia.it/index_en.php Fantastic meal! Antipasto was mashed potato topped with a couple of really good and big shrimp and a drizzled with a mild light tomoato sauce…and a little salad. Primi was a cuttlefish risotto that was excellent….the cuttlefish was diced and very much like clams in texture and taste. Secondi was fish en papillote but clear paper (fata paper?) which was sort of like trout but came from the Adriatic. Dolce was a semifreddo with wine reduction sauce….very good. Then a cherry liqueur that was really good…..20% alcohol!

Termoli is very resort-ish until you get to the old town. Typical Italian town with piazzas, restaurants etc. Very nice. Lots of narrow little streets, balconies, tons of potted plants and flowers tumbling over railings and in the evenings, people sitting outside their doors. Really quite a cute place.

http://www.madeinsouthitalytoday.com/termoli.php

After dinner we had coffee at the café next to the hotel, chatted and got to know our companions for the week. Called Ken….all is OK. Also found out we’re the only ones with a room without a view!! It was 11:30PM and there were people of all ages wandering around. Little kids riding their bikes, women with babies in strollers etc. It’s still pretty warm so maybe this is just what you do when it’s too hot to stay inside. Temp is quite pleasant.

Mon Sept 10

Busy, busy day! Beautiful day….lots of sun, not too warm, just perfect!

Got our room changed….yeah. So right after breakfast we had to quickly go back, repack and take our suitcases to the lobby. Couldn’t move in right away so we had no idea where it was going to be other than it had a view and bigger balcony.

Off we went in our little bus to the Trabucco, which is a fishing contraption built out over the rocks….big net that is hooked up to a boom type thing with what looks like a big tangled mess of ropes attached to the corners. As a school of fish approach, the net is lowered into the water and the fish swim in and voila! They raise the net using a big crank…..was interesting as I’d never heard or saw one before. Very common on the Adriatic coast. http://www.italianways.com/the-trabocchi-coast/

While they did a demo for us, they served some sparkling white wine, bread with olive oil and pizzelle (waffle type cookie) with orange marmalade. Fun!

Off to San Giovanni Abbey. Built in the 12 century overlooking the Adriatic. Beautiful outside and I’m sure just as beautiful inside……we couldn’t go in because of a wedding. Very nice garden with a 1000 yr old olive tree that they thought had been dead for years but it bloomed this year! The views down the coast are spectacular! https://magazine.dooid.it/en/interests-en/rocca-san-giovanni-and-the-abbey-of-san-giovanni-in-venere/

Enroute to Vasto we had a quick stop at a local ceramiche workshop. She gave info on the local clay used, technic, etc, a quick demo and painted a number of pieces….all interesting but surprisingly nothing in her workshop was for sale for us!! She did mostly commissioned pieces….usually get the big sale run around but this was strictly to familiarize us with the local artisan and her work….kind of nice for a change but there were a couple of pieces that I wouldn’t of minded having!

Picnic lunch at Riserva Naturale Regionale Punta Aderci https://www.puntaderci.it/gallery/ a beautiful park on the coast…..spectacular views in both directions, some great trails for quick or long hikes. Fabrizio sent us off to explore telling us to come back in 45 min. at which point lunch had arrived! Many different kinds of pizza and buns/meat etc. and a number of bottles of “homemade” wine to wash it all down! Quite fun!

Fabrizio is new at this job…..it’s his own company that he started only a few months ago, Italia Sweet Italia. He has a degree in hospitality and tourism from a university in London, where he had initially hoped to stay. But after realizing that his Abruzzo had so much to offer and is relatively untouched by tourism (except on the coast) he saw an opportunity to make a business out of it and share his lovely Abruzzo with others. With some help from friends and family he got his company off to a start. We are only the 3rd tour of this type that he’s done. Using Groupon and getting connected with Edible Destinations was a good start for him. He told us to give him all feedback, positive and negative, so he can ensure a good experience. Abruzzo has been referred to a the poor man’s Tuscany….lol. More mountainous but just as beautiful in a bit of a different way.

Into Vasto proper for a tour around and a visit to the museum/art gallery in the Palazzo Avalos. Quite a history…. https://www.italyheritage.com/magazine/2002_02/0202_a.htm Many of the paintings were done by two brothers from the area. Beautiful garden with gorgeous views!

Met up at a café, had a quick drink and off on a walking tour of Vasto. Very pretty town/city. Beautiful doors…..old doors on many buildings, the usual old guys sitting in the piazza visiting.

Long day! Back to Termoli around 7:30. Got our new room. Much smaller but lovely view over looking the bay and beach. AND….there is only one bed!! Luckily it’s a queen size one so Connie and I divvied it up with our books/laptops etc. We’ll manage!

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant round the corner, Battello Ebbro. http://www.ilbattelloebbro.eu/ Antipasti was meats and cheese, primi was pasta and ceci and then secondi, chicken stew along with lots of wine and a “bitter” that wasn’t too good. Excellent dinner. It appears that “our” restaurant is closed on Monday, so we ate here instead. All this is included in the price we paid…..certainly cannot complain! All food so far has been local and so, so good! Chatted with our tour companions, got to know some a bit better. The couple from Utah….he won the trip through a pizza cooking contest on a radio station! Too fun! Wandered around town a bit after dinner, bought mugs/cups for our coffee in the morning (no coffee makers in the rooms so brought French press, electric water boiler and Starbucks café Via!) then met up with and sat and chatted with another couple until 11:30. NO internet….argh. Will deal with that tomorrow!

We have 3 sets of doors to our balcony. An outside set of shutters/doors, a middle set of glass doors and then an inner set of shutter type doors. Was quite warm in the room so wanted to leave them all open except the outside shutters….this is when we discovered that not only do those shutters open like normal doors but that they also tilt, but only the top part…..we thought we’d broken them and had a bit of a laugh about that. Apparently though they should not both, tilt and open at the same time…..we did manage to get them back to where they should have been and tilted properly. We then discovered that our bathroom window had exactly the same type of set up….so figured out to just tilt that one open except we somehow ended up knocking the curtain rod off and was surprisingly quite challenging to get back on!! Again, lots of laughs and a bit of cursing to get that done!

Excited about our first class tomorrow!

Tues Sept 11

Up very late last night…..couldn’t sleep even after taking a Benadryl. No more coffee at that time of night for me….or maybe just too much excitement.

Up at 6:30. Made coffee in the French press that Connie brought. I brought the water boiler, which worked ok but didn’t boil the water in the bottom of the press so you have to take it out and stir it every now and again……worked good enough. Tried to do this without waking Connie….she is not an early bird! Sat on our little balcony enjoying the view and updating my journal.

Breakfast was around 8:00 at the main hotel. Continental but very good…..lovely fresh buns and breads with local preserves to go with them….and more coffee….our choice of Americano, Cappuccino, tea, juice etc.

Our first cooking class “Homemade Pasta”. At the Svevia restaurant with Chef Massimo. We’re in a private room, which was set up really nice with workstations for everyone around the huge table. We each get aprons and a cookbook with all the recipes that we’re making.

Where the magic happens!

First thing we made was the regular past dough with the flour well and 2 eggs. Kneaded it A LOT….way more than I ever do at home but it was also way better! Chef came by and said mine was “perfetto”! Wrapped that up and left it while we prepared the dough for the cavatelli (local pasta…). It’s semolina and water with just a touch of olive oil only. Took a little bit to finally get it the right texture….a drier dough without the eggs. Has to be kneaded way more than the regular dough…..I think mine was “perfetto” again 🙂 Will definitely have some achy shoulders in the morning!

Next the sauce….into the kitchen, where the prep staff were getting all the seafood ready (fresh off the boat!). Chef M chopped up the veggies for the soffritto (as in the French mirepoix)….he peeled the freakin’ celery for goodness sakes!! Carrots, celery, white and red onion, a bit of olive oil and some salt. Once that was all just translucent, he added the meat….veal, pork, and lamb just hacked into big chunks. Browned it all nicely then added WHITE wine and then tomato sauce. Boiled it on high for 1/2 an hour then turned it down to simmer for at least 2 hours. All the veg were so fresh and so pretty!! Straight from the market that morning.

Then we made meatballs! They went into the tomato sauce that was simmering away.

Back to the pasta (and the wine had appeared!!)….chitarra, or guitar pasta because of the thing to cut it…looks like a square guitar with a million strings. Had to roll it out our regular dough and then cut it to fit in the guitar. Then you used a rolling pin to roll it over the strings which cuts the past into perfect spaghetti. To make the cavatelli (traditional pasta from Abruzzo) you cut the dough ball into small pieces then roll it into long skinny snakes a little thicker than you baby finger. Cut off 1/4 – 1/2 inch pieces, then with two fingers push the bits of dough forward and it kind of rolls over on itself, making a shell or “hotdog bun” shape. Chef M had made a veggie sauce earlier that we had later with the cavatelli.

Making the cavatelli

Lunch was excellent….the chitarra pasta with just the tomato sauce, no meat, then the cavatelli with the veg sauce, then separately all the meat, including the meatballs. Absolutely delicious! Tiramisu for dessert…..finished around 2:30.

Off on a field trip……olive oil tour and tasting was our first stop at La Selvotta. Some very different oils. A couple with quite the citrus flavor (lemon and orange very distinguishable…) would be great on fish and/or chicken. The oil was very good….gave that nice little after burn. Beautiful olive grove with trees anywhere from 5 – 50 years old. They process and sell all their own and also process small batches for personal use for local people. For their own (commercial use) they used all the new high tech presses but they still have the old stone presses that are used for the locals. They no longer use the old fashioned press with the mats….too much bacteria and mixing of old and new. https://www.oliveoilsitaly.com/producer/la-selvotta/

Wine tasting was next…..I forgot to grab a business card and now can’t remember the name of the winery!! Must remember to ask Fabrizio tomorrow. Toured the vineyard and he explained the “arbor” or “pergola” method of growing and shaping the canopy….protects the grapes from too much sun and also reduces moisture loss. They had vineyards using that method and also just the regular staked method. Tasted some Montipulciano d’Abruzzo, which is all they grow there. They make a reserve, DOC, IFH as well as vino d’tavola. Had a taste of prosciutto, headcheese (very good!) and bread with olive oil to go with our tasting. I bought a 2007 DOC.

Almost 7 before we headed back to Termoli. Dinner tonight was at Svevia Restaurant. Salted cod with a bread crumb topping, pan fired potatoes and beans. It was really good. I got my own special chocolalte crème brulee and everyone else had ice cream with pistachio nuts….which I could have eaten but oh well! Lots of wine and liqueurs to sample tonight. Sat around an chatted for a long time.

It’s midnight and I’m going to take a gravol….I really need a good nights sleep!

Wed Sept 12

Slept good! Another beautiful morning and another great continental breakfast

Class today was “L’arte Dei Ripieni – The Art of Stuffing”. We made ravioli pasta then the spinach and ricotta stuffing. Next was stuffed mussels……which was cheese and bread crumbs stuffed back into the mussel shells, then they were tied closed with little bits of string and poached in the mussels liquid……these were to die for!! Stuffed veggies…..little eggplants, zucchini, peppers….meat stuffing for the eggplant and zucchini and cheese for the peppers. Then we made egg and cheese balls which were really good! They were deep fried and served as appies or fried and covered with a tomato sauce. Lots of wine as usual.

The many beverages served at dinner!

Lunch was absolutely delicious…..we ate everything we made! At each meal we have many different drinks….usually one that is like a special of the day, aperitif, wine, various local made liqueurs to choose from and thankfully lots of water!! Finished around 2.

Had a bit of a rest and then on the bus and Vasto again to visit a cook shop…..same idea as our Gourmet Warehouse or Williams Sonoma….lots of great bits and pieces and some beautiful big pots and pans and gorgeous ceramics. I bought one of the clay/terracotta bowls that can go on the stove……..our mussels were cooked in a similar bowl/pot. Hope it makes it home in one piece!

Tonight some of us (10) opted for a dinner with Fabrizios family at his aunts place. Up on a hillside with views to the sea. Nice brick and stone house among olive trees and a vineyard. They have a little farm with a donkey, goats, chicken etc. They make their own wine, of course, so we got to fill the jugs from their big stainless steel vats. Lots of dried garlic ropes, onions and peppers hanging from the ceiling in their sort of lean-to type shed (which was quite lovely!) There were salumi hanging/drying from the rafters in the living room!! Quite enjoyable wandering around, chatting with his uncle and grandpa, drinking wine.

His mom and aunt started making the pasta for the lasagna and we rolled it out and put it all together. A local traditional lasagna…..layers of pasta, mushrooms in a sauce, béchamel, ham, parm and mozza cheese, topped with beaten egg and more parm. That went into the oven and back outside to enjoy all the goodies they’d put out for appies….their homemade salumi, olives from their trees, a couple of different kinds of cheese (can’t recall if from their goats…) and lots of wine of course.

They got the bbq going…..skewers of lamb done on a neat little contraption that has a bunch of little tube things that you stick the end of the skewers into and then they rotate over the fire.

First course was the best ever tomato salad….dressed simply with olive oil, basil, parsley and a bit of chili along with the antipasti of melon with prosciutto and more cheese. Lasagna was next….so simple but so delicious. Then the lamb skewers, which went well with the last bit of the salad. Dessert was olive oil cookies filled with grape marmalade….very good and lastly homemade limoncello and cherry liqueur to wash it all down. 20 of us all for dinner under the olive trees….so lovely. (I have lost all my pictures from that evening….I have no idea what happened to them but they are gone from my SD card….so disappointing)

Visited for a while after dinner and then back to Termoli. Had coffee with Rocky and Kathy (Philadelphia)…..chatted about healthcare (their system and ours…..they wished for ours!). She had worked in Healthcare Admin and Connie and I in insurance. A few of the younger ones came along with a few drinks under their belts and entertained us for a long time…..lots of laughs. Almost 2AM before we packed it in!

Thurs Sept 13

“Traditional Homemade Desserts” today. Zia Rosaria (Chef Massimos aunt!) was our party chef. We made 4 different kinds of cookies…all very good. First ones were Mostaccioli, which they said were kind of chocolate molasses (mustardo) cookie, then one that was like a big scored sugar cookie that was cut into pieces, brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with sugar, Breakfast biscuits and finally Cavicioni which, besides flour, are made with chickpeas that have been boiled and blended….the dough is rolled out (using a pasta machine) very thin then stuffed with a filling like ravioli!

A couple of interesting things…..a couple of the recipes used baking ammonia. It’s crystals that come in big jar and it really smells like ammonia….it makes everything more light and airy. I’ve never seen it at home, but that said, nor have I ever looked for it or used a recipe that called for it! You can substitute 1tsp of the baking ammonia = 1 tsp baking soda and 1tsp baking powder. The other was the vanilla…..at home our recipes call for a tsp of pure vanilla extract, which is liquid, here they use pre-measured packets of powdered vanilla…..these I have seen at home but never thought to use them….are they “pure” vanilla?? Zia Rosaria didn’t use a bowl at all….made all her pastry dough the same a you would your pasta dough….kneading by hand and using the pasta maker to roll it out. No salt was added to any of the baked goodies! She also used a wine bottle to crush the ammonia crystals and to roll out some of the dough. Lot of wine while making all these…..before lunch. Fun morning!

Lunch today was delicious! Pork scallopine in a truffle gravy…..absolutely fantastic. I sopped up every last drop of it with the bread….and honestly would have licked the plate. It came with a tomato and onion salad that was great too. All the pastries for dessert. This was referred to as a “light lunch”!

After lunch we were supposed to have walking tour of old town Termoli artisan area but it was so windy and rainy….and COLD…I only did the tour of the fort and tower. My umbrella and blown inside out about 4 times just getting that far so didn’t bother with the rest of the tour. The info on the tower was interesting…..not terribly much there other than an old cannon and a few rather bizarre paintings. They can’t afford to do all the necessary restoration work so it’s not usually open unless someone has an exhibit of some sort (the art??). Just went back to the room, checked emails, reloaded the phone, napped and read for a while.

Dinner tonight was roast chicken….really moist and wonderfully crispy skin. First course was a delicious soup…..a very tasty broth with kidney beans, flat noodles, a bit of carrot and pancetta. More of the pastries for dessert along with limoncello.

After dinner Connie and I went in search of a café for a nightcap or coffee but because of the weather pretty well everything was closed up tight. Old town Termoli isn’t very big but there must be at least 10 or more really nice looking restaurants…..if they are anything like the Svevia, that is incredible for such a small place!

Just back to the room, made our own decaf coffee. Emails, reading….kind of a nice quiet day for a change.

Fri Sept 14

Up very early today. Had to be on the bus by 8:15. Much nicer this morning than yesterday….windy with the sun popping out every now and again…..definitely needed a jacket!

Our beach had taken quite a beating the night before!

First was the visit to the bell foundry, about an hour or so outside of Termoli, in the hilltown of Agnone. Beautiful drive inland with towns on the top…..the very top….of just about every hill or mountain we passed. Lots and lots of olive trees, some vineyards up the side of the hills.

The bell foundry was incredibly interesting….who would have thought! They have a very nice little museum and store, of course. Quite an amazing process that they go thru making the inner and outer moulds and the moulds for the decorations and inscriptions. Then the entire tuning process was interesting in itself….had never thought about “tuning” bells!! http://campanemarinelli.com/en/

On to Caseificio de Nucci Antonio. Had a great tour. Couldn’t go in the room where they make the curds but watched them dump big buckets of then into a big bin where they mooshed around, then someone takes big handfuls and shapes them into the cheeses….we seen the cacciocavello being made. After the cheese is shaped it sits in a saltwater bath for anywhere from 20 – 40 days, then into the cold room. We did get to go in there. All the cheeses, in various stages of maturity, were hanging. Some really dark yellow and covered in mold, others barely any colour at all. Very damp and moldy smelling…..there’s a well under the stone floor that keeps the humidity level correct. Connie and I bought a cacciocavello and scmorza. Finished the tour in their little museum with some information on the history and samples!

Our lunch was at Santa Lucia Massaria. Up on the hillside with incredible views in every direction. Beautiful place! We had a very simple lunch of porchetta buns and fresh tomato bruschetta. The porchetta was good but not as good as the Tuscan one….not as flavourful, but still good. Some pretty harsh homemade wine to go with it….watered it down quite a bit. Espresso’s and fresh figs and other fruit for dessert. She had a bunch of homemade products as well….confits, jams, honey, including truffle honey! 5E a jar….a real deal considering I paid almost $25 at home for a jar. I bought 3! Killed the rest of an hour or so wandering around the property. We were supposed to have lunch outside under a pergola, which looked lovely but a little too iffy to do that today. Very pretty place with lots of cozy little sitting areas and big stone patio with planters full of geraniums and other colourful flowers. Tons of olive trees and many other fruit trees. Unfortunately it was a bit windy and chilly just to sit though…..sun poked in and out….good while it was out, not so good when it wasn’t. One of the hilltowns across the way was Agnone, where the bell foundry was.

Back on the bus to Termoli at 5 for our Pizza Making class. Chef M had some of the pizza dough ready for kneading so some of us took a stab at that, others made the dough from scratch themselves. When it was all ready to go, rolled and pressed it into the pans and put the sauce on them…..which was simply canned tomatoes that had been put through a food mill, a bit of fresh basil, oregano and salt. I’m not a big sauce person so a little too much on the pizza for me, nor it thick crust pizza one of my favs…..lots of fun putting it all together…..lots of wine while we were doing it. Made a couple of different kinds of pizza as well as a bruschetta with mozza and stracchino cheese and Italian sausage and a pizza tart (covered) with onions and anchovies. All was delicious…..too much sauce, thick crust and all! One thing he did that I really liked was after putting the sauce on the pizza dough you back it! In a really hot oven for 10 or so minutes just to get the crust rising, cook the bottom and starting to brown around the edges. Take it out, put on whatever toppings you want and cheese, then back in the hot oven for just a few minutes to heat everything up and melt the cheese.

The bruschetta and pizza for dinner……our last dinner 😦 Lots of pics and hugs and Italian style cheek kisses. Jim and Susan from Iowa, Karen and Florence from NY were the ones that Connie and I hung around with most of the time. Great people. Susan had kidney cancer and luckily had recovered and was in full remission….small world really! We braved a coffee in the wind at the bar under our room. Looked like it was going to clear up quite nicely….lots of stars peeking out through the clouds.

A fun, very busy week. Learned some good technics for my future pasta and pizza making endeavours….looking forward to trying some of these things at home. Fabrizio was a great tour guide…..very attentive to everyones needs, open to suggestions and overall just a very nice guy. I hope his company is a great success for him. We certainly had no complaints….everything was what we thought and more! So impressed with the restaurant…..really quite an elegant place.

Back to the room to pack up and get ready for our next adventure…..Puglia! Have never been so looking forward to visiting….and of course staying in our trullo for the next week!