Easter Week in Chianti and Rome

 

Our first week in April was very hectic.  With much regret, we left Siena on Easter Sunday, March 31.  Our landlady, Marzia, told us that we could get a temporary pass to bring our car into the city walls in order to pick up our luggage—saving us the trouble of schlepping up and down Siena’s steep hilly streets.  Having forgotten about the daylight savings change which started in Italy that day, 12:00 noon came upon us a little too abruptly, but we managed to make our 12:30 deadline (bringing cars into the walled city is strictly controlled and fines are very high if you break the rules).

  

Before leaving Siena, we decided to eat a last time at one of our favorite eateries, Pizzeria Nonno Mede, along with the rest of the Easter crowd.  We were able to say thanks and goodbye to Mimo—one of the young waiters who always made us feel so welcome.  And we delighted in the antics of Maria, the little two-year old whose parents own Nonno Mede.

At Nonno Mede--farewell to Mimo--our favorite waiter in Siena

Maria and her mom, Nonno Mede's Restaurant

Having finished lunch we set off for our new apartment in the Chianti region.  The drive was short, we found our new landlord, but just as we were about to follow him from his restaurant to the site of the apartment, our car conked out.  Panic!  We thought we were stuck on a steep hill in a seemingly remote corner of Chianti.  We asked our young host, Lorenzo, what we should do, and he immediately said, “I don’t know, I’ll ask my father.”  Soon his Dad, Danilo, came to our rescue and told us to just roll down the steep hill.  Voila!  The car started.  Thank goodness!  Maybe it was just flooded, who knows?

We settled into our place in a very tiny hamlet in Greve called Poggio Alla Croce—one restaurant (owned by Danilo and Lorenzo) and one church.  Though our apartment is adequate, being in the hamlet is a tad too isolated for our taste.  We are glad to have the car to be able to check out more of the area. Danilo was kind enough to make us dinner that night even though the restaurant was closed after a very, very busy Easter Sunday pranza (lunchtime meal).  Father and son are so similar in looks that it seems Danilo spit Lorenzo out.  We tell them they look like twins, though the ages are different of course.  Both are incredibly kind, gracious and lots of fun.

Anita learns to make pasta with Danilo

 Monday the three of us settled in, Sue and Anita took a pasta cooking lesson with Danilo and then all three of us along with Lorenzo, Danilo and Nonna ate what they had prepared--wonderful. We then spent the day in the small town of Greve in Chianti enjoying the open air market and finding, as usual, a wonderful restaurant where each of us had yet another fabulous dish washed down with yet another liter of delicious wine.

Florence's Loggia of Art

Tuesday we traveled by train to Florence, seemingly along with much of Europe.  Over the years we have visited Florence several times, but never have we experienced so many people.  With only one day to tour, we opted not to try to get into either the Uffizi or the Academy (home of Michelangelo’s David); the Duomo was very crowded but we did get in and enjoyed it. The Ponte Vecchio was wall-to-wall people—although few seemed to be buying the expensive jewelry you find there.  Anita found a purse at a store owned by an American woman who came to Florence nearly thirty years ago with her Italian husband.

Florence: Ponte Vecchio & the hordes of tourists

We were pretty tired after a long day of walking/touring/being lost, but for the first time the weather seemed spring like, so we enjoyed our time in the open air. Our visit confirmed for us once again that we prefer Siena to Florence, despite all the art to be found in Florence.

As we said, Poggio is a pretty isolated hamlet—nearly 12 kilometers from the nearest big town (Figline Valdarno), so getting anywhere involves driving some pretty twisting country roads—but the compensation is the extraordinary scenery.

Typical Tuscan scene

Two of our day trips involved visits to wineries—the first, Tenuta La Novella, is nearby but is a very small operation run by a young French-Italian couple (Bertram and Laura).  Although we were their only visitors for the day, and they were both busy with farm/office activities, they provided us with a nice tour of the farm and a casual, informative wine tasting. We bought a couple bottles of their Chianti Classico, which is delicious and we wish we could share it with you reading this.

Laura at Tenuta La Novella

Our second winery visit took us to Ricasoli, an estate that has been owned by the same family since the middle of the 12^th century.  Thanks to an introduction from one of Anita’s friends, we were given a private tour of the castle by Camellia, a young Romanian woman who speaks perfect English as well as Italian. This was followed by a special wine tasting experience, conducted by Nora, a native of Buenos Aires.  Nora's knowledge of wine seemed encyclopedic; she was warm, welcoming & unhurried--again we were so very impressed with her language skills--Spanish, of course, Italian, English, French and passable German. We lingered over the wine tasting for what must have been close to two hours. Although Anita often participates in wine tasting events in the States, it is a fairly novel experience for us—but Ricasoli wines are something we hope we can share again soon with some of our other visitors. (Thanks again Anita!) The Ricasoli castle, parts of which date from 1150, is perched high up on a hill with a gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside—you can even see Siena, which is more that 20 miles away.

Ricasoli Castle

Tasting wine at Ricasoli with Nora; fantastic wines and fantastic experience

This past weekend we traveled to Rome as Anita needed to catch a plane home on April 8^th. Again, half of Europe seemed to have decided to visit the city.  Touring the Vatican Museum can only be likened to being herded onto a cattle car.  At the end of the visit, we found ourselves in the Sistine Chapel, one of the true artistic wonders of the world,  with perhaps two or three thousand other tourists, constantly being urged to be quiet and respectful, not to take pictures and to move on as others needed to come in.  Even with the guards pushing everyone along, we were able to marvel at the incredible work.  Only with an in-person visit can you appreciate the indescribable glory of Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

Rome: Treve Fountain & 10,000 of our nearest & dearest friends

Despite the crowds, Rome is still a wonderful and exciting place—there is always something new to experience as it is impossible to do everything that the city has to offer:  Fascinating Roman ruins, beautiful churches, glorious art, and of course, great food and drinks.  We spent almost the entire day Sunday walking through the Coliseum and Forum—there was so much to see and absorb, but also because the weather was just spectacular:  a clear blue sky with warm, bright sunshine.  We hated to waste a moment of it inside.  Finally, sunny Italy has shown itself to us.

Rome: Coliseum--still impressive, even in ruins

Forum: Temple of Saturn

While in Rome we renewed our acquaintance with the Paris family, owners and operators of the Ascot Hotel, a small hotel only a couple blocks from the main train station.  We have stayed there several times in the past twenty years and have always enjoyed our time at the Ascot Hotel.  During a week long stay in 2000, Enzo and Maria Grazia, had invited us to dinner, and when they found out we were once more in the hotel, Enzo sought us out. Now retired and only helping out occasionally, Enzo again invited us to join them for lunch—this time out in the country, about an hour outside of the city.  We so enjoyed the ride and the meal, but most especially the company of these very gracious and kind Romans.

Enzo & Maria Grazia Paris--renewing a great friendship with lovely people

Anita returned home Monday morning—leaving the hotel at 4:00 am--we slept through her departure.  We said goodnight to her the previous evening, after yet another delicious meal, this time at La Famiglia Ristorante, just around the corner from Hotel Ascot.  During the meal we started talking to a young Canadian couple who were visiting Italy for the very first time.  It was fun to share our experiences and impressions with these honeymooners.  We all drank a bunch of wine, some of which was provided gratis from the restaurant owners, due to their friendship with Enzo and Maria Grazia.  These kinds of experiences are what traveling is all about and what we enjoy so very much—the serendipitous meeting up with people and making instant and sometimes long lasting friendships.  And this time we were able to share it all with one of our oldest friends from our college years.

Anita, Maria Grazia, and Sue--enjoying the spring sunshine.