Leaving Sovicille and the Siena Countryside

Casabella

It was hard to say goodbye to Casabella  but as we knew would happen, our time in Italy had to end. We so enjoyed out stay at Casabella--so much so that we could not muster up the energy for trips to towns and sites we had earmarked for touring.

With Renzo & Marzia in Casabella

Still, knowing that we want to return to Italy soon, we decided to just relax and enjoy our time in Sovicille and the Siena countryside.  We formed friendships with our hosts, Marzia & Renzo, and we definitely will plan another stay in one of their properties.

We have skipped a couple weeks between our trips to Todi, Poggio with the cooking lesson a la Danilo, and our visit to Certaldo with Cynthia and Nancy.

Cynthia & Nancy picnicking at Ricasoli

Not having written until now, those memories are getting foggy.  We spent the last few days of their stay in Casabella--our only regret being that it was too cool to get into the pool, which Renzo so graciously prepared early in the season at our request.  We did, however, spend time in Siena, revisited Ricasoli castle and winery for the third time, and generally had loads of fun with "the girls".

At our favorite restaurant in Piensa, La Buca della Fate

After they left, we relaxed in our beautiful villa, visited with Renzo and Marzia and had a wonderful evening with Norah White, whom we met at Ricasoli.  She served us all three times at our wine tastings and we grew to like her very much.  She and her husband, Giuseppi, came one night for dinner and we hope to have formed a lasting friendship.

Alas, our bucolic sojourn in the Siena countryside ended on May 25, and we had to head to Rome for a few days before our flight back to the U.S.

Piera, Sue & Nilo

On our way to Rome we made a short but important detour to Parana, a small Umbrian town, to visit with Nilo and Piera Leonardi. When we were last in Siena, in 2000, we stayed with the Leonardis for two months.  They were wonderful hosts then, and Piera is a superb cook, and nothing has changed except their location

Our reunion was delightful; they have a lovely home and they seemed happy to see us.  To aid the students who lived with them to learn Italian, they purposely chose not to learn English. Yet, they are both quite intuitive and seem to have little trouble understanding our halting Italian and making us understand their Italian.  

As we said, Piera is a wonderful "cuoca," and the feast she prepared, which included soup, pici (homemade thick Tuscan pasta), spinach soufle, salad, roasted por in carrot sauce, and a torta, was just incredible. Accompanied by their homemade olive oil, the two hour visit and feast were a delight. It was so nice to renew our bonds of friendship, and we of course promised not to wait another 12 years to return again. But of course, we had to say goodbye as we needed to get onto Rome.

We will write again about Rome and our return, but for now...our best to all and especially to all those who physically shared our journey.  Our virtual companions we love, too, so buon fortunal a tutti !