Traveling Companions & Great Friends 

This past month traveling with six friends, some of whom we have known for many years and others whom we have just begun to get to know, was a delight and an education.  

Thanks to all of you—Mart & Bob, Carole, Jennifer & Steve and Blythe—for making it a memorable and fun-filled adventure! Let's do it all again—real soon.

Starting with Paris, where longtime friends and oft traveling buddies, Mart & Bob, let us join them in a delightful apartment, near the Metro and in a neighborhood full of shops and restaurants. We shared four fun days highlighted by a full day at Giverny and another at Chartres—where we also got to meet their childhood friend, Barb.

Then it was onto Tuscany, where we all gathered at Casabella and Casabellina and met our wonderful hosts Marzia and Renzo.

Anna, everyone's favorit guide,  gave us an introduction to the city of Siena, its history and especially the Palio and the Contrade, especially her contrada, Lupa. 

Some of us even took the challenge to climb to the top of what was to be the largest church in Christendom, only to be thwarted by the Black Death and hubris. 

Others of us were just contented  with shopping or drinking our new favorite an Aperol Spritz.

 Oh the meals we enjoyed together, some days it seemed like the pasta or wine couldn't get any better, 

only to discover another great dish or wine at the next hill town...

or the next... 

and then we learned to cook some great Tuscan food ourselves...

Did you ever think we would visit Elba? 

We weren't quite able to find the real  Naplolean, but it was a great island visit, neverthe less.

The walk from Casabella thru the Tuscan hills  that Steve discovered for us was great fun, just glad that Carole didn't take one or all of the kittens home with her.  Will  we see crazy mop headed chickens again? Could they be Polish chickens?

The birthday party for Sue was perfect...and the napkins, the most thoughtful of gifts, and your  driving all over Tuscany to find the napkins was above and beyond. 

The Birthday Party dinner for 14, including our hosts, Marzia & Renzo, and four new friends they introduced us to, was a stellar and memorable night and one we will long remember and cherish. 

The food and shopping were so good at Monteriggioni that we had to return twice. 

Bob certainly wins the prize as the most dedicated sketcher, as well as the most appropriately dressed ; it was always fun to see how his artist's eye interpreted what we were seeing and experiencing. 

Larry enjoyed having his skills and leadership being recognized and rewarded—but is still wondering why you didn't always follow his directions?
 

But all good things do come to an end, so we spent the last week saying goodbye. 

First to Jen & Steve at the Orvieto Travis station. Then we were six...

and five, 

and finally you all left us, but our journey continues but with  new traveling partners, John & Bonnie (Sue's brother and sister in law.)

In the next couple of weeks we will be exploring a little further afield in southern Italy and Sicily...so stayed tuned.

Colle di Val d’Elsa

Colle di Val D’Elsa is a charming little hill town, less than a half hour's drive from our base in Sovicille, perfect for a leisurely day of sight seeing and eating. We visited there during our fourth week in Tuscany,

 After a harrowing search for parking—Larry nearly drove off the side of a cliff and had to back down a narrow drive, with the help of a helpful and providential local resident, avoiding both a pole and a large medieval looking building, while trying not drive off the cliff. 

Once safety parked and our nerves under control, we took the elevator to the upper and older part of town.

There we found a town seemingly frozen in time—that is if you ignore the cars and electricity, which on this quiet day was fairly easy to do.

The main thoroughfare is lined with 16th & 17th century palazzi, built by Florence's Medicis and their allies.

The 17th century Duomo is lovely—particularly when you open the door and hear the parish organist practicing. We all sat down in an available pew to listen. Wondering on a bit more, we stopped at a beautiful little bridge.

There a friendly citizen obligingly  offered to take  our picture—we are only six now, since we said goodbye to Steve and Jennifer a few days prior to our visit to Colle —but we really liked the photo.  

Restaurants were few and far between, but we finally stumbled onto a lovely little Enoteca, or wine bar, that also served simple Tuscan fare. 

It was another great experience, with Patricia and Pietro, the owners, treating us like friends and family. You Can imagine how good the wine was. 

Our final stop in town (after the compulsory gelateria)  was to visit a small,  crystal museum and shop—Colle is the heart of the crystal industry in Italy—someone told us that they creat something like 90% of  the lead crystal produced in Italy.

There we met Guido who showed us some of his crystal creations—which we just had to buy.

Below the museum, we spotted an old fountain which is called the smiling fountain, for obvious reasons. 

You crank the "tongue” back and forth to  pump the water.




A perfect day—like so many we have enjoyed these last three weeks.

Cooking   with Danilo

During our second week in Siena, we all traveled to Poggio Alla Croce, where some years ago we met the Becatinni Family—Danilo, GianCarla and Lorenzo and Rina and Dario,GianCarla's parents and doting grandparents to Lorenzo.

For many years, Danilo, with the help of his family, operated a great little restaurant in the town, but with the grandparents aging and Lorenzo now working full time in the fashion industry, they decided to close the restaurant. 

Today they concentrate on hosting tourists visiting the area in the four apartments that they own in the town, which is only 10 miles from Florence. 

However, Danilo, who  is a wonderful traditional cook, misses cooking and whenever the opportunity permits, is happy to show visitors how to make great Tuscan food, like ravioli, panzanella, and tiramisu.   

These are the dishes he demonstrated in a three hour cooking lesson. Simple foods but they have to be done right. 

Mart, Jennifer, Steve and Blythe were the eager students. 

Sue, Larry, Carole and Bob served as cheerleaders and photographers.  

It was a fun time when some of us discovered cooking talents we didn't know  we had, while others of us decided that it was almost as much fun to watch a cooking lessons as to participate in one.  All of us really enjoyed the results of the lesson. 

Danilo asked us to dine in the family loggia that looks out to Florence in the far distance ; he joined us for coffee  and dessert and regaled us with stories and pictures of the family and of their many guests over the years. He is a true gentleman, comfortable  with his guests, and despite not being able to speak English, seems to communicate with ease what needs to be said. It was experience we will all long remember.

We all got to share in the meal created by Danilo and his willing  students, dining in the Becatinnis beautiful loggia...

with its beautiful vistas of the Tuscan countryside. 

The cooks were rightfully proud of their accomplishments!

Pienza

One of our favorite Tuscan hill towns, besides Siena, of course, is Pienza. 

Overlooking the stunningly beautiful Val D’Orcia, it is the perfect size and perfect distance (one hour) from our home away from, Casabella, for a one day visit.

Once known as Corsignano, Pienza, in middle of the 15th  century, was razed and rebuilt by the hometown boy, Pope Pius II (Aenius Piccolomini) and then renamed in his own honor.

According to Wikipedia, it is the first known humanist urban planning project.

Pius, a scholar, poet, world traveler and diplomat, hoped his planned city would become a center for learning and commerce.

During his brief reign as pope, it flourished but never really grew or prospered after that. 

So in many ways it is a 15th century time-capsule, with its small, but beautiful renaissance piazza, anchored by the Duomo and the Piccolomini Palace.

We toured the Palace, whose other claim to fame is that it served as the setting for Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 romantic production of Romeo and Juliet.

Those of us of a certain age remember how ground breaking and beautiful that film was.

As it is the film's 50th anniversary, costumes from the film were on display and the theme song from the movie constantly wafted from the gift shop.

The palace is somewhat austere but still very interesting to tour; we had an especially good guide and interpreter this time. Larry & Sue have seen it several times.

A  bright and beautiful day, it was  great  for shopping (pecorino cheese, leather goods, and jewelry to name a few) and touring;

There were many opportunities for group shots and panoramic photos of the Orcia valley, which stretches away from the hilltop town to the beautiful Mount Amiata, the highest peak in Tuscany, which you can see in in the far distance.

For  lunch, we ate (or over indulged) at one of our favorite restaurants, La Buca delle Fatte (the mouth of the fairies). Which according to Larry, means something like A Place for Good Fortune.)

Whatever it mean, it was a fabulous and filling meal! And a fun and relaxing day.

Monteriggioni

Monteriggioni is not much of a town, probably fewer than 50 people live there now, but it still retains its medieval wall and is a perfect place to visit, shop and relax while absorbing a little Italian and Tuscan history.

Throughout much of Italian history, the town has been a Siena ally, and many times in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Sienese sought refuge in its walls when attacked by their arch rivals, the Florentines.

Those days of conflict and wars are long gone, fortunately, but on the Sunday after our arrival, we sought refuge from the maddening hordes of tourists (how could there be so many people in late September?) invading Siena and fortunately we found it in Monteriggioni.

The village has a charming central piazza—lined, of course, with wine shops and restaurants, but anchored by a lovely but tiny 12th century Romanesque church.

The church probably couldn't hold 100 at max and these days probably sees a lot fewer, but it is still very sweet and serene. 

Cute little shops selling to tourists are on the two streets that make up the town—leading you two blocks from the square and then back again.

Several of our party bought shoes while others opted for jewelry.

Once again it proved  a nice  respite from some of the larger and more crowded hill towns.

Our best find was a new (or at least new to us) place to eat—il Ristorante da Remo. They managed to seat all eight of us on the patio, despite having no reservation on a beautiful and warm late summer day and being full of other hungry tourists just like us.

The food was terrific, some of the best we have had and that is saying a lot: their pici pasta with truffles was outstanding and everyone loved their selections, which included rabbit, pork, fish and beef.

The young proprietor, Eduardo, is the son of Remo. His family also owns and operates a nearby luxury hotel (il Piccolo Costello). 

He was quite handsome—some of the ladies (who will go nameless) flirted shamelessly with him.  After lunch he introduced us to his American born fiancée, Katrina. We all vowed to go back soon!

This blog contains two group pictures, in the first, Larry is missing as he was the photographer, as was Mart in the second.

King Robert and Queen Caroline bid you a fond adieu from Monteriggioni. Ya'll come back you hear!