Tuscany

Wednesday, October 11 – Saturday, October 14: Tuscany (Bill)

We left Magliano after an early breakfast and took the long way to Tuscany, first driving through the center of Umbria to the historic walled town of Assisi to visit the Basilica di San Francesco, a gorgeous church that houses the tomb of St. Francis himself. We left Assisi and drove west to Perugia, home of the world-famous Perugina chocolate factory. (Actually, the factory was located outside Perugia, in a suburb called San Sisto. This little secret resulted in about an hour’s worth of aimless driving and direction-asking, but we eventually found the factory and its museum. The drive was worth it, if for nothing else than to stand beside, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest piece of chocolate in history, weighing in at just over 13,100 pounds. Probably gained another kilo or two just breathing next to that thing.)

From Perugia, the road west continues around Lake Trasimento, past Cortona, under the Autostrade, and then presto! you’re in Tuscany and you know you couldn’t be anywhere else. The rolling hills look like a patchwork quilt of green grass and brown tilled earth lined with cypress trees, and every so often a peaceful farm house rises up against the horizon. It is just so serene and stunning that it’s hard not to forget yourself and drive right off the road.

We arrived at Dionora, a charmingly restored farmhouse just outside Montepulciano. Our friends Jeff and Ginger from D.C. had come here five years ago on their honeymoon and had loved it so much that they return every year in October. When they found out we would all be in Italy at the same time, they invited us to join them at Dionora.

We stayed two nights but it turns out we could have stayed a month. Dionora was so relaxing and beautiful, and having Jeff and Ginger as hosts made our stay perfect. It was so good to see them and they knew the area so well from their visits. Jeff immediately took us into Pienze to do some wine shopping; we stocked up on some fantastic vino nobile and vinsanto. We spent the next day driving around to charming towns like San Quirico, and eating a wine and cheese picnic on the lawn of the 800-year-old cathedral San Biaggio in Montepulciano, and dipping our feet into the ancient Roman Baths at Bagno Vignoni.

And we spent that evening sitting under the grapevines by Dionora’s pool drinking vino nobile and then having dinner at La Grotta, where we ate arugula salad, crostinis and tripe, tagliatelle pasta in white truffle sauce, and roasted pigeon stuffed with pancetta and pecorino cheese (Jim, I hope you’re still reading this blog…that was for you).

We reluctantly said goodbye to Jeff, Ginger, and Dionora on Friday morning and drove north to Florence for a couple of days of sightseeing. Such a contrast from the rest of Tuscany, Florence is crowded and jam-packed with so many historical pieces of architecture and art that it’s a bit overwhelming. We walked through town all day Friday, visiting Santa Maria del Fiore (more commonly known as the Duomo), a monolithic church that covers over 27,000 square feet and can accommodate up to 25,000 people. Its entire exterior is covered in white, green, and red marble, and, like its extravagance or not, one must agree that it truly is an architectural marvel. We also visited the Piazza della Signorina with its outdoor statue garden, and the beautiful church of Santa Croce. We walked along the Arno River to the Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s most famous bridge and the only one not destroyed by retreating Nazi forces during World War II. Saturday, we woke up early and hit the Piazza Mercato Centrale (the “central market”) and had fun shopping and haggling with the merchants there. Had some great pizza before having to say goodbye to Florence and drive out to the airport.

Italy was absolutely fantastic, and we plan on returning there some day for a longer trip. We crammed so much into eight days that we were a little worn out when we boarded our flight for Paris. Paris, however, is a magical place that immediately provided our second wind. Amanda can tell you all about it in our next post.

Until then, arrividerci!

Bill