Tuscany

A lack of internet and a monster cold have prevented me from blogging for almost two weeks. I hope I never leave my readers (few) hanging for so long again. When I arrived in Milan, Rocco was waiting for me in the train station in exactly the kind of outfit a classy Milanese man on a hot humid day would wear: khakis, boat shoes, pink button-down.  

I had not realized how much I missed my Italian friend until I saw him and he immediately took all my bags to carry. His apartment is very chic, with huge windows that open completely to fresh air. I had a simple dinner with his mom, but I think the ricotta with olive oil is actually the best thing I have eaten in Italy so far. The olive oil comes from his grandparent’s house in Lucignano, Tuscany, which is where we headed the next day.

Rocco, Francesca, and I spent a week in Lucignano, mostly touring small Tuscan cities and eating pecorino. The first day we stopped in Pienza to have the first round of pecorino and admire the narcissism of Pio Secondo, Pope Pius II.  After lunch we drove to the Petriolo hot springs, which we would never have found without Fra’s brilliance at reading Italian road maps.

 The hot springs were too hot! We left for a dinner (wine, pasta, steak, dessert, coffee, the works) at an agritourismo called Santa Maria. It was a full moon, so we headed back to the hot springs at midnight to join the German hippie van at their bonfire.

The next day was spent in Siena. I was in a bad mood most of the day until we had some gelato. Fra said I ordered in Italian “perfectly, no mistake.” :) The cathedral was impressive, especially the tile floor mosaics. Unfortunately, none of my pictures turned out very well. On Sunday we went to Arezzo, where they happened to be hosting their yearly medieval festival. 

Every neighborhood has their own flags and colors and team of horse-riders and knights (?) It was confusing but fun; particularly when the rivalries became so heated that everyone was yelling “cheaters!” in Italian and making various hand gestures. We picked up a kilo of gelato from this amazing gelateria called Violetta to bring to La Lite for dinner. The next day my monster cold kicked in and I spent the day indoors at La Lite, napping and dreaming about missing trains. To make a long story short and skip over the Twilight Zone episode that was my first attempt at WWOOFing, I am back in Milan recovering by watching tv on Rocco’s couch. On Sunday I head out for the next adventure (TBD). Here is a picture of the lands outside Arezzo.