Under a Tuscan drizzle
Day 13:
Despite a late night we hit the road early on our way to fabled Tuscany. We reached SIENA by midday and hitched our tent in a daffodil meadow about 4kms from the old centre of town. The sun was shining but biting alpine winds herded us into a rustic warm restaurant where we took comfort in regional cuisine. Grounded and warmed by the food we discovered the town with its exsquisitely appealing window dressings of flowers, meats, cheeses, pastries, leathergoods. Late afternoon we wandered home to enjoy a picnic blanket, a bottle of a chianti, a good book and just generally soaking up the last rays of the Tuscan sun.
Day 14:
A day to explore the towns in the surrounding area. MONTALCINO we enjoyed coffee and pastries on the central square under the slowly emerging sun. The bell tower marked a musical welcome. Tuscany has been a turn from the intellectual journey of museums, galleries, ruins, and sites to the spiritual journey of slowing, savouring, inspiring, and allowing myself to drop down and in to the pace and feel of life among the rolling hills and tucked away villages that come to life at every turn. Next to something something TERME for hot springs and a hot lunch as the day had quickly turned grey and the wind again picked up as if carrying the cold from the snow. For a reason still unfathomed, the whole town was shut down except for one bar/restaurant. Settling on a quick, hot plate of pasta we were presented with two plastic containers of microwave-heated pre-cooked spaghetti and preservative sauce – a sacraligious gesture in the region of slow cooked, artisanal food. The hot springs were instead hot baths, so we skipped on to PIENZA, another tiny hill top town and procured organic olive oil, limoncello, and generally explored the various gourmet food shops. Final stop MONTECILLANO for an exsquisite selection of artisanal shops seling everything form hand crafted leather theatrical masks, to mosiacs, to leadlights, to etchings, to knitted and felted clothes, to copper cookware, and ceramics. The rain set in so we wandered about in drizzle a little longer and then made our way back to the car, and back home for an aperitivo at the local bar.
Day 15:
It rained hard all night, and the tent is so ‘compact’ that both the tops of our heads and bottom of our socks got wet from being pressed up against the sides. We quickly packed the sodden tent and hit the road on our way to PISA via SAN GAMIGNANO (or something like that). We had our best Italian meal of the trip, seated in a refurbished butcher shop still with original brickwork and shiny stainless steal runners and meat hooks. Lesson learnt from yesterday’s microwave lunch is to only eat in places that advertised pasta ‘fresh’ fresca. We dined on pasta made on site, cooked to perfection, finished with sauces so delicious we both literally wiped our plates clean with the accompanying freshly baked bread. Warmed and satiated we wandered the tiny shops catching exsquisite glimpses and 360 degree views of region. We drove on to PISA and considering the previous cold wet night in a tent, upgraded to a bungalow with covered outdoor kitchen and terrace. Italy has been an experience of contrasts, and much more difficult to connect to people and just generally get by, without some sense of the language. We both miss being in France so have decided after our next stop in FLORENCE to get back there, and to make a day trip or two to Switzerland instead of a whole drive. This will give us more time with less kilometres and less haste.
Day 16:
Slept in and ha a leisurely gourmet breakfast on the terrace cooked by my own personal chef 🙂 Read my book ‘a thousand days in Tuscany’ in a sunny spot and felt the power of simple, fully lived moments (thanks Eckhart Tolle). Quick stop at the leaning tower, well worth it, then on just another hour to Florence. Set up camp on the hills above and overlooking the entire city. SPECTACULAR! A quick trip via GPS to the closest supermaket for supplies ended in a 2 hour ordeal as she navigated us into areas inaccessible by roadworks, then another shop that we kept missing the turn for despite re-doing it 3 times (with a 1.4km re-run each time), then the grand finale following her soothing voice into a pedestrian only area and being stopped by police who told us to slowly make our way out by turning right, which we did, straight into an absolute swarm of people, like driving through a parade, being variously told off by locals, and continuing our crawl of shame at 1km an hour with no one moving out of the way and some deliberately walking in front of us as if to prove a point. Finally managed to find a way out the jumble of narrow streets and set off back to camp disheartened only to find a supermarket 500m from where we were staying! We dropped the car home and set off on the bus to explore the centre on foot (much more relaxing). It is music festival time in Florence so make shift bands of musicians are getting together on street corners. We ate gelato on the steps of the pink and green marble cathedral, one of the largest in the world. Enjoyed the markets and just generally soaked up the feel of the city. We rode home to the illuminate panoramic view and the mood of Italy has again lifted.
Tags: Italy
Jyai