Archive | June, 2011

Never Leave Home w/o It…

23 Jun

Your camera! Last night, after a grand dinner, we decided to take a walk just for the fresh air…no gelato, no vino, so we thought, no need for our camera. Sure enough, as soon as we entered Piazza della Republicca, there was Albert Einstein reincarnated, in black tails no less, wild hair as white as snow, coaxing a flute to sing like the birds. Accompanying him was an orchestra on CD, and together they played Nessun Dorma (None shall sleep). Florence, you would have loved this…Benita, not sure if you remember, but we saw Pavarotti sing this live in Austin! Was it the best ever? Probably not, but truly memorable in the piazza under the stars.

Speaking of the piazza, it has occurred to me since we have been here that piazzas are truly a way of life in Italy. I’ve been in hundreds of different ones in my European visits, but perhaps not the same ones for as many nights in a row as we have in Cortona. That is the beauty afforded by a smaller town…the faces become familiar. And as you study the facades, you realize that while the faces change, the piazza doesn’t…not really…if only those buildings could talk.

The two main piazzas in Cortona are Signorelli and Republicca, which essentially connect to one another. They are each surrounded by magnificent old buildings, restaurants, osterias, bars and shops; they are thoroughfares for vehicles and pedestrians as well as playgrounds for children. Each evening, the locals and some tourists like us gather to engage in piazza life. We talk and laugh as we sip vino or enjoy gelato, or as in the case of last night, listen to a musician share his passion with us. Having difficulty loading images tonight, so only one of the Commune in Piazza Republicca in the evening, where “Einstein”  was last night.

Tonight on our walk, there was a band playing in the piazza and more people than usual…life in the piazza…one never knows what to expect!

My Promise: Camera and I are now joined at the hip. Also, you should be able to enlarge any photo by clicking on it! If your eyes are like mine, it sure helps!

Ciao,

Judy

Montepulciano

22 Jun

Driving through the hills of Tuscany, about one hour outside of Cortona, one views the majestic city of Montepulciano. The main monuments, pictured here, were built between the 1300-1500s. As you can see, the city  was not very crowded. Perhaps it is because one needs to have very strong knees to ascend the steep hills! The panorama from the top is amazing, with vineyards, wheat fields and sunflowers as far as the eye can see in the ever stretching azure sky.

We lunched at Osteria del Bargo on the sweetest melon and just carved prosciutto overlooking terra cotta tiled roofs, towns and cities miles away, and the ever present red geraniums.

Among other things, Montepulciano is well known for its Nobile wines. What we learned today is that a wine that we have been drinking,  Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, is of the Montepulciano grape, but from Abruzzo, not Tuscany. Conversely, Montepulciano Nobile, is by law, a blend of  80% Sangiovese grapes from Tuscany combined with other varietals. Afterward, we sampled wines at Poliziano and Contucci. Poliziano sells wines in the U.S., and we particularly liked the Rosso for an every day table wine and the even better Nobile.

Perhaps the best part of the entire trip was Len enjoying the countryside sites and singing “The hills are alive with the signs of vino. With vines they have grown for a thousand years. The hills fill my heart with anticipation...” well, you get it…no comments about my driving, which I take as an extreme compliment! And actually, through all the hills and all the curves, we made it back to Cortona easily and found a great spot to park.

Our best dinner yet was tonight at Toscana. Benita would have loved it, but beware to all my vegan nieces…we had an amazing bistecca!

bistecca

Till next,

Judy

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Castiglione del Lago

21 Jun

Today we drove to the city of Castiglione, which was built on a limestone cliff above Lake Trasimeno, the largest lake on the Italian peninsula. It is what is called an impounded lake as it receives water yet has no outlet. Both the city and lake are in Umbria. We noticed the difference in heat as soon as we arrived, as Cortona is higher in elevation, thus cooler. We also noticed that although this town is on a lake with beaches, the streets were quite empty.

Though not many people, the streets are filled with charcuteries, small stores filled with an amazing assortment of meats, cheeses, grains, pasta and condiments. We tried to buy this boar as a souvenir, but no game. We thought it might be fun taking him through the TSA body screening…hmm… All is a day’s travel.

Note: If planning to use GPS from a car rental agency, at least in Europe, our advice is to forget it. We learned that two other friends had the same negative experiences we’ve had. We’ve gloveboxed ours and driving is getting better…now there’s only two of us fighting about directions instead of three!

Ciao!

Judy

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First Full Day

20 Jun

Our home is on a quiet street just around the corner from Piazza Signorelli. This morning, however, we awoke to a loud conversation between a man and woman. It felt like we woke up in a movie trying to understand what they were saying yet not wanting to pry. She was loud and agitated; he remained relatively calm. Their banter was so hypnotizing that we both fell back asleep and awoke to it again later. It was not an argument about love – there was not enough emotion. And then I understood…  he called her Signora. He was a contractor doing some work for her. Obviously, she was unhappy. But as I write, all is quiet so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

After a great night’s sleep (despite our “movie”) and lots of fresh air, we headed out for cappuccino in the morning sun. The weather here is perfect…sunny and 80’s daytime and 60’s at night. We wandered through town noting things in our calendar we want to do while here. An early lunch at Trattoria Dardano consisted of fresh porcini pasta and the usual glass of vino. I love how the clean laundry hangs above the restaurant entrance. It’s also interesting that there are always tables of Italian men eating lunch together, but rarely tables of Italian women. Len thinks they are busy cooking…I hope they are shopping.

Several hours later, after taking in some sites, we headed back to Il Cacio Brillo for an afternoon snack. We sat outside and shortly after, a family of 10 from Pittsburg, representing three generations, took the rest of the tables. This was their first time in Italy. Len began speaking to them in English with an Italian accent, as if he were an Italian native speaking broken English. It was totally hysterical and I just sat quietly wondering where this was going. After about 10 minutes, he confessed, and they all roared.

Dinner tonight was pizza and a salad at Trattoria Fluflins, which we are told is named after the god of wine, but we always thought that was Bacchus. Oh, well. At 10 PM, we sat in the piazza watching kids play soccer. No grass, so good, so young, and very willing to have their picture taken.

Till tomorrow,

Judy

Italy at Last

20 Jun

“Italy is one big farm. That’s why everything is so fresh,” observed Len as we descended from the clouds 1000 feet above FCO. And he’s so right. For many, the mention of Italy conjures up the big three: Venezia, Firenze and Roma, or other famous cities, but truly, there are miles and miles of farms and vineyards dotting the landscape. We drove through many of them in the three hour drive from Rome to Cortona.

Speaking of driving, after all the GPS planning (never worked) , driving with one’s spouse is not for the faint of heart. The driving (in my opinion as I’m the driver) is ok, it’s just the front seat driver that I thought about dropping off at one of those farms! But make it we did, and found our Casa Celeste in Cortona to be clean and comfortable.

The streets in Cortona are all narrow and hilly and support pedestrians, dog walkers and all manner of moving vehicles, which, of course, have the right of way. One quickly learns to navigate! We found a gem of a place for dinner, Il Cacio Brillo, which loosely translates to drunken cheese. We shared a delicious cheese and salumi platter, all freshly cut, with a 2006 Brunello in a 1200 year old room…heavenly.

Much has been written about Cortona since Frances Mays’ Under the Tuscan Sun, and I must admit, it’s what brought us here as well. That said, this is our launch pad for exploring larger and smaller towns in Tuscany and Umbria, skipping restaurants where English is spoken, and just taking the road less travelled whenever we feel like it. Photos to begin tomorrow.

Ciao,

Judy

Welcome!

15 Jun

Ciao!

If you are reading this page, you most likely received an email invitation from me. This post is about why this blog exists.

In 1997, my parents took their four children and spouses to Italy for an unforgettable celebration of their 50th anniversary. I had spent my junior year abroad, so for Len, on his first visit, like me many years before, it was love at first sight. Since then Len, Benita and I have had the great fortune of traveling to Europe three times. We so wanted to share the history, architecture, art, culture, people, food, smells and sounds with Benita and explore and learn more ourselves. As tourists, we travelled from north to south and many places in between.

But there was always something nagging at us…we wanted to be more than tourists…we wanted to live in a town long enough to become part of the fabric…be recognized by name by the locals at the pizzeria, market and cafe…cook and shop and make pizza and play bocce with the locals…that was our dream.

In anticipation over the years, we have watched countless Italian cooking shows, travel shows, house hunting shows, and anything else Italian, always with an eye on our dream. And finally the time has come.

Our goal for this site is, to some extent, to take you along on our journey. Many of you have asked us to share, and this is the result, with help from Len (let’s make it a business), Benita (artistic influence) and me, the writer. I don’t tweet or  Facebook;  I’m not looking for  thumbs up /down. This is simply and lovingly our way of  sharing photos, stories, recipes, or whatever as we live and explore life in Cortona. With excited anticipation… ciao, ciao for now!

Judy

Getting Ready

14 Jun

To Do List:

  1. Pack lightly…I always pack too much, but this time Len said he thinks he brought more than me…amazing!
  2. Bring one pair of great shoes, then buy several more there.
  3. Reconfirm everything: just called Avis and found out they cancelled our car reservation that was made in April! Fortunately, they found another car for us. My motto: Check, check and check again.
  4. Learn how to use this blog, which is far more foreign to me than Italy, and seek patience from those who plan to follow it.

Almost There!

14 Jun

6.19.2011
Touchdown in Roma

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