Arrivederci Italia

The Villa Ambrosia has turned out to be such a pleasant find in the Tuscan hills just south of Florence that we have decided to stay here through Monday night. The places in Tuscany that we want to explore are all easily reached from here. Today, Sunday, we were again reminded of how beautiful the hills of the Chianti region of Italy are. We have been blessed on this trip with incredible weather and today we think Gerry and Cathy also realized the magic of traveling in this region. We are located just a few miles from our first stop, the American Cemetery of Florence. Compared to Arlington or Normandy this is a small cemetery but a beautiful one. There is a Memorial at the back of the cemetery, behind all of the markers as you enter, that lists hundreds of names of American GI’s who died during the assault from Sicily through Italy who’s graves are unknown. We also saw many markers that indicated a died soldier whose name was unknown. The Memorial also had a narrative that discussed the fierce battles that occurred in the liberation of Italy from the Germans. It was very moving indeed.

We left the cemetery and drove through the hills to the town of Tavernalle Val Pesa. The Osteria al Gramala is located in Tavernalle. This is the restaurant where we took a cooking class eight years ago when we spent 6 weeks in Tuscany. Good fortune was with us as the restaurant was open. We re-introduced ourselves to Cecelia and Massimo and enjoyed a lovely lunch of pasta and wine. We are not sure if Cecelia and Massimo remembered us but they were gracious enough to act like it. After lunch we drove on to Certaldo where our apartment was located. Among other things we wanted Gerry and Cathy to see the wine coop in Certaldo where we bought our wine in 5 liter boxes. The wine coop is where farmers who do not grow enough grapes to bottle their own wine sell their grapes and the coop produces a wonderful table wine. When we first went in the coop we were shocked to see gasoline style pumps and watched as people brought in very large plastic containers that were filled with wine from these pumps. We tried a box of the wine and loved it. Unfortunately, because it is Sunday, the coop was not open. We also had great difficulty in driving by our apartment because all of the traffic patterns have been changed. The apartment was located just a couple of blocks from the train station and all the streets in the area have been closed to through vehicular traffic with pedestrian tunnels now in place that go under the tracks. We left Certaldo and drove to San Gigimnano. This is a beauty full town that sits atop a hill with these wonderful towers that rise high above the town. We were able to see these towers from miles away. Because of these towers San Gigimnano is sometimes called the Manhattan of Tuscany. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling through the town, looking in the shops and occasionally buying a souvenir. After all of this walking about we were tired so we returned to Villa Ambrosia for naps before going out for dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant next to our hotel and was a delight. We arrived at 8:00 and were the only people in the restaurant. After we were seated, the chef came out and greeted us and spent much time going over the menu with us. After ordering, the waiter brought out a book that our chef had just had published that contained many recipes as well as some historical perspective. At least we think it was historical perspective as it was in Italian and the waiter said that was what was in the book. The chef came back later to ask about our first course and Tim asked him several questions about both recipes and the risotto that Tim had just eaten. It was all very fun and enlightening.

Monday turned out to be a very special day. It began rather benignly with a drive to Montalchino, a hill town south of Siena. Montalchino is famous for its Brunello wine. The average person thinks of chianti immediately when thinking of Tuscan wines, but connoisseurs know that Brunello’s are excellent, robust red wines that can be considerably more expensive then chianti. Other then an old fort that Gerry enjoyed, there was not much to see other then wine shops so we drove on to Pienza which is pretty much due east of Montalchino. Lynda and Tim had been to Pienza before and remembered it as a nice little town but something about it today made it exceptional. There is a cathedral in Pienza celebrating its 550 anniversary which really isn’t all that old in terms of Italian history and it is not really a cathedral like Notre Dame or St. Peter’s. However, about a block away was a small church that was beautiful in its simplicity. The crucifix hanging over the alter was very contemporary and striking as was the pulpit next to the alter. We also enjoyed going into several neat little shops just before they all closed for lunch. We also happened upon a wonderful little piazza and then walk to the rampart behind the cathedral where we were met with a spectacular panoramic view of the southern Tuscan hills. On leaving Pienza we continued to enjoy spectacular scenery. We are sure Joni and Bill will to attest to this as they spent their honeymoon here several years ago. Our last stop of the day was in Greve, another of the picturesque villages in Tuscany. We particularly wanted Gerry and Cathy to see the butcher shop here that has been open since 1729. Along with the usual assortment of meats, this shop specializes in chingaili, wild boar. There also were multiple hams hanging from the ceiling throughout the shop. Cathy enjoyed it, We are not sure about Gerry. From Greve we returned to our hotel to prepare for going out for dinner. Think naps. We had planned on returning to the restaurant next to the hotel that we enjoyed so much last night but it was closed. The hotel, however, suggested a trattoria just down the hill that turned out to be a good choice. It was more of a local trattoria, no frills, but good food and wine.

Tuesday began in the tiny village of Monsanto, just outside Poggibonsi, about half way between Florence and Siena. There is an exceptional winery in Monsanto that we had visited back in 2004. Back then we saw wines in the underground cellars that were 40 years old. We also had the opportunity to taste their wonderful wine. Unfortunately, today they were unable to give us a tour so we spent a few minutes looking around the grounds and then drove on to Siena. The main square in Siena, Il Campo, is actually sort of shell shaped and is huge. It is famous because twice a year a horse race called “Il Pallio” is held in Il Campo. There are approximately 16 different political sections to Siena and each enters a horse in the race. The horses race around the outer ring of the piazza and the crowd stands in the middle. There is much pageantry surrounding this event. We planned on visiting the Duomo,the main cathedral in Siena, but there was a charge to get in so we didn’t. The Duomo in Siena is similar to the one in Florence in that it is strikingly beautiful on the outside but rather dark and dreary on the inside. For lunch we had planned to return to a little restaurant we had discovered previously but when we got there it was closed, maybe permanently. Fortunately, just a block or two away we found another place that had, all together now, excellent food and wine! After our fine lunch we finished some last minute souvenir shopping and had one last gelato before heading to Fuimicino where we are staying tonight before flying home tomorrow.

Sadly this is the end of our trip. It has been wonderful. While most places were sites that Tim and Lynda had seen before, we enjoyed watching Gerry and Cathy experience them for the first time. All indications are that the Browns have had a fabulous first trip to Europe. They have had a hard time deciding which place was there favorite of all the places we visited. And the good news is that Gerry and Lynda are still speaking to each other! We hope you have enjoyed following along on another of our trips and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Arrivederci.