Zurers in Italy 2009

Day 19: Pietrasanta-Sesto Calende

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:48:00 +0000

Another beautiful day in Pietrasanta….we take our last walk around town stopping to buy a piece of parmigiano-reggiano that our friends in Sweden requested.

We say goodbye to the people at the hotel and thank them for their hospitality.

We are going to Sesto Calende, a town near Malpensa Airport, because we are flying to Copenhagen tomorrow and visiting friends in southern Sweden. We will leave most of our luggage at the Hotel 3 Re because we don't want to have to carry it all to Sweden and because we are flying on EasyJet, a European budget airline (our first experience) and they have strict weight limits for checked baggage. This hotel was the first hotel we stayed in on our first trip to Italy in 1993. We have stayed there since and I use it for clients from time to time. The women who run the hotel–Silvia and Raffaela–have agreed to store our excess bags for the four nights we are gone - we'll be back for one more night on our return.

The drive from Pietrasanta is uneventful except for a drama with the traffic reports that pop up on our GPS. All of a sudden the estimated time of arrival jumps by more than an hour. There are reports of accidents on the autostrada causing long backups. We consider getting off and taking alternate routes but I get suspicious because the autostrada alert signs show no indications of any problems. We ignore the warnings and find no backups…..the GPS system is not reliable.

When we stop for lunch at an Autogrill, we are surprised by their newest specialty–a bagel–

but resist the temptation to try one.

Sesto Calende is a small town about 10 miles north of Malpensa, on the banks of the Ticino River at the bottom of Lago Maggiore. Everytime we come back to Sesto Calende, I'm reminded of what a nice town it is–not historic but very typical. And the location on the river with the waterfront promenade is a very pleasant spot. The river is wide and the houses on the far side are very grand with–unusual for Italy–broad expanses of manicured lawns.

We are greeted warmly by the sisters who run the hotel and we get settled into our room. The hotel is doing very well–they have a lot of international guests who come to learn about helicopter maintenance at a local facility–and they have made a lot of improvements since our first visit in 1993. Rooms are much bigger, the furniture is quite attractive and the bathrooms are modern and roomy.

http://www.hotel3re.it/eng/Default.asp

After an exploratory walk–where I am surprised to find that even Sesto Calende now has a self-service laundromat–

we get in the car to go to the local equivalent of Walmart (Bennett's)–a gigantic store on a busy commercial strip–to buy an umbrella (the one we brought has died). We experience a bit of culture shock but we do buy an umbrella. Hopefully we won't need it.

We have dinner at the hotel restaurant. When we first stayed at the hotel, I had a dish called gnocchi alla romana–disks of semolina flour, butter and eggs baked in the oven and topped with parmigiano. I thought they were delicious but never found them anywhere in all our Italian travels. So I asked the sisters if they might make them for us…and they did.

They were delicious–so simple but so good. They explained that this is more of a dish made at home - not one found in restaurants - but we think they'd be a hit on restaurant menus. We had a very good grilled branzino as well and a nice Muller-Thurgau from the Alto-Adige, but the highlight was the gnocchi.

One interesting thing about the dining room is that the helicopter trainees all eat there and they are a very international lot….so there are Americans, English, Asians and Arabs all in the dining room.

Tomorrow we head for the unknown–Sweden.

Diana's Reading List

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:42:00 +0000

Some of you have wondered what I've read this trip, so here goes:

1. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy by Joe McGinniss.This very good writer spends 9 months with the football (soccer) team in a small Abruzzo town which has made it to Serie B. (If you don't know what Serie B is you really need to read this book.) He's a rabid fan and fascinated by all he encounters and his memoir of the team, the townspeople, the ways of Italian soccer is vivid and fascinating. You don't need to be a soccer fan to enjoy this book.

2. Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent, International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System by Roberto Saviano. Perhaps you've seen the movie - this is the book. The author is a part of the story - he is exposing the system out of personal rage and shame. Horrifying, brutal and depressing but worth reading.

3. The Woman At the Washington Zoo: Writings On Politics, Family and Fate by Marjorie Williams. Wonderful!! Collection of essays by former Washington Post and Slate writer. Sharp, insightful profiles of politicians, essays about work and family, and the final section - very moving essays about the cancer that ultimately took her life.

4. The Brief, Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Tour de force novel by Dominican/American writer. It's too hard to resist saying wow.

5. The City of Florence: Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings by R.W.B.Lewis. Erudite, beautifully written history of Florence, with some personal experiences as well.

6. Carry Me Across the River by Ethan Canin. Novel about a Jewish man's turbulent life in the 20th century. Engrossing.

7. Granta issue: Lost and Found. As ususal with Granta, interesting fiction and non-fiction. (I left this one at a hotel but don't want to leave any of the others. This is the point at which Jim wonders whether we should seriously look into the Kindle.)

8. The Saddest Pleasure: A Journey on Two Rivers by Moritz Thomsen. Memoir about a journey to Brazil and trip on the Amazon. This writer is the author of Living Poor, the clasic Peace Corps memoir and here he reflects on his life in Ecuador where he remained after Peace Corps, and the issues of poverty, oppression, farming and relationships which absorb him. Not easy going but worth it.

9. The Serious Game by Hjalmar Soderberg. Wonderful Swedish novel by contemporary of Strindberg's. Love story but also great portrait of Stockholm at the start of the 20th century.

Day 16-18: Pietrasanta

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:00:00 +0000

NOTE: In the interests of catching up with our trip before we get back, I am posting one report for our three days in Pietrasanta.

The hotel is wonderful…almost perfect.

However, the roomy marble shower in the bathroom (there is also a large tub) has no place to put soap or shampoo except on a narrow ledge at the bottom–a curious omission. (Every trip we seem to comment on the deficiencies of Italian bathroom design.) Other than that, it is hard to find anything lacking. The rooms is nicely decorated, the bed is comfortable as is the furniture. The breakfasts are terrific and the service is outstanding. The staff is friendly and helpful and the location is right in the middle of everything.

The town is a pleasure to walk around–the modern sculptures and classy modern art galleries are a nice accent to the traditional attractions in most Italian towns. Each day when we come back from our excursions (see below), I usually take a walk around the town and in our time in Pietrasanta, I think I covered almost every street in the center. One of the most famous artists represented is Fernando Botero, a Columbian who lives in Pietrasanta part-time. His very distinctive style–very round human figures–is represented right at the entrance to town

and there are many other modern pieces scattered around the town.

One day I climbed up to the fortress above the town (of course, it was closed for restoration) but I did get a good view of the town.

Another day, we did a quick walk through of some of Pietrasanta's attractions; the Duomo

the Baptistery

the art museum, which is located in a deconsecrated church on the main piazza

did some window shopping (there are some very elegant shops in town)

and checked out the monuments and memorials celebrating Pietrasanta's past.

Each evening, before dinner, we had a prosecco at the same bar (the one that was in the sun) and watched the endless stream of people. By the third day we were recognized by the waitress so we felt like "regulars".

Each day we went out for an out of town excursion. On May 1, we drove up into the hills to Sant'Anna di Stazzema. We had tried to go in the fall but the combination of the winding, narrow road and foggy rainy weather turned us around. The drive today was much easier….the road was the same but the weather was very cooperative–bright sunshine and pleasant temperatures.

Sant'Anna di Stazzema is a small mountain village where the Germans massacred almost 600 civilians in 1944 (mostly women and children, as well as the town priest) as a reprisal for partisan activity in the area. There is now a hilltop memorial to the victims and a very well executed museum with details of the massacre and exhibits about the resistance movement in the area. The church where the killings took place is also open for visitors. It is a beautiful location, the museum is compelling and the memorial is very moving.

The web site of the village has a lot more information about the events.

http://www.santannadistazzema.org/sezioni/THE%20MEMORY/

We had talked to the manager of the hotel that morning before leaving and she was very emotional as she told us that her mother's family was from Sant'Anna and many of her relatives were among the victims. We recognized her name in the lists and narratives in the museum.

Spike Lee's film "The Miracle of Sant'Anna" is set in the area and deals with the experiences of the black army unit that fought against the Germans in the mountains. We learned that the Italians are not too happy about the film because they think that the contributions of the Italian resistance is minimized. We hadn't liked it either - a disappointing effort by a filmmaker we usually like very much.

We try to drive down on a different road than we came up on, only to find that what we thought was a road was really only a bicycle path. When we come to the end of the road, we have to turn around and go back down the same way. In any case, the scenery is very beautiful.

We have lunch on the beach in Viareggio, one of the large Italian beach resorts on this coast. The resort is crowded on this holiday and the "boardwalk" is full of strollers. We have a sandwich sitting in a one of the beach club snack bars, enjoying the sun and the people watching.

On May 2, we drive to Lucca on the main non-toll road to get a different view of the drive. When we get to Lucca, it is difficult to find a parking space but we drive into the city and park–semi-legally (with ten other cars)–on the sidewalk next to a church near Piazza San Francesco. Lucca is a favorite city of ours and we frequently stop for a short visit while in the area. We like to visit our friend Paolo at the Piccolo Puccini Hotel, buy some chocolate at the Caniparoli shop and have our favorite lunch–fried chicken and vegetables–at La Vecchia Trattoria Buralli. We accomplish all three goals and also have a nice walk across town, passing many of our old haunts from when we studied Italian here for two weeks a few years ago. We also have a nice discussion with the Italian sitting next to us in the restaurant–an engineer from Carrara on a day trip with his family. He starts talking to us by complimenting us on our command of Italian, which may not be accurate but is very flattering.

On May 3, after doing our laundry at the laundromat in town, we drive to the beach town of Marina di Pietrasanta, about five miles away. It is a beautiful day again and the town is lively. There is a very big spring market that stretches for blocks with food, jewelry, clothing, plants, flowers and soaps among the things being sold. We stroll through the market and then have a light lunch at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the beach. We walk out on the pier that stretches across the beach out into the water; the beach looks very clean and well maintained.

Before heading back to Pietrasanta, we walk through another food section of the market (which makes us wish we had come here for lunch) and have some excellent gelato at Peccati di Gola (translates as "sins of gluttony")

One more detour before returning….a drive into the hills above Pietrasanta on a road on the way to Capezzano and Capriglia that has the tightest, most continuous hairpin turns that I can remember ever driving. But we do get some nice views into the mountains before coming back down to town.

We have two dinners at da Beppino in Valdicastello, the next town over. Our Friday night dinner is the best of the trip–we have the house antipasto consisting of a number of plates of delicious food–meatballs, fried vegetables, ham, panzanella (bread and tomato salad), white beans and more–followed by wonderful tagliatelle with a rich porcini mushroom sauce for me and tortelli with spinach for Diana. Diana has a refreshing dish of strawberries with vanilla gelato for dessert. The house wine is outstanding and a great value and the waiter is professional and friendly. We enjoyed our meal so much that we decide to come back on Sunday and it was almost as successful–Diana's steak is especially good.

Saturday's dinner was not as successful. We had chosen a Slow Food recommendation–La Giudea–which is just around the corner from the hotel. Unfortunately the staff was not up to the challenge of the very full restaurant….service was slow and confused and the food–while okay–didn't make up for it.

All in all, we really enjoyed our time in Pietrasanta and would happy to return there in the future–especially if we could stay at the Albergo Pietrasanta.

Day 15: Florence-Pietrasanta

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:58:00 +0000

We sleep well in the sumptuous surroundings. Breakfast is surprisingly limited for such a luxurious place and the service was slow. If the weather had been a bit warmer, we could have taken breakfast on the beautiful terrace but, while sunny, it was still cool.

After breakfast, we take a walk around the city

past the apartment where stayed for two weeks in 2004

and stop to say hello to our friend Lino who works at a bar near the Ponte Vecchio. There are a fair number of tourists out this morning, especially on the Piazza Signoria.

We stop in the church of Orsanmichele

which had been closed for years; this is the first time that we had seen it when the sun was out and we see a lot more of the art and decorations than we had on our last visit–a rainy November afternoon. No pictures allowed inside but here's a sample from the internet.

We head back to the hotel–Diana stops to buy a scarf at the Straw Market–and Luca, the desk clerk, takes us on a tour of some of the other rooms at the hotel–all spectacular in one way or another, either size or decoration or both. Then we are off to Pietrasanta. The ride out of Florence is easy…traffic is reasonably light at 11:30 am and we are soon on the autostrada heading west. We decide not to stop in Lucca for lunch and just grab a sandwich at an Autogrill.

We drive right up to the hotel in Pietrasanta…straight across the whole "centro storico" including the main piazza. Luckily for us the weekly market has just finished or we would have had some difficulty navigating through town. We had visited the hotel–Albergo Pietrasanta–last fall but the day had been so rainy that we never really saw anything but the inside of the hotel.

The town looks very nice as we drive through….it has a distinctive feel due to the presence of many modern sculptures in the streets and piazzas, which contrast vividly with the traditional look of an Italian small town. Over the past 25 years, Pietrasanta has become something of a modern art colony and there are a number of well-known artists who spend part of the year in town. We are greeted warmly at the hotel by Federica, whom we had met last fall and had invited us back to stay at the hotel. We are shown to our room which is a very beautiful and large–not quite as grand as at the Residenza del Moro but spacious and comfortable.

Here is the web page link for more photos of the hotel.

http://www.albergopietrasanta.com/albergo_pietrasanta_hotel.phtml

The public rooms are also tasteful and filled with the owner's collection of modern art. There is glass-ceiling atrium in the garden where breakfast is served and a pleasant outdoor area.

Before I go out for my exploratory walk, Federica suggests that we make dinner reservations for the holiday (May 1) weekend because she expects that the town will be full with visitors. We discuss various possibilities and make a plan for next few nights. Then I go out for a walk….the rain that threatened earlier has stopped so the sun is now shining and the temperature is pleasant. My walk is very nice…the town is level but the tall Appennines are close by and provide a striking backdrop. The town looks very prosperous with lots of chic shops sprinkled in with the traditional mix of Italian stores. In the middle of the entrance to the main street is a large gilt picture frame

which makes the town itself a "work of art". I walk past the cathedral which dominates the main piazza

but it shares the space with the old town castle set into the old town walls

several sidewalk cafes, an old church which is now a museum

and a number of modern sculptures.

Later in the afternoon, we sit at the cafe that is in the sun and have a prosecco before dinner. Dinner is at Il Gatto Nero (the Black Cat), which seems to be a favorite of locals. Our meal is just okay…..I have a bowl of pasta and bean soup and Diana has ravioli to start. For seconds–we have a grilled fish and a roast pork dish–but most everyone else in the place is having the steak….so perhaps we ordered badly. The wine–Montecarlo, a red from near Lucca–is fine.

The stroll back to the hotel through the lit up town is very nice. Tomorrow is May Day and we will drive up to Sant'Anna di Stazzema, which was the site of a massacre of townspeople during World War II and the subject of a recent Spike Lee film.

Day 14: San Quirico d'Orcia-Florence

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:09:00 +0000

The sun is shining brightly this morning…..grrrrr. I take my last morning walk around the town.

After breakfast, Diana goes out for some last minute shopping and we say goodbye to Ulli as we pack the car. The drive to Florence is pretty but uneventful….we make a stop in Castellina in Chianti at one of our favorite gelaterias–L'Antica Delizia–and it is terrific as usual. We also stop in Panzano to try and say hello to my client who is now staying there but she is not in the hotel and we can't find her in town.

We make only one wrong turn on our way to our hotel which is right in the center of town, a block off the Arno River. The Residenza del Moro is just around the corner from where my sister Barbara lived for six months in 1993 when we made our first visit to Italy. (In order to be absolutely accurate, it should be noted that Diana had been in Venice for a day or two as a teenager enroute to Israel.)

The Residenza del Moro is a luxury hotel in a renovated old palazzo and it is quite spectacular. It is the sister hotel of the place where we are staying in Pietrasanta and the manager offered us a complimentary night in Florence. Here is a picture of our room (with a jacuzzi), statues hanging on the walls and frescoes on the ceiling.

You can check out the rest of the hotel on this web site.

http://www.residenzadelmoro.com/

Once we get settled, I call our friend Jane Nyhan who lives in Florence, is a guide and is working with my client who is now in Chianti. She comes over and we spend the afternoon together…we have a coffee and then she takes us on an offbeat tour of Florence…showing some old things and some new things, including the elevator in the Hotel Continentale that has a sofa in it and the wonderful views from the rooftop terrace.

Then we make a stop at the Santa Maria Novella "pharmacy"–which has been in business for about 400 years. Diana needs to pick up some of her favorite creams.

It starts to rain lightly so we go back to the hotel which is just around the corner. When it stops, I go out for a walk–crossing over to the Oltrarno (the other side of the river)

and crossing back over downriver to Piazza Santa Croce where I take a picture of the church facade gleaming starkly in the light from the remnants of the storm.

Dinner is at an old haunt–Trattoria Belle Donne–where we ate frequently on our first trip to Florence. It looks just about the same (although it is under new management). The meal is enjoyable–more zuppa di farro for me followed by some nice meatballs (polpettine) in tasty tomato sauce. Diana has risotto with artichokes that she enjoys followed by a roast pork dish that is less successful. We finish with a pretty good panna cotta.

We have a nice conversation with the young Japanese couple who are seated next to us. They are carrying a guide book which looks a lot like a comic book/magazine with listings that feature pictures and the Italian names of recommended dishes from each listed restaurant. We later are aware of many other Japanese tourists carrying similar publications. It turns out that the man had studied in Rochester NY for a year and both of them enjoy traveling. We give them some restaurant and sightseeing recommendations for the rest of their stay.

Although everyone we meet who is in tourism complains about the lack of business, we do see many Japanese, French, and Russian tourists. Not as many Americans, however. Italians we talk with are enthusiastic and optomistic about Pres. Obama and his efforts to turn things around. Speriamo - we hope so.

Our palatial room at the hotel is just around the corner. Tomorrow we are off to Pietrasanta.

Day 13: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:26:00 +0000

Our last full day in southern Tuscany and the weather is…..uncertain. There are tantalizing patches of blue peeking through the overcast.

We have a slow morning including a visit with Ulli, our landlady, who brings back the load of laundry she has kindly done for us.

Late in the morning, we decide to try to take a short walk off one of the white roads to see the Capella di Vitaleta, probably the most frequently photographed scene in southern Tuscany. As we head out, we notice that the main street of San Quirico d'Orcia is filled with stalls….it is market day. (I later learn that the market takes place on the 1st and 4th Tuesday of the month, and we have never coincided with it before). We stroll up and down the whole length of the market–Diana considers some linen and we look at some baby clothes–but we end up not buying anything.

The sun is breaking through a bit when we head for the countryside……but there are still threatening clouds overhead. The vistas are so broad that you can see as many as 7 hill towns at one time and you can check the differing weather conditions all around the valley.

We park the car, walk around the locked gate to the farm and approach the Cappella, which sits on a rise right next to a farmhouse. Unfortunately, on the way, the skies darken and rain looks imminent so Diana heads back to the car while I contine on to take my photograph. The rain holds off and I get my pictures…..both the traditional view from the front

and a less often seen perspective from the rear.

Mission accomplished, we see that the sun seems to be out in Pienza so we quickly drive over there planning to get a sandwich and have a picnic. Unfortunately, by the time we get to town, it has started to rain. We still have our picnic and our porchetta sandwich but we have to sit on the covered portico opposite the cathedral.

After lunch, we head to Buonconvento over the back roads, passing a big flock of sheep in the fields next to the road.

Since it is still raining, we visit the art museum in Buonconvento which is another nicely arranged collection of local artwork. Again we have the museum to ourselves and the works of the Sienese school of 15th and 16th century artists are very impressive.

After spending an hour or so in the museum, we stop at a local gelateria/pasticceria and have some excellent gelato and a delicious piece of cake. Then we head back to San Quirico d'Orcia for a rest. We have our final dinner back at Il Tinaio.

I have the always excellent zuppa di farro and a rabbit dish "in the etruscan style" with olives. Diana has an unusual dish called "percorino fuso con i pignoli"–a plate of melted cheese served with pine nuts…..and a piece of the fabulous cauliflower flan. I can't leave town without a final "perfect" panna cotta…..which unfortunately may spoil me for other panna cotta in the future.

We say goodbye to "our" waiter and the owner and, on the walk home, notice that there are stars in sky.

Day 12: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Weather continues to be iffy…..the morning is very overcast but there are glimmers of blue sky and sun–but it may be we are just being teased.

Diana is feeling a bit better this morning and it is a pretty drive to Chiusi on the valley road to pick up Marian and Karlie.

The sun is out when we reach Chiusi and we find a space right down the street from the station. We meet them in the station–the train is late but Marian had called earlier to alert us–and head off to show Karlie–a vivacious 11 year old girl on her first trip to Italy–what an Italian small town looks like. We drive up the winding road to Monticchiello but Karlie is sleeping and oblivious to the scenery. However, once we stop at a bar and have a drink and Karlie has a cookie, she perks right up. We walk up to the church

and have a look around inside, then stop in a shop for some browsing. Monticchiello is famous for its Teatro Povero, a theater "company" made up of locals who put on plays that reflect their lives and issues. There is a museum for the theater in the tourist office and we ask if we can see it. We are told that it will take ten minutes for the multi-media exhibits to get started so we go out for a short walk.

The museum is quite an ambitious undertaking–very creative with a combination of music, sounds, photographs and a number of examples of stagecraft crammed into four rooms. You start in the dark and the exhibits flash on as you move through the rooms. The idea is to show the history of the area and the life of the locals and how this developed into the theater project. Unfortunately for us, it is all in Italian and we are unsure about what is happening and where we are supposed to go next. But we recognize the effort and ingenuity that went into creating it……even if much of it is lost on us. Next time we will bring our son Seth, who is an actor and speaks Italian….he will help us make more sense of it.

Here is the web site for the museum which shows some pictures of the goings-on in the show. Other pages on the site tell more about the company, its history and philosophy.

http://www.teatropovero.it/museo/museo.html

When we come out and thank the staff person, he informs us that we have to pay Euro 4.00 per person……which we do, even though we would have liked to have known about the charge before we started.

The weather is deteriorating and it is getting close to lunch time so we drive back to San Quirico d'Orcia and show them our apartment. Before we eat we take a stroll around town, showing Karlie the Rose Garden and the Horti Leoni etc.

For lunch we go to Il Tinaio–Marian had stayed in San Quirico d'Orcia three years before for a week and her apartment was over the restaurant. Lunch is very good…the waiter is very attentive and Karlie is very adventurous–tasting a bit of everything. For starters, we share the cauliflower flan, the sweet and sour onions and the artichokes. This is followed by pici with garlic and bread crumbs for Karlie and Marian, parpardelle with rabbit for me and gnocchetti with tomato and basil for Diana. Diana and I share another perfect panna cotta and Karlie really likes her tiramisu with pineapple and coconut. A little red wine accompanies the meal.

After lunch the serious shopping begins….I go back to the apartment to work while the three women hit the stores. I catch up with them later for a coffee at the Bar Centrale and we make our way back to the apartment as the rain starts again.

Then we take them back to Chiusi so that they can catch the train back to Rome. An enjoyable day for everyone.

For dinner, we finally get to the Trattoria Garibaldi, which is a truck stop restaurant connected to a hotel and gas station on the main road outside of town. It is very busy this rainy evening–a few foreigners sprinkled in with truck drivers, workers and local families. It is known to have good fish so I have the spaghetti with clams, which is one of the best versions of the dish I have ever had, followed by a fritto misto, which is also excellent but such a big portion that I hardly make a dent in it. Diana really likes her melon and prosciutto but not the pizza that follows. But we are generally very pleased with the place and wouldn't hesitate to come back.

Tomorrow is our last day in San Quirico d'Orcia and, as we drive home, we scan the sky for stars, which might signal a nice day–but we don't see any.

Day 11: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 16:01:00 +0000

The weather has regressed this morning……very overcast and threatening. We spend a slow morning around the apartment and I take a walk around town which is pretty busy with day trippers in spite of the dreary weather.

Diana is feeling a bit better so we get in the car and head west to Civitella Marittima for our lunch with Gloria and Marcel. She is from Civitella Marittima and he is from Ottawa Canada. They spend the week in Pisa—she is a teacher and he is a web designer–and weekends in Civitella Marittima. They also have a rental business….they have a property in Civitella–La Casina di Rosa–and an apartment in Pisa. We have "known" each other through the Slow Travel web site for years but have never been able to connect before.

You can see some pictures of the town on her web site.

http://www.casinadirosa.it/en/civitella.html

They take us to their favorite local restaurant–the Locanda del Cassero–(we sat at the large table in front of the window)

and we have a very pleasant, leisurely meal with long discussions partly about the Italian educational system (Gloria is a bit frustrated with her university teaching situation) and the bleak outlook for the travel business.

The restaurant has a lot of very local dishes…..I have a local version of Tuscan vegetable soup called acqua cotta….not unlike a ribollita (but different.) The other three have a delicious local specialty….a unsmoked bacon and cheese filled fried pancake called "il rivolto." Diana has a unique version of lasagne where the pasta is crisped on top and I have a plate of "agnello fritto"–fried lamb served with fried artichokes which is pretty good. We drink a very nice local wine from Montecucco. After lunch, we walk down to the parking lot and say goodbye.

We drive back to San Quirico d'Orcia and Diana immediately goes back to bed and skips dinner…..she is not yet over her illness. I do some work, walk around town, pick up a few things for my supper (tomatoes, bread).

Tomorrow we will be hosting another Slow Travel friend–Marian Rothenburg–who is traveling in Rome with her granddaughter and is taking a day trip to San Quirico. We are hoping for more clement weather and for Diana to feel better.

Day 10: San Quirico d’Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:21:00 +0000

The sun is out and shining brightly this morning…..it is Liberation Day, the holiday commemorating when the Allies liberated Italy from the Germans.

There are many parades and ceremonies honoring the anti-Fascist partisans who resisted the Germans. It is a bank holiday and offices and some stores are closed but Italians take the opportunity for day trips and restaurants and cafes are usually very busy.

I take my usual morning walk around the town…enjoying it much more today because of the fine weather. I pass by a group from one of the “contradas” (neighborhoods) practicing their drumming and flag throwing for an upcoming festival.

And the streets are much more lively this morning as tourists–both Italian and foreigners–are already in town for the holiday.

I buy some “cornetti” (pastries) for breakfast at one of the local bakeries and it is so nice that we eat our breakfast outside in the garden…..our first chance of the trip to do that. At least, I eat–Diana is not feeling too well this morning…she may have picked up a stomach virus so she takes it easy.

After breakfast, we drive on the back roads to Buonconvento which has been described as a “hill town without a hill”. The approach to town takes you past an industrial zone but once you park in the big lot and walk through the high town wall, you are in a pretty “centro storico”.

We take a leisurely stroll up and down the main street along with lots of other holiday visitors and plan to return to visit the art museum on another day.

We continue our “Sunday drive” through the ever-beautiful and green countryside to the small, pretty village of Murlo, an old Etruscan town. We arrive close to 1 pm so most everything in the town is closed but we make the 5 minute circuit of town. In fact, the tourist office is open and we have a nice conversation (in English) with the gentleman in charge.

We continue our country drive across another picturesque ”strada bianca” (a usually unpaved road–that can range from an almost unpassable muddy track to a well maintained gravel surface–that is marked in white on the map)

towards the larger market town of Asciano. We stop and have a gelato for lunch and sit in the main square

before heading back to San Quirico d’Orcia.

Diana is not feeling quite right (she attributes it to too much steak) and takes a nap while I catch up with some work and take a few walks around town for the rest of the afternoon; there are still quite a few visitors in town.

I eat a light dinner in the apartment–bread, cheese, salad–while Diana tries to sleep off her whatever it is that ails her.

Tomorrow we are meeting internet friends (whom we have never met in person) for lunch in Civitella Marittima, a town about an hour away in the Alta Maremma, which is the hill country just above the Mediterranean in southwestern Tuscany.

Day 9: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:32:00 +0000

A very dreary morning in San Quirico d'Orcia–very cool and overcast and a definite threat of rain. The first order of business after breakfast is to get the broken computer (it hasn't healed itself overnight) to the computer repair person in Castiglione d'Orcia.

Castiglione d'Orcia sits on the next hill over from San Quirico d'Orcia and it is visible–along with its sister village–Rocca d'Orcia–from almost everywhere in the Val d'Orcia. (The Orcia river, which we cross, hardly seems substantial enough to have made this enormous, beautiful valley - the Val d'Orcia - which we are criss-crossing every day). When we can't find a parking space in the town parking lot, we are able to drive right to the historic center and park a few steps from the door of the shop.

Unfortunately the shop is closed but we call the cell phone number written on the door and struggle through an Italian conversation with Giulio di Chiara. We find out that he is out of town but will be back in the afternoon and tells us to come back at 4 pm. We start to walk around the town–through the old piazza "La Vecchieta" with its well, the town hall and the original brick and stone cobblestone designs from the 15th century.

Our visit is cut short when it starts to rain so we decide that the best course of action is to head for Montalcino and wait out the rain in the art museum. Our plan is slightly complicated by the fact that Friday is market day in town and a number of streets are closed off as is the big parking lot near the Fortezza. We make our way through the heart of town–following a van making deliveries–and find ourselves driving right past the museum. We find a place to park a few blocks away and walk back to the museum.

The museum is in an old church that was renovated several years ago with a grant from the EU. We are the only visitors in the museum and we spend more than an hour working our way through the development of the Siena painting school starting with a 12th century painted cross from the Abbey of Sant'Antimo. We also are taken with a collection of local pottery dating back to the 15th century, a number of madonna and bambino pictures, a very fine della Robbia altarpiece, a very anguished wooden crucifixion and some major painted altarpieces that were taken from local churches.

In addition to the art, the museum has a particularly well done archaelogy section devoted to the Etruscan presence in the area. It is an informative display that combines well translated text, reconstructions and illustrations as well as examples of finds from local excavations.

We wait a bit in the glass covered cloister–very handy on a rainy day–

for the rain to subside before we walk back to the car and go back to San Quirico d'Orcia. We have lunch in the apartment and hang out until it's time to go back to Castiglione d'Orcia to meet the repair person. After he tries a couple of unsuccessful quick fixes, he says that we will have to leave the laptop with him overnight.

When we are leaving town, the sun appears to be shining over the valley near Pienza so we decide to "follow the sun". We take one of the "strada bianca" that goes through the countryside from San Quirico d'Orcia to Pienza and we enjoy the ride. Driving on the white roads puts you in closer proximity to the hillsides, the crops and the flowers and provides a different perspective on the landscape than from the main roads.

As we are approaching Pienza, I get a call from Anna Sagaria, a local guide who manages the one of the rental properties that I had found on the internet. She tells us that she could show it to us if we were available in the next half hour. The apartment is located just outside San Quirico d'Orcia in a modern sub-division and while it is well equipped and pretty spacious, we don't think it will appeal to a typical vacationer who usually prefers a place either in the center of town or in the countryside.

But we do hit if off with Anna, who is very charming and friendly. She takes us to her own apartment that she is trying to sell or rent which is right in the middle of town, just over the bakery where we get our morning rolls. She is looking for advice about how to market the apartment and we try to tell her what she might have to make it more appealing to Americans…..spruce it up, put in more comfortable furniture, add more light, etc.

We go back to the apartment and it starts raining a bit, then the sun comes out. Diana says there's probably a rainbow and so I go out to look. Sure enough there is…..and a very striking one.

Someone tells us later that rainbows are a common occurence in the area…..but this one is quite impressive to us.

We have dinner at del Gallo, the closest restaurant to the apartment. The waiter seems a bit odd and inefficient….but the food ends up being quite good. We both have the pappardelle with wild boar sauce which comes out a bit like a tasty beef stew. I have a very good grilled sausages and Diana goes for her annual bistecca fiorentina experience…which is very good but much too big. The wine is very good–an Orcia rosso from a vineyard just two miles down the road, Sampieri-del Fa.

On our brief walk home, there are stars in the sky–hopefully a good omen for the weather and my computer.

ADDENDUM: About finally seeing a real deer after admiring the graceful Italian deer traffic signs.

And here are the wildflowers that Diana picked on one of our drives.

Day 8: San Quirico

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:24:00 +0000

Very blue sky this morning…..on my morning stroll, I enjoy taking pictures of the town bathed in sunlight.

After breakfast, we get in the car and head for the town of Radicofani, located in the far southeastern corner of the Val d’Orcia. We have driven within miles of the town any number of times and its muffin-shaped hill topped by a tower is visible from almost anywhere in the area. We take the long way round and get to experience some roads that we have not been on before…..but no matter which route you take (even the main highways), the countryside is stunning, especially with the early spring green everywhere.

Arriving in Radicofani, we drive immediately to the fortress and park the car right at the entrance. The hilltop is heavily wooded outside the fortress and since we are the only people there (besides the ticket taker who doubles as the barman at Brigadoon Snack Bar), it is very, very peaceful.

The fortezza is the epitome of what a Tuscan hilltop fortress should look like….heavy stone walls and a tall grey tower in the middle. From the ramparts, it would be hard to miss an invading band of marauders or an army. The tower rises up and adds even better sightlines for defending the area.

The fortress dates back to the 12th century but it was enlarged significantly in the early 1400s when Siena took control of the area. It fell into ruins during the 1500s and only was restored during the 20th century. Now it is in fine shape and there are detailed explanations of the fortress and its restoration in the interior rooms that you pass through as you climb the five flights to the top.

Needless to say, the views from ramparts are extensive and spectacular. On a clear day, they say you can see the Tuscan coast and the towers of Siena. On a not so clear day, here is what you can see–Monte Amiata, the town below and "le crete", the eroded clay soil common to Siena Province.

Back down at the bottom, we park the car and take a leisurely walk through the very pleasant and friendly town.

We spend a few minutes looking around the main church–San Pietro–which has a very handy brochure that explains all the art work displayed inside the church including a very stunning della Robbia statue and also some works by local artists of the 19th and 20th century.

Diana buys a piece of local pottery at one of the stores at on the main street and we walk around the remaining stalls of the market which is closing up.

Next stop is Monte Amiata….the almost 5,700 foot peak that dominates the Val d’Orcia. There is an extensive road system that serves the mountain–it is a ski resort in winter–and we plan to drive to the summit. But we stop first for lunch at a restaurant outside Arcidosso where we ate a few years ago and remember very well. We find it without a problem and the host at L’Aoiule greets us like regulars, although we are sure that he couldn’t possibly remember us.

No menu, the waiter recites what is available. We decide to make this our main meal of the day so we start with the antipasto, follow with one plate of the house specialty–fioco di neve (snowflakes) which are like light gnocchi served with a rich butter and cheese sauce–and one bowl of an excellent zuppa di ceci and farro (chickpeas and barley-like spelt). The waiter entices us to have a "secondo"….a plate of grilled sausages and pancetta–both extremely delicious. We finish about 3/4 of a bottle of the house wine which is very pleasant. Dessert is out of the question but we certainly will be back on our next trip to the area.

We have enough energy to drive to the summit of Amiata after lunch though a hike would have done some good…..the route to the top is heavily wooded and passes by a number of ski communities…all closed up now. The trees are just starting to leaf and the foliage is a very delicate shade of green.

We also pass areas (on the north side of the mountain) that are still snow covered.

At the end of the road, there is a very large parking area and three hotels with assorted restaurants and bars–not exactly a wilderness setting. We forgo the walk to the actual summit to admire the view and see the large metal cross at the top because the wide trail is completely snow covered.

The ride down is very scenic with areas where big rocks are interspersed between the trees and there are some good vistas as we descend below the forest.

When we get back to town, it is still sunny and warm and we get our first real chance to sit out in the garden. However, after a short while, the skies darken and we are driven inside by a fierce thunderstorm. My computer begins to act up–I don’t think it has anything to do with the storm–and it basically stops working. I brought an older laptop as backup so I can still connect but it is slow and the connection is quirky. I start to call around to find out if there is a computer repair place in the area and find out that there is someone in the next town over, Castiglione d’Orcia.

After the rain subsides, I go out to the store to buy some strawberries and we have a light dinner–cheese, bread, salad, strawberries–in the apartment.

Tomorrow we will try to get the computer problem taken care of and hope for another beautiful day.

Day 7: San Quirico

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:09:00 +0000

The sky is mixed this morning……lots of clouds but patches of blue visible. I take my morning circuit around San Quirico d’Orcia–walking on the roads inside the wall and then up and down the main street a couple of times, a quick pass through the Horti Leoni and back home–about 35 minutes. When it is sunny and bright, the walk is extremely pleasant…the sun playing on the stone buildings and the beautiful views from the ramparts; when the weather is less clement, the walk is still pleasant.

After breakfast, we make a short drive just outside of town to visit a hotel called Il Poggiolo. It used to be a stagecoach station and is set on a hill with expansive grounds and great views of San Quirico d’Orcia and across the countryside towards Montalcino. We had thought about staying here on this trip….it is only a half a mile from the centro and would have combined being almost in the country with the convenience of being close to town.

We meet Michele, the manager, who is very exuberant…originally from Sicily, had gone to junior high school in New York for two years…and considers himself a "citizen of the world." He is very enthusiastic about Il Poggiolo, which is a large rambling stone building with perhaps 20 apartments and large hotel rooms. It is very "authentic"…..very austere, very little decoration, minimal traditional Tuscan furnishings, lots of public space, nice grounds and a big swimming pool. Here are some pictures from their listing on Tuscany.net.

http://www.tuscany.net/residenza-il-poggiolo/

After a tour of the property and a long, enthusiastic discussion with Michele, I decide that the place–while very special–may not have been the place for us for our ten day stay in San Quirico d’Orcia because I don’t think that it was especially suitable for spending a lot of time, especially when the weather is less than ideal.

By the time we say our goodbyes to Michele, the sun has broken through so we decide to drive over to Montalcino to explore the town (we hadn’t been there during our last few visits to this area) and to have lunch there. The drive to Montalcino passes through the smooth rolling hills covered with fields of grain that are perhaps the greenest green we have ever seen.

We climb up to Montalcino, a real hill town crowned with a large fortress (now an art gallery and enoteca) and park in the next door lot at the top of the town. We stroll through the narrow streets of the center that are lined with numerous wine stores–Montalcino has become a rich town with the growth of the Brunello wine industry over the past fifty years–food shops and tourist-oriented stores. We walk past the museum (in an old church), the duomo (the exterior is not so impressive after its 18th century renovation)

and down to a park that runs on a ridge with dynamite views over southern Tuscany. This is the same park where we had a picnic on our first trip to the area in 1994.

We reach the main street–Via Mazzini–which is lined with a mixture of businesses–shops that serve the Montalcinese, wine and food stores for the tourists and lots of bars and restaurants.

The streets are aligned in such a way that the only views that you get from the town are narrow slices of countryside framed by the narrower streets that run steeply down the hills.

It is now lunch time and it is getting colder. When we happen on the restaurant that Michele had recommended in Montalcino–Re di Macchie–it seems that it is the right place to stop. Re di Macchie is a cozy small place and we have a pleasant lunch…..a mushroom lasagna for me followed by a plate of excellent tomato bruschetta while Diana has tagliatelle with a duck ragu and a very good cheese plate served with honey. We drink a couple of glasses of a Rosso di Montalcino (one of our favorite wines) and enjoy our meal.

After lunch, we walk back up to our car parked at the top of the town–a very steep climb.

We drive south to take a look at a smaller village–San Angelo in Colle–where there are two good restaurants to check out but we opt not to make another climb to the top of another hill town. Since the sun is threatening to break through, we decide to visit the gardens of La Foce–the home of a favorite author of ours, Iris Origo. To get there, we take a very striking "white road" that brings us to the rear of the beautiful abbey of Sant’Antimo and from there we take road after road with striking views that lead us across the base of Mount Amiata to the eastern part of the valley.

Iris Origo was an Anglo-American woman who grew up in the expatriate world of Florence in the early 20th century. She married an Italian nobleman and they bought a large landholding in the Val d’Orcia. At that time, the Val d’Orcia was an agricultural wasteland scarred with erosion–"le crete". They rehabilitated the land by building irrigation systems and using modern agricultural techniques and were able to reshape the whole character of the valley.

Iris Origo was also an author–she wrote a number of well regarded biographies…the best known is "The Merchant of Prato"…as well as an account of her experiences during World War II called "War in the Val d’Orcia". This is the book that originally made us want to visit La Foce. The only part of the estate that is open to the public is the extensive garden that she built with the help of a famous English garden planner–Cecil Pinsent. The garden combines Italian and English styles (disorder and order) and has great views over the valley, including the very famous twisting row of cypresses climbing a nearby hill. These cypresses were in fact planted by Origo and Pinsent to accent the vista from La Foce.

We have been before but are glad to be here again. The tour takes you through the various levels and parts of the garden…at this time of year, the most striking flowers are the purple wisteria that cover the walls…and it is a peaceful spot to enjoy the surroundings, especially since the sun has come out and the day has become almost warm.

We head back to San Quirico d’Orcia by taking the curvy cypress-lined road which is actually pretty poorly maintained and makes for a very bumpy ride. But on the road, we come across a lone deer that runs in front of our car for a short distance. This makes Diana happy because ever since our first trip to Italy, she has admired the signs along many Italian roads that alert drivers to the possiblility of encountering deer. (I’m not sure the picture of the deer on the signs is any more graceful than on American signs, but she is enamoured with most things Italian). In all our visits and in all our drives, this is the first deer that we’ve ever seen. (Unfortunately we weren’t able to take a picture–it all happened too fast). We stop at one point on the dirt road and Diana picks some wild flowers for the vase in the apartment.

I take another stroll around San Quirico before dinner and meet Mandy (from the apartment over the park), her husband and their house guests who are having coffee at the Bar Centrale. We have dinner at Il Ciacco, a newish place right on the main square (which Mandy had recommended) and, of course, we meet them again when they come in for dinner. She had told us that the cook at Il Ciacco was French trained and not from San Quirico so his take on Tuscan cuisine was a little more creative than the other restaurants in town. Dinner was very good and it was apparent that the chef was adding some of his own touches to the menu. Diana had a timbale of potato with a cheese center and roast pork medallions served with an onion confit which she enjoyed very much. I had a more traditional Tuscan antipasto plate, then ravioli with butter and sage and–somewhat different–a stuffed galleta (chicken) dish. The house wine tasted very good and we enjoyed the setting and the meal.

It is a quick walk through quiet San Quirico d’Orcia to our apartment while looking at the sky hoping for signs that tomorrow will be sunny.

Day 6: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Not such a pretty day this morning….overcast with the threat of rain. We have our breakfast in the apartment and I am happy to have a few big cups of drip coffee along with our rolls, butter, strawberries and fabulous ricotta cheese from the local producer who has a store around the corner from us.

The electrician comes early to size up the heating situation….he replaces the thermostat but the main problem seems to be with the fan of the unit which necessitates a call to the manufacturer. So we will hope for warmer weather and will continue to rely on the portable electric heater in the meantime.

After breakfast, I walk over to the Palazzo del Capitano to say hello to our friend Arianna who is one of the desk clerks there. Later in the morning, we visit another San Quirico d’Orcia apartment that I have just seen on the internet. It is owned by an American expat who lives in Germany and her German husband. It is on the third floor of a recently renovated condominium that looks out over the Horti Leoni.

We are very impressed…it is light and airy, very comfortably furnished with lots of space, has a large well-equipped kitchen, an extra-large bathroom and a washing machine and a dryer. We have a nice talk with the owner and tell her that we would be happy to rent it for ourselves any time and would hope to be able to send her some clients.

http://www.vrbo.com/204437

On the way back, we stop to buy more supplies for lunch which we eat in the apartment. After lunch, the weather continues to threaten so we decide to take a drive the Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, set high on a hill overlooking Buonconvento.

Monte Oliveto Maggiore (on a sunny day)

It was founded by wealthy businessmen from Siena in the 14th century and is well known for preserving books. Part of the tour includes visiting its extensive library which features shelves and shelves of old books and very handsome chest with striking wood inlays (intarsia) on the doors.

There is also a very impressive fresco cycle in the cloister that has scenes from the life of St. Benedict painted by Luca Signorelli and Il Sodoma….the 36 wall panels are rich with detail and color. However, the day was so dark that pictures were not possible so here are web sites that have more pictures and information about the Abbey.

http://www.monte-oliveto.com/

More pictures and information

There are also some beautiful intarsia choir stalls in the main church but, even though they are lit up when you drop a euro in the coin box, most of them are roped off and you can’t get closeup looks at them. We are always very taken with the intarsia that we see in Italy and the examples here at the Abbey are some of the finest in Italy.

Even more pictures (with intarsia stalls)

The rain is coming down harder as we leave the abbey so we drive back to the apartment for some work and rest.

Dinner is with our friends Zak and Gary, who live in nearby Chiusure and run a villa rental company that I work with frequently–Tuscan House.com. We meet at their favorite pizzeria/ristorante in another nearby village–Torrenieri–and we have a very nice evening catching up with their house construction in Tasmania (where they spend the winter), bemoaning the economy’s effect on tourism and talking about the beauty of southern Tuscany. Diana has a very nice tagliatelle with a meat ragu and I have the local special pasta–pici–with a very un-Tuscan cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper). My frittura mista is excellently prepared and Diana has a tagliata (steak) which is not that good.

It is a short drive home to San Quirico…..and we are hoping for improved weather tomorrow.

Jim and Diana

Day 5: San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Our first morning in the apartment…..I go out to buy some rolls for breakfast (we had stopped last evening at the grocery store in town for staples–butter, cheese, jam, coffee, tea, etc.). The weather looks promising…some overcast but with patches of blue in the sky.

I struggle with the espresso machine in the apartment (no instructions) and end up with a weak, unsatisfying brew. The rest of the meal is fine….very good fresh rolls from the local bakery.

The plumber shows up after breakfast and inspects the balky heating system but finally concludes that is an electrical problem which he can’t fix.

The sun comes out so we take a stroll around San Quirico d’Orcia….past the Collegiata church

with its striking doorways.

We admire the lilacs (that we don’t have in Washington)

and walk past the houses built into the fortress towers.

We pass through the handsome formal Italian garden–the Horti Leoni– with its beautiful wisteria hanging from the tall walls, built in the 1500s when pilgrims passed through town on the way to Rome on the Via Francigena.

Since it is such a nice day, we decide to head to a nearby village– Montichiello–and have lunch on the terrace of Trattoria La Porta which has gorgeous views over the valley towards Pienza.

[NOTE: The little camera in my phone doesn't do justice to the beauty of the countryside around Pienza, so I will be including some photos from the internet to give you a truer impression of the scenery. This is exactly what it looks like.]

Lunch is very pleasant….we split an antipasto plate and Diana has gnocchi and I have papardelle. The house wine goes down easily and we are very content.

We stroll around the very hilly village after lunch ducking into the church for a quick look at the well preserved frescoes on the walls.

Next stop is Pienza, the very busy, planned Renaissance town which is famous for its pecorino cheese. We take a back road across the valley which gets us in the middle of the fields of wild yellow flowers

After a brief reaquaintance walk in town including a look at the panorama over the Val d’Orcia (there is also a large class of watercolor painters trying to reproduce the view)

we stop at the local hardware store and describe what we are looking for–a American style drip coffee maker. After the owner realizes we don’t want an Italian coffee maker, he pulls down a Melitta cone and some filters and then heads outside where he finds a metal pot that the filter cone fits perfectly. Mission accomplished……

Back in San Quirico d’Orcia, we make a shopping expedition to the local supermarket to buy fixings for dinner and at the “fruttaverdura” for tomatoes, strawberries, fava and string beans. Diana cooks up some pasta with a fresh tomato sauce and we have a delicious dinner in the apartment…..

Tomorrow we hope for another nice day……

Day 4: Rome-San Quirico d'Orcia

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:07:00 +0000

Last morning in Rome....very overcast with a threat of rain. Since it is Sunday, the traffic limitations barring driving without authorization into the center are not in force so I can go and pick up the rental car and drive it back to the hotel, making it easier just to load the bags directly into the car.

I very much enjoy my walk across the heart of Rome....past the Pantheon, skirting the Trevi Fountain and cutting up to the Via Veneto. The car rental procedure is relatively painless and I only make one wrong turn on the way back to the hotel. We pack up the car, say goodbye to the desk clerk, Paolo and head out of town. We choose to take the non-toll road route to Tuscany and we immediately encounter some problems looking for the Via Cassia (S.S. 2). After meandering around the Flaminio neighborhood, the Via Cassia appears and we begin the trip out of Rome.

But not so quickly....for some reason, on this rainy Sunday, the traffic is fierce. The road goes through heavily populated areas on the outskirts of Rome and we are crawling along until we are well beyond the ring road (GRA) that encircles the city. Now we are looking for a place to stop for a bite to eat but we are on an limited access highway and most of the service areas are closed on Sundays. We stop at a bar in Sutri and have a snack to fortify us--some cappuccino and delicious cornetti.

Continuing on our way north, the rain intensifies. We see a sign for a ricotta festival in a town along our route (Zepponami)

so we plan to stop. The festival grounds are right on the road but, after we park, we see that the festivities are severely curtailed by the bad weather.

We go up to one of the stands and ask a woman if we can get something to eat. She laments that the rain has spoiled the day and that the ricotta that she is preparing isn't ready, but then reels off about five things that we can get. She leads us over to the food tent and soon we're having some delicious food--a sausage sandwich, a grilled ricotta bruschetta and some sort of fried bread. The rest of the crowd is mostly the workers and they are fortifying themselves with some Chivas Regal and dessert. The sheep don't seem to be complaining about getting wet however.

We continue on our way and are soon driving through the very scenic countryside of northern Lazio and southern Tuscany. Passing through Acquapendente, there is a big market festival being held in spite of the rain and the town is packed. We pull into San Quirico d'Orcia about 4 pm and meet up with the owner of the apartment where we are staying.

The apartment is one big room in the ground floor of one of the medieval buildings in the historic center of San Quirico d"Orcia. It is very light (in spite of the gray sky) and the furniture looks very comfortable. (Here is the link to the web page that has pictures.

link

The pictures are quite representative of what the apartment looks like.) The owner (a young Austrian woman) welcomes us and shows us around the place. The big problem we have is that the heat doesn't seem to be working and it is quite chilly and damp. She brings us a portable electric heater and promises to call the plumber in the morning. We unpack and get settled. I am relieved that my internet key works like a charm.

The rain lets up a for a bit and I make a short exploration of the town....which we know very well. Not too much seems to have changed, which is a relief. We have dinner at our favorite San Quirico d'Orcia restaurant, Il Tinaio. When we get there we are the only customers on this rainy Sunday evening but we get a warm welcome from the waiter and have a terrific meal. We split an antipasto plate of prosciutto and salamis, then Diana has the zuppa di farro and I have the ribollita (a bread and vegetable soup)--both hearty, delicious and warming. Diana's filet is great and I enjoy my trippa valdorciana. We drink the house wine--a bottle of rosso di montepulciano--which we like very much. The meal is topped off by a perfect panna cotta...one of the best that we have ever had.

We quickly walk back to the apartment down the deserted and wet main street. The apartment has been warmed up by the portable heater so it is comfortable for us to go to sleep. We hope for improved weather in the morning.

Jim and Diana

Day 3: Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:03:00 +0000

The weather is somewhat iffy after we eat breakfast so I take the opportunity to do some errands. First stop is the local TIM (telephone store) to purchase some credits for the “internet key” that I borrowed from Franco and Maureen.

The nearest store turns out to be right around the corner so it is a painless procedure to buy 100 hours of internet use for Euro 25.00. I then hurry back to the hotel to see if it works….and–miracle of miracles–it connects like a charm and the speed of the connection is definitely usable. I just hope it works as well in southern Tuscany.
Next item of business is to make a business call on the Residenza Farnese, a boutique hotel that I use frequently but have never visited. I meet the reservations manager Francesca and one of her staff takes me around the hotel. The rooms are quite stylish with significant variations in size accounting for the differences in price. The public space is spectacular–sitting rooms - one with a pool table, large lobby, big conference room and an elegant breakfast room. To top it all off, the hotel has an expansive roof terrace which has wonderful views all around the neighborhood. I hope that we can stay there on one of our next trips to Rome. Here is a link to the photo gallery on their web site.

http://www.residenzafarneseroma.it/galleria.asp

After I finish my work, we take a bus to the Capitoline Museum so we can go to the “Beato Angelico and the Dawn of the Renaissance” show now on display there. We have a slight hiccup when the bus we take to the Piazza Venezia turns out to be an express and makes it stop way over on the far side of the piazza which means we have to walk all the way back to where our bus had left us off yesterday. Not only does one have to worry about which bus to take but also where the bus stops for each route are located……

We make our way back to the museum located on the Campodoglio, bravely crossing the six lanes of traffic speeding around the piazza. The show is a knockout……Beato Angelico was one of the key figures at the beginning of the Renaissance….more than a hundred years later than Giotto. We had first seen one of his paintings–an Annunciation– on one of our early trips to Italy. It was in Cortona and it was just stunning. He has an entire museum devoted his work in Florence–the San Marco Museum–and it shouldn’t be missed. His paintings are so vivid…the colors leap out at you and his figures are lovely and expressive. And we are pleased that the explanations and the signage are not only in English (and Italian) but in graceful and informative English…..I think we would have loved the show even if there had not been any English but I think that it made the experience much deeper and more meaningful.

http://en.museicapitolini.org/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/beato_angelico<br />
After we leave the show, we walk out on the roof deck of the museum which features killer views of the city.

We want to have lunch at the rooftop cafe but the tables are full and don’t seem to be turning over very quickly. We change plans and head for one of our favorite sandwich places–Lo Zozzone–near the Piazza Navona. When we arrive we are surprised to see that the “joint”– which used to be strictly self-service and take away–has instituted table service and a menu with significantly increased prices. But since we had just taken a long walk, we were actually happy to sit down and have someone bring us our food. The sandwiches are still great……freshly baked white pizza stuffed with any number of delicious combinations of meats, cheeses and other fillings.

On the way back to the hotel, I make a work stop at an apartment to pay a deposit for a client and we have a nice talk with the apartment manager.

In the late afternoon, I set out for a walk. I walk down the elegant Via Giulia, cross the river and climb the Gianicolo Hill which overlooks the Trastevere section. I haven’t been here since our first trip to Rome in 1993 and it is nice to re-discover what a pleasant walk it is along the crest of the ridge in the midst of a pretty public park. The views back over Rome are expansive and there are a lot of people hanging out and enjoying the day. The park contains a number of monuments including a large one honoring Garibaldi–the leading military figure in the Italian unification movement– the Risorgimento. (There were a number of battles fought in the park between the armies of the Roman Republic and the French who were defending the Papal States.)

and one dedicated to his wife Anita,

a lighthouse, given to Rome by Italians who had moved to Argentina,

a small amusement park,

dozens of busts of Italian leaders of the Risorgimento,

and a large imposing fountain, the Fontana dell’Acqua Paolo.

I missed one of the major sites on the hill, a tempietto designed by Bramante, because a wedding was going on in the church of San Pietro in Montorio.

I take some stairs down the hill which takes me into the heart of the old Trastevere neighborhood

and cross the Tiber on the Ponte Sisto, where artists are “painting” animal figures on the bridge with some type of aluminum foil.

We take advantage of the improving weather to have a prosecco at the Bar Farnese so we can admire the Piazza Farnese, the very imposing Michelangelo-designed building which houses the French Embassy.

Our last day in Rome ends with dinner with friends–Jill and Leon Kammer–at a lively Trastevere restaurant called Le Mani in Pasta, which is a lot of fun. The highlight foodwise was a baked filet of San Pietro fish which three of us had and was delicious.

Tomorrow we pack up, pick up our rental car and head for southern Tuscany.

Jim and Diana

Day 2: Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Our first morning in Rome starts out bright and sunny. I have some work to do after breakfast so we don’t get out of the hotel until almost 11 am. Our first destination is the Giotto show at the Victor Emmanuel Monument (Vittoriano).

We walk over to the Largo Argentina and hop on a bus…I have a plentiful supply of Rome bus tickets in my wallet left over from previous trips. The bus stops on one side of the Vittoriano so we have to cross the very busy street (taking advantage of a traffic signal) and walk all the way around to the other side where the entrance to the exhibit space is.

The show–Giotto and the Trecento (1300s)–is nicely mounted and has a lot of multimedia materials but unfortunately for us, it is all in Italian.

So we rent audioguides to help us get the context and the relationships of all the painters in the show. Unfortunately the audioguide is not all that helpful….a combination of not enough information and very technical, ponderous narration…and the exhibit is very crowded making it difficult to maneuver for good views of the pictures. There are some striking paintings and frescoes in the show but we feel that we have missed a lot because of the lack of English explanations….certainly our loss for not understanding Italian well enough.

Back on the street after the show, the day has brightened even more– the sky is blue and the temperature is wonderfully warm. The churches across from the Vittoriano stand out beautifully against the blue sky and fluffy clouds

We cross over and take a look at the excavations at Trajan’s Forum and Trajan’s Column.

We decide to walk back toward the hotel and have some lunch. En route, we discover some new (to us) buildings with a Liberty-style (Art Nouveau) open atrium

as well as some old favorite buildings like the stock exchange in the Piazza di Pietra–the columns are from the 2nd century Temple dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian

and the Pantheon. Yesterday when we walked past the Pantheon it was closed. Today we get inside for a look around and up through the open roof. This most perfect building is always one of our first stops in Rome - now know we are “home.”

We chose a place to eat–Trattoria Pizzeria Pasquino–so we can sit outside in the sun and get some Roman pasta specialties. However, after waiting for fifteen minutes to have someone take our order we get impatient and leave. We give up the sun but sit outside at another place just up the street–Ciccia Bomba. The pasta dishes are very good–gricia for me (cheese, oil and guanciale) and cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) for Diana and we also have an excellent tomato bruschetta…..just toasted bread, flavorful tomatoes and good olive oil–simple but delicious.

After lunch, the weather gets a bit overcast, so we head back to the hotel for some work and some rest and in the late afternoon when the sun comes out again, we cross the Tiber for a walk around Trastevere. Our goal is to buy some cookies at Innocenti’s, a famous biscotteria, across from an apartment where we stayed a few years ago. We then meander through the quiet back streets of this old Roman neighborhood

and back across the Tiber to the Jewish Ghetto. We browse at Limentani’s, a famous old housewares store–like a Pottery Barn on steroids–and sit and watch the parade of Romans and tourists on the main street.

We have a great dinner and a very pleasant evening at Maureen and Franco’s apartment near the Colosseum and I borrow an “internet key” that I hope to be able to use in southern Tuscany because the apartment where we are staying doesn’t have internet access. Tomorrow we plan to go to another show….this one at the Capitoline Museums, devoted to Beato Angelico, the Renaissance painter. It’s been a full, wonderful day in Rome.

Day 1: Rome

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:56:00 +0000

We are back in Italy again......and feeling pretty good. We will be here for most of a month....here is our itinerary.

After three days in Rome, we'll drive to San Quirico d'Orcia in southern Tuscany where we stay for ten days in an apartment in the village. This is followed by one night in Florence and four nights in the northwestern Tuscan town of Pietrasanta. We then drive to Sesto Calende (near Milan) and stay for one night before flying to Copenhagen to visit friends in Lund, in southern Sweden. Back to Sesto Calende for a night amd then three days in Lerici staying at one of our favorite hotels, the Doria Park. The last night will be in or near Rome and we fly back to Washington on May 14.

Our flight over from Philadelphia was long and tiring but unventful. We were anxious about getting there because the bad weather on Wednesday over the northeast U.S. hit Philadelphia Airport pretty hard with long flight delays and some cancellations. Luckily I had persuaded the airline to change our connecting flight from National Airport to 2 pm instead of 4 pm which gave us an additional two hours margin of error. (NOTE: No more one hour connections on international flights).

And it still looked dicey as Philadelphia flight delays increased. Our 1:59 departure slipped to 2:25 pm and then, just before we boarded, the gate staff told us the flight may not get off the ground until 4 pm but that we should have no problem making our 6:05 pm flight to Rome. Alls well that ends well...they boarded us at 2:15 pm in case an earlier takeoff became possible and we got to Philadelphia at 4 pm...breathing a sigh of relief.

In Rome our baggage arrived pretty quickly and the driver was there to meet us without a hitch. But the traffic into Rome was almost gridlocked so he got off the main road to town and looked for an alternate route down the Via Cassia entering Rome behind the Vatican. The trip took over an hour instead of the usual 35 minutes but we made it to the Hotel Teatro di Pompeo, unloaded, were greeted by our friend Americo, the hotel desk clerk, and went up to our room.

Arriving in the morning presents a challenge to our usual anti-jet lag procedure of staying up, walking around and going to bed as close to a normal time as possible. This works well with afternoon arrivals but not with morning ones. Diana had not slept on the plane and took a nap immediately and I spent a little time on the computer and went for a short walk around the neighborhood, but by noon, I also fell into bed.

We emerged around 3 pm and went to the Campo de' Fiori for a porchetta sandwich at the Aristocampo sandwich shop...it was delicious. Then back to the hotel for some work (I picked up a few new clients in the last week or so and I have to complete their arrangements while in Italy). After another somewhat longer walk--the weather has ranged from sunny and warm to breezy and chilly and back again (but when it is nice, it is really nice)--we stop at the Feltrinelli book store to look for some new maps then pay our respects to the Pantheon and go for an early dinner. Our first try is at Armando al Pantheon but at 7:30 we are turned away because we have no reservations.

We eat dinner at the Trattoria Moderna, a stylish, somewhat creative restaurant just around the corner from the hotel. Since we're eating early, most of the customers are non-Italian. The pasta dishes are very good....rigatoni with sausage and broccoli and pecorino cheese for me and fettucine with ricotta and artichokes for Diana. She has filets of spigola which was okay and I have a plate of roast potatoes and artichokes alla Giudea and an order of cicoria. We finish a half-liter of the house red which is very pleasant. The bill comes to Euro 62.00 (about $80.00 US), sort of moderate for these times.

We stroll over to the Campo for some gelato.....I am disappointed that they don't have my favorite peanut flavor but our first gelato of the trip is very good--pistachio and straciatella for Diana and fragola and fior di latte for me. And then to bed and to sleep....very quickly.

Jim and Diana

Itinerary April 15 2009 - May 14 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Zurer) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:22:00 +0000

Zurer - Spring 2009, April 15 2009 - May 14 2009

Mobile Phone Number 001/39/334-3179618
If you call my Google Voice number--301 841-6099--and leave a message, it will show up in my e-mail.

Wednesday April 15 2009 - [enroute]

US Airways 3146
Lv DC 1:59 pm
Ar Philadelphia 3:01 pm

US Airways 718
Lv Philadelphia 6:05 pm

Thursday April 16 2009 - Sunday April 19 2009: Rome

Ar Rome 8:45 am

Hotel Teatro di Pompeo

Sunday April 19 2009 - Wednesday April 29 2009 - San Quirico d'Orcia

Apartment Il Giardino

Wednesday April 29 2009 - Florence, Italy

Residenza del Moro

Thursday April 30 2009 - Monday May 04 2009 - Pietrasanta

Albergo Pietrasanta

Monday May 04 2009 - Sesto Calende, Italy

Hotel 3 Re

Tuesday May 05 2009 - Saturday May 09 2009 - Lund, Sweden

Visiting with Ulf and Magdalena

Saturday May 09 2009 - Sesto Calende, Italy

Hotel 3 Re

Sunday May 10 2009 - Wednesday May 13 2009 - Lerici

Hotel Doria Park

Wednesday May 13 2009 - Rome or near airport

Thursday May 14 2009 - [home]

US Airways 719
Lv Rome 11:15 am
Ar Philadelphia 2:55 pm

Lv Philadelphia 5:45 pm
Ar Washington National 6:38 pm