Montepulciano

Another rainy,cold day here in Tuscany, but me and my little Fiat are not complaining.  I followed my nose and my stomach to a beautiful little restaurant near Piazza Grande. It's a cozy little restaurant with jazz playing in the background.  Any place that has jazz playing in the background will be a hit in my books.

I'm actually kind of jealous of the owner. This is my dream restaurant that I want to open one day when I win the lottery. 

One little side note: I'm embarrassed to admit that I excitedly took pictures in the piazza where twilight was filmed- me and a few giddy teenagers.....

Dinner in Cortona

It's official! I really have morphed into an Italian. I've only been in Cortona for 4 days and I consider myself a local. I now only speak Italian and when I'm in the restaurant I look at stranieri as if to say "who are you and what are you doing in my restaurant"?

We all turn our heads, as I've now baptized myself as Cortonese and everyone else is below me!

Paolo now recognizes me! Ciao, buona sera! He proudly gives me a table. This is a man who rubs shoulders with celebrities, like Robert Redford for god's sake! But for this week I'll do. I've been baptized and I wear the crown proudly. 

I've been driving like a semi maniac since I've been here, even though I have an automatic car back home, here I drive that stick shift like nobody's business. Slow tourists on the road ahead of me aggravate me! "Mama Mia, come on" I scream.

I've gotten into the habit of eating at 9. Only losers eat before 9 and red wine has become a part of my daily diet. On the east coast of Italy prosecco is fine but here in Tuscany you're an idiot if you don't live on red wine. White wine is for sissies! 

How will I ever adjust to Canadian life again? These Italians know the formula!  Once you're a part of that group you can never go back! Eh! Va bene! 

Clouds over Cortona

This morning I jumped out of bed, opened my shutters and guess what I saw! Glorious blue sky! I haven't seen blue sky in a while and quite frankly I think it's bringing me down a bit (judging from yesterday's posting)! So I jumped out of bed, slapped on my good old running shoes, had a good breakfast and headed up the hill for my morning hike. That's when I realized why it was so sunny. The cloud was actually below Cortona.

So I huffed and puffed my way up to the top, took a million pictures which will bore everyone to death and sat in Piazza della Republica and just people watched. I decided to give the car a break this morning (partly because I have amazing parking that will disappear once I move the car).

So here I sit in beautiful Teatro Signorelli waiting for lunch, feeling quite relaxed and content with absolutely no idea what I'll be doing this afternoon!!!

La dolce vita.....

Update: there were 3 people waiting for a table so I invited them to come join me. They were hysterical and I ended up spending the whole afternoon laughing and talking with them. They're from Montana and leaving tomorrow but I've been entertaining them with stories about  the farm, my driving adventures etc...

What a wonderful afternoon, sitting in teatro Signorelli, drinking wine and laughing with new friends....

Twilight zone

The irony! As I was walking to the restaurant I decided to snoop around in a bookstore and guess what I saw (and bought) "his" latest book.....

Valiagli

I'm posting everything at once as it was impossible to find decent WIFI anywhere in Siena. To tell you the truth it's a very gloomy, cold day in Tuscany. Perfect for hopping in the car and getting lost in beautiful places which is exactly what I did.

Not really lost but rather challenging myself to find Casale San Lorenzo again. See Casale is outside the town of Valiagli  which is quite remote and in the heart of Chianti wine country. So I drove around the outskirts of Siena until (heart beating fast) I see the sign "Foana di chiana" and something rings a bell. Could it be that after 5 years I actually remember how to get there???? So I drive that familiar winding road- 4th gear down to 3rd and quickly down to 2nd as it's a really tight curve, then quickly get back into 4th so the maniac behind me doesn't hit me.

What an achingly beautiful place, even in the rain. Everywhere you look on both sides of the road are lush vineyards. One side produces Chianti Classico and the other regular Chianti, curve after curve after abandoned farmhouse and then you see the sign "Corsignano" and you're absolutely amazed that you found it. 

All the memories from that summer come flooding back and you feel like no time has passed since you were last here. Then you see the sign "Casale San Lorenzo" and that beautiful gate with the long driveway. 

I turned onto the road, went through the gates and stopped the car. In all the excitement I never stopped to think that they would ask me to stay. See, I want to find a charming place to stay before going back home but that house is really quiet and remote and to be honest the last time I was there I left with a broken heart so those feelings were unfortunately flooding back. 

So as their dogs watched me I backed up, drove into Valiagli- walked around a bit-drove past "his" house and got the hell out of there.

Wonderful, intense memories that need to stay in the past. It was still a thrill to pull over because the scenery was so incredibly beautiful , I tried to take pictures of Siena in the distance which was breathtaking but unfortunately you can't see Siena in my pictures .

How I would have loved to stop by to say hello but some things are best left alone. One day when I finally meet someone special I'll bring him to that magical place.

So after all that adventure and driving through Tuscany all day I've decided to stay in Cortona. I'm staying in an adorable 4 star hotel so why leave. I'll use this as my home base and still visit Montepulciano and Florence (even Val D'orcia if I can squeeze it in).

So with a bit of a heavy heart, I sip my wine and dream of a plate of ravioli al limone.

Siena

Small change of plans! I was supposed to go to Florence but changed my mind at the last minute (the car drove itself here)...

Actually I wanted to drive through Montepulciano to see if I can find a cute, affordable agriturismo on my way back to Cortona.

So as I've been doing these past few weeks (my favorite thing to do) sitting in a piazza. Not just any piazza- piazza Del Campo, one of the most famous in Italy. Where the famous Palio takes place every summer-if you look carefully at the ground you can still see grains of sand in between the granite slabs. 

It's cloudy and quite chilly so a perfect day for visiting some churches that I didn't have time to see last time I was here. The piazza is already filling up with tourists so time to gulp down that cappuccino and start moving!

How on earth will I ever find my car? This place is a maze of alleyways..... 

Trattoria Dardano

Just came back from dinner and quite honestly a little tipsy. The reason for this is that it's quite customary for Paolo (the owner) to offer you their special digestif after you've downed a bottle of wine(or 1/2 litre in my case), only that it's quite potent. I somehow managed to wobble myself home through the piazza and down the steep hill to my hotel.

Trattoria Dardano is quite famous in Cortona. The family has their own farm in Tuscany and everything they serve comes from the farm (wild boar, rabbit, lamb etc...). There are pictures on the wall of Paolo with Robert Redford, Frances Mayes, and Marisa something from CSI (Something).

Very rustic little restaurant which was completely packed. I didn't have a reservation but did my usual "just walk in like you own the place" routine and it actually worked. 

I ended up meeting a very cool family from Edmonton who were hysterical ( thus the outcome of my tipsiness). By the way, they also walked to Frances Mayes house with a bottle of wine and stopped on the way back to drink it. Lovely! I may see them again tomorrow night as I need to go back for ravioli al limone before leaving Cortona and they'll probably be there too.

So here's the plan. Tomorrow Firenze and then after checkout-who knows. I've decided to skip Rome. After all I live downtown, I don't want pollution, traffic etc... I'm in Tuscany for god's sake. I'll get into my little Fiat and go where the wind blows me for my final 3 days in Toscana...