We said our goodbyes to Assisi this morning and hit the autostrada back to the villa. The decision was made to let our GPS (nicknamed Jeelo) take us 'wherever' on our route home. At the border of Umbria and Tuscany, quite a distance before the cutoff to Cortona, Jeelo took us off the highway and onto mountain backroads. What a spectacular drive as we " switchbacked" our way over the mountains and back to the villa. The countryside was, in many cases, reminiscent of Vermont. We passed old decrepit farmhouses, sitting on hillsides with glorious vistas over Lake Trasimeno. Oh, how I wish we were in the financial position to purchase and renovate one of those. Anything in Tuscany goes for €$€$!
As we near the end of our stay, I thought of this lovely area, Tuscany, and no longer wondered at it's popularity. In my heart, I pray that Jim and I are blessed enough to return. Tuscans love any reason for a celebration and there are so many local events we would love to witness. Il Palio in Siena is a medieval spectacle that has survived to present day. Ten of Siena's seventeen town districts compete for the much coveted palio, a silk banner. Il Campo, Siena's large central piazza, becomes a racetrack. Our good friends, Marlene and David MacKay, saw the racetrack of packed dirt set up in Il Campo on their visit to Italy this summer. The race is run at 7:45 p.m. The ten horses and their 'bareback' riders tear three times around Il Campo with a speed and violence that makes most spectators hair stand on end. Even if a horse loses it's rider, it is still eligible to win. The town is decorated with the flags of each town district and the festivities go on for days. Leave it to the Sienese to celebrate in such a fashion!
Montepulciano celebrates with Bravio delle Botti. Again this is based on a neighborhood competition between the town's eight districts. Of course this town, famous for it's Vino Nobile wines, would use wine barrels in their celebration. Amidst the townspeople in medieval dress-up and much flag waving, eight two-man teams race giant unwieldy wine barrels up the steep streets to Piazza Grande. Just remember that itvtakes about twenty-five minutes to walk from the bottom of Montepulciano to its main piazza!
I would also love to be here in November to witness the olive harvest and pressing. All are reasons to return.
Our plans for this upcoming Saturday included:
1. Returning our rental car to Arezzo (a town about 40 minutes north of Cortona)
2. Catching the local train to Florence.
3. Boarding the Eurostar for Venice
"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!" Our travel agent, Connie, warned us that the local trains frequently change their schedules. On checking, we discovered that there is now no Saturday train leaving Arezzo in time to get us to Florence for our connection to Eurostar. One thing in Italy - you gotta' be flexible. Sooooooo.....we will leave the villa on Friday, a day early, drive to Arezzo, take an afternoon train into Florence, stay in Florence on Friday night (not what either one of us would classify as a hardship) and then be in place on time for our scheduled Eurostar to Venice. Our hotel, The Hermitage, can accommodate us on Friday night; this makes leaving the villa a day early much easier to swallow.
As for tomorrow? Looks like it will be a day for laundry. Ugh! I have one more thing I would like to do in Cortona before we leave. Hopefully I will be able to tell you in my next blog. Best of all, though, Giusi is cooking for us again tonight. For Jim and I, there could be no more suitable ending to our stay here!
A domain!
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