Ciao, Italia

Sunday, July 24 was our last day to savor Italy and we had plans to meet my sister, Lesle ,who is a flight attendant for Delta. She had snared a much favored working trip from Atlanta to Rome and had arrived that morning. We were planning to meet at the Pantheon, shop, have an early dinner and then she would "work" the trip back to the US the next morning with us onboard.

Fate saw it differently and we never connected as we left text and phone messages on her cell and she left email messages for us. She did not even have her phone with her and we had not purchased wifi at the hotel. So we were all in Roma at the same time but finally saw one another on Monday when the flight crew appeared in the boarding area at the airport. C'est la vie or whatever the Italian equivalent might be.

The airport Hilton runs a free shuttle downtown every two hours so we hopped the two o'clock  and were actually dropped off at the Victor Emmanual "wedding cake" Monument which is just a few blocks from the Pantheon.

Victor Emmanual Monument

 We quickly joined the hordes at one of the oldest buildings in continuous use in the world. It was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa about 27BC and its' dome is still the largest unreinforced  concrete dome anywhere on the planet. Pretty impressive on both counts.

Though it was built to honor "all gods" in the ancient world, it has been a Catholic church since the 7th century and mass had been held that morning.  Since the Renaissance, the Pantheon has been used as a tomb and one can see the grave of Raphael among others including two kings of Italy. The dome was used by the architect, Brunelleschi as inspiration when designing the  beautiful Santa Maria Novella Church in Florence and the portico is often called the "umbrella of Rome"  as people flock under its' protective expanse during rainstorms! Its' connection with the Renaissance is so tight that it was a necessary stop for Betsy after completing her art history class!

The small side streets around the Pantheon teem with shops, cafes and restaurants so we combed the area and lucked into a precious toy shop, Zortolucci, where Rider enjoyed peering at the handpainted clocks, toys and bric-a-brac but definitely had an opposite reaction when he found himself next to some large wooden  figures on the bench.

Lots to buy!

Who are these people?

After an overpriced meal in a local cafe ( filled mostly with tourists...who are the only ones eating at six o'clock in Italy ), we headed back to catch our bus near the 'wedding cake'. We thought it a good idea to try to tire our boy out so we let him do one of the things he likes best-climb steps. We chose the steps to the Basilica Di Maria Aracoeli , never thinking he could make it to the top.        

The steps

It must be a challenge written down in some tourist guide as the area was busy with brash young men and women traipsing madly up the steps. And, yes, he climbed virtually to the top where Betsy hoisted him in celebration. He is a strong fellow!

The celebration

To complete the celebration, we had yet more gelato, caught the bus and went back to the hotel where we put him to bed after a much needed bath in a real bathtub. We packed, drank a bottle of Chianti and slept as soundly as the baby.

Our flight was scheduled for 10:30 am and we were advised to arrive at the airport at least 2.5 hours early which we did. On the positive side, the hotel was helpful in transferring all the luggage with their compliments ( and with about $30 in tips). Also Delta check-in personnel were polite and courteous but, to our chagrin,  we learned that the flight was delayed and not due out until 12:30! Our mistake not checking emails or with Delta....hours to kill in the airport with a rowdy little boy. 

Actually, he was as good as could be expected and we were able ( with Lesle's intervention, I think) to exchange our 'economy plus' seats for seats at the bulkhead in the  regular economy section AND we had a whole row of three which afforded us a place to make a pallet for Rider at our feet. It was much appreciated to have that empty seat and made placating him on the long trip home much easier. He took a three hour nap and was generally pretty easy to entertain. He especially enjoyed peering over the seat to the ten year old behind us and peering around the seats to the two teenagers across the aisle. Betsy strolled the aisles with him and  Lesle, when she had a break from work, took a turn walking with him. He loved playing with her keys and flashlight ! The hardest part of the trip was probably changing diapers...those poopy pants aren't easy with a squirming baby anywhere much less an airplane bathroom.

The pilots made up some time and we arrived in Atlanta just ahead of a nasty thunderstorm. Getting through customs was the usual Atlanta hassle of collecting bags and then resubmitting them to be picked up at baggage claim.  That process is supposed to change in 2012 with the construction of the new international terminal and it will be, no doubt, welcomed by travelers.

With the thunderstorm, the bags didn't come off the belt until about an hour after we expected. Another delay but we were home so it didn't seem so bad. Grandfather (aka Paul) met us and, thankfully, was our chauffeur home to Jasper!  A long trip, successfully completed. As Dorothy said, "There's no place like home."

The last leg for Betsy and Rider would occur three days later as they traveled on to Los Angeles. A little time to wash clothes, shop for 24 month togs at the Carter outlet for our growing boy and generally regroup.

What an incredible adventure and, for me, a trip I will long treasure. Ciao, Bella Italia.

The Last Days

Farewell Capitignano!

Friday, July 22 was the last day at Capitignano and the last night with the monks. Everyone seemed a bit melancholy as the summer classes drew to a close. Some of the students were doing further travel, some heading straight home and we were going to spend a day doing a bit more sightseeing and stay overnight with Beth and Andrea in Ponsacco before leaving for Rome on Sunday. Most goodbyes were said Friday night as many had to leave at six am for flights from Bologna. Florence is the closest airport to Borgo and Bologna not that far behind.

Georgio, Maria and Rider

 Saturday morning dawned beautiful as always and we packed up our numerous bags, leftover food and wine and bid a sad farewell to Maria, Georgio and their dog Stella              

Stella...dog extraordinaire

  at Capitignano and set out once more for a last tour of the Tuscan countryside. An aside would be that Capitignano is a great jumping off point for touring Tuscany and even as far as Venice. Florence, Pisa, Siena, Cinque Terre, the hill towns, Bologna are all a reasonable day trip. The casitas on the property are for rent and are reasonable especially in the off season ( I think I'd like to return in the fall at harvest time!).

Rider waiting for our afternoon excursion

A familiar drive past Florence and toward Pisa brought us to Ponsacco again. After checking in with Andrea at the house and dumping our bags, we chose to once again visit  the Disney-like walled town of San Gimignano.

 The less than an hour trip through the gorgeous countryside revealed the much painted sunflower fields, glimpses of medieval fortresses, walled hill towns and stunning vistas marred only by the occasional signs in English of the Tuscan get-aways available for purchase.

San Gimignano in the distance

 On our first visit to San Gimignano, we remarked that it was a tourist's paradise....picturesque sights abounding, numerous venues for shopping, world class gelato, and cinghiale sandwiches. I think we may have been hasty in thinking it a "tourist trap". Yes, it was filled that Saturday with many tourists from all over the world ( and tons of Italians ) but the beauty was inescapable and the prices for souvenirs were less than Florence and Rome!  Rider was mellow and cooperative as we strolled the city, shopped and topped the afternoon with yet more gelato.

Thoroughly Tuscana

Beth was finishing work at five so we made sure we arrived at about the same time. She joined us and we drove into the nearby town of Pontedera where Andrea has his glass shop and studio (www.invitrea.it). He has small pieces like trays and bowls for sale but works mostly by commission on windows, doors and incredible, intricate glass tabletops. Some of his work is stained glass and some a fused glass. I bought a lovely piece that I tried ( unsuccessfully) to hand carry home.

After he closed the shop, we enjoyed a walk through Pontedera which is certainly off the tourist maps and talked of a return visit. This would be , like Borgo San Lorenzo, where one could truly experience "real" Italy. Dinner was at a local restaurant,  Il Gambretto (The Shrimp). It's easy to forget that this part of Tuscany ( near Pisa) is actually very close to the sea. We had a memorable seafood and pasta ( Rider needed his pasta fix) meal and managed to get him home to his make-shift two chairs put together bed before he totally fell apart. I quickly fell asleep as well but Betsy and Beth played catch-up a bit longer. There just no friends like "old" friends and Betsy and Beth go back to high school.

Next morning was a quick breakfast and hit-the-road as we had an appointment to turn in the car in Roma at 12:30 and wanted to get to the Hilton before the appointment to check-in. By now, Betsy and I were feeling a little cocky about navigating the Italian roads so we thought ( as long as the GPS was working) we could do the route where we could glimpse the sea as we wound down our sojourn. The ride was about three uneventful hours with Rider sleeping " like a baby".  We had many views of the sea and saw a large island that might have been Sardinia. My Italian geography is a little rusty!

Bella Italia

Our luck was holding as we pulled into the airport Hilton ( our only concession for the trip was using AMEX points for the Hilton next to the airport on the last night) and our room was ready. Admittedly it was nice to have an American bathroom, airconditioning and television  but they still didn't provide washcloths ( travelers: remember to take your own if you want one ).

I settled in with the baby and Betsy took the car for turn-in. The Eurodrive  company made it very easy to lease the Renault Megane. It was brand new, drove like a dream and got excellent gas (diesel) mileage. We had lost a back reflector somewhere and generally put the car through its' paces including over 4000 kilometers but the return was painless after Betsy forged my name. She had practice in high school, I think.

Note: The person to whom the car is leased is supposed to return it though anyone can drive it as it is officially owned by you during the time you are in-country. This was a great deal if you are staying more than 21 days AND don't mind driving in Europe.

Now we had a final afternoon and evening in Italy...how about a plan?

Adoration of the Child

Besides landscape painting, the students this summer could choose between Renaissance art history or Italian. Obviously, being a mere 35 minutes from  the center of the Renaissance at Florence, most of the students chose art history. Renaissance is the specialty of Mark Aeschliman who taught the course and the field trips were first class. Nothing dry or dull about this class except that one could get a little tired of seeing so many Madonnas! Rider and I, as I have divulged , tagged along.

After looking at so much religious art, Mike Fullerton, another of the cohorts, suggested that the group recreate ( with his Photoshop manipulation) their own version of a Renaissance "Adoration of the Child".  This adoration would be complete with the saints, angels,  martyrs and an adoring madonna plus our own Rider as the baby. Mike assembled the group at dusk with the Tuscan landscape as the backdrop. Participants brought along bedsheets, strips of cloth, bedspreads and such with which to drape themselves. The Renaissance artists unabashedly painted religious subjects dressed much in current style or looking like Tuscan people thus a blond, blue eyed Jesus wasn't stretching it too much. Also it was not unusual for the artist to paint himself in the picture gazing out at whomever would be looking at the picture. Therefore, Mike is pictured as St. Sebastian and is looking out seemingly not in much pain from all the arrows!

Could a grandmother be more proud than to have her daughter and her grandson depict Jesus and his mother? This is even better than a Christmas pageant!

Living with Monks...Chapter Three

Living with Monks...Chapter Three

Villa I Tatti

This can be short as there are no new monk stories to relate. The day
brought another interesting field trip. Apparently some years ago ,
Harvard received a bequest that involved a villa and grounds down near
Florence. This villa was the property of some Americans who bought  it
after 1900, restored it, purchased amazing pieces of art, and created
outstanding gardens.

To find it online, go to Villa I Tatti. It was supposed to be about
twenty minutes away which worked with the fact that our gas(diesel)
gauge said "empty". We thought no problem with the reserve fuel we
could get there and back to a gas station. Anyway, the intended
destination was actually about 45 minutes away and things were getting
tight!

We did, however, get there and had an amazing tour with an articulate
and humorous lady about my age who is an expert in art history. She
has been in Italy since 1968 and married an Italian. I think she's
been with the villa an inordinate number of years. One has to book
this tour way ahead of time, furnish names of attendees and basically
sign in blood that you won't attempt to photograph, much less steal,
any of the priceless art work ! Oh, and have a tie to Harvard or can
convince someone you are worthy to visit.

The gardens include an authentic 14th century garden, lovely floral
cutting garden and a formal parterre garden plus allees of cypress and
such. Outstanding in every way! Even an inclosed limonerie....a place
to put the lemon trees in the winter.

The villa is maintained to house the art work, of course, but is the
headquarters for the Harvard Fellowship students who come to avail
themselves of the library and facilities. Each student is a post doc
but may be doing self study in any subject that would be appropriate
for the Tuscany area.

Rider did, again, very well though his mother and I had to carry him
as no strollers allowed. We did have to take a short break to play in
the driveway with pebbles but that was to be expected.   

Gardens were lovely but Rider liked the yellow hose best.

                 

The real excitement was when we returned to the car and the dilemma of
no diesel, no GPS, no idea where to find a station, no speak Italiano
and everyone left us to our own devices. Lady Luck once again smiled
on us...we stumbled upon how to get the GPS to work and discovered we
were fairly close to a gas station. Nevertheless, I definitely
lamented that two adult men ( the two teachers in charge of the
program) left two women and a baby in fairly dire straits to figure
all this out. I know my husband is too much of a gentleman to allow
that to happen. This had a happy ending but it could have been a
disaster.

Nevertheless,  we arrived safely home, had dinner and Rider and I took
a long stroll until bedtime. We are on our last nights at Capitignano
and the sunset was particularly beautiful . I am thankful to have
enjoyed the last six plus weeks with Rider and Betsy in such an
idyllic setting. The memories will last a lifetime whether mine( which
will definitely be shorter) or Betsy's. We have had the pleasure of
getting to know such interesting and varied people. Giorgio and Maria,
the caretakers, live ( to all appearances) such a simple and fulfilled
life and are delightful. They have been wonderful to us! Each of the
other students have brought their own stories to the mix and will be
remembered in their own ways. Some, I'm sure, Betsy will stay  in
touch with and the others will slip away and be relegated to memories
only. Mark A has done what he can to bring some enlightenment to the
students. His knowledge of art history is prodigious  and his desire
to make the summer interesting and fun is unparalleled.  Serge, the
painting teacher, has done what he can. The students must take what
they can surmise from his instruction. It may not be what they thought
they would take away but one learns from every experience.  Such  is
the nature of those who meet in such a specific time and place.

The gang plus Mark and the mascot, Rider

My only regret is that I didn't have more time to spend with Lynn A.
In another time and place, I think we could have been good friends.
However, this wasn't to be about me but about Betsy and Rider and I am
fulfilled that goal is about to be met. How wonderful I have the time
and resources to help make this memorable event happen. I am thankful!

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Drawing to a Close

Rider, his mom  and Mimi

Time to begin to wrap up the adventure...Thursday, July 21 was exam day for art history and Italian, farewell dinner and the art show at Capitignano. Each of the students displayed the efforts of the six weeks of plein air painting. Every artist had their favorites and, predictably, those who perused the showing usually chose other paintings as their favorites. Interesting to see what appeals to each person and to see the changes in style, palette and such of so many of the painters.

 The show was attended by the students, of course, as well as Lynn and Michael Aeschliman, owners of the estate; Diane and Tony Aeschliman
 ( Michael and Mark's brother and his wife - who is a professional portrait painter); the summer instructors, Mark A and Sergei; other guests at the villa from Germany and Scotland, a few local friends plus Rider and me. There were some paintings sold though that was not the object of the showing. Lynn bought one of Betsy's paintings with the idea of hanging it in the apartment where we had stayed. It's so nice to know that a piece of her work will stay in a place we enjoyed so much.

After hors o'deuvres and wine, as sunset approached, most of us adjourned to the pool area for an al fresco farewell dinner. Regional Tuscan fare with roasted vegetables and grilled meats dominated the menu with plenty of local red wine.

 Totally a delightful evening in a spectacular setting.

Some of Betsy's paintings on display.

Living with monks...Chapter Two

We have a new routine which is sometimes annoying but works. I guess I need to put it out there in the universe...Betsy and I have discussed this point...when we planned the trip, the baby was much more docile than  he is now. He is more mobile, sociable and noisier. Therefore, there are aspects of the trip that are just more difficult than when he was 4 months old. I would say this is harder with an older baby and probably would suggest not doing such a trip unless the baby was quite small or a bit older. However, I also want to say, he is very adaptable and hangs in there pretty well especially as we cart him pillar to post, constantly adjust nap time and bedtime and generally play havoc with his schedule. He just requires one on one attention every waking hour! Thank goodness, he's so darn cute.

One view on our walk

We had to adjust our breakfast schedule, there are no chairs in the kitchen nor adjoining dining room so trying to feed Rider was almost impossible and lighting the gas burner was beyond me so we have been packing up a "breakfast bag" and going to Capitignano to prepare breakfast and feed Rider in a high chair. Betsy then goes off to class. I stroll Rider either there or at the monastery and he goes down for a nap. At  12:30 we meet at the estate for lunch. Again playtime or walks with a nap to follow.

Down the road at Capitignano

Naps can last an hour or up to two if the gods are benevolent. After he awakes there are many hours to fill before dinner ( we do feed him around 6:00) for adults at 7:30, 8:00 or, last night, 8:30. Dinner time is dependent on the afternoon activities.

Yesterday we hit the jackpot! We went to Castello Del Trebbio in the hills near Florence. Both wine and olive oil are produced there and it is steeped in history. We enjoyed a tour of the castle  and cellars , had a wine tasting and shopped.  The castle dates to the 12th century and once belonged to the Medici family. There is even a coat of arms (of the original owners) displayed by Donatello and a Raphael ( a replica of another of his paintings but drawn and partially painted by the artist himself but completed by other artists in his studio) hanging in the family's quarters which we got to visit. The vineyard produces Chianti, a white wine, vin santo and excellent olive oil. We learned that for olive oil to truly be extra virgin, the olives must be pressed within hours of picking. However, there is a way for producers to label oil extra virgin if they mix a certain percentage of the quickly pressed oil with oil that is pressed after the allotted period.

Castello Trebbio

After tasting oil that was pressed on the estate within 5 hours of picking, I can attest to being able to tell the difference. Frankly, Betsy and I both have so enjoyed eating and cooking with olive oil that I think we'll be using it extensively in our kitchens at home. Both lunch and dinner at Capitignano, a salad of butter leaf lettuce and radichio is served to be dressed with balsamic and olive oil. It always seems perfect and is also healthy!

Old bottles of chianti..not in raffia anymore

Grapes are even grown on the buildings
                                                                                             I want to relate the making of vin santo as I am likely to forget the details if I don't write them down. Vin Santo is known as "holy wine" and is a thickish, sweet dessert wine usually served with a hard biscuit ( Americans would say it is a cookie ) I learned why it is so expensive...the process for making it is more laborious than for regular wine. The grapes are actually hung to dry out to a certain state before they are juiced to make the wine. Castello Trebbio has a particular room with just the right natural humidity and light to dry the grapes. Obviously there is more sugar that stays in the grapes and not as much juice so it makes more grapes to make the wine. Then it's aged a certain time ( can' t remember how long ) before it is drunk. When one buys it, it is in smaller bottles as you drink it as a aperitif in an appropriate glass. 

The monk keeps trying to converse with me and today we almost understood one another in French! Last evening, he left when we were going to dinner and he had on a Philadelphia Eagles tee shirt. I smiled and said, "Go, Philadelphia Eagles" to which he pumped his fist and said, "Score". Maybe he knows more English than we thought? His cell phone ring is the "call to post" at the Kentucky Derby...

Today Betsy did our first wash here. She used Rider's bathtub and did a soaking kind of wash and I hung things outside to dry on the clothesline. I do wonder how often these fellows have women's bras and panties on their line.
After a big storm in the early morning, the day is clear but windy and a bit cold. We did have a need for a sweater...just when we thought we wouldn't.

PS. Strangely enough, I had read about Castello Del Trebbio in the wine book from Total Wine. While we were there, I kept thinking this name sounds familiar and I had brought the pages about the Tuscan wines with me and found the reference when we got back. The Castello Del Trebbio Chianti purchased at the vineyard is only about $3.00 a bottle cheaper than in the US.

Living with monks...Chapter One

Living with Monks...Chapter 1

Last Saturday we begin our newest(and possibly) strangest adventure. we had to vacate the lovely apartment at Capigtinano and move to San Cresci where we would stay for the final week in the countryside. I don't know but a modicum about the Catholic church so I asked what I should call the monks with whom we are living. Evidently, they are not "padre" (father) or "papa"... that's  reserved for the pope...so it is  Giuseppe and ???( the other one who is away illuminated manuscripts or some such).  Giuseppe , as far as I can tell, never wears a habit, hair shirt or anything like that. He usually has on linen pants, a tee shirt and his only English words are, "Oh, my god!". He is very nice and appears to accept these two American women and baby pretty well though he wan't so keen on Betsy bathing Rider in the kitchen sink!

THE BATH

I should digress to explain why we'd even need to bathe the baby in the sink: we have a true European bathroom. That is, it is down the hall and is tiled from top to bottom so one can shower, brush your teeth and go to the toilet all in the space of a phone booth ( some people possibly remember phone booths). The positive...it's easy to clean. The negatives...it's hard to keep your toilet paper dry when you shower and some people might not even fit into the space that comprises the shower. The third negative is that you have to be a gymnast to bathe the baby in this bathroom. Anyway, we've been giving him a bird's bath but tonight will try out the small basin  that Giuseppe gave us.

The room we have has a large, double bed and a set of bunk beds plus a pack-n-play. The ceilings are 14 feet with long , shuttered windows and lovely views of the Apennines. There are two chairs about the right size for midgets or small Italians and ten feet of armoires which are all filled to capacity with sheets and blankets as is the one dresser. I have to believe the stockpile is a result of gifts to the church and not because they have that many "guests".There are religious items in abundance as one might expect and many knick knacks that I presume have been gifts to the previous priests and monks. This church is without a priest as the last one died a year or so ago so it is staffed by the two Benedictine monks who came to help with restoration and ,by design, haven't returned to the order. I understand a supply priest says mass one a month and there are often weddings but no other services on a regular basis.

Home , Sweet, Home #2

Since there are two other empty rooms on the hall, we asked if we could put Rider's crib in the room next door as he doesn't sleep very well in the same room as us. He's so sociable and wants to be in on the action and we're not usually ready to go to sleep at 8:30. With a little help from Lynn, we negotiated the deal for ten extra euros a night. Seems like a deal for the church as they weren't going to rent the room anyway and all we did was move the crib into the room! Nevertheless, everyone is sleeping better.

OK, the other downside to all this is that we are up some twenty-one pretty steep, stone steps and we have to have work with four keys to stay here. One key for the cucina (kitchen), keys for each of the bedrooms and a key for the door to the hallway on which our bedroom is located. We are not using the key for the kitchen or Rider's room and , today, I decided we'll also not use the key to our room but we're required to use the hall key as it is to the outside.  Also deserving a mention is no Internet nor phone service.

We've already had a key incident that isn't quite resolved. After a fitful moving in process on Saturday morning, we took the train into Florence for an easy afternoon of shopping and strolling. Rider had his first carousel ride and loved it,

Always liked blue horses!

we window shopped the frightfully expensive Ponte Vecchio and ate in the indoor food mart ( and bought wild boar salami). The market was much like the Eastern Market in DC.

Just the place to buy salame di Cinghiale al Tartufo

 We bought trinkets in the Duomo market and generally had a pleasant afternoon though the train ride back was too long through our own choice...it was either sit in the dirty and noisy Santa Maria Novella train station or spend longer on the clean and comfortable train. Rider made friends with a darling, seven month old Somalian boy named Mohammed. It is consistently amazing how babies gravitate to one another....they sat in the aisle and communicated with gestures and grunts and touched one another's feet.

Rider on the Firenze train

We got back to the estate just in time for dinner. That is a plus for moving to the monastery, we are eating meals at Capitignano though we take our breakfast foods with us.

Meals al fresco..perfecto

 Anyway, dinner was over after nine and Rider was toast so we piled into the car bound for our new home only to discover, upon arrival, that we couldn't find the outside door key and the monk wasn't home. Disaster!

Much searching ensued to no avail so we went back down to Lynn's to seek help. She couldn't get him on the phone either so we proceeded to prepare for a long night in the vacant room ( the girls were staying overnight in Florence) over the kitchen. By now, I was feeling a bit like Cinderella or another character in a  fairy(?) tale.  After rearranging the room, baby proofing and the like, he was just drifting off when Giuseppe called back and we decided it would be best to wake up in our own space so we undid everything and trekked to the monastery. By the time we collapsed into bed, we didn't care where we were!

So we are now on day three at the monastery and it is an adjustment but we'll make it. The key has not been found so we have to presume that somehow it was lost in Firenze and will never be found. Evidently though it is not an easy key to replace so we don't yet know the damage for this debacle. Still, accidents happen.

Life VERY quiet and we could slip into the sanctuary to pray at any given moment if we so desire. Now, how many of you  could say that?

San Cresci

Another day...another fresco

Yesterday we made a marathon trip to Arezzo in Umbria...a four hour round trip for a gelato and two churches...one of which had lovely frescos.

 Maybe this was stretching it but I can say I drove through Rufino as in the Chiati wine fame.Actually we drove through very lovely wine country and the city of Arezzo was charming and untouristy. I'd love to spend more time there probably without a baby.

On the piazza

Incredibly beautiful piazza and restaurants of renown.Also saw a church that was "undecorated". My mistake, however, as it was a Franciscan church and they were so dedicated to putting their money toward helping the poor, they chose not to embellish their churches. Refreshing after the adornments we've been seeing!

Today Rider and I eschewed the Florence marathon Pitti Palace and more to stay home. I was preparing to vacate our lovely apartment and move tomorrow to the San Cresci Church to live with the monks for the next week.Didn't think I'd ever live with monks but not too old to try most anything. Rider and I took two walks, I did a load of clothes ( hopefully my last experience of hanging clothes on a line to dry ), Rider took two much too brief naps and we celebrated his 10 months of life by sharing a limone popsicle. This was his first popsicle and he was intent on holding it...the actual popsicle part ...which made for very sticky hands. Wish I had been able to film the event. Very cute!

Prelude to the popsicle

Today he also did the one step, sit down routine; a one handed ciao wave and a big bite of soap during his bath. All in all, a big day.

Tonight his mother ventured out to an art opening in Vicchio with new Italian friends she met at the church on Sunday night. Her Italian is improving and she's gutsy enough to try all this out! Life is good.

Church Supper...Italian Style

So here's an easy Italian word to remember....festa is a festival. One more word to add to my word bank. Anyway, last Sunday was the celebration of San Cresci at the Catholic church up the hill from Capitignano. It was actually an all day affair with church services, an organ recital and then the church supper and raffle. Lynn had arranged for all of us encamped at the villa to be her guests at the festa and we were in for a treat.

San Cresci

We clamored up the hill and tucked the cars away in the haphazard parking lots near the ancient church. It is a beautiful old building that is being lovingly restored.

                                        
It is so picturesque that, although it doesn't have regular weekly mass, many local choose to marry there. There are two Dominican priests on site though I've met only one. Sunday he was wearing a white Polo shirt and racy Italian sun glasses while dispensing delicious local vin rosso and vin sante.

The long tables were set with yellow paper clothes and jars wrapped with raffia twine and filled with lavender that had been cut from the church grounds. Several bottles of water and wine were on each table and you could purchase more wine for 4€ a bottle and many of us did!

Each person was served several courses by the young people supporting the church. We first had salami ( two kinds), cheese and two kinds of breads. Next was a delicious pasta with meat sauce followed by salad. ( Salads are not served with the meal here but as a separate course )

I thought we were through at that point but next came the meat which was small pork ribs, sausages and slices of pork loin.

Rider with Giorgio

Of course, there was bread on the table through the courses and the whole meal was topped off with an assortment of homemade desserts and vin santo. Each course was plated and served by the kids. This was a pretty big operation as, I think, there must have been about 250 people or more.

It was astonishing to see the range of ages of the guests as most of my experience with church suppers, the attendees' average age must be 60! Dinner started at eight o'clock and lasted into the night. Once the spectacular sunset faded into darkness, we were treated to lighted luminaries floating into the night sky.

This definitely seemed dangerous but beautiful. The paper lanterns were a bit like hot air balloons...paper half globes with a base onto which a candle was affixed. The candle was lit and the heated air caused the globe to rise into the sky. The globes set against the illuminated facade of the church was very special.

Next there was a raffle just like the USA type...buy a ticket and hope your number gets pulled out of the jar. The twist was that you could just choose any number you wished and the ticket seller would write it on the ticket. Don't know what the protocol would have been if more than one person chose 744 as their lucky number. We bought a couple of tickets but my luck held- I didn't win again.

Now what was our boy doing throughout all this festivity? Actually he had a ball though it was past his bedtime. He acted like an Italian baby. They are often out in restaurants until after eleven! He crawled on the grass, sat in numerous people's laps, investigated under the table and was strolled up the lane by the church.

He sampled all the various foods and fell happily to sleep in his stroller about 10:45. He(and I) missed the dancing as I drove him down the hill and tucked him into bed!

Betsy and other class members trekked down the hill somewhat later and had an encounter with two sets of wild boars. They escaped unharmed but excited to have met them in the dark! Boar are prevalent in the Tuscan countryside and valued for their delicious meat. Don't think they are exactly domesticated though so people give them a wide berth.

It was a positively delightful evening with friendly people, great food and excellent wine. How special to be here for this event!

American flag flown in honor of Lynn Aeschliman....the church patron