Sun Oct 14 - Tue Oct 16

Being Sunday, there was nothing open where I could buy food in any form, so my wonderful hostess pulled together some cheese and wine and home grown tomatoes, olive oil and wine for dinner. A fellow student joined me a little later - his name is Ottavio and is a 19-year old Englishman who’s going to try to get into Oxford and read contemporary Italian literature. It will be nice to have someone with whom to share the day’s stories.

The farm household is made up of Sra Verdiana, her husband and 19 year old son, Samuele. They farm a few acres of grapes (San Giovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, & Merlot), over 500 olive trees, corn, tomatoes, chickens and white doves (that they eat.) To supplement their income they have recently added 3 big rooms with private bathrooms with all the modcons for bed & breakfast guests. I have a view out of my windows to die for - soft, tree-covered or perfectly ploughed rolling hills in the background, jacaranda trees in the foreground. Bird song all day long. The sun pours in during the afternoon. Black and quiet at night. Next door to my room here, is a kitchen where she brings my breakfast (freshly baked croissant, café latte, fruit, bread, yogurt) and where I can make my own dinner or lunch when I chose, buying my own food in Castelmuzio up the hill. Saves lots in restaurant bills.

I walked up to Castelmuzio to go to one of the two restaurants there and finding none open came back down again and proceeded to twist my right ankle on the steep, uneven roadway. I managed to hobble home and put a support bandage on it. Hopefully it will heal once I lie down for 8 hrs…..

Monday, Oct 15 Hot & sunny during the day, cool in the shadows and at night

Off to school today with Elisa Angelini, a student of philosophy studying in Siena, who is going to focus her thesis on Descartes - bringing together his writings (both scientific and philosophical) into a united whole! Whew. Very post modern, and brave of her She teaches me Italian at the Scuola Camprena which is about half an hour’s walk away from where I’m staying but where Verdiana will drive me each morning in 5 minutes. The school house is also an old converted farmhouse surrounded by farmland.

I am delighted the way Elisa teaches - and it’s one-on-one so I get all her attention for 2 hours a day. Some grammar and some conversation which is endlessly interesting. I walked back home, cutting through rough tractor roads feeling at one with the world and tried my luck again on the road to Castelmuzio to by food supplies before the co-operative closed at one pm. Nice little store, great food- pecorino cheese, ham, bread, fresh produce. I walked out without remembering to pay, realized this 10 minutes later and returned. The owner was completely unfazed - she knew where I was staying.

In the afternoon after a nap, I joined Verdiana and the dog Paula on a tour of the “estate.” We found her husband collecting olives. A large net is wrapped around the tree on the ground below, and each stem is “milked” of the olives growing on it and dropped into he net. A slow and laborious process that is repeated on each tree. Most of the olives were still green but she says that just makes the oil nicely nippy (picante). Sometime this week I will accompany them to a town nearby where the olives will be pressed. Should be interesting. There has been little rain this summer which makes the olive and mushroom harvest this year quite slim.

I made a giant salad for dinner of local lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and prosciutto ham in the local olive oil and vinegar washed down with local vino rosso and to bed for a solid night’s sleep. Not bad eh?

Tue -Thu, Oct 16-19

The days begin to blend one into the other. They are made up of Italian lessons, walking the country roads from hill town to hill town, visiting Pienza and its historic buildings, shopping for food (most stores are closed between 1-5 so it needs a bit of planning), cooking a bit in my kitchen and working on the Internet which entails teaching my course, answering emails and adding to my blog.
Because the Internet Point in Pienza is 7 K away from Il Colombaiolo, I have made an arrangement with Samuele, the son of the owner, to use his computer every evening for an hour for 20 Euros a week. The computer is in his bedroom and he’s often sitting on the bed working on his studies while I plug away. Not ideal but better than a treck into Pienza everyday.

On Tuesday, Oct 16, I went to Pienza with Elisa who dropped me there on the way to her home and spent the late morning & afternoon wandering around the beautiful old town. I toured the 15th C castle of Eneo Silvio Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius 2, and who, in the mid 15th century, hired the architect Il Rosselino to transform his birthplace into a “perfect city,” and renamed the town Pienza (=pious in Italian). He (PP2) managed to live long enough to have Rosselino reconstruct the town square (piazza) along classical architectural lines and there I sat in the piazza drinking my cappuccino to celebrate my return to this town. I later had lunch of risotto ai fungi (porcini) that was to die for in a tiny little trattoria nearby and the tour of the palazzo was about all I could do on my twisted ankle so I took a taxi home. Next time I’ll walk.