Wednesday to Sunday, Oct 17-21

Wednesday, Oct 17. Hot and sunny
After my morning Italian lesson, I decided to spend the afternoon walking around the local roads and towns. There is a bicycle available here but it doesn’t look too reliable; I don’t have a helmet and the roads are a lot hillier and busier than I had imagined they might be. To support my ankle, Verdiana has loaned me her father’s walking stick so I set out at 11AM looking like a serious trekker with my stick, backpack & water bottle. I first headed up a hill to the old Dominican Convent of Sta. Anna da Camprena where the headquarters for the school for Italian Language & Culture is now located. It was first built in the 13th century and has high fortress like walls with holes from where they could pour boiling oil onto their enemies. Feisty those nuns. Now that the fighting is over and the Florentines have won, all that is left is the cooing of the doves nestled in the tall bell tower. I explored inside the building and its cloisters and came across the refectory decorated with 14th century frescoes by the artist Sodoma. They tell the story of the loaves & the fishes and the life of Sta Anna, mother of Mary. An American tour group came through led by English speaking guides who were quite knowledgeable about the frescoes, their technique and history. I had a good listen before I left them to explore more of site. I couldn’t get into the church itself, so after wandering around the garden and chatting with a lonely German student who was trying to make a painting I headed back home for a bite of lunch before I headed out again to explore the hill towns of Castelmuzio and Petroio.

After a short lunch and nap during the hottest part of the day, I headed off on my 3 hr. 10 K hike. I climbed up the hill to Castelmuzio (I have no idea where that name comes from; it sounds somewhat middle eastern) which is a lovely old town with buildings built in brick and stone, 2 restaurants, a post office and 1 or 2 churches. It was quiet as is normal for that time of day (people are either sleeping or away harvesting) and I contented myself enjoying the picturesque crumbling walls, old masonry, narrow winding streets that circle in on themselves ever upwards, laundry and bedding hanging from windows, bells ringing, birds singing etc.

I continued past the town on along the shoulders of the winding road, avoiding the cars as they sped by on this 2-lane highway with hardly any verge, for another 3 K to Petroio. I passed small oak and tall cypress trees, some hundreds of years old, that are posted like sentinels along the roadway, and watched people out harvesting in their olive groves. We usually greeted each other once I had made the first gesture of hello. I commented to a couple about the amount of work they had - molto lavoro and the woman grinned and replied molto lavoro, poco risultato! I guess it’s a common feeling whatever work we do.

I climbed up to the lovely old town of Petroio with its many churches and old brick & stone buildings. It calls itself the “centre for Tuscan terra cotta” but unfortunately the little terra cotta museum there is closed during the week so I couldn’t have a look. I contented myself by having a chocolate cake and lemonade at a little café at the top and talking to the German waiter who is also one of the owners of the café/hotel. He gave me some good advice about getting around Tuscany, including how to get to/from Siena most quickly - by train rather than by bus. Had a nice walk back, taking pictures along the way, and arrived a little tired but happy, in time for dinner. Tonight I treated Ottavio and myself to dinner at the only restaurant open in Castelmuzio. It was really good; I had bistecca Fiorentina -grilled beef with rosemary, grilled veggies and a crème brûlé. Ottavio had the ribollita soup, which is, like it sounds - a reheated minestrone type of soup chock full of veggies, beans, Tuscan bread some form of meat base. Nice day but I decided, I’ll have a quieter day at home tomorrow and get some studying done!

Thursday, October 18 - cloudy and cooler
Thursday was relatively uneventful. I walked home from school through the farmers’ fields and then climbed the hill to the food cooperative at Castelmuzio where I bought enough groceries for 4 or 5 days. It’s amazing how inexpensive the food is here, and how fresh. They didn’t have any eggs but I was reminded by the person serving me that Verdiana has chickens…..and therefore fresh eggs. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing and studying my Italian pronouns and planning my weekend trip to Siena. That evening I made myself a meal of fresh onions, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and local pork. Yum. I then packed my back pack for my trip to Siena the next day. Elisa will take me as she always goes into Siena on Fridays.

Friday, October 19 -
After a one hour lesson on the subjunctive tenses, Elisa and I climbed into her little Fiat and headed for Siena. The second half of the lesson was spent in conversation as we sped through the typical Tuscan landscape of green and brown soft rolling farmland, vertically punctuated by cypress trees and umbrella pines. We parked below, outside the walls (only residents and service vehicles can park inside the walls of this ancient medieval town) and walked up the winding cobbled streets into the centre of Siena where we said “good by until Monday,”- she continuing on to her classes at the university and I to my hotel on the other side of town. Once I checked in to a lovely little room with a view of a garden, I began my exploration of the town. I spent most of the afternoon in the Duomo - a huge Gothic (13th century) cathedral filled with Gothic and Renaissance painting and sculpture. I’d visited it in 2004 but it really is worth more than one visit; there’s so much to see. I was particularly interested in the Piccolomini library of Pope Pius 2 (of Pienza) which houses his huge illuminated manuscripts and which is decorated with frescoes on the (somewhat glorified) life of Piccolomini by the 16th century painter, Pinturicchio. Astounding. The stories that are painted are always explained in Latin underneath the images - but that’s no help to me as it’s been 40 years since I learned that language. I had to put myself in the place of an illiterate Sienese and to guess what was going on by what is portrayed. Piccolomini was killed fighting the Turks (those infidels).‘Nuff said.

Other high points of the day were primarily gastronomical: a delicious caffè macchiato at one of the Nannini cafés (Nannini is one of the best roasters of Sienese coffee), and a lovely dinner of pasta with porcini, salad and house wine. Vino de la casa is usually he cheapest part of the meal! Also nice was
finding an Internet Point café where for 4 Euros an hour (about $5.00) I could connect with you all and teach my class with the greatest of ease; it felt like having a little home away from home. Imagine feeling at home on the Internet!

Saturday, October 20 (very cold and windy)
After a nice breakfast at the hotel I walked out the door to be hit by the coldest weather that I have experienced since last winter. Lulled into complacency by the last week of heat, I had not brought adequate clothing from Il Colombaiolo to Siena for this weather and had to buy a hat, gloves and wind jacket before I could do any wandering around the town. Thank god for MasterCard.

That done, I visited the home of St Catherine, the patron saint of Siena who received the stigmata a young age when she gazed upon a crucifix. She was sanctified by our old friend Piccolomini when he became pope. The frescoes in the little chapel showed stories of Catherine’s life and included her being visited by an angel, her mother observing her floating up the stairs without a visible means of support, her father observing her praying while a halo containing the holy ghost (a white dove) hovered over her head, and Sta Catherine being sanctified and then becoming the bride of Christ. Fortunately, under these images, these amazing tales were described in Italian so I had an easier time deciphering them! The rest of the day was spent wandering around the streets, watching soldiers marching, drumming and singing noisily around the Piazza del Campo (no idea why), watching a wedding party parade through the streets - they must have had a glass or two to keep them warm in their skimpy clothing, watching someone dressed up as the statue of Dante perform for Euros, buying lunch, photographing and generally being a tourist. I did get a chance to spend 30 minutes in an Internet café answering all my emails and then walked back to my hotel, picked up my backpack, and went to the railway station where I took a fast train to the little town of Sinalunga. It cost me all of 4 Euros. Dear Verdiana picked me up in her car and in 10 minutes, drove me back to my own wonderful room at Il Colombaiolo. It’s beginning to feeling a bit like home. Ottavio and I have an invitation to dine with Verdiana and her husband on Wednesday. The menu will be pasta, wild boar in a tomato stew and some form of veggie. I’ll take pictures.

Sunday, October 21 (cold and sunny and windy)
Happy 60th Wedding Anniversary to Conti and Wallie Hewitson!!