Tuscany Continues

I'm glad people are jealous, but happily, this is sure to be a trip I repeat, so you can all come next time - how fun would that be? The Villa has five very large bedrooms which each have beds for two people (some singles some doubles). Three bathrooms, four toilets, a large kitchen (gas stove)/eating area with fireplace, big foyer, another living space with lounges, tv and another dining table, an outdoor area with another large table, a bbq, an out of ground pool, a view over vineyards, it's own olive grove (currently with people in it picking olives) and today I walked back from the local town which is not too far at all.

The second night we cooked we did your classical minestrone (as per Stephanie Alexander), this was good because as I said it was with home made stock.

After our long journey to Pisa, we came home to find Wendy had made some lovely spaghetti bolognese.

After a shorter day of journeying the next day we did some proper cooking
Entree was Pappa al Pomodoro - a soup from the Stephanie Alexander book. This was simple and delicious - a tomato, bread and basil soup. Here is a photo of the book taken with the computer's inbuilt webcam:


Main course was Slow Roasted Loin of Pork with Fennel, Rosemary and Garlic, also from Stephanie Alexander (all the stephanie Alexander ones are from her Tuscan Cookbook):


Next was Stone Fruit in sweet wine. They had particulary recommended Vin Santo, which is expensive in Australia, and easy to get here. You basically take any stone fruit, pour some sugar on it, pour some sweet wine on it, and let it sit there for an hour or so until the fruit is macerated. The fruit should not be swimming in the wine, it should soak in.

The night after we made our regular herb and mushroom risotto as we didn't have as much time to prepare. Entree was just some fresh asparagus grilled with some olive oil and topped with pepper and parmesan - we popped it in the middle of the table and people could just pick it up like finger food so you could just have as much as you wanted.

All the food has been good so far, today after a humongous lunch there are no plans to eat dinner. There will perhaps be some cheese and bread. This brings me to updating you on the two journeys I haven't mentioned so far. The day we went to Pitigliano, the via cava guiseppe and the abbey Sant Antimo. And today - the day we ate *lunch*.

It was an early start to the day to get to Pitigliano, as it is a fair way South of us. And it was worth it. I had no idea how amazing the town of Pitigliano itself was, as I was going there simply to find out how to get to the etruscan pathways.

Pitigliano is built on the edge of a cliff above a ravine. I can barely explain it, and the photos don't do it justice.





Pitigliano was really a stepping stone to my goal. The Via Cava, or the etruscan walkways. Before Christ, an ancient civilisation lived in the area and built pathways through the forest. By built I mean they carved out pathways. So the Via Cavas are essentially caves with no roof beneath a forest, so you walk through with big stone walls either side, and a forest above you. A nice open air, Italy experience. The city seen in these photos is Pitigliano as seen from one of the openings of the via cavas. The via cavas cross the country side between a few of the local cities as they are the old pathways. Fantastic, a must do, even if it's 2-3 hours from where you're staying...







It was a rush to get from there to the Abbey of Sant Antimo, in time to hear the monks do Gregorian Chant. This abbey was originally built in about 800, and after some destruction rebuilt perhaps 1200. It still has monks there, and we heard them at the 245pm session. The acoustics in the church was brilliant, the surrounds simple and lovely. The olive trees appeared as old as the church.





On the way home from the abbey we stopped for "lunch" at about 4pm at Montalcino. Here is the view from the window of the cafe.



That was the end of that day.

Onto telling you about "lunch". In the book he talks a lot about lunch with Gina, an italian old lady where you get what's being served and you eat from 1-4pm and just chill out looking at the fantastic view. After much googling, I found the restaurant. La Bottega, Volpaia. Despite their lack of English, and my lack of Italian, I managed, over the phone, to book us a table for lunch on Saturday. The papa makes the cured meats, the mamma makes the pastas, and the daughter Carla Barucci is the chef. I have never been so full in my life. There were 7 of us and we were determined to have the full experience. So we ordered first, second and third course - almost one of everything - with a few exceptions - shared all the meals between us - and then some dessert and coffee. (there was naturally chianti classico from the volpaia region with lunch). We did not manage to eat everything, but I at least had a bite of everything. We were there from 12-3, and pretty much rolled home (me with the window open feeling car sick from the rich far too much food and the windy hills). We got to taste some yummy, authentic italian food.
Looking out from the restaurant

View of the restaurant