San Miniato

Last Saturday was a dull overcast day. After doing some chores in the morning Dom and I went off on an excursion. For some time I had wanted to visit San Miniato, another classic Tuscan hill town. It's claim to fame is that it has an annual truffle festival in November. Each fall I plan to go but for various reasons we have never managed it.

So, off we went. San Miniato is located not far from Empoli southwest of Florence. We took a circuitous route through the countryside to ge there. First we went to Pescia and then we angled southeast to Montecatini Terme. From there we headed south towards Fucecchio and then east to San Miniato. After Pescia we were mostly on roads we had never before traveled. We always enjoy exploring new territory, in my opinion the narrower the road the better. Since I am usually the navigator my propensity for picking obscure, but scenic, roads is not always to my driver's taste.

As is the case with many old hill towns, there is now a "new" town at the bottom of the hill. We zipped past the usual collection of modern shops and supermarkets and then meandered up to the old historic center. The road winds its way through the old buildings and then starts to head down the hill again. We found a parking spot on the edge of town right past a local tourist office.

After popping into the office for a map we strolled up the hill to see the two large churches and la rocca (the fort).

Although the entire town was charming, the above piazza was the most interesting part of it.

The walls of the old seminary were heavily decorated with faux architectural elements.

We continued up past the churches to the old castle. All along the route are interesting signs detailing the history of the area, in particular the series of forts that protected the Via Francigena (a major trade route from France) in the Middle Ages. The top is now a park with only the single tower left from the old fortifications. The top picture on this post was also taken from the top of the hill. In it you can see the bell tower for the older church and the rotunda from the newer, Baroque-style church.

After walking down from the fort we strolled through town and I had a cup of gelato. While I ate it we sat on a wall and admired the countryside.

On our way home I drove and we tried to find more new roads to explore.

Back at Work

Yes, I have been slacking off on the blog posts. However, life in Italy is not all sunshine and wine. Lately, it's mostly been "whine." Our latest project is refinishing the front door. Yesterday, we took it off the hinges and put it on sawhorses on the back patio. I thought it would take about an hour to sand. Silly me. I forgot how ornate it is. The power sanders were mostly useless. It took Dom and I working together about six hours to get it ready for the first coat of varnish. However, it was too late to put a finish coat on yesterday since the door had to be back up and closed overnight. This morning we took it off the hinges again.

Thus, the doorway looks like this:


As you can see, no door. We did put up our not so useful bug screen to try to keep the cats outside. Even so I caught one halfway up the steps giving me that plaintive "I could be an indoor cat" look.


The living room looks like this right now. There was a possibility of rain this morning so after doing the final sanding outside we decided it would be best to put the varnish on inside. Unfortunately the door takes up most of the available floor space. I am wedged in the corner by the stairs trying not to let the back of the chair rub against the brick and stone behind me.

In another couple of hours we will put the door back up and see if it sticks to the frame overnight. We still need to finish sanding the door frame. It will likely be Friday before we get the final coat on the door and Saturday before we finish up the frame. The rest of the work is not too tough but we still need to hang out and guard the house from the curious cats.

Sagra at Fivizzano

Tuesday was a national holiday here in Italy: Festa della Repubblica. It celebrates the creation of the Italian republic not long after World War II. Sort of like American July 4th, it is a good excuse to hold food festivals. On the Wandering Italy blog I read about the Sapori di Fivizzano where they were cooking focacette-little flatbreads cooked over wood coals and then filled with meat or cheese.

We had never visited Fivizzano which is located north of us in the Lunigiana. It seemed like a good reason for a day trip so we took off on Tuesday and drove there via Massa and Carrara on the autostrada. The town is charming and the above fountain was located in one of the main piazzas.


I particularly liked the giant fish around the edge of the fountain.

There were lots of people in the streets strolling among the many stalls selling mostly crafts. Several places in town served food. We started out in the fountain piazza trying a couple of types of frittata--one with zucchini and one with onion. They were delicious and made a great antipasto.



We then moved to the piazza where they were making the focacette. It took us a while to figure out the process. However, we had lots of time to do so as we were order number 41 and when we paid they were on order number 24.

There was this stand in the middle of the piazza with a roaring fire under one side. After watching for a while we figured out that it rotates so only one side was over the coals at any time. The things on top that look sort of like little rounds of bread are actually terra cotta molds.

Once the molds are hot they stack them with the balls of bread dough in tall racks. This gives the bread the proper shape and starts the cooking process.

After taking the focacette out of the molds several men set the bread directly onto the layer of coals nearby. They quickly turn them and toss them until they are done. At one point there were four people finishing off the focacette. After the bread is out of the molds they are returned to the round rack over the hot fire.

The finished focacette are moved to another area where they are cut open and the orders are filled. You could have them with pancetta, lardo, coppa, stracchino cheese, nutella or honey. We ordered one with stracchino and one with pancetta. They were really delicious but we could have eaten another two. Plus, by observing others we discovered you could ask for a combination of ingredients.

We made our way home by driving over the mountains. It was a hot, sunny day and we finished up the excursion with a stop for gelato at Blue Matisse bar in Borgo a Mozzano. Yum, yum!

Looking for Ferenc Mate

After spending Saturday night in the town of Castiglione del Lago on the shores of Lago di Trasimeno, we left on Sunday morning intent on going to the town of Montalcino to look for Ferenc Mate's house. Mate is the author of two books on living in Italy, The Hills of Tuscany and A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover's Dream (both available through Amazon link at left). The first is a memoir about his move to Italy with his artist wife and their integration into the local life. The latter details the renovation of his current home near Montalcino and his creation of a world class winery. Since it was a Sunday when many wineries were holding "open cellar" for tastings we thought his might be among them.

On the way we stumbled across another mostra auto-moto (car and motorcycle show) which I talked about in the last post.

Our rationale for starting in Montalcino was that we would probably find his books in a touristy gift store and I recalled that in the back of the second was information about the winery. We parked our car and strolled through the town, another classic Tuscan hill town. The other tourists and the local people just leaving Sunday mass meant the narrow medieval streets and jewel box piazzas were pleasantly lively. The earlier rain had stopped and we strolled around taking in the activity and marveling at the tidy buildings and between them slices of patchwork quilt countryside.

As it turned out we did not find Mate's books but the woman in the tourist information office was very helpful. She even gave us a map and brochure listing the open wineries. Mate's was not open but we decided to see if we could find it anyway. However, before leaving Montalcino we stopped for "elevenses." The coffee we had was soooooo good we asked one of the baristas where we could buy it. They had it for sale there so we bought a quarter kilo and she threw in some packets of decaf for free. Unfortunately it is not widely available and we might have to go to Florence to find more. It is Caffe Mokalux--yum, yum!


A slice of view from Montalcino


More of the view from Montalcino. Wouldn't you like to live in this house?

A picturesque "garden" in Montalcino

After we left Montalcino the vineyards were all around us. I liked this view so much I asked Dom to stop so I could take this picture.

Eventually we found what we think is the road to Mate's house. However, we drove up it and it deteriorated into a rutted track. This might be his way of keeping curious fans at bay. It worked with us so we turned around and headed back to the "main" road. Along the way we passed this vineyard that had different color rose bushes planted at the end of every row. The roses are susceptible to the same diseases as grapevines but the pests, etc. affect the roses earlier. Thus, they act as "the canary in the coalmine" fror the vineyard.

We decided to go home via Grossetto. As Castello Banfi was along the way we decided to stop there for lunch. There is a very nice restaurant there but we did not see it until after we had eaten in the tasting room. The entire complex is incredibly beautiful and it is well worth a stop. There is a tasting room, the restaurant and a small museum that mostly focuses on glass and wine bottles.

I would love to go back and try the restaurant because the antipasto plate in the tasting room was excellent--two types of salami, prosciutto, pecorino cheese, marinated artichokes, pickled onions and good bread. It was the perfect lunch along with our glasses of Banfi Super Tuscan wine. Dom had the Summus and I had the Excelsus. The latter was so tasty I bought a bottle to take home.

The museum was interesting. Here is Dom surveying an exhibit of different types of wine bottles.

This was one of my favorite things in the museum--three failed demijohns. They certainly make interesting sculpture.

There were also a large number of beautiful pieces of antique glass.

The museum was located in part of the castle that must once have been the olive press. This is an interesting set-up to take some of the labor out of turning the press screw.

Quite appropriately a statue of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and good times, presides over the garden at Castello Banfi.

Did you know that the Banfi label was actually started by an upstart Italian-American family from Long Island? Here I thought it was an old and honored Italian family doing what they had done for hundreds of years. Amazing what one learns in a winery tasting room.

Mostra Scambio Moto e Auto d'Epoca

So far this spring we have gone to three mostre scambio (swap meets) for classic cars and motorcyles. Last weekend we visited two--one we planned and the other was serendipitous.

The first took place in Bastia Umbra in the region of Umbria. It was mostly geared towards two wheel vehicles but there were a number of interesting cars. As seems to be the norm, there were several exhibit halls full of vendors selling parts, vehicles in need of restoration, books, signs, posters and clothes.


Some vendors have quite elaborate displays while others just lay out their goods on the floor.


A Fiat 500 Topolino (little mouse), probably pre WWII. Behind this car you can see a display of t-shirts and jackets.



Renault R4




Lancia ???

Fiat 500 - post WWII

Some ancestor of the Land Rover and Hummer...

The day after we visited the show at Bastia Umbra we stumbled across some spray painted signs for a mostra. Since we were just meandering towards Montalcino we followed the signs through the town of Pozzuolo Umbra, down a long dirt road to some large iron gates. Inside the gates were about 100 two wheel vehicles and about 50 four wheel vehicles scattered throughout a wooded area. We walked around and saw some interesting motorbikes, motorcycles, cars and a few items that defy categorizing.

Long, long avenue of two wheeled vehicles


It was raining but the cars did not seem to mind

More cars

I liked this Fiat 500 with wicker seats--for the beach?

There were a few racy models

This is Dom's favorite picture--4,000 years of transportation in one photo!

This is my favorite--an early snowmobile

There were free refreshments including these tasty little fishies. There was no entry fee but a box asked for donations for some fund.

A Weekend Jaunt

No posts for a few days because we went away for the weekend.



Started out early on Saturday morning and went to Umbria. Just south of Perugia was a mostra scambio (swap meet) for classic cars and motorcycles. Spent a few hours there before meandering through the countryside to Deruta where we visited the maiolica shops. Bought a few things and then continued meandering.



In the town of Castiglione del Lago, on the shores of Lake Trasimeno, we found a hotel room. Lovely town with a lively scene in the evening. In this picture, through the gate you can just see the lake.




On Sunday morning the predicted rain arrived right on schedule. This was the view from our hotel room window. We had breakfast and set off to meander over to Montacino.

On the way Dom spotted signed for another mostra. We followed them down a dirt road and found an incredible collection of vehicles. Among them was a large number of U.S. Army jeeps.

In spite of the overcast skies and spotty rain, the countryside of Southern Tuscany was lovely. This picture was taken from Montalcino, a classic hill town with stunning vistas.

Eventually we found Castello Banfi, one of the regions largest wine producers. An interesting fact we learned in the tasting room was that the winery was developed by an upstart American family. Who knew?

After lunch at the Castello and a visit to their museum we headed towards Grossetto and made our way home. This is but a taste of our weekend and many of our stops are worth a blog post of their own. More pictures and details in the coming days.

Cinghiali!

Sample cinghiale!


Sagra poster


The sagra locale


The waiters

Last Thursday night, on our way back from dinner, we (Dom, Geri, Karen and I) surprised a group of cinghiali (wild boar) on the road from Valdottavo to Partigliano. Unfortunately we did not have a camera at the ready but the two adults looked somewhat like the above bruiser. There were also three little striped and spotted piglets. They were up on a sort of a ledge right near the road and in the light from the car's high beams looked like they were posing just for us. Dom stopped the car dead in the road and we all shrieked, squealed and pointed. The two sows looked at us briefly before trotting off into the woods with the piglets scrambling along behind.

Cinghiali are both a cultural phenomenon here and a pest. In the fall there are groups of hunters that go after them every weekend. We have sat on the patio in October and November listening to the cacaphony of hunters yelling, dogs barking and shotguns firing as the squadre (teams) bag 15-20 in a day. That sounds like numbers that could wipe out the population but the total cinghiali actually keep increasing every year.

Much like deer on Whidbey Island, the cinghiali are a menace to gardens and cars. They like to dig up roots so potatoes are favorite. The locals use fences around their orti (vegetable gardens)to keep them at bay. Some people hang little clumps of something they claim the cinghiali avoid to keep them away from their veggies. We have heard them on our property, especially at night, where they did quite a bit of damage last summer digging up a certain type of broad leaf weed in our fields. This spring we do not hear much of them as they seem to have eradicated that particular plant.

Although the ones we saw last week were our first glimpse of them, they are often hit by cars. As large as they are they often cause more damage to the vehicles than they receive. At any rate they do much the same as the deer--wander off into the woods after being hit so who knows what really happens to them.

On Sunday evening we went to the Sagra (Festival) dei Cinghiali in the town of Balbano. I was hoping it would be a sagra with music and dancing but it looked to be just food. Nonetheless, it was really tasty. We enjoyed papparadelle al cinghiale (wide ribbon pasta with tomato and boar sauce) and cinghiale in humido (stewed cinghiale). Dom also had some sausages--not cinghiale--that was really good. Geri and Karen enjoyed the look at a local sagra and the chance to try cinghiale. We finished up the evening with stops for gelato in Ponte a Moriano and drinks at the bar in our village.