Sardegna, Roma, Firenze, Tuscany, and finally home in Arezzo!

Lots of traveling since we finished classes in Perugia--Naples, Sardegna (with Kelly), Rome, Florence and Tuscany with Tom's brother Bill, and finally, settling into our apartment in Arezzo.  The last post included pictures of Sardegna with Kelly.  After she left it wasn't nearly as much fun of course, but we bravely headed to Alghero for our last apartment on the island.  Alghero is a pretty town with a lot of Spanish influenced architecture and food due to having been ruled by Spain for many years.  We toured the town and took a boat ride to Grotto di Nettuno.

boat entering the grotto

inside the grotto

We visited several more nuraghic sites which I am sure Kelly was very sorry to miss.

And visited several towns and beaches as well:

View of Castelsardo

Castelsardo, hill town on Sardegna

elephant rock--the shape carved by the wind and water

We took RyanAir from Alghero to Rome and met up with Tom's brother Bill at the Hotel Medici in Rome.   Bill is 83 and was taking his first trip outside the US.  Unfortunately, he had all kinds of trouble getting to Italy--after many delays his flight was cancelled and he was told that they couldn't reschedule him at the airport, he would have to call Lufthansa.  Eventually his daughter got everything straightened out and he was on a flight the next day.  Unfortunately we didn't know about it until too late to reschedule the airport pickup (he was supposed to be met by one of those guys with a sign at the arrivals area).  Bill figured out how to get some euros and take the bus to Rome, but tried to walk from the station to the hotel and got lost--it took him 5 hours.  Everyone was in a panic not knowing where he was, to the extent of notifying the police in Rome, but he turned up safe and sound if foot weary at the hotel.  Since it was his first trip, we took in the expected sights in Rome, Florence, and then a week at a fantastic agriturismo in Tuscany.

 

brotherly toast at lunch at Sacro & Profano, Roma

musicians at piazza navona

We took the train from Rome to Florence where we stayed in a nice little apartment (Laura's Holiday House) within walking distance of the Accademia and the Uffizzi, both of which we visited of course.

taking the fast train to florence

mangia bene!   Bill tries risotto

we didn't look like tourists at all

We picked up a rental car in Florence and headed to our agriturismo in Rapale, a tiny Tuscan town about 15 miles from Sienna.  It was a beautiful spot, next to a medieval castle.  The property has been in the Ciroli family since the 1500s (at least) and the owner, Fortunato, enjoyed sharing the history of the villa and the area.

Fortunato showing us the wine cellar his father had dug out by hand

Fortunato tells us about his experiences at the villa during WW II

view of borgo rapale from the hill

On Fortunato's recommendation we did a drive through Chianti country, ending with a tour of the castle of Baron Ricasoli,  known as the Barone di Ferro (the iron Baron), the inventor of Chianti wine and a prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century.  The castle and vineyards have been in the family for about 900 years.    Of course there was a wine tasting after the tour and an opportunity to buy wine afterward.  The Brolio wine from the Ricasoli estate is shipped worldwide and can be purchased in Seattle at most enotecas.  The 32nd Baron Ricasoli visited Seattle in 1998 on a wine tour, popularizing the Brolio brand.

guess what type of wine we had here with lunch?

Il castello di Barone Ricasoli

workers in the castle vineyards

We also visited  various Tuscan towns and monasteries as well as doing a scenic drive through the crete sinese (hills of Tuscany).

entry to San Gusme a medieval village

a boy and his moto in San Gusme

t

typical narrow vicolo--this one in Montepulciano

stopped for lunch one day at a cafe full of card players!  I was the only
women in the joint

have to have pizza at least once in Italy!

modern sculpture in a medieval town

Of course Sienna was on the agenda

it was nice to return to the agriturismo at the end of the day to our private garden with a view

We also brought Bill to Arezzo to see our home for the next 15 months.  Mario and Loretta and their daughter Julia were kind enough to meet us at the apartment with the keys and a bottle of wine to toast our arrival.

Loretta, Mario, Bill, Julia  and I toast the new apartment

The boys went to the Ferarri museum and factory (but didn't do the drive on the test track).

When our week in Tuscany was over, I headed to Arezzo to set up the apartment and Tom and Bill went back to Rome for a few nights, and managed to see the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters among other notable sights not covered on the first part of the trip.

Tom and the Italian ladies lined up
to take this photo

Moving into our new apartment in Arezzo!

When we rented the apartment the kitchen appliances and cupboards were not in yet and it was unfurnished.  When we returned, all was completed and they had even stocked the kitchen with cooking utensils and dishes, provided sheets, towels, pillows, etc--we are set.  We love the apartment even more now that we have moved in.  We both walk around saying, "look at all this space!"  "I'm getting lost there is so much room!" and other equally clever observations.  Here are a few pix of the apartment and garden (we have just begun to start planting a garden--it is a work in progress).  We can finally grow sun loving plants!  We fully expect our tomatoes to ripen--I won't need my lamb and green tomatoes recipe.

kitchen with door leading to terrazzo and garden

drying our laundry Italian style

table and chairs to arrive this weekend to keep company
with the umbrella

bought a shovel and started digging beds, planted rosemary
oregano and tomatoes

Looking at our apartment from the garden.  The rectangle on
the right is for doing laundry  by hand.  Our apartment windows are the
ones on the bottom (primo piano)

living room, showing 300 year old frescoes and door leading to hall with
bathroom and second bedroom

guestroom and study area--those are all Italian study aides and books (plus a few maps) 

you can only appreciate this picture showing our shower with an actual shower door if you
have spent 7 months using tiny showers with  plastic sliders in the corner that open a generous
14 inches and always come off the tracks.

Mario and Loretta have been incredibly  helpful in getting us set up here.  In addition to gifts of wine and olive oil they made themselves, they took us to the commune to get registered as residents of the city and Mario came back to help out if needed when 2 police officers (guns and all!) came to the apartment a few days later to verify that we actually live here.  Mario also set up our electricity and water service for us, and we are invited to a bbq at their farm this week-end, after Mario takes  us to see the town where Michelangelo was born.  He also gave us the heads-up on how and when to buy tickets to the June 21 Saracen games (medieval jousting).  Tom was at the ticket office 4  minutes after it opened and there was a huge line already.  If Mario hadn't provided the info, we would never have gotten tickets.  Mario works for the city, not far from our apartment, and has stopped by several times on his lunch break to do things in the apartment (put up hooks in the bathroom, help install the cabinet doors which were on back order). He has also provided a lot of information about our building, which is included on the historical registry--our street, Via Pelliceria, is described as the "most typical medieval street" in Arezzo on a plaque at the end of the street.

Since it has been a heat wave since we moved in (between 35 and 40 C--95-104F--the past week)  we have been staying in during the hottest part of the day and going out in the afternoon and evening.  We are incredibly fortunate that our apartment stays pretty cool, even when it is 104!

medieval dress on display at TI

 l

post office Italian style--tile picture of mercury on the ceiling (above)
tiled, arched entry to the stamp counter ( below)/  We had to pick up the forms
to renew the permesso di soggiorno--not looking forward to that!

appetizer at chiave d'oro (left), piazza grande at night right)

restaurants at the Vasari portico, Piazza Grande

Sunday afternoon in the park:  practicing for the games 6/21 (above)
wedding pictures ( below)

And,as  you can tell from this too long blog, we have wi fi in the apartment now!  Amazingly easy to get set up (unlike almost everything else in Italy--took 3 hours to get through the paperwork for the residency certificate)--made an appointment, the guy showed up (early), and we were good to go less that a week after we requested service.  Let's hear it for competition in the free market!  There are a lot of internet providers here and they want your business--unlike almost everything else which is run by the government or not subject to much competition.  The cost is a lot less than we paid in the US as well.

So you can email us or, if you prefer snail mail, write to us at:  Via Pelliceria 15, Arezzo, AZ 51200 Italy.

Ciao a tutti!