The Adventures in Tuscany Begin

Positano to Tuscany: Today Vincenzo picked us up first thing in the morning ready to take us to the Napoli train station with a stop off at Pompeii. Vincenzo.... How do I describe him and the experience we had getting to know him? He did far more than one would expect of a driver. We spent a lot of hours with Vincenzo and we really got to know each other, learned a lot about our individual cultures and families. If our readers have an opportunity to go to this part of the world we would wish for you that you have someone like Vincenzo to help you and in the end become your friend.
On our way to Napoli we planned a tour of Pompeii. Again we had a mild rainy day but managed to maneuver our umbrellas and dodge tour groups. We won’t bore you with the details of the visit as we are sure you all have read about Pompeii. Of course we found it interesting and shocking to see how well preserved some portions of these ruins were, but John felt that Paestum was grander and thought that seeing that area first may have impacted our response to Pompeii.
Once finishing our walk through Pompeii Vincenzo was there to pick us up and off we went to Napoli train station. When we arrived, Vincenzo parked near the station and told us he would be right back. We assumed that he was picking up a luggage cart and patiently waited for him but soon he returned with a bottle of wine in his hands which he presented to us as a gift. We closed this portion of our journey with the exchange of email address and phone numbers with our new friend and an “Arrive Derci”. Once again I was full but Vincenzo chastised me with “Madame…..no…no..Please” So I cleaned up my act, hugged and we went on our way.
I have read a lot about Napoli and the general thieves in the area so was very cautious as we entered the station. As we entered and were checking the board for our track I was approached by an older man who was grabbing at my ticket and wanting to ‘help’ us. We seriously did not need help! Before I knew what was happening he was rolling my suitcase…….along with me! I looked back and Judy and John had given theirs up to this old guys ‘co-workers’. I never gave mine up until we reached our car at which point I let him lift it up the stairs for me, at this point I figured why not. Before we knew what happened we had these three guys on the train with us with our bags and their hands were out. John was going to tip them 7E which would have been appropriate in the USA but this old guy, the leader, continued to argue with him that they needed 5E each. I didn’t hear this going on, but would have told the old guy to back off and leave us alone. So John gave him 15E and two of the three left leaving the last old guy standing asking for his. We finally sent him on his way and got settled into our compartment.
We had to change trains in Rome and once again had a strange experience. First, let me explain that we looked like a bunch of gypsies. Somehow the one bag we had each started with had developed into a bunch of other odds and ends of bags and it was a lot to manage. When we climbed the steps of the train there were three younger women in the mix, jamming up the entrance and I assumed they were confused about which car they were to be in. In this case the 1st class car had actual compartments with a narrow aisle running alongside so we were blocked by these women. At one point my small little purse flipped open dropping our train tickets and one of the women said “Senora…..” and gave me the tickets. Still at this point I thought they were confused girls not knowing where to go. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, they were out of my way and I made my way to the compartment to join Judy. When we reached the compartment we learned that it would be full with 6 passengers and no space for luggage. Note to self to travel even lighter next time. Hurrying to get settled John found a compartment that was not full and a young man, Luigi, who was in the compartment graciously lifted the bags onto the rack. The bags were too heavy and the racks so high that John could not have done this himself. So Vincenzo and Luigi’s kindness cancelled out the actions of the other folks we had encountered over these few hours.
When, John joined us in our compartment he filled us in on what had taken place with the three young women after we left him. One young woman, who later we figured was the leader, gave him his wallet back (which he didn’t know was gone), as if it had fallen out, and asked him for a tip for food. Wow, I thought I was pretty savvy but I didn’t see that one coming at all!
After all this drama the ride into Tuscany was beautiful. We shared the ride with a young Manhattan and Colgate University student who was on holiday. She was having a time of a lifetime studying abroad for a semester in Ireland and on the off time traveling to places like Rome, Paris, and Florence to hook up with school chums. It sounded so awesome. And so we sipped wine and nibbled our way from Rome to our stop in Arezzo, picked up our rental car (less the GPS we had ordered) and made our way to our home for the next week. It is a beautiful Villa just a few kilometers from Cortona, for those of you who are familiar with “Under the Tuscan Sun”.
Tuscany day I: Today was a much needed domestic day. We all desperately needed to do laundry and we needed to stock up on food as well. Our promised internet access at the villa was not working so that had to be dealt with. It happened today was the day for the open market in our nearby village so we took advantage of that. Judy bought Tripe but hasn’t convinced John or I to try it yet. From the market John & I maneuvered our way to the top of the old village tower to the library to use the internet. This doesn’t sound like a big deal folks but when you don’t speak the language it can be a challenge. With that said, one way or the other we always manage to communicate enough to get what we need. Then off to find a grocery store and if you have shopped in other countries you know how much fun, and I mean that seriously, that can be. Next was a Laundromat and for that we used our little phrase book, wrote it down and showed it to someone in the coop. Vividly recalling our experience at “Mr Bubble” in Salzburg a few years ago, we anticipated an adventure. In this case fate shined on us! When we arrived at the laundry I immediately recognized some English being spoken and sure enough the only people in there were two college students who were here studying Architecture for a semester. They showed us the ropes on the machines and we visited for a long time. They said they appreciated having a chance to speak English so it was good for all of us. We closed our night with a home cooked dinner, beautiful wine and a fire in the fireplace feeling blessed.
Tuscany Day II: We woke up to a cloudy day today but headed out to the beautiful hill city of Montepulciano about 30 miles away from us. It isn’t the easiest thing to jump in a car and drive in a foreign country, especially with no GPS, but after a day John was feeling quite comfortable. It is a beautiful old city with streets running pretty much straight up and down but for those of you that are wine drinkers, this is heaven. We wound our way on the little streets and dropped in at wine and olive oil tasting spots. This area is famed for their Nobile wines, the only place in the world that produces this wine and they have been doing so for centuries. Oh my….it was delicious. And to go along with the tasting they offer up various savories of baguettes with roasted tomatoes, cheese and…..well you get the picture. It was a great day! We wound our way back to our little villa looking forward to dinner in an out of the way spot recommended by our host. This is a place we would never find on our own and was only open a few days a week. Vecchio Rota is tucked away in a little piazza in a small village. When we entered the smells were amazing. There was a group of three waiting to be seated and I would guess we stood for at least 5 minutes waiting for someone to appear. We could hear the sounds and smell the food but saw no one. Finally someone appeared from the kitchen and seated us. The owner, Maximo, most colorfully explained everything on the menu one by one as we sipped our regional house wine. Judy said his descriptions were like an opera. We came here because we heard about his pasta (his Nonna’s recipe) with pears and Pecorino cheese. We had to try this and of course GNOCCHI! And Judy said it was the best Gnocchi she had ever had but she said whichever she is eating is the best at the time. Truth be told, this was quite amazing. Once again, this sounds like a food journey and in some respects the food and wine are a big contributor to a trip to Italy but the people and the scenery are the best. We closed our night with a book, a last glass of wine by the fire.

Today our goal as to explore hidden Tuscan villages in the mountains north of Arezzo. We read a book written by an American woman who eloquently described the area the highlights and of course the specialty food. The author described the area as one of natural beauty peppered with towns perched on cliffs overlooking vast valley vistas. She noted a few restaurants that preserved the recipes from centuries past that used only local ingredients including wild game, sheep cheese (Pecorino), a variety of wild mushrooms and of course the best regional wines. It was a hard pick but at random we decided on the small village of Moggiona. This village could only be reached by an insane series of hairpin turns and this time we didn’t have Vincenzo we had Giovanni (better known as John) who proved to be a master.
The village consisted of a half a dozen buildings and one of them was Il Cedro operated by Mariangelo. Her mother is the cook and is using her grandmother’s simple recipes. Their specialty is Tortelli di pitata, simple potato stuffed ravioli. Seem bit overkill in the starches? We thought so too but had to give it a try. It as well as the other dishes were wonderful except to Judy’s chagrin there was no gnocchi! We speak no Italian and expected to have to fumble our way through this lunch so were pleasantly surprised to find that Mariangelo was willing and able to speak some level of English and to help us understand what was offered. There was no menu. And so it went another beautiful lunch in a café that would hold 25 people and a million dollar view. We closed our meal with an amazing dry pound cake, much like a sweet biscuit and Vin Santo (local sweet dessert wine). I usually pass on the dessert but not this time! The drive down the mountain was so colorful with bright greens, and various shades of Terra Cotta. It was good to get back to our little home away from home and light a fire and pick up a book. We have now successfully adapted to the Italian way relaxing meals with lunch never earlier than 1:00 and dinner no earlier than 8:00. So this evening, after some relaxing, we enjoyed homemade chicken soup (made by the Norwegian) accompanied by Judy’s fresh salad. We feel so blessed to toast to another wonderful day in Tuscany.