Lee's Tuscan Odyssey: June 2011

In 2001 I came to live in Italy. I had some fun, wrote a journal and this is the blog of my story...

"Tuscany is a state of grace. The countryside is so lovingly designed that the eye sweeps the mountains and valleys without stumbling over a single stone. The lilt of the rolling green hills, the upsurging cypresses, the terraces sculptured by generations that have handled the rocks with skillful tenderness, the fields geometrically juxtaposed as though drawn by a draughtsman for beauty as well as productivity; the battlements of castles on the hills, their tall towers standing grey-blue and golden tan among the forest of trees, the air of such clarity that every sod of earth stands out in such dazzling detail. The fields ripening with barley and oats, beans and beets. The grape-heavy vines espaliered between the horizontal branches of silver-green olive trees, composing orchards of webbed design, rich in intimation of wine, olive oil and lacy-leaf poetry. Tuscany untied the knots in a man's intestines, wiped out the ills of the world. Italy is the garden of Europe, Tuscany is the garden of Italy, Florence is the flower of Tuscany." Irving Stone from my favourite book " The Agony and the Ecstacy" A fictional biography of Michelangelo

81. Andrea Bocelli in Siena

Today is a very special day for me, one of my favourite singers, Andrea Bocelli, is performing a free concert in Siena. The concert is on behalf of his charity, ARPA, there are about 500 paying guests and around 30,000 free spaces for the general public!

The setting is the very grand Piazza del Campo, with it's shell shape making for the perfect outdoor theatre. The concert doesn't start until 9.30 pm, Annette is doing her DELTA course today and is coming with one of her colleagues, Gabriella. So I drive down to Siena and arrive nice and early at about 5.00 to save some spaces. It's a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and I relax and soak up the sun's rays and the atmosphere of the square slowly filling up.

At around 7.00 the orchestra come out and start warming up with Intermezzo from Cavaliere Rusticana and one by one the violinist, sopranos and baritone singers flex their muscles. Finally the man himself Andrea Bocelli comes out to rapturous aplause with one of his son's, Matteo on his shoulders! We are treated to an incredible 20 minute warm up by the master...

Annette, Gabriella and her husband find me at 8.30, somehow I have managed to keep some spaces free and at 9.30 the magic begins... 2 hours of the most wonderful music and Bocelli's soft, sweet Tenor voice soothing and teasing the crowd along. Although he doesn't possess the power of Pavarotti his voice is truly enchanting. A very special evening, never to be forgotten!

(Original journal entry 24/5/03)

80. Mille Miglia classic car rally

A bit of a special weekend starts here... As usual I'm working Saturday morning and Annette is in working on her Diploma course. Piazza Strozzi has again been turned into a giant car show as 30 brand new Ferraris turn up! I'm not quite sure why, but they make for some pretty expensive decorations...

After lunch I head back home to see if I can catch some of this year's 'Mille miglia' car race. Last year I saw some of it in Chiocchio while watching Chelsea lose to Arsenal in the FA cup final. This year I arrive on the Chiantigiana at the turn off to Impruneta at around 2.30. The cars have just started passing and I notice that some are over-shooting the turn. So I quickly grab a red board pen and paper and scribble out some instructions to show the way... BRESCIA and a large arrow! I stay with a couple of locals, waving at the drivers who seem to see the funny side of my hand made banner!

For about two hours I am an unofficial steward of the Mille Miglia! Of course the usual array of incredible cars come screeching past. The old V-8 and V-12 engines are music to the ears and the bodywork is a pleasure to the eyes. There are many German and Japanese drivers and lots of English number plates as well as countless Ferraris and gullwing Mercedes making for a truly memorable drive-by. I just hope they all make it to Brescia!

79. Fiorentina old vs new

Well can you believe it, my first visit to the Artemo Franchi stadium to witness first hand football Italian style... We are in a strange situation in Florence at the moment as the Fiorentina football club went bankrupt at the end of the 2001 season due to some dodgy financial dealings by president and film producer, Vittorio Cechi Gori. The club were thrown out of the first division, serie A, refused entry into serie B and therefore effectively ceased to exist. In 2002 the club was re-established by shoe entrepeneur, Diego Delle Valle, entered into serie C2, effectively the 4th division and given a new name, 'Florentia Viola'. The only player that stayed was ex Juventus midfielder, Angelo Di Livio, helped by striking sensation, Cristian Rigano. In their first season they won the serie C2 championship, easily and by-passed serie C1 going straight into Serie B which is where we are now! Complicated or what?

This match is a friendly between newly promoted 'Florentia Viola' and the glory team of 90's that won the Italian cup and supercup, got to the semi-final of the UEFA cup, beat Arsenal and Man Utd in the Champions league and garnered a third place league finish in 1999.

Some of the players who lit up those historic matches are here tonight and I get to witness the Florentine public paying tribute to some of their old heroes...

Argentine phenomenen and symbol of that era, Gabriel Battistuta is here. Ex national goalkeeper, the giant Francesco Toldo is back, Lorenzo Amoruso, super sub Anselmo Robbiati, but no Rui Costa. It turns out to be a great evening of celebrations and goals! A 5-2 scoreline to Rigano and the new boys, proving that young legs are better than old! An entertaining evening and violence free... hopefully happier days ahead?

(Original journal entry 19/5/03)

78. Villa Le Corti

So what to do on a hot sunny Sunday in May? I pop into Panzano to pick up some fruit and veg, cheese and salami at the local market and knock up a big salady lunch which we lazily enjoy in our woods.

We leave for the Villa at about 4 o'clock and park up on their olive grove with what seems like half of Florence! Fortunately the Villa and grounds are so vast, it doesn't seem crowded at all.

There are 104 different estates offering tastes of Tuscan's finest reds. Most with 2 or 3 different types. We wander round the beautiful 15th century villa and into the huge marquee which has been erected.

Obviously there is only so much wine you can drink without passing out, let alone fully appreciating, so I earmark 10 different Brunellos, of which I get to taste 9. A couple of wines from the Carmignano region and some Vino Nobiles from Montepulciano. We also get to taste a 1985 500th anniversary Chianti Classico Riserva from Castello di Verrazano. My top pick of the afternoon is a 1999 Montesodi from Frescobaldi, a snip at 45 Euro and Annette falls in love, surprise, surprise with a 60 Euro Brunello riserva, a 1997 Poggio Banale from La Poderina...

We take some of our wines outside and relax on our trusty rug. There are also plenty of food stalls and we buy a wonderful cheese selection from nearby farm, 'Fattoria di Corzano e Paterno? mmm Have I died and gone to heaven!!!