Lee's Tuscan Odyssey: July 2012

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

Well the day has finally come... our good friends Francesco and Ilaria are leaving Florence for a new adventure in the land of Oz. We've booked a table at one of our favourite restaurants, Baldovino and spend Saturday afternoon choosing some cards and gifts small enough to take across the world!

We meet up at 9 and settle down to a sumptuous feast, antpasti and crostini, bistecca alla Firentina and some wicked chocolate cake. They seem to like their presents and we have a fun evening reminiscing on the last 7 or so months that we have known them. They are going for a last ice cream tomorrow afternoon and ask us to join them, so it's not quite the end yet...

Sunday afternoon and we meet up outside the Duomo and wanderl to a gelateria to indulge in our first ice cream of the year.

A stroll to Piazza Signoria and the new uffizi shopping complex and we part... as they disappear into the Florence evening...

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

120. Goodbye Fra and Ila