159. Casonzoli - Sassetta, with Saverio and Pina

Saturday

This weekend one of our good friends, Saverio and his wife, Pina have invited us to their lovely farm in the picturesque Sassetta on the Tuscan coast. Annette hasn't seen Saverio for five months as he has had a double attack of cancer and some major surgery. He's lost twenty kilos and nearly died, but fortuntely now is making a good recovery.

An early start on the Saturday morning means we have several hours to relax on the beach before joining our hosts. We decide on Riva degli Etruschi, which turns out to be our last visit of the summer. As ever it's a sunny morning, but the sea a bit cooler. We enjoy our morning and packed lunch and then head up the hill to Sasetta to meet Saverio. It's great to see him in such good spirits after his operation, he looks a lot thinner and treats us to a pre-dinner prosecco at his local bar. He escorts us to his farmhouse to a waiting Pina. She has been busy preparing a banquet for this evening with her sister and brother-in-law. the farm looks great, Saverio has cleared some ground ready to plant some new olive trees and he shows us some other fruit trees and picks us some figs and pears. the chickens are running all over the place and we fire up his new outdoor oven, which he has had built along with a large outside seating area and is the size of a small house! 
We catch up on all the latest gossip before beginning our feast...

The menu goes something like this...

Home made schiacciata (which Annette has helped to make)

Cucumber relish and pecorino cheese

ham and cream canelloni

Baked Cinghiale and roast potatoes

Chestnuts soaked in rum

freshly picked pears and more pecorino

All washed down with our Vernaccia di San Gimignano white and Nipozzano red wines

A wonderful 'Al Fresco' evening with great company and food.

Sunday

Am and we drive to nearby Castagneto Carducci for a cappuccino and pastry breakfast in an outside bar. I indulge in a little wine tasting and purchase a couple of bottles of the local red  Bolgheri wine. On our drive back to Sasetta we bump into Giovanni, a local steel worker we met at Saverio's May 1st party last year. He treats us to a prosecco and a little pre-lunch gossip. Pina has returned to the farm with her sisters and is cooking up a banquet lunch to compete with last nights feast.

Menu no. 2

Antipasto- Prawn cocktail and anchovies

Primo - Farfalle with Scorfano fish

Secondo - Mormore fish and potatoes

Dessert - pears, fresh figs, chocolate cake and Spumante.

It was Saverio's birthday last week so we raise our glasses in a toast...

Happy birthday Saverio!

Suvereto and Bolgheri

And so it's goodbye to Saverio and Pina. We promise to come back and help tyhem with the olive harvest... we drive on to a small town called Suvereto, which turns out to be a real gem of a place. There is a Sunday market on, so the walled town is packed. We meet a Scottish guy who lives here, called Alan. He is selling little wooden toys on one of the stalls. We stop at an outside bar and enjoy a glass of wine from local winery, 'La Tua Rita' and soak up the great atmosphere here. 

Next we drive onto the town of Bolgheri. Even though we've driven down the famous avenue of cypresses several times we've never actually been to the town at the top. Today we fix that and very pretty it is too! There are some little windy streets and several small squares with many enotecas selling the famous Bolgheri wine, the Giosue Carduuci museum and some pretty impressive views of the countryside. We have a pleasant time here before heading home after our wonderful weekend.

158. Greve wine fiasco - part 3

Well I swore last year would be my last, but Annette is working today and so rather than sit at home and twiddle my thumbs I decide to go anyway, surely it can't be as bad as last year, can it?

Oh yes it can! At all the other wine festivals in Tuscany you pay an entrance fee of between 5 and 10 euro and you can taste whatever you want... Everybody is serious, nobody gets drunk and goes home happy. Here in Greve you buy a card for 8 euro, ok, sounds fair. When I enquire, the assistant assures me that you get eight tastings, ok so that's 1 euro per taste, not too bad. When I ask whether that includes all the wines, she again assures me it does. When I go to start tasting the sommelier punches a hole in my card. The only problem is, at the 'riserva' tent, they insist on punching two! Thereby giving you a miserely 4 tastes and when I say tastes, I mean a mouthfull... That's 2 euro a sip... On the ticket there is an extra row of circles that nobody seems to know what to do with! When I return to the 'cassa' to ask her why they are punching two holes she looks at me like I've gone completely mad! A few other people have noticed this too, so I stay by the cassa and listen... they are telling people that they have 8 tastes, "or 4 if you have riservas" I add! So basically people are being tricked! Playing on the fact that most people are tourists and won't really notice...

Greve  -  Shame on you!!!

157. The Rificolona

Yet another Florence festival! This one goes back to the middle ages and has been revived in modern times. Apparently farmers from the Casentino and Pistoia would bring their wares to the city to sell and sleep under the cloisters in Piazza S.S. Annunziata, sing hymns to the virgin Mary and hold a market the following day. In derision of these country women and their shabby clothes, local Florentines made caricatures with candles under the skirts, christening the women 'fierculone' or 'firey big arses'!

Today a procession of people carrying various coloured paper lamps and lanterns makes its way from Piazza Santa Croce, through Piazza San Giovanni and finishing upm in piazza S.S. Annunziata. Complete with marching band and followed by small boys carrying pea shooters trying to extinguish all these lovely creations... it's a bizzare sight!