The Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta on the road from Pienza to San Quirico d'Orcia

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



171. Fiorentina vs Inter

Well what do you know, my good mate, Piero has managed to swing a couple of tickets for the big game. Brazilian superstar, Adriano and his pals at Inter Milan are visiting 'purple paradise' and we are ready for the battle! After gaining promotion from serie B, The viola are now back where they belong with the big boys of serie A and I'm ready to see some top notch calcio! The season has started ok, with Fiorentina having won 3 lost 2 and drawn 4, with three of them scoreless, so we're lying mid-table.





We have some good players this season, including Giorgio Chiellini, Fabrizio Miccoli, Angelo Dilivio, Christian Maggio and Giampaolo Pazzini. The legendary Dino Zoff has replaced Emilio Mondonico as our manager, but it hasn't been a particularly good start to the season... Inter on the other hand have one of the best squads in Italy, with Adriano, Mihajlovic, Veron, Recoba, Edgar Davids, Vieri, Materazzi and our old keeper, Toldo in goal... an almost impossible team to beat!




We meet up for a pre-match pint at a local pub and make our way to our seats in the Curva Ferrovia. Fiorentina edge the first half with a 26th minute goal from defender Dainelli. Inter press hard in the second half and we resist until the 81st minute when that man, Adriano pops up to score the equaliser! The game finishes in an amicable 1-1 draw.




We pop to the fiddlers pub for a consolation drink and ponder on what might have been... a thoroughly entertaining evening however and welcome back to the big time for Fiorentina!
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