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



181. Via Pisana

And so to the start of a new chapter in our lives... a new era!

After being treated so badly by Florence's rich and famous, the Verdini's, we've gone back to a previous offer from work colleague Jane's ex partner, Silverio Palladino who owns several houses, one of them being this place we looked at along with the flat in Corso Italia last year.



We start moving our stuff out on Saturday and by Sunday evening we're tucked up in our new small flat in Via del Pozzino, which is in a very small courtyard just off the very long Via Pisana, a road which in theory used to go from Florence to Pisa...



We're between the areas of Legnaia and San quirico, opposite a church where Florentine artist, Fillipo Lippi used to attend in the16th century! We're only a 15 minute bus ride away from the centre and work and 5 minutes away from the A-1 motorway. Let's hope we can stay here for as long as we want to and our new landlord doesn't want to increase the very reasonable rent too much next year! Only some cleaning and decorating and the odd spot of furniture to buy!






In the evening we check out a nearby restaurant on Via Pisana...Vico del Carmine, it's a Neapolitan style pizzeria and we have a nice time...

Welcome Home...



(Original journal entry 29/1/05)
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180. Goodbye Zubin...

"All good things must come to an end"

Unfortunately a meeting with our landlady, Flavia is not enough to convince her to open the lounge up or lower her proposed 30% rent increase. It's been a great year here in this cosy, classy flat, very convenient for work. No more can we tell people we live in Corso Italia! The boxes are packed up and we bid a fond farewell to our neighbour and Teatro Communale resident conductor, the Hungarian Hurricane, Zubin Mheta!





(Original journal entry 28/1/05)
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