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



183. New Furniture

The last two weeks of February and first two weeks of march kind of meld into the dreary dampness of a typical English winter... It is very cold and very wet! And Florence even gets its first snowfall in living memory. We are both ill over valentines day and in an attempt to spruce up our rather dull looking flat go on a furniture hunt...

We check out more furniture shops in four weeks than the previous 35 years of our life!!! We do however end up with some nice pieces, as well as necessary items for the new pad. Sometimes there are more important things to do than going to wine festivals... oh dear, what have I become!

Role on Spring!

(Original journal entry 12/3/05)
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