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



229. In search of truffles and Maracana

Well everyone seems to be talking about San Miniato's famous and groovy truffle festival and after work this morning I see a report on the TV about it which looks very interesting.




So this afternoon we decide to go and see what the fuss is all about... After all two weeks ago we failed to even get a sniff of a truffle, on what turned out to be a wild 'truffle' chase in the tiny town of Balconivisti near San Miniato.




We arrive in under an hour and somehow manage to park close to the centre in San Miniato Alto. There are stalls everywhere, with free tasting and friendly sellers telling you all about their products. Everything from cakes, biscuits, liqueres, marmalades and jams to cheeses, cold meats, oil, wine and of course the truffles! Or to be more precise, white truffles. This year they are selling for 180 euro for 100 grams. The black variety are going at a mere snip at 40 euro per 100 grams. This area is well known for the white variety. We try butter with truffles, cream with truffles, salami with truffles and even mortadella with truffles!




There are also a dozen wine stalls to keep me happy and we stumble on an enoteca with a bargain bucket of wines for 5 euro. There are some old vintages with damaged labels... let's hope they still taste ok! We put our big noses to good use in sniffing out some small white truffles to take home and eventually buy a small jar for 10 euro.




In the evening we cook up a wicked taglierini pasta dish with our tiny nuggets and open a bottle of 1996 5 Stelle Sfursat from Nino Negri... their 2001 was the Gambero rosso Italian wine of the year last year) It is an awesome combination...


Maracana





A hot and steamy Sunday evening at Florence's only Brazilian dinner and live show, including dancers with huge feathers and capoera dancers with a samba disco afterwards! Sounds like the perfect remedy for the November cold...
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