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



266. Calaviolina

Thank god it's Friday! and we both have a free day... It's a no brainer - Calaviolina! There is no traffic on the drive down and we arrive before lunch. It's a twenty minute walk through the woods and then we arrive in paradise! We enjoy a wonderful afternoon of unspoilt beauty on this incredible beach... Can we take up residence here?




My student, Stefano Chioccioli has cancelled his lesson for tomorrow, fortunately I have anticipated this and we have packed a few overnight things. So we now have three days at the beach, whoopee!





At late notice we manage to book a room for tonight at an agriturismo, il Marrucheto, somewhere near Scarlino (in the middle of nowhere!) we find it eventually. 



We shower, change and head to the nearby town of Giuncarico. Italy are playing Ukraine in the quarter finals at 9.00 - so I just have time for a wicked seafood spaghetti, before sneaking off to a local 'circolo', leaving Annette at the restaurant. Luckily, it's a 3-0 win for Italy and they're in the semi-finals!



(Original post: no. 328 - 30/06/2006)

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