MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY - 19-25 June 2011

SUNDAY 19 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

How lovely it was to sleep in as long as we wanted this morning and we certainly made the most of it.  We enjoyed the morning sorting through our things, doing washing, the kids did some school work and we generally relaxed.  Corky went to the bakery to get some breakfast.  A true Sunday.

Corky felt better today but I instead started to get a sore throat.  We went down to the bar and had some lunch.  Corky and I had a tuna salad with the taste of lovely olive oil.  After lunch we headed back to our house and spent more time relaxing.  My throat was quite sore.

About 5.30pm we took the kids down to the playground for a play and I went for a walk for an hour.  I walked on the road out of Montemerano towards Saturnia and then found a dirt road off that which I walked along for a kilometre admiring the vineyards and Montemerano on the hillside in the distance.  By the time I got back, I was red in the face and very hot, the setting evening sun was quite extreme.

Tonight there was another concert in the Piazza below us so Francesco came by to show us how to blow the bubbles out of our windows which were to be a surprise to the crowd at about 11pm.  The kids got a small bottle each and Corky and I had large ones to blow.  All the houses surrounding the Piazza were to do it together.  First though, we had to have dinner.  We went down to a restaurant nearby for dinner and Corky and I both had a lovely piece of beef with mushroom sauce and as usual, the kids had Spaghetti Bolognese.  There were stray cats that were unpleasantly wandering around the restaurant looking for food and we could now understand why they had a collection going in the bakery to get the stray cats of Montemerano desexed.

By the time we had finished dinner and headed back up to the Piazza, the concert had already started and the Piazza was packed with people.  Tonight the performance was by Concerto Musicale con la Filarmonica.  We resumed our positions in our windows overlooking everyone and the performance.

MONDAY 20 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

Last night I went to bed with a cold and this morning woke up feeling terrible with it.  We were going to go to the coast today but Corky was recovering from his cold and I was feeling shocking with my cold so we decided to stay at home another day and have an easy day.  We lay around most of the morning, the kids playing and I reading/snoozing, Corky playing on the computer.  It was nice to relax again but I really didn’t have the energy to do anything.  Corky and Harry drove to Manciano to the Pharmacy to get some medicine and Paracetamol and also some groceries. 

By late afternoon we decided we had to get out for a little while so we went down to the children’s playground for about an hour.  Jack saw the kids he had met the day prior and played some soccer with them.  If we see them around the village, they call out ‘Ciao Jack’.

For dinner I mustered up the strength to go out.  We headed over to the village of Saturnia for dinner.  On the way there the sun was setting over the countryside.  I have to say, it is one of the most glorious sites you could see.  Because Montemerano is quite high (290m above sea level) on a hilltop, as we head down and across the countryside, the landscape seems to splay out in front of you as you descend on it and with the sun setting across the fields and other smaller hills, the site is breathtaking.  You can see for miles and miles and the sun is in its hazy final stages of descent and makes everything seem soft and dreamlike.  Either that or I have had too many Paracetemols.

Montemerano - we stayed in the tower on the right

The drive only takes less than 10 minutes but it winds around past the 5000 year old natural thermal springs and then back up again to the hilltop village.  Driving around these areas really makes you pinch yourself and realise that you are in Tuscany living the Tuscan life and dream.  Maybe once again too many Paracetemols but we all feel the same and often say to each other ‘gee, look where we are …’.

We wandered around for a bit looking for a restaurant for dinner though I didn’t have the strength to wander too much and the kids were quite hungry.  We found a lovely little restaurant and had a fabulous dinner though I held back on the red wine tonight, I think it would conflict with too many things in my system at the moment.  Of course ice-cream was had on the way to the car and then home to bed.  Thankfully.

TUESDAY 21 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

First day of the European summer today (and longest day of the year) and it was only appropriate that we headed to the coast and beach for the day.  I was feeling a bit better today but was still a bit hazy in the head, all the more reason to get out and head to the sea.

It isn’t terribly far, about 45 minutes to the coast and an easy drive too (more straight than windy roads as we got out of the hills).

As we hit the coast, there was an ‘island’ just off the main land.  ‘Island’ in inverted commas because it is exactly like an island off the coast but joined but three separate narrow strips of land, two of which you can drive along.  The narrow strip we drove along went for about 5kms and between us and the road were beautiful houses which obviously looked directly onto the ocean and had a beach in front of them and also holiday resorts and camping grounds.  The kids all thought it reminded them of Noosa.

You can see the 'island' on the Sat Nav

Once we were on the ‘island’ we drove around the edge of it by the sea for a while admiring all the little communities and beachside areas.  Once we had got as far as we could (I think beyond where we had to turn around it became cliffs), we turned around and headed back till we found a nice little beach area called Pozzarello which is secluded and you pay for the lounge chairs and umbrella.  It was worth it because as usual the beach was made up of little tiny pebbles so it was nice to lounge under the umbrella and watch the kids play and swim.

One unfortunate common factor we couldn’t help but notice was the obesity in the children.  It was quite shocking.  We saw one little girl who was younger than Harry and twice the size.  All the children seemed to have a weight problem and they all seemed to visit the ice cream and chip shop quite regularly.  Clearly too much pizza and pasta (thankfully we were only in Italy for a short time!)

We stayed here for a few hours and then went to the nearby village of Monte Argentario where we had dinner with a lovely view over the port and sea beyond.  The land curved around so it seemed as though we were in a bay rather than on an island.  The kids were entertained by the open fish market and were enthralled watching the men cut up marlin (still a scary site with the huge heads and spear noses), eels and an array of fish.  I was glad to hit the pillow tonight.

WEDNESDAY 22 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

I was feeling so much better this morning but unfortunately Jack and Harry now had a cold too, more a cough than anything though.

The mornings here are lovely.  You can hear the swallows outside chirping endlessly as they sore up and down around the buildings.  Together with the swallows soaring and the town bell tolling every half an hour, it makes you realise you are tucked away in the countryside.  We love to throw open our shutters to welcome each morning.

Above our living room window is an inscription on the stone.  It reads in Latin that the Knight Grassi and his friends lived in this house.  This was about 600 years ago.  Outside in the Piazza still in the stones are some rings cemented in.  These were the original rings that the Knights use to tie their horses up on.  There use to be some on the walls but they have gone.

Another perfect day today however we decided to head back to the Outlet Village – Corky had yet another problem with his new pair of shorts he bought there a few days ago.  We underestimated the distance to get there and it took us just over 1.5 hours but we didn’t mind, the drive there is so beautiful and there are 2 particularly incredible villages that we love to look at.  The first one is called Civita and it seems the only way to get there is by a narrow bridge for people only and the second town is called Oliveto which overlooks the A1 freeway and with views of the countryside for miles and miles.

We spent a few hours at the Outlet Village, Corky rectifying his shorts problem.  The temperature was up in the mid 30’s and unbearably hot.  On the way back from the Outlet Village, we decided to go up for a look at the village of Oliveto.  Despite it being incredible to look at from below, like a fortress in the sky almost, it wasn’t so attractive once you got into the village.  There seemed no order to it, it didn’t feel as old as it looked and it clearly catered for the tourists.  There were certainly no ‘wow’ factors to it which we had expected as we climbed the windy road leading up to it. 

View from Oliveto

We drove straight out again and off to dinner in Bolsena which is a lovely town by the lake.  We found the most perfect restaurant along the water’s edge overlooking the boats bobbing at the pier and enjoyed a nice meal watching the sun set over the lake.  Corky had a beautiful ravioli that we had to order another plate of to share and the boys had beautiful prawns and calamari lightly fried.  I had some red wine with my dinner but it tasted more like Port, very heavy.

On the trip home which took an hour along small, dark and windy roads, we encountered a small hedgehog doing his best to get out of our way and also a wild boar scurrying off into the bushes by the side of the road.  Quite commonly on the menu wild boar is served in stews or as meat and ragu etc but we just cannot fathom eating one of these creatures.  Eel was also a specialty on the menu tonight, straight from the lake in front of us, another we couldn’t face ordering.  I had the veal masala which was highly preferred.

THURSDAY 23 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

The mozzies have been eating us alive at night.  Harry seems to be the one most affected and has bumps up and down both arms and some on his face and of course his legs.  These mozzies are different to our ones because they are smaller and make no noise at all so you can’t hear them coming.  We will have to buy repellant today.

Off to the coast again to enjoy the sea.  We had a drive around for a bit exploring the island we went to on Tuesday.  We took the Panoramic drive up to the top of the island where we had incredible views out to the ocean.  It reminded me of the Greek Islands.  There were boats nestled in the inlets as we drove around the cliff face.  The water is an incredible shade of aqua, it is also a lovely temperature to swim in.

We went to the same beach that we went to on Tuesday at Pozzarello because the ‘sand’ was nice and not too rocky and we had the private beach which we enjoyed.  It cost 6 Euro for each sun lounge and 7 Euro for the umbrella, so for a total of 20 Euro we were very comfortable.  There was a trattoria which we could eat at if we wanted, changing sheds and also a toilet.  We could hire paddle boats from here too.  Like a little beachside resort without the accommodation.  A middle aged couple and their 20-something son owned it and also doubled as the life guards.  Clearly a family business they have been running for many years now.  If anyone came down and decided to lay their towel within their private beach area without paying, they were sent off.

The water was incredible to swim in and we stayed for several hours.  We headed back to Monte Argentario for a drink at the portside café and more importantly because it had free WiFi before we headed back to Montemerano. 

Our WiFi cafe

This experience of living in a small hilltop village has made Corky realise that he could never live this life.  Unfortunately Corky can’t really cope with the fact that we have no internet access, no television, no telephone and no dishwasher.  He is lost.  I am happy because I love to read and the kids seem to be able to play anywhere with anything, but Corky can’t cope, you should see how many spreadsheets about nothing there are on this hard drive.  He craves the excitement of the coast and big towns but I also love the small villages and the history and quaint village life, but I too couldn’t spend a long period of time here.

Once we got back to Montemerano, we showered and changed and went down to Sabina’s place.  She also lives on the Piazza in the house just outside ours.  Sabina is German, originally from Munich and use to holiday here with her husband and 2 daughters.  About 12 years ago they moved permanently to Montemerano but she is only here now with one of her daughters.  Not sure what happened to her husband and her other daughter is now living in London.  Sabina speaks Italian with a German accent and also English with a German accent.  Below her house which opens onto the Piazza, she owns an art gallery, mainly pottery.  She use to be a set designer and is very talented.  She is a quiet woman and seems to keep to herself but she is lovely to spend time with.

Tonight Sabina was throwing a party.  It was in aid of a friend of hers who makes Japanese clothing.  Her friend grew up in New York but now lives in Berlin.  There was a mix of people there; Germans, Americans, English and Italians.  First we were invited to eat and drink.  All the food was homemade and we ate helpings of an olive ragu, cheese pastries, zucchini frittata, tomato soup, oven baked bread with a ground meat on it and rockmelon.  All the food was delicious and for dessert we had Panna Cotta with raspberry coulis. To drink, red and white wine from large bottles.  We ate on throw away plates out in the laneway off the Piazza and then had a demonstration of the clothes.  We got chatting to one lady who was from Atlanta, Georgia in the USA and who owned a place in Manciano the town nearby and another in a different town elsewhere.  She and her husband come over each June.  Hard life!

The Japanese clothing didn’t take our fancy but we enjoyed the little soiree, our first in our little village.  Francesco was out in the Piazza trying to perfect his bubble blowing technique for another concert this Saturday night though he was disappointed because the bubbles weren’t working out, perhaps because the water from the ancient tap in the Piazza was too hard compared to the softer water in his house.  He vowed to find a solution to his problem.

About 9.30pm Francesco told us that in about 5 minutes there was going to be a religious parade through the town if we would like to watch it.  We wandered down to the church and along the way we could see laid out a path of flower petals leading to the church entrance.  We had to stop the temptation of Harry wanting to stomp on them all and Sophie to gather them in a little basket.

Soon enough the procession came out of the church with someone leading holding a large cross.  People followed and also the Catholic Priest of the town in his robes surrounded by 4 men carrying a tent-like structure over his head.  The procession followed the path of flower petals up through the arch and down through town and out past the bar.  We followed but stopped at the bar and watched them continue down and around the corner out of sight.   

Outside the bar and entrance to the village

This procession happens every 3^rd Thursday of the month.  Francesco told us that there use to be three times the number of people however this current Priest (commissioned from the Vatican to this village), is not popular at all and that is why the numbers have dwindled so rapidly.  Apparently he is quite a nasty man with strong opinions who refuses to say hello to many of the village people if he doesn’t like them or believes they don’t deserve a greeting and also openly berates people in sermons during his service.  Clearly those who still attend are such staunch Catholics that even he can’t frighten them away from their beliefs, but he certainly has frightened many others.  Francesco is one of the villagers with whom the Priest has decided to ignore.  He won’t acknowledge Francesco’s presence with a greeting and Francesco believes it is purely because he is not a Catholic.  Francesco says all this with a smile on his face because he really doesn’t care much for the situation.  Corky and I just loved hearing about this little village controversy.  We can’t wait to take Francesco out for dinner one night to hear more village goss.

Since we had left the procession at the bar, we couldn’t resist an ice cream (and latte for me) before bed.

Corky in the village bar

Village Bar

FRIDAY 24 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

Another perfect day and another slow start.  I am worried that we will never get use to early mornings again.  We managed to log onto Francesco’s computer and finally book our flights home via Singapore, we leave 4 weeks today.

Again to the beach but this time we decided to go to a different beach.  We stopped on the road out to the island and went to another private beach, this one called Florida.  This beach was kilometres long but the private beach only went for a secluded 200m of it.  All the deckchairs were under lovely straw umbrellas and we felt like we were in the Caribbean.  There was true sand rather than rocks and some waves.  We had found a gem.  There was a lovely restaurant and bar area and also other ‘chill out’ areas where we could lie on lovely white lounges with pillows or in a private cabana.  Everything was decorated Balinese style with lovely dark brown timbers and white cushions and pillows.  It was slightly dearer at this private beach but you got what you paid for.

  

What we loved the best though was that we could shop from our deck chair!  Continuously up and down the beach the whole time we were there, were men from India, Africa or Bangladesh selling their ‘wares’.  At one stage even a trolley was wheeled down the beach by 2 men selling clothes hanging off it – like a mobile clothes shop.  We managed to over the course of the afternoon, buy 3 pairs of sunglasses, a cossie for Madi and for Sophie and 3 beach towels.  All from our deck chair.

 

An ice cream man drove up the beach in his buggy but we didn’t dare buy from him because he got angry with the kids because they were building sandcastles and digging holes where he wanted to drive.  He got out of his buggy, filled in their hole they had dug and then drove on over it.  Sweet justice when he got bogged just after and the lifeguards had to push him out.

We spent all afternoon here enjoying the serenity, warmth and beach.  The wind however started to rise so around 6pm we decided to leave for dinner.  We drove around to the seaside village of Porto San Marco on the island which was full of restaurants all overlooking the port and sea.  Unbeknownst to us, we happened to find ‘the busiest’ restaurant it seemed in the whole village.  They quickly ushered us to a table and then left us for so long we could have cooked our own food.  When he finally took our order he seemed quite flustered and hurried off again.  The meals arrived and he was off in a flash again however the pizza for the boys didn’t arrive.  We could never get his attention because he wouldn’t stand still long enough and after one attempt asking and him replying ‘yes, yes’ and hurrying out again, we gave up and asked for the bill.  We had all shared our meals so no-one was hungry but the pizza had been added to the bill.  He seemed harried again when we asked if he could fix the bill.  We got out of there as quick as he got us to our table in the first place.

We settled in for our nighttime drive home on the alert for nocturnal wildlife.

SATURDAY 25 JUNE – MONTEMERANO, TUSCANY, ITALY

Big day for the village today so we thought we had better hang around and help Francesco out.  This afternoon and evening was a festival in the village that Francesco had organised.  He was very busy however he didn’t need our help so we hung around our house and the Piazza and at lunch time went to the bar for lunch.  By now we were eagerly greeted by the bar staff, Helena and Dario with ‘Ciao’s’ and ‘Bonjounos’ quite enthusiastically.  We were still stared at by some who couldn’t quite understand what we were doing in their village.  We took the kids to the playground for a play for a while and then back for the festivities to start at 4.30pm. 

Francesco was all organised with his loudspeaker and the festivities began.  The first game was one of rolling a wooden wheel through a track set up down the cobbled road.  There were contestants who had to roll the wheel as far as they could and then take   turns who could make it to the end.  This went on for some time with people getting knocked out of the competition and finally it came down to 2 finalists.  A guy in his 20’s was the winner with very loud cheers from the crowds.  I can’t really imagine this happening in a surburban street at home but somehow it fits in perfectly here.

Francesco the MC

Singers

Everyone seemed all excited and clearly it was time for a drink and a smoke, so off to the bar everyone went.  Of course we followed.  We sat and had a drink and bought a ticket for the Tombola to be done here at the bar at 8pm.  We decided to head back home for an hour and then come back later for the rest of the festivities.

Just before 8pm we went back to the bar ready for the Tombola.  We had confident feelings that we would become the new reigning champions!  Something wasn’t quite right.  The crowd that was gathered were slowly starting to disperse.  Were they afraid of competing with us?  Did we really exude that much confidence?  Unfortunately it dawned on us that the Tombola had been drawn earlier than 8pm and we had missed it.  We looked forlornly at the ticket in our hand and sighed at the loss of championship that no doubt would have been ours and headed off to dinner instead.

A Montemerano restaurant

Once again we struggled with understanding the menu and ordered what we comfortably knew was OK to eat.  The dinner once again, was just beautiful.  Baked cheese and spinach ricotta and porcini tagatelli.  We weren’t too original with our ordering most times however we enjoyed the variations of the regular meals we did order.

Once dinner was done, we hurriedly ascended the stairs and paths that took us up to our Piazza.  There the crowds were awaiting the night’s festivities.  We passed through the crowds and into our doorway and up into our house to resume our prime viewing positions at our windows overlooking the Piazza.

Soon enough, the Master of Ceremonies and Chief Organiser Francesco addressed the crowd with his microphone.  Of course we didn’t understand one single word but clearly he was informing the crowd as to what was coming and what to expect.  Out of the laneway next to Sabina’s house came the town band dressed in Medieval clothing.  Behind them were characters from the Medieval times; knights, a queen, king and other suitably attired medieval village folk.  They seated below us with grapes and water for their convenience. 

Next the Falconiers arrived.  These two men had a falcon each and performed a show with them.  The falcons flew up to the roof tops around the Piazza and then swooped down to take the meat from the men.  The crowd appropriately ooh’d and aah’d and it was amazing to see these birds in action.  One of the birds was quite stubborn and needed quite a bit of coaxing off the roof tops.  At one stage, one of the falcons flew up and sat on the window sill right in front of our faces.  It startled us at first because it literally landed right next to our hands which we quickly moved.  It wasn’t in a hurry to leave our window ledge but eventually did.  The other bird did the same in our other window.

Next they brought out a white owl.  It was certainly a beautiful bird and after performing several flights across the Piazza for us, it had had enough and decided to fly out of the Piazza altogether, off into the night.  Woops, we are sure this was not part of the act.  Everyone in the crowd turned to watch it go and we felt concerned for the owners.  They stood and watched it go, not seeming terribly concerned because they brought out another bird, a larger falcon.  This bird clearly was a favourite and performed impeccably.  Once the show finished, we realised that it hadn’t properly finished because now we were entertained by the men trying to retrieve the wayward owl.  The owl had decided to perch itself on a roof in the laneway just off the Piazza and we were amused to see one of the Falconier men climbing a drain to try and retrieve it.  He eventually lured it with some meat and no doubt bird-talk that it would never survive in the wild without him and the owl returned to his master.

Next was the finale of the evening.  We watched as a large ladder was raised up from the Piazza and disappeared into our top window.  Soon enough the crowds were curiously gathering around and the ladder reappeared with a large white deflated air balloon on it.  The ladder and balloon were lowered to the ground where several men lit a large stick with fire and inflated the balloon with the hot air from the flames.  The balloon once inflated stood about 1.5 stories high.  Once it had enough air, they let it go and with many excited gasps from the crowd, it sailed off into the night.  In the past the flame us to be left in the balloon so you could see it glowing up into the sky and away however they weren’t allowed to do this anymore because the balloon with fire can go as high as a kilometre into the sky and therefore be a threat to planes and also due to it being summer, if the balloon and fire reached the ground, the dry crops and wheat could potentially be set on fire which would be disastrous.

During the balloon process, it was our responsibility again to blow bubbles out the window.  Francesco also had bubbles in the square and overall the Piazza was a festive arena.  The kids ran down and joined in with the bubbles in the Piazza and helping themselves to the shortbreads being handed out by the little ladies.  By this time it was 11pm and we were ready for bed.  Another exciting day in rural Tuscany and another night being eaten by mozzies whilst we slept.

Till next installment .... x