Forests and Abbeys

Hugh and I visited this cute little Museum of the Woods in Orgia yesterday, a village that was the site of an Etruscan settlement. We learnt all about how share-farmers would work the land of the of the local Landowner in exchange for a house and some land of their own to work as well. They would give half of what they produced back to the landowner. To supplement their diet they would harvest chestnuts, acorns for their pigs, mushrooms, asparagus and berries from the forest. They also worked the forest for timber and for producing charcoal. So they spent as much as half of their time in the woods depending on the season. This system ended about 50 years ago. It all sounds very idyllic and in harmony with nature but I daresay it was a lot of hard work.

Armed with all this new information about the area in English I visited this little tiny hamlet called Frosini which has a castle that dates back to the 11th century and a church complex which is believed to have been part of a hospital of the Knights Templar - very Da Vinci code I thought. Then I visited the ruined abbey of San Galgano which may be the origin of the sword in the stone tale. Apparently San Galgano, a young nobleman who was born in 1148, had a dream and became a hermit on this mountain (much to the annoyance of his mother and his betrothed) where he put his sword in a rock to be his cross. A Church has been built around the sword in the stone and also an abbey complex built nearby which unfortunately suffered badly from a famine and then the black death in 1348 and fell into a romantic decline as you can see.

It is a little cool today and a bit rainy which is good for Hugh's hayfever so maybe we can drink a little of the local red wine - a nice Brunello di Montalcino - tonight!

Tuscan castles

Alright so I have 1 week left in Italy - so sad- and my mission is to see every castle, church and hilltop village within a 20 km radius of our house. Todays photo is of the Tower of Montarrenti which is on the opposite hill to the castle of Spannochia featured in a previous post. This hill top has been occupied since the 7th century and the tower dates from roughly the same time as Luigi's castle (13th century). Both benefited from the use of a number of watermills that are dotted along the rivers.

The Natural reserve where we live is called the Alto Merse or high Merse named after all the watercourses that feed into the nearby river Merse. The dominant tree here is an oak tree. More and more flowers are coming out and Hugh and I are finding at least 2 new species of orchid every day. This brings us much joy. Unfortunately Hugh is allergic to Mediterranean eccosytems and is sneezing a lot. Poor possum. Better go - having a Campari and soda moment with Luigi.

Tuscan workshop

The weather is really warm now - thank goodness for the stone walls and terracotta tiles on the floor - you don't really notice until you go outside. There are some pretty big winged creatures trying to share our dwelling - I am nervous now about Sweden in July and all the bugs - poor little urban princess that I am. So today's photos show all the gang at the workshop - very multicultural - we have people from Portugal, Finland, Germany, Italy and Australia and one very cute baby.

The other picture is of course of Romeo - a blue splodge on the stairs. Because I am in Tuscany I have finally started writing - see - I knew it - just get a villa in Tuscany with a view and next thing you know you are writing a book! So far it is not really a book but its a start. Luigi subscribes to the New York Review of Books which I have been devouring - so many books so little time. It is really great - I think I will subscribe too when I get home. I believe we are going to yet another wonderful authentic Tuscan eating place tonight - its all so hard!

Luigi's Castle

Hugh and I went on a big walk today to Luigi's castle - it is about 2 hour return trip mostly along the river but with some nasty hilly bits at the end. Luigi is actually leasing it from the government and has only fixed the roof so far - it is very isolated and would take a lot of money to restore properly. It is first mentioned in historical records in 1212, although it is thought that it may have exisisted earlier, and was called Castiglion Balzetti although it is more commonly called "il Castello di Castiglion che Dio sol sa" which I think means the castle that only God knows. The pink splodge in the picture is me pretending to be Juliet. I have a photo of Romeo saved for another time.

This morning we also took a short drive to the other castle one can see from Luigi's house which is called Spannochia which has some nice turrets as you can see and is still lived in. In the Middle Ages these towers were dotted across the hills and could signal to each other if enemies were approaching. I'm not sure what you would do about it then though! The flowers in the woods are quite lovely - we have seen about 6 species of orchid in flower which is making us very happy. It is getting very warm - I wish I had packed more than one pair of shorts. Better head off for my siesta now. Ciao!

Cold Showers and communication troubles

So when we got home the hot water service broke and we had to take cold showers for a few days. Hugh said he thought it was good for our carbon footprint and we should always have cold showers - I think he is going overboard with this environmental stuff. It took three visits to fix the problem and one realizes how difficult it is not speaking Italian properly - you have to communicate a lot with your hands! Then we were cut off from the world completely as the internet connection failed - to get a signal for the phone you have to walk around outside or go up the hill and hope for the best.

But all is fixed now and my blogging can continue - I fear I am becoming addicted and am always thinking of getting a photo for my blog and what to put in it. It just shows that we humans can become addicted to anything very easily. One of the pictures is of my washing hut which has wonderful views over the valley - makes hanging out washing fun. The other photo is a picture of one of Luigis's horses - I never seem to have my camera ready when they are both outside together. Just so you know the other horse is black.

Hugh has a workshop on Habitat Modelling which starts tomorrow and we have people coming in from all over the place - sounds like more wining and dining to me. We have bought some serious maps and plan to do some nice walks around the area this week- there are some nice castles and ruined churches for me and lots of woods for Hugh. Buona sera.

Guess where I am?

Yes that’s right I’m in Pisa and the picture is of the famous Leaning Tower. I am here because Hugh had to give a talk in London and Pisa is the nearest airport to us – however it is in the North of Tuscany about 2 and a half hours away. I didn’t fancy driving down and back again the next day to pick him up so I decided to stay overnight in an airport hotel and see Pisa. It is very spectacular and even with sunglasses the glare from the white buildings, the blue sky and the green grass is amazing. Pisa like Florence is situated on the river Arno but the Piazza dei Miracoli as it is known, is built right by the town walls to the north-west of the main city as apparently in Etruscan and Roman times there was another river nearby.

The Cathedral, baptistery, bell-tower (the leaning tower) and cemetery complex are just the most beautiful buildings I think I have ever seen - certainly up there with the Pantheon (Rome) and Santa Sophia (Istanbul) and the Temple of Heaven (Beijing), my other favourite buildings in the world. I very bravely (again) faced my fears and climbed the tower – it is very odd climbing a spiral staircase with a bad lean I must say. The marble stairs are worn in a very strange way on one side, definitely not in the middle. The view is wonderful from the top.

I felt quite young and sprightly compared to the other older, even fatter tourists climbing the Tower which is a nice change! I am still working on my theory as to why Anglo-Saxon cultures seem to be much fatter than Europeans – can it really be just the smoking? The food here is delicious – nice pizza, wonderful gelati and many glases of prosecco – so much for my vow of abstinence or was it chastity? However the locals all eat away like this too but they are all slim. I am baffled.

We have had internet trouble that is why this is a bit late but all is fixed now. Ciao!

Bella Toscana

I think this might be the last time you see the blue top (thank goodness I hear you say) as it is getting warmer - might be time to break out the summer clothes. Had a fun time with Luigi and Stefania drinking nice vin santo (dessert wine) and eating yummy food. Hugh has given me a sore throat but I am trying Italian herbal medicine which appears to be working. Mind you I am very susceptible to suggestion and the placebo effect. I went along our road yesterday practicing my driving skills to a village called Pentolina which has been bought in its entirety by a Swiss German conglomerate as a vacation resort re-named Hapimag! It is very bizarre and explains why so many Mercedes whiz down our little road.

Today we bravely drove to Siena and found a park - that is much more of an achievement than it sounds let me tell you. We had a lovely time wandering around looking at art and churches - well at least I did - Hugh got a bit grizzly and said his feet hurt in his sandals and could he have a coffee etc? This is the same man who can walk for ten hours in the hot sun with no water, watching birds. Go figure that out. Although to be fair Hugh made me go on a forest walk last night and I started complaining too after about 20 minutes of no castles and no views. It is surprising we have stayed together for these last 24 years really! Perhaps opposites do attract after all.

Back in Tuscany

Well it sure is nice to be back home! Tuscany is starting to feel like home - it is nice to be able to do your own cooking and do no sightseeing. Who would have thought I would ever say that? I drove the car today to the nearest village to buy provisions - spent the whole time in 2nd gear practically as the roads are very narrow and winding. But one has to face one's fears I believe and now I feel I can drive to villages and get back on the sightseeing horse. Perhaps tomorrow.

We are doing a lot of walking in the woods and seeing many new plants. Today's picture is of a cute spotted orchid that we saw yesterday. There are wild cyclamen, buttercups and native lavender to name just a few - all in flower. It is nice to be here in spring. Luigi has a lot of gorgeous climbing roses in the garden growing over walls - I felt like an English country lady yesterday taking my basket and filling it with red and yellow roses for our house.

Luigi and his wife Stefania have arrived for the weekend and we are planning a dinner for tonight together. Here is a picture of Hugh playing with their big dog Jacco (I am not sure of spelling here!) Luigi also has two horses - perhaps I will get their photo tomorrow. Arriverderci!

Bern and Geneva

Bern is a very cute town with lots of bears everywhere. There are fountains with bears in armour, bears in clocks and bears in flags. There are also lots of cobblestones and lots of chocolate shops. Hugh and I bought up big with the chocolates, mainly for gifts I have to say. I am very juvenile and enjoyed the clock tower which had bears going around and statues of men with timers and cocks crowing. Very kitsch and fun.

We drove to Geneva and met up with an old Oxford friend of ours, Damien and his family. We had a very amusing evening reminiscing and catching up over gins and tonics, champagne and red wine. Strangely I had a bit of a headache in the night. Damien is a professor of Latin and Jocelyn a classics researcher so we had a good discussion about ancient Rome and where Hannibal crossed the alps and with how many elephants.

Today we left Switzerland, crossed through France and the Mt Blanc tunnel and returned home to Italy through Genoa and Pisa this time. It was an interesting if slightly terrifying trip with lots of trucks, tunnels and views of the Ligurian sea. Hugh is a driving legend. It was nice to return to our house in Tuscany and the peace and quiet. We survived the drive!

Lausanne and Bern

Woke up to a beautiful view over the Lake at Lausanne. Mission of the day to find an internet cafe and get some Swiss Francs. Of course this being the French part of Switzerland one was easily distracted by the patisseries. Luckily Lausanne is quite hilly so maybe I walked off the brioche with chocolate pieces? One can only hope. It is very pretty with lots of little alleys and old steps and flower-filled squares with fountains. The architecture is very uniform and old-city like. I am developing a theory that architecture determines cultural behaviour. I guess this is not so original but here form and function are equal whereas in Australia at least today function is more important than the way the building looks. Also these old towns were designed before the car so are friendlier to pedestrians. Maybe that is why there are few overweight people (that and the smoking) and people care more about appearances.

After a sensational fondue dinner we had to walk around a fair bit to encourage digestion. Today we drove to Bern which is Swiss German although I am having trouble understanding it. I am reassured by a nice German colleague of Rafael´s who says she has trouble too. Switzerland is an interesting blend of European cultural differences and the food changes too. Always there is wonderful cheese and chocolate however - that must be the original swiss element. I am adding a photo of typical Swiss countryside taken from our bedroom window at Rafael´s house.

Over the alps to Switzerland and Lausanne

Like Hannibal, Hugh fearlessly drove the panda over the alps. Quite a trip - rather scary for a plains dweller like myself but I helped by navigating - getting around Milan was really an effort but we succeeded. The picture shows Hugh at the Simplon Pass looking for birds in the snow. Switerland is exactly like the pictures - full of snow-covered mountains and cows with bells around their necks in the flower-filled meadows. We stayed with Hugh's colleague Rafael and his lovely family. He has a pretty house that was his grandfathers and has a big orchard full of fruit trees. We had a delicious dinner of white asparagus and gorgeous cheeses and bread and much Swiss wine.

The next day I spent the morning with Brigit, Rafaels wife who looked after me and took me to see castles, fortified Churches and the old part of Sion - it was wonderful. We had another lovely lunch with my now favourite cheese called St Marcellin. Hugh and Rafael spent the morning bird-watching. We then drove to Lausanne which is also in the French part of Switzerland. The other picture is of Rafael and his family. We had a nice crepe dinner with Severine, Hughs colleague here in in Lausanne. Very nice. Au revoir!

Tuscany day 3

Another relaxing day at the homestead - today was all about getting organised for Switzerland. We leave tomorrow for a slightly hair-raising journey across the alps - I hope the Fiat panda makes it! You can see our house in the foreground of today's photo, Luigi's villa in the background.

Last night we tried to do some star-gazing but it got a little too cold for we sorry pair of Brisbanites. We did make out the big bear or big dipper constellation - the stars will be great here although twighlight seems to go on forever - it is really only dark by about 9:30. My other photo is of the pretty French tea-set that is in our house - just lovely for my cups of tea.

Day 2 in Tuscany

This morning we went on a walk in the woods that surround Luigi's property - we saw 3 orchids which is pretty exciting. Luckily Luigi has books on plants and the stars in his study so we can start studying Northern hemisphere things. My other excitement today was cracking the washing machine - a German model compared to the weird Italian one I had been using in Rome. Thank goodness for the internet and babelfish! This machine is pretty straightforward comparatively speaking. So I was pretty domesticated today - washed, made soup and started my research into Tuscany and the things I can see and do - as always so much to see so little time etc - my vow is to try and amble around back roads and check out hill-top villages and vineyards but my urge to tick off works of art and famous towns has to be controlled however- we shall see.

Had a lovely siesta - my personality is very well suited to this concept- and then Hugh and I started a walk to the castle but I don't think my toe is ready for the full distance (about a 2 hour return trip) so we turned back as it was time for drinkies anyway! Had asparagus risotto for dinner and played cards - it is rather nice not having TV but you have a lot more time to get all competetive - I remember our honeymoon in Scotland where it rained most of the week and we had rented a caravan (it was summer) and when we weren't bird-watching we played Austrian whist and I lost every game - very dispiriting. I need to play games with someone who doesn't understand probability.

Day 1 in Tuscany

Hugh is as brave as Hercules and drove us from the airport to Luigi's villa in Tuscany - not a feat for the faint-hearted. It is such as contrast to Rome here- so quiet - nothing but the sound of bees and birds and the hum of the fridge. We are surrounded by woods and lovely views. The weather is perfect - about 23 degrees and sunny. The guest-house is so cute - I think I mentioned before that it was the pig-house of his villa and Luigi converted it to a guesthouse. It has a fireplace, chestnut wood floors and a marble sink. It felt a bit eerie at night because of the silence (or maybe a ghost?) so I lit some candles, gathered some flowers and put on some music to dispel the dead energy. Luckily I have had my chakra/feng-shui/crystals period so I can deal with this sort of issue! The hippy thing comes in handy sometimes.

We went shopping in the nearest village which is about 8 kms away called Rosia, about 15 kms from Siena. We bought enough provisions to see a small village through the winter mainly in alcohol I think. So I will be cooking a bit as we are a still timid about the roads and driving but I know I will get braver in the cause of art and history and fresh bread. But after a month of very little cooking it does not seem so onerous. Must go and open my bottle of prosecco and look at Luigi's castle from the terrace!

Last day in Rome - so sad

I can't believe a month has gone by - today I took myself by public transport (to save foot from the cobblestones as much as possible) to my last 3 must-see churches. The first - Santo Stefano Rotundo is the oldest circular plan church in Rome about 5th century and is in a lovely tranquil area near the Celian hill - one of the seven hills of Rome. The Church is famous for its (fortunately much faded) scenes of how early christian martyrs met their deaths - quite disturbing! It is hard to believe it is circular from the picture - just take my word for it. I then walked to the nearby church of Santi Quattro Coronati to see if I could see the chapel of St Silvester which has wonderful 13th century frescoes of the life of Constantine.

This chapel has a history of failed visits so I was surprised to see in the gloomy church a buzzer if you wanted to see the cloister. I didn't really but thought that's where the chapel might be. It wasn't but the cloister was very tranquil and and nice so I bought some postcards and tried to ask the nun who let me in where the chapel was exactly- she nodded and told me how to get there in Italian! Not so helpful but I caught the word "left" so I ventured back and walked into this empty hallway with lots of locked doors and no signs. A man just stared at me unhelpfully and I was about to give up when I spotted a small buzzer on the wall - I pressed it and to my surprise a grill popped open in the wall behind me and a nun asked if I wanted to see the Oratorio again in Italian. I didn't think I did but it turns out that it is the Chapel of St Silvester and I had finally found it after 3 previous abortive efforts. This is the reward for persistence! I had the cute little chapel all to myself and loved the byzantine style frescos - I was unaware that Constantine had leprosy but according to the pictures he was cured when baptised - again I thought he was only baptised on his death-bed so he could go on sinning for as long as possible but let's not let historical accuracy get in the way of a good painting.

My last church was San Martino ai Monti which had a very creepy 3rd century crypt underneath which made my day- I love a good crypt! Tomorrow we head off to Tuscany - I am so sad to leave my favourite place in the world but I'll be back.

Last Sunday and Monday in Rome

It makes me sad to think these are our last few days in Rome - still so much to see and do. I have been pottering around my local area due to foot convalescence and discovering new things all the time. I have been buying up lots of nice green things at the market in order to keep my vow of healthy living (at least for a few days). We entertained another Israeli colleague, called Salit for drinks on Sunday as Hugh is involved in a workshop about vultures with her today. Looks like we will be going to Israel next trip!

I forgot to show the view from the aptly named Hotel Forum (where I had birthday drinks) last post so here it is today. I am also including a picture of the virgin, of which there are many in this area, which can be found on the corner of buildings. Apparently in the 16th and 17th centuries (when no-one had maps I guess) pilgrims would be able to find their way from St Peters to San Giovanni (St John's) along this specially signposted pilgrims way - the via Peregrinorum.

May Day and my birthday

Today was another holiday so Hugh was home from work - he hates holidays! We are both getting very lazy and sleeping in till 9 or 10 in the morning - strangely enough often the quietest time in our square. I am getting used to the noise now and hardly waking up at 2 in the morning any more when all the party animals really get going.

Hugh was meeting a prospective post-doc from Israel today so we took her out to the Jewish quarter and over the ponte Fabricio to the island in the middle of the Tiber to watch the river and all the people. It seemed that the whole of Rome decided to eat when we wanted to and our favourite restaurants in the Jewish quarter were all full so we came back to the place we have been eating at fairly regularly. It has nice food and is just around the corner from our apartment. After lunch and too much wine I had a siesta and Hugh and Gilly walked across Trastevere to the hills behind where Hugh likes to do his bird watching. Hugh and I stayed in to watch Italian TV - it is facsinating -full of tall, thin girls wearing hardly any clothes, dancing and flicking their hair. It is quite addictive.

Another lazy day today for my birthday. We went out in the afternoon and I finally got to see the inside of this Church called San'Angelo in Pescheria which has been built into the portico of Octavia and does not look like a Church at all from the outside - looks like a Roman ruin - just how I like my churches! Very nice inside with lots of fishy motifs as this used to be the fish market area. Then Hugh and I returned to my now favourite haunt - the roof top terrace of the Hotel Forum with its - you guessed it - views over the forum. It is a lovely place and the restaurant below was holding a wedding reception - it looked very beautiful and so did the bride. Such a fantastic place and a very nice at sunset. Extremely romantic.

Feeling Better Thursday

My foot is coming along now and not quite so gruesome to look at - Hugh took a photo but I think it is too revolting to publish. So as I promised a photo of the bakery of delights, including a plate of suppli on display if you look hard enough. I also took a photo of poor Giordano Bruno, whose statue is in the middle of the Campo. He was burned at the stake on this site in 1600 condemned by the inquisition for heresy. He was a strange monk very much the product of the Renaissance who accepted God only as the unifying logical force and thought praying was a waste of time!

Hugh and I saw the Dr this evening who was pleased with my foot and full of zeal about the toe-nail growing back! So we drank lots of wine to celebrate!