TUSCANY REDUX

Wednesday began with drizzle, which turned to light rain, then heavy rain, which lasted all day and all night.  We drove to Cortona where we parked in a free lot and took the escalator up into the city.  Cortona has very steep streets which makes walking on wet stones very treacherous.  After moving from doorway to doorway we eventually took refuge in a large Etruscan Museum where I learned much more about burial practices in the 7^th century B.C. than I had ever wanted to know.  However, it was dry inside as was the little restaurant where we had lovely lunch of pasta and pizza washed down with an unknown wine.

After a quiet afternoon of reading we turned to the problem of dinner.  Both Castiglion and Cortona (the two nearest towns) require that one park outside the walls and venture on foot along the narrow and sometimes very steep streets.  Not wishing to risk breaking a hip or tearing up a knee on the very rough street surface we decided to try a restaurant (the only one) that was along the road to Cortona.  The parking area was in total darkness and we were not certain the place was even open.  However, the sign offered ``carne e pesce`` so we dashed through the rain from the car to the door.

We were seated in a dining room with two large fireplaces, each of which had a blazing fire.  In front of one was a grill fueled by embers from one of the fireplaces, a case containing very large joints of beef, and a butcher’s table.

In my best phrase book Italian I asked for “la lista dei vini”.  The waiter shook his head and then proceeded to place a selection of bottles on our table.  I choose a Rosso di Montepulciano (which is a cheaper version of the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano that I mentioned earlier).  The waiter said that this was “home made”, which I eventually figured out to mean that it was the house wine.

While Betty ordered a steak, I choose the squid and shrimp.  As the room filled with other diners we noticed that most ordered steaks.  The waiter used his cleaver to cut steaks the size of which I haven’t seen since we were in Argentina.  Clearly one was not given a choice as to how the steak should be prepared but each one came perfectly medium rare.  We lingered while enjoying the ambiance and chatting occasionally with a woman at the next table who was most interested in how we cooked meat in America.

After we had finished our espressos the waiter placed a bottle of chilled limoncino on the table.  I watched as Betty downed several shot glasses as I steeled myself for the wet drive home, where my pokey driving aroused road rage among the Italian tailgaters.

ALL SAINTS DAY:  November 1 is a holiday and we were awakened at 7:00 a.m. by the ringing of church bells.  Apparently the day is to be spent visiting the graves of long dead relatives.  As we are not aware of any dead relatives in Italy we decided to drive to Lucignano, a small medieval town with the traditional layout of streets in concentric circles.  Later we drove to Arezzo, a much larger town with streets seemingly designed to totally confuse us old farts.  It took an hour just to find our way out of the city.  However, the sun had come out and the temperature had reached the high teens so not all was lost.

In the evening we drove back to Cortona for dinner.  The first two restaurants we tried (both recommended by Trip Advisor) had no room for us so we walked into the first place that had empty tables.  Once seated we were served glasses of sparkling wine and then presented with the menus.  The wine list had over 500 items.  The food was superb (Tuscan soup, chicken livers, guinea hen, potato flan) and with dessert came a glass of chilled muscat.   At the end of the evening we were given a small bottle of olive oil to take away and a note asking us to send our comments to Trip Advisor once we had reached home.  Obviously Trip Advisor is playing a significant role in the success or failure of restaurants.  Tonight we are going to return to the same restaurant so we should be able to comment twice.

LAST DAY IN TUSCANY:    Today we drove to Montalcino, another walled hilltop town.  Montalcino is the home of the famous, but expensive wine Brunello di Montalcino.    The town’s streets are lined with Enotecas, which are shops where you can taste and purchase.  Needlesstosay we could not get near any of the large number of parking lots, but eventually found a precarious spot some distance from the town’s walls.  I was restricted in my purchases by how many bottles I could comfortably carry back to the car. 

As we take the train to Rome in the morning I’ll end my notes on Tuscany with a bit of advice for any of you who might visit here someday:  Bring three things:  an empty stomach; a dry throat, and a functioning GPS.