Picnic day continued... From the Pecorini cheese farm we went to Pienza (Storico), another walled-village, Renaissance-style, apparently planned in the 1400’s by the Pope himself... Pope Pius II. (I think I called him Paulo in my last entry - perhaps that was his nickname.) Anyway there is a magnificent palace where he once lived and of course a very grand cathedral to match… both these are located in the main piazza right next to the town hall. The buildings these days mostly house museums, café’s and shops. This little town has such a quaint ambience and what’s great about it is that it’s not too touristy. Oh and did I mention the views? To die for… and so under-rated. I guess the views all around Toscana are so picturesque that one could become blasé. To me ... read more

Back on the Sanna trail Wednesday 6 June, 2012 The best thing about today – I think I found out some information about my great grandfather. I very kind man passionate about anything Italian Military took home with him the photocopy of my great grandfather that I’ve been carrying around with me, hoping that someone, somewhere would be able to identify whether the WWI uniform he wears in the photo was that of an officer or a soldier. I was hoping he would come back with an answer one way or the other, and he did. “Definitely an officer” he said, “of this I am sure”. I could have kissed him. That’s why I couldn’t find his military records in Milan… officers records are kept in Rome. He said something else in Italian, but I couldn’t ... read more

Cooking Class, making Gnocchi Monday 4 June Class went well today, so my weekend study efforts paid off. Woo hoo! I joined some others from the school to attend a cooking class this evening. We made gnocchi (potato dumplings), from scratch. Never been a big fan of gnocchi, but they were very light and all the vegetables and sauces we prepared to go with them made them very tasty. The view from this restaurant is superb. See the photo of the hills through the greenery (the one where you can just see the top of San Biagio church peeping through), well this is from the restaurant – also the photo of the sunset is from the exact same position a little later in the evening. See also the photos of the old Estrucan church attached to ... read more

Saturday 2 June 2012 Catchup Day Even well laid plans can go astray. A school pal had arranged to hire a car today from a local garage, but it didn’t come off. I think they (the garage people) forgot about it and went off for the long weekend without remembering that a couple of students from the language school were going to rent their spare car. Not to worry, I took the opportunity to catch up on some study. It was good because I didn’t feel under pressure to get my homework done in the otherwise allocated short time. I came up for air this evening and met my class mate for a meal at one of the village restaurants. I had a steak and it was very good to have something other than pasta! It ... read more

Thursday, cont'd WineryTour After my privatelesson today I went on a wine tour. There are many wineries all over Tuscany and it would take more than three months to cover them all (and lots of headaches I suspect!). On this tour we visited just two; a small family-run business and a large corporate-style estate. The guide spoke English as did the other tour participants. It was a welcome change not to have to concentrate on every word being said! The scenery was magnificent, the tours were interesting and the wines were excellent. It was a lovely sunny day and not too hot… I really enjoyed myself and the company of my new-found friends from Ireland, England, Holland and Guatemala.... read more