Life is Beautiful

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Arezzo
August 5th 2012

Published: August 13th 2012

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The Mother of Hall Sabaticals

Arezzo Piazza

After such along day yesterday due to the early start, late bed and an extra hour from crossing a time zone, we were up late. There was food for breakfast in our welcome pack, which was just as well because Italian shops don't open on Sundays.

We had read in the local information that Arezzo had a Sunday antiques market and it seemed like a good a place as any to spend the day. Toby and Fiona didn't go there last time they were in Italy so it was fun to visit a new place. As with most Tuscan/ Umbrian towns, Arezzo has steep streets that lead to the main piazza which is surrounded by important civil buildings. Each of the streets was filled with market stalls and we spent time looking at them all.

We ate lunch in a lovely trattoria and made sure that Harriet did all the ordering and asking for the bill etc. in Italian. We also managed to try our first Italian gelato of the trip and it was definitely a step up from any we had had so far.The stalls in the piazza caught the attention of Toby and Harriet who were interested

The view from our bedroom up to Montone

in a watch and a Louis Vuitton bag respectively. They both turned out to be a little out of our price range but they had fun browsing and contemplating. Fiona spent most of the time taking photos as she was captivated by the architecture and beauty of the town. Arezzo was made famous in the movie 'Life is Beautiful' and we could recognise several places, most obviously the piazza.

Harriet had to speak some more Italian when we bought bread and cheese with pesto for dinner at a little local produce shop. Instead of buying a whole loaf of bread we had to say how many slices we wanted.

We walked in to Montone village before dinner. The stairs into the village are quite steep and lead into the main square. There is a restaurant on the square along with a couple of shops, a post office and a cafe. The cafe has chairs and tables in the square and half the village seems to be here in the evening. We had a glass of a local wine in the cafe, ate our rustic meal, watched some Olympics with German commentary and went to bed.