The wedding of Miranda and Jonathon

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Geo: 42.7667, 12.2833

This was the weekend for Miranda's and Jonathon's wedding - one of the main reasons we have come to Europe this year.  We headed off from Ticino to Titignano in Umbria, leaving the kids with Nonno and Nonna, early on Thursday morning, with the rain still pouring down.  It was meant to be a 6 ½ hour drive (long enough!) but bad traffic at the Swiss border and around Milan meant that we drove from 9am until 8pm!  To be fair, we did have a short detour near Florence, to have a look at a little hill town (Artimino), which was lovely but very, very small.

We arrived (thanks to the GPS, we'd taken a bush bash up a very narrow lane that wasn't really a shortcut to Titignano!) when we ran into Miranda and Jonathon and three other cars in convoy, heading to dinner – they'd waited for us as long as they could.  Gotta love us Aussies – Miranda's mum (who has known me for 30 years!) winds down a window and yells "Where the bloody hell have you two been?"  A windy drive across to another Umbrian hilltown  (Citadella del Lago?), where we had a fantastic meal, including pasta with wild nettles sauce!  But a late night – on the way home, we all got a little lost in the Umbrian countryside, then stopped at Miranda's rooms for a grappa nightcap!

Friday morning, it was like waking up in paradise! Titignano, where the wedding was held, is a fantastic Umbrian village/hamlet/castle, still owned by the noble Corsini family – the farm has 2000 hectares acres!  There are 60 rooms at the village, a tiny church, a fantastic medieval banqueting room as well as farm buildings.  Miranda found it through the recommendation of Mark and Tracey Perissinotto – they stayed there years ago, and always said it would be a perfect place to have a wedding.  It was halfway between Todi and Orvieto, about 90min south of Florence and 90min north of Rome.  The wedding guests came from all over the world – Aussies, Americans, English, Dutch, Belgians, Austrians – and it was a wonderful mix.

On Friday morning, the old (slightly scruffy) director from the farm came and got us – “Come quickly, the spumante is escaping, if you want?”  Obviously it was more clear in Italian – but we followed, and watched the disgorging of the methode champagnoise and had a little tasting (at 10am!)  Then, Miranda and Jonathon took us on a quest – Jonathon had forgotten his tuxedo shirt, and needed Steven to help him buy a new one for the wedding.  We went to Todi, a nearby beautiful hilltown, and having successfully found a shirt (the first two choices were rather sateen, and one was the colour of clotted cream, so J was thrilled to find the 3rd choice was very conservative and just right!)  we wandered around the town, looking at the austere Duomo and having a wonderful meal before returning for an afternoon kip.

That night, we woke in time for a pizza making demonstration, watching the ladies load pizza into the oven fueled by olive branches.  Many of us thought pizza was all that there was for dinner – there were audible groans when we realized that there were three more courses after that!  Then, Jonathon and Miranda had bought a karaoke machine, and were relying on the Aussies to kick things off.  We may have got  a little carried away – when the machine didn't have “Land Down Under”, we sang it without words or music!  And we got so much better as the night went on and the red wine and grappa flowed – I'm surprised that the record companies were not beating our doors down. 

Without giving too many details, and remembering that “what happens on tour, stays on tour”, there were shenanigans at 2am – imagine an Italian piazza, a hillside village, the theme song to
Chariots of Fire, and three 40yo blokes racing around the piazza in the freezing drizzle.  And apparently, you are not technically naked if you're still wearing your boots!

The next morning, some of us were more delicate than others.  After breakfast, some of us headed off to a wine tasting and tour of the vineyards – others slept.  The tour was a little hard going – the wine maker was very enthusiastic, and gave the tour in a lot of detail.  But the wine was good, and the food was excellent

Steven had an adventure on his own – he was delegated to meet  Miranda at the hairdressers, in a nearby village, to translate her wishes to the hairdresser.  He couldn't find the hairdresser (you have to pay tax if you have a sign up, no taxes if you just work from under your house!) and when someone helpfully told him that a very very narrow road was passible by cars, they didn't mean a car as wide as ours (a very small station wagon).  Steven drove in, and “touched” the wall.  He reversed, and touched the wall on the other side.  Bugger.  He was now stuck.  He got out the car through the window, slid down the bonnet, and discovered that the car was thoroughly wedged between two walls.  I'm glad the kids were not in the car – reckon they would have learned a few swear words in more than one language!  Eventually, the only way out was to rev the guts out of the car, and to hell with the consequences (aware that the bride was still waiting for him at the hairdressers on her wedding day).  It tore a hole in the side of the car, about the size of your hand, and gave Steven a great story to tell!  Thank God for comprehensive insurance!

The wedding that evening was lovely – Jonathon and Miranda based it on a Quaker wedding, so that we, their community of friends, were called to witness their vows to each other.  Miranda looked lovely – an “Ashes of Rose” colour Missoni lace dress, with a stunning plunging neckline, and Jonathon wore the family kilt on his mother's side. Then followed an eight plate feast!  Risotto with apple was the standout for me, but the plates kept coming of more and more sumptuous food.  At midnight, we headed over to the Granario (Granary) for dancing – they danced the wedding waltz to “Great Balls of Fire!”.  We partied till the early hours again.

The next morning, we went for a walk in the fields surrounding the castle – we went to a ruined old castle, which was very nice, then returned for lunch – a little shocked by the number of people attracted to Titignano for Sunday lunch and by the number of courses – about six this time!  Another afternoon nap, then a quiet dinner with Miranda and Jonathon and their parents (just cold cuts and cheese, at our request – the Italians thought we were strange not to want to eat again!)

On Monday, we headed off early – both Steven and I were awake before the dawn, and on the road by 9am after farewelling Miranda and Jonathon.   The drive back was nowhere near as terrible, and I persevered with driving at 140km/hr on the other side of the road, with mad Italian drivers flashing me to go faster! Home by 5pm – only 8 hours this time, including stops.  It is great to see the kids again – and in Switzerland, the weather is very different – now sunny, but with a cruel breeze straight off the snow.  The kids tell us they had a great weekend with Nonno and Nonna, with the highlight being a procession and Mass at the tiny chapel at the top of the mountain on Sunday, followed by a feast at the Forest Refuge hut – and climbing trees in their Mass clothes!

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Comments

[J&E]

finally 'the wedding'...how wonderful it sounds and what a lovely brideour love J&E

[Tracey]

The photos brought back good memories from Titignano...thanks, K