The lucky travellers

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Geo: 43.1418, 11.6596

So, after the kids went to bed, we became aware of a loud humming noise, and then Georgia said that the toilet wouldn't flush…there is no running water in the apartment. We've since worked out that the water must have been turned off some days earlier, and we had, in bathing the kids and putting on a load of washing, drained the little reservoir for the apartment. We'd used the last of our credit on the Swiss sim card we'd bought, to ring to find this apartment when we arrived in town. The internet wouldn't connect. So at 10pm, Steven was on the village phone box trying to contact the owner, with no luck. Luckily, he worked out how to turn the pump off at the fuse box so it didn't burn out overnight.

We woke this morning – still no running water! Poor old Steven got up early (6.30am) and like a true Pozza (Steven's Nonna's maiden name, which may or may not be a reference to a well, which is a pozzo), went to the well and filled some bottles of waters for us to brush our teeth and boil the kettle. Thank God that the kids had had a bath and we hadn't let the bath water go, because that was for filling the cistern….

So at 8am, Steven went to ring our host, who was very concerned and promised to get onto the problem straight away. We spent an hour having breakfast, and then sitting on the front patio whilst the kids played and we read (English books on the shelf – yay!) and drank coffee. Then another phone call – our host is on his way, because no-one else is available because it is Sunday.

When Mark arrived, he worked out that the water to our block has been cut (though it strikes me as unusual to turn the water off at 6pm Saturday night) and should be turned on again on Monday morning. As our host explained, people come to Tuscany for the medieval atmosphere, and then are surprised when it is backwards! He was highly apologetic, and immediately arranged for us to move into the hotel/bar in town, for a night or two, at no cost. Whilst we didn't plan this, we're taking it in our stride, and selling it to the kids as a great adventure!

So, with nothing to do and no water, we decided to make the most of our Tuscan sojourn, and jumped in the car to Pienza (about 10 minutes away) – Steven, Georgia and I had been there on our drive through Tuscany 9 years ago, and I remembered it as a lovely pretty town for a wander. We arrived, and entered the pedestrianised (reminding the kids that pedestrianised in Italy means only a few cars and Vespas) historic centre. Pienza only has one main street, and some side streets, and we quickly found our way to the Duomo at the centre of town. The history of this town is amazing – when Pope Pius II was made Pope, he engaged a leading architect to remake his home town and renamed it in his own honour (Pienza). His plans for the entire remaking of the town were never fulfilled, but the Duomo built is amazing, as was the exterior of the Papal palace. We arrived just as Mass was underway, and again figured it was a divine sign, and convinced the kids that we were staying (Mass is especially hard for little kids when they don't understand the language!) Don't know what was going on there, but this was the first time I've been to Mass where the priest faced the altar rather than the congregation for the entire time. The church was lovely, with some very nice art pieces. Then, after a walk around the old town and looking at the fabulous views from the edges of town, we found a café selling porchetta Panini – wonderful breadrolls filled with roast pork, for our lunch. Then, as the clouds started to gather, we drove home. On the way, we stopped at a deserted Abbey, in the middle of nowhere – thisis St Anna in Camprese where they filmed the English Patient! Only the church was open – we'll come back again later.

We were woken from afternoon nap by insistent and incessant bell ringing. The locals told us that there would be a procession from the church at 5pm, followed by afternoon tea. So, we played in the park until the Mass and procession began, and then followed the locals through the village streets, which they had decorated with flower petals. The Eucharist was carried through the streets, following the marching band and the village locals, alternatively singing marching hymns and intoning prayers. Certainly, the kids won't see anything like this in Australia!

Of course, "afternoon tea" didn't start immediately after the procession – first, there was a display by marching girls (aged 20 down to about 4) and baton twirlers (women aged in their 30' and 40's – I reckon the mums from St Ignatius could really get into this, after a few red wines!)

We ended up skipping “afternoon tea” when it hadn't been served at 7pm, and instead got a table at the only bar/restaurant in town, which had front row seats for the major village event – a rowdy game of bingo, or tombola in Italian! It was a great dinner – lots of handmade pici, which is like spaghetti, and wonderful pork and cinghiale (wild boar) roast.

We headed up from the bar, to our two hotel rooms –we are the only guests in the hotel, and the lovely lady from the hotel will come especially to open up to serve our breakfast, as the bar doesn't normally open on Mondays. At least we have somewhere to sleep, and lots of running water!

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Comments

[Marguerite Vetterli]

Dear Friends,What for a story, not having water!! But so you had a nice Hotelroom in the interessting Tuscany city.Really you know now whole Italy!!Tanti cari saluti e Baci