Last month we made a return visit to our favorite place in Italy, Podere Le Nonne in Montecello Amiata. We spent the weekend with the hospitable, entertaining and oh so talented duo, Martina and Tutilo, who make the best wine and olive oil we’ve ever tasted. On our first day, after a simple but delicious lunch of local cheeses, cured meats and home-made bread, we spent the afternoon hauling tree branches and vine clippings into a brush fire. Winter and spring in wine country are the seasons for burning off all the extra growth that was trimmed off in the fall and winter. In the hills in the distance we counted no less than six billowing columns of smoke rising from other farms and vineyards.

Dinner that night included lots of new foods for us. First was an antipasto of sliced up cardi marinated in olive oil and red wine vinegar that Martina makes herself. Cardi (cardoons) looks kind of like a celery stalk but tastes like artichoke. Then we had white fish with Jerusalem Artichokes (which are neither from Jerusalem nor are they artichokes). They look kind of like small ginger bulbs, and they’re a real pain to peel and cut up because of all the small knobs, but the tangy, sweet taste is worth it. And finally for dessert, we had fichi d’india sorbet made from the cactus flowers that grow right outside Martina and Tutilo’s front door. We also got to sample two vintages of Gideone, the wine Tutilo makes. We got an early preview of the 2006 variety, which we helped bottle, and Tutilo is so happy with it that he’ll enter it in an international wine competition in London this month.

The next day we went hunting for asparagi selvatici, wild asparagus! After a quick lesson in how to identify we plant, to look for a long, thin strand of vine with wispy, green spikes, not to be confused with fennel stems which are more feathery, we set out through the trees and brush to find our lunch. About 2 hours later, after picking through a season’s worth of leaf covering on the forest floor, scaling steep hill sides, traversing old stream beds, and being attached by pricker bushes we came up with a grand total of about 10 asparagus stalks. Luckily, the far more skillful Martina and Tutilo vastly exceeded our catch and we ended the morning with plenty of asparagus to make an abundant dish for lunch.

After lunch we drove down the windy road from the hilly interior of Maremma province to the capital city of Grosseto near the coast. The old city is almost entirely enclosed by old city walls. One section with an old armory still open for visitors to explore. The historic city center is full of pedestrian-only streets lined with shops. The large main square is flanked by a pink and white marble cathedral, a brick façade town building, and a row of colorful buildings atop an arched walkway.

Cinque Terre

I could not believe it was almost 5 years since my first visit to Cinque Terre and almost 2 years since my last visit. Le Cinque Terre are 5 small fishing villages located along the Italian coast just before La Spezia (if you are coming from Genova). Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore are connected by an often times beautiful footpath and by train if you don’t care for hikes ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours plus lots of stairs and rocks to climb. We started our hike in Riomaggiore and walked until Vernazza, which is the same path we took 5 years ago when we first went to Cinque Terre.

One good part about doing this beautiful hike on a Friday in January is the lack of people. We could probably count the number of people we saw in the towns and on the path on two hands. Of course, there were more people eating in Corniglia at what was probably the only restaurant open in the whole region.

We did the walk in about 5 hours including time for a long lunch, plenty of stops for pictures and to play with various cats we saw along the way. Most of the walk is easy enough, but walking to and from Corniglia is tough because of all the stairs getting up to the town and going down to Vernazza.

Siena

Our next adventure was Siena. I had never been to Siena and Emily was briefly there while she was in college. I had the opportunity to study there while at UMass but chose Torino because I didn’t want to be confined within Siena’s medieval walls. I had seen pictures of Il Campo, which Beppe Severgnini calls “the belly-button of Italy”, we watched Il Palio last summer, and you know you’re going to have a nice trip everytime you travel to Tuscany.

Walking around Siena almost feels like walking around the narrow alleys of Genova, except Siena’s are a little wider and cleaner. There’s also an anticipation about seeing Il Campo for the first time that is increased by the foot traffic in the streets, but what I didn’t know is that from many parts of the town you must go down a small staircase or ramp to get into Il Campo, which then presents itself to you in an amazing way. Pictures, no matter how big or well taken, cannot do Il Campo justice. You have to be there and see the people sitting at the cafes, walking their dogs around the outside of the scalloped ramp, and kids playing on the gently sliding square.

Now that’s the beauty of Italy that I know and love… here’s the flipside.

We arrived in Siena on a Saturday afternoon and were planning on staying until Sunday evening so we could have a full day of walking around the town. Upon arrival, I went to the ticket window at the train station to get the schedule of trains on Sunday. The woman’s response, “there are no trains tomorrow, there is a strike from 9pm tonight until 9pm tomorrow night.” Great! I then asked, “will there be any trains AFTER the strike to get me to Genova?” Her quick response, “who knows.” After checking into the hotel, we went to the bus station in the main square to see about any buses that could get us to Genova… nothing. So we figured we were screwed and almost booked another night. On Sunday I walked to the train station to see if anything had changed because almost always, there are a few trains running during strikes. The gentleman at the window informed me that there was one leaving in 10 minutes, but I don’t think Emily and her sister could hoof it to the station that quicky. Our next possibility was 4:41… which was later cancelled and the 5:41 became our target. The fun thing about strikes in Italy is the ticket windows will only sell you a ticket for your next destination, nothing after that, and you don’t even know if the train you’re planning to catch is even running. So having to change twice was quite difficult. We took our ticket to Empoli and arrived at 6:50, the next train to Pisa was at 8:14 getting us there at 8:59. I saw on the ticket office’s computer screen that there was a 9:02 train that could bring us to Genova, but we didn’t have a ticket and didn’t want to wait in Pisa for the 12:38 train to get us in at 3:38am. Once we arrived in Pisa, surprisingly on time, we ran to the correct train platform and begged the conductor to let us on without a ticket. He, again surprisingly, agreed to let us on and charged us the regular fair only because there was the strike, which was only in Tuscany. We made it home by 11:30, which is an hour before we would’ve even left Pisa.

Che casino!

Not far from Florence, and even closer to Pisa, Lucca is a worthwhile stop during a visit to Tuscany. We went on a beautiful fall day with a clear blue sky and trees gently turning shades of yellow and orange. It would have been the perfect day to visit the historic city, if it wasn’t for the giant “gaming and comics” festival that took over the city that weekend.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing hoards of people, most of whom were dressed up as their favorite video game characters, and big white tents set up in the city squares obscuring full views of church facades, we managed to enjoy the beauty and character of Lucca.

One of the most unique features of Lucca is that it has a fully intact medieval wall surrounding the city. From the outside, a solid mass of brick and stone rises up some 20 feet in the air from grassy lawns below. Inside, a thick layer of earth backs up against the wall and leads down to a narrow moat. It must have been quite a formidable construction years ago. These days the wall is used purely for leisure as the top has been fashioned into a walkway lined with benches and trees where it’s possible to walk the entire perimeter of the city.

Inside the city walls there’s no shortage of churches, piazzas, buildings and architecture to enjoy. The main cathedral has three tiers of arches and columns accented with shapes and designs fitted together in different colored marble. Nearby, the Church of San Michele has an even more majestic façade with four tiers of arches and columns and topped by statues of angels. Another church, the Church of Sant’Agostino, has an enormous Byzantine mosaic occupying the upper half of one exterior wall. Piazza Antifeatro, lined by bright yellow buildings and filled with open-air cafes, is unique for its circular shape, which comes from its position on top of the site of the Ancient Roman Amphitheater.

To get a bird’s eye view of the city, you can climb to the top of one of two towers in the city. Torre delle Ore (Tower of the Hours) is so named for the giant clock on its façade. The bells on the clock ring all day long, which becomes undeniably noticeable when standing below the bells on the viewing platform as the clock hits the hour mark. A short distance away Torre Guinigi is notable for the oak trees that grow up from the very top. From these towers, not only can you see all the tiny, curving city streets and red tiled roofs, but you can see to the Tuscan hills in the distance.

To see our pictures from Lucca, click here.

The town of Alba is situated in southern Piemonte, a region known for strong red wines such as Barolo and Barbaresco. In this wine producing region Alba stands out for its food, and more specifically for two products: hazelnuts and white truffles. Alba’s hazelnuts are said to be the best in Italy and are used in Nutella and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Truffles are a type of mushroom that come in black and white varieties, white being the much rarer species. They look more like dirty rocks than mushrooms and grow entirely underground, making them very difficult to find. This year, the weather in Northern Italy hasn’t been conducive to mushroom growth because it hasn’t been rainy enough. This means that the normally expensive price of white truffles has shot up even higher. One kilo costs somewhere between €4,000 and €6,000. That’s about $3,000 to $4,000 per pound! A sprinkling of white truffles on top of your pasta in a restaurant will run about €5 or €10 per shaving!

Every Fall Alba hosts the International White Truffle Festival. The town’s narrow streets are transformed back to medieval times with bales of hey lining the streets, festival workers wearing period dress, and piazzas filled with themed games like “fishing for wine” and “throw the dart at the salami.” My personal favorite was a game which involved placing a guinea pig in the center of a circle of hay bales, and guessing which numbered opening in the hay it would run into. The winner won a bottle of local wine.

The center piece of the festival is a truffle exhibition hall. As soon as you pass through the doors the rich, earthy scent of truffles wafts through your nose. Local producers of truffle-based products such as oils, butters, and creams man little stands alongside wine, cheese, and salami vendors. Free samples are encouraged, though this doesn’t apply to the truffles themselves. Hidden in an area towards the back the “truffle hunters” sit behind their display cases, which could just as easily display rare coins or stamps. The dirty looking clumps of culinary jewels are lined up in perfect little rows with price tags marking their value. Occasionally, a generous truffle hunter will reach into his case and pull out a sample for you to smell. The intoxicating aroma makes you momentarily forget that the walnut sized specimen drifting beneath your nose has a €163 price tag!

Pisa is a nice place to stop by if you’re traveling north to south along the western coast of Italy, which is exactly what we were doing on our way from Genova to Tuscany. Pisa is famous for its leaning tower, which is easy to access from the train station via a walk along the shop and restaurant lined streets through the city center.

The leaning tower is part of a larger complex, which also contains a cathedral and baptistery. All are constructed of gleaming white marble that jumps out against the plush green lawns and bright blue sky.

The leaning tower is the bell tower for the cathedral, and its current lean is 5.5 degrees. For awhile visitors were not allowed to climb it because it was deemed too unstable, but engineers have been able to secure the building and now visitors are allowed back up.

We were content to roam around the outside of the buildings (scared off by long lines and steep admission prices) admiring the beautifully carved facades and watching people pose for pictures “holding up” the tower.

For more of our pictures from Pisa, click here.

It’s practically forbidden to spend the entire month of August at home in Italy because August is meant for vacationing. Not wanting to slight Italian tradition, we packed our bags and spent a week in Paris. The highlights for us were:
The food
In Paris, everything is delicious. From pain au chocolate for breakfast, falafel for lunch and lamb shank for dinner it’s hard to go wrong eating here. One of the most basic and delicious staples of the French diet is the baguettes. There’s just something irresistible about a fresh baked, crusty on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside French baguette. They’re eaten any time of day, with or for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and it’s pretty common to see people walking down the street with a baguette poking out of their bag, or clasping onto the rectangle of wax around the center while breaking off chunks from the top for a snack on the run.

A delectable indulgence is a little pastry called a macaron, not to be confused with macaroon. Macarons are heavenly little sandwiches of an airy cake with a paper thin crust stuck together with a dense icing. They come in flavors like pistachio and chocolate. For a little more substance we had delicious French food, including the just mentioned lamb shank, at Le Panier, a little café in the 10^th arrondissement, and sampled an endless varieties of tarts at an impromptu potluck dinner at a local co-op restaurant. Something else nice about the culinary scene in Paris is that it’s in no way limited to just French food. You can find almost any type of cuisine that you crave, whether it’s Middle Eastern, Japanese, Thai or anything else. I had the best falafel at L’as du Falafel and couscous at 4 Freres, and we finally got a little spice in our diets at a Vietnamese restaurant in the 13^th arrondissement, which is known for it’s Asian cuisine. We also pay special thanks to David Lebovitz, whose website pointed us on the path to some of these great eats in Paris.
The bike program
Paris has been getting a lot of press over the last few months because of their new bike program, Velib. 10,000 bikes were donated to the city, and now there are literally hundreds of stations around town where you can pick up and return the bikes all for the low annual fee of €7 and a per hour charge of €1. The one catch is that you need a credit card with a microchip in order to use the bikes (which most of us non-Europeans don’t have), but other than that, anyone is welcome to use them, residents and tourists alike.

Inspired by the biker friendly feel of the city we rented bikes from a little shop and spent the day riding around the city from Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the north, through Le Marais neighborhood in the city center, along the Seine to the south before ending up in the Luxembourg Gardens. We knew going into the day that the traffic police had been cracking down on two wheeled drivers, maybe due to the recent surge in bike traffic. Despite our best efforts to obey the rules of the road we made the mistake crossing at a cross walk next to the painted white lines rather than on them. We were informed of this error when an angry police officer pulled us and a few others who made the same misassumption. Luckily, some adept arguing by our friend and guide Kent got us out of a potential €80 fine each.
The parks and gardens
Paris is a park and garden lover’s paradise. There must be dozens of areas with sprawling lawns, pristine gardens and tucked away green spaces. We found the Luxemburg Gardens, Tuileries, and Jardin des Plantes to be bursting with colorful flowers and accented with lawns so plush and green that its forbidden to even walk on them, which would have been a shame were it not or the park benches and lounge chairs set up along the walkways and around the ponds.
Modern Art Installations
I’m not normally the biggest fan of modern art, but even I appreciate the efforts the city makes to beautify its already glorious open spaces. All over the city, and in the most unexpected areas, there are modern art installations. Whether its giant metal globes in the courtyard of Plais Royal or a big dragon statue made out of recycled material in the Jardin des Plantes, the city is keeping its already well established art tradition alive and encouraging creativity.
Musée Carnavalet
It costs a lot to see the sights of Paris from the inside, so it’s always welcome to stumble upon a free museum, which is what we did at the Musée Carnavalet. This museum is all about the history of Paris and is one of about 20 free (and generally lesser known) museums in the city. Musee Carnavalet is full of paintings, sculptures and other artifacts that chronicle the city’s very famous history. You can see models of the Bastille, a famous building which no longer exists, and view paintings of what Paris looked like long before it became the giant urban center that it is today.
The architecture
You can’t talk about Paris without paying homage to the incredible buildings and architecture. The city is brimming with impressive and historic buildings and structures like Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc d’Triomphe. My favorite discovery this trip was the Hotel de Ville, a former palace now city hall. Tall windows and life sized statues of famous Parisians line up in alternating order across the building’s façade, which is at least a city block long. A steeply sloping blue-grey roof punctuated by a regal clock tower and still more statues tops off the building. Whether it’s a famous landmark, intricate statue, or elegantly laid out square there’s something to marvel at around every corner in Paris.

The only problem with Paris is that there’s so much to see and do but never enough time to do it all. At least that leaves you with a reason to return!

To see our pictures from Paris click here.