Montepulciano – Day 18 – Monday
Monday was the start of a new session at Il Sasso. I walked to school with my new housemate,
Marita, but we are not in the same class.
Since she is from Finland, we converse in Italian. She knows more grammar than I do, but I am
the motor mouth. Sometimes I talk myself
into a corner, but generally I do pretty well.
For some reason, I find Italian very comfortable. By the time I get home, I may have forgotten
English if I don’t run across some English speaking travel companions. It is starting to sink in that I am going to
leave Montepulciano soon. I am excited
and eager to see other iconic sights in Italy, but loath to leave Tuscany where
it seems I must have lived in another life.
There were lots of new faces at the school and it took us
most of the first day to sort out who belonged in which class. We ended up with five students in our
class. All three Americans are in our
class, although one of the “Americans” is actually from Argentina. We also have a gentleman from Norway named
Knut and one from Holland named Age (A-kay.)
The other two Americans are Illiana and Eli from San Diego. The three of us also speak Spanish and are
constantly confused. Eli and Illiana are
travelling in Europe for several months.
They have been in Italy for a month already and will stay for a few more
weeks after this session ends. Then they
go to France to study French for a month or so and are thinking of going to
England. We have the same two teachers,
Costanza and Roberta, that I had last session.
It’s a good group.
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| Dining Room Table |
After school, I came home and had lunch with Fiorella. We had a simple lunch of crackers
(suspiciously like matzo), prosciutto, cheese, fruit and salad (with wine, of
course.) The weather was lousy, so I
stayed in and worked on my blog all afternoon. I got a chance to take some more pictures of the interior of Fiorella's house. Fiorella doesn't like having her picture taken, but I'll try to get one before I leave.
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| Stairwell |
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| Living Room and Stairs to Nowhere |
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| La Cucina |
For dinner, we had leftover gnocchi (even better the second day) and
grilled chicken with spinach and assorted salad and cheeses. I attribute my success in speaking Italian to
taking my meals with Fiorella. Marita is
not dining with us and Fiorella and I both felt bad about that. If I had a gluten allergy as she does, I might
also have declined to take meals with an Italian family, thinking that there
would be pasta every night. As it turns
out, Tuscans are total carnivores. There
is usually pasta, but there are always enough meat, vegetables, salad and
cheese to make a good meal.
Tuscany is not, however, a good place to eat bread. In ancient times, salt was very expensive in Tuscany. Traditional Tuscan bread does not contain
salt. It is kind of dry and
tasteless. Today, the meat in Tuscany is
very salty and flavorful to make up for the bland bread. In other parts of Italy, the bread is tastier,
but the meat is plainer. This makes a
sort of sense, but all three of us Americans are dying for a piece of
sourdough. Illiana has even gone so far
as to seek out yeast to bake her own bread.
Montepulciano – Day 19 – Tuesday
I must be very easily entertained because learning the
imperfect tense this morning totally made my day. Each morning, we have a break from 10:15 to
10:45. Many of us repair to the nearest café
for cappuccino. The proprietor’s name is
Alessandro and he knows my order by heart.
I go to see his smiling face as much as I do for the coffee. Since it is usually cold, the warm coffee is
comforting. I stick to decaf, but many
students (and sometimes teachers) go there for a jolt to keep them awake
through the second lesson.
I had plans to eat lunch with Fiorella again. I came home to find the table laden with
yummy delicacies: bruschetta with unbelievable Sicilian tomatoes, zucchini with
parmesan cheese, frittata with spinach, prosciutto, fruit, salad and wine. I have become very fond of the practice of
lingering over fruit, wine and cheese at the end of meals.
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| Temple of San Biagio |
The weather was improved enough to risk a walk. Fiorella has not felt very well and hasn’t been able to walk the dog much, so I borrowed him and took him on a walk to the Temple of San Biagio. San Biagio is outside the city walls, below the town. We walked down a steep dirt road, past an interesting walled cemetery and down a driveway lined with cypresses. The cypresses were planted to honor local soldiers killed in the First World War. Fiorella’s dog was very happy with this arrangement. He had a great time sniffing, marking territory, scratching in the dirt and greeting other dogs. When we got to the church, I wanted to bask in the welcome sun for a few minutes, but he barked at me until I got up and led him around the church so he could explore.
I had visited the exterior of San Biagio during my first week
here, but didn’t have time to see the inside.
With the dog in tow, I still couldn’t go inside, but I did get to stick
my head in the door. It’s a pretty domed
church built of white travertine. The
dome of San Biagio inspired the architect Bramante to design St. Peter’s in
Rome.
We took a different, but equally steep, route back up the
hill. The route wound through pretty
houses with lots of flowers and through a couple of archways on the back side
of Montepulciano until we finally intersected the main street through town and
made our way back up the house. The dog
was dragging on the way back, so I had an excuse to walk slowly and enjoy the
view over the valley. I didn’t have any
homework, so the dog and I both took a nap upon our return.
Marita joined us at the dinner table last night and it was
very festive with the three of us. We
had white Arborio rice and chicken stewed with peppers, home fries, a couple of
different salads, strawberries and brie.
We lingered at the table until 9:30 or so. I barely had time to chat with Scott before
it was time for bed.
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