Month: February 2022

2021)

Extremely short one this week!

The very worst thing about going to Italy is having to come home again. Again, like last time, the flight was in the early evening, so we had time to mooch about in Volterra for a while before having to head to the airport.

I got up for a walk again, and just for you folks took a bunch of snaps.

It was also market day that day! Most of the stall-owners were only setting up at that stage.

My walk continued!

I wandered out later with Niamh to check out some of the market. We didn’t get anything this time. It was so busy in town, for some reason – great to see. It’s the life I miss the most – and the food, wine, gelato, towns, beaches, history, gentle lifestyle…. you get the picture. Here are some more:

There were also food stalls at Piazza Martiri della Libertà

What do you do when you have to head home, assuming you don’t permanently live in Italy? How does it affect you? For me, it’s always a sad time. They may seem obvious to most, but with my having to deal with general anxiety disorder over the guts of 18-24 months, it becomes a greater challenge. I’m always better when I’m back in Volterra. But, when I think about it, why should I be? Mindfulness dictates that we should be unaffected by our state and place. Acknowledging the change in circumstance and location, and accepting it fully means that by rights I should be able to be happy anywhere. I think this is key. I had to learn to be happy in Kilcullen too. Strangely, this has become easier for me as the lockdowns, particularly the ones early on, only allowed us out to walk in our respective locales. Up to then, I really had thought of Kilcullen only as a functional place to live. However, on exploring every day for the last nearly 2 years, I now realise that it is a lovely place, with huge potential. I really can be happy anywhere, and be content with what I’ve got – and not compare the current me with the old me, or my current place of living with those able to live permently in Italy. Every place has its merits and demerits.

If you like, please follow me on my Instagram account – I post photos and video stories from Ireland there frequently enough. I hope you’ll like my homeland as much as I’ve come to learn to like it.

On the flight home, Niamh took a couple of shots – one over Italy and one over Ireland.

The next day, to compensate, we realised one of our favourite eatieries in Kilcullen: Fallons was open. I even celebrated my homecoming with a pint of ‘plain’. That’s the way – acceptance and gratitude.

Of course…. it has to be said, that it really helped that I knew we were returning to Volterra for Christmas. During the intervening period, I booked meals for the evening of the 24th and Christmas lunch itself on the 25th. So, I start all over again next week with our return to Volterra. Something I, again, gratefully accepted.

See you then!

Thanks for reading. Please leave a like and/or a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

The Lovely Castiglione della Pescaia (15/10/2021)

There’s a bit of write-y stuff in this one, but there are photos and a video below – I promise!

The town of Castiglione della Pescaia is one of those rare coastal places which has an old-town feel to it. This is because there was a profusion of dwellings settled nearby a large fortress, protecting them from potential raiders. The possibility of Saracen (and others) attacks was so high, that people tended to settle on hills inland, rather than risk slaughter. Perfectly understandable. Tuscan towns with an old-charm feel are incredibly rare in Tuscany, with many places with beaches having become more settled in post-war Europe. So, it’s always cool to find something that matches the tastes of the culture-vulture, the history-hound and the beach-baby. The foodie? Well… see below…

But first, bathroom remodelling! After our failed attempt to engage the builder, our appointment was properly set up for this morning. Our nice lady from Milianti (estate agents and property managers), Alice, arrived early, and although she’s young and slender she commented that climbing the 76 steps to our apartment whilst wearing a face-mask was tricky! A few minutes later, there was another ring at the door, and we let two gentlemen in: one was the builder, the other was an older man. This latter guy turned out to be the consulting geometra. What is a geometra? They are essentially internal building surveyors. One of their responsibilities is carrying out technical reviews of buildings for extensions and changes etc. We took them through the changes we want, with Alice translating all the way. All was tickety-boo.

Once gone, we headed out and took our 8 minute walk to the carpark, to our little stick-shift Fiat 500. Definitely one of our favourite rides we’ve rented since coming here. We stuck on Missus Google, and headed down SS68 towards Siena.

I don’t have any photos of the journey, because I was filming! You can catch the video towards the end of the blog. We decided to head the ‘country’ route, rather than along the coast. That made the journey very long, but it was interesting to see new towns appear on the signposts. I love to explore, so even new signposts alone sometimes give me an endorphin rush.

We passed tantalisingly close to Casole d’Elsa. We have visited it a few times (blogged about it once), and it’s a lovely little borgo, but we had a schedule! We blasted past it. Other highlights include also blasting past the Instagrammable Ponte della Pia. We didn’t stop. You can hear me squeal about it in the video below. We drove through the lovely Rosia, and shortly afterwards the 12 year-old in me was pleased by seeing signs for a town called ‘Orgia’ (literally ‘orgy’ in Italian). I imagine the property prices there are quite steep, but the people fit and healthy. Just outside Rosia, we were stopped for the third time this year, by a randomly parked police checkpoint. Once they found out we were tourists, they waved us on – but we found it prudent to carry identification documents with us at all times just in case. Just past Siena earlier in the year, they had us pulled over checking passports and licenses for a good 15 minutes.

When we were in the latter stages of the journey, on the multi-laned SS223, we flew past another hilltown. I checked my phone, and I’m pretty certain it was Civitella Marittima – one on my list to visit… but we ploughed-on!

If there’s one thing I really enjoyed about the journey, it was it showed us how hugely varied the countryside is in Tuscany. From the typical undulating hills and olive groves and vineyards, to winding valley roads with streams. Sometimes, yellow-golden, sometimes grass-green. Here and there farmhouses dotted throughout, with the occasional castello or hamlet crowning a lonely hilltop. It is beautiful land.

We knew we were getting close to the coast when we started seeing the coastal pines (I think they’re sometimes called Stone Pines) – tall trees topped with wide, flat foliage. They began to line to roads, once we left the highways.

I think that the journey took us a good two hours. Blame me… I just wanted to see more of the countryside. It took us 20 minutes less on the route home. Anyway, we got handy parking here, and had a quick stroll by the marina before heading up into the town itself.

It was close to lunchtime, so we just wanted to explore a little before having food. We strolled up the what we considered to be the main tourist drag, checking out some restaurants and a gelateria (for later!) on the way.

Now for some much-needed controversy. I have often considered my blog to be something of a hagiography of Italy, so a little criticism is overdue. For a while, I have been exploring the Italian coast on Google Maps (yes, I have a sickness). So far, I have gone from the French border, and have just past Naples. It takes a long time! Anyway – one of the chief observations I have made is that generally, restaurants in touristy coastal towns are poorer than you will find a little inland – especially those along promenades. There are, of course, exceptions – but many… hmmm… I would say most, would seem to rely on seasonal, transient trade. My chief point is: do your research on Tripadvisor, Google etc. before selecting a place to eat, if you have a definite preference of quality over location.

Despite the time of year, there were still a few restaurants still open. We went to Pane e Vino on Corso della Libertà. It was open and seemed to be getting favourable reviews. We were shown to our outdoor table and were attended very quickly and enthusiastically. We needed the bathroom, and apart from a little lighting issue, all was good – the bathroom was nice and clean. We had a little struggle with the menu, as we aren’t huge seafood fans – mostly whitefish, salmon and mussels – I sometimes eat tinned mackerel too. Although, one of the nicest things I have eaten – in fact the very first thing I ever ate in Volterra – was an amuse bouche in Del Duca, of which anchovies were a part. I also kept hearing how anchovies in Italy were way better than they are elsewhere. Anyway, we found stuff we thought would be interesting and ordered. The results were…. mixed. The ingredients were cooked well, and some of the ideas novel, but in the main, they just missed the mark – one in particular was frankly bizarre. I laud restaurants for trying to experiment, and I think these guys were trying to do that – so, hats off on that front. One thing that bugged me outright, was that I had wanted a fritto misto, but didn’t see it on the menu. Nonetheless, a couple of parties came in after us and were served plates of it. Grrr! Off-menu items annoy me. Anyway – back to what we *did* get:

The staff were lovely I have to say, and attentive, but we left in something of an unsatisfied daze. If you love seafood, good presentation and experimentation (and what looked like amazing fritti misti – grrr!) then this place could be for you. I have to stress again, that the cooking was good. And Niamh’s coffee was great too.

Once we were done eating, we decided to delay our gelato fix until we were done exploring the old fortress part of town. What a lovely place it was. And hilly. Also, cats – cats everywhere! On our way we passed by an Irish bar – Tinakilly Pub. At first I thought that was a bit of a spurious name, as Irish town/townland names often derive from an Irish name that actually means something. However, I see that there is a Tinakilly House Hotel just a little over an hour from us – so it’s the real deal! Tinakilly is derived from the Irish words ‘Ti’ (house), ‘na’ (of/of the) and ‘Coille’ (woods) – so ‘House of the Woods’. There you go – very interesting! Of course, having blown a paragraph on that, I now have to tell you that we didn’t go in.

Steps and slopes – wonderful views everywhere

We briefly and indadvertently walked outside town through a porta at the top end. Beyond it was a carpark and what looked like a school, plus a hint of the bay view to come.

Not a bad view, but the best was yet to come!

Next, we returned back into the town, and found a church. It was nice and cool inside, but not as decorated as many you’d find. There was another cat guarding the door.

Upon leaving the church, we walked uphill past some lovely houses – passing by yet another cat – an enourmous fluffy lad, and then looked left. Wow. The view of the gently curving bay was amazing. I think you could also make out Monte Argentario farther along the horizon. The closer mountain I think is the Parco Rgionale della Maremma.

We walked over the hill to the other side of the village, and down to another porta in the fortress walls. We jostled for our space with some other tourists there to get our shot by it. There wasn’t much beyond that porta, so we headed all the way back town to the newer part of town. It was gelato time! We grabbed some yumminess from Bar Gelateria Angolo Gelato and sat on a bench around the corner in the shade.

We headed back to the car after our gelato and, driving past the cemetary we saw earlier behind the church, opted to go home via the more coastal route. It was a good bit quicker. I was too slow to grab a shot of Follonica and its bay as we crested a hill to look down upon it. It was a gorgeous sight. Follonica itself looks to be an interesting place to stop for a modern beach-city – I have read that it’s promenade is nice (remember the tip about restaurants, though!). We skirted around the outside of the town, through its more suburban areas, and shortly after there joined the multi-laned E80. We turned off just before Cecina, and headed through Saline di Volterra back to our home-from-home.

You can watch a video of that part of our day here:

I took a couple of shots of Volterra on our way back from the car to the apartment. I do this because all too often I only catch some shots during my morning walk when the light favours some scenes, but not others.

We weren’t quite done with the day yet, though.

We wanted some way to help celebrate my writing competition win (see last week’s blog), and it was going to be our last night for this trip. We decided pizza and beer was in order. We headed out later than usual and were very lucky to find La Mangiatoia still open – they closed shortly after we left. Many Italians eat very late when compared to the Irish – often at 21:00 or 22:00 – but La Mangiatoia looked like it was closing around the 22:00 mark. They looked a little worried when we ordered, but brightened up when we selected pizza – I presume we’d be told that a lot of the stuff was off the menu otherwise. I like their pizza – it’s second only to Pizzeria Ombra della Sera. The didn’t have any Moretti left, so we had one of their own beers. I wish I had taken a photo of it – it wasn’t bad at all!

Once done, we had a walk to the Piazza dei Priori, and then thought… No! We’re not done yet!

I wanted something sweet, but already had a gelato that day – so we went to Antica Velathri Café and had a couple of cocktails (ok, I had an amaro). But then I saw a homemade panacotta on their menu, with a variety of different sauces. I think I grabbed one with a chocolate sauce, or it might have been caramel… I do remember it being eye-rollingly delicious, though!

And then we were fit for our beds. Thanks for reading – I really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

Bathroom Remodelling and Winning Writing Competitions (14/10/2021)

I walked! Despite what I said in a recent blog, O Miracle of Miracles: I walked! I must have had to drop down some trash for the usual morning collection. I walked around some of the walls clockwise, and found an interesting surprise on the way.

I know I’ve said it before, but we got really lucky with the weather that week

We chose to stay in Volterra that day, as we (well, Niamh mostly) had to take time out to research how we wanted to remodel our bathroom, and we had to meet a builder with our translator. There is a smidge of guilt we have for wanting to do so, as our neighbours (the couple from whom we bought the apartment are now our neighbours), only remodelled it a few years previously, but it wasn’t to our taste. This remodelling should be completed soon, and when it is, I will create a mini before-and-after blog. I joined in the research a little, so it could be said I was consulted!

Then I went out, as I wanted to buy a Vespa for a friend. What can I say? I’m a generous guy!

And there it is. She was dead happy to get it! 🙂

When we were both done, we decided to go for lunch. I’d noticed earlier that, for a change, the wind was less severe than usual, and coming from the east/south-east. With the sun shining high, we went to Osteria Fornelli – the restaurant with possibly the best view in Volterra. There are usually residents’ cars parked most of the way along the wall there. Fortunately, the piazzetta was devoid of vehicles that day!

There was also little wind, as I had foreseen, so it must have been a good 23 celsius out there. I almost regretted not having a hat. Not too shabby for October, when you’re 570 meters above sea-level!

Cars? What cars? One of the balancing/diving kids on the left! (See below). I think you can also just about make out the sea in the far distance.

What there were, were a few kids running screaming around the square. That doesn’t alone bother me so much – it’s great to see kids play together – but a lot of the time they were balancing precariously on the alabaster rocks and jumping off. The anxiety rose in me a little as I catastrophised the worst: one of them slipping an opening their heads on the slabs. Their parents didn’t seem to mind, so after a while I ceased caring too, and was able to relax a little better. Although the half bottle of wine each helped buoy my mood somewhat!

We just had the one course, plus a selection of their delicious breads. The food was yum, as it always is. We really like Osteria Fornelli, but every time we go there it feels like the first time, in that the staff never seem to recognise us. They’re always friendly, mind you!

We had a short walk afterwards. We stopped off at Bottega del Pecorino to pick up some pecorino, as Niamh wanted to have a go at making cacio e pepe later that evening. Niamh had had a beautiful one in La Vecchia Lira a few days previously and wanted to give it a go. Unfortunately, I led her astray, as I thought we needed a full stagionato (fully matured), hard percorino. We should have picked out a semi-stagionato. Oopsie. Niamh went back to the apartment, and I did too, but only after having a gelato at L’isola del Gusto!

Pistacchio and the award-winning Creme di Ersilia (Ersilia being the name of the gelato chef and owner!)

We went back to the apartment to meet the builder who would be working on our bathroom. Unfortunately, there was a mixup in the time for the appointment, and our translator from our property manager, and she didn’t show up. I tried using my Italian, but it wasn’t up to scratch. He checked out the bathroom… and got a rough idea of what we wanted, but then left and we had to re-arrange for the next day. Actually a couple of days later, I saw him working on the restoration of the Etruscan museum (Guarnacci), so he had been chosen well for us!

Here are some janky stills of the bathroom from a video we took back in December 2018.

We waited further while until (a) the booze from lunch wore off, and (b) until shops had re-opened from riposo before heading to a fab little bathroom, fireplace and kitchen place in La Sterza called Bitozzi. We strolled in (parking was easy), and found ourselves relying more on the nice lady’s English, rather than my Italian. I got to use it a little bit more than the last time we were here, but I really need more regular practice with speaking. In the grand scheme of things, picking out a toilet, bidet, wall tiles, floor tiles, not to mention the sink, drawers, shower tray, head and doors – all in one visit – that wasn’t bad going. We’re going for plain enough wall tiles, and some wonderful mismatched patterns for the floor. We had planned on a matte finish for the shower tray, sink, toilet and bidet, but they were not available if we wanted our (revised twice) timetable adhered to. So we went for largely glossy – in hindsight, that is kinda better, as it’s most likely easier to clean. And if there’s one thing you need to clean properly it’s your bathroom (ok, two: your kitchen too!).

These are the matte versions of the toilet and bidet we chose. Wanted pipes hidden, so there’s no contact with the floow.

The lady who assisted us was super-helpful and patient. She took down the details, drew little pictures for us, grabbed measurements, consulted catalogues and all-in-all made her money for the 70-80 minutes we were there!

At the time of writing this, the builder has stripped down the tiles and sent us photos. More on the progress in the unveiling episode.

We were hungry when we got back, and we had bought cheese for a cacio e pepe earlier during the day (yes, the wrong cheese). It didn’t deter Niamh, so she gave it a go. Admittedly, the cheese congealed a little, but that’s because I chose the wrong one – but the flavour was good!

Ok, maybe we needed more sauce too – but it was still yummy!

There was a good reason why we didn’t go out to eat that evening! I wanted to attend the final and award ceremony of the Michael Mullan Writing Competition. I had entered into two categories: Short Story (2,000 words or fewer) and Micro Fiction (500 words or fewer). I was long-listed in both, and the short-listed in Micro Fiction. So, I joined in the online final via Zoom… and I won! Yay me! It was one of my proudest achievements, not least because I showed myself that I can still do worthwhile things even when blitzed with anxiety. Also, I was representing out writer’s group (Naas Creative Writers Group). We’re going through something of a purple patch these last 2 years, with competition wins and publications, so go us!

Most categories in the Michael Mullan competition are open to worldwide entry, so if you dabble in a bit of creative writing it’s a great way to practice, and you’d be helping out a great cause. I’ll notify you when the 2022 competition is open!

Anyway, apart from screen-watching and maybe a little (more) wine-drinking, we were done for the day.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a comment and a like if you enjoyed it, and tell your friends!

Valdichiana Shopping Outlet, Foiano and Lucignano (13/10/2021)

I skipped the morning walk again that day. This is a feature that plagued me for much of my December visit too, I’m sorry to say. The best I can offer was that it was down to simple laziness, rather than anxiety. Anyway, I knew we had a journey and a half ahead of us.

For ages I had wanted to go check out one of the few outdoor retail outlets in Tuscany. Probably the most famous is The Mall, in Leccio, a short ways southeast of Florence proper. But it was a little too high-end for what we needed. Another is Designer Outlet Barnerino, but as it’s a good bit north of Florence/Prato, and we didn’t really want to take the car through that traffic-filled nightmare, we opted instead for the much more leisurely Valdichiana Village, which is a good bit east and slightly south of Siena – near the town of Foiano della Chiana.

That would mean another trip on the Siena road, but it’s a far less stressy drive than going through Florence or Prato. The lengthy motorway stretch is very boring, however. So boring, in fact, that I didn’t film the journey part of the day at all – the rest of the day you can see in the YouTube video further on down in the blog.

The first third of it – the part before you hit the motorway – has some special moments:

The countryside immediately outside Volterra (around the ‘O‘) and a good bit beyond.
The section before Campiglia, where you’re surrounded by vines and hills, and you cross the Via Francigena and hit those hairpin bends (even better on the way back).
As always, going past Colle di Val d’Elsa – the part where the old town meanders along the ridge made our jaws drop when we first saw it. Despite dozens of passings-by now, it still impresses!
Even when you’re on the motorway, you’ll get to see Monteriggioni on the way there, and it’s easier to see Siena on the way back (if I recall correctly)

But the rest is kinda yawns-ville. The outlet itself is just off the autostrada, so yeah – you’re looking at a lot of multi-lane driving. Anyway, we got there in the end, and very safely!

It was a nice enough day, as you can see – I just wore a light jacket. Much of the perimeter of the outlet was lightly cordoned off, and where we entered a man was taking temperatures to ensure you could enter. Even outdoors in the outlet, you had to wear a mask. At other locations on the perimter, you had to engage with machines to take your temperature – so if you left (which we did to use the bathrooms at the perimeter walls), we had to get our temperatures checked again on the way back in.

There are some nicely appointed stores there – most of them containing clothing or household stock items. We noticed with a little amusement, that there was a youngish nun wandering around with a group of lay-people friends heading into the stores with tremendous enthusiasm. I thought she looked like one of the nuns we saw wandering around Il Teatro del Silenzio a couple of days previously, but then I have an over-active imagination! The first store we entered was, in fact, a pop-up Christmas store! We got a couple of decorations for the apartment, which we put up when we came over for Christmas – more on that in a few weeks’ time!

Niamh was looking for a couple of throws for our couch, which she managed to get (by going past the perimeter). We got them, and put them in the car, and once again went through to get our temperature taken. Fun times.

We continued to wander.

It really is an attractive place to have a little wander around!

I had half a mind to buy myself a form-fitting jacket, as I had lost a lot of weight in the first 15 months of the pandemic. Unfortunately, I discovered to my cost that my belly had grown back a little. A shame, as I found a couple of lovely looking jackets I really wanted to get.

What better way to console myself than to grab some pizza? I think I might be in denial! We had wandered up to the food court and were on the verge of, once again, heading into Old Wild West for a burger or ribs, but reminded ourselves that we shouldn’t eat too much prior to dinner that night. Maybe a pizza with a thin base might be an option….especially if we skipped dessert! We knew the place we were going to that evening didn’t do pizzas, and so didn’t want pasta either. Our minds were made up!

We saw a bar/restaurant on the perimeter which looked like it did pizzas – Al Borgo. We headed in, and selected a couple from the menu, and a couple of soft drinks to keep the fluids up. I noticed that they had their own sauces (pasta, pizza etc.) for sale, but the place had more of a ‘franchise’ feel to it, than it being a once-off place. In any event, I have to say we really enjoyed the pizza!

Once done, we went back into the outlet to reach our car on the far side (temperature check!), pausing briefly for cash at a Bancomat. We hopped in, and we had plenty of time to visit the nearby town of Fioano della Chiana. It was only a short drive, but to get to the carpark we had chosen, Missus Google took us through parts of the older town. One always gets nervous about straying inadvertently into a ZTL (Zona Traffico Limitato) and having to pay the resulting fine. Google, in fairness to it, has never done so before – but the worried glances between myself a Niamh didn’t cease.

We wound our way through the town to a carpark at the bottom of a very tall section of the walls of the even older town! A forlorn duvet rested at the bottom of the wall and for some reason I immediately thought that this was the rough end of town, where homeless people kept their domains. We were getting ourselves ready outside the car to explore, when a young lady marched towards us, speaking energetically on her phone. Without word or gesture to us, she snatched up the duvet and marched back towards the small opening in the wall. I looked up, and there it was: the ubiquitous washing line beneath a window, overlooking the carpark. This was probably a common occurence, then.

We followed the young lady a couple of minutes later, and climbed the stairs between an even higher set of walls and a church. We saw part of the road we had travelled on to get here, but to our left another collection of steps led through a lovely arched entryway into the ‘even older’ part. We went up, and within minutes were blown away by the beauty of the place. Curved laneways lined with red-bricked 4-storey buildings, strewn with potted plants – almost as if there was constant competition between the neighbours as to how many plants they could pack outside their front doors. We had a wander, and took some photos.

All was quiet, as it always is in a non-touristy town during riposo. There wasn’t much to wander into, as this area seemed largely residential, but the main square was nice. Unfortunately, we seem to have missed Bell’s Pub – I only see it now when looking at maps. An auld pint would have been nice, but such is life.

Instead, alternative refreshment was in order, as we left our exploration of the old town, and headed (past hordes of emerging schoolchildren). We stopped off at the improbably-named “Gelateria Fiordilatte Di Presenzini Mattoli Manuel & C” for (as the name would suggest) gelato. I had coconut and white chocolate, if I recall correctly – I really liked the coconut.

Back in the car, we checked the clock and realised we had a bit of time before we had to get home, spruce-up and head over to the restaurant for dinner. So, we decided to head to Lucignano! It’s only about 15 minutes away. The carpark, while decently located – just outside one of the arched gateways to the old town – was almost completely full. We managed to squeeze into an awkward spot on a bend, and headed into town!

Peeking in – spot the Medici crest above the gate. Those balls are everywhere.

We were enchanted as soon as we entered the town. Like Foiano, the central part is arena/oval shaped, but Lucignano is just a little bit nookier, a little bit crannier – if that makes sense. It just appealed to us a little more. We found ourselves going ‘Oooh’ and ‘Ahhh’ every time we turned a corner. There were stairs here and there leading up to a higher level of town, on which lay a residential area and what must have been nearly a dozen churches or chapels.

For some reason, the photos just don’t do the town justice. We honestly both came away from the place thinking it was one of the top 3 towns we’d visited.

We ended our trip under an arch, on which little platforms were placed to provide seats (presumably for the customers of a nearby bar) – I thought this was was very cute. If there was any regret, it was that we visited just after lunch/during riposo, and during the off-season – so it was extremely quiet. I would love to see it a little bit more lively – even at night – at least we have excuses to come back!

We headed home via a petrol station. It was a fun, busy day out! You can watch a video of it below:

But we weren’t done yet! No, after a rest and a shower back at the apartment, we headed out to Del Duca for dinner.

We were greeted enthusiastically as usual, and shown to a table we’d sat at a couple of times before; a round table in a corner, which gave us a complete view of the rest of the dining room. A certain level of amusement ensued, when Claudia Del Duca – her English usually being excellent – fumbled a little at explaining a course that had, just that night, taken over from their previous lamb dish. She couldn’t call it anything other than ‘boiled beef’. She assured us it was delicious through laughter from all parties. The phrases ‘sauce’ and ‘baby cabbages’ were mentioned, and the beef was boiled in a stock. I was intrigued, so I ordered it.

About ten minutes later, after we had gotten our wine, a well-dressed couple with a kid sat at the table next to us. Being the people-watchers we are, we snuck glances and listened. Then there was confusion. I could have sworn that she was Irish, and that maybe he was American – but then here and there, there was snatches of a Scottish lilt from him. On top of that, the kid definitely had a north American accent. What was going on here? Anyway, we settled down eventually, and the food came out.

Amuse bouche – the broth was amazing – I could have had a pint of it!

Halfway through the food, the head chef, Alessandro, saw us through the round window of the kitchen door, and gave us a cheery wave. We returned the favour. It’s so nice to be surrounded by people who care deeply about what they do, and who they do it for.

During the meal, the speculation continued around where this other couple and their child were from, but just when I was near to bursting with curiosity, the lady turned to us and said “I couldn’t help myself, but I heard the accents and had to talk to you.” She was definitely Irish, and as it turns out, so was he – but from the North. I reciproated the sentiment and told them that it was killing me not knowing where they were from!

They were living in Switzerland, and their kid was going to an American school, which explains the accent! They were so lovely. We chatted with them for a while. They were staying at a friend’s house a ways outside Volterra, but decided to come into the town for the first time for a bite to eat. They just happened to have chosen Del Duca. Life is full of coicidence and serendipity. It was a fabulous meeting, and, as if the food and the attention from the staff at the restaurant wasn’t enough, it really made our evening.

At the end of the meal, Niamh had a coffee and I an amaro (Ivana (the Del Duca matriarch) was still waiting on a batch of her limoncello to mature). We left the restuarant less high on caffeine and alcohol, but more on life.

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