Tag: food

The Red Night and the Prison

Not a bad title for a novel! Anyway – this post is a little media-rich – so beware.

It was more of an eventful night than day… I sat in and wrote a bit (maybe 600 words), and Niamh went out to mooch around town with our guests. They went to the market, bought goodies and then went to lunch in I Ponti. I’d never eaten there before. They had a selection of panini and antipasti, and the reports were good! Niamh also saw a waiter there who used to work in Da Beppino – he always recognised us. A lot of waiters seem to circulate in Volterra from season to season.

I had a veg soup in a carton by Knorr. This may sound blech, but as far as packaged soups go, don’t compare to what we get at home… it wasn’t bad at all!

We crashed and screen-watched in the afternoon, and had the last of the beef ragu that I made, with added oompf by Niamh. It was nice and tasty!

A little after 21:00, a few of us ventured out to sample what the Red Night (La Notte Rossa) had to offer.

If the Medieval Festival appealed to the child in me, the Red Night appeals to the creative adult. Throughout the town, there were art installations, gentle jazz/world bands and many of the museums were open free of charge until midnight. As well as that, some of the town’s more well-to-do families opened their palazzi to the public – which is something they’d never do, except on nights like this.

Firstly, we entered the main square (Piazza dei Priori), to a little bit of magic!

The walls of the buildings were lit up red and indigo, and a video of local hilltowns was being projected onto Palazzo dei Priori. A band played soft jazz, while a young man used aerosol paints to create a stylised profile. Just wonderful. If I’d been here before on such a night, I might have stayed here and chilled with some wine or cocktails.

We instead moved on to have a look at the first palazzo, which was somewhere definitely lived in. It was beautifully decorated and furnished, and a couple of ladies with a piano and melodica were performing some Italian jazz numbers in one of the rooms.

Another couple of places had also opened, revealing lovely, intimate gardens.

After exploring there and listening to a little music, we went to the Porta San Felice – where the crossroads of steps was all lit up with lamps, the oils of which were gently perfurmed. It looked so gorgeous.

We had another final little explore together, before we broke company in Volterra’s sweet little theatre.

The other two went home, while I walked the town myself, taking snaps. I went past Palazzo Viti, but it was only open to organised, pre-booked tours – as were a couple of other places, and I didn’t want to blow the whole night in Volterra’s wonderful pinacoteca (art gallery), where tons of renaissance and pre-renaissance goodies are on display – I will go back there another time and pay.

After a quick stop at a small exhibition by the astronimical observatory near Volterra, I walked to the prison, to see if there was anything else happening on the other side of town. About three-quarters of the way there, I remembered they’d opened part of the prison – but they were closing up by the time I got there. Fortunately, the lady told me that they were opening tomorrow (Sunday) from midday to six o’clock. My Italian comprehension is improving all the time!

Fortunately, another building was open for the night – it seemed to be a dance school. Behind it, though, was one of the creepiest gardens you’ll ever walk in at night. I loved it!

On the way home, I stopped off at a cute little model railway. I skipped the Guarnacci Etruscan Museum (I’ll document that some other day), and the Sacred Arts Museum – I already blogged a visit to that place here. A nice band of aul’ fellahs was playing on Gramsci – so I stayed to listen to one number and then headed for home.

The crossroads of Gramsci/Matteotti (the latter being the road our apartment is on) was the busiest I’ve seen it. Being on your own, though, is not so much fun, so I headed off and my head hit the pillow around 11:25…

…only to be woken up about an hour later by the most tremendous salvo of fireworks I’ve ever heard. It sounded like they let them off in the square or the park, and had them explode right over our apartment. Our windows where humming with the noise, and flashes of colour burst through every few seconds. The last time they let off fireworks here, they lasted about 30 seconds, so I didn’t bother getting dressed this time. I missed a 10-minute display. Typical. Maybe next year!

This morning, we had to drop one of our guests off at Pisa Airport. We had a now obligatory stop at the bell tower (nope – I refuse to post photos this time!). On the way to lunch at La Pace, we had a lovely encounter with local artists who painted one of the pieces of art on display in our living room. They are very enthusiastic, and our guest bought themselves a nice piece to take home. We then had a wonderful lunch in La Pace – boar and pasta – quelle surprise!

As the restaurant is right next to the prison (housed in a fortress enhanced by the Medici in the 16th century), I took the opportunity to take the open prison walk. It turns out, you only walk one of the walls, into a small garden area, where you can buy a ticket for a guided tour (Italian only) of one of the main towers of the medieval fortress. YASSS!

I only understood about 25% of what was being said e.g. one of the 5m diameter rooms housed 12 guards… fun times! You could take photographs freely, except through two windows, which looked out onto the recreation area for the prisoners. A bundle of them were there kicking a ball around, or playing bowls. I’m not sure I like the idea of us spying on them like that, but if some of the entrance fee (€5) goes towards their benefit, then it lessens the guilt a little.

Then I went home, and typed up this blog! You are fully up-to-date. There will most likely be no blog tomorrow, as there will be flip-all to report!

I’ll see you in the next one… A presto!

Lari and the Pasta Factory

We have two guests with us for a short while, so we decided to take them to Lari. We had been there before, but the Martelli pasta factory tours were closed in August (when many Italians go on holiday). We wandered up to the carpark, only to see that they’d strung some brollies over Gramsci. Tonight is Volterra’s culture night (La Notte Rossa), where there are a ton of acts playing around the city, and many of the major attractions are open for free from 21:00 to 24:00. Why do they call it The Red Night? They light up the city with red lamps – like they do near Christmas. It will be a late night, but I’m looking forward to it. Below is a pic of one of our favourite restaurateurs, from La Terre di Mezzo – getting ready for the festivities.

We went to Lari by way of La Sterza, and Terriciola. Why Google Maps changed our route to take is through Terriciola, rather than go around it is a mystery. We were rewarded with a different set of sights this time around, as we were driven through village after village, past vineyards and olive groves. It was pretty cool… except maybe for the driver, who insisted we travel a different route going home! The roads were quite narrow in parts and can’t have been fun to navigate.

We parked near the old town, with about a 250m walk uphill to the archway which leads into the main area. It was a warm day, and the climb was understandably a little draining. There was an organised tour group ahead of us, but we only had to wait about 15 minutes for the next opening. This afforded us a mooch around the town for a bit, including a trip to a jewellers who could only give us a price for an 18-carat bracelet after he’d weighed it. I’d never seen that before! When the price was given, we excused ourselves and left.

A large group of people had gathered from Ireland (including a pair of people other than ourselves), Germany, the US, the Netherlands and Switzerland to go in. The tour was only about 15 minutes long, but you got to go into the areas where pasta (specifically spaghetti here – the rest of the pastas are made in the castle in the middle of the town) is dried and cut – and you were given a small sample of pre-cut pasta. Martelli pasta is cut with bronze dies, which give it a very rough texture. As the pasta is only made from durum wheat and water, there isn’t a flavour difference, but the sauce sticks beautifully to the pasta in the pan during the final stages of cooking.

The dude that came out to deliver the tour (in English) was dressed in video-game racial stereotype overalls, but he knew his stuff and was friendly. The main area was really warm… maybe 35-36 celsius, and I wondered how hot it could get in August-heat!

Afterwards, we had a lunch with Martelli pasta. We had done so before in the same restaurant, but the only new dish was the one I got – maccheroni with a tuscan ragu.

Our guests were a little tired, so we forewent trips to other towns, and headed home – capturing some lovely scenery on the way. We had an obligatory stop at the ‘O’ on the road just past Volterra, on the way to Siena.

Apologies… you can see reflections in some of the photos. On the way back to apartment, we grabbed some gelati, because we could! We pretty much stayed in for the rest of the day, except when I nipped out to grab a little shopping, and Niamh went out to get takeaway pizza for herself and the other ladies.

I’ve ceased being a fan of pizza at night (acid stomach), and instead got something even more trashy, but strangely nice for a change – a fishburger. The fish was flaky inside the rough crumb, so it wasn’t the worst thing at all – I might try the burger in the same place (Attutapizza) some other time.

Afterwards, we watched Wine Country on Netflix, which was mis-labelled as a comedy. Ah, I’m being unfair – it wasn’t a bad flick (although I left about 10 mins before the end). The Napa Valley looks a bit like Tuscany, so that was a plus – and the characters in it were amiable enough.

Anyhoo, this morning I got up earlier than usual, and compounded by the fact that it is later in the year, the town was a little darker than usual. I found a new part of the route (well… Niamh had gone that way before me), which made the walk a little more interesting. I also captured a wide shot of Volterra’s buildings I’d never been able to capture before. It almost looks like another town from that angle.

The guests are having a mooch about town today, so I will use some of this day to put a hole in my writing project. I hope to stay out much of the night to capture as much as I can on La Notte Rossa too, so I’m really looking forward to that!

We are bringing one of the guests to the airport tomorrow mid-morning, but I hope to have a blog up before we go tomorrow.

Cheerio!

Terricciola, Castelalfi and Montefoscoli

Warning: this post is photo-heavy!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I was not in a position to be able to write anything yesterday, so I’m back with a bang today. As well as being cooped up in the apartment for the weekend, we just needed to clear our heads and get out for a while. Niamh suggested going to La Rosa to check out a cheap department store there. Turns out it’s closed on Mondays (new opening hours), and so we sat thumb-twiddling looking for things to do next.

We decided to go travelling!

Terricciola was not too far from La Rosa, and we’d driven past it before on the way to Lari. Parking was handy enough, and was only about 100m away from the older part of town. It’s a nice looking place, but given that this is September, and it’s not a major tourist destination, it was as quiet as a mouse. We found only two food places open – an antipasto and wine store, and a bread baker (panificio).

Once we were finished there, we caught the bug and scoured Google Maps for other places to go. I spotted Castelalfi, but dropped it in favour of Castelfiorentino. I happened to note, though, that the route suggested took us through Castelalfi anyway, and we stopped there too.

What I was not prepared for was what Castelalfi was. I knew it looked to be only a couple of streets, but the carpark was three-quarters full, and the town began with a couple of hotels.

It turns out that Castelalfi is a manufactured resort village. It may well have been converted from a previously existing town, but most of the buildings are apartments for holidaymakers. There were a few shops and a couple of eateries (only one of which was open yesterday). Don’t get me wrong, it was a gorgeous, pristine (not one speck of trash found) place, surrounded by lush countryside, and a wonderful view onto a golf course. But it just lacked a little character as a result – it isn’t a ‘lived-in’ place. Oh, if you like swanning by the pool or golfing, then I probably couldn’t recommend a better venue, though! It is lovely, but what the hell do you do if you have no transport and are stuck in Castelalfi?! Admire the views, I suppose…

They have a restaurant at the top of the area that looks pretty amazing – but it would want to be for the prices! Anyway, it was closed. All-in-all, we saw a sum total of about 9 people in Castelalfi, half of whom were booted and suited for a conference in one of the hotels.

We ended up skipping Castelfiorentino in the end, and instead backtracked to a small hilltop village called Montefoscoli. It is almost the diametric opposite of Castelalfi. It is very much a lived-in town, which I suspect gets very little in the way of tourist traffic. Regardless, it had lovely, if occasionally shabby, clustered buildings and a higgledy-piggledy layout that reminded me of the back end of Amalfi town, or Atrani. It was their market day, and four stalls were decked out with simple goods. Niamh and I stopped to grab some sweeties, as we hadn’t had lunch, and were a little on the hungry side.

Down one road, a table was laid out, with half-empty bottles of water, which suggested we missed a mini street-party. There were also some fab views to be seen from here. A lovely, gentle place.

Google took us down another back road we hadn’t been on before to get home. I love it when this happens, and in this case, we saw some amazing scenery, which, it turns out, is only about 20 minutes drive from Volterra! The pics don’t really do it justice – it’s a case of visiting the place, really.

We chilled for a while at home, before heading out to a place we’d only been to once before: La Vecchia Lira. The owner is sound, and very enthusiastic. We both had pasta primi – Niamh had amazing ravioli, while my pici with Chianini beef ragu was pretty good. For meats, Niamh had sliced steak, with a side of grilled veggies, and I had a really well put-together plate of pork medallions with a vin santo jelly, vin santo sauce, almonds and raspberry pulp, served with perfectly seasoned spinach. We liked the food enough to each have a tirimasu afterwards!

We went straight home again after that (we eat quite late in Italy, and were finished around 21:15 there).

This morning, I got up slightly earlier and went on a walk. It was great to clear the cobwebs, but I finished off with the 200 steps at La Docciola, which damn near killed me!

No plans today – except maybe to ask our property manager to phone the furniture place to drag a date for delivery of our stuff out of them. The service from them (the furniture people, not the property managers) has been a little incompetent. Hopefully, we get the stuff before more guests arrive on Thursday!

Ciao for now!

Race? What Race?!

We went to the butchers and the market yesterday, to pick up some chicken for the next couple of days’ dinners, and some bits and bobs for lunch. At one of the rotisserie vans, we got a roasted chicken, some chicken kebabs and mixed battered veggies – we had the latter two for lunch. The kebabs were nice, but the jury’s still out on the veggies. They were nicer when we had them from the Neopolitan streetfood store in town.

I wrote a few hundred words in the morning and afternoon, finishing off a tricky chapter, so yay!

While we vegetated for the afternoon, I occasionally heard some cheers coming from Piazza dei Priori (the main square). I immediately assumed that the motorbikes were finishing their run there and were being cheered on by some folks. I went out to have a nose, but nope. It was a wedding. Feeling a little disappointed (not for them; for me), I went to the view point to see if they were finishing there too. Again, nope – but I heard them racing somewhere – the engines of these bikes are loud. I squinted at the road leading from Saline to Volterra, and saw that it was lined with alternating red and white barriers along the bends. And finally, I saw them racing – but barely. They went behind a treeline, and then disappeared, not coming anywhere near Volterra itself. I couldn’t see where the finish line was, so for all intents and purposes, they could simply have fallen into a black hole.

Can you see them?

On the plus side, it might mean that the roads aren’t as closed as we had previously thought.

I had set a reminder for myself to check out some musical event being held in the Museum of Sacred Art, but I got there too early, and I suspect it might have been for kids. So, I went home and grabbed a coffee milkshake from L’Isola del Gusto.

Later, Niamh reheated the rotisserie chicken, cooked up the veggies we bought at the Saturday market and had put together a lovely little gravy. We’ve been craving white meat, I guess – and a decent break from pasta dishes. It may look pretty average, but it was delicious!

During the evening I heard the strains of a live band playing in the square, while I was enjoying a beer. I went to check it out that night, but I was too late: they’d almost completely packed everything away by the time I got there.

There is a huge difference in Volterra between Saturdays in August and Saturdays in September. It was eerily quiet.

I was a hairsbreadth away from getting up at 05:00 to look for a blanket to spread over my legs, such is the sudden change in temperature! There was no rubbish collection today, and the sky looked a bit bleak, so I took advantage of that, and stayed in bed rather than going for a walk. I still got up at 07:40, though.

Instead, Niamh went out and had a cheery jog by the cemetary! She got caught in a shower too, unfortunately, but she struggled though it – fair play to her, and took a few pics.

No plans today – but with the road seemingly only blocked in one direction, we might be able to do something.

Cheers for now!

All is Quiet in Peccioli

Our guest wanted to assist us with getting some sort of environmental solution in, other than having to rely on fans. Niamh looked up mobile air-conditioning units in Comet, and then we went off to their branch in Pontedera to see what we could get. I’d previously remembered it as a bit of a dull drive, but as we went along this time, I found it quite pleasant. The second half of it is rather flat, but there are still hillside villages dotted about to go ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ at.

We got there, and found they only had units which needed to be fixed to the wall, and were very expensive. No sign of any of the products on the website. I asked one of the store’s assistants, and she confirmed that they no longer had any of that stock. In addition, she said that there was no other large domestic electrical retailer around, unless we wanted to see if the CoOp had anything. It wasn’t a wasted journey, though, as Niamh grabbed a pasta-hanger, an egg brush and a fancy food processor.

Driving to the CoOp took all of a minute as it’s not too far at all from the Comet. Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything there either, but we did get some plums and felt padding for our chair in the sitting room. No more groaning as we pull it into position! I also took this photo, which proves I am 47, going on 8.

On the way back, we decided to stop off at Peccioli. We’d driven by the old town a couple of dozen times now, and never visited it. The bell-tower in the distance always intrigued us, as it looked almost Moorish from a distance. We were also hungry enough to have a two-course lunch, and were on the hunt for a good, sit-down restaurant.

Peccioli was, unfortunately, as shut as it was pretty. There were a couple of bars open and I did see an enoteca, but it was advertising pizza and cold platters, so we didn’t bother going in. I suspect it was called Il Grano E L’Uva, and if so, going by the TripAdvisor page, it looks like we might have missed out! The town probably doesn’t get a lot of tourist traffic, and is probably busier from June through August. I know it had a Moon festival sometime in July. So we left hungry, but still impressed with this nice little village.

We high-tailed it home to Volterra, parked in a pay-spot just outside our gate (residents get two free hours parking in pay-spots), and went to Il Pozzo degli Etruschi for food. Strangely, they didn’t have wild boar sauce to go with the pappardelle our guest wanted (they had dove sauce, which I ordered!), nor did they have the boar cutlets Niamh wanted. She opted instead for a Chianina beef sauce (yummy) and our guest went for spag-bol. Niamh also got grilled veggies, while I went for steamed. We all seemed quite happy after the meal.

I must have been exhaling in that photo! 😦

Our guest and I grabbed the shopping from the car and carried it back up to the apartment. Niamh took the car to our residents car park, but unfortunately our luck had finally run out – she had to wait 10 minutes or so for someone to pull-out so she could park. Meanwhile, I was happy watching telly.

We stayed in for the rest of the day – we were all a little bushed. Our guest and I did go out at around 19:45 for sandwiches from La Sosta del Priore. When I say ‘sandwiches’, I also include burgers in that definition. As always, they were delicious.

We sat back and watched a couple of episodes of Conan Without Borders on Netflix and hit the sack.

Our walk this morning took us down to the stairs at Docciola, and up past view looking down at the hospital/asylum area – then up to the prison gate and past the entrances to the park (which was closed, unfortunately). We spent a couple more minutes at the panoramic viewpoint taking snaps before heading to the pasticceria. If ‘C’ can be short for ‘Cream’, then my breakfast this morning consisted of plenty of vitamin C!

No travel plans today. Niamh is going to have a crack at making pasta, and I will make a ragu to go with it (hopefully lamb). We also have to see about getting a frame for that art I bought, seeing if the other picture we were getting framed is ready, and hanging up as much as we can!

There will also be no blog tomorrow, as we have to go to Pisa to drop my brother off at the airport for his flight home. Another guest that will be missed!

Cheers!

Monteriggioni and Colle di Val d’Elsa

Warning: this post is photo-heavy!

With my stomach all better, we decided to head to a town we’d been meaning to travel to for a long time: Monteriggioni. It’s a fully-walled medieval village, and is only about a 45 minute drive from where we are. We drove off and stopped off at the ‘O’ for the usual photos!

We got there, and parked handily enough – just a bit of an uphill walk into the town. And gorgeous it is! It’s certainly a bit of a tourist trap, but if you’re ever in the Siena area, it’s a must-visit. There are a few spots at the wall you can climb to and take snaps over. It costs €4 per person, but you can climb up to any of the spots around the wall for that fee. The whole village is tiny – you could walk it briskly in about a minute from gate to gate. But, as the saying goes, it’s small but perfectly formed.

After some gelato (naturally), there was a bit of impromptu shopping at Pratesi, where Niamh bought herself some nice boots. I was looking at a cool pair of shoes, but they didn’t have them in my size – and don’t seem to be available in their online store either. It was suggested that we go to their main outlet store in Ambra to try. It’s a bit of a drive, but we might give it a go one day.

I also bought a fabulous ink drawing (from this dude), which I’ll frame and position. I won’t show it ’til it’s in its rightful place! The artist either paints in oils on wood, or draws using everyday ball-point pens. When he heard that we had an apartment in Volterra (and so shipping wasn’t an issue), he said that he was due in Volterra to sell out by the viewpoint, but for some organisational reason couldn’t go at the last minute. Some things happen for a reason, I guess!

Before we left, we had lunch in Ristorante Il Pozzo. We all went for a pasta course, but were rewarded with a gorgeous mini-carpaccio amuse bouche to begin with. The winner was our guest, who had the pappardelle with wild boar sauce.

Instead of going directly home, we stopped off for an hour in the old part of Colle di Val d’Elsa. When we first visited Volterra, this town had completely escaped my notice, so when we decided to visit Siena early on, our jaws dropped when we rounded a bend and saw this long, town, atop a narrow ridge – but surprises like this are frequent in Tuscany. We drove through Badia A Passignano quite by chance, when we were on our way to the Chianti region, back in December. Anyway, I digress – we walked up and down the narrow town, stopping in the Cathedral and it’s crypt underneath. In a way, the town mirrored the crypt, in that it was almost completely devoid of people!

Then back home for some deserved R&R! Later that evening we spoiled ourselves further by going out for pizza and beer, but found ourselves completely unable to do anything else after, except watch a bit of telly before bed!

This morning, our guest and I got up to do a walk around the walls, albeit a bit of an abbreviated one. We left by Porta Fiorentina (the gate nearest us), and then walked anti-clockwise until we hit Porta a Selci (by the prison). A good distance of the way through that 3+km, we saw Niamh jogging on the other side of the road and gave her a wave.

Today, we might go to Pontadera, to see if they have any mobile air-cooling units. There is a certain irony in that, as the temperature has dipped somewhat today, and may only peak at 24 celsius. We had to close the door to the terrace due to the temperature, for the first time today! Anyway, the unit will definitely come in handy. I just hope it’s not too expensive or to heavy to haul up those stairs!

I’ll let you know how we get on in the next one!

Another Visitor

We got up early together to travel to Pisa to pick up another visitor: one of my brothers. It was the same flight as our previous visitor, and, as before, it landed 15 minutes early. He arrived safely, and had my long-lost wallet with him, so off we went to Hertz to get me added as a driver – to finally save Niamh from having to do all the driving.

We went to Pisa (again!), but this time just had a quick wander around the square. I only took a few pics this time.

On the way home, we stopped off at the Conad supermarket in Capannoli to grab some groceries, snacks and beers, as our guest isn’t a wine drinker. Back in Volterra, we had lunch at La Terra di Mezzo before we dropped all our bags at the apartment. We had a caprese salad, beef ragu with tagliatelle and I had pappardelle with truffle and a ricotta sauce – one of the best plates of pasta in town, in my opinion! A couple of us had desserts afterwards, along with a freebie shot of limoncello.

We went home to chill, as our guest had been up since about 03:00, and was a little tired. We just chilled and dozed. At around 15:30, there was a hubbub outside our window – drummers were approaching the main square, but they were not recognisable as being Volterra’s own.

We went downstairs and out to the square, with the afternoon’s thunder booming off in the distance. There was definitely an event on, but I couldn’t see it in Volterra City‘s list. If anyone local is reading this – could you give me a definitive source for these events, please? Anyway, it seems to have been a competition of sbandieratori (flag jugglers/wavers) from Volterra, Florence and Pistoia. People were sat in the metal bleacher seats provided, and watched the entrance of each team.

About halfway throught, fat drops of rain began to fall. Moments later, there was a flash, followed by an immediate booming – one of the loudest sounds I’ve ever heard. We couldn’t have been more than a hundred meters away from a lightning strike. People began immediately moving off the bleachers, and the restaurant in the square suddenly found a half-dozen people to take away tablecloths and fold up parasols of their outside seating! Still, the sbandieratori remained in position, with their flags held high.

Nobody moved until the rain started coming down heavily. Then all three teams scarpered under the archways of the civic buildings lining the east side of the square. We stayed for a little while, but there was no sign of them coming back out, so we toddled back to the apartment. I didn’t hear anything recommence until about 17:00, and it lasted until we were going out for dinner – around 19:30. A cannon sounded off to announce the end of the competition.

I’m not sure what the results were, but I’ll have a look-out. I still don’t know what the results of the crossbow competition were from the previous week!

Anyway – we headed out to Il Sacco Fiorentino for dinner, stopping off at the viewpoint for a couple of snaps.

Niamh had eggplant parmagiano, and I the zuppa alla Volterrana to start. Our guest’s single course was a burger, and looked amazing – but for some reason, I didn’t take a photo. Niamh liked her’s – mine was merely ok. Afterwards, Niamh had seabass and I had a sliced pork steak, served with cheese onions and cavalo nero (kale, more or less). Niamh’s fish was well-cooked. Mine was tasty, but the pork a little overdone. We both had a side of fries, as they are amazing here.

I went home with a full, but worryingly, grumbling stomach. I had contracted some sort of unpleasant gastric issue, which upset my sleep overnight. I don’t think it was anything I ate yesterday, but perhaps the previous day. We re-heated some chicken and broccoli bake – this might have been it, but Niamh had it and she was ok! So who can say? Either way, my tummy hasn’t settled properly yet, and I didn’t go out for a walk this morning – I just left the trash downstairs. I need to remain close to the apartment until I can shake this thing off!

Apologies for ending on an unpleasant note – but that’s life. Hopefully, I’ll feel better today and have something interesting to post tomorrow!

Ciao!

Blogflash: Take a bow, Querceto!

Seeing as I won’t be posting tomorrow, and that we actually changed our plans today – I have a quickie for you.

Ever since I came to Volterra and scanned the neighbouring villages, I’ve been wanting to go to Querceto. It’s a beautiful hamlet on the edge of a densely forested area (on a hilltop, naturally!). I thought it looked lovely in Google Maps, but as usual, no justice is done in comparison to actually being there.

We did a quick shop at the CoOp, and made our way there.

The place is 30-35 minutes drive from us, so a full day-trip isn’t required. We parked about 150 meters outside the hamlet, and as the place slowly unveiled itself, it was beyond expectation. It is gorgeous, if extremely quiet.

We stopped here for food, at Locanda del Sole. Niamh had speghetti in a rabbit sauce (light and tasty), and I had a dish that I thought couldn’t possibly work, it was so bonkers – but it was yummy! It was pici (thick spaghetti) in a carbonara sauce, with smoked goose breast, topped with grated bottarga (which is a Sardinian delicacy of solidified, cured mullet (usually) roe – which can be grated over dishes). The bottarga worked really well with the smoked meat. Give the chef a medal, and maybe a few weeks’ therapy! We both had a chocolate tart to finish, which was broken up for some reason, but was still tasty enough. We won’t have much to eat tonight!

Now we’re in the middle of this afternoon’s thunderstorm. In the last 6-7 days, we’ve entered a sub-tropical loop of hot weather in the morning, followed by thunderstorms and rain for 90 minutes in the mid-afternoon, followed by slightly lower temperatures.

Anyhoo – see you Monday!

An Anniversary Meal at Del Duca

The title of this blog isn’t only the highlight, but it about the only thing we did all day! We lounged and watched telly. Carnival Row has started streaming on Amazon Prime, so we watched the first episode of that. Seems good so far: excellent visual production quality, writing and acting – just the music is a bit of a let-down. It sounds like it’s been produced on a cheap synth.

I had pecorino aged in walnut leaves and salami for brekkie, for a change (it’s usually cereal), and I just had two slices of the best cooked prosciutto I’ve ever had. So by the time our anniversary dinner came (early – our anniversary is actually on monday – 15 years!) around at 20:00, I had a sore belly and head from hunger.

We were early, so had a wander around the viewpoint first.

We were shown to the garden seating at Del Duca. It was the first time we’d eaten in that area, and it’s really lovely. It backs onto 20 metre walls which form part of the boundary of the public park. We sat, and were offered aperitivi; Niamh had prosecco, I had an Aperol spritz. We also totally accidentally (not) asked for a bottle of wine each. We ordered our food, and after a short time an amuse-bouche arrived: a mini bruschetta, topped with a little basil sauce. I usually don’t do ‘obvious’ tomatoes, but yummied it down anyway – it was excellent. I forgot to take a photo, I was that hungry!

Next came a series of breads, baked in-house, all of which were excellent, and arrived in time for our first courses. Niamh had fusilli pasta in a tomato-based minced pork sauce with thinly-sliced green peppers, and I had restaurant-made gnocchi with mushrooms and a salsa verde. I thought mine was nice, although Niamh wasn’t a fan. We both agreed that Niamh’s was the winner, though. It was lovely.

Next came the seconds: Niamh had a fillet of white fish, and I had beef cheek in a rich jus, with an eggplant sauce. It’s testament to the cooking at Del Duca that we were both jealous of each others’ dish, while also lusting after our own! The fish was perfectly flakey, and you could have cut the beef with a spoon.

Finally, we ordered dessert. Niamh’s was a chocolate-bomb style tart, with a melty middle, served in a creme that countained some sort of booze – Niamh wasn’t sure, although she loved it enough to say that she thought she was going to cry it was so nice. Mine was a dessert of chocolate cremes, both 73% Peruvian chocolate, with tangerine jam filling served with homemade ricotta ice-cream. Absolutely amazing, and the best dessert I’ve ever had in Volterra, and possibly Italy itself!

The courses were interspersed with friendly service from several waiters, and from the restaurant’s somelier – the daughter of the owner/manager – who also came over to press the flesh. They have an agriturismo about 5.5km outside town, wherein they produce their own wines (of which we had a bottle each!). The somelier, being aware that we are undertaking a long-term stay, kindly offered us the use of their swimming pool, which was a lovely gesture. We also enquired about a cooking class there, and she described a 3-hour affair, during which 4 courses will be cooked (which included breads, stuffed pasta, guinea fowl). Niamh and I will definitely go, but we are waiting to hear from guests to see if they also want to attend.

On our way out, what was left of our wines was re-corked, and we took them home with us. A live band were playing outside a restaurant beside the entrance to our apartment – we didn’t stay long. All-in-all, it was a wonderful evening!

Note, that the pictures of the restaurant seating area were taken towards the end of the night – most tables were full when we first entered.

No walk this morning – I didn’t get up until a little after 09:00. There will be no blog tomorrow, as we have to pick up another visitor from the airport early in the morning!

Montegemoli and a Cheat Meal

Later in the morning, we walked to the car and made for Montegemoli. I knew it was only a little hamlet, but it’s supposed to have a fabulous restaurant: Osteria dell’Ultimo Carbonaio (Hostelry of the Last Charcoal Pile – I’m thinking BBQ, although it’s not a BBQ place).

I got in the car and selected the restaurant in Google Maps. When I ask for directions and hit ‘Start’, it promptly tells me that it will probably be closed when I get there. Sure enough, the opening time (again, according to Google – the place doesn’t have a website of it’s own) is 18:00. We thought we’d give it a bash anyway, as there are a number of places we could drive to from there.

We got there, and parked in the car park, and of course the place was closed., and actually doesn’t open on Thursdays ’til 18:30 But the village… it’s absolutely gorgeous. It stands on a hill of its own, with a vista to Volterra is blocked by another intervening hill, but there are panoramic views to elsewhere. It was like a ghost town. We did not see one more soul as we wandered around. We will definitely be back to sample the restaurant, and to show the town off. Here are some pics:

With lunch impossible here, I had a look at Google Maps to see where we might be able to go. Querceto is a lovely little hamlet we haven’t visited yet, and was a 22 minute drive away, but then I had to go and mention the Chinese place in Marina di Cecina, which is 37 minutes from Montegemoli. We hadn’t had Chinese in over 5 weeks, and so pell-melled it there (Grande Cina), and had so much grub that we had nothing else for the rest of the day. As Chinese restaurants go it’s ok when compared to back home, but it was just the change in flavours we needed.

We drove home with satisfied bellies, and lounged there, literally for the rest of the day. On the plus side, I got a few hundred words written, so the day wasn’t completely lost!

I polished off Santa Clarita Diet (which I have since learned has been cancelled by Netflix), and Archer. Carnival Row is out on Amazon, which both Niamh and I might be interested in, and I have yet to start Mindhunter!

Anyway, I got up this morning after a fitful night’s sleep, and decided to keep it within the walls.

Nothing planned for the daytime today, but this evening Niamh and I are celebrating our anniversary early by going to Del Duca for dinner. Should be yummy!

Bye for now!