guinness – Our Man In Volterra

Nat King Cole once sang “Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…”. I guess two out of three ain’t bad, to quote another song. Yes, we had a slow day yesterday.

After screen-watching, we went to the Co-Op to buy food for the next couple of days, and refil our Chariot of Fire… well, it’s more a like a smouldering dustcart… with fuel. Fuel is damned expensive in Italy. In Volterra it’s about 20% more expensive on average than it is in Ireland.

We got prezzemolo (flat-leafed parsley) and peperoncini (chilies) for tonight, and stock cubes for future attempts and making Zuppa alla Volterrana or risotti/orzotti (the latter is like a risotto, but it’s made with pearl barley). Amongst other stuff, I also bought some deodorant, which I wore for the first time this morning for my walk – in order to prevent me being chased by flies. For a while I couldn’t put my finger on what it smelled like to me – then I had a revelation. It’s like the spice mix you get in digestif liqueurs – specifically Amaro or Jägermeister. Er, lovely?

About an hour after dropping shopping back up to the apartment, we went out to La Mangiatoia for pizza and beer!

I had a 4-cheese and Niamh a cappriciosa, both were lovely – the second-best 4-cheese I’ve had here (Ombra della Sera Pizzeria being the best so far). The Moretti were lovely as always. They have large 660ml bottles of beer over here – slightly larger than your pint bottle of Bulmers (568ml). I’m not a huge beer drinker, but Moretti hits the spot. A Sardinian beer, Ichnusa, is pretty good too. But if anyone who lives local is reading this, could you please tell me where I could find some cider?! I can’t believe it’s not popular over here, given the weather in summer!

Afterwards, we had a stroll around town and got some gelato from L’Isola del Gusto. I got nutella & marscapone, and nocciola (hazlenut) – the first was great, but their hazlenut is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. So creamy.

And so back the apartment, pretty much until the sun went down. It took us a while to work up a hunger after the pizza, but at around 20:30, I rustled up my first all’olio, aglio e peperoncino dish (oil, garlic and chili respectively). We had bucatini to use up, so we used that instead of spaghetti – but ideally you should use spaghetti. I had a dread fear of over-salting since my last dish, and so didn’t salt the ingredients in the pan. The result needed salt, but that was easily recified after serving it up. It was yummy and I was well-chuffed! Certainly better than I’ve ever had it in Ireland.

Niamh stayed in, while I went outside in search of free entertainment and a shnakey pint. They had a band playing jazzed-up folk and avante-garde pieces in the Roman amphitheatre. They were pretty good, so I hung around for a little while.

This moring I went on a shorter walk (about 2.75km) around, and just outside, the town. In the cathedral square, a bunch of guys were unloading more props for the medieval festival, and the market was just about to kick off in the Vallebona carpark. Bleecher seating was out in Piazza dei Priori, presumably for the performances of the sbandieratori (those who practice the art of throwing and juggling large, medieval flags). They will be performing this Sunday, so I hope to get pics or movies. For the very first time, I also walked through the graffiti-lined shortcut that cuts out an entire corner of town.

We were planning to go to Massa Marittima today, but with the market in the main carpark, those put-out residents are on-the-prowl for handy parking. So if we left our spot, it could mean we’d have to spend a lot of time either finding/waiting for a spot, or parking in the arse-end of nowhere and having a difficult walk back to town. We have tons of time, and so can go next week.

Thanks a lot!

We got lazy. There’s no two ways about it. After breakfast, we lay in front of the TV for an hour or two, and then went out and had a couple of serviceable pizzas in L’Antica Taverna.

Feeling a little guilty about how much time we spent indoors thus far, we had a little walk about town. We stopped in Antica Dolceria Via di Sotto and bought some cantuccini (for Niamh) and brutti ma buoni (for me). Both are a form of hard biscuit. Cantuccini are often dipped into Vin Santo (a wine not a million miles from communion wine) as a dessert.

Brutti ma buoni (are so-called because they look ugly, but taste lovely). Anyway, after that, we mosied to the Parco Enrico Fiumi, which is Volterra’s public park. I never get to take shots of it in the morning for you, because it’s usually closed until 08:30.

The townsfolk are getting ready for the upcoming Volterra AD 1398 medieval festival occuring on August 11th and 18th. I’ve heard good things about it, and it will be our first time to experience the atmosphere. They’re currently building stalls for all the different shops and exhibitions in the park.

On the way home, we stopped off for a little bit of gelato in one of the newer gelateria off Piazza Martiri della Libertà – not bad at all – and sat in the main square to people-watch.

After doing a spot of writing, I crashed for the afternoon, and then watched the telly. We had the lovely ragù Niamh had made a couple of days previously. The flavours had fused even more, and so it was actually lovelier the second time around!

Niamh stayed in after, but I went to the Irish bar for a couple of pints. Although you could have used the head on my second pint as a yardstick, the Guinness still tasted nice and smooth.

This morning, I thought I’d give the old ticker a workout. So I took the quickest route down to the Co-Op supermarket (maybe 90 meters down), and then walked all the way back up by a longer route. My calves are killing me, but I got good exercise.

Some of the pics may not be especially sexy, as below the old, walled town, you still have a thriving modern area.

Our little herbs are coming along nicely!

This morning, we are going to drive to La Rosa to go to a larger supermarket, just to see if it has much more available than the two closest to us – and of course stock-up.

Thanks for reading!