After the COVID test, I drove back to Silvia at the agriturismo, had a light breakfast, checked out and headed to Florence to pick up Jeff and Heidi. The thought of traveling into the center of Florence on a sunny Saturday (more crowds) wasn’t my favorite thought, but I was excited to meet up with Heidi and Jeff and get on our way back to the farm for the reunion.
Despite the fact their hotel was down a skinny ally of a ‘street’ with cars parked up on one side. They were waiting out front with their oversized luggage and like a clown car, we worked efficiently to get it all packed in and all of us buckled up just in time for a car to come barreling up the street. With that we were on our way.
We chatted the entire 1:45 minute drive out to the farm, and the further we got away from Florence and onto the highway and country roads, I could feel my driving anxiety start to lift. We soon pulled into the familiar gravel driveway of Cretaiole (the farm name) – which means clay garden. The earth around this part of Italy is dense like clay and the area around the farm looks like a garden.
We were the first to arrive and Fernanda – the new person that works with the family – was there to collect our passports and show us to our rooms. I have and upstairs 2 bedroom unit with a kitchen and fireplace. It has beautiful views and so much room. This is my fourth trip to the farm and it is the largest space I’ve had to doubt. Without Carla in the second bedroom, the place seems oversized for me, but I am so happy with all the room and still a little bummed that Carla couldn’t be here to experience it with me, with all of us.
We all get settled in our rooms and then greeted different couples and families as they arrived at our reunion place. It was so nice to see them again after 3 years. We all gathered that evening for wine, appetizers while we waited for the welcome dinner hosted by the farm family. They said it would be a simple dinner – but it was far from simple and cooked by the grandma of the family Lilliana.
We had amazing garlic toast with olive oil – I could still taste the garlic in my mouth the next morning (yes I brushed my teeth that night). We had Ribollita – which is a famous Tuscan bread soup, mostly consisting of cannelloni beans, kale, cabbage, other seasonal autumn vegetables and leftover bread – in the soup. It had so many layers of home cooked flavor and it was chilly outside. A perfect choice for this nice with red wine. They also served a combination of beans and sausage and then grandpa Luciano came with the fresh made biscotti to dip in the Vinsanto. A perfect meal and gathering for our first night back at the farm. We all staggered back to our room full, a little tipsy and oh so happy to be back here again.
