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One of the perils of farm life was the fact that grandpa came to the farm every night with his home brew grappa and Vin Santo and he wanted to offer you some and chat. It didn’t phase him at all that no one spoke Italian except for him. He had a little iPad translator that barely worked but it was enough to communicate a few things.

When we got back to the farm, he was waiting for us so we decided to chat it up with grandpa – Tony, Maddie (who knows some Italian), Dana and me. He kept moving the conversation towards wanting to dance with the ladies. Before you knew it, he’d pulled up ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and I found myself in Grandpa’s arms. Thankfully Tony and Maddie were dancing at the same time and saved me  from being grandpa’s permanent dance partner. We did the ‘switch’ halfway through the song.

After a day in Siena, a ‘cankle’ scare, and the full 4 course wine tasting dinner – I was ready to head off to bed. No one wants to dance all night with grandpa. But it was fun to have more time with Tony and Maddie and it gave us much to laugh about that night..

They were leaving in the morning so it was our last chance to hang out with them some more. Overall a very fun night – dancing and all.

We made it back from Siena to the farm with about 15-20 minutes to get changed and ready to leave for the Wine Tasting Dinner. We ended up needing to call Daria to tell her to start without us as we would be 15-20 minutes late, as it was about a 20 minute drive. Then, of course, once you park, it’s a hike up to the hill town. So you need extra time to account for that little bit of extra cardio that makes a 1% dent in what you about to eat.

Daria was super gracious when we arrived, catching us up quickly on the first pour. She was fascinating to listen to and everything about this experience was superb and beautiful – including the tiny, gorgeous medieval hamlet of Monticchiello.

Throughout a specifically designed, four-course menu classy Daria (think an Italian Helen Mirren) explained each food and wine. She is a highly skilled sommelier – truly an expert for those who want to know more about Tuscan food and wine.

The restaurant ‘La Porta’ was small and charming, and very Tuscan in decor over looking the rolling hills of the region.

Eight of us from the farm went to this dinner and sat at one long table. It was great to have a taste of a wine that matched each course and listen to Daria’s explanations.

It was a wonderful experience in a beautiful setting and all the way back to the farm we kept talking about how cool Daria was and how she rocked her whole ‘I”m a wine expert’ look. It was a great end to the activities of the day.

Antonella has to be experienced to really get the full ‘flavor’ of this mix of a chic and fiery Italian woman/historian/drill sergeant/tour guide/wine and cheese expert. My first introduction to her was her knocking at our apartment door at 8:59am as we were heading out with a ‘It’s 9am, the tour starts a 9am.’  I reply, ‘Yes, got it, we are coming out right now.’

Let me just say, with the pace we have been maintaining, a 9am start with getting ready, making breakfast, coffee, collecting all of things you think you’ll want/need all day feels a little stressful. On this day I even skipped coffee and breakfast to simplify what I had to do that morning. And everything else at the farm has been a loose start – with about a 10 minute grace period. Not so much with Antonella.

Antonella introduces herself by saying, ‘I am not your typical Italian woman. 1. I do not like the sun, 2. I am always on time, 3. I hated the movie ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’- it was horrible.’ All of us going on the tour that day from the farm – about 12, were half awake and just kind of staring at her thinking, not sure she if she is insulting us or what but, here we go. Rough start.

We all drove there in a caravan (5 cars) following her on the 1-hour drive to Siena. She gave us rules before we departed and instruction on what to do in case we got separated on the drive. She also insisted we tailgate on the one lane roads so that we didn’t let any cars in between our caravan. My whole life I have been driving without tailgating – so trying to start undoing that probably wasn’t going to happen as she would hope.

Regardless, all went well on the drive, tailgating and all and soon enough we were in Siena in a secret parking garage that she led us into equipped with nice bathrooms. You had to pay .50 euro to use it, but it was worth it. About half of us didn’t have to go, but she said, ‘You all MUST go and try, this is your last chance for a bathroom for a while.’ I felt like I was in 2nd grade again being asked by the teacher to ‘try’ to go to the bathroom when recess was over before heading back into class. So I tried and was successful. What do you know, I did have to go. Maybe I need Antonella.

She actually turned out to be a great tour guide and knew so much of the history of Siena. It was fascinating to understand more about Siena beyond the stunning medieval architecture that sours up into the sky and seems frozen in time. Siena is a world heritage site, founded by the Etruscans in 900-400 BC. That is enough to blow your mind.They were a tribe of advanced people that changed the face of Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land and build their settlements in well defended hill forts. It is something to see!

In all of my trips to Italy, I had never been to Siena and this was spectacular to visit. At one time, Siena was medieval Florence’s archrival, but because Siena suffered from the Black Plague in the 1300’s, losing a third of their inhabitants, it never recovered. That led to it being pickled in time for centuries giving us the view that we have today.

Today Siena is well known for their medieval-inspired Palio horse race that has been held since the early 13th century. It takes place on two separate days of the year: July 2nd, and August 16th. Ten horses and jockeys compete in the race representing ten districts (out of the seventeen in which the city is divided). These districts are like little families, with their own animal symbol and flag and they take the competition VERY seriously! If your district wins you are considered ‘born again’ and become a ‘baby’ – with the honor to wear your district scarf and a pacifier around your neck for a year. Say what?

Antonella knew so much of this history of the Palio horse Race event, I am definitely inspired to watch it in August on TV this year. She also led us through the Duomo (Siena main cathedral) which is spectacular to see and completely massive.

Our time with Antonella ended at about 1pm and by then we were ready for a break from the Antonella regime. I will say she was very efficient, had funny stories, and was very well informed. It’s too bad she lost me at ‘I hated the movie – Under the Tuscan Sun’ so early in the day. We skipped the group lunch to explore on our own.

This is the day I looked down to tie my shoe and discovered I didn’t recognize my ankles. I now had ‘cankles.’ All of the heat, combined with lack of drinking enough water, and salty foods had taken its toll. I had never seen my ankles look like that, needless to say, I started downing the water! I laughed everytime I looked at my Fred Flinstone feet and suddenly was highly motivated to keep drinking water.

Regardless we pressed on and did our own tour of Siena with the Rick Steve’s audio guide. We actually preferred that tour to Antonella’s as we could do it at our own pace and he offers such a nice flavor of what you are experiencing on his audio walking tours and they are not overwhelming. We ran into Antonella leading another group (no wonder she was keeping us on such a tight schedule) and waived.

Soon enough we were a little hungry and stopped for a light lunch and we had a wine tasting dinner tour that evening and it was already 3pm. Dana found the cutest little place for us to have a small plate of mixed meats (more salt!), cheeses, and a glass of Prosecco. We so enjoyed our time there, oddly listening to 50’s diner music that was piped in while we enjoyed our snack and our free time in Siena.

We walked back to the parking garage and ran into Antonella again with yet another tour group! This woman is a touring machine around these parts. We waived again and she confirmed we were on the right path back to the parking garage. With that we bid a fond, ‘Arrivederci Antonella’ and headed back to the farm to get changed for our progressive wine tasting dinner.

On Tuesday night we signed up for the dinner on the rooftop terrace on top of a Medievel tower. We were told it would be like eating dinner up in a hot air balloon. That description was very accurate including the tight quarters that you might find yourself in – if you had 11 people eating in a hot air balloon!

By now I was so exhausted as we headed off to dinner for this adventure. I had even napped that afternoon, but still felt fatigued from all of the non-stop activity. Also, have I mentioned it is hot! Very hot, so that has a way of zapping your energy.

Regardless, dinner as it was described on a roof top felt like it was not to be missed (as did every activity they suggested this week – that was the problem). So we signed up for it and even hung in there when they told us two other families would be joining us that night that had a combined five children ages 11, 8, 8, 7, 7 We really liked the parents of the children (all staying on the farm at the same time as us) and figured they would keep the kids under control during dinner. While I do love children, dining out at fancy dinners in Italy with a group of them sounds like a recipe for an interesting evening.

As it turned out, they did a great job in keeping the children behaved when they were at the table and specifically eating. When they weren’t eating, the parents would say ‘go down and play’ and sent them down into the village to play at the park with the 11-year-old in charge.  Isabella, had said it was fine for them to play in the village and they seemed to enjoy their time adventuring around. You definitely feel in this part of Italy that it is very family oriented and the Italians take care of one another and that children are precious and protected by all.

Getting to this roof top was about 6 flights of stairs up, and then 2 sets of what we were calling ‘bunk bed’ ladders to climb onto the roof. It was hilarious! We couldn’t imagine how they would get all of our food up and down all of these stairs and ladders.

Amazingly, they did and did it very proficiently! The food ended up being just as spectacular as the view. Dana and I split a Tuscan soup and a spinach pici pasta with fried bacon. Believe me when I say it was outstanding and at this point I feel I am fast-tracking my way shutting down my arteries. Our only good choice at this point is we are now splitting dishes to cut our calories in half. Hey, you have to start somewhere!

It turned out to be very memorable evening and we are so glad that we went. We also enjoyed connecting with the other families. The location was unreal and indescribable. I am hoping that the pics picture here help to give an idea of what it was like to sit up there and watch the sunset and then dine under the stars. It was unforgettable and I am so grateful for the experience.

Did I mention Carlo is a professional olive oil taster? Well, he is. Just when we thought he couldn’t get any cooler, he drives up on antique Vespa and begins the tour letting us know he is also an official olive oil tester for the Province of Siena.

He started by showing us the vineyards and how they are suffering from the drought this year. Many of the leaves are burned as are the grapes because of the heat. The grapes also aren’t growing well, because they can’t get enough water. If they don’t get rain in the next 10 days they will lose a lot of their wine production this year. Carlo has said he has never seen a drought in Tuscany like they have had this year in all of his years of farming.

He then introduced us to the world of olive farming and olive oil production. We started in the orchard to learn about the trees, the pruning, and the harvest, and then it moved into a quick lesson to learn about olive oil, what to taste for, how to select a good olive oil to buy.

It all commenced in a ‘tasting game’ where we rated 4 different olive oils and they helped us to recognize defects in oils and those qualities that make a good oil. After tasting we judged the oils on several qualities (spicy, bitter, density, fruitiness, sweetness, balance, etc.) that make a good oil and then compared our ratings to Carlo’s ratings. Proud to say that I recognized the rancid oil…ha, ha.

The top 5 things I learned were:

1. Always buy extra virgin olive oil – it’s the best quality. Don’t bother with regular olive oil, the quality isn’t good.
2. The olive oil you buy for cooking should be different than the one you put on your salad that is important for taste. Your cooking oil should be mild so as not to interfere with the taste of your dish.
3. If you want Italian oil, look on the back label to make sure it is Italian olives, not just ‘bottled in Italy’ on the front label.
4. Store your oil in a dark bottle and don’t buy a quantity that you can’t go through in 90 days.
5. If you reuse a bottle to store your oil, make sure to clean it in the dishwasher each time you refill it including the stopper. If you don’t, the older oil on the rim will turn rancid and could turn your new oil rancid.

 

On this morning we we offered a tour of ‘Romitorio’ – which belongs to the family we are staying with and was first built as an Etruscan tomb. In the Middle Ages (1300’s) it was used as a hermitage site and in World War II it was used for a hiding place and protection of the partisans.

As they explained it, Carlo bought this property adjacent to his family farm and ‘discovered’ it as he was clearing away the brush from the hillside. Say what? I guess Italy has more of these historic sites than the country can pay to maintain, so if you buy property and there is something like this there, it is up to you to maintain and care for the costs as Carlo and Isabella have done for this site.

Carlo has cleared it all out and started to do the work of preservation. When he found the site it had been last used by farmers as a pig pen and chicken coop so you can imagine the filth he has had to clear away to make it a place to come visit.

Since the time he has cleared it out, now the government sends archeologists to come study the site to understand what happened here and the significance of the tomb paintings, art, and frescos.

When we first saw it all of our jaws dropped and Tony (of Tony and Maddie – cute honeymoon couple on this trip – more on that later) said what we were all thinking, ‘Wait, Carlo just FOUND this?’ Again, the legend of Carlo continued to build.

It reminded me of the set of Land of the Lost and it was hard to wrap your mind around how old everything was that you were looking at – a very fascinating tour.

After the tour it was mid-day and so hot! We decided to have lunch with Maddie and Tony (the honeymooners I referred to earlier). They live near Iona University in New York and he is originally from Philadelphia and she is from Virginia and were married on July 1. It is so great when you come on a trip like this and are able to meet fellow travelers and connect and laugh with them. They both have tremendous senses of humor and we find all of the same things funny.

Dana nailed it when she said at lunch, you remind me of Seth Meyers. Ding, ding, ding! That was it, Tony looked and talked a lot like Seth Meyers with a similar sense of humor and Maddie is equally as engaging. Oh how they had us laughing. The four of us together had a fun lunch in Pienza followed by touring the town a bit while licking gelatos. After the gelatos were gone we decided it was too hot to walk around anymore and we all headed back to the villa for naps.

Dana and I laugh that nap time is a big event now.  We gleefully anticipate the opportunity to go back and get into our ‘napping’ outfits, take out our contacts, close our eyes and rest in the coolness of our room.

This night we were offered the opportunity to have a professional Chef come on-site to prepare a delicious four course meal while we watch, we could ask questions, and sip wine. He based the menu on what he finds delicious at the market that morning to ensure you are eating locally and seasonally.

As we wouldn’t have to drive anywhere, we said YES to this experience even though it was the fourth activity of the day that started with the 6:30am hike. For all that has transpired since then, thank goodness for the hike that morning.

Giancarlo was a PRIZE. His personality alone would have been worth the price of paying for this extra dinner. He was like a caricature of himself and the most enthusiastic chef I have ever seen. He had the same enthusiasm of the little mouse chef in the Disney movie, Ratatouille.

The way he described each dish and then plated and served each course, was beyond belief. We felt like there were even side dishes for each course. As in ‘here is your pasta course’ with a ‘side of pasta.’

Another ‘side-bar’ story to this evening was one of the families that came to dine with us from the other fancy property. It was a Doctor and his wife and their two children. A girl who was 18 and going to be a senior and a son who was 13, and was quite the ‘boy wonder’ for his age. His name was Zach, and he was like a 50-year-old man trapped in a 13-year-old body. From the moment I sat down I found this little Doogie Howser to be an odd mix of pretension and cute young boy all wrapped into one. A conversation with him felt oddly uncomfortable.

‘Hi, I’m Zach,’ he says as he is cooly sipping on Prosecco. I’m like ‘Oh, you are drinking?’ He says, ‘Oh yah, I’m Jewish and this is a very normal part of our culture.’ I don’t know what to say but, ‘Ah, okay, cool?’ Looking at his father who nods in agreement. His father had a big bushy beard with warm physician eyes, and so I think well, okay, he seems to have this under control, I’m not going to worry. Zach continued to drink with us the rest of the night – including wine and grappa. He would take sips and then run over to the swing set to play with the other kids and then come back and sip. It was the oddest thing.

Zach also felt free to offer his opinions on any topic and challenge adults. Dana is a fourth grade teacher, which was a hit of the night. The parents were all intrigued and asking her all kinds of questions about her work except for Zach. Apparently he has issues with the core testing and feels it is too subjective and was pointing out specific sections he thinks are challenging and don’t make sense in a tone that made you think Dana would be compelled to call the school board as soon as we returned to our room. Not so much.

The daughter was another story, very sweet, and clearly under the shadow of her brilliant brother. I couldn’t quite understand what was happening when it took her 3 hours to eat the above pasta dish. It was all she ate that night. She  literally licked each strand of pasta – like a little cat, licking off the pepper, then she would take a little bite. I was so confused, I had never seen this. I could possibly learn from her as I was slurping down pasta on this trip at a much faster clip.

As we listened to Zach tell us about life some more during dinner, I finally asked. ‘Zach, what do you want to be when you grow up?’ I coudln’t wait to hear his aspirations. He replied, ‘A chemical physicist. No, actually, a particle physicist.’ I said, ‘Wow, and what is a particle physicist?’ Everyone at the table was wondering so I went ahead and asked the question. He replied, ‘It is the study of subatomic particles.’ I was thinking, I definitely woke up too early for this conversation and will now shift my attention to the beautiful plate of duck in front of me that I am too full to eat! Somehow I managed though…it was perfectly cooked and delicious to the last bite.

We were absolutely TOAST after this dinner and ready to head straight to bed, only there was Grandpa waiting with the Grappa. The whole dinner Dana was saying, ‘We can’t drink with Grandpa tonight, we can’t drink with Grandpa.’ I was like, ‘Yes, I agree, I’m tired.’

Next thing I know…I hear Dana saying ‘Okay, one glass.’ And we were pulled in – for another 30 minutes. Until Carlo his son came to collect his dad and was talking to him in Italian, ‘It’s late! Please stop.’ You could feel the family tensions rising as Carlo probably has to come collect his dad each night because of his dad’s passion for connecting with the guests and drinking Grappa. He is harmless and you can pour out the grappa when he isn’t looking – so really, to pay respect to him for a few minutes at the end of the night isn’t so bad.

We finally headed to bed and slept the soundest night of the trip. It was a LONG and wonderful day that wiped us out. Possibly haven’t been that tired since my first trip to Disneyland at age 3 or 4.

When you hear the words ‘progressive wine tasting’ combined with ‘estate’ and the name ‘Donatella Cinelli Colombini’ – you can’t help but say YES to this tour. The name alone drove up our curiosity, even though we are still on Monday and started this day at 6:30am with the trek with Carlo, then the farm tour with Luciano.

It was was about a 50 minute drive out to the estate on many ‘one-way’ roads that actually were roads for traffic in both directions. On this trip, I have become the official driver and Dana is the expert navigator. We make a great team and equally squeal when opposite facing cars are taking a turn too far into your lane. It does keep the blood pumping! Also, there is the fun event of when a car with a red flag is coming your way and within seconds a WIDE LOAD truck taking up the whole road is in front of you and you literally have to figure out or hope and pray there is a little area for you to pull over into so the truck can pass. Usually it means pulling into brush and hoping the rental car company won’t charge you for the scratches to the vehicle.

Behind those few harrowing experiences, we are learning how to navigate well and even know when GPS is trying to send us in the wrong direction. We are quite proud of our internal compass that tells us always to heads towards Pienza.

After the windy road drive to the estate, we arrived and were greeted by a small Italian woman in interesting ‘wrap pants’ – I have seen several women in these type of pants, that are sort of reminiscent of MC Hammer 1980’s Hammertime pants. I was half distracted by these pants as she gave us the tour of the estate that was once owned by the grand duke of Tuscany.

We got to see inside the villa and rooms like the historic kitchen, billiard room, and the cellar where the barrels of wine are stored. They also gave us a selection of locally produced meats and cheeses to sample with the wine.

By now I am a meat and cheese machine and my ‘vegan’ stint of earlier this year is a distant memory that I can only hope I can return to when I get home as a massive reversal to the early on-set heart attack I may be promoting with all of these fatty meats and cheese tastings.

After the morning trek with Carlo, we had about an hour to eat breakfast before we all headed to the family farm of our hosts, where Grandpa Luciano was going to give us the farm tour to see where they produce their products and care for their animals, see their wine storage, and wrap it all up with a tasting of their delicious farm products.

Grandpa Luciano (the family patriarch) is a piece of work. He trolls the property at night looking for guests to sit down and drink grappa with him. He doesn’t speak English at all but has a little mini-ipad he uses to communicate the translation. He is determined and very endearing.

Listening to his tour of how farming has changed for him since he was born in 1940 and started working on the farm at age 15, was absolutely fascinating. He showed us the old ways and the new ways and brought us down to where they keep the animals. In addition to the usual chickens, goats, rabbits you may see at the fair or other farm tours – they had a pig pen like I have never seen in my life. The most robust pigs and one gigantic mamma pig with her piglets.

To watch Luciano feed her a monster zucchini and the way she dominated eating that and moving her little piglets out of the way was impressive. She basically would throw them across the pen with her snout. I asked her name and grandpa said she doesn’t have a name. I figured they don’t name them to not get too attached – as he said no pigs live to old age and that as soon as she isn’t able to have pigs anymore she would be butchered.

Your heart sinks a little when you understand that, but then you remember all of the delicious ham an sausage varieties we have eaten on this trip have had to come from somewhere and you are hit with the realization once again that demand drives supply. Yet, still, memories of Charlotte’s Web and Fern trying to save Wilbur tend to stick with you for a lifetime. Oh the tension of farm life!

After the tour they sat us down to try their farm made meats, olive oil, truffle oil, chianti, cheeses – it was all very good and a great way to spend the morning and lunchtime.

A 6am alarm clock on your vacation seems unnatural, but we didn’t want to miss the Monday morning adventure with Carlo. He is the husband of Isabella, the owners of the property of where we are staying. By now it is Thursday and I am getting caught up on blogs, and I giggle to think what a legend Carlo has become to all of us staying here as we learn more about him each day. He is a true Renaissance man who knows a stunning amount about agriculture and farming. You get the feeling he could break a wild animal’s neck with his bare hands and understand how to skin and prepare it for dinner.

Most everyone staying on the property joined us on the hike – about 12 people. We left promptly at 6:30am on a 7 kilometer, 2.5 mile hike. It was beautiful to see the morning sunshine on the across the landscapes of crops, vineyards, and olive orchards. We thought 2.5 hours was an over estimation of the hike. Nope! It was 2.5 hours.

It was a nice opportunity to get some badly needed exercise and get to know some of the other travelers staying at the villa. Overall, it is a great group – of course with the addition of those that make you giggle later. Throughout the week we have gotten to know a few that really are a lot of fun and that have made the trip even more enriching.