Our seventh week began with absolutely gorgeous weather.
OK, so six weeks are over and we don’t feel much smarter than we did a week ago – or two weeks ago or . . . OK you get the picture. But the weather is absolutely gorgeous, sunny and a bit brisk this Saturday morning but gardens are coming in, trees are blooming everywhere and it would seem that Primavera is here at last.
This past weeks has been by and large a quiet one with the focus being largely on school and schoolwork.
Wednesday we did go to our second school-organized wine and food tasting at the enoteca “Cantina di Piazza” (a once-a-month activity) and had as much fun than the last one we attended. We clearly understood much more of the lecture that’s for sure. Also we’ve gotten to know some of the other students quite a bit better and that certainly has helped.
Speaking of other students this past Friday we started meeting in a small group (three of us so far) after school at a nearby bar to focus on our speaking skills.
Thursday Roberto Bechi called us right after school and asked if we would like to join his half-day tour (he had two open seats). We had been angling to join one of his very small group tours for some time and although the weather was leaning toward cold, wind and rain (all of which did in fact hit us later) we jumped at the chance.
We joined another couple, Vincent and Julie from NYC and headed off north of the city into the Chianti Classico zone. We stopped at an Etruscan tomb just outside of Castellina in Chianti – and while the weather was uncooperative it was a fascinating tour and short lecture by Roberto on the history and impact of Etruscans on western civilization.
From there headed to to a winery, Cappanelle, near Gaiole in Chianti where Roberto gave us another “underground” tour of the local winemaking process and afterwards we enjoyed a sampling of some of the wines, a chardonnay, a Chianti Classico and a “supertuscan” or IGT wine, “Solare”.
From Gairole Roberto drove us to the tiny village of Vertine, very quaint and picturesque yes, but it proved to be much than that. It was here that Roberto explained the rise of the middle ages and the complexities of the Renaissance, all within the context of this very tiny hamlet.
We ended the week with a delicious dinner with another student Kristina and her husband Floyd at “Il Capriccio”, a ristoranti operated by and located in the Hotel Palazzo Ravizza. (Kristina and Floyd live in southern Spain.) After dinner the four of us strolled about the garden, which had a wonderful eastern view from what seemed to be the top of the city walls; quite spectacular, even at night.
Saturday morning to be to be another gorgeous day and so naturally we headed into town. We had a coffee and dolce and then just strolled for a while, eventually settling on the Campo to have a glass of wine and bite of lunch. Our favorite street comedian (we first saw him do his shtick over five years ago) was performing for the tourists and as always it added to the sheer pleasure of soaking up the sun, sipping prosecco and watching people. Another student in our class, Catarina (from Switzerland of course) walked by and joined us for an hour or so – she’s very funny and although she speaks English very well she refuses to and will only speak in Italian. A great way to learn and we make the most of it (and so does she).
As the sun was setting we said ciao to Catarina and headed over to the nearby enoteca to pick out some wines for the week (the same place we had our gustazione at with the school for the past two months now). We sat down with Aimone, the owner and tasted several wines before making our selections. (he has quite a few wines open for tasting by the glass.)
Sunday we replayed Saturday’s “journey adrift” of spending the afternoon drinking prosecco and sitting on the Campo after doing competiti and going back to school on Monday.
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