We were brazen and decided on a three week trip through Germany, Italy, Italy, and more Italy. Our flights were set, the rental car rented, the hotel and vills accomodations arranged and we were all set to leave on Sept 15, 2001. Then Sept 11th. Partly because we were unsure the planes would be flying but mostly because Stacy was trapped in Houston and would have had to drive home on Friday for a Saturday departure, we decided to cancel the trip. When all the airlines opened up award travel availability in October, we rebooked a shorter vacation - 10 days - in the Southern Tuscan town of Montefollonico and in Rome. We stayed a week in Montefollonico and another 2 days in Rome (to relive a little piece of our honeymoon).
Montefollonico
We were told this name had something to do with 15th century textile making in/around the town. Either way, this was an incredible retreat from the hectic world. A small one-street walled town on the top of a large hill with two restaurants and one bar. Nobody spoke English (which we love), so upon arriving, we had to use erratic hand motions and horribly butchered Italian to ask how we contact the owner of the villa we were renting. A kindly old man figured out what we were gesturing about and took us to the owner. We saw him in the bar almost every morning thereafter and bought him a coffee each time. He was a cute old man.
October in Tuscany was magical. The weather was sunny but with moderate temperatures and a cool wind. This was made more enjoyable with our rental car - a Mazda Miata convertible. With hunting season on, we would wake to the faint sound of shotgun pops down in the valleys. We learned that the primary quarry was wild boar - or chingale in Italian - along with rabbit and game birds. As Stacy and I are both foodies, we were rewarded with the hearty and full fare of an Italian autumn. The signature pasta this time of year was call pici - thick spagetti with a hole down the middle. The ragu/sauces were hearty and when we asked one chef what was in it, he listed a whole slew of things we would never have eaten by themselves - ground rabbit, livers, bone marrow, etc. - but were so good in the sauce that we would have paid dearly for him to bottle it.
More details to follow later and with individual pictures...
Wednesday, October 31, 2001
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