| Lucy |
Apr 23rd, 2002 01:20 PM |
The next morning we had cheese, bread and honey and coffee, and then started a long day of touring. First we stopped in Colle Val D’Elsa. Biagio let us off at the top of the city which is situated along a high ridge that starts level with our main road linking us to the autostrada. We entered through the big gates in the stone walls and walked the streets into the main part. Stores lined the stone roadway, stores to the local population, not tourists. Not many tourists’ sites here, but the views from the walls stretch out over the countryside. The town itself is what is interesting. They are known locally for the blown glass art works, which local tenders sell. And for two very good restaurants and one excellent bakery, La Corte. We<BR>bought some panforte which the baker makes himself and he will serve pieces to eat on stools in the shop too. He makes light and dark panforte and they are both delicious.(I stocked up and just finished my last one yesterday). These are nothing like the dried up exports you can buy in the US, these are moist and decadent and filling.<BR>On to La Foce. We took the autostrada south and turned left at Siena and got on the back roads, winding around beautiful countryside with rolling green hills and sharp Italian cypress trees pointing to the sky.<BR>Each turn revealed a picture (in fact on my Tuscany calendar from Cost Plus, there are the same scenes and same houses that we saw that day). The scenery and the idea that I was rolling along the country roads with my new friends and lover was overwhelming. I felt like standing up in the car and taking wing, flying over the cypress trees, like a live Chagall painting. We spotted a perfect spot for a picnic then drove on.<BR><BR>La Foce is southeast of Siena in Val D’ orcia near Chianciano Terme and is the grounds of the estate of Iris Origo who wrote War in Val d’ Orcia and Images and Shadows, which is her autobiography. War in V. is her war diary of what happened to her and her family and the estate in WWII. I had read it years earlier and found it fascinating. It brings the situations of the war and what the Italian people endured to a personal level. The estate covers as far as you can see and has homes, which were her peasant’s farmhouses, available to rent now to tourists. The grounds of the estate itself are open to the public and are just wonderful. There are gardens and pathways, statues and small fountains, all so tasteful and beautiful. There are also concerts held there in the summer. I think it is open only one day a week and that is the day they give hosted tours, but not of the house. We had the right day and were told the story of their escape, etc. during the war as we walked the gardens. We stayed all afternoon.<BR><BR>(only one more day after this one to describe, then back to USA)<BR>
|
