The Lady Venice and I

I've been told that Venetians consider their city to be a most noble lady, worthy of her name, "La Serenissima." Some will go so far as to say that an outsider's impressions of Venice are directly proportional to her impression of the visitor. The Lady sizes you up, and if she likes what she sees, she will enchant. If she finds you lacking, she will rebuff. It's a romantic notion, as befits a city redolent with romance and the memory of stupendous political and social power. It's a notion that makes perfect sense to me.

My first trip to Venice came in 1985, during my junior year abroad at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. The Lady Venice cracked the door open to me then, considering me from a reserved distance and offering a glimpse at what I would enjoy most about her in future; her mystery, her silence, her indescribable power to overwhelm the senses. I explored the city as many foreign students do, multi-city tour on spring vacation, traveling light, putting up in an inexpensive pensione, dining prix-fixe at trattorias, a guide book and phrase book in each hand. I discovered her mystery and silence in early evening walks. I lost myself safely among the warren of small and still smaller streets unpeopled by tourists, angling off and randomly ending at lagoons, stony dead ends, or in a campo's blaze of sunlight, color, and sound. The streets took me unawares, herding me in disorienting directions. Navigating the random twists, cut-offs, and shadowed alcoves, I remember thinking that espionage must have taken a delicious evolutionary turn in the days of Venice's domination of the Adriatic. Still, somehow, either naively or presciently, I wasn't afraid. I liked the silent wandering. It allowed me to listen to Venice, even if for only a few minutes. Listen to the past, to the present, hoping to return and listen in its future.

Preparing to leave two days later, I paused at the steps of the train station. Looking over my shoulder, I caught the Lady's face reflected in the canal, a knowing gaze from a palazzo's half-shuttered window. I turned, hoping to someday meet her face to face.

We're in Some Very Hot Water

We’re off to take the thermal waters of Fonte Verde Terme in the aptly named hill town of San Casciano dei Bagni, or San Casciano of the Baths. The Val d'Orcia has a number of ancient and active thermal mineral springs, including Fonte Verde. It is the third largest thermal bath in Europe, and its waters serve up a cocktail of stress-relieving minerals, including magnesium, calcium, sulphur, and fluoride in a bath warmed by Mother Nature to a toasty 100+ degrees Fahrenheit.

We’ve never done anything like this, so we don’t really know what to expect. We have bathing suits, but do people go naked in the main pool? The attendant hands us our spa robes, slippers, and towels, and we make our way to the ladies' changing room, where a small sign announces that swimsuits are de rigeur. No bathing in the buff. My body relaxes in relief.

Reassured thusly, we don our suits and pass through the mystic portal to the spa pool. We blink back the midday sun, and look out at what resembles a huge resort pool. Smaller pools are reserved for guests taking specific treatments. All ages are represented at Fonte Verde. There are families, young couples, ladies who lunch, and older bathers. Beautiful bodies all. The ladies who lunch are off to the right in the shade of a portico, gabbing al fresco, dressed in bikinis, stilettos and designer handbags. A family or two is setting up camp at the long end of the pool, arranging chaises longues in strategic formations to better sunbathe and kibitz together. A man bobs in the water with his young son.

We drop our things on chairs and investigate the pool. No need to ease into it, because we know we won't get goosebumps from cold. I step into this epsom elixir, and the feeling is luxuriant. Warming my bones and muscles sore with travel and some chronic pain, I’m perpetuating an ancient tradition. Seeking relief when the healing waters stir. The water is about waist deep on an adult. I sink down until the water laps at my ear lobes, and survey the aquascape at periscope depth. At one end of the pool, four tall spigots arch overhead and gush with water. To one side, a thermal cascade splashes down in moving sheet, some 15 -20 feet across. For a bather sitting directly under this mini waterfall, the water’s effect is a pounding hydro-massage whose force can strip off, um, a swimsuit top. Really; it happened. Sitting behind the aqua sheet, a bather transforms into an Impressionist dream-like form as I glance in from outside. I paddle to the spigots shower and sample the benefits upon my shoulders and neck, then bob around a bit.

I last only 10 minutes in the super-heated water before a slight wooziness sets in, so I step out and head to a lounge chair to cool off and sip water. Our group spends another hour at the pool’s edge, chatting, laughing, and I take a few photos. We have a bite to eat, and join the spa ladies in stilettos. Interestingly, we’re the only ones wearing hats, but we don’t mind. Then finally, drowsingly, we repair to the showers, pack up, and head back to Il Colombaio, our bodies warmed, rejuvenated and purified by the therapeutic waters nestled in these Tuscan hills.

For more information about Fonte Verde, go to: http://www.fonteverdespa.com/index.html

Traveling Inward

May 2009...

I feel as if I belong here. After a gorgeous breakfast al fresco set on the grass outside Il Colombaio, the Ladies have gone to the Mille Miglia auto rally rolling through Radicofani. I stay behind to sink in some roots, and refresh my spirit in nature, human silence and retreat. I want more of this. I need more of this.

Since the day I knew I would be coming here, I have been craving sacred silence and prayer in the Lord’s created world, here in Italy, the birthplace of one of my spiritual heroes, St. Francis of Assisi. I am Christian, Catholic, and my spirituality is deeply Franciscan. I sit facing the valley and do what I have been longing to do. Here, outside in the hills washed in the rays of the morning sun, with only the sounds of Creation, I pray. Deep, silent, centering prayer, in a cathedral of cypresses and olive trees, ministered by avian angels. The swallows swoop and flutter, the cuckoos call in the distance. The valley spreads out before me, a wide altar prepared for holy communion.

My God, Glorious God, I love this view. I love this silence. No bustling, no planning. Just me, dissolving into this blessed landscape.

Mille Miglia - Italy's Road Rally

May 2009...

At Silvana's enthusiastic recommendation, Cynthia, Priscilla and Trish head to town to await the arrival of the cars participating in the Mille Miglia (1000 Miles) an auto rally that wends its way from Brescia to Rome and back, touring some of the most glorious landscape in Italy. Once a grueling and dangerous race, it now pays homage to the auto rally tradition at a more relaxed pace, giving the public a chance to revel in the passing cavalcade of vintage vehicles. This year, it's rolling right through Radicofani.

According to information on the rally's official website, this year's rally travels "clockwise in a circle on the fabled Mille Miglia roads crossing seven regions: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, the Marche, Umbria and Lazio on the way down, adding Tuscany on the way back."

Would love to add our Ford diesel to the parade, but then there are all those hill stops and starts. Maybe next year...

Interested in the Mille Miglia? Go to the official website
www.1000miglia.eu/inglese/.../disposizioni_generali.html

Silvana da Radicòfani

May, 2009

We step into the small store, a true corner grocer, small, and longer than it is wide. And it carries a little bit of everything a person could need, from fresh deli meats, cheeses, and pasta, to sponges, wine, and dish liquid. As we’re taking everything in, the shopkeeper cheerily bustles in from the back room, and asks if she can help. We tell her we’re there for a few things, not the least of which is pasta to serve with pesto. She immediately recommends, the trionfetti. "They go best with pesto; they’re the right shape for that sauce.” The Ladies look around for other items on the list, and I ask about wine. We want a bottle that would most likely appear on a table in Radicòfani. In a way, cautious as I am, I suppose I’m also testing our shopkeeper to see if she’s going to recommend the expensive wine. I needn’t have bothered. She’s the genuine article, and recommends a $3 bottle of Tuscan red. Her sommelier’s task complete, she introduces herself – Silvana – and then, the games begin in the best possible way. Silvana dives in to advise us on everything they way the locals do it. It’s a guided gastronomical tour.

The Highlights:
Pici, which are very thick spaghetti, are distinctly Tuscan pasta.

Bufala mozzarella has stronger flavor than mozzarella made from cow’s milk.

You don’t need a €12 wine, the €1,50 (our $3 bottle) is welcome at anyone’s table here in town.

There's an annual auto rally coming through town tomorrow. It's a must see.

Silvana takes frequent verbal side trips during our tour, but they’re worth the extra time. First, she can’t help but tell us that she’s impressed four woman friends would just set out on their own for a foreign country. “You must all have very strong astrological signs.” That launches an inquiry into our signs. “Italians are very attentive to the zodiac,” she says. We don’t know if that’s true across the board, but we’re curious as to where Silvana is headed, so we indulge her. At least, I do, since I’m translating the exchange. Cynthia is Cancro, Cancer, and according to Silvana, the sweetest of all of us. Priscilla, Capra, Capricorn, is the toughest, most stubborn of all of us. “Dove vuole arrivare…arriverà,” she says, pounding her fist into her palm. Translated, that means, Priscilla gets where she wants to go, and gets what she wants. Trish and I are both Arieti, Aries, passionate, strong and loyal. So in the first 20 minutes in the shop, we’ve got wine and pasta, and a side of astrology. This is giving “one stop shopping” a new meaning!

And we’re not done yet. We need meats and cheese, and turn our thoughts to coldcuts, salumi. Silvana is eager to ply us with taste samples of everything on offer to help us find exactly what we want: mortadella, prosciutto, formaggio, salsiccia, ulivi, pomodori secchi. First up, formaggio, cheese. Silvana woos our taste buds with five different cheeses, and we choose thick slabs of pecorino toscano and mild parmeggiano. A lovely salami seasoned with fennel nestles in next to them in our basket, keeping company with the trionfetti for tonight. Tortellini will headline on another night.

As we’re wiping crumbs of cheese from our lips, Silvana excuses herself to ring up customers who have quick purchases. When she comes back, Trish asks about the little silhouetted sign we saw earlier, the one of the monk with a backpack. “Ah, quello. That sign marks part of the Via Cassia, an ancient high road dating to the Roman Empire. It connects Rome and what is now Florence. Christian pilgrims traveled it too, with Rome as their destination. Radicòfani is along the ancient route. Pilgrims still come and retrace the way.” In fact, while we’re there, a woman from Germany comes in to buy a couple of bottles of mineral water. Silvana nods toward her as she wraps up a container of sun-dried tomatoes for us, saying as she does, “She's part of a group doing that very thing.” The woman smiles in our direction and we smile back.

After our 90-minute tour of Radicòfani past and present, we’re saying goodbye on a first name basis, with warms hugs, double kisses, photos, and promises to be back for another day’s provisions. We step out into the little piazza, make our way past Fedora’s blooming doorway, under Gina’s window, through the covered alley and back to the main street.

Turning left, we head down the hill to Boutique di Frutta, the green grocer. As is the common practice in Italy, the fruttivendolo – what a great word for the fruits and veggie seller - selects the fruits and vegetables for us, after we tell him the size and number we’re interested in. Joyfully laden with our purchases, we trundle up the hill to the car, adding our own pilgrim footfalls to the Via Cassia.

Driver’s Ed

May 15 ... I slip behind the wheel for our trip to Radicòfani for food and supplies. The fifteen-minute trip is a mini-adventure for me, by virtue of the fact that hill stops, or rather hill starts, present a real challenge to a rookie stick shift driver. In fact, I want to avoid them as much as possible, but we’re in Tuscany, La Toscana, which effectively translates from the Italian to mean beautiful, but oh so very hilly. But I want to help share the driving load. So off, and up, we go. Well almost. I stall three times at the lip where the dirt road from the farmhouse meets the paved road. Each time, the lip and Radicofani recede from view by a few feet. I’m touring Italy in retrograde. The fourth time isn’t exactly a charm, but it gets the job done. I’m Frankenstein behind the wheel. I rev the gas before taking my foot off the clutch, so at least this sounds like progress, and as I ease my foot off the clutch, the wheels spin, gravel flies, the car shoots forward like a dart, and suddenly, somehow, I’m over the lip and on the main road heading toward Radicòfani.

I celebrate while the ladies open their eyes and release their grips on the seat cushions. They must feel like all Tuscan mothers who drive with their children for the first time. There’s very little traffic, so my hope for perpetual motion is essentially granted. There are two stop signs along the way, one on an incline, but I take it as a suggestion on a roll.

There’s something to be said for springtime driving in the Val d’Orcia - words like enchanted, breathtaking, picturesque. Navigating the switchbacks as we climb, I glimpse the valley to my right, and it’s a sight to behold. A stunning green expanse of pastures and farmland rises and tumbles like the playful flocks of sheep that dot them.

Radicòfani is a small medieval hill town that sits atop a mount on the western side of the valley, crowned with the ruins of a fort so strategically placed, it must have shaken the resolve of any invader contemplating a siege. Thankfully, our demands are of a humbler sort. All we want of it is bread, cheese, fruit and dish soap. And we’re willing to pay for it.

Eliana has told us that there’s an alimentari grocer on the main road just outside the town walls. I see it as we approach, and am delighted that it’s on the flat. My glee fades. There’s nowhere to park. Eliana has also told us that there’s another alimentari within the walls, further up. Ah yes. 'within the walls' means very narrow cobblestoned streets, and up means, well, up, on those very narrow cobblestoned streets.

“Well Ladies, looks like we have to go in.”

"Are you sure we can drive through that tight squeeze of a gate, or is it for pedestrians?”

“Can the car even fit?”

“I hope there aren’t any pedestrians.”

"I hope there aren't any other cars."

“We need food. The food’s in and up there, so here we go!”

I guide the car through the opening in the great stone walls, feeling like a magician who’s just stuffed a blue whale into a top hat. We begin the ascent, with no intent of stopping, buzzing past “Boutique della Frutta” on the right, past “Fiori e Piante” on the left, a paneficio on the right, a macelleria on the left, making mental notes as they flash by that yes, what we need can indeed be found here. Up, ever up, the cobbles thrum beneath our wheels, past the curious residents who wouldn’t dare cross in front me, and then, the blessed summit appears in a blaze of sunlight.

I want to get out and plant a flag. I can’t, because immediately the street curves down the other side. The ladies, a bit wide-eyed, just want to get out.

'Meglio Bere Un Secchio Che Perdere Una Goccia'

May 14, 2009 evening...We head back up to the villa for dinner. In a region where nature defines elegance, La Palazzina serves as the perfect counterpoint to the land upon which it sits. Its elegance is natural, warm, and inviting. Where sunshine plays its light outside, the dining room is washed in shades of sunflower and corn silk. Where poppies grow along the side of the road, draperies in deep red grace the walls. Where olive groves, cypresses and vineyards robe the hills, graceful linens, and bowls of fruit color the tables. Eclectic works of art catch the eye at intervals along the walls. And Silvano ushers us in.

We sit, and Silvano reviews the courses that Eliana is preparing for us:
Antipasti : Assorted Crostini , bruschetta slices topped with pomodori - tomatoes, diced and herbed; cipolle - sautéed onion, marinated in balsamic vinegar; melanazana – roasted eggplant

Primo Piatto: Tagliatelle al ragu' (Tagliatelle pasta with a meat ragu)

Secondo Piatto: Tacchino al forno alla salvia (baked turkey with sage)

Contorni: Cavolo nero; patate all’arrosto (kale, seasoned; roasted potatoes)

As we’re savoring the tacchino and cavolo nero, Silvano decants the last of the lovely house red into our glasses, saying as he pours, “In the words of my father, ‘Meglio bere un secchio che perdere una goccia.’” Better to drink a bucket than to waste a drop. How very true that is here.

And for our dolce: Chocolate soufflé; and panna cotta which is literally cooked cream, but closer to flan in taste).

It’s close to 10:30 pm when we finish our coffee, praise Eliana’s culinary prowess, bid goodnight to our hosts, and groggily but ever so happily make our way back down the road to the farmhouse. Even the stars are smiling. I am transported to a sleep deep as the night sky.

Il Colombaio, The Dovecote

May 14, 2009 late afternoon...We fold ourselves into our car once more and follow Silvano back down to the main road. We cross and continue on the dirt track for about 1/8 mile, then take a right through an iron gate. And there, across a small packed gravel drive overlooking a steep drop to the lush green valley below, is Podere Il Colombaio, or Dovecote Farm in English, our home for the next week.

Walking ahead, Silvano pulls out a set of keys, works the lock, and swings open the door to the podere, a beautiful renovated stone farmhouse, roofed in the baked red clay tiles so widely and lovingly recognizeable in Italy and Spain.

My breath is gone even before I see inside, stolen by the view from the lawn. Steep but rolling hills tumble out below me in a 270 degree vista, dotted silver-green all over with olive groves, and punctuated at their tops by vigilant cypresses. Swallows swoop, dart and chirp around us, investigating the newcomers, doves coo from a tree somewhere ahead of me, and the air is warm and fresh. I take off my shoes, and the grass is a lush carpet under my feet. A rush of gratitude fills me, followed by giddy joy. “Oh, my,” I say softly. “God, You must have had a such a ball when you made Italy. You have really, REALLY pulled out the stops here.”

Picking up my shoes I join my friends Cynthia, Priscilla, and Trish, as Silvano shows us around like a proud papa'. We step inside and enter a small foyer/sitting room. The interior is rustic, and immediately comfortable, an homage to its early life as farmhouse and barn. The floor is tiled in wide polished brick-hued stone, and the room is appointed with a low wooden table, and two small sofas.

Through the foyer we step into the kitchen lit by a sunny window on the right. On the left, there’s a stone sink with wooden dish drain above, counter space with a small microwave oven, and a four-burner gas stove. Directly across the room from us is a raised kitchen fireplace. Its mantle is adorned with carpentry implements and a wooden pizza paddle. Under the fireplace are two stone cubbies for kindling. To the right stands a white fridge/freezer combo, flanked by a large wooden credenza and hutch that hold dishes, glassware and other cookware. The kitchen table centers the scene, and on it sits glass bottles of olive oil (La Palazzina’s own), vinegar, and a welcome basket of homemade goodies courtesy of Eliana: a jar of homemade pear jam, and bags of chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. Festooning these are mini servings of Nutella and breakfast toasts. Red and white country patterned linens adorn the table, windows, mantle and brighten the spaces below the sink and stove.


“It’s a working fireplace,” Silvano says gesturing toward the hearth laid with kindling and newspaper. “The apartment is heated, but you’re welcome to use the fireplace. It will add nice atmosphere, and take the chill out of the kitchen as the night cools down.” Each of us knows instinctively that we’ll take him up on his recommendation.

Stepping up from the fireplace, Silvano shows us the farm apartment’s three bedrooms and two bathrooms, flicking on the interior and exterior lights as he goes from room to room. Bright lights have never been part and parcel of Tuscan farm life, and the fixtures at Il Colombaio bear that out, but they’re sufficient for our needs. After all, we’re here to be part of the landscape.

Trish and I will share the smaller room with two twin beds. Priscilla and Cynthia should each have their own rooms, out of respect for Priscilla’s status as the group’s 74-year-old matriarch, and recognizing Cynthia’s unspoken need for respite from her stressed and sleep-deprived life back home. Raising her youngest son David has taken a toll. He’s a handsome 18-year-old suffering from severe physical and developmental disabilities caused by autism and epilepsy. One of the few things that has not burned down to the quick is Cynthia’s boundless love for David, nor his for her, and he’s never far from her mind. Well, here really, how can he be? You see, at home, ever present is David’s love for pesto, second only to his love for his mother, and here we are in the birthplace of that culinary delight. Basil plants across the whole of Italy must surely now be invoking David Keefe’s name in worship.

The tour complete, Silvano departs with a two-handed wave and a renewed invitation to dinner. We leave the studded wooden door ajar, welcoming in the air, the late afternoon light, and bird song as we unpack, poke about the house, and freshen up before dinner. At one point, gathered in the kitchen, we look at each other and squeal out as one, “Aaaghhhhh! We’re here!!!!!”

Gracious Hosts

May 14, 2009 late afternoon... The tension of our quest to find this place
begins to melt away, and we slowly refocus on the beauty of our surroundings. We’ve made it. To this little heaven called Tuscany. If I’m dreaming, per carità, don’t wake me.

A few minutes later, as we’re sipping and nibbling, we hear Eliana calling in the background, “Ugo!” “Ugo!” She’s calling the dog, who is in no rush to heed his master’s voice and make an appearance. A cat peeks around the corner, though, and Cynthia stands and follows it around the side of the villa. Eliana is there, leaving a bowl of water on the stoop near the door, and as she straightens up she wipes her hands on the front of her apron.

“That’s Mariola,” she tells us, pointing to the friendly feline wreathing around Cynthia’s ankles. “She’s very sweet. She and another cat just had kittens a week ago. Mariola had one, and Bella, the other cat, had four.” Eliana comes down the steps and reaches to open the roof of a small dog house, currently in use as the maternity ward. Peering up at us are Bella, a tortie like Mariola, and five kittens nursing with great enthusiasm. At least Bella is peering up at us. The kittens barely have their eyes open. Cynthia picks up one, and Bella meowls in protest. Having left the babysitting duties to Bella, Mariola begins to purr loudly.

“What is the Italian verb for that sound?” I ask Eliana.

“Fare la fusa. And in English?” she asks.

“Purr.”“Purr,” she imitates me, and with effort adds an impressively emphasized American rrr to the end. “Brava,” I congratulate her, and she beams.

Ugo, or Hugo, chooses this moment to come trotting up from the olive groves below. He looks like a miniature Rottweiler, and is about the size of an American football. “There you are, you vagabond,” chastises Eliana. “Where have you been this time?” Ugo’s not telling. He just sits and looks up at her with big brown moon pie eyes. Eliana clucks her tongue at him and shakes her head.

“Allora,” she says, looking up at us and smiling. “Are you feeling a bit recovered?”

“Yes, thanks so much.”“I’m glad. You’re probably eager to settle in and get your bearings. Let me call Silvano, so he can come and bring you to the apartment.” Silvano is her husband, Silvano Mamprin, manager of La Palazzina.

In just a few minutes, Silvano pulls in up in a Subaru wagon, gets out of the car and gives us a hearty welcome in English. He’s Venetian by birth, but a few years back he emigrated south to Tuscany. With pale blue eyes, fair skin, and stocky build, he’s expressive, extroverted, and enthusiastically sincere in his welcome. He speaks fluent English with an accent that is equal parts Italian and British. After exchanging pleasantries, and happy to see that Eliana has taken such good care of us already, he says, “So, now, I’ll take you to the apartment, Il Colombaio; it’s just down the road. Take your time settling in, and we’d like to invite you to dinner tonight back here at the house. How does 7:30 sound?” Like a healing elixir for weary souls.