Buongiorno to all who read my blog. Well here is the baby who took us to Italy. It is a Delta A330 with Pratt and Whitney engines, perhaps built in Connecticut. We left Kennedy Airport in New York on April 13,2014 and arrived in Rome the next day at around 8:30 A.M. All of Italy is six hours ahead of us. The flight was great. It was smooth and on time. This plane is very comfortable and much more modern that the one we took last fall on American. That plane was kind of old and did not have all the niceties this plane had. We were served the usual kiddie meal for dinner and a "bun on the run" for breakfast. Portions were small, but the food was good. All the beverages were free, including wine and beer. I don't get it, we are flying to Italy, they announce everything in English first then Italian, but they serve French wine. Oh well!!!
This is a picture I took with my iphone of the
TV screen in front of me. We each had our own TV. As you can see, we are almost there. If you can read what it says, it's telling us that we have one hour and twenty-six seconds to go before landing. Believe me by that time you want to land as soon as possible as long as it's on a runway, no matter how comfortable the plane can be. The flight was nine hours. It did go fast because we had a lot of choices of what to watch on the TV. Brenda and I watched two movies each on the way over and that made the time go by fast. Once in Rome we took a train to Terantola/Cortona where Pino picked us up and drove us to IL MOLINO.
While Caroline and Pino are away operating their tours, they are graciously letting us use their car. If you remember, Caroline and Pino are the owners and developers of IL MOLINO di BORDONE. If you are new to this blog, Google it and you can see the beautiful place they have developed here in the Tuscan hills. We consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to "mind the store" for them while they are away.
I have to apologize here because my pictures got a little mixed up and, unfortunately I am not technologically advanced enough to figure out how to fix it. The picture to the left and above is the inside of the church where we took Anna, Pino's mother, to mass on Easter Sunday. As you can see it is quite small. I don't think it holds more than fifty people, but just like back home, that day there were probably almost a hundred people stuffed into that tiny church. The mass was beautiful and all in Italian. No organ in the church, but they had two guitarist and a few people who sang in Italian. Except for knowing the
Catholic Mass, we really didn't understand anything, especially the sermon. The Mass took just over an hour. Hey, what can I say you are in Italy which is 85% Catholic. If you are wondering what this picture is on the left, I will tell you about it in just a while. It's not supposed to be there but I don't know how to move it. The picture below, which should have been over there, is of the outside of the church. I am not sure when it was built, but it looks like it might have been built somewhere in the 1500's because most many of the houses in the area were built around that time. The name of the church is St. Margaret, the same as the church in Cortona that I wrote about in the fall. It is located in the town ( you really can't call it a town) of Pergo. Pergo has a population of 20 according to information on line, but the church boasts 516 parishioners. Who knows about the amount of people in Pergo, probably nobody. That's the way it is out here in rural Italy. There might be some people who really don't want anyone to know they exist, if you know what I mean.
OK, so what about this picture above. Good Friday evening we were invited to a birthday party at Raffaele's house about 20 minutes away from us. Raffaele is Pino's brother. It was his birthday. We picked up Anna in Pergo and drove to Raffaele's. There were about 17 or 18 people there. They were very welcoming and made us feel comfortable. They are great people. We were known as the "Amerciano's" to them. Non of them spoke English but because we had a lot of practice with Charades and know a few words in Italian we got along fine. This picture above represents just the beginning of what we had to eat. Those sandwiches were great. I really don't know what was in them but I know it was good. There was more to come. Lena's (pictured below on left, she is Raffaele's significant other) dough machine was broken and a neighbor was going to make the dough for the pizza. The problem was that the dough was supposed to be picked up at 4:00 but when someone went to her house to pick it up they found out the she was just starting to make it. Now this created a problem because there was no time for it to rise. According to Francesca (pictured on right below) the pizza will come out like a "stone". At this point it became funny. Everyone started talking all at the same time about the problem with the pizza dough. Francesca was the most vocal
ranting and raving about the problem making pizza with dough that did not rise. If you are familiar with Italians then you know about everyone speaking at the same time. It kind of gets louder and louder. It was, however, all in fun because the were all laughing and talking real fast in Italian. Actually, we were all laughing. I have a video or Francisca's ranting and raving, however, it will not download to this blog. If I see you when I get home, I would love to show it to you. It is really funny. The dough finally arrived and the pizza making began. They made enough pizza's for at least 100 people. They were all great. Believe me I know because I tried at least one piece of each one. Actually, one was rubbed with cream, then sprinkled with corn, cheese, and a bunch of other stuff. Different for sure, but of course, I had a piece and kind of liked it. By the way they call their dough pasta. We thought we were having pasta until we saw them making pizza. Apparently bread, pizza, pasta and anything made with flower and water is called pasta. If you ever come to Italy and they tell you they are making pasta, you might be getting pizza.
This is Villa Nobile Casa Vacanza. This is Pino's brother's place in Franeta in the Provence of Arezzo. Raffaele has been working hard to bring the place up to par. It is not as old as IL Molino dating somewhere in the 19th century. When Raffaele purchased it, it was literally falling apart and not liveable. Walls were crumbling, it had no roof and no utilities. When he is finished, it will have over seven rental units. The grounds will be beautiful. So far there is a great pool with beautiful surroundings. The pool looks to be olympic size. There are also two fountains that create a great foreground to the surrounding hills. We had the pleasure of having Easter dinner there. It was a delightful gastronomic adventure. Everything was homemade. To me, Tuscany has the best food in Italy. It is always fresh and tasty.
Lena is a great cook. Here you see her in the kitchen in one of the out buildings cooking our wonderful Easter feast. By the way cooking classes are also offered here with professional chefs from the area. The meal was served typical Italian style. We started with the antipasto pictured below. As you can see it included meat, cheese, peppers, bruschetta and more. That flower in the middle is made of mashed peas. That could have been the meal. It was, however, followed by the pasta which in the case was lasagna. Then came the meat course which was barbeque lamb. Then the dolce and espresso. WOW!!! You think you would be stuffed and uncomfortable eating all this. Trust me, you are not. The meal was served over a three hour period with plenty of time in between courses to have conversion or just walk around. After the espresso some of us did the typical Italian passeggiata (walk). We had a chance to walk for about 40 minutes and enjoy the beautiful Tuscan countryside.
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| Antipasto |
Here they are. Our extended Italian family. That's Raffaele in the foreground, just behind him is Bruno, his wife and child. At the end of the table is Genaro, Raffaele's son. On the left in the foreground is Francesca, Anna behind her, barley seen is Brenda and after her is some of Francesca's children with some friends and cousins. Missing is Caroline and Pino who are away operating their tours. Easter week they are in Sicily with a group of 15 tourists. After that they go to Amalfi then Puliga. then back to Il Molino. I can't express it more than to say they are great, friendly, warm people. Brenda and I felt right at home with them. We love them.
eggiat |
| Brenda and Francesca helping with the dishes |
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| The Passeggiata |
Stay tuned for more to come. I plan to show you the Fortress of Girifalco in Cortona. It is of Etruscan origin. I am still researching it. When I get more information and pictures I will do a blog. See you then.
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