It was a red letter day in Tuscany today.
Last night as we were settling in to Cinzia’s place in La Gruccia, the clouds were rollng in and it felt like we were in for a storm. I don’t know if it did rain, but I don’t think so.
We both had a so-so sleep. I miss my bed and my pillow 🙁 The matress here is OK, but the pillows are not condusive to a good sleep.
I miss soft, fluffy towels, too. I don’t know whether you can’t get soft, fluffy towels in Europe, but they don’t seem to issue them to guests. Drying myself with an old piece of sandpaper would be luxury compared to the towel I have here.
But the disappointment from the pillow and towel was far exceeded by the fun we had today.
We woke to a beautiful day. Blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and a cool breeze. Beautiful.
The only firm plan that we had today was a pizza making course, and that was at 1.00pm. Other than that, we had the day to explore around La Gruccia.
We were bathed and fed and out the door by around 9.00am. Cinzia said something about children – hers or her grandkids, I’m not entirely sure, and to speculate would lead me to a dangerous place. But when we drove out at 9.00am, Cinzia’s car was gone, so she was either taking kids to school or going to work.
We introduced Claude to his father or grandfather. Possibly great-grandfather.
Once again I feel compelled to report how narrow the roads are, and how tight the corners. And how fast the locals drive on these roads.
Just yesterday when we were driving into La Gruccia on a major road with one lane each way, but a speed limit of 90km/h. I came around a corner to see a line of vehicles coming towards me in their lane, and someone overtaking them. And he was in my lane, coming directly towards me. He clearly had nowhere to go to safely, so it was up to me to avoid him … like that’s normal. Or acceptable.
Today we have been overtaken on blind corners and over double lines. I don’t get it!
Anyhow, we headed out this morning on these narrow, winding roads towards San Gimignano, a pretty little middle ages village about 20 minutes from where we are staying. San Gimignano is a walled city, and it’s a pretty imposing wall.
We found a paid parking lot, left Claude there, and walked the 10 minutes or so from the carpark to the city wall. I don’t know exactly what it is that makes one walled city more popular than another, but San Gimignano is a popular one. It’s quite large with lots of shops and restaurants within the city limts, which makes it more expensive. Paid parking, paid toilets, lots of tourists.
But there was a market going on and we had a delightful couple of hours wandering around taking photos, buying some souvenirs, and getting an early lunch.
We also bought some strawberries. The were cheap, but they were really, really good.
By 12.00 we were done, and we needed to make the 15 minute trip from there to Ulignano to Ma.Ma Pizza where we were scheduled to do a pizza making course at 1.00pm.
I don’t know whether he was having a hissy fit, but Claude’s entertainment system screen that provides all kinds of useful information – like navigation – decided to stop working. So while we still had Joséphine providing verbal instructions, we didn’t get the visual navigation clues that make navigating in a strange country just that little bit easier.
But it was only a short drive on quiet back roads, so it all worked out.
We hadn’t had a morning coffee, so we decied to get one in Ulignano at a little cafe before we started the pizza making class.
But unfortunately Ulignano is so small (population <1000) that it not only didn’t have an open cafe … it didn’t have a cafe. Or a McDonald’s. Or anything useful.
It had a tobacconist and a pizza shop. And the pizza shop was only opening at 1.00pm because MBW and I were booked in for a pizza making class.
So we sat around in the Tuscan sun and enjoyed the atmosphere. Even the little carpark overlooking vineyards was beautiful and relaxing.
Around 12.45 we wandered up to Ma.Ma’s Pizza shop as Sara – our teacher – was arriving with her husband Andrea (like Andre, with an “a” on the end). The first words that came out of Andrea’s mouth – bless him – was “would you like coffee?”
He popped away and came back a few minutes later with three tiny espresso cups, containing three tiny espressos.
That wasn’t what we were expecting but – to be fair – it made perfect sense and we should have seen it coming, because that’s what Italians drink most of the day. They have a cappuccino in the morning, and espressos for the rest of the day.
Which probably also explains why they have so little milk in their shops. They don’t drink lattes all day like we do, so they don’t sell much milk.
So we got or caffeine hit without a belly full of ot milk. And without the opportunity to savour it. One sip and it’s gone.
Not the best coffee I’ve ever had, but not the worst either.
Sara was great and the course was informative. We learned how to make the dough, how to let it rise, and when to use it (not for a few days).
We each made a pizza. MBW made a white (no tomato sauce) flat bread pizza – can’t remember the name, sorry, but it had buffalo mozzarella, porchini mushrooms, and prosciutto, while I made a “Bombola” with tomato sauce, mozzarella, gorgonzola, pepperoni, and sun-dried tomatoes.
Our pizzas went into the oven and while they cooked, we practiced scooping up Sara’s pizza base with the long-handled pizza peel. It’s an important life skill.
One of us nailed it, while the other just couldn’t get it right. I won’t say any more.
Our pizzas came out of the oven and that was lunch #2.
Sara and Andrea were a lot of fun. They taught us how to correctly gesticulate while speaking, and how to say “I don’t care” with your hands. We learned about a typical Italian dinner menu and found out that they will eat pasta a couple of times a day … which probably explains a few things.
By the time that the course was finished it was close to 3.00pm and we wanted to go and see one more place that is worth seeing in that area – Colle di Val d’Elsa.
We found Claude down the road where we’d left him, started him up, and the entertainment system screen was working again. Maybe it just needed a rest, but we needed navigational assistance.
We got to Colle di Val d’Elsa and parked, and there was absolutely nothing worth seeing that we could find. We had almost decided to head back to La Gruccia when we thought we would have one final look around in a different area of Colle di Val d’Elsa, closer to the city walls.
Colle di Val d’Elsa is yet another pretty little middle ages walled city. It is not touristy and there was not much happening. In fact, nothing was open … although it is not uncommon for restaurants to close after lunch for the afternoon and not reopen until dinner.
While it was a pretty little village, it was nothing special and we were ready to go home again … yet we hadn’t been through into the ZTL (limited access area), so we kept looking – figuring that would be where the oldest part of the city would be. Once we found that and went in, we found a very old, very pretty village square that – once gain – was like stepping back in time.
It was such a special day seeing these pretty Tuscan villages, enjoying the local food and coffee, and learning how to make pizza Italian style.
The driving is still pretty unnerving, but Tuscany is just beautiful when you get out into the countryside. It’s even better when you can find somewhere wide enough to pull off the road and let the crazy Italians go past, so you can just suck in the view and the atmosphere.
We got back to Cinzia’s and sat outside in the sun, enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful surrounds – daisies growing in the grass, a vineyard beside us and an olive grove behind us. And hardly a sound to be heard.
We don’t need dinner tonight. I’m still digesting tht pizza I made and I reckon that will see me through to breakfast.
The sun is going down and it’s starting to cool off.
Cinzia gave us a bottle of red, and all reports are that it is pretty good, so we might open it and give it a try. Who knows – we might like it and be converted. Personally, I believe that the problem we have when we buy a bottle of wine (generally for cooking) is that our first question is “what’s the cheapest bottle you have?”
Trying Cinzia’s red seems like the right thing to do. I just hope she didn’t stomp on the grapes with her own feet.
Tomorrow will be another driving adventure, in another direction from La Gruccia. South and east this time. And the forecast is for another cracker of a day.
And then we still have another day here before we head to Florence.
You see a movie like “Under the Tuscan Sun” and I can now understand how and why people fall in love with Tuscany – the people, the coffee, the food, and the sunshine.
Maybe not the Italian drivers though …
Ciao
#Europe2025