ON MARLEYNE'S BIRTHDAY

On my birthday, we left Sienna and traveled through the Southern Tuscany, visiting pittoresque villages and towns, and enjoyed the day fully. What a wonderful way to age!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sienna is also a town where it is possible to just sit and admire the surroundings, to eat a gelato...here the gelateria really "sculpt" the gelati...not so good because it gets to soft ! but it is pretty. There were stunning food stores, leather goods store, all so overwhelmingly enticing!

There was a wonderful atmosphere - despite a large amount of tourists -  in Sienna. It had small alleys, beautiful piazza and the Duomo! A jewel of a cathedral...originally designed and completed between 1215 and 1263 on the site of an earlier structure.  Black and white are the symbolic colors of Siena, etiologically linked to black and white horses of the legendary city's founders, Senius and Aschius.

A most spectacular area of the Duomo was the Piccolomini Library,housing precious illuminated choir books and frescoes painted by the Umbrian Bernardino di betto, called Pinturicchio, probably based on designs by Raphael.

The visual impact of these very colourful frescoes is stunning. The frescoes tell the story of the life of Siena's favourite son, cardinal Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who eventually became Pope Pius II. He was the uncle of cardinal Francesco Piccolomini Todeschini (then archbishop of Siena and the future pope Pius III), who commissioned this library in 1492 as a repository of the books and the manuscript collection of his uncle. The ceiling is covered with painted panels of mythological subjects. They were executed between 1502 and 1503 by Pinturicchio and his assistants.  It was almost as impressive as the Sistine Chapel...we rented an audio-guide in order to be able to understand and fully enjoy the work of arts of this astonishing site.  The following site shows all the walls paintings.

 http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/p/pinturic/siena/index.html

BELLISSIMA SIENNA

Sienna has many attractions..the large Piazza del Campo where the horse Paleo is run every year is one, and the Duomo is the other.  We honored both: on Piazza del Campo, we drank our most expensive italian cappucino gazing at the crowds and imagining the Palio...12 Euros for 2 cappucinis! During this event, the crowds must be amazing..we were there 10 days before and were surprised to see how full the city was!    As excitement for the Palio builds, it is customary for members of the various contrade to dress in ceremonial garb and parade through the city in the historic centre.

Traditionally, its residents worked as potters;Nicchio's symbol is a crowned scallop shell flanked by two branches of coral. Its colours are blue, with yellow and red trim.  Nicchio is one of only four nobile (noble) contrade; it earned its title for bravery shown during the Battle of Montaperti against Florence in 1260, when its soldiers led the attack. We also went for a stroll and a birra in the contrada of the goose! Oca is situated just to the west of the Piazza del Campo. Traditionally, its residents made dyes. Oca's symbol is a crowned goose wearing around its neck a blue ribbon marked with the cross of Savoy. Its colours are green and white, with red trim.

Oca is one of only four nobile (noble) contrade; it earned its title for its people's bravery during many battles fought by the former Sienese Republic.

The most recent palio win for Oca was in the July 2, 2007 race on Fedora Saura.

As time has gone by, however, the contrade have lost their administrative and military functions and have instead become simply areas of localised patriotism, held together by the emotions and sense of civic pride of the residents. Their roles have broadened so that every important event – baptisms, deaths, marriages, church holidays, victories at the Palio, even wine or food festivals – is celebrated only within one's own contrada.
Every contrada has its own museum, fountain and baptismal font, motto, allied contrada (only Oca has no allies) and adversary contrada, typically a neighbor (only four, Bruco, Drago, Giraffa and Selva, have no declared adversaries). Often the adversary contrade share borders.

When talking to Werner and Ursula about Tuscany, we made a new itinerary...a 7 days itinerary! What ashock to look at our calendar and realize that we had only 4 days left before our trip back to Canada! Time flies when you're having a good time...no need to say, we planned something a little shorter: 2 days in Sienna and 1 1/2 in Lago di Bolsena...112 km north of Rome Fiumicino.

Sienna fascinated us!

Eventhough we knew that all the sites near the adritac sea would be totally overoaded with tourists, we felt that it would be a shame NOT to go to the Adriatic sea for a short visit. Last time we were on the Adriatic coast was 30 years ago...Only problem with Fano is that it closes down completely between 12h30 and 17h30! One has to get used to the "inactivity" period...For this reason, I missed many opportunities to do some shopping...so sad!

Well, Fano is a pretty town..we got there before it closes down...had a quick seafood lunch and checked out the beaches!

Ah! la spiaggia! There is a certain charm to a italian beach in the blazing hot summer sun! Look at those shots.............like this romantic italian workout!

Or this one that evokes a cooking show on Grilling...

The beach chairs are ready for the August influx of Italians...No need to say that we did not stick around and went a bit further down the road for a bit of tranquility...and wyes, we were alone.  The water was a nice 26C and it felt good to be able to swim in the sea!

That night, we came back to Abbadia to host our last evening supper with the remaining guests of Uwe.  Although we had not undertaken any excursion with them, we had had a wonderful time with Werner and Ursula, talking about photography, art, and life............. It was sad to leave but nice to have made such good encounters! Hopefully, we can stay in touch!

 Another excursion in the Marche brings us to Urbino, one of the Italian Renaissance's most celebrated town.
One of its jewels is the imposing Palzzo Ducale built by Federico da Montefelco and his wife Battista Forza. Its construction began in 1465 and was not finished when Battista died at the age of 26 in 1472.  

Another point of interest is the native house of the painter Rafael (born in 1483). This amazing artist has lost his mother at birth and his father when he was 11.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and an architect of the High Renaissance,celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da  Vinci, he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. No wonder a statue was erected in its memory on a piazza de Urbino. It is an honour for a town to have one of the greatest artist of the Renaissance born within its walls.

 We stayed 7 days at Abbadia di Lastreto. It just was a wonderful place to be, and very inspiring to take photographs.  It is sad to see that the structure of the Abbaye is deteriorating ...Petra has put in an application to buy it from the catholic church but bureaucrats are not very speedy processing her request...hopefully, it will take place soon so that some of this wonderful church can be saved!

It was founded by the Benedictine monks and there are records of its presence around the 11th century. It was rebuilt after an earthquake. 

http://www.lavalledelmetauro.org/standard.php?lingua=it&id_sezione=8&id_sottosezione=10&id_sottosottosezione=&record=8574

EXCURSIONS AROUND L'ABBADIA DE LASTRETO

From our "residence" in the Marche, we explored several towns from this region. The Marche is not yet as touristy as the Toscana and yet, it has treasurable places. With our friends Heinrich and Ulla, we decided to explore Gubbio. At the edge of the Appenine mountains, Gubbio has retained its medieval feel and is some sort of mecca for ceramics.  Heinrich and I have made a first exploration in the shops while Ulla and Heiner were pionneering the medieval alleys!

http://www.thatsarte.com/region/Gubbio

It was great fun to explore with you Ulla and Heinrich! We have not bought ceramics, but still very good memories of Gubbio!

This was quite a feast...Bravo Petra and Uwe! Great teamwork! Deliciozo! The celebration continued until 3 in the morning (no mosquitoes!)....We chatted, we danced, al in all a wonderful birthday celebration!

Everybody at work! Uwe's son Soeren is chopping lemons for the gremolata! As for Petra, Heiner and Ursula, it is chop chop of all the vegetables that will be needed for the huge osso bucco dish!

What about the food????????????????? Well, the osso bucci will only be ready at the butcher shop around 17h00...so in the meantime, there is so much to prepare! But all together, with wine and music, it is fun!
In the mean time, Uwe's wife Monika and their son Soeren as well as Dieter and Antje have arrived! The more the better!
Local white wine, red wine, Pro Secco, Champagne, beer, anyway you turn there is "booze"!

Ulla and Ursula are the keepers of the tavern!!!

PREPARATION OF UWE'S BIRTHDAY

The next day is THE day to celebrate Il Grande's 60th birthday! Petra and Uwe have planned an exquisite banquet...with several antipasti, a pasta primi, osso bucco as secondi and of course, a wonderful dessert with fruits and mascarpone. After an other extensive breakfast with Ulla and Heinrich, we all start to work on some aspects of the preparation...
Heiner and Heinrich have the task to put up the lights and set the structure for the long table!

Heiner and Heinrich seem to be happy with the result and take this opportunity to have their first - but not their last - glas of wine!

And Werner is taking photos of all this hard labour

A couple of hours later the remainder of the group arrives: other friends of Uwe that he invited to celebrated his big 6 0 ! Ulla and Heinrich, as well as Juliana and Carmen. A bit later, Werner and Ursula arrive as well! That night, we all go out for dinner to the local restaurant "La Pergola" http://www.ristoranteostarialapergola.com/specialita_marchigiane_locali.htm
It is always intriguing to meet friends of friends...and so, we start getting acquainted with these two couples around good food and good wine! That evening, we all opt for passatelli, a regional specialty of pasta made with a generous amount of parmesan, eggs, bread and black pepper.  The food at La Pergola as well as the ambiance are wonderful. Petra is well known, of course, being a frequent diner who brings her guests to taste the regional cuisine! With the meal being served at 21h00, it gets a late night!

Next morning, we are the first up for breakfast and we set the table outside for Ulla and Heinrich who share our house! Marleyne fiddles with the espresso machine until she gets the brew right...out with the prosciutto and the cheese! Ulla and Heinrich have brought their homemade jam and voila! a very long and very pleasant breakfast which lasts until 13h00!!!! We have fun being together and sitting in the sun, chatting, looking at the mountains..La Dolce Vita!

ARRIVAL IN THE MARCHE

It is VERY exciting to finally get there, to find Il Grande Uwe again and to meet his sister Petra that he so often told us about! We are shown Petra's house where Uwe and his family will live and led to the other house, built by friends of Petra on an adjacent lot.  We are amazed at the beauty of the place. We love our quarters!  Breakfast is absolutely great when taken outside, on the terrasse with freshly made expresso and all that stuff that Uwe bought for us so we would not hunger...Parma prosciutto, Parmesan and Pecorino cheese, baguette, jam, tomatoes and fruit!

And this is the view from our bedroom...Early in the morning, the light on the mountain walls was fabulous! At night, before sunset, one could hear the bells of the sheeps going back to the stall..pure delight!