Corsignano Pienza

Hello everyone,<br>We had such fun today!! The square had it's first ever market day or flea market. It was filled with cheeses which by the way Percino was our favorite and the fresh sliced procuitto was unbelievable. We just walked around all day. The first part of the day we did two loads of wash and dry which cost $18 us dollars. Then we had wine free and paid and had a great time. We then came back to ...

Today was a wonderful day even though I know I called you Petey and I was crying again, but really it was a very relaxing easy day. We found the laundry mat for tomorrow and went to a place called St. Catherine which is where the first woman to be named a saint was in 1317. We were not suppose to take pics, but the guy in the gift shop was sleeping so I took video which you will see. When we went in the gift shop I had a camera around my neck and started ...

I hope this works, it has been hard to attach some of the video because it times out. FYI to all my not so computer literate friends and family. When you first open the video, it will start and then stop in the middle to keep reloading and then start and stop again. This can get frustrating but is necessary until it is completely ...

Hello friends and family,<br>We have made it to Siena from Venice thank goodness and it was almost easy. We had to change trains in Florence and thought it would be crazy, but everything went smooth and then we got in Siena and could not find our room again. We got on the wrong bus even though when we gott on I asked the mean bus driver and he said, "yes, yes". Then when we asked some fellow ...

... there are more locals than tourists and every one likes to get out and about and socialise.<br>Jane manged to root out an 80 year old gold watch which belonged to the shopkeeper's uncle.<br> <br> <br>We wandered in to a terrific display of old radio and movie equipment dating back to Marconi. John &amp; Pat will appreciate the photos.<br> <br>For our last night we went to ...

... dellightful cafe for lunch: Margaharita Pizza, with a thin crispy base, belissimo! This cafe is well known as a meeting place for Hollywood stars.<br><br>Cortona has very narrow and steep streets, purrfect for pets.<br>Finally we arrived back at Arezzo and after booking a haircut for myself tomorrow (the hairdresser doesn't speak English so that will be exciting) I am sitting at the La Dolce Vita cafe writing this entry while Jane is off looking at the shops (gulp)<br>

... good luck. Seems like a desperate attempt to make a sh*tty situation better. Ha.<br><br>Maybe it was a good omen, though, because we had an amazing dinner. We walked into this restaurant just outside of Il Campo, and all over the tables, freshly made pasta was still drying. Needless to say, I ate some of the best ravioli I&#8217;ve ever had that night. But I&#8217;m thanking Rick for that &#8211; not the pigeon.

NORTH TRIP BEGINS!!! The trip we have all talked about and waited for was now upon us. First stop: Pienza. Woke up early and started to four hour drive, but we were cool with it because we had a full bus just for the 23 of us so we were all able to stretch out and relax and sleep until we got to our first stop. We visited Agriturismo Podere S. Gregorio for a food tasting. We tried some Sangiovese grape wine( which I thought was very good) along ...

... obvious and, if one were to try the 1st after having the 3rd, they would spit it out. The last 2 wines were very special Brunellos. The two Brunellos we had were exactly the same bottle but one was from 2003 and the other from 2001. The 2003 cost 37 euro per bottle and the 2001 was 57 euro (the same bottle would cost $300 in a restaurant in the US). Both Brunellos were out of this world and I felt very undeserving of such fine wine. The 2001 ...

... in major cities) and high walled perimeter. Ancient Italy was composed of highly independent city-states, fiercely independent and self-sufficient. Florence's #1 enemy for hundreds of years was Siena. Siena, with visions of sea access, sparred continuously with Pisa, and so on. This was the pre-eminent history of the peninsula for well over a millennia and the lines of territories shifted constantly with one besting another, only to be later reclaim territory or be conquered anew ...