Benvenuti and Welcome to all my Lovely Followers,
If you are new to this column I should tell you that each month I reflect back on the previous one, which in this case is March 2017. My aim is to bring you lots of fun things and not too many serious ones.Despite the fact that my man and I have lived in Tuscany for over thirteen years, we are constantly delighted to discover new things. Take the tiny little theatre in Marcialla called Teatro Regina Margherita, which we had heard of but never visited. Early in the month, we were invited to join Italian friends for a Jazz evening and whilst I am not a great fan, I prefer rock, we were interested to go, just for the experience. The theatre itself was delightful; deep red soft seats and heavy velvet curtains, perfect for an evening of some old fashioned vaudeville or Can-Can dancing! Visit their website. However, that evening we were there for the Jazz and the band was a very odd mixture of musicians called ‘Simone Graziano-Frontal’. I found myself drawn the drummer whose name was amazingly Stefano Tamborrino, a brilliant name for a percussion man, who had a big bunch of old jangly keys as part of his instrument collection!
March also meant La Festa Della Donna, which is celebration day for women. This was happening worldwide of course, but here in Italy it is traditional to give your favourite women, family or otherwise, the gift of Mimosa flowers. My next door neighbour and I popped up to our local Osteria where they were hosting a special evening for the Festa, with pastel shades of meringue for dessert! It was nice to spend time with my busy friend Paola, who runs the hugely popular Agriturismo called La Poggiolaia. She is fully booked every year, right through the season and beyond. Visit the website.
Anyway, back to the serious business of living in Tuscany and by that I mean wine of course. In March we decided to try a different Chianti Classico wine at our regular restaurant C’era una Volta in Lucardo. It’s called Bibbiano and we have become rather addicted! Paolo is keeping his supply stocked up for us, as we finished the 2014 version and have started on the 2015 one, which is equally as good. What was that you said? No, we only have one bottle with our lunch, we just happen to go there a couple of times every week!
Oh yes, some good news for the tourists arriving at Pisa airport and wanting to get to the Stazione Centrale for onward journeys to Florence, Siena or other parts of Tuscany. March heralded the launch of a new ‘People Mover’ shuttle train! My man tried it out and he says it’s OK, which means he is not hugely impressed, but it will be less confusing for visitors.
Meanwhile, back here in the Chianti countryside, we took a nice long walk through the wilder side of our immediate area. Most people think of Chianti as all vineyards and olive groves. The reality is much wilder than you think. There are a lot of steep wooded slopes and cliff faces that are not possible to farm and full of wildlife. My man, who is an ex-commando, was able to identify footprints made by Cinghale (wild boar), deer and porcupine. It was a beautiful Sunday at the end of March; spring was creeping up through the ground and blossom was beginning to peep out on the trees. Oh, and the damp smell of fallen leaves under our feet was heavenly. The larger part of March had been cold and rainy so it was wonderful to end with glorious sunshine.
From my own point of view I was very relieved to complete the final draft of ‘The Italian Connection,’ which is now published and available on all Amazon sites. Enjoy!
So altogether, March was a very good month indeed.
Well, enough already and time for a nice aperitivo in our Tuscan country garden.
Do get in touch, I love to hear from you.
Salute June x