La Vendemmia, Seasonal Fruit, Back to School, Restaurants, Beppo Grillo, Touring Bands, Fashion, Fiano and the Calambur.
June Finnigan – English Writer & Rock Singer.The Month of September in Tuscany
Benvenuti to all my lovely Loyal and New Followers,
Well, here we are again reflecting back on the previous month, which in this case is September in beautiful Chianti.
On the very first day of September a tractor and harvester started collecting the fat purple grapes from below our farmhouse. This harvest is known as La Vendemmia and is the most noisy and busiest time of year in the Chianti Hills. Thankfully, we moved to our new home back in April and no longer have the tractors and trailers thundering past our kitchen window. But it’s still pretty noisy!
The other delightful thing about September is the glut of plums and peaches, so we were eating them fresh for breakfast and in pies and crumbles for pranzo e cena. The Saturday morning fruit and veg market in Certaldo was a joy to visit; we came home with bags and bags of all the lovely fruits.
Mid-month the kids were off back to school and I was pleased to read that at least Tuscany is trying to do something about the huge bags of books that even the little ones have to carry around on their backs. The classrooms have no desks with storage, only tables! My having gone to school in England I find it hard to imagine life without a school desk, despite the fact that they were old and pitted with carvings done by compass points. It was where we kept our term’s books, not on our backs!
Anyway, on a lighter side we enjoyed our fair share of visits to the local restaurants during the month and rediscovered Ristorante Borgo Antico in Tavernelle. It was over four years ago when we last went there and now they have lovely new premises on the edge of town. In September we were able to eat outside in their beautiful garden and enjoy really good food, wine and service with a joke and a smile. Go to http://www.borgoanticorestaurant.com
Meanwhile, in the world of politics, the government had been forced to effect a referendum before changes to the running of the country could be approved. This then raises hope for Beppo Grillo and his opposition party Cinque Stella. Signore Grillo, looking like an aging rock star with his band of jean clad followers, could well be our next prime minister! After all our current man, Matteo Renzi, was never actually elected as he stepped in when his predecessor stepped down. Down in Rome, the mayor announced that the city would not be bidding for the Olympic Games, which the majority of people were happy about. The city simply cannot afford the massive cost of construction.
And, on the subject of Rock Stars the 60’s band ‘The Who’ graced us with their presence in September and were celebrating fifty years in rock! The band included the original lead singer Roger Daltry and guitar man Pete Townsend. There were great reviews in the paper. Roger looked in great shape and apparently the music was spot on too. Earth Wind & Fire were also around, whilst Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney will be here in the near future!
September is a favourite time for me as the autumn fashions have arrived. I just love the colours that suit me so well. Oranges and browns, matched with mostly black. By the end of the month it had cooled sufficiently for my black leather ‘look’ biker jacket to come out of the wardrobe.
But the real highlight of the month was the contest known as ‘La Calambur’. The Commune di Certaldo is divided into five ‘villages’ so to speak, and each has their own flag. These are really districts and each member of the community belongs to one of them. We are in the district called ‘Le Fonte’ and the team was made up of many friends and family from the village of Fiano. The teams had to compete against each other in a complicated day of races, obstacle courses and intelligence tests, hoping to win the victory banner. And, a lovely thing it is too, embossed in gold and featuring a beautiful leopard. Guess what, our team won!! The banner is now on display at Milko’s Cartolibreria in the main piazza/carpark in Fiano.
Well, that was pretty much the month of September and we are now into mid-October and the start of the Olive harvest. But I’ll tell you all about that next month.
Have a great October and do drop me a line, I love to hear from you.
Salute June x