2 di Giugno

June 2nd 2020: Buona festa! Cheers to the end of the monarchy! While celebrations weren’t as elaborate this year (parades and concerts were postponed till next year) I had a great day!!

I went to Siena with some close family friends and had so much fun seeing the Tuscan countryside. We stopped in Monteriggioni for a delicious lunch and enjoyed the view. This small walled community is famous for its location in the mountains of the Chianti region, and also because the famed poet Dante used it as inspiration. My meal was amazing! I had Spaghetti alle Cozze (mussels) and then baccalà alla livornese (cod from Livorno) and finished with a cheesecake!

I learned so much driving through ‘la campagna’. I saw a winery/vineyard that was built into the side of the mountain. You drove under the grapes to get to the building and then there was more grapes on top of the mountain which was on top of the building! The views were breathtaking and some parts looked very similar to Vermont. The highway being surrounded by trees all around brought me home!

I heard the super interesting story about the border between Florence and Siena. The legend is after one of the many conflicts between the two cities, it was decided that there needed to be a clear line where one province ended and the other began. A ‘race’ was set to decided where this line would be. Supposedly, one runner was chosen from each province and the race would begin when the rooster awoke in the morning. The line would be drawn wherever the two racers met along the road that connects the two cities. (*disclaimer* I heard this story from a proud Florentine so keep that in mind) With Florence being the more intelligent city, they decided not to feed their rooster as much the night before so it would wake up earlier. Their plan worked (of course, they were so smart!) so by the time the Sienese racer began, Florence was already ‘winning’. The competitors met about 2/3 of the way to Siena from Florence so that is where the border stands today. Also random fact: the rooster is the symbol of the Chianti region.

Class has been going really well! I am about to begin level 5! I have enjoyed the fairytales I wrote about in the last post very much. One of our assignments this week was to finish one story that ended open. Here is my writing: Gennaro poteva scrivere tutti i cartelli e dopo lui ha scritto un libro se chiama ‘la coperta.’  Il suo libro sarebbe diventato molto famoso per i bambini di tutto il mondo. Ha scritto la storia della coperta in un modo per i bambini. Lui ha descritto i posti la coperta aveva visto con suo babbo e dopo con lui. Nonostante abbia avuto tempi difficili quando era piccolo, ha aiutato i bambini a superare loro paura del buio. I genitori leggevano questo libro a loro bambini ogni notte prima di andare a letto. Molti bambini hanno una coperta speciale a causa del Gennaro. Please excuse the issues with the articles….they’re not my favorite!

Walking around the city and picking up a pastry is one of the best parts of my day. I won’t claim a favorite because I am still happily sampling but everything I’ve tried so far has been so good! Some frontrunners: cannolo, mezzo e mezzo (half and half cookie), apple strudel, pizzeta.

In other news: the kitchen has been working very hard here! I made paella, spinach risotto, and stuffed peppers the last couple days!!