One more visit and final preparations

A rare sunrise shot

I was determined that the last day at the villa would not be a sad one. I had decided I would visit the town of Citta’ della Pieve, right on the border between Tuscany and Umbria. I had heard that it was lovely and I wanted to keep busy. The day did not get off to a great start, however. While I was eating my daily bowl of yogurt and granola, I suddenly felt something hard in my mouth. “Oh no”, I thought, “it has finally happened!” For the last month or so, a molar on my upper right side had been giving me problems. When I would bite down on something hard – like a nut or seed – I would feel a sharp twinge. I never had a toothache or felt discomfort except when chewing. I had almost called the dentist’s office the day before to schedule a checkup while at home. I cautiously moved my tongue up to the spot and, yup, there was a big hole where most of that tooth used to be. I fished around and found the piece. It was pretty big. Fortunately, I had no pain and the tooth did not seem particularly sensitive. Still, I knew I needed to have it looked at. The owner was a doctor, and I was certain that he could find me a dentist, so I wasn’t too worried. I also had occasion to email the woman who was coordinating travel arrangements for the art course I was going to. I just happened to ask whether Julian, the artist/teacher, new of a dentist in the area. Within an hour I had a response that yes, Julian did know of an English dentist in Castiglione! Within another two hours, I had an appointment for Tuesday. It was a great relief to have that behind me.

One of the "vicoli"

Citta’ della Pieve was about 30km away from Tuoro. On a Saturday morning, it was an easy drive. I missed the first turn-off and had to take the second, which involved a lot of hill-climbing and shifting from third to second gear. The local behind me did not seem terribly impressed by my shifting skills! I would gladly have let him pass, but the road was never wide enough. I arrived outside the city walls where there was ample public parking. That spared me having to navigate the warren of narrow one-way streets. I parked and walked into the town, found the nearest bar to have a cappuccino and use the bathroom. Though it was already 11:00a.m., the town seemed just to be waking up. The town is famous for its vicoli, or alleyways. It claims to have the narrowest street in Italy, the vicolo Bacciadonne, which is “Kiss the Woman” alley, so-called, because you could kiss a woman in the building across the way. You have to love Italy!

The view from the town

When I reached the town center, I was delighted to see that it was market day in Citta’ della Pieve. If you have been following this blog, you know that I have a thing about markets. What I love especially is the way it brings the locals out into the street to both shop and interact with each other. It’s as much fun to watch friends and neighbors greeting each other as it is watching people dicker about the prices. The vendors were all complaining that no one was buying anything. The clothing vendors in particular were hurting. They had clearly switched to their winter line when the weather turned cooler. Now that the temperatures had rebounded, people were thinking (and buying) less about the winter that was ahead. There was also an indoor food market with a few meat and vegetable stands. The first chestnuts and porcini mushrooms of the season were displayed front and center. This is one of the best reasons to visit Italy in October, you are still getting the tail end of the summer produce and the first arrivals of the fall. This makes for some great eating.

The park

I enjoyed visiting several of the town’s churches, especially the cathedral, which is dedicated to SS. Gervaise and Protase. Despite its unassuming exterior, the cathedral has some fine works of art. One painting is by the local boy, Perugino, who was born in Citta’ della Pieve. As a whole, the church has a rather harmonious feel, which is often lacking in churches that have been added on to over the centuries. Leaving the cathedral, I walked to the far end of the town where there is a beautiful view into the surrounding countryside. There is a long narrow park lined with plane trees that runs along the last outcropping. The autumn light shining through those yellowing leaves was quintessentially Italian. Now, though, it was time for lunch.

I decided to try a place that was on the way back to the car. It had good recs on TripAdvisor. As I got closer, one of the waiters was standing outside. I thought, “Well, they must not be too busy.” Nothing could have been farther from the truth. From street level, the place didn’t look like much, but when the waiter lead me upstairs, there were two more good sized rooms. Both rooms were about two-thirds full when I sat down. By the time I ordered, they were completely filled. I guess Saturday is a popular time to go out for lunch. The menu was fairly standard Umbrian fare. I ordered the pici all’aglione, the pasta that our in-house chef prepared for us on Monday. Then I ordered the stuffed rabbit with pancetta and some broccoli raab. All of it was delicious, and filling. I skipped dessert and just had some coffee. Now it was time to head home and finish packing.

When I pulled up to the house, I realized that I was no longer sad. The time here had been wonderful and I felt extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to stay in such a beautiful place and to share it with my family. It was, though, to move on to the next adventure. I finished packing my bag, leaving out just what I needed for tomorrow. I packed all the non-perishable food that I could bring to my next stop. I emptied the refrigerator of most of the perishable items that I knew I couldn’t finish before tomorrow morning. By now, it was time to head back down the hill for the 5:00 Saturday evening Mass.

One last sunset shot

After Mass, I came back to the house and did some more work on the blog. I also took some last sunset pictures from the veranda. I finished as much of the cheese and salami that was left and an apple for good measure. There was a special on about the Italian Jews of World War II. I only managed to see about an hour of it before I fell asleep. It was the last night at Antiche Pietre.