Such excitement in a small town!

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Tuscan countryside

Ciao, from a VERY NOISY Lucca!!  I know I should start with last night’s dinner (which was very good, by the way) but I first have to write about what is happening right now, right below our balcony!  Apparently there is a race called “Mille Maglia” which translates to “1,000 miles” – and it is a race or regatta, or what have you for antique/old/specialized cars.  I’m truly surprised that you can’t HEAR it as I’m typing, because we can’t hear a thing!  So…this morning, R observed from our balcony that hay bales were being moved into the anfitheatre – and it was fairly obvious quickly that they were setting up some kind of course and blocking the center off.  (A really NOISY RED sporty car just went through, and I think I’m officially DEAF!)  Come to find out, today is the day that the Mille Maglia comes right through the center of Lucca!  Who knew? 

San Gimignano

From San Gimignano

Looking back at San Gimignano

(Because let me tell you, if we did, we’d be somewhere else!)  In fact, our plan today had been to do a sweep through our favorite Tuscany hilltop towns – San Gimignano, Monteriggioni and Volterra – and believe me, we were happy to get away from the so-called craziness we were told was coming up.  R tells me that the vintage of the cars is between 1927 and 1957 and he just read there is a maximum of 450 vehicles – and we’re up to about 435, so could it possibly be going to be over soon???  I hope! I hope!

We had a truly stunning drive today – leaving about 8:30 and getting back about 4:30 – we hit all three places, and even found some entirely new back roads, that were just exquisite!  The red poppies were lining the roadside everywhere (race update:  They are up to #389 as in cars, with no end in sight…) [Note from R: What Margaret doesn’t realize is that the cars are not necessarily racing in numerical order.] and lots of other wildflowers were in bloom as well. 

Monteriggioni from a distance

Wish we could identify them, Bob & Kate!  (Of course I can’t identify these cars either, except for one with a real California license plate, and all the Mercedes in all shapes and sizes – but almost all in silver!) The driving was superb, up hills and down valles; just hope that R can remember everywhere we went so that he can mark it on our good Italian road atlas when we get home.  (We were working off a sheet map for today.)  We stopped for lunch in Monteriggioni, and were the first people in Il Pozzo, our longtime favorite Tuscan restaurant.  We had planned on splitting their Tuscan crostini, but when it arrived – and it was obviously liver, R turned to me and announced “You’re on your own!”  I did the best I could, which wasn’t bad.  Then for mains, R tried wild boar with sweet and strong sauce (!) and it was absolutely delicious; it was served with polenta. 

Monteriggioni's central piazza

Monteriggioni & me!

I had their special wrapped tortelli (big tortellini) with a meet filling and truffles.  (Can you HEAR those brakes SQUEALING?!)  For dessert, R had fragola (fresh strawberries that were red all the way through!) and I had vanilla gelato with a hot dark chocolate sauce that hardened the minute it hit the ice cream.  (That has always been my Il Pozzo dessert, and I love it!  Would have licked the bowl if I could have…)  Monteriggioni has really grown quite a bit (for a town totally encircled with a really big wall) in the years we have been visiting, and we’ve decided that we definitely need to go back to Hotel Monteriggioni for a stay – I’m thinking in a year or two when we do our Etruscan trip!  Certainly gives me something to think about! 

We eased back into town about 4:30, and guess what?  Came right into the middle of the Mille Maglia!

R's sweet and strong wild boar with polenta

My tortelli with truffles

R's fragole

My chocolate dessert!

Cars and people everywhere, but we were able to find our way back to the parking lot and find a space for the night. 

Il Pozzo's dining room

Their lovely dinner plates

My Tuscan crostini ... liver indeed!

I am really enjoying our brand-new Fiat Punto!  It handles really well, as we definitely put it to the test today!  But as we got to our room, we realized that wow, we hadn’t missed the craziness after all – they were coming right below us; truly a trip, although after almost two hours of it, I’m wondering when it will be over…or at least through Lucca’s center for today.  There is no way that even double paned glass can keep out that NOISE!

My "brick" chicken

R's steak with roast potatoes

R's cheese-cake like dessert

So, back to last night’s dinner. 

R's delicious marinated and grilled eggplant

My ensalada caprese

Alex very nicely made a reservation for us at Trattoria da Guilio, which was about 15 minutes walk away.  We got there at 8:35 p.m. (it was still raining a bit) and had a nice table in their second room.  For starters, I had an ensalada caprese (tomatoes and wonderful mozzarella with basil) and R had grilled and marinated egg plant – which was delicious.  For mains, I had something called “brick chicken” with roasted potatoes – it was wonderful, and R had steak and roasted potatoes; he very much enjoyed it.  (Okay, now I’m bummed … I applauded car 450 – and then came 451 and 453 …so much for the veracity of websites…)  For dessert, R had a wonderful cheesecake with berries, and I had crema gelato – which I loved.  Back to the B&B about 11 – and oh!  We passed a Laundromat on the way home, so three guesses where I’m going to be tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.??  (I know we just did laundry in Florence, but having laundry issues means that any time you find a spare Laundromat, you MUST use it so that everything possible will be clean!!)

So, that being about all I can think of – when I have quiet enough to think, which is certainly not right now – I will close and probably post lots of photos of the absolutely stunning Italian countryside, along with vintage cars!  Vrooommmm… And at 6:45 p.m. they are finally FINISHED, and are being followed out of the arena by a cavalcade of vespas!  Only in Italy…

Much love,

m

xxx

Editor’s Note:  I am going to post the mille maglia photos separately, as I have already way too many photos for one blog entry!

m