Pot pourri…

When we were in Italy last October I took one random segment of video. I have no clue as to why except that it was a beautiful clear day, I was overwhelmed by the environment, and I wanted to remember the music I was hearing. I have been carrying around this one and one half minutes ever since, not knowing quite what to do with it. Almost trashed it many times. Then, for the final project of the Xanthe Berkeley class I was taking we needed to combine video and work with “ducking” sound. I finally had a use for it and I made this memory of Italy from my iPhone photos. It was a fun project to try to find coordinating music for the rest of the movie.

Made a strawberry and ricotta tart after the Chandler strawberries came into the Farmer’s Market last Sunday.

Also came across rhubarb at Whole Food’s. Pulled out my favorite recipe from a book I got many years ago written by the proprietors from a Cafe in Paris. I am going to now have the opportunity to visit this cafe in person.

The black and white striped French fisherman’s shirt I ordered from LLBean has arrived in time for its trip to Paris.

The signatures for my travel journal are ready to be sewn into its cover.

It happened again: before we went to Italy I discovered a magazine I had kept for at least ten years. It was an issue devoted to Tuscany and one of its articles was a list of paper stores in Florence. I had a fabulous time searching for all the stores while I was there. A couple of weeks ago, I went to storage to get some furniture for my daughter who was moving apartments. There was a random box that was labeled papers so I brought it back home with the intention of sorting and recycling. The box was filled with old magazines that had belonged to my father. An example was Life magazine from 1943 talking about the war in the Pacific. (My father had been on a destroyer in the Navy.) There was also a copy of Holiday Magazine from 1948. (I was two!) The table of contents said the magazine had an article about the circus, but all the pages for that were neatly cut out. Most of the rest of the magazine was devoted to Paris! So now I have some wonderful graphics for my travel journal.

The most giggle inducing event is that a long-time friend (we met in fourth grade) and her husband are going to be in Paris at the same time. Happenstance is a powerful thing…if we had tried to actually plan this it never would have worked out. We are like school girls, school girls I tell you…

Still have to do the trial run with the suitcase and apply the Murphy rule. Pack it, then unpack and leave half of the contents at home. Counting down the days…

I no longer say ciao, I have switched to au revoir…

Pienza and The English Patient…

Pienza…ahh, Pienza…you swept me away…the smallest of the towns we visited and maybe my favorite…because I could see myself there in a small artisan shop in an ancient building (inviting all my friends to come visit, of course…will you?)…working on art, chatting with customers. Long meals, lovely days…but first the lay of the land…

The most important order of business was the morning cappuccino, but when I saw this chocolate fountain I was quickly seduced in another direction…

Then to the church (which allowed pictures) and the town museum (which did not). This church has foundation problems, but being a true Californian I thought about earthquakes a lot while I was inside…and wouldn’t you know the day we got home two above 4.0 quakes happened on faults near our house…yikes…

The cracks…

The above is a glass insert put in to measure amount of movement.
Best of all were the alter boys getting ready for service…looked about sixth grade age

The stroll to find lunch in a cafe with three tables and many wine bottles and tasty sandwiches.

Looking for artisans

We found a potter

A fabric artist

And a watercolorist…her bookmark/business card and some delightful watercolors I bought…they are 2″x2″ and now so many miles away, they make my heart skip when I look at them…

On our way back down the road from Pienza we opted to explore a dirt road that takes you to a monastery named Sant’ Anna In Camprena. It was the setting for the Italian part of the movie The English Patient and I figured that it was the closest I would ever get to Ralph Fiennes. (Since we have been home we rented the movie to watch again and were amazed at how young the actors looked. Luckily we were alone while we watched because we kept yelling out things like…I stood next to that cypress…we were right next to that wall…remember those crosses…)
This is where Juliette Binoche met Willem Defoe for the first time…

My driver noticing that we couldn’t go inside because it was 2:00 and it was closed from 12-3:00 in the fashion of the country. Love the colors of this facade…

You may note black dots in many of my pictures. These are Jackdaws similar to our crows and always flying around the towers we saw in Italy. (From Wikipedia)

Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Our Untours leader in Tuscany (Harriet Gussoni) had us meet her for an orientation and lunch at the abbey called Monte Oliveto Maggiore. We were then given a tour of the inside of the monastery and its incredible frescoes. The restaurant was entered through a drawbridge with a Della Robbia sculpture as a greeting.

Harriet giving us driving and hill town tips for the week.

This was the most interesting plant growing out of the brick wall started by a seed blown into a crack.

Creating this beautiful flower-the flower of the caper plant.

After a lunch that included pane dei Santi and vin santo, we walked down the hill to the monastery.

Constructed in the 15th century it includes this loggia.

Inside the arches are frescoes that depict the life and work of Bernard Tolomei who founded the order in 1319. The frescoes were created by Luca Signorelli and Sodoma.

Pictures were allowed and we were close to them but I am only going to share some charming snippets.

Benedict leaving home.

This is thought to be a self portrait of the artist, Sodoma.

We also saw the refectory.

The library.

And the church.

Which has a choir covered in wood inlaid stalls.

A mosaic done in 1980 of Benedict created by a member of the community.

A closer view of the modern statue in the courtyard.

And another Della Robbia as we passed out through the 16th century drawbridge.

Breathing Art…

Our apartment in Tuscany contained many books left behind, I assumed, by previous residents. Terry pointed out a chapter in Frances Mayes book, “Bella Tuscany, the Sweet Life in Italy” entitled Breathing Art. It is the perfect description. She talks about how a child in Italy might be found kicking a soccer ball against the 500 year old wall of a Basilica. Art is everywhere.
I found I was breathing art the entire time I was there.

A wall in San Gimignano had niches of art (with explanations about their symbolism).

In the Piazzo del Popolo in Montalcino, a wall had tiles that looked like they were commissioned each year to celebrate the local wine which is the backbone of their economy.

In Buonconvento a gallery was marked by this sculpture.

Art, art, art, I just love you…even on my cappuccino in Montalcino.

Stripes…

More than twenty-five years ago, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with black and white checkerboard. I put them everywhere I could, bought fabric for quilts in every size I could find, and used them for borders whenever possible. I grew out of that phase, but now I fear it is coming back. Only, this time it is black and white stripes, or maybe grey and white depending on if the building facade has been restored and cleaned in the last few decades. There will be more of these places in the future, but these are the stripes of Siena and Orvieto, my new passion.

And this

Has sides like this

Which when turned into a black and white photo with Dramatic B&W app looks like this

Stripes are the new black…

1573…

Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany

by Cellini and workshop

I took this photo when I visited The Legion of Honor last August but saved it until now because a week from today Terry and I will be flying to Tuscany. One week in Florence and one week in the countryside staying in Montalcino but daytripping to Siena, San Gimignano, and Orvieto. But since we will be on an Untour, we can make it up as we go along. As we get closer and closer the excitement gets greater and greater.

The past few weeks we have been doing a major construction project that has finally ended (although the painting of walls and trim goes on). It was chaos because we put new windows in six different places and it required a lot of moving furniture and items out-of-the-way so that the worker-men could get access and have room to work. One positive was that a lot of clean out went on. So I went through a pile of magazines that I had saved for inspiration, but they had now outworn their welcome. I was so surprised to find an old issue of Somerset Studio (2001) dedicated to Tuscany. I must have thought even back then that this would be a good place to go. There was an entire page in the magazine devoted to locations of paper stores in Florence. I plan to see if they are all still there and will report back in three weeks when we return. Here’s the list in case you get to visit there (and you like paper!)

Giannini e Figlio, Piazza Pitti 37

Il Torchio,  Via Dei Bardi 17

Il Papero, in the Piazza Duomo

Pineider, Piazza Della Signoria 13

Et Cetera, Via Della Vigna Nuova 82/r

Rigacci, Via Dei Servi 7

Carteria Tassotti, Via Dei Servi 9/11r

Ciao (I just had to say that!)