April 27--why our hosts are so awesome

We decided to have another slow day in Montalcino on Friday. It was market day in town and Jim bought a shirt and I bought a pair of Italian leather shoes, for the fraction of the price they would have cost in London (of course, that's usually the way it is everywhere that isn't London, but it's always a good excuse for shopping). In the afternoon we took a nap during siesta and then anticipated the Italian dinner that Fiorella was going to cook for us! At 8:00 sharp we headed down to eat (had we not been walking a lot, I think we would have come home to find that our clothes no longer fit). We sat at the "American" table (which actually was part American and part Canadian) and got to know friendly North American ladies pretty well over the course of a couple of hours. The two women on the far right of this picture are the Canadians. The other three women are from Portland, Oregon. We all had our Rick Steves books.


The food was delicious. We started with variou bruschettas and salami, followed by Ribollita, which is a Tuscan soup and was my favorite part of the meal. After the zuppa we had the prima plate, handmade ribbon pasta with meat sauce, followed by the secondi plate, which was a platter of meat: roast beef, rabbit, guinae hen, and some sort of souffle. Then salad and then dessert. All of this accompanied by wine from the vineyard and followed with grappa, which tastes like lighter fluid to me.

During the night, Barbara mentioned that she wouldn't be there to say goodbye to us the next morning. Jim and I thought we were staying until Sunday, so this was news to us. But the next day, after we searched without success for a place to stay, Fiorella told us we could stay in their private apartment in town. She was worried about us because we were so young and sweet and she didn't want us to have to sleep in our Fiat over night (we had already napped in our Fiat, so we knew that sleeping there was possible). Here I am, watching Italian MTV in the apartment. Fiorella rocks!