A Day in the Country

A few days ago our group spent the day driving through the Tuscan countryside, visiting La Foce (pronounced La Fochay) and the little town of Pienza. 

Although the bus ride was rather bumpy and made most everyone sick, the views were absolutely incredible. As we wound through the countryside the rolling hills of greens and browns, the cedar lined ridges, the rows upon rows of sunflowers, the villas and farm houses on hill tops and hay bail dotted fields were breath taking! Steph was probably irritated with me as I pointed my camera over her shoulder to snap pictures as we drove along. I'd say okay, this is the last one I promise and we'd go around another corner and the view was just as beautiful as the last one. 

A few years ago I took Ethics in History with Dr. Belzer and we read War in Val D'Orcia by Iris Origo (highly recommend it!). It is the diary of Iris Origo during World War II, living in the Val D'Orcia at her Villa, La Foce . She was a wealthy British-American who grew up in Italy, married a well off Italian man and made her home at La Foce. She aided the Partisans, housed escaped British POWs, and took in twenty plus orphans among many other heroic actions as the war literally was on her doorstep. It was amazing to see the place I had read and learned about before me in beautiful condition. We could not tour the house itself because it is still occupied, but we toured the gardens and some of the grounds. BEAUTIFUL! 

We ate lunch just down the road at a restored restaurant. It was a sort of community center during the Fascist period and was closed down for a number of years after, but has recently been reopened.

The rest of the afternoon we spent in Pienza, a small town on a hilltop in Tuscany. It is famous for Pecorino cheese and is where Pope Pius II was born. The main church there is covered in his crest. The church was built on a slope so it is slowly slipping off the hill. Inside the church there are cracks in the walls and along the floor where you can see the evidence of this. Pienza was very small but charming with lots of colorful flowers along the streets and in window boxes and many beautiful places to look out over the countryside. 

After about an hour ride home, we had only thirty minutes or so before our last cooking class of the trip. Our meal was delicious as always. The antipasti was toast with a three cheese (gorgonzola, marscapone, and fresh cheese) walnut spread topped with pears and honey, the first course was homemade spinach ravioli with butter sage sauce, the main course was a Tuscan Chicken and finally dessert was panna cotta with berry sauce.

Now you're almost caught up, just a few more posts!  Until next time, Ciao!