Mambo Italiano

The Italian countdown starts today (28 days until the flight to Rome!) and Adam's almost finished with our itinerary. I made a list of all the places I wanted to visit, things I wanted to see, etc. and he was in charge of figuring out how to make it all happen without us spending the entire time rushing from one place to another. (My list went something like this: museum, church, wine, wine, museum, museum, wine, church, church, wine...you get the idea.)

We're focusing our trip on the hill towns in Tuscany. We rented an apartment in a farmhouse near Cortona (the sleepy Etruscan hill town made famous by Frances Mayes' Under the Tuscan Sun) and a car for exploring the hillside. We'll be staying a week in Tuscany and then three days in Rome before flying back to NC and I am BEYOND excited.

Which brings me to what I'm reading this week. I've spent a lot of time with the traditional travel guides (Frommers' Florence, Tuscany and Umbria and Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany chief among them) and I've been reading travel essays (Travelers' Tales: Italy). I was hesitant but I started Under the Tuscan Sun and I'm absolutely loving it so far. There has been some criticism of Mayes' chronicle of buying and restoring a crumbling farm house outside of Cortona, mainly having to do with the dramatic increase in tourism Cortona has seen in the wake of the book's success. (Several travel agencies and websites even offer "Under the Tuscan Sun Vacation Packages.") Despite my trepidation regarding the book, (and feeling a bit of PTSD from my Eat, Pray, Love reading experience) I'm now 3/4 of the way through and thoroughly charmed. The way Mayes writes about the people and the food and the light make me feel like I'm seeing and smelling and tasting everything with her. Her language is evocative without being overdone and if it tends a little toward romanticizing her subject I can forgive her because, really, who can help from romanticizing Italy? She includes simple recipes throughout that I'm dying to try, (especially the Red Peppers or Onions Melted with Balsamic Vinegar and the Semolina Gnocchi). I haven't seen the movie with Diane Lane but I'm considering adding it to my Netflix queue as we speak. And if you haven't read the book it's a pleasant bit of "armchair traveling" and I suggest you pick it up.

Adam wants me to pick some specifics about what we'll be seeing in San Gimignano and Siena but I'm a little stuck. So far all I know I want to do is look at the towers in San Gimignano and be in Siena in the evening and eat something delicious while drinking red wine and looking out at the "Sienese Crests," but I don't think this is quite what Adam was looking for. Do you have any suggestions?

Happy Friday!