Reading back, I think I've lost the rhythm- trying to cram the story of the whole month into three or four posts. But there'll be more time for reflection after I finish telling about the last week at Castiglione d'Orcia. It was the coldest May in fifty years! Imagine how much I'll love it when the weather is normal!

My family and I joined the people from Slow Travel for a Sunday afternoon lunch in a tiny village high above the other end of the Val d'Orcia. An unexpectedly elegant lunch. Ristorante La Rosa del Trinoro made our get together truly memorable. I was particularly invested in this event because I'd made a friend on line at SlowTrav who was a classmate at Bryn Mawr of one of my best friends from Peace Corps days and I was eager to meet her. She and her husband were great company as were the two other women from ST who came. It was a long afternoon of exquisite food and engrossing conversation. We all come from the U.S. to meet here, our love of Italy the common thread.

On the way home, I took my brother-in-law to the hilltown of Radicofani which he was not satisfied to see from a distance and I almost ended up killing him for disappearing up to the fortress with my nephew for well over an hour, leaving the rest of us to cool our heels in the parking lot. I was furious and he was barely repentant. Driving like a maniac while I yelled at him, I nearly committed dogicide dodging three huge, white, furry Maremma shepherds. We finally made up at the bar in Bagno Vignoni. I stopped at this favorite watering hole of his as a peace offering- and made him pick up the tab. We didn't go to sleep angry and we all slept in on Monday before going off to a festive farewell-to-the-Aussies dinner at Gary and Zak's. How incredibly kind and generous these two Tuscan neighbors have been to me and mine!

And on Tuesday, the crew left for Rome and points east- Vietnam and Australia. May 11, 2004, was the first night I would spend alone in my new home. It was great!

Wednesday found me shopping in San Quirico and having lunch in Monticchiello (again!) with Paolo and with Ester who was off to Sicily, her home, the next day. Later in the day, Amy came for a short visit before going home to the commune. I think she finally realizes it's not just a half hour away- more like an hour and a half. But I will visit there often when I move over. They feel like my Italian family- one of my Italian families anyway.

On Thursday, Augusta, my dear friend and former Italian professor from NYC, came all the way down from Mantova to visit. I have to make it my business to visit her parents, aunts and uncles again soon. It's been too long. I picked her up at the Chiusi train station and brought her home for a tour of the new home, a good meal with good wine and a comfortable visit before taking her back to the station. The drive between my house and Chiusi is probably one of the most beautiful drives in all of Italy- and that's saying a lot!

So contrary to all expectations, I finally met with the geometra on the last day of my stay rather than the first. I had packed and cleaned up the house and readied it for closing. I gave all my perishables to my new found friends in the village who later showed up with home made wine for me to bring to NY. Then I took all my drawings and notes to the geometra's office down the street. He and his assistant heard me out- my hopes, plans, ideas for the house (all in my rather creative Italian spiced up with mime)- and then we did a total walk through of the house and I feel reassured I will be receiving a fax of the preventivo before the summer is out. I know now that I can take it slow- the house is perfectly livable in the warmest months and not impossible in the colder ones.

I found out that my real estate agent's illness was serious enough to keep him from coming to Tuscany from Bolzano for the time being and I asked that my best wishes be passed along. And I was sad to hear that the elegant woman who had first welcomed me to town, who I mentioned in the very first post of this blog, is now at the casa di riposo, the nursing home. I learned her name a bit late.

And then Paolo came with wild gladioli from his pasture and Gary and Zak came for my houseplants and the keys. We all stood around in the late afternoon spring sunlight gossiping about the movie people using the Rocca as a location and then took deep breaths, gave great hugs, and said goodbye until autumn when I go back. An evening spent driving to Rome for a flight (to a place for which I seem to have less and less affinity) seemed the most leaden of activities. Now had I been driving back from Rome... well, that would have been sweet.

posted by Joanna @ 5/29/2004 04:36:00 AM