The truth about human life is that for most of the time there is nothing to do and therefore the wise man- or woman- cultivates the art of doing nothing.
John Burdett Bangkok 8
After a long lunch on the terrace at La Porta in Monticchiello, we all go outside the walls to lie around in the grass with Paolo's donkeys and Ester's dog. Glorious day.

posted by Joanna @ 10/16/2004 03:40:00 AM 1 comments  

I might have unconsciously avoided Torino in the past and feel lucky to have missed seeing any of the industrial environs commonly associated with it, mostly due to Fiat. (Those dreary car factories were real hot beds of left wing partisan resistance during the war.)

On Monday, my friends from Chiusure whisked me away from Toscana for a whirlwind tour of the city. We drove up the coast through Genoa and into the Piemonte to the head of the Po River. Here is Torino, and what I did see were the lush green parks around the palaces from the time of the Savoy. I found it an incredibly elegant city of wide boulevards lined with deep arcades or porticos under which there were sumptuous belle époque cafes and smart shops.

There are many theaters and cultural institutions and the Egyptian museum is renowned for a collection second only to Cairo's. The architecture of the castelli and ville range from austere to Baroque and the palazzi that are now offices and apartments often have great ornate atriums within. The city is graced with many parks and some of the avenues afford distant views to the Alps or landscaped river banks. The torinesi seem to get their style from the French without losing any of their Italian charm and warmth.

The Mole Antonelliana, Torino's signature building was the tallest in the world when built in 1863. Originally intended as a synagogue but later sold to the city, it is this strange, massive brick structure with a square cupola and a spire at the top. It has an elevator that soars up from its center to a viewing platform. And now it houses a wonderful museum of Italian cinema.

The three of us visited those two museums and ate and shopped and walked and sat in cafes under the arcades or out in one or another grand piazza for three lovely warm autumn days and nights before heading home on Wednesday evening. It was a wonderful little holiday.

posted by Joanna @ 10/09/2004 07:49:00 PM 4 comments  

After arriving on Saturday, September 18th, to spend the night in la camera della principessa in Chiusure following a celebratory dinner at I Poggioli in Buonconvento (old home week), my friends took me for Sunday lunch at the Cantina della Rocca in the borgo attached to my village. Spectacular weather and everyone out enjoying it. The husbands and fathers showed up later in all their hunting gear. Italian men are into lethal fashion this year. They've taken to wearing camo instead of orange vests when they're all out in the woods shooting at anything that moves!

Then we went over to the house for awhile and I ran into Carmela and her friend Francois from Paris who lives in Castiglione, too. And then their native-to-Castiglione friend showed up. It turned out to be Silvana who was the first person I'd ever met in Castiglione the first day I went there to check it out and was looking at the real estate listings in the agency window. She and I had started chatting and had looked forward to seeing each other again. So we finally did! She has quit her job in Firenze to move back home. We might have the makings of a crew here: Rome, Paris, Castiglione and NYC. Smart, vibrant, warm and funny women who have fled the madness of city life for the peace of this hilltown above the Val d'Orcia. Silvana says the valley is a woman who is never seen to wear the same dress twice. You never tire of looking at her. I had coffee with Silvana on the terrace at Bar Petra on the edge of town early one morning, dinner twice at Carmela's and chats with both of them and Francois whenever we encountered one another going to and fro in the village. When I'm there, I see them almost every day.


The "crew" often meets here across from my house, over looking my garden on the other side of which is Carmela's place.

posted by Joanna @ 10/08/2004 01:35:00 AM 3 comments  

September 2004 An unusually green and warm autumn in the Val d'Orcia.

posted by Joanna @ 10/08/2004 01:12:00 AM 0 comments