Day 18 – June 6, 2025 – Foiano, Italy
Last night we decided to take a drive to Cortona and spend a few hours there walking around. Cortona is a town and commune in the province of Arezzo, which is about a 30-minute drive from the villa. It is known for its rich history dating back to the Etruscans and its stunning views of the Val di Chiana. It gained popularity through Frances Mayes’ book “Under the Tuscan Sun,” which highlights its medieval ambiance and beautiful landscapes. It has two kilometers (about 1.24 miles) of walls dating back to the 5th century BC.
There is the Girifalco (or Medicean) Fortress at the very top (600 metres above sea level) so we walked up there first and went through the grounds and building. The first documentation dates to 1258 and its façade facing the courtyard is the only remnant of the medieval fortress. It was rebuilt in the 16th century under Medici’s rule. You get great views of Lake Tasimeno and Monte Amiata. There is also the Basilica di Santa Margherita, on Piazzale Santa Margherita where the citizens of Cortona still make pilgrimages up the winding stone-flagged streets to her tomb. After all that walking up, we found a little café on the site and had a refreshing Aperol Spritz before heading back down.
We walked through the Piazza della Repubblica and Piazza Signorelli, which was once home to the ancient Etruscan-Roman forum but is now the Saturday morning market. We when through the Etruscan Academy Museum, where there is a genuine Etruscan chandelier dating from the 5th-century BC. We also went to the Diocesan Museum where there are rare masterpieces from the local artists. We stopped for lunch at La Vineria di Cortona, where Patty and I both had a vegetable flan with extra roasted vegetables and the guys both had a type of panini. We hung around for a little while longer then headed back to the villa to chill the rest of the day.
Around 5 pm, Barbara, Lorenzo’s daughter came to visit. She is the one we have the most contact with as she speaks English and he doesn’t. She is a teacher and lives about 30 minutes away, but she wanted to come and meet us. We asked her for some background of the house and found out she and her brother were raised here. When her parents (Lorenzo and Fiorella) retired, they wanted to do a BNB so made it happen. She doesn’t know how long they will be able to keep it up as it is a working farm as well and Fiorella does all the laundry/cleaning for the BNB. We got the feeling that Barbara, and most likely her brother, have no desire to keep up BNB when the time comes.
We had a local pizza chef come and prepare dinner for us tonight. His name is Maurizio, and he brought along Francesca (who is originally from Bosnia) to help. Our menu started with antipasto of pineapple wrapped in bacon, crostini with chicken liver (which was good!) and one with beans. Our pizza consisted of two different types: verdurona, which means vegetables and had cherry tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, and mozzarella. He also did a calzone with ricotta, mozzarella, mushrooms, tomato, and ham. It was fabulous! He cooked these outside on the brick pizza oven on the property we are staying at. Dessert was a torta diplomatica cake followed by a limoncello. Torta Diplomatica is an Italian layered cake with two rectangles of crumbly puff pastry on the top and bottom and then a middle layer of fluffy sponge cake and filled with Diplomat cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar. OMG, it was AMAZING!!!! We were stuffed to the gills, but what a great meal and there were plenty of leftovers for us to eat!
Francesa helped clean everything up and we called it a night after that. We had them come over at 6 pm, but between getting the oven ready and watching him make the pizzas, we started later so it was a later than usual night for us to eat. When in Italy, right????
Tomorrow, we have another tour with Barbara and will going to the Chianti region and will visit two different wineries. Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow – ciao!
