HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

A Friend in Italy  (August 2009)

     God bless the day that Marianne found Fernando and Rosetta on the internet in the spring.  I, without knowing it, had stumbled upon them via the website for their B & B Bella Magione in Magione, Umbria, Italy a month before.  Their ad claimed custom tours to suite your specific wishes and desires.  Great.  Sad for them that I had a hell of a lot of wishes and desires that I had coveted for a long time in my heart.  Everything I had seen from the time I could remember, I wanted to see and experience. 

     Marianne just knew that this was the way for us to get to know Italy before we ever thought of striking out on our own.  She was impressed by the fact that this Fernando would drive us, and a group of up to eight, anywhere in central Italy.   Rosetta, his wife, cooked dinners and would even take guest to the weekly market and an olive oil mill.  However, as Marianne was quick to point out, I did not come cheap—about $5,000 a week for two.  We started to talk about a trip in mid-June of 2010.  She thought they might already be booking for that time and pushed for me to write.  I believed that she was right and I eventually emailed them in early June.

     The response to our first inquiry was:  

Conferma del messaggio inviato a <info@italyescortedtour.info> alle 04/06/2009 6.40 

Il messaggio è stato visualizzato nel computer del destinatario alle 04/06/2009  12.22

Okay.  Italian.  I thought I could decipher it:  the message about a visit via the computer was received on June, 4, 2009.  What it didn’t say was:  you have a place to stay.  Oh, I see, this auto-response gets kicked-out every time you enquire to most places.

    The next day Fernando wrote:

Dear David, thank you for your kind request !  We will get back to you with our tour suggestions for you as soon as possible. Saluti dall'Italia, Fernando.

Score!   A week went by, then 10 days.  On June 14 Fernando wrote:

Dear David,

thanks again for your kind request for 2010 and sorry if we have taken some days before to send you our information.. we are in this period every day busy with tours.

If what you are looking for is experiencing Italy more as insiders rather than as tourists, it will be our pleasure to get you into the genuine Italian way of living and treat you with all that's enjoyable of our country.

I'll  personally escort you through some of the most beautiful Italian sceneries and share with you some historical information,  fine food and wine, while Rosetta will spoil you with the traditional dishes of Central Italy...

To have look into our suggestions, budget and booking terms for your trip in Italy please click on  Mr David Jones' tour  print a copy of it and let us know what you think about.

Saluti dall'Italia

Fernando

     I quickly clicked on the link with my name on it and found a web page devoted just to my trip!

SUN:  Arrival between Tuscany and Umbria. We will pick you up in Rome airport in the morning and transfer to our Villa. If you are not too tired, after lunch we can have a tour along the way. Relax and Welcome Dinner… Antipasti of Umbria and Tuscany and local wines.

MON:  Siena and the Senese Countryside (Tuscany)  Breakfast: the "Crostata di Marmellata" hand made by Rosetta. Siena: you will see one of the world’s most unique piazzas del Campo and visit the precious Duomo. Cheese tasting. The heart of the Senese countryside is perfect landscape of enchanting hillsides. Dinner in our villa with a coutryside menu of Tuscany and Umbria…

TUE:  Assisi and Spello (Umbria)  Breakfast: the "Torcolo Umbro", hand-made by Rosetta. Assisi with its amazing ensemble of masterpieces, such as the Basilica of Saint Francis with Giotto’s and Cimabue’s frescos, represents a unique example of city sanctuary. Lunch in a typical trattoria. Spello, a charming town near Assisi. Dinner in our Villa: "Umbricelli al pomodoro", hand-made pasta.

WED:  Gubbio and Perugia (Umbria)  Breakfast: the "Ciaramicola", typical local cake. Gubbio: one of the most beautiful medieval towns in Europe, perfectly preserved. Lunch in a typical trattoria and in the afternoon visit of Perugia, the main town of Umbria and promenade in the shopping area. Dinner in our villa: will taste the "minestrone" and “arrosto al forno”

THU:  Caprese Michelangelo and La Verna (Tuscany) Breakfast: the "Torta di mele", hand-made by Rosetta. Shopping in the open market in Magione with Rosetta. In the morning a mystic moment for your soul at the Sanctuary of La Verna on St. Francis' tracks. Lunch in a typical Tuscan trattoria at Caprese Michelangelo: Michelangelo’s native village. Dinner in our Villa… we will taste Italian Pizza!

FRI:  LakeTrasimeno and Cortona (Umbria & Tuscany)   Breakfast: the "torta al cocco e cioccolato", hand-made by Rosetta. Guided visit with Rosetta at an oil mill and extra virgin olive oil tasting at our villa with bruschetta and wine. After lunch Cortona the town of the descendants of Dardanus from Troy, now modern day Greeks… setting of the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun”… Farewell Dinner

SAT:   Departure or Transfer to Rome Airport: it takes about 2 and a half hours from my place to Roma Fiumicino.

     We were overwhelmed and suddenly full of emotions.  Almost everything we possibly could have wanted was in this package.  Well, at least I was.  Marianne was just happy he responded.  As I examined the itinerary more closely, I realized I didn’t know some of the places Fernando had scheduled.  I also didn’t see places I had originally suggested to him.  Places like Orvieto, Spoleto, and the Tuscan triumvirate—Montalcino, Pienza, and Montepulciano.   I most certainly didn’t know places like Spello and Gubbio and I wondered why he hadn’t taken my first suggestions into consideration.  I thought better of just firing off an ill-conceived email that would strain a young relationship.  It took several days for me to craft an email that I hoped would not offend our future hosts.

Dear Rosseta and Fernando:

    Thank you so much for getting back to us.  Marianne (my wife) and I think the tour package that you have put together looks wonderful.  There are a few things on our “wish list” that we have always wanted to do and are not listed.  That being said, we understand if tour packages cannot be changed.   Please, I hope you don’t take offense if we have a few requests if our week with you is flexible.

    First, we could be in Rome as early as June 13, 2010--more information to follow later.  There are so many things we would love to see and experience, but time is a factor.  Just sitting by the pool at your villa, would be great.  Also, Marianne has some mobility problems. 

   I am an amateur painter (want to sketch & watercolor while there) and want to see the art, architecture, and the country.  Marianne also wants to see museums, find fabric, and shop.  We love live music, theatre, opera, eating and wine.  Cooking lessons with Rosseta would be wonderful. Wine tasting and seeing the process of wine making also interests us.  We are especially interested in the wines of Montalcino (brunello) and Montepulciano (vino nobile), and your suggestions, of course.  We are curious about Pisa and Lucca, but not in high tourist season (?). 

Fernando’s Tour with Jones’ Wish List:

SUNDAY--Perfect (piu espresso, per favore!)

MONDAY--Siena--Wonderful!   Is wine tasting in Chianti possible this day?

TUESDAY--Our Umbria list is 1) Oriveto, 2) Civita di Bagnoregio (if possible), 3) Spoleto, and 4) Assisi (if there’s enough time).

WEDNESDAY--Gubbio sounds fascinating, but we would like to see (and taste) Montalcino, Pienza, and Montepulciano.  Perugia—I don’t know.

THURSDAY--More Umbria or up to Arezzo (shopping)?  A trattoria?

FRIDAY- Olive oil & Cortona--si!  This sounds absolutely great!  Too crowded? 

SATURDAY-Departure—sad, but true. 

Scusi.  Please don’t be offended.  If it were possible for us to stay a couple nights in Firenze, could you drive us there on Saturday?  Do you think that trains and busses are reliable enough to get us back to Rome on our own (via Lucca and Pisa maybe) for our flight home?  Let us know if this is pazzo.

Molte grazie

David and Marianne Jones

Roseburg, Oregon

USA

A week later, he responded:

Dear David and Marianne,

thanks for your suggestions, they are very useful for me to plan a right tour for the two of you.

Next week we will send you a new programme considering your suggestions but also the real possibility to realize day by day what you suggested.

We will also send you train information a.s.o.

Thanks again.

Fernando

And Later:

Dear David and Marianne,

 we are working to the new plan and taking into account your suggestions...

We would like better understand some aspect of your wishes:

 About excursions:

you wrote that Marianne has some mobility problems... as the medieval towns in Tuscany and Umbria are up on the hills, we would like to know if there are problems if you have to walk up and down...

We can organize a plan to visit the different places you suggested but this means also to walk a lot... 

We don't have museums in our itineraries for a question of time and also because we give more importance to the real life with people, trattorias a.s.o. but if Marianne has an idea of what she would like to see, it could be useful to know it..

About wines:

We generally use to visit a place in the morning, have a typical lunch with local good wine and then another short visit in the afternoon before to go back home.

We offer you an experience and know like Italians generally do  and for you we organize everyday a  different visit a different flavour of food and a  different wine. We naturally drink good wines (as we have an offer very large and good quality) but not Reserve every day.

Therefore we would like to know if you would like to have professional wine tasting with: Brunello, Nobile of Montepulciano, Chianti Riserva, Sagrantino a.s.o. or if you mean just to have the opportunity to taste them as "tourist" in local wineries and perhaps by a bottle to drink at home. 

What we suggest is a mix of a different aspects of our life with some general information about our history to help to understand the expression of character between Umbrian and Toscan people.  

As we can see in your email here under, you know very good what you want to see so, are you sure that you would need our services ?  Sorry but we don't like that people could be disappointed.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Saluti

Fernando

Our response:

Dear Fernando and Rosetta:

     Thank you for returning our request email with suggestions and cautions.  First, we want you to know we trust you on everything, especially Italian culture, food and wine.  Disappointed?  We will be in Italy—how could that ever be disappointing?

Our dates can be June 13 to 20, 2010.   Does that work for you?

     Marianne’s mobility problems stem from chronic arthritis and bursitis.  She is used to a more active lifestyle.  Although she is retired now, she had a long career as a theater director and working with non-profit organizations.  She still directs plays when possible.  She looks forward to the trip and will say when she has had enough.  David should be fine walking, etc. almost anywhere.

    We totally understand about museums, and would prefer to “meet and taste” the region.  We see now that trying to do Orvieto, Civita and Spoleto all in one day is just too much.  We have been told Assisi and Spello are really worth the visit.  Maybe focusing on Orvieto and Assisi might be enough. Visiting Montalcino, Pienza and Montepulciano would be great, but if it’s too much, just say so.  Yes, Gubbio looks wonderful, but this might be our only trip to Italy.

     As for wine and wine tasting—we are tourists.  Whatever you let us sample will be wonderful.  One wine we are unable to buy locally is “Brunello” and would very much like to sample it, if possible.  We are sure that your own wine cellar will be more than adequate.

     The week following our visit with you, we are trying to book an apartment in Florence or Siena/Chianti area, reachable by train, and do day trips to Pisa, Lucca, etc. and focus on churches and museums there.  David met a teacher from Milan in a class he just took who wants to help us ‘experience’ Tuscany. 

     We are concerned about what happens after our visit with you.  Maybe you can answer some of our questions:  Will the trains get us there and to our other day trips?  Pisa, Lucca etc.  Are the buses reliable?  Finding food, etc.—all daunting tasks in a foreign country.  Oh, is driving in the Tuscan country-side even an option?

     We are both very anxious to work out an excursion schedule that seems most manageable for you.  Thank you again, and we hope that all our planning pays off beautifully.

Arrivederci,

David and Marianne

Dear Marianne and David,

We thank you for understanding!

If you follow our programme we are sure you will be satisfied... if we have to follow you we can not guarantee...

If you go in a nice restaurant and you want to eat something that is not included in the chef's specialties or you want something new outside of his knowledge, you have to know that you risk to eat bad ... 

So, if you will arrive two or three days before and start visit Rome on your own, you will be our of  jet-lag and we will pick you up at your hotel on Sunday morning and start visit as following:

Sunday 13th:     Civita - Light lunch - Afternoon Orvieto (this town isn't crowd)

Monday 14th:     Siena - Light Lunch - Afternoon Montalcino

Tuesday 15th :   Spoleto - Light Lunch - Afternoon Assisi

Wednesday 16th: Gubbio - Light Lunch - Afternoon Perugia

Thursday 17th:   Montepulciano - Light Lunch - Afternoon Pienza

Friday 18th:        Oil Mill on Lake Trasimeno - Light Lunch - Afternoon Cortona

Saturday 19th:  Departure for Florence at your Apartment or nearby if it's not possible to reach it by car.

 As you can see we start our tour on Sunday and ending on Saturday and we cannot change the dates as we have to pick up other people on Sunday again a.s.o. so, we suggest you to reserve one day earlier in Florence (19th - 25th ?).

In this case you will be charged with our basic budget for an exclusive tour for two people and we will include a couple of wine tasting, a cheese tasting and an extra-virgin olive oil tasting.

If you agree, we will send you the final proramme including budget and booking terms.

Saluti

Fernando

We responded ecstatically—finally letting them know about our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  They wrote back:

Dear Marianne and David,

happy to know that you like our proposal.

Once you are here and touring with me, if it will be too much we will stop early, no problem!

The ideal for us is a mini-group of 6 persons arriving in Italy at the same time at the same airport, so if your friends would like to join you, we would be very happy and you would benefit of a better price (see: http://www.italyescortedtour.info/prices.html

About an Hotel in Rome:

http://www.hoteldiocleziano.it/en/reservations.htm  Hotel Diocleziano (near Train Station - 4 stars)

http://www.hotelmadisonrome.com/it/index.htm  Hotel Madison 3 Stars at train station Termini - Via Marsala 60 - Contact: Anna Maria: aana@phh.it    TEL. +39.06.445-4344 FAX: +39.06.445-6993

Please, as Rome is a big town with thousands of hotels, fell free to search through all search engines that you prefer like www.booking.com  a.s.o.

Congratulation to your 25th Anniversary, we will open an extra bottle at you arrival.

Saluti

Fernando

     TRIMUPHANT SCORE!  GLORIA DEO!  Hot diggity dog!  It looked like everything we could possibly want was there, plus a little Rome thrown in to boot.

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

Peter and Lana-- Our Friends

     It is such a rare gift to have good friends.  Marianne and I have many friends, and usually they are as unique as we are.  Peter and Lana Graff is one such couple.  Lana is a walking fiend and knows the best routes.  She is a local, a former elementary music teacher, a choral composer, excellent soprano, jewelry maker and peace activist.  Her husband, Peter, a former business-development expert, originally from New Jersey, is active in the theater and a true bass.  Marianne and Peter formed a quick bond 20 odd years ago, through the theater, and enjoy martinis and Metaxa together—oh the stories I could tell.  He is a little older than Marianne and has had to start wearing hearing aids.  Recently he got a cutting-edge of technology set that he is trying to get use to.  Lana still has to yell at him, “turn them up, or pay attention--you old coot!   

     They both meet back in 1992, during a production I created and directed “Impossible Broadway”.  It was a high-powered Broadway Musical review that was one of my crowning achievements.  Later, we were witnesses at their civil marriage ceremony at City Hall after Thanksgiving that year.  They went on to do “The Mikado” with us, just before we left the theater for the first time.  They have sung with Vintage for years.  She’s got a beautiful, pure soprano, and he is as ‘bass-y’ as you get—having sung with the Nassoons at Princeton, 50 plus years ago.   

     We have been to the coast and Yachats several times with them.  We always have a great time.  I remember one Fourth of July, walking the beach in Florence (Oregon) for hours with them.  The tops of my feet got so sunburned, but the walk and the company were wonderful. 

     Friends share food and good times and the four of us have certainly had conspicuous consumption together.  We started a dinner group and had progressive meals—with international themes from all over the world.  Lana started her a couple of her own annual parties, a summer festa and a winter solstice party.  It’s always fun with them.

Tidbits to Travel Tuscany By

     I had started to read as much as I could about traveling in Italy and smart ways to travel for our "Soggiorno in Tuscany".  Yes, Rick Steves is the pro, but he is also selling things.  One unforgettable quote comes from his endorsement of a money belt that looks like a regular belt.

  “Relax: When you wear this money belt, feeling a street urchin's hand in your pocket becomes just one more interesting cultural experience.”

  Or in pushing an agriturismo…

“One of the joys of staying for at least a week in one location is you can develop a true dolce far niente ("sweetness of doing nothing") attitude.”

HELP! I’VE FALLEN IN (love with) TUSCANY AND I CAN’T GET UP

 “Oh, The Horror” Travels with Bad Beds (Late July 2009)

    We have been through ‘traveling with torturous beds’ many times before.  Strange mattresses and just bad beds—oh the ‘horror’!  Whether it’s the guest beds at my brothers’ houses, bad motels, or even the dreaded foldout couches, trying to negotiate through your day after you have had a permanent crease etched into your spine is no picnic.   Somehow, feeling like you slept on concrete with a four inch metal pipe being ground into shoulder blades doesn’t make you exactly bright and chipper the next day.  Ah, the hide-a-bed--what exquisite torture.  Please, sir, may I have another? 

     I remember some time back giving up the bed for a fold out sofa in Newport, Oregon.  We had two friends join us in this condo with a great bead and the oldest pullout you could imagine.  The mattress must have been 2 inches thick—I swear.  And, of course, when I laid down on it, one of the main supporting bars hit me square across the back.  I felt that one for a week.  I still can feel it now, after 15 years.  Isn’t it amazing how the mind can remember pain so well?

Maybe I Should Get In Shape?  (July 2009)

     I have decided to go back to yoga after a 20 year hiatus.  I needed to do something.  I started in college and stuck with it into my thirties until my job and other commitments got the best of me. 

     Teaching children is the greatest, but it’s the other stuff that goes with it that makes it hard.  Sometimes I liken teaching to nine months of holding your head under water and coming up for air around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the end of March.  In June, you’re actually allowed to come out of the water for a couple of months.  Here in the past ten or so years I think the water has become increasingly more stagnant and swamp-like, thanks to so many school reforms, bad politicians and tax initiatives.  How many times can one foul ones water supply before everyone gets a ‘poo-flood’? 

        So, we joined the “Y” in June and I now can choose from about six different yoga classes—a variable smorgasbord of ‘pretzels and pain’.  I have been proud of my accomplishments in the past month.  I am bending and twisting quite well thank you.  I now have some strength in my shoulders and upper arms.  However, the first week of sessions absolutely got me.  I pulled a muscle in my lower right back and over stretched some tendons in the back of my left calf. 

     This last injury was probably actually caused from dancing in a musical last April.  Marianne directed the show, “Once on This Island” which was a great success.  I told her I couldn’t do the show because it opened Holy Week, which is the most intense time of a Musician in the Episcopal Church.  Yes, even more than Christmas.  There are about five services during that time, and any thought of prancing around a theatre stage was out of the question.  Plus I had a spring concert with our community a ccapella singing group, The Vintage Singers, so I had no time for a play. 

     Well, Marianne didn’t have any mature men audition, who could sing.  So by a ‘force-out’ situation, I became the old man of the show.  All the other performers were in high school, college-aged or their 30’s.  Oh, just to make it work better for me, she also moved the show forward one week so it opened the week after Easter.  Thank you sweetie, I love you too.

   I don’t think this out of shape 50 something body could have worked so hard to learn the excellent dances our 17 year old, slave-driving, choreographer created.  It was obvious for the first month that I might not make it.  Still, I think I pulled it off.  I lost about 10 pounds and felt better than I had in years—even though I screwed up this tendon behind my left knee.  I’m getting better.  I’m not quite dead yet--feeling much better.

   So this day’s class was very crowded and I didn’t recognize the instructor at all.  She hadn’t been teaching classes for the last month, but I guessed the regular gal couldn’t make it.  She started off briskly and had us bending and contorting in ways I never have thought or wanted to move.  We all got through it, but that was very intense for lower intermediate class. 

     The “Yoga Nazi” as I began to think of her, also kept a pleasant smile on her face, but knew precisely what posture she could inflect next to really challenge us.  Afterward, I checked with Harry, a long time acquaintance to see how he was doing.  He has about eight years on me, but handles himself well in the class.  I taught both his kids, directing one as Scrooge in a school Christmas play.  Harry himself was our Narrator/Mysterious Man in mine and Marianne’s joint production (she directs/I do the music) of “Into the Woods’.  He is also on the board of the Community Theater in which we are so active.  Harry usually cheerfully greets and says goodbye every Tuesday when I see him.  This day, he mumbled ‘see ya” as he left, looking like he’d ripped a muscle in every possible body quadrant.  Yoga makes you feel so centered.  It’s great.

     I have been preparing myself, physically, for the marathon of Tuscany.  It’s all built on hills, and the buildings don’t have elevators—that’s what we’ve been told.  Dario Castagno, who’s book “Too Much Tuscan Sun” exposed American (and other nationalities) tourists for their “out-of—shape-ness”.   He was really was amazed the huffing and puffing of the folks he guided.  From a cultural perspective, we came out looking pretty pathetic.  I vowed to myself, as I read his book, never to be like that if or when I go to Italy. 

   So I have been walking the hills of Roseburg to get ready.  Okay, a year in advance, but if I don’t start now, when will I?  Let me tell you, I now know that Roseburg is built on hills.  At first glance from the freeway, I-5, that ‘tears’ the town in half, it’s a flat, cozy river valley with the meandering South Umpqua running through, and bumps of high hills, like Nebo and Callahan ridge, that break up the ‘hundred valleys of the Umpqua’.  Over the past 20 years the town has slowly spread out and up the sides of these hills, in a very hap-hazard way.  Some developers have tried to keep the hillsides in tact, while others have scared in so deeply, we’re just waiting for the next big rain during the monsoon season for all those half and million dollar homes to come sliding down into the older neighborhoods.

    During my summer break, I recharged my body by taking walks, a mile or two, around the greater neighborhood area of our southwest home.  I have had some physical problems, three hernia operations, gout, and various bronchial-asthma related issues, that can sometimes limit me.   The flat part of town, where we live, gently sloping down to the river and has been great for walking.  Now that Marianne and I have a goal in mind, I have decided to push myself and take to the hills—literally.  Just a block away to the east, the southwest hill of town rises up sharply.  Mt. Nebo is on the east end, near I-5, and the ridge to its west might not even have a name. 

     I had been up the first street, Winter Ridge, which end in a field after a cul-de-sac, and it was a challenge.  Our neighbors, old friends, Peter and Lana, who live at the west end of the subdivision, first told me about the work out.  Once I return from the hill top I traverse the side of the hill and take every opportunity to take a one block cul-de-sac or side road to climb more of the ridge.  The highest street is Military and the last uphill assault is a killer.  It gets your heart pumping and the sweat a poring.  On a summer morning, there is nothing healthier than ‘huffing and puffing’ my way up there, and taking in the Roseburg vista as I try to keep from passing out.  I figured if I keep doing this throughout the coming school year I might be ready for Tuscany.