Finally finished! Now the trick is to get it mounted and framed and displayed. I’m good at making stuff and then I lose the motivation to do anything with it once it’s made.

This design came from a photograph that I took of a centerpiece at Spannocchia, near Siena, Italy.

I know that I probably annoyed the hell out of my fellow travellers by constantly snapping pictures while we were in Tuscany. But everywhere I looked I could see the potential for art, and I couldn’t stop long enough to do any. I’m glad that I did it now, because I spent a nice couple of hours looking through my photos and I found three that I think that I could make interesting woodcuts from. I was looking for strong lines and shapes and textures for my beginning cuts, which will be black and white.

My huge Spannocchia set is on Flickr here.

From the Spannocchia blog, here’s a post about the class that I am saving money to participate in next summer: Organic Bookmaking. After reading about the fires in central and southern Italy causing tourist evacuations, I was glad to see this post!

Also, they link to a great article, Siena and Sustainability at Terrain.org - don’t miss the co-article about Spannocchia in the sidebar.

To follow my trip, photos, and journal from the first day, you can begin at Leaving Home and follow the links at the bottom of each post. Otherwise, in true blog fashion, the posts are ordered from the most recent backwards.

Li vedrò questa estate. I will see you this summer.
Domenica, 22 ottobre 2006
(Continued from Rainy Siena)
I arose early and took some final shots of the farm and the main buildings in the morning mist. We ate a quick breakfast and bid a sad goodbye to this wonderful place, boarding the same private bus that took us back to the Firenze train station and airport. All the photos in this post are from the last morning in Spannocchia.

A few of us stayed in Firenze another night or two, and some went on to other destinations, such as Venice. We stayed in the same room at the Hotel San Giovanni and didn’t try to do much of anything different, since most of the museums and churches were closed on Sunday afternoon and evening. We wandered over to the market at Santa Croce and ate lunch from a German vendor, took a nap that afternoon, and then ate pasta with clams and ravoli for dinner at an outdoor table at a restaurant next to the Duomo. Sandy said that he was ready for meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I was ready to not eat for a week. We were both ready to go home and see the critters. I think that as soon as I stepped on the bus at Spannocchia, my brain decided that the trip was over.

Lunedi, 23 ottobre 2006
The taxi driver played Motown on the way to the Firenze airport at 5:30 a.m. The flight home was long and uneventful, thank heavens. The airport at Milan was much easier to navigate than Charles de Gaulle. At take-off, a young man across the aisle from me would not stop using his cell phone after the flight attendant told him point blank to turn it off, turning it back on and text messaging so that the flight attendant couldn’t see him. This made me nervous so I worked up my courage and reminded him to turn it off, which annoyed him but he did turn it off. What a jerk. I finished up a Stephanie Plum novel and did the puzzles in the magazines.

When I go back, I’ll try to book a seat in the center aisle. I don’t care about looking out the window and I envied those people stretched out asleep in the center rows. They definitely knew what they were doing when they chose their seats, especially on the overflight flight across the Atlantic. And I will NOT forget the Dramamine this time. No way.

Going back to the United States involved a lot more security than the other way. Our carry-on bags were thoroughly checked and we went through a long customs line in Philly. There were no problems. This was my first time ever going through customs - those people are some serious dudes.

Then our luggage was lost between Philadelphia and Greensboro. I read later that the Philadelphia US Air baggage had one of the highest rates of losing luggage in the country. But it was delivered to us the next day, and everything was intact, thank God!

It took me about a week and a half to get my body back on schedule so that I didn’t wake up at 4 a.m. and go to sleep at 8 p.m.

Okay, that’s it. I’m done with my Italy journal until next summer. Ciao!

Saturday, 21 ottobre 2006
(continued from Buonconvento)

“It rarely rains in Siena…” ~ Rick Steves, Florence and Tuscany 2007

Guess we just got lucky! I kind of enjoyed the rain. It was the good drenching kind that gardeners and ducks appreciate, and it gave me a different perspective. When we arrived at Spannocchia, I noticed that it was very dry. I’m sure that they welcomed the rain, too.

The bus let us off at the bottom of the hill and we walked up to the famous center of Siena, Il Campo. The first thing we all did was sit down under some tents at a caffe, have some hot drinks, and make plans for splitting up and meeting later. Sandino and I opted to go to the Duomo and take advantage of “free” admission (included in our class fees). We had somehow missed going inside any churches or cathedrals in Firenze, although the outsides of those structures were quite impressive.

The inside of Siena’s Duomo was magnificent. If you’ve ever tried to photograph the inside of a cathedral, you understand that it is not possible to do it right. I was able to get a bit of a sense of it without my flash. The inlaid marble mosaics on the floor probably got as much of my attention as anything (see the photo at the bottom of this post for a famous one), but this was easily the most beautiful indoor space I have ever seen.

Sandino and I walked in and out of shops for most of the rest of the time, but we didn’t buy anything. Sandy wasn’t interested in the food shops and I wasn’t interested in much else, so we finally went back to the same caffe overlooking the Campo and had a couple of birre (beers). Carol joined us and we started swapping stories about Greensboro, and eventually others drifted in. The waitresses began bringing out free appetizers that were really good, so it was hard to restrain myself, but we were about to go eat a major meal at a restaurant. I enjoyed just kicking back with some good companions, looking out at people reappearing on the sidewalks as the rain subsided, and watching the restaurant staffs getting their places ready for the evening crowds.

When we got to Antica Trattoria Papei, we found that they put our group in a separate room. I’m sure that they thought that this was special, but I looked forward to a more authentic restaurant experience in the midst of the other diners. I suppose that was hard with a group of nineteen. Nevertheless, the meal was wonderful and our server was gregarious and friendly. I wish that I had jotted down notes about the meal, but I do remember that the waiter would not tell us what the meat spread on the crostini was until after we tasted it - spleen - and that the secondo was pheasant with a contorno of spinach, and that I finally tasted grappa after the meal - whew - and that I was so thoroughly stuffed that I thought that someone would have to roll me to the bus. We had several toasts and it was a little sad for me - this was our last dinner as a group in Italy.

Firenze is much more convenient to an airport, but I wish that we had spent a couple of nights in Siena. It was an interesting place, and very beautiful. When I go to Spannocchia this summer, maybe I’ll get to go back and see it in a different light and season.

To be continued…
Next post: Arrivederci L’Italia.

Saturday, 21 ottobre 2006
(Continued from Venerdì)

This was our typical breakfast, except that breakfast this day featured bread baked by Stefano in the brick oven the day before. The granola is made after the last pizzas are baked in the brick oven on pizza nights, left in the warm oven overnight to bake. Here it is served over fresh plain yogurt. What’s missing in the photo that was available each day is homemade jam and preserves and hard-boiled eggs.

I stopped by the Spannocchia gift shop (a small room that also served as the guest check-in) and bought my souvenirs from them. I purchased La Cucina di Spannochia (a self-published cookbook), an embroidered apron with the image of the “Castello di Spannocchia” on it, several laminated bookmarks with sprigs of wildflowers and herbs, honey, one bag of farro (an Italian grain similar to wheat), and two bottles of red organic Spannocchian wine.

Charlie and Debby decided to take us to a small town that was off the tourist track, and which also had a museum dedicated to the subject on which we were concentrating - the Museo della Mezzadria.

Buonconvento had a street market on Saturday mornings which sold many different kinds of items, including produce, meats, cheeses, household goods, shoes, and clothing. This was a shopping place for the regular Italian residents, although we still ran into a few Americans. No wonder people get sick of us - we’re everywhere! Rain sprinkled off and on and the sky threatened more to come, so I bought a cheap umbrella and Sandino, who is much too manly to be caught dead with an umbrella, bought a wool cap. Along with his wool coat, his outfit performed a lot better than I expected, I’ll admit.

I spent a few euros here on a tablecloth with a green/blue olive design (to remind me of those tablecloths in the Spannocchia dining room), a cute little woven kitchen rug (which, of course, Miss Jazz anointed within a month), and a gold wool zippered sweater whose price mysteriously increased between the time I asked about it and the actual purchase, but I let it go and didn’t argue about it. I’m a terrible shopper at these places - lousy for me but great for the vendors to whom I finally break down and relinquish my money. And I do love the sweater - it was the only clothing purchase for me other than the apron from Spannocchia and my Firenze walking shoes.

The main street had small businesses with residences above and was quite lovely. I would have liked to have spent a little more time here, just to dawdle a bit, poke around in the little shops. As we all turned the corner to enter the museum at the end of the street, the sporadic sprinkles turned into heavy rain. We spent the next hour roaming the museum by ourselves, and the museum staff was kind enough to lend us an upstairs education room to have our picnic lunch in.

The museum was focused on the mezzadria agricultural system, the owner-manager-tenant farm system that was suddenly dismantled during the 1960s. In the United States, the new industrial agricultural system took decades to overtake the small farmers and sharecroppers. Surprisingly, in Italy, it was much swifter. We like to have a romantic ideal of the small Tuscan farm, when in reality, they have struggled with the same “get big or get out” demand made by multinational corporations all over the world.

Many of the tenant farming families moved to the cities and took industrial jobs, and just like the Americans, few of the younger generation consider entering the farming profession. Does the problem of aging farmers with few replacements in training make you wonder what will happen to our food system? Not many people are aware of the problem, and it’s just around the corner.

After some debate on whether to return to Spannocchia because of the weather, we decided to continue on to Siena.

To be continued…
Next post: Rainy Siena.

Venerdì, 20 ottobre 2006
(continued from Spannocchia sunset)

While I lazed around the fattoria and orto after lunch, reserving my energy for the evening, Sandino and a few others hiked to Castiglion che Dio sol sa: the “Castle That Only God Knows.” This medieval fortress dates back to the 12th century.

Later that afternoon, Charlie directed a honey tasting in the fattoria kitchen. Much like the wine tasting, we tasted small spoonfuls of different varieties of honey and cleansed our palates between tastes with water and apple slices. After we described the taste, Charlie told us what kind of plants the bees foraged to make the honey. We were supposed to describe the tastes with words other than sugary or sweet, and again, I had a hard time with this. Until the last taste, for which I immediately had a descriptive term - horse manure! It tasted like what I imagine the bottom of a barn would taste like, earthy and musky with old hay. I didn’t care for it, so it was good that I did taste it; otherwise I would have been tempted to buy a jar of chestnut honey when I had a chance! Others loved it and searched it out in Siena the next day.

When Sandino returned with the camera, I took some of the prettiest shots of the week. It had drizzled off and on all day, creating a misty light when the sun finally broke through.

Then, as usual, we had a fantastic meal.

Primo: Tagliatelle al Cinghale (Pasta with sauce made from the leftover wild boar from last night!)
Secondo: Petto di Tacchino Arrosto (literally, “chest of turkey,” stuffed, rolled, and roasted)
Contorno: Patate al Forno (potatoes cooked in the oven)
Dolce: Panna Cotta Frutti di Bosco (mmmm, a creamy custard with “fruits of the forest” - I think this was a fruit called corbezzolo, from the “strawberry tree.”

I was so full I honestly did not see how I would be able to eat any more after the secondo, and I turned down the insalata. Then the dolce arrived, and I managed to make room for more. It was like this every night, but especially on this evening! The wistful look on my face is partly because I knew that this was our last dinner at Spannocchia.

At nine that evening, a folk trio arrived and we had a dance in the sala. The dances were simple circle dances for the most part, and some of them were just fun and crazy. I didn’t dance much (heel spur) but Sandino danced almost every dance. The cool mist felt good on our sweaty smiling faces as we said goodbye and retired for the evening.

To be continued…
Next post: Buonconvento.

Late Friday afternoon, 20 ottobre 2006
(Continued from The fattoria at Spannocchia.)

The clouds parted to allow the sun to peek through the mists before retiring for the evening.

Next post: Venerdì

Friday, 20 ottobre 2006
(continued from Baking with Stefano)

The fattoria (farmhouse) at Spannocchia with the shadows of the cypresses cast by the setting sun. Our bedroom is the window on the top floor with the shutters closed. Potted lemon trees are in the foreground and are moved to a large workshop room on the first floor during the winter.

I’m going to ask for the second room from the right when I go back this summer. Although I’m guessing that in the summer, you would probably want to keep the windows closed to keep out flies and heat, but the awesome views are worth being on this sunny side. Not that there are any bad views at Spannocchia!

I loved staying in the fattoria, and on Friday afternoon, I hung around it for a couple of hours, reading and relaxing.

To be continued…
Next post: Spannocchia sunset