Back to Tuscany and Agriturismo

March 23, 2012

After another long day of traveling back to Cagliari by bus and then back to Tuscany by plane, we checked in to our hostel around 9 and headed out to find a pizza place the hostel recommended. Easy enough to find, the pizza place restored my hope of Pisa possibly being a nice place to visit. It was late, but the restaurant was packed (every table was full) and all were italians; no tourists here! Unfortunately I can't remember the name of it, but it's off of Corso Italia if you ever wanted to have a nice bite to eat in Pisa. We shared a mushroom and Magherita pizza and a couple of foreign beers. I've said it a lot, but that was definitely some of the best pizza I had ever had. Heavy-eyed we walked back to the hostel where everyone was still up. We sat and chatted with someone from Michigan who worked at the hostel and another guy from Manchester, who was traveling the world...by himself and then meeting up with friends in Mexico. It was rather typical "everything is wrong with our society" conversation, so after 45 minutes or so, we headed to bed. 

March 24, 2012

We woke up that morning to get ready to head to Lucca for a bike ride on the walls before being picked up by the owner of the Agritourism farm we were staying at. Problem. Both of us had packs that were much too big to control a bike with (I guess, if you wanted to try...) Change of plans. Austin hadn't seen the tower yet (or it had been quite a few years). Either way, we headed to go see the tower and sit in the sun for a little while before it was time to go to Lucca to be picked up. Once again a little underwhelmed and a little overwhelmed with tourists, but it was a beautiful day and the field of dreams provided the perfect place to lay in the grass and relax. Austin also was able to get his own cheesy tower pic (a must when in Pisa if you ask me). Look his feet are climbing the tower! What? You didn't fall for it? Damn. After 45 minutes or so of relaxing, we were off to Lucca for lunch and a little gelato. I fell in love with Lucca yet again, and Austin decided that it was the first place he could really see himself living in Italy someday. So once again, 5 stars for Lucca!

It was time to meet Federico the owner of Agricola Biologica Nico, who kindly offered to drive us to the farm because we lacked a car. Upon arrival and after an semi-awkward car ride of trying to make conversation when none of fully knew the language of the other, we arrived at a beautiful home in the middle of the Tuscan countryside. They had a basket-weaving class in session when we arrived and Austin and I decided that there was no cross cultural divide in granolas, as everyone there would be welcomed with open arms in Asheville, NC. The first day there was spent exploring around the home, having the neighbors get mad at us (didn't know there were neighbors?), and a lot of reading. We decided to have a nice dinner there (because we couldn't go anywhere else...) in their restaurant "Il Giusto Gusto". Elena (the wife) prepared the best and most filling dinner I have ever had. We started eating at 8:30 and didn't stop until 11. She served lettuce soup with croutons and olive oil (despite how it sounds, it was SO good), homemade gnocchi with cauliflower and olive oil, a type of hard cheese and honey, a baked cheese custard with salad, and for dessert a cream pie with chocolate. I actually couldn't move afterwards, but it was all so worth it. I have also decided to design my kitchen off of there, as it was the most beautiful room I have ever seen. Very full and sleepy, we headed to bed. 

March 25, 2012

The next day, Elena was nice enough to drive us up to a mountain top about a mile away from a hike. Starting the hike, the desire to do nothing finally started to kick in (at the wrong time no doubt.) And after walking a mile or so, the clouds stared to move in and the sound of thunder was rolling in the distance. Thankfully, Austin was okay with turning around and heading back down the mountain. We walked back up the highway to where Elena had dropped us off and then turned down another road that supposedly took us to Lucca. After an hour and a couple of sweet and short springtime showers, we were still walking through the countryside of Tuscany following signs to Lucca. It was exactly what I wanted to do with my time there and a great time to just unwind, chat about life, and finally relax (not caring where we ended up). Another hour or so later, we finally hit the main road that the farm was off of. 

But instead of turning right (like we were supposed to), we turned left (and kept on walking to Lucca.) Finally we realized that this wasn't the way to go, and decided to walk into a small bar and ask to use a phone (mine was, of course, out of battery). We connected with Federico and about 30 minutes later we were back at the farm inside, happily exhausted from the day. We could only laugh about the adventures we get ourselves into. That night, Federico and Elena invited us to come and eat dinner with their family. They have a two year old named Cloe, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 donkeys. (We only ate with Elena, Federico, and Cloe). I was amazed by their hospitality and the food was yet again incredible. I sang to Cloe jingle bells as Elena pretended to be Santa Claus (lost in translation, I had no idea why we were doing it, but Cloe seemed to enjoy it). Federico and Elena offered to take us back to Florence the next morning because they had an appointment there anyways. Did I mention they were nice? Our stay at Agricola Biologica Nico was the perfect last hurrah before heading back to the busy city. I learned a lot from Nico and Elena, and I was more than appreciative of all their help.

It was also so nice to be around animals again and I couldn't finish this post without introducing the ones we met.

Austin and I might be cat people after this spring break. We saw more cats than dogs during the week, but this guy was the sweetest. The first day he jumped into our bed and didn't want to leave. He also let me carry him when ever my heart desired. I don't know the name, but he greeted us with open arms!

They had two donkeys at the farm. One was named Nella, the other I don't know. They liked to go on walks (however we never took them out). They enjoyed eating Austin's hand as you can in the picture. I think they ere upset that we never had food to give them.

Tobia was one of the dogs we met and the other was Deda. We didn't see Deda after the first day, so we assumed she belonged to one of the basket weavers. But Tobia kept us company, and at every meal he plopped down next to me on the floor. I think the owners thought we were both crazy, because we paid more attention to Tobia than, well, everything else.

If you are ever in Lucca or wanting a good place to learn abotu farming in Tuscany, this is your place. With the incredible hospitality, beautiful home and views, and wonderful animals, it will go own as one of my favorite experiences so far!

Hey, James

Tomorrow marks the 2 month point of being in Italy. Halfway through, I have gotten a little homesick. Until last night when I was able to head back home for at least 2 hours or so at the James Taylor concert in Lucca.

Thanks to my dad, we were able to get 3 tickets to the concert to see his childhood friend and neighbor play on stage in front of hundreds of smiling faces, from all different parts of the world. It made me so happy to see excitement on every Italian's face I passed... he really has made an impact on the world. Songs like Copperline and Carolina in my Mind took me straight back to my grandparents house "half a mile down Morgan Creek" and slowly my homesickness was washed away. The concert was great and James even said a few italian words himself (with half of the audience soon correcting his mistakes). He played all of my favorites and even one of my favorite Beatles song, Yesterday (Paul McCartney recently asked him to cover the song at the Grammy's and it was treat to hear it live). Most of his band members were there as well as a recording of his backup singers on a 1977 recorder (I think... he explained the importance of the recorder in italian...so...).

He sang 3 encore songs and the audience wouldn't stop clapping a long. By this time, many were up out of their seats dancing to the music. When the concert was finally over the whole audience lined up for autographs and pictures. And of course, James sat on the stage with a smile on his face taking pictures and signing autographs and looking at pictures of children who listen to him "tutti i giorni" and so on. It then came to our turn and I went up to him telling him my name saying that I was "David's daughter". Obviously I really was taken back to North Carolina because in hindsight Who the hell is this David guy in Italy? He stared at me and apologized asking for the last name. Perlmutt... That's when it clicked and he got excited about hearing the name of his old neighbors and jumped up to give me a big hug. Did he know my last name, or did he really remember me? I'd like to think it was the latter... but it's always my dad catching up with James, and me sitting next to them awing over their conversations. This time, I was without my dad, so after a short catching up and "How's the family doing, I was in Charlotte a couple weeks ago with Michelle Obama", Mary, Julia, and I took a picture and went on our way. I'm incredibly impressed that he was even awake at the end of the long line of faithful fans and long concert. He was even able to keep a conversation going (in italian) with many of the fans.

This lovely night was after a day of train rides through the countryside, a wonderful bike ride on Lucca's city walls, a walk back up to the walls for the sunset and quick dinner of homemade pasta with bread an wine.

 On the way back from the concert at Teatro di Giglio, we did as tourists do and got lost. Luckily, when Julia went into a pizza place for a bottle of water and then came out with a group of Lucca(-ians?). $ of them were nice enough to walk us back to the street our hostel was on. On the way, we got a few lessons in italian and they got a few lessons in english. One of the guys asked us about American football and he even knew about the Carolina Panthers and Cam "Newman". I told him I had gone to a game before; he told me he was jealous. I asked him if he had be to a futbol game before, he said yes; I told him that I was jealous. They were so incredibly friendly and funny describing their awful distant relatives from Kentucky and tried to distinguish the difference from escape and landscape. We were finally back to the hostel and talked to our new friends for a little while longer before they made one last joke and asked one last question about America. We said our goodbyes and "nice to meet you's" and that was the end of our wonderful day in Lucca. I will have to visit one more time before I head home, the town was too sweet for just one visit.

This week we have the dreadful midterms followed by (a MUCH needed) Spring Break. I just need to get past these couple of days and I will be Sardegna and Cinque Terre bound! Ah! Ciao for now...