Back in the Saddle Again (with apologies to Gene Autry)

Montepulciano is the definition of a Tuscan hill town.

After 8 months of what Carol calls “un sacco di ferite” (a sack full of injuries), she’s back on the bike and climbing to the top of the hill where Montepulciano sits perched.

Truth be told, Carol is riding a bike with an electric assist.  She still has to pedal to go anywhere, but the electric motor helps make those long, steep Tuscan climbs a bit easier on all those metal plates and screws in her legs.

After this day’s ride, Carol said for the first time since her fall last August she felt like her old self.

As the locals would say…Brava!

We’ve be in our much-beloved Pienza for a week now…

…and it’s been wonderful connecting with old friends.  

Our apartment is small but very comfortable and looks out on a lovely walled garden…

For those of you who wonder why we keep returning to Pienza year after year, we’re about to show you.

Carol hasn’t been able to ride a bike since Labor Day (save a few minutes on a stationary bike at the gym).  Roger is in the middle of discovering how unaccustomed his legs are to the Tuscan hills.  As a result, our bike rides have been short and not terribly ambitious.

Ride #1:  Chiusi Scalo to Pienza

 (Roger rode this himself.  Carol hopes to do these rides in May.  She has gone now 200km, all on short rides until today.)

Val di Chiana

Ride #2:  Montechiello Loop…

A farmhouse on the road from Montepulciano to Montechiello.

Ride #3:  Montefollinico Loop via Petrio, Castelmuzio, and Santa Ana di Camprena (the place where the film The English Patient was shot).

Montefollinico

When Napoleon conquered Italy in 1800, he tasted the wine at this winery.  He pronounced it the best in all Italy and confiscated all their production.

Ride #4: San Giovanni di Asso and back

Farmhouse along the road back to Pienza.

Ride #5: Castiglione D’Orcia Loop

Val d’Orcia

This ride has a story behind it.  On our first solo trip to Pienza, Roger climbed to La Rocca, the 800 year-old fortress pictured in the background.  He found it the toughest climb of his life.

Last year, Carol and Roger climbed to La Rocca again.  It wasn’t so bad, so Roger just assumed he hadn’t been in very good shape the first time.

This time, Roger discovered a “shortcut” up to the fortress that bypassed the town.  It was 2 km shorter than the route they took last year, so he tried it.

The climb was just shy of 1,000 ft elevation gain.  The road started at an 8% grade, then went to 11%…13%…15%…and finally 17%.  Just short of the summit, Roger’s legs turned to jello, and he walked the last 150 meters.

He again had found the toughest climb of his life.

Ride #6: Torrita di Siena Loop.  

The first time this trip Roger and Carol rode together.

The town of Montepulciano, at the top of the hill.

Palazzo Massaini…on the way home from Montepulciano.

With scenery and history like this, all that sweating is worth it

Outside Florence

Most Americans come to Firenze (Florence) to see this…..

...the Ponte Vecchio...

...or the world-class art in the Uffizzi…

Botticelli’s Primavera…Roger’s absolute favorite.

But not Carol and Roger.  We never got within a mile of the historic downtown.

Nope.  We came to see Vincenzo Alongi.  

He’s Roger’s good buddy.  He took Roger to the park to play…twice.

Vincenzo’s a connoisseur of good gelato. He picked out the four best flavors on the face of the earth (Amarena, Fondente, Pistaccio, and Frutti di Bosco…in case you were curious). 

Vincenzo had a baby sister not long ago, so we had to come and meet Costanza, too.

Vincenzo is the grandson of our friends Linda Brill and Jim LaLonde…who had the good fortune to be in Firenze at the same time we were.

Vincenzo’s parents Brett LaLonde and Piero Alongi live in a tiny apartment in a suburb of Firenze.  It was tight quarters with just the two of them, and now with two children it’s even more cramped.

So Brett and Piero bought this 150 year-old farmhouse in a rural area surprisingly close to their jobs downtown.  It needs a lot of work, but Piero’s an architect, so he now has another full-time project to go along with his day job.

Is it worth it?

This is the view from their back yard.

On top of that, they have acres of olive trees that can produce some of the world’s best olive oil.

While in Firenze, Roger got to fulfill a life-long fantasy.  He purchased a Pinarello Prince bicycle.

For those of you not in the know, Pinarello is to bicycles what Ferrari is to automobiles…though the model Roger’s getting is more like a mini-van than a Formula-1 race car.  

Sergio (in the picture at the left) will measure Roger and fit him to the bike in June, then send the specs to the Pinarello factory in Treviso, where they will build the custom-fit, carbon-fiber bike of Roger’s dreams. We will pick it up when we return in the Fall.

What a way to squander the children’s inheritance!

The grape vines we just starting to leaf-out, so decided to leave Firenze not by the main highway, but rather wander down the Chianti Road.

First stop: Greve in Chianti, with the prettiest piazza of the five towns.

Then Castellina in Chianti, (which means “little castle”).  That’s Carol at the foot of the castle stairs.  Not so little, huh?

Then on to Radda in Chianti…the most famous (and expensive) of the towns on the Chianti Road.

We had to skip Gaole in Chianti.  We had lingered too long and ran out of time.

The last town on the Chianti Road was Castelnuova Berardengena.

This town has grown incredibly since we first visited.  Too much traffic to try and make it into the Centro Storico.

Then a not-so-quick stop at a Iper-Coop, to stock up on groceries.

And finally:

Home at last!

It's More Than Just Cheese

When most Americans think of Parma (Italy, not Ohio), this is what they think of:

 

It’s true, Parmesan cheese is the region’s best-known product.  But, Parma has so much more to offer.

Parma lies in Italy’s Po Valley, perhaps the flattest part of a very hilly country.  The Po was a boundary for the Roman Empire.  Roman law said legions returning from the North had to disband before crossing the river.

When Julius Caesar’s legions did not, it signaled his intent to over-throw the Roman Republic.

Along the Po Valley, the Romans built settlements every 28 km, a day’s march for a legion.  Parma grew from one of those settlements.

During the Middle Ages, Parma was one of a score of city-states that was a pawn in the power politics of the day.  Often under the rule of the Sforzas in Milan, it joined with them forging a close alliance with the French. 

Parma was long ruled by the Farnese family, who were great patrons of the arts and founded one of the oldest university’s in Europe…now noted for it’s engineering and technical departments. 

The countryside around Parma is rife with 600 year-old castles.

The city government is housed in a Medieval palazzo in Piazza Garibaldi, the heart of downtown…which was the forum in Roman times.

The palazzo Pilotta, just a block from the main piazza, hosts a national archeological museum, art school, and library.

The most famous building from the Medieval period is the Cathedral’s Baptistery….

…a prime example of Gothic architecture… 

…with an over-the-top ornate interior.

What sets Parma apart from most other Italian cities began in 1731, when a political deal ceded the duchy to the family of the French king.  The new duke decided to rebuild the city to look more like home…   

…which is why natives have  nicknamed the city  “the Paris of Italy.”

     

 

Today, Parma sits in the middle of Italy’s Industrial heartland,  making it one of the most prosperous cities in the country.

It has a vibrant down-town core with an active night-life…

…a world-famous theater, Teatro Farnese….

     

…and a graceful architectural style from a different era than any of its neighbors...and very livable.