Today was a day at the villa, with no other place to see and no obligations to meet except to settle our bill with Yolanda and pack our bags. Yolanda, who speaks as much English as we do Italian, showed up on our doorstep at 9:45 to return our 150 Euro damage deposit and collect the cleaning fee and taxes. We came out just ahead by 6 Euros, which will buy six cappucinos tomorrow morning in Florence.
So far the most exciting event of the day has been a wasp “the size of a tootsie roll” according to Tim, that buzzed over our heads as we ate our scrambled eggs and toast. Ignoring it for as long as our nerves would allow, we finally gave Dave the okay to “guide it towards the open window” with a broom. Afterwards the bee disappeared, most likely out the window because its carcass was neither on the floor nor stuck in the broom bristles. Disappeared without a trace — just like the Etruscans.
Since not much else is happening around here, and we’re thankful for that, I shall back up to last night and finish the story of our last restaurant dinner in Tuscany. We ate at an agritourismo. What, you ask, is one of those and why would we eat there? Well, agritourismos are working farms, or as in Italy, working vineyards, that encourage visitors to stay overnight or just to eat. Tuscany has several, and we found one just minutes from where we are living.
The Riserva di Fizzano is a working winery right in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, near San Gimignano, Volterra, and us. People stay here in rental “apartments” for a very reasonable price and eat yummy food made with locally-grown produce. First we laughed when we scoped out the place early in the day, because we saw this sign:
See there? “In collaborazione with ‘Olive Garden'” as in the Olive Garden. Seriously?
Well, no. Our waiter, upon asking us where we are from, assured us that this restaurant “is not Olive Garden. You see Olive Garden commercial?” he asked. “It was shot right here, where you sit.” In reality, Olive Garden USA has come to Olive Garden, Italy, for “culinary retreats” in the off-season. We are not the first to say that OG USA has not learned that much about authentic Italian cuisine, since the real thing bears little resemblance to OG lasagna or pasta fagioli.
I should note that we ate late, for only the second time this whole trip. The first was the night previous, when we left Montecatini Terme late and spent two hours on the road looking but not finding a suitable restaurant. That one was late by accident, the “Olive Garden” was late on purpose. We even took naps so we could stay up past 8:30! (See, kids? Your parents haven’t changed much.)
On the drive home, our first in the darkness, we saw fireflies and a pole cat crossing the road in front of us. Jim spied two pole cats in the yard today early, and those critters are weird.
Tonight’s dinner was home-made sausages, peppers, olives, garlic, and tomato/cucumber salad.
After eating, we realized the evening was warm and pleasant, so we spent our last evening on the patio before being overcome by mosquitoes.
Now ’tis truly time to finish packing, as we have an early departure for Florence in the morning. One more sleep here and one in Florence, then we’ll be on our way home!
Oh, how I miss that place!