Bella Italia II: Toscana

Buona Sera amici, from Roma!

It’s me again, because I love Italy so darn much. This post is all about our time in Tuscany. This was primarily spent on an olive and honey farm that we WWOOFed (worldwide opportunities in organic farming) on, 30 kilometers outside of Florence, up in the hills. And after the farm stay, we cycled down into Florence/Firenze (p.s. yes you are very welcome for the lessons on what the real city names are). Firenze was bellisimo and the food was bonissimo. It was even more enjoyable after having spent 12 days harvesting olives, moving crates of olives, planting a vegetable garden, pouring giant tubs of honey into steel drums, rolling giant logs down hills for firewood, and a number of other jobs (largely involving pouring, cooking, cleaning, and childcare).

Aspringa Farm

The name means “sour taste,” because the former owner made a lot of marmalade, so the story goes. The current owners, Nico and Betta, grow olives for oil and tapenade, produce a ton of honey that they sell to a grocery co-op, and have several other crops for family consumption and trade among friends (chili peppers, vegetables, hemp). They are also growing many children! They have a six year old son, a two and a half year old son, and two month old fraternal twins! Wow, that healthy farm living must be great for fertility. So along with learning about organic Tuscan food production, we also learned about organic Tuscan parenting.

The farm is set out in the hillsides, so it was pretty isolated from town, and we had to get our first-ever-on-this-trip RIDE IN A CAR (gasp!) for the last few kilometers leading to the farm. This was simply because it was pitch back at night, raining, and an impassible, deeply rutted dirt road. Ya know, the usual. The family was very warm, welcoming, and convivial, as were the many other guests that cycled through during our time there (other WWOOFers, friends stopping by to help with the new babies, Betta’s dad). Unfortunately, the farmhouse was very cold in the late fall early winter, so we got a little sick again. Anyhow, basta parlare, guarda le imagini!

the farmhouse beautiful view from where we were staying & working some olive trees about to get harvested olives close upharvesting the olives! We used little rake tools to comb ripe olives off the branches… …easier to do from pruned branches… and even better with this machine: Nico has an agitator machine thingy that is like a  vibrating rake on a long arm, to reach those top branches, and shake down them olives. and these huge mesh nets we layed out under the trees caught all the olives that fell! Apparently, after the wars olive farmers would use old parachutes to catch the olives under the trees, but when it was windy those parachutes would blow around and lose the olives. Then you gather all the olives up in a pile in the net and sort out as many sticks and stones as possible, before pouring them in the crate. The truck is full of the week’s harvest- 28 crates, or about 500 kilos of olives… after being dumped into the olive oil press machine… sticks and leaves getting cleared away, before washing…. and parts of the machine we couldn’t photo: pitting, crushing of the fruit, separation of water from the oil… for the final product…. more than 100 liters of oil! New oil is amazing: bitter, fruity, unctuous. Word from the farmers: please stop refrigerating your olive oil, you will destroy it. We planted fava beans, peas, garbanzo beans, onions, and garlic in the spring garden. This required lots of hoeing. This is the face I make after Matt says, “It’s a regular…HOE-DOWN!” for the hundredth time. We also transported the honey for sale, which meant pouring from vats into buckets, and then into giant steel drums. Me after many, many buckets of honey. It was my first set of deadlifts in all these months. Who needs Crossfit when you’ve got a farm? (Answer: NOBODY) Matt learned levitation to stack up the wood (for the home’s heating system- a wood burning stove with veins running through the whole house and electric temp control) that we rolled down the hill. He totally looks like he’s floating, amirite?? Bottling olive paste (tapenade). Not pictured: children trying to stick their hands into the giant tub and licking their fingers. My new favorite Italian phrase is “BASTA! No lo toca!!” MY FAVORITE FARM JOB OF ALL WAS HOLDING THE BABIES!!! This is Nia….… and this is Arno! Oh man, I miss these little pumpkins. I almost stole him before we left, but I didn’t think he’d be very comfortable in my bike bag.… and a final beautiful view into the valley, from the farm (that’s fog, not water).

Firenze

We left the farm (and sadly, the babies) and cycled back to Florence for some Renaissance art, food, wine (of course), and city life. Set under the Tuscan hills, this capital (of Tuscany) city and the scene of the Italian Renaissance is surprisingly small, but PACKED. Home to Leonardo Da Vinci (Vinci is a small city right on the outskirts of Firenze), Michelangelo’s David, and works of the Italian greats- Carvaggio, Raphael, Bartolomeo- Firenze is sumptuously Renaissance. Not to mention, it is the heart of Chianti country and rich Tuscan cuisine. The pictures below do not even scratch the surface!

The River Arno (like the baby above!) separates Firenze’s two banks Firenze from aboveThis replica of Michelangelo’s David welcomes you to Firenze. Ciao, naked dude. …and the real thing. Firenze’s beautiful and unique Duomo (Cathedral de Santa Maria del Fiore) is a breathtaking marble structure (brick on the dome) that was designed by the Arnolfo di Cambio to be decidedly NOT Gothic, because that’s what those losers in Sienna and Pisa were doing. the brick dome

Inside the Duomo HUGE ceiling fresco of The Last Judgement inside the Duomo. So beautiful, so painful on the neck. There is a statue of the engineer of the cathedral/ Duomo, Brunelleschi, across from it and looking up at it. The poor guy is forever to be remembered in the pose of, “Is it ok?? Did I SCREW UP?!” Firenze has a historic Synagogue too! There has been a Jewish population in Florence since middle Roman Empire, at least. Represent. This opulent Renaissance-era home was a perfumerie/ pharmacy, now an overpriced perfumerie/ bath & body tchotchke shop. Got pictures of all the important dudes who rolled with the Medicis tho.Florence street lit up for the holidays Matt does not like “too early” holiday decorations (OMG what a Grinch right?) but even he could not deny the whimsy and delight of Italian Christmas lights up and down the streets in late November.

TUSCAN FOOD – Don’t worry, there will be pictures of us smiling in front of delicious food! (Not pictured: empty plates and regret)… here is an antipasti picture, so you can get through all the nerdy museum pictures:

So happy to be sitting behind this large glass of prosecco and GIANT tagliere (charcuterie and cheese antipasti)Did I mention- GIANT?

Leonardo Da Vinci Museum An awesome but tiny museum that catalogs some of the great artist and inventor’s creations and innovations. Many of the items in the museum were built by modern day hobbyists, based on sketches Leonardo drew but never actualized.

 THE UFFIZI GALLERY – One of the most important and extensive collections of Italian Renaissance- this is certainly not my favorite type of art, but it is pretty magnificent to get up close to these lavish and magnificent works from hundreds of years ago. The Renaissance saw some of the earliest personifications of virtue in art (e.g. painting justice, faith, and charity as people). Actually pretty cool, until Art Nouveau  ruined it. Heeey it’s Botticelli’s Venus!   And his Primavera (Spring). So… can someone help that lady out in the right corner?? Caravaggio’s Medusa… and his The Incredulity of Saint Thomas ( I am incredulous you are sticking your bare finger into this poor man’s open wound. Ewww.)I have to get a picture with my namesake, Ariadne. She was the wife of Dionysus/ Bacchus, so she also loves a good wine. Palazzo Vecchio scultpures – There are a series of Renaissance-and-later era replicas of Roman statuary by the old Palace. Here are two important ones:

Hercules and the Centaur Nessos The Rape of the Sabine Women

MORE TUSCAN FOOD There now, aren’t you glad you waited? Tuscany is known for it’s amazing food and Chianti wines; specialties include a bean and bread soup, tagliere, and parpadelle pasta. We ate it all.

This fresh pasta dish involved flambeing in a giant, hollow wheel of cheese and shaved fresh black truffles. Yet we live to tell the tale. Tuscan parpadelle with boar ragu The classic bean/bread/tomato soup, Pappa al Pomodoro (sounds weird, but so good!) Squid ink pasta with squid and arrabiata sauce. Not Tuscan (It’s actually Roman/ Lazio food), but still amazing.  …and food market pictures! You better bet that Matt makes sure we go to a food market in EVERY city we visit. The man has taste 😉

biscotto and vino santo (Tuscan dessert wine) dried mushrooms & chili peppers. Italian food can be spicy thank goodness! baccala (dried and salted cod) SO MANY TYPES OF PECORINO Salumi from above

 

… and that’s all! Roma coming soon, as we are heading into the last few weeks of this amazing journey!

Ciao for now