We had a single hour to decide who would have which bedroom and bathroom, lug in and unpack our luggage and freshen up. Marco had kindly made a reservation that evening at a restaurant of his recommendation. D chose it from a short list for me because Marco called it The Truffle House and I am crazy about the earthy, pungent smell and taste of truffles!

We were back in the car and found ourselves on very dark, windy, and steep, rural roads. When we found our destination we realized why there were no light along the way. We had been driving through Chianti vineyards so of course there was no need to light the fields!

We had no way of knowing if this was the “Truffle House” until we saw the menu below:

Everything on the menu was fashioned around “tartufo”-truffles!

The “menu a prezzo fisso” (fixed price menu) offered up four courses and unlimited house wine. This was my idea of heaven!

The aromas emanating from the kitchen were divine.

I could have happily stopped after this delectable anitpasto, each combining truffles with different textures and tastes. As I savoured each one in turn, I could not decide which version was my favourite. I loved them all.

The pasta course was this lasagna-like dish. Layers of silky broad noodles were separated by a light cream and then topped with…truffles! I lingered a long time over this, taking wee bites and making the tastes last a very long time.

To be frank, I do not recall if this entree had a name. Salad was served family style along with these terrific roasted potatoes. The meat, whether chicken or pork, didn’t really matter as it was simply a cradle for….truffles.

I am sure that D1, D2 and J3 were all relieved that there was no essence of truffle in the desserts- a panna cotta and light chocolate cake.

With the exception of one table, the entire restaurant was full of travelers like us, and once they started chatting between tables the noise level immediately increased. I thought that the local table might be a family celebration of some kind. They too were jubilant but not to the extent of our fellow travelers.

We were ready to cry “uncle” and call it a night when the owner of the restaurant brought out a family pet for all to see. He/she were very well behaved but I must admit I had never seen an owl in a restaurant before, in fact the only bird I had ever seen was a parrot in an Isla Mujeres restaurant. It occurred to me that back home, health regulations would never permit such an occurrence. But, while in Rome….

Our first dinner out was a success. Little did we know at that time that it would be one of only a couple of times we dined outside of our Air BnB home. The kitchen was so well appointed, the grocery store so convenient and the house wine so drinkable that we rarely ventured out. But I will leave that tale for another day.

Kath’s quote: “Life was meant for good friends and great adventures.” – Author Unknown

Love never fails.

The four of us met up at the airport in plenty of time for a flight to Toronto. The four being D and I and our good friends D2 and J3. We enjoyed a leisurely wait for our flight.

That evening we took pleasure in having dinner together at the Ipad Cafe in Toronto. Egads the prices were stupid for beer and wine! Our wait in TO was quite lengthy but we weren’t taking any chances on anyone missing a flight as had occurred the prior year when we had hoped to travel to Portugal together.

I must have slept on the way over because I put my ear plugs in, covered my face with a mask and took a sleeping pill. I willed myself to sleep and I was conscious of being in a dream-like space but not sure how long it lasted. I was woken rather abruptly to the flight crew delivering our “breakfast”- a piece of spice cake in a cello wrapper.

The wait for our luggage, car, etc. was not bad at all especially when compared to the hours we spent on our first sojourn to Tuscany. We stopped for the drivers to pick up espressos to make the 3 1/2 hour drive ahead. Unfortunately, we did have some trouble fitting all our luggage into an upgraded rent-a-car. As a result D2 and I drove the miles to Sienna from Milan with a piece of luggage between us in the back seat.

In truth it wasn’t so bad. I was able to make a safe cradle for the little bottle of airplane wine that we shared en route.

About halfway there we stopped to pick up some lunch. The place right on an overpass of the highway was called Eataly Bologna Ambasciatori! I had no idea that it was the same concept as Chicago, New York and most recently Toronto.

D and I shared a couple of delicious flat-breads the one above exploding with prosciutto.

As we drove closer to Sienna the landscape became more beautiful. There came a time as the sun started its descent that I spied “God” clouds out the window and then when I caught sight of

this heart lying on its side in the sky I knew our trip would be blessed. And is was.

By the time we arrived at our Air BnB it was dark out. We met our host in one of the little towns close to his home. Marco was so gracious that we immediately felt that it was our home, if only for a week. He told us the tale of the house as he showed us around.

The house was built in 1769 making it the 3rd oldest private home in Sienna.

Our modern kitchen was built where the pigs were kept, actually we think what Marco was trying to tell us was that white bearded boars lived there. Marco explained that the ancient house which is now attached to the barn underground was the home of the “watchman” who tipped off the Ghibelline troupes in the story below.

Perhaps he was pulling my leg but he said that the watchman’s bed was still in the house today!

The name Costaberci, in Sienese, is composed of two very distinct words, “costa”, meaning costa, collina and “berci”, or screams.

 This singular name derives from the historic battle of Montaperti in 1260 which saw the Ghibelline troops clashing, led by Siena, against the Guelph troops, headed by Florence. During the Battle of Montaperti, from that “coast”, the peasants “traded” to the inhabitants of Montaperti announcing to them the arrival of the Guelph troops; and it is precisely at that historical event that the name “Costaberci”, hill of screams, is due.

The Costaberci farm, built in 1902, stands near the Napoleonic column at the intersection of the roads that unite Siena, Asciano and Montaperti, or the three routes that lead to the Crete Senesi, the Chianti and the city of the Palio, Siena, which is only 5 Km.

The farm is surrounded by nature, surrounded by a fertile countryside that faces south on the Crete Senesi cultivated with fields of cereals, sunflowers and wheat;  to the north-east we can see instead the green color of the vineyards and the olive trees, then there is also a luxuriant fauna as a completion of a typically Tuscan frame.To the west, on beautiful sunny and clear days, the marvelous and historic Torre del Mangia can be admired in the hills.

Have you ever travelled by car through Italy on the auto strata? If you have and you have stopped at one of their “auto grills”, you may recognise the food service counters at Piazza di Nardi. The food at these Italian rest stops is surprisingly excellent and so is di Nardi’s. You may wish to order a slice of pizza, a meatball sandwich or eggplant Parmigiano. On this occasion I decided to compile lunch from the vast array of cold items.

While in Italy we sometimes would stop and purchase a baguette, some meat and cheese and fashion our own sandwiches. This can be done at Piazza di Nardi as well, but they make it simpler by having pre-maid sandwiches on hand. I chose ham and cheese on forcaccia bread. The fresh and hearty sandwich was enhanced by a cluster of grapes.

I added the fig in homage to our time in Sicily where we simply plucked them from our hosts’ tree for our breakfast.

I wanted to sample even more items that I had not enjoyed since our couple of Italian adventures so I also ordered a small seafood salad which was chock full of calamari and just the correct tartness from the vinegar marinade.

Two kinds of arancini in Sicily.

I also chose what you might consider the strangest thing: an arancini (literally an orange) which is so named for its shape but is actually a fried rice ball.

The dish may not sound appetizing but it absolutely was. Peas, meat sauce and mozzarella were stuffed inside a seasoned ball of rice (actually a cup of rice was hand-shaped and then the stuffing was placed in the cup. Then a second bowl shaped rice cup was added to the top). This all got sealed up, covered in breadcrumbs and fried. They can be eaten right out of the pan as a hot course in an Italian meal or packed away to eat as a cold snack. We ate ours on a train trip from Sicily to the Amalfi Coast.

The bonus when you lunch at Piazza di Nardi is that you can purchase other grocery items while there to plan your next meal. I picked up artichoke bruschetta and spinach gnocchi.

Piazza di Nardi is located at 1360 Taylor Ave. They serve lunch and dinner features daily and also have deli items and a catering menu. They are open daily Monday to Saturday from 9 am until 8 pm. On Sunday they are open 11 am-6 pm. Hot items are served from 11:30 am-7:30 pm.

Kath’s quote: “Italian food is all about ingredients and it’s not fussy and it’s not fancy”. -Wolfgang Puck

Love never fails.

Our lunch stop in Lucca was at a place called La Collona on one of the village piazzas but not a large (or significant one). D spotted hot dogs and hamburgers on the menu but luckily they also served traditional dishes. D loves carbonara and chose it with the inclusion of Italian eggs.

The dish was very yellow and truly looked like scrambled eggs and pasta.

I knew that it would be my last chance for authentic Italian eggplant. I was not disappointed. The portion was petite but the flavour was huge. The eggplant was smooth & silky and sparkled when combined with the tomato sauce. I think that the dish had been baked without breading and frying the eggplant first. I thought to myself “I am going to have to try this version at home”.

The nicest part of our lunch was meeting Jeremy & Sarah Northcott from Cornwall where he is a retired teacher, now writer and photographer and she is a police crime investigator. They had a similar charm and wit of our friends Dave and Elaine and I have a hunch that we will stay in touch.

This was the spot where we decided I should stay put until D found the car.

We lingered for longer than we had anticipated and then I got us lost. D wanted us to follow our path back to the car but I insisted that would mean back-tracking and I thought I knew better. D ended up doing the brunt of the walking to retrace our original steps, find the car and pick me up. Unfortunately, the car keys were in the backpack that he asked me to hold and so he ended up making another lap across town to fetch me on foot. He was lovely and patient with our delayed exit of Lucca.

We drove through a long valley to make our way back to the autostrata and Milan. The sun was setting over the mountains to the west and kissing the ones to the east with patches of sunlight. We were sadly leaving Tuscany and in order to do so we had to cross a section of the country where the autostrata was elevated and there were hairpin turns. To make it worse, there was construction which resulted in two way traffic. I was happy to get back to flatter land but my relief was short lived. Grid locked traffic was encountered the closer we got to Milan and instructions on the Googled maps that I had were cryptic. Once again I regretted that we had not acquired a GPS when we had picked up the car.

We were blessed by this beautiful sunset that I captured as we were speeding by.

The view from our room at the Hilton.

I was stressed and worn out by the time we checked in. We had a pretty pedestrian supper in the Hilton which otherwise was a pretty decent hotel. D took care of gassing up and we headed to the airport with time to spare to avoid undue surprizes.

Our last Italian meal was pizza at the airport and we were off to New York City.

Kath’s quote: “My idea of heaven still is to drive the gravel farm roads of Umbria and Tuscany, very pleasantly lost.” ― Frances Mayes

Love never fails.

We kind of felt as if we had been given a bonus day as we had expected to have to get right up and leave for Milan. Instead since it was almost on our way anyway, we spent the afternoon in Lucca. In fact we spent way more time in Lucca than we had hoped. One reason was a pleasant one and the other…well not so much.

After parking in an unmarked parking area we made our way into the maze of ancient streets.

In particular I was taken with the circular piazza

where I found a beautiful shop with an ancient stone wall exposed on one side. The clerk was lovely and she must have assumed that I spoke or understood more Italian than I did because she merrily chatted away and I really did not have a clue what she was trying to say to me.  In spite of my inability to understand her language, I would say that we had a lovely visit nonetheless.

I was originally going to use my birthday money to purchase a trio of ceramic hearts but when it was decision time, I switched instead to two drift wood pieces adorned with ceramic pieces of orange and turquoise. The images included a heart which had initially attracted my attention and an interpretation of Lucca’s tower. The pieces are now hanging in our new kitchen and I am very happy with my choice.

We continued to wander through the quaint streets and shops of Lucca until it was meal time.

Kath’s quote: “I love the language, that soft bastard Latin, Which melts like kisses from a female mouth, And sounds as if it should be writ on satin With syllables which breathe of the sweet South.” -George Gordon Noel Byron

Love never fails.