In between trips to Cortona we clearly had garden and quiet time.
Sun singing, birds shinning,
a buzz of bees
in the flowering plums leaves
Mmmm, it’s all so Spring Happy . . .
What? Oh. I think I took a nap.
(Pretty sure I went out with a smile.)
Category: Uncategorized
Happy Anniversary, Italy.
We’re putting on a party for Italy. In Portland, Maine? You bet, we’re “All Italy, All the Time” here in Portland area June 9, 10, 11.
We’re putting on a party for Italy. In Portland, Maine? You bet, we’re “All Italy, All the Time” here in the Portland area June 9, 10, 11. Think I read someplace that over fifty percent of the households in Portland have an Italian last name. One of the great migrations touched down here years ago. We do this site from here, my wife is president of the non-profit Spannocchia Foundation outside Siena, an 1,100 acre Agri-Cultural foundation owned by a family with roots here in the area.
We just finished an Italian wine importing web site for our friend/neighbor Paul Turina who imports little-known wines from Italy including award-winning regional favorites from his family’s vineyards near Lake Garda. And some of Spannocchia’s reds. Yes, for those with extra sharp memory, Paul is the one who helped get our Vespa-based Ape! And he is the motivator behind bringing this Italian Life Expo to Portland’s waterfront. Can’t wait to share Italy with as many people as possible. The Italian Consul General from Boston is coming. Hope you will too! Save those days in June.
AND WHAT DID WE GET ITALY FOR ITS ANNIVERSARY? A FRAME
You may have heard, Italy’s turning 150 this year, thanks to a guy named Garibaldi. Before him, and his Risorgimento, Italy was not a country but a collection of city-states, plus whatever the Vatican owned that week.
All the talk about Italy’s 150th made us remember something extra special we found in our falling down, abandoned house in Italy pre-reno. When I say “we” I mean my eagled-eyed wife. When I say “house,” I’m talking about a true ruin with hardly any glass in its windows, a few rare doors still on hinges, gaping holes in the roof, you could see out of the tall wobbly house through cracks in walls running from foundation to roof line, rooms with dirt for floors. All completely occupied. By feral cats. And generations of pigeons. Somewhere in that haystack of junk and debris, she spotted a folded up piece of paper. Which she unfolded. And unfolded. And unfolded it a time or two more. To reveal the signed and sealed discharge papers of one of Garibaldi’s Appenini soldiers. (It is a nice, big ceremonial size: 14 inches wide and more than 18 inches tall.)
In honor of Italy’s anniversary, we’ve had it framed and hung in a way that it can be read from both sides. You see it did double duty. Because when it was folded up pocket size, back side became your passport. And was duly stamped by the police in Bologna and other city-states as the warrior wound his way back to Umbria from the northern front. It also appears this document was what certified your eligibility for a pension. So it was more than just a pretty piece of paper. It really was a working document. To think of this piece of Italy’s history, our home’s history, lasting all these years and then being unceremoniously consigned to a pile of trash. That was close. It seems to be on really fine paper and is in surprisingly good shape. And we aim to keep it that way. We’re glad we could help it live to see this milestone.
Got our tickets in hand for mid March arrival in Umbria.
See you in Italy!
Stew Vreeland
Two days in Italy and then two days in Little Italy, NYC
Don’t hate me. Not my fault if a client got us airmiles for a trip to Italy to see houses. And just got us upgraded to First Class. And we’re leaving Saturday!
Don’t hate me. Not my fault if a client got us airmiles for a trip to Italy to see houses. And just got us upgraded to First Class. And we’re leaving Saturday!
Bank got our starter set of trip euros overnight. Italian phone seems to be charging up on the weird Reverse Charger. Chi lo sai se funzionava? boh. Countdown to blast off continues. Italy Sunday and Monday.
Then back to NYC and hanging at the Hilton in Trebeca to see our son’s play at Joe’s Pub. Picked the hotel just because, according to my map reading, because it appears to be hard by Little Italy.
all Italy all the time,
ci vediamo,
See you in Italy (if you look quick)
Clients buying their home in Umbria. On HGTV this weekend.
HGTV on Umbrian home buying. Stew and Midge leave for Italy tomorrow.
Bob and Carolyn bought a home in Paciano. Their shopping, buying and renovating adventures have been captured on film over the last year or so. Here are some shots taken during the filming It will play out on national TV at the end of October on HGTV’s “House Hunters International.”
As of this point in time, it is scheduled to air Oct. 25th.
CHECK OUT YOUR LOCAL HGTV TIMES FOR THIS EPISODE?
I just talked to Carolyn and they can’t wait for the show to come on. The producer says it is great. And of course, both Bob and Carolyn are looking forward to Happy Holidays in Italy. Their first in their new home.
We leave for Italy tomorrow! Follow us on Twitter or Facebook in words and pics buy clicking on those icons on the upper left of this page. See you in Italy!
A day in Italy. A story in several parts. And in several parts of Italy.
I cleaned madly and ceremonially closed one set of shutters after the others, and as a final act of love, I talked to the mason about a wall that needs fixing. See, house? We do care, even though we are leaving you here by yourself. Then it is off to the piazza for coffee and hugs goodbye, “tante cose belle!” and we are Siena bound.
PANICALE, SIENA, FLORENCE – Or, as we say: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner.
Part one. Breakfast in Panicale.
Today really is the proverbial Movable Feast. Lovely, busy, interesting day. Slightly on the maudlin side to start with because the trip had wound down to these final moments. But, onward and upward, there are many fun things to do today. I cleaned madly and ceremonially closed one set of shutters after the others, and as a final act of love, I talked to the mason about a wall that needs fixing. See, house? We do care, even though we are leaving you here by yourself. Then it is off to the piazza for coffee and hugs goodbye, “tante cose belle!” and we are Siena bound.
Part two. Lunch in Siena.
Pulling into Spannocchia, I see Midge in the midst of a sundrenched tableau. Sitting on a stone bench, her back to a warm stone wall, her friend Gail beside here, other friends left and right, a big shaggy white dog dozing at their feet. I hated to break the spell.
But what the heck.
It was lunch time.
We filled our plates in the kitchen and moved this Magic Moment to the veranda in front of the main villa and just let the sun wash over us. Cukes freshly cut from their vines lying in the warm Tuscan dirt that morning, plus fennel also from the garden and pieces of oranges made up the salad. And see the pasta in red sauce in the photo? Not at all. It’s just not pasta. It is eggs, if you can imagine, cooked like a thin omelet and cut in strips. What will these people think of next? Well, that was all swell but we have places to go and yet more food to eat. And plus, it is time to go. Midge and the Spannocchia board have been to so many meetings they must be getting punchy. Over lunch the conversation turned to cats. Not a good sign in the best of times. And that turned to the potential of cat-a-pults as a way of effecting population control. Everyone slaphappy, we pack and exit stage left.
Pulling out we take a minute to see if we can get into a restaurant in Florence we heard about when we were olive-picking. It is Saturday and some Australian friends said it was great, but tiny and reservations were sort of mandatory. Ok. We’re in. They are expecting a “Mr Stuardo” at seven thirty. That’s me. Stuardo T. Vreeland. And we’ll do that story in an upcoming blog. Stay tuned to this channel for Part Three and Part Four in this Day in the Life series.