A Little Bit of Heaven in Tuscany

We made it to our agriturismo in Tuscany without much difficulty, although we didn't expect it to be 4 kilometers up a dirt road that winds through vineyards and wildflowers. The property sits at the top of a ridge looking across a valley of yet more vineyards to the medieval hill town of San Gimignano. It is a touch of heaven in Tuscany. We always meet interesting people at these B&B's, and this time most of them speak English! Two couples from New Zealand, two couples from Denmark, a family from Boston, then a couple from near Cinque Terra, our only Italians so far.

Yesterday we drove to the western coast overlooking the Mediterranean in search of a well-known seafood restaurant. We found it and had a wonderful lunch of seafood risotto and an assortment of steamed fish and shellfish. When we left our waiter called to the chef to come meet us. He asked where we came from and was surprised that we had heard of him in Atlanta. In fact he was highly praised in one of our books for the freshness of his seafood. He started as a fisherman and still went out with his pals to catch the day's lunch menu. A man dining nearby beamed at our meeting, and confided to me, "He's the best chef in Italy." I wouldn't disagree. I've never tasted seafood better prepared.

Today we went into San Gimignano and walked the streets, poking into shops, eating gelato, and taking pictures of the ancient buildings. Supposedly they withstood the onslaught of Attila the Hun, although they joined in with Hannibal and his elephants against the Romans about 200 BC. A very old hill town. It's known for it's towers, 14 of which still stand out some 170 in it's heyday. While towers in some towns were used for drying dyed fabrics, these were just status symbols, the taller the better. Good for hurling rocks at your shorter neighbors, some say.

Dinner at our agriturismo, Torraccia di Chiusi, is terrific. Bruno, the chef, cooks excellent local cuisine, the food of his mother and ancestors, only better, we suspect. Each night is a five-course meal: an appetizer, a soup, a pasta course, a meat course, and dessert. Various wines are available, but the red and white produced on the property (at 5 euros per bottle) are just delicious. The red is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and another grape, while the white is a bone-dry Chardonnay. Both come in bottles with no labels. Among our favorite dishes were crostini (Bruno's bread toasted) with garlic, pepper and their own olive oil; Fontina cheese and a dollop of local honey; zucchini soup; ziti with meatless bolognese sauce; pork ribs with fennel seeds, served with roasted fennel bulb; beef steak in a red wine-balsamic gravy; and biscotti to dip in vin santo, like Madeira but stronger!

Life is good. Like Sanda says, a little bit of heaven.