Vaga-Blog - Volume I - Siena (June 6)

LOOK AT WHAT MY DOG FOUND IN THE GRASS

Today we separated into the boys group and the girls group and head off in different directions. The boys, plus Lisa and Arlene, head into Siena to do some sightseeing and shopping. Barry and the girls – Laura, Debbie, Denise and me – head up into the hills to the home of Viola, an artisan bread maker who Giulio met recently.

Giulio drives us there and we practically fill up his nine sits. When he arrives at the villa to pick us up, he kisses each of us on both cheeks, declaring that it can’t be a bad day if it starts with kissing five women. We all love him.

We spend the day at Viola’s home, where she teaches us to make bread, pizza dough and even a bread pudding made of stale bread. She lives off a treacherous dirt road with her twin daughters and her 81-year-old adopted grandmother, who taught her to bake.

She spends every day prepping, baking or selling bread – about 300 loaves a week – to support her family. To her it’s the only way of life she’s ever known, and to us it’s charming and romantic but completely unimaginable. She’s just had an addition put on her house, where she’ll live while she rents out her current home to travelers and vagabonds. The construction workers who built the addition lived with her while they worked, so for the past year she supported them too.

After we return to the villa, we thrill Laura with an unexpected gift – fresh black truffles which Marco, who maintains the property, just found. Truffles appear after periods of rain, and they’re usually found by dogs, who sniff and dig them up. You can see people pulled off to the side of the road looking for them. You can also see people pulled off to the side of the road to relieve themselves, but that’s not quite as noteworthy.

During cooking/cocktail hour, we share embarrassing stories about the first time we drank. Someone who shall remain nameless wins with her tale of ending up in the hospital, naked. Did I get that right Laura?

For dinner, we have Osso Bucco with roasted potatoes and a fabulous fresh vegetable caponata. How we’re still eating is beyond me.

Suitcases located: 1
Days without internet access, and thus no baseball scores: 3
Days until having no internet access freaks me out: 1, max