Today was our second field trip from Cortona. Our first stop after an hour of super windy roads along Italian mountains, countryside, and authentic vineyards and olive groves, was Pienza, the town famous for its CHEESE! Shop after shop sold these crazy looking cheeses, from a range of super fresh cheeses to extremely aged cheeses, in all colors (yes there was PURPLE cheese, which was a type of wine cheese) and textures…Wow. The most famous of their cheeses was Pecorino cheese, which is delicious, especially with honey or jam. I prefer Pecorino in its medium stages, as opposed to its freshest or oldest stage. (I sampled several types). Something even more wonderful about Pienza was its spectacular view of vast lush green rolling hills and mountainside. It was the most green I had seen in Italy so far, because in Cortona and everywhere else we had been, there is not a lot of grass. Even the ground in the park in Cortona was covered in pebbles, as opposed to grass, so it was very refreshing to be able to breath in the fresh smells of grass and trees. An hour into our time in Pienza, some professors took a group of us on a walk right outside of town into this green wilderness, where we found an ancient Pagan church among a grove of olive trees. In my opinion, it was the most interesting church we had seen so far, considering it was somewhat dark and eerie inside, with a pitch black dungeon-type space that we explored underneath the nave of the church. The church seemed more like an abandoned tomb than a church. I went off on my own a little while after that to explore more of the nature in the area. I just could not get enough of the view before me. I wanted to dive in and swim in it, if I had that ability. I decided that if Pienza would be the town I would move to if I could. It also had quite a lovely assortment of shops, a park, and cafes…I think I would be set for life.
Around 12:30, we went on to visit Montepulciano, another quaint, walled-in mountainside Italian town, just a short drive from Pienza. For those of you who have seen the Twilight New Moon movie (I have not) this is where the movie was filmed, which many girls were excited about. We arrived around Siesta time, meaning all the shops were closed, so my room mates and I decided it would be a perfect time to relax in a café and eat lunch. The one we found was very decorated with much artwork and fantastic views out the windows. I had some Zuppa Verdura, which ended up being a vegetable soup so thick, that it was almost a solid. Quite a hearty lunch. After, we wandered up and down the streets until shops starting opening so we could explore even more. Some girls I was with wanted some pastries, so we stopped in a bakery. What was intending to be a short visit ended up lasting more than an hour, because the owners of the bakery, an older couple named Pino and Lena, were fascinated by us and bombarded us with questions. Pino did most of the talking, and although he spoke mostly in Italian, I could understand him through his animate facial expressions and fierce hand gestures. He was very upset that there was only one boy on our program with forty-five girls. He could not contemplate how we were surviving in such circumstances. He was quite hilarious. Eventually it was time to go back to Cortona, and along the way we stopped at yet ANOTHER church to see. I had seen so many churches today, that I was a little churched out, and was pretty much ready to curl up in my pajamas in bed. Nonetheless, the day was quite an exciting adventure.
It felt so good to sleep in on Sunday! I went on a nice long run for a good two hours, before I started the rest of my day’s agenda. Something I discovered on my way back from my run was that Cortona has a gigantic antique market in one of its main piazzas during the last Sunday of each month, which was exciting to explore. I had not known that this takes place, so it was a lovely surprise. The market was much like the one from Lucca, with fun antique chochkes that I would love to fill up shelve and tables with. For the rest of the day, I pretty much worked on my painting, which was due the next day in addition to lesson plan stuff and cutting down my paper for bookmaking. A high point of my day was when I FINALLY purchased my very first Italian coloring book. I bought it from the newspaper/magazine stand in town. I figured that in addition to the joy it will bring me from coloring, it can also be useful in teaching me Italian because it depicts page after page of animals and states what animal it is that I am coloring in Italian at the top of the page. So I would say my entire Sunday was all in all a splendid day. Bring on the next week!
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