Spent the first part of the day with Paola and Stella, cooking & talking. Paola invited me to come stay with her in Florence next time. She travels a great deal in Europe so I think she might be a good possibility as a travel companion? Will explore further.
Stella & her sister-in-law Paola
Cristina and Giuseppe picked me up around 3 and together we decided go to Vellano to check out the chestnut festival (La Sagra delle Frugiate) Which means eating roasted chestnuts and necci with ricotta. Yumyum. We parked below the town and walked uphill, stopping along the way to admire the town itself, the churches and the spectacular view of the valley below. At the top, in a little piazza was a group of folksingers/dancers/musicians dressed in mountain garb entertaining the crowd.
We ate necci on our way down, then bought bags of freshly roasted chestnuts, which we polished off by the time we got to the car.
We met up with Leo for dinner. Claudia was detained at the RR station in Florence by a strike that would be over by 10:30pm. ugh. Remind me to never take the train. The 4 of us had a great meal at a restaurant called Tagliere & Bicchieri, a place I passed numerous times but never noticed. Fabulous meal of fried fungi and pappardelle with fungi. Skipped dessert because we had two earlier the day.
Giuseppe, Cristina’s husband, and my cousin Leo
Going to Vellano was another unexpected surprise like walking up to Montecatini Alto. Such a simple pleasure, it’s really my favorite thing to do. Here or anywhere.