Friday's Italian field trip found us in the region of Val D'Orcia, within Tuscany. We popped into Montalcino for a quick coffee break and tour of the town. I'd never been before, but as it is the birthplace of Brunello, one of my favorite wines, I made a point of sampling a couple in an enoteca despite my watch's report of the hour being 10am.
Next we moved on to Sant'Antimo, an abbey that I have most certainly blogged about since it was my third visit. This time was perhaps my favorite, as we received a special explanation and tour of the grounds by Fra Dominique, a French friar living at the abbey. The church, located in the middle of the picturesque Tuscan countryside, has an aura of simplicity and tranquility that can settle anyone's agitations.
The friar showed us around the sacred abbey, and even brought us up to the second, surrounding floor of the structure for a complete tour. Sunlight was pouring in from all windows, shrouding the church in ethereal light. We stayed to hear four of the abbey's friars chant mass.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed a stroll around Pienza, the "perfect" renaissance town built by Pope Pius II, and around the corner from Via Dell'Amore, I enjoyed a full glass of Brunello this time.
Later, we went (for me, returned) to Ernello's peccorino cheese farm, learned (again) about the process of cheese production, and sampled (some more) of his delicious cheeses. Aside from the olive oil, which I have purchased from him in the past, my favorite delicacy was the ricotta cheese, which he suggested we enjoy with sugar (and I hastened to add honey).
The only pitfall to our lovely day was our unpleasant bus driver, Giuseppe, who insulted my eating habits, corrected my Italian, grew furious when we ran 30 minutes behind schedule, and turned down Ernello's cheesy peace offering because "this is the stuff you feed to dogs." But hey, no day can be perfetto, right?
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