Back on the bus, we headed through the Tuscan hills to our new home in Loro Ciuffena. The Tuscan countryside looks much like Umbria, but it appears to be richer. The houses (which all look like Villas to me) are much larger and typically have more manicured grounds. Lots of tall cypress trees give the area a unique character. Karin talked about how Tuscany is now a “brand” that is marketed all over the world. We drove past Cortona, the town that is the setting for the book, “Under the Tuscan Sun”.
After lunch, we went to the olive groves and Roberto told us about growing olives for oil. Olives grown for oil are smaller than the olives for eating typically grown farther south in Italy. The trees were loaded with small, mostly green olives. We went to the “La Macina” to see the olive press and have a look around. Since it was not the olive pressing season, we saw the equipment used to press the olives and then saw a short film about the olive harvest and pressing the oil.
We had a great lunch starting with, of course, bruschetta. In the US, we always mispronounce bruschetta (the correct pronunciation is “brew-sket-a”). Italian bruschetta consists of simply toast and olive oil, bruschetta al pomodoro is bruschetta with tomatoes (which is what we typically call bruschetta in the US). And interestingly enough, no self respecting Italian would ever be seen dipping bread in olive oil and spices like we do at many “Italian” restaurants in the US.
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Village Italy 2007 - Friends, Experiences, and Memories
A Journey through the real Italy on a Rick Steves' tour |
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| Into Tuscany |
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Tuscan Princess? Karin? See the resemblance?
Karin introduces Roberto at the Etruscan Museum in Chianciano.
Lots of local wines
Day 7 - Friday – 21-September-2007
After breakfast, we left Orvieto and headed into Tuscany. Many Italian regions still maintain their own local dialects. In Tuscany, for example, “Babo” means Dad. The rest of Italy uses “Papa” for Dad. “Gonzo” means cool (or groovy… or neat… depending on your perspective) in Tuscany, but would not be used in the same context outside the region. In the small village of Chianciano, we stopped for a tour of an Archeological Etruscan Museum with a local guide, Roberto Bechi. He is packed with information about Tuscan history and will definitely make you laugh. He led us on a whirlwind tour of the museum and gave us the background on the most important artifacts. 
Roberto shows us where some of the artifacts were found in the nearby regions. 
This funerary urn is nicknamed "Fonzie" because of the "thumbs up". 
Cathy and Wendy listen to Stephano
Princess Karin posed in one of the displays as an Italian goddess.
We saw some amazingly detailed gold jewelry, lots of statues and funerary urns (like Fonzie who was really “Gonzo”, notice the thumbs up) in the Etruscan Necropolis, parts of a second century BCE temple, and some pretty “ahead of their time” plumbing valves in the “Roman Thermae”.
Stephano’s English is excellent, although he continually says pastry instead of paste referring to the olive “mush” created by the olive pressing process. We learned about different types of olive oil, extra virgin, virgin olive oil and olive oil stanza (and there are many more types). We also learned about “first press” or “cold pressed” (these are the same thing). Although a lot of olive oil in the US comes in clear bottles, heat and sunlight break it down, so it’s best to store the oil in dark colored bottles. Before lunch, we had a “tasting” of the various types of olive oil. Tasting any type of oil may not sound appetizing, but stay with me… You take about 2 tsp in your mouth, swish it around, and then breathe in and out forcefully through your mouth to taste the character and quality of the oil. As unlikely as it sounds, you can really tell the difference between the types (and you can wash it down with wine). In the future, we vowed to never buy anything but extra virgin, cold pressed oil from Italy.
After exploring the museum a little on our own, we took another short drive to an Agriturismo. Stephano, the farmer, told us about producing “farmer wine” and also about illegal “grappa” (that “he does not make” – wink, wink). Grappa is made from the Pomace (or left over grape skins and seeds) from traditional grape wine production. The Pomace is fermented and distilled into a clear liquid that comes in around 90 proof. It makes me wonder why Stephano knows so much about grappa production…
View across the olive groves 
Olives grown for making olive oil.
It's about harvest time for the grapes.
Amazingly well preserved staute. 
La Macina - "The Grinder" 
The real "grinder" to turn the olives to paste. 
A view through the grapes 
Some of th
e olives are starting to mature. 
Paul and Nancy listen to Stephano with an antique olive press in the background. 
Stefano tells us about wine production and "grappa". 
Grapes become wine, it's a wonderful thing!
View from the agriturismo. 
Grapes growing at the agriturismo. 
Roman era statues. 
