Matt's Excellent Tuscan Birthday
/On a recent overnight trip up to Tuscany for Matt’s birthday, we:
got invited to dinner with about a dozen Brazilians;
drank a Negroni while we watched the sun set over Monte Amiata;
stopped by our favorite leather artisan to “commission” two monogrammed keychains for some dear friends;
took a long hot bubble bath;
drank espresso as we watched the Yule log burn; and
ate a crazy amount of food in two of our favorite restaurants.
…
The drive from our house to Pienza is about 90 minutes. We spent the entire day in this cute little town, milling around.
Our clients often say they want to just people-watch and generally flounder around; but when it gets down to brass tacks they usually want to see a written-out itinerary chock full of activity. That definitely has its place, but it really doesn’t leave room for “sloth" and the time it takes to spend just chatting it up with people - and those connections are often the ones we remember most.
We have been to Pienza more times than I can count, so there is theoretically nothing “new” for us to see there, but we love to return just to spend the day doing… well… nothing. First we stopped and had an espresso while we watched the Yule log smolder in the piazza.
We decided to eat lunch at Buca delle Fate, starting with the two antipasti we always order: peperonata, and pecorino baked in the oven. On a whim I ordered a bottle of Brunello di Montalcino since it was Matt’s birthday and there was no more driving in his future that day. For our next course we had roast suckling pig and cannelini beans with new oil. Then for dessert we had a slice of cream-filled cake topped with chocolate ganache. The restaurant was absolutely booming even though it was a Tuesday in January, but the staff is so friendly and fun here that we enjoyed sitting in the middle of all that bustle. We know the desserts really well here and on the way out we ordered a piece of millefoglie to bring home, which is dessert for tonight.
After that we window shopped a bit, then stopped by our favorite leather artisan (Valerio Trufelli) to get a couple of handmade keychains for our friends. He always has jazz playing and whenever we stop by we always talk about music, the links between Italian baroque and jazz, there is usually an extended discussion about food, and chit chat about life here in Italy. In general he is not a chatty guy but we have formed a relationship after 15 years of shopping there.
Then we walked over to the “balcony” of the town that overlooks Monte Amiata, and drank a couple of Negroni. It is ludicrously warm here for the time of year, alarmingly so, obviously; but that also meant we could sit outside for about an hour and just watch the light change. While we did so a large group of Brazilians were there also taking in the view, and we got into a conversation. We talked about learning new languages and how Portuguese can fool you a bit into sounding like Italian. They were here celebrating the upcoming birthday of the patriarch of the family… and did we want to join them for dinner? We told them we were here celebrating Matt’s own birthday, and everyone got a good laugh.
Then we went back to our B&B where Matt took a long hot soak in this space-age looking jacuzzi tub.
For dinner we went to Trattoria Fiorella, another favorite restaurant of ours. Two brothers used to run this place but now one had moved on to a different line of work; the other still runs the place. It is really so interesting for us to eat in the same places for 15+ years, as we watch the menus and decor change (or remain completely the same, depending), and more importantly, to feel like we are aging and changing along with the proprietors. They make the most delicate pici here, and Matt got the classic “aglione” sauce, which is incredibly garlicky (in the best possible way). I had ribollita, one of my favorite traditional Tuscan dishes. Then we had crispy fried lamb, and a winter salad of raw thinly sliced cauliflower, olives, sundried tomatoes, and shaved parmigiano. For dessert we had panna cotta with crumbled biscotti on top, dressed in vin santo. (No pic of this, as we ate it too fast!)
The little girl at the table next to me was named “Zeno”, which her mother pronounced “ZEN-oh”, which is the same nickname Matt often uses for me (he often calls me “Zenno”).
What a beautiful day of laziness, and indulgence, and connection. It was an incredibly full day, rich in all the best things, but on paper probably would have looked a bit thin in terms of activity. As we have evolved in our itinerary planning, I get better at describing these days so that our clients avoid as much “FOMO” as they can, instead leaving pockets of time open for experiences like these, which can’t be scheduled. A willingness to linger needs to be an important part of what you “pack” for any trip - those checklist trips clicking off site after site may look good in advance, but IMHO the most delicious and memorable experiences are created when we allow ourselves to just slow down.
