A Feast for the Senses

Sun out, windows down, a delicate breeze and a full tank of fuel, and you have just the right ingredients for a drive in the Tuscan countryside.

I've seen photos, I've seen films- but none of it prepared me for the arresting beauty that bewitched my eyes and held it captive this day.

Imagine...

The air is fragrant with the scent of Jasmine. Flora in a myriad of shades lines the roadside, the fields- fuschia, lilac, scarlet, crimson, yellow. You can feel the warm sun on your back, hear the buzzing of flys, the rustling of oats in your ear. There is barely a sound beside peaceful tranquility and the high chirping of birds in conversation as they soar merrily above chequerboard meadows.

The land was brimming with so much life that you could feel it permeating your skin and seeping into your bones. I tried to breathe it all in, fill my person with it's smell.

Driving through that countryside, I cannot recall a time that I have ever felt more inspired... to write... to sing!... to run barefoot and shirtless through a meadow and collapse in a laughing fit on the soft, lush grass underfoot. Mum said it felt like she had come home. For me, it felt like someplace new that I would return to when the timing was right.

Perhaps one day I will have a house here; make a home for a while.

Surprisingly, property was very reasonable...

Private villas dot the hills, and from around a corner in the middle of nowhere, a beautiful old village will suddenly appear on the mountain. It seems as though wherever you have chosen to lose yourself for the day, the ding dong ding dang dong of bells floats to you along the breeze from somewhere.

With Savillio's suggestions to guide us, we were able to locate the famous winding road of Chianciano seen on many postcards and explore some of the villages where we found an abundance of interesting items!

Delicacies to tempt even the most strong willed of pelicans poured from shelf after shelf in specialty food stores- candy coloured pasta to rival Willy Wonka, jars of tartufo (truffles) for 3Euro (!), fresh fruit in vibrant colours, cheeses the envy of all platters, looootttttssss of local wine, a variation of cured meat so delicious it would render vegetarianism extinct.... Leather EVERYTHING (simply walking into a store made me heady)... A quill shop!

The latter was perhaps my most favourite, as it suited so perfectly the olde worlde aura of these towns. Inside there was not only a huge assortment of quills, but wax seals, ink, paper weights and scrumptious leather bound journals filled with thick, recycled paper.

Tuscany is a feast for the entire body!

With truffles galore, sitting out or in jars, for prices so cheap that you think you are in Thailand, one's curiousity could only take so much taunting before it was time to taste this mysterious ingredient. Neither my mother nor myself had ever sampled one before, so on our last night in Montepulciano we decided it was time. We ordered a giant pizza- tartufo bianche- a white pizza with truffle, and my GOD it was divine!!! Now I have yet another reason to want to live in Italy...

Our lunch this same day should also bear a mention, for a couple of reasons.

We were in Cortona and after getting ourselves lost again, gratefully stumbled across a beautiful looking restaurant, or Osteria rather (a place that serves food and simultaneously operates as an inn). A little over pizza, pasta and caprese insalata, we were so relieved to read a menu filled with a selection of gourmet meals.

Not having consumed steak for over two months, I jumped at the opportunity to order a rib eye fillet with prunes and a red wine and rosemary sauce. It was simply delectable, and it wasn't until I reached the halfway point that it became very clear that I was eating it rare. It's funny how mind over matter works- the instant I saw raw I automatically reacted as though that hunk of meat on my plate was a viper. Luckily, I had enjoyed the first few bites so much that I was able to overlook it, and thus consumed my first ever rare steak and loved it!

But the piece de resistance comes with the last 5mins of our visit, when I made a trip to the bathroom. This room was like a toy shop selling only dolls. Or perhaps there is more similarity to “Chucky”.

There they were, little girls in pinafores, hanging from the walls, dangling from the ceiling, poking up from the floor, draped along the benches and holding your toilet paper while they smiled at you in the mirror and watched you pee. Creepy doesn't even come close. Whatever you do, don't close your eyes...