Room with a View and other excitements

I went back to 'my' place again to contemplate  the view from what will become the dining room. 

Paolo accompanied me; the architect who will help me to make the interior as stunning as the view at Casato di Sopra 11. The building, by the way, is not from anything as recent as the 17th century, which was first reported....Bah!

 It is from at least the 13th century,  Paolo assured me, when we went into the bowels of the building, where there is a cellar belonging to my flat. And if one digs around in the foundations of the buildings in this, the oldest part of town called the Castelvecchio, one is likely to stumble across remains of the early Etruscan settlement of Siena....

Andrew came with us too in order to inspect this lovely place, and he gave his wholehearted approval.  He  has  enjoyed the delights of Siena with me for the last week: Those delights include, of course, drinks on the Campo, where the bars are trying to outdo each other with their generous helpings of all sorts of free goodies. Here we are having a modest little lunchtime Prosecco, and they brought us a WHOLE PIZZA as a freebee! It is worth coming here at lunchtime for a drink- you don't even have to bother with lunch, it is included!

Our adventures also led us into the splendid country southwards- deep into to the Crete Senese, where we visited the beautiful and ancient Benedictine monastery of Monte Olivero Maggiore. We were a little cavalier about the travel plans and  took a bus south which brought us to Ponte d'Arbia, a little village (mentioned in the Inferno) of 499 inhabitants in 2011 according to Wikipedia. One of these inhabitants was the lovely landlady in  the one village bar, where we  tried to organize further transport. The landlady did her best to phone up the locals to see if anyone fancied driving us the 15 remaining kilometres to the Monastery. Unfortunately no one was able to help. Meanwhile, to cheer us up, two smart looking Senese chaps standing at the bar had invited us for a glass of  Prosecco. Things looked a little uncertain, but  just  when we thought we had better start walking, a kind elderly man timidly came up to us and offered to drive us!  

The wonderful Abbazia do MonteOliveto Maggiore did not disappoint. We admired the frescoes, many by Antonio Giovanni Bazzi (Il Sodomo) who features in Vasari's Lives of the Painters

We had lovely lunch  in the well-frequented restaurant: it is clearly a place for Italians to visit for a Saturday outing.  But finally we admitted that  we had to get out of there somehow. The same problem presented itself- there was no transport. We were too mean to call for a taxi from Siena, and I thought it might be fun to hitchhike again for the first time in about 40 years. So, as the light faded and the skies turned dark  and threated to open we nevertheless headed out on the Tuscan road towards Siena...

And of course, after some tense moments towards sunset, a few miles down the road, a nice young chef who had spent four years in London being taught his craft by great Italian chefs in Knightsbridge restaurants  picked us up and dropped us in Asciano, whence we continued to Siena with a local train.

Andrew is gone this morning, and here I am, shopping at the deli counter of my local supermarket for my next guest, Sanjay, who will arrive tomorrow. La vita e bella.