Read. Teach. Travel.: Tuscany: A real look

So yeah, it's been two months since my last post and almost 3 months since these things actually happened. I'm sorry. Things have been a little crazy since we got back stateside to say the least. Still, I won't feel right if I don't finish out the posts about our Italy trip, so here it goes.

July 17, 2014
On our second day with Lello, we only had one request: Montepulciano for Julie. Other than that, Lello had full reign. This was one of those days where the experiences we had could never have been without a local to organize for us. Not only would we most likely never have found our lunch stop - possibly the best meal we had for the entire trip - but even if we'd found it ourselves, I doubt we'd have felt confident enough to go so far off the beaten path without Lello.

First stop: Cortona
A quick coffee and walk stop in the morning. Tuscany's hilltop towns really do have excellent views.

Next on the schedule was "lunch with family." None of us really knew what that meant, but I don't think we expected that it would end up being one of our favorite memories and one of the most authentic experiences we had. The Lungarella family of Bettolle, a small city in the province of Siena, welcomed us like old friends. Mama (Sara) and my mom (Joanne) got on beautifully. Of course, when we arrived at their "summer kitchen" and my mom saw that they were making scratch pasta, she jumped right in. When the two women discovered that they'd both lost their husbands and both had been contractors who'd built their custom kitchens, it was like nothing could separate them (even the fact that one spoke only Italian).

The table set for all of us - visitors and residents together - was simple but perfect. Instead of feeling like guests in a restaurant, we ate with our hosts, sharing as much as we could with only Lello and the daughter, Selene, to translate. (Selene, it turns out, is an aspiring singer. Check her out here.) The food was real home cooking: ravioli that was sweetened because that's how the family likes it, fresh linguine with a simple tomato sauce, slow cooked sausages and potatoes, a big wooden bowl of salad, and the creamiest tiramisu we'd ever had for dessert.

When it was time to go, no one wanted to. We made such a connection with this family during our afternoon together that it felt like we'd spent weeks there.

Mama with bruschetta and wine

Selene on the left. The family dog, who Joe named Mr. Nubbins

and created a theme song for, on the right.

The 2 year old granddaughter of the property, Sofia, was enough to entertain us all afternoon. Instead of holding aside the curtain leading into the kitchen, she usually just walked straight through it, letting it trail over the top of her head all the way to the end. She was also pretty smitten with Joe and spent significant time either chasing him or playing soccer with me. Even though we were at the house for "lunch" for over three hours, none of us really wanted to leave.

Our afternoon stop was at Boscarelli Winery for a private tutorial on Vino Noble, the other wine of the region. Admittedly, we were full and wine drunk and it was very hot out, so we were not super interested in the lecture on wine varietals this afternoon, especially since our visit to il Cocco had been so fantastic the day before. The view was beautiful, the wine was tasty, and didn't leave without making a sizable order, though.

Our final stop in the Tuscan hills was Montepulciano, a special request because it was the filming location of Volterra in the Twilight Saga: New Moon. We didn't realize that the famous fountain that Bella splashes thru to stop Edward from revealing his sparkly self was actually created for the movie and isn't a permanent fixture of the town, but the square was still cool and the town hall (aka headquarters of the Volturi) was exactly as pictured.