Complimenti

When we sat down yesterday for lunch in San Jim yesterday I told the waiter, who looked a dead spit of the guy who plays the father in the film The Commitments (Colm Meaney), that ‘mio suocero da Edimburgo’ (my father-in-law from Edinbugh’) was 84 years old. He gave him an appraising eye and smiling said, Complimenti’ (or ‘well done’ or ‘tell him he looks good on it’).
 
El Tel flew back today from Pisa. It’s been a busy and thoughtful few days. We finished up in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa marvelling at it all, the tower (torre pendente), the Battistera and the Cattedrale, the rich brilliant colours of the painted buildings, the bronze doors of the cathedral – at the back, the San Ranieri door which was cast around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano – and the cigar smoking New Yorker in his pork-pie hat.
 
On the way from the car park we had a coffee at the ‘58’ café – mentioned before in blips – where local custom says that if you put photocopied sheets with a large '58' on them you will confuse the flies and they will not trouble your shop.

Here we had four types of local biscotti and a small piece of paneforte to fortify us for the Piazza.  Maybe the '58' is to confuse the paying customer who is charmingly over-charged.
 
After the stunning, sparkling beauty of the white marble buildings rising out of the enclosed immaculate greensward I swung us down to the Marina di Pisa over the rich flood-plains to eat a sandwich on the marble stone embankment at the mouth of the Arno.

The sun shone and the heat was tempered by the Tyrrhenian Sea. The big scoop nets were all raised above the waters of the river mouth, the Alpi Apuane were showing the marble-dust snow from the quarries, an old chap in front of us with three rods and a little bagful of fish that looked like Silver Bream shucked a razor clam for bait.
 
Mr Tozzi was not as nimble as he once was on the rocks but together we negotiated them without mishap and got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It was strange and sad to watch him leave through the winding maze of the security queue,  being slowly moved away and then a last wave from the other side of the metal detector.
 
I think we managed to pack quite a lot in.
 
Our first day was Fiesole-based after a trip to the ever-charming Co-Op at Le Caldine. We walked up to the Franciscan church and museum at the top of the hill and took in the strange missionary museum, the monks’ cells the beautiful garden in the porticoed courtyard and the stunning views of Florence below.
 
Our second day was a wet one and first took us out towards Monteloro on the narrow road and then to the Santuario della Madonna del Sasso where we saw the underground chapel, St Andrew’s cell and the nice caretaker lady who explained about the renovation of the church organ.

Then as the rain thickened and our hunger grew through Mulinaccio to the Outlet at Barberino di Mugello. This involved a number of diverse circuits of Barberino backstreets in the now pouring rain until I resorted to the satnav for assistance.
 
The rain let up at the Outlet and we had an OK-ish lunch (pappardelle a ragu di anatra – duck) before heading to Columbia and The North Face where a fabulous winter three-in-one coat was bought. In both shops the assistants remembered me and were very solicitous to El Tel dai Torri di Tozzi  (El Tel of the Towers of Tozzi).
 
The rain let up but the clouds hung low like a rotten curtain on the foothills of the main Appenine spine as lorries thundered up the Bologna motorway.
 
Tuesday was supposed to rain and thunder but in the Casentino the sun shone although there was a chill in the air. We saw the house from the outside and then wended our way to Poppi and lunch – a massive plate of three types of ham, pecorino and salame with bruscette followed by the famous Casentino potato pasta – tortelli – with a rich sauce that neither of us could finish, washed down with a delightful unpretentious wine from the hills around Arezzo – all for €34. 
 
We then staggered round Poppi castle and clambered to the top of the bell tower to take in the views. And then a long drive up onto the Pratomagno – the ‘big meadow’ – up at 1500m and the beautiful herd of cows that used to be driven up to the summer pastures. Down through the dark pine woods and wonderful beech forest of the Vallombrosa through Pelago and the vineyards.
 
We sampled the Frescobaldi wine we had bought in a 5L fiaschetto later in the evening.
 
Wednesday took us to San Jim and then the swooping drive back on the 'Volterrana' – the old Volterra to Florence road. Little tractors pulling stainless steel trailers groaning with grapes from the harvest.

Lunch at the Sosta Francigena on the St Francis Way (St F got around, alright. Almost as much as Dante). 

More bruschetta – porcini, truffle,  chicken liver and tomato and olive oil. Then rabbit and wild boar. A 14% red wine from the restaurant’s own vineyard.  Then we staggered around the old streets, saw frescos by Benozzo Gozzoli, had an ice cream and that drive through the Chianti Colle Fiorentini countryside.
 
And then to Thursday and the wonders of Pisa and the marina.
 
It was a good visit. Good to share the excitement and trials of our new home and country. Good to feel the stability and reassurance that family brings. Good to talk cars and history and the wonders of ageing.
 
As the man said in the restaurant, ‘Complimenti!’