If any of you have my email with the animal pictures, please forward it to me. Somehow I don't have those pictures.
Today I got up, took a walk to the main road and back. I saw two groups of Tuscany pigs (native to Tuscany, don't ask what is special about them). They are black and white, grunt and squeal like pigs, and at this place, are walking prosciutto, sausage and pork chops. The villa serves food they produce aside from things like milk.
In a nearby paddock, there were four mares with their babies, all waiting for breakfast. On the walk back from the main road, one of the farm staff was using a small tractor to deliver feed to the two groups of pigs and horses (the second paddock was nearer the road).
Coming back to the house it struck me how wonderful these places must have looked to U.S. Servicemen in WWII.
After a wonderful breakfast that included granola with chocolate, a boiled egg, croissant, ham (shaved thin, from here) and strong coffee-oh and grapes, we set out for the wine tour/tasting/lunch.
It was a wow. The place was lovely, a villa surrounded by hundreds of acres of hills with grapes, olives, forests, and gardens. The wine tour also included a little history: the Verrazzano of the winery is the one for whom the Verrazano Bridge in New York is named. 3 kinds of red wine, one dessert wine and a shot of grappa plus lunch and biscotti to dunk in the dessert wine. It went until almos 3:30. Fabulous.
Today I got up, took a walk to the main road and back. I saw two groups of Tuscany pigs (native to Tuscany, don't ask what is special about them). They are black and white, grunt and squeal like pigs, and at this place, are walking prosciutto, sausage and pork chops. The villa serves food they produce aside from things like milk.
In a nearby paddock, there were four mares with their babies, all waiting for breakfast. On the walk back from the main road, one of the farm staff was using a small tractor to deliver feed to the two groups of pigs and horses (the second paddock was nearer the road).
Coming back to the house it struck me how wonderful these places must have looked to U.S. Servicemen in WWII.
After a wonderful breakfast that included granola with chocolate, a boiled egg, croissant, ham (shaved thin, from here) and strong coffee-oh and grapes, we set out for the wine tour/tasting/lunch.
It was a wow. The place was lovely, a villa surrounded by hundreds of acres of hills with grapes, olives, forests, and gardens. The wine tour also included a little history: the Verrazzano of the winery is the one for whom the Verrazano Bridge in New York is named. 3 kinds of red wine, one dessert wine and a shot of grappa plus lunch and biscotti to dunk in the dessert wine. It went until almos 3:30. Fabulous.
We drove to Volterra [street scene above right] (me, I drove in Italy, can you believe it-aided by the English speaking tom-tom GPS). Saw the Etruscan museum, did a little shopping and returned to get supper around 8:30. To the left is an Estruscan funerary urn with the typical carving on the front showing the deceased being escorted to the underworld on a chariot with the family/friends sadly saying goodbye.
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