ROMA! and Tuscany

The 4 days I spent in ROMA were the most beautiful and extraordinary I have ever experienced... Until I came to Poggio ai Santi. I will post pictures soon. I met my couch surfing host, Dana, who is from Detroit. She welcomed me to the city with such generosity, I hope I can repay her one day. As soon as I got there, we hopped on her motorino (scooter) and she gave me a tour of the city. I can not begin to explain how different yet familiar Rome is. These are the places I have always dreamed of going, and now that I'm here, I feel like I've always belonged.

Dana is a platinum-blonde hula-hooping burlesque performer. She and her friends took me to Travestere, an old neighborhood in Rome where we drank and ate gelato and tartufi (which is made by angels). This city is so full of life, there are people in the piazzas until all hours of the night. We also spent our nights in San Lorenzo, another gorgeous area with street performers everywhere. One night we watched a Bob Dylan cover artist sing and play harmonica.

By day, I saw all of the usual Roman things. Museums, the Colosseum, pizza, fountains, obelisks, basilicas (I saw the ACTUAL dried up remnant of the heart of St. Charles) and the Vatican. Turtle loved the Vatican the most. He especially liked the Sistine Chapel and the Painting of St. George slaying the dragon.

I met a friend of a friend who told me the story of the Piazza del Polpolo. She told me that the Ghost of Nero haunted the place which was there before the Piazza, and he scared all the people. So, the people raised money to build the piazza and a church on his haunting grounds- hence piazza del popolo. The ghost of Nero was never seen again.

I was very sad and nervous to leave Rome, but those worries evaporated when I reached Tuscany. I was picked up at the train station by Giulio, who runs Poggio ai Santi with his lovely mother, Francesca. Poggio is outside the town of San Vincenzo, which does not appear on any of my 'handy' maps. It is in San Carlo. San Carlo is home to about 1000 people in the summer, 500 in the winter. It is breathtaking. Look at the website. The pictures there can not even begin to explain how beautiful and magical it is here. It's nestled up in the steep steep hills along with the ruins of an old castle and about a million olive, apple, peach, fig, lemon, lime and pear trees, pumpkins, grape arbors, and dogs. Lots and lots of dogs. Molto cane.

I live in my own apartment with a girl named Alicia, who is also from Chicago. What are the odds of that? We get along like peas and carrots. The night I got here I met the staff. They are all so friendly and hospitible. We eat together like a family every morning, noon and night. All the wonderful food is prepared by a team of amazing chefs, but the head chef is the most memorable. His name is Denny. He has studied all over the world and has a handlebar mustache that curls slightly at the end. He speaks about 10 languages, which is nice for me, and he makes everyone laugh. If I could give you a better picture of what he is like, I would ask you to remeber the character from Kill Bill 2: Esteban Vihaio. He looks, talks, smokes and moves like Esteban, and I cannot help but feeling like I'm Uma when I work here with him.

So, the first night I was here, they offered me espresso after dinner, and who am I to turn down Italian espresso? I thought, 'why not?'. Well, I'll tell you why not. They all looked dubiously at me when I downed the espresso like a champ, and joked about how I wouldn't be able to sleep afterwards. Whatver, it's just coffee. Nope. Italian espresso is actually compromised of crystal meth, sugar, and a little pinch of crazy. After about 4 glasses of wine and a melatonin supplement, I thought sleep would come easily. But alas, this was not the case. I laid in my bed and felt the caffiene course through my veins like little lightning bolts. I tousled and tunneled, wrapped myself in my sleeping bag, put on my headphones, switched rooms, nothing. Before I knew it, as David Sedaris would say, the rooster outside my window was greating the new day with a hearty 'CHICCHIRICHì!!!!!' (pronounced: kee-kee-ree-kee!) This is how roosters say 'Get the eff up!' in Italiano. It was 4:30 am. Luckily, I was still wide awake, so I moved the mattress from my room to the empty room, took her matress back to my room, got dressed and woke up Alicia.

Our first day was spent gathering lavender for the guests' rooms. We also got a lesson about traditional Olive tree farming from Francesca, who is connected to the earth unlike anyone I have ever met. She is like Snow White walking through the woods, all the animals and plants are drawn to her. And she seems to know what they're thinking. I want to learn as much as I can from her. Alicia and I worked for about 6 hours and then spent the rest of the day on the beach by the sparkling Tyrrhenian sea. Oh, whatta day. Tonight I got to know Giulio better. He and I both have tattoos, and we're both left handed artists. He is teaching me about Italian language and Italian iPhone apps. He's my pal here.

That's about all for now, I will try to post pictures soon! Ciao!