FOTOS

The view from Casa Del Sole


Pizza night!

Il cuoco

Choppin' it up

Pumpkin collection

La luce, il sole, e il mio cuore

The light, the sun, and my heart.

"Here and now, everything is light."

This is a quote my darling Mirte shared with me during our first week together at Poggio Ai Santi. Another WWOOFer shared it with her, and I have also shared it with someone. And now you. It's such a perfect way to describe this whole experience. Everything is here, everything is now. We are living for each moment in such a way that our normal life doesn't allow for. Everything is light. Light can have so many different meanings in English, and all of them apply to this. Everything is illuminated, everything is weightless, everything here is too beautiful and too brilliant to look at directly. Sometimes certain people come into your life and illuminate you in every way imaginable. These are the people you will never forget, no matter how brief your time is together.

The last few weeks have been tumultuously adventuresome. I did return to Firenze a second time, to visit someone I met there on my first trip. I was a bit nervous because this person and I had only met briefly, in a loud club, and very few words were exchanged ifyoucatchmydrift. We had been texting all week, but I didn't even know her name until a few days later. I'm going to refer to her as 'Luce'. Well, this trip is about taking chances, right? I showed up at her door and we hit it off right away. Like a moth and a bright little light, I followed her around Firenze day and night. Our first adventure was biking through the crowded streets of the city to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, where my mouth hung open so long I'm surprised I didn't catch any little Italian flies in it. We rode over Ponte Vecchio in the daylight, where it's almost impossible not to run into anyone. The longer we biked, the more my heart melted out of my chest and into this city. It, and the people in it, are so unbelievably beautiful. We later went to Siena, which is about an hour drive from Firenze. Siena is a gorgeous, hilly, medieval city. We tromped around, saw the duomo, met with a friend, and ate some delicious paneforte, a typical dessert of Florence and Siena which is a little bit like a almondy fruitcake. The rest of the weekend was spent touring the many clubs and bars of Florence, and also watching the movie Alien. Yes. Alien. If I may, I highly recommend re-visiting this cinematic masterpiece. It is so much more complex and cerebral than I remembered; not to mention the visual feast of space landscapes, beheaded androids, and a young Sigourney Weaver in coveralls.

I left my heart in Firenze, and returned to San Vincenzo for my final week there. That evening, the WWOOFers and I went to see our pal, Najat. She is the dish washer and food preparer at Il Sale, the restaurant of Poggio Ai Santi. Every day at the farm, she constantly beamed her radiant smile on all of us, and willingly helped us with our Italian. She couldn't let us leave without cooking a Moroccan dinner for us, and we were more than happy to get fed. She brought us to her candy colored home, were greeted by her three perfectly polite little children (who promptly went off to their room to entertain themselves) and her even more polite and smiling husband. Then, she proceeded to give us a Moroccan cooking lesson right in her kitchen. She made a 3 course dinner with fresh bread. And, while the oven was warming up for the bread, she 'didn't want to waste the heat' so she made a lemon chocolate cake as well. Each dish was more delicious than the last. By the end we were so full of couscous, turkey, beef, tomato soup, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bread, cake and coffee that we could barely move. But ol' Najat got right up, put on her music and belly danced for us. Basically, there isn't a talent she doesn't have. The way her husband gazed at her was so tender and sweet, you could tell he knew how lucky he was.

I decided to return to Firenze a third time before continuing to the next farm. My third visit was just as eventful as the first and second for two reasons: The David and The Ryane. Before this trip, I was informed that an acquaintance from Chicago was living in Florence for school. Ryane and I met at her place, and decided to get a panini and a birra from a tiny shop around the corner from her. After the first truffle-filled bite, I knew we were going to be besties. We took Firenze by storm, and infiltrated the local lesbian night life (along with the help of Luce). She took me to her favorite Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. Here I saw a 500 year old orphanage, which is still in operation today, and also gorgeous church with a real 'incorruptible' Saint in a glass coffin: Juliana Falconieri. My childhood was filled with stories about these saints, and I finally sat in front of one. Ryane also got me in to see the David, without waiting in the hour long line. He was breath-taking. The longer I looked, the more real he became. I almost expected him to jump off his plinth and start slingin' rocks through the windows. Ryane was also my saviour during some nights where no one wanted to practice their english with me. We are bonded for life.

Again, I left my heart in Firenze, with even more strings attached to it. I came to Chiavari earlier this week for Casa Del Sole. Massimo met me at the train station in his old red Subaru van. It looks exactly like a 1980's VW Vanagon, only miniature. I knew I had made the right choice immediately. We waited for the arrival of Amanda and then drove up the side of a giant mountain. We were greeted enthusiastically by his 3 pups: Charly, Kika and Piomino. His farm is so different from what I have been used to, and exactly what I need to recover from the dramatic tangles and late nights in Firenze. He is basically vegan, doesn't drink, alcohol, or eat garlic or onions. He practices his Asanas every morning and instead of saying 'Mama mia!' he says 'Oh Baba!' who is his guru. He serenades us all day, singing old Italian songs like 'O sole mio' and playing guitar like he wants the whole valley to hear it. We dig up our food every day and make something exciting. There's no heat, except for the wood burning stove in the kitchen. Last night we took a 5 hour journey to Savona and back to return a borrowed van for his own. When we got to his van, it looked just like the first one, only white. The main difference though, was the dozen or so methane tanks in the back on which the van was propelled. He threw an old bench seat on top of them for me and I climbed in to start the trip back to Chiavari. I couldn't have asked for a more exciting Italian driving experience. In this rickety old methane powered van, Massimo passed all the other cars like they were standing still. He even tried to pass a double wide loaded truck, in a 2-lane tunnel.
Then he asked us is we wanted to take the 'particularly mysterious' road. Well, duh. He drove us up the side of another mountain, on a gravel road no more than four feet wide and with no guard rails. When we looked out the window, we could see a lake at the bottom of a giant valley, all lit up by the light of the moon. It was unbelievable and terrifying. I also chopped firewood for the first time today.

I'm looking forward to what else is possible at Casa Del Sole, and maybe when I'm finished here, I'll fly back to Firenze to get my heart back.

Love.
Rosa

Bikes, foxes, and Firenze.

Thank you, Froilan, for all the wonderful things you taught me about cycling and bicycle maintenance. For instance: how to adjust brakes, seat height, air pressure, how to tighten and loosen various things, and general safety procedures. I know it may not have seemed like much at the time, but it helped me and my pals get to the top of a crazy mountain and down the other side in one piece. Or, four pieces. I don't have much time to write about all the amazing things I've done and seen in the last 10 days, but I will try to tell a little tale.

Us 4 WWOOFers decided to take a little bike tour of Tuscany. You know, little as in 63 km. Here is an overview of it. We chose a route that was suggested for professionals, but we decided we could handle it. The night before the ride was a worrisome one. We weren't even sure if the bike rental was open the next day, it looked like rain, Alicia had never biked before, etc. Well the next day dawned in a blaze of glory and we rode out of San Vincenzo like 4 bats out of hell. We biked from here to Castagneto Carducci; then up an excruciating hill to Sassetta where the brightly dressed Nonnis came out to greet us like we were in a parade. Actually, it reminded me of the opening scene to Beauty and the Beast. Disney version. We've been singing the theme song since then. From Sassetta, there was a beautiful downhill coast for about 40 minutes. Through the woods, it felt like all our cells were being renewed. It was so fertile and cool and refreshing. Finally we got to Suvereto and took a little break before another short journey up a gravel path to Belvedere.

Belvedere is actually where Heaven gets some of it's better ideas. It on the top of a mountain, it's about 700 years old, and I think the blessed mother lives there. She made us pasta. Not just any pasta, but homemade pasta with marscapone, sun dried tomatoes, and arugula. She even hobbled out of the kitchen to kiss each of us on both cheeks and tell us all how bella bella bella we were. We actually became enlightened in that little restaurant, for one glorious hour. After Belvedere, we trekked through the woods to Laura and Pietro's place. They recently renovated a 100 year old farm house and the grow medicinal plants and olives. We got a tour of the garden and a sample of the freshly made rose syrup. Apparently, all the Nonnis in Tuscany mix Rose Syrup and water as a drink for their grandchildren in the morning. It was the perfect way to pep us up for the 26 km ride we had ahead of us back to San Vincenzo. We barely made it back in time to return our bikes to Birgit, who gave us a ride home. Horrah for bike trips!

During the following week, we were working in the rosemary fields. One morning, as I was hacking away at a particularly tough weed, I looked up and saw a little Fox staring back at me from the other side of the bush. This little guy followed us around all week. He would greet us in the morning by playing a little game of hide and seek, then pop up every once in a while throughout the day to try to steal things from us. We alternated calling him Kristopherson and Chili, which is actually his name. It turns out he's the neighborhood fox and everybody feeds him, like a stray cat.

FIRENZE. Where do I start? What a city. I'm not done with it yet. Alicia and I saw San Lorenzo, miles and miles of leather, the Duomo, and a whole lot of night life. Our couch surfing host was amazingly accomodating and took us around the town. We stayed out til 4 am and got fresh (chocolate filled) croissants on the walk home straight from the baker's rack. The next day was spent trying to recover and find the train station, so unfortunately I didnt see much more! I am going back this weekend, so I'll have more adventures to write about soon.

I only have one day left on this farm! I am sad, but very excited to see what happens next. The next farm I'm going to is near Genova. It's called Casa del Sole. Updates soon!

Bacio

Rosa