Under The Tuscan Rain

Yesterday we ventured to Cortona, a small hillside medieval town where Jenna studied abroad via the University of Georgia 14 years ago. It rained throughout the day, but it was a bit more manageable than a downpour. We would stop in for a glass of wine or to peruse a shop whenever it started to rain. Worked out well. Many of you may have heard of Cortona, as it is the setting of the novel and movie "Under The Tuscan Sun". There is a festival starting today in the town, so lots of tourists were heading that way because of it. We missed seeing Sting just by a few days.

We found the new campus and met up with Jenna's professor, who is now the director of the program. What a character he was, spicy and funny old man. He gave us a tour of the campus, seeing all the different art rooms really struck my creative chord. I wish I could stay in Tuscany just to paint. He asked me where I went to school, apparently they just had lots of St. Lawrence students. The UGA program is one that a lot of the smaller American schools piggy-back off their program.

We then went back into the little town and met up with Ivan, a shopkeeper that Jenna was friends with back in the day. He showed us around his store, which used to be a little Tabbacharia, but since then he has dug two stories down and has amazing art on the bottom two floors. He gave us the entire history of the building - how it used to be where pilgrims slept, where a baker used to work, and that when he started digging he found an old Etruscan well. In the well, he has a spotlight at the bottom with beautiful fish swimming in it, and one little salamander. So if you turn off the lights in the shop and turn on the spotlight in the well - gorgeousness. I got a great photo of it that I will share when I get back.

Jenna picked out a little watercolor in his shop that she wanted to buy. He told her it was a gift, and had me pick one out too. So nice. The one I picked was a typical Tuscany scene, and when he saw which one I chose he said it was painted after the road in the Gladiator. Apparently I need to watch that movie too.

We had Ivan call his cousin, Paola, who Jenna was close to during her time in Cortona. We planned to meet back at his shop at 6pm to see her. We decided to take a little stroll through the park beforehand. Before we left I got stuck in Ivan's bathroom, always fun. Apparently it happens quite often to the point where sometimes people need to slide the key under the door for him to open it from the outside.

We had a drink with Paola, I had my first Bellini ever. When I told her about the rest of my trip and route, she couldn't stop raving about Sicily. (Sal smile here) SO I have decided to change my itinerary a bit. While I wanted to go to Genoa, I think I'm going to skip Genoa and Ravenna, shorten my stays in Milan and Venice, and spend more time in Sicily. I've already decided I'm going to have to come back to Italy someday. Especially Tuscany, I really want to do a winery tour.

Well, I should probably go check on my laundry that I left in a machine down the street. We're going to shop a bit in town and then head to Siena for the day. Hope it doesn't rain!