Quote

"Who could abide such a barren land?
Why the lizard, the owl and the drifting sand.
Who could yearn for this glistening space?
You and I who have seen it's face."

~Valerie A. Reiche The Desert (found on a vintage postcard)

Certaldo- Day 7 Chianti Region

For our last day in Tuscany, we toured the very beautiful Chianti Region. First we stopped and talked to this blacksmith. He was very moving, and a true artist if I've ever seen one. He spoke about the love and the passion one must have in making work, how to make is a joy, how to make from your gut and how without silence we can't hear anything. He only spoke Italian, so Linda and Duiglad translated for us.
Again, loving the lizards.

After that we headed to the little town of Castellina for lunch and Duiglad took us to this jewelry store. It was a really neat little place, with stuff from all over the world, tucked away in drawers. We probably could have spent a couple of hours in there, if we had had the time. Once the owner found out that we were jewelry students, he pulled out some damaged stones and gave each of use a few.
We then went to a little family run farm for a wine tasting. This was not my favorite activity, only because I don't care for wine. But we also had some excellent olive olive (one with rosemary, one with garlic and one with hot pepper) a couple of kinds of cheese, and we also tried three kinds of grappa. Again, not my favorite activity, but I did find some excellent rocks at this farm and took some nice rock pictures. I know, I'm a total nerd.

On our way back to Fattoria Bassetto, we stopped for some pictures of the lovely view.

And then watched a Comedia del Arte performance before dinner.

More beautiful food.

Up next, Florence!

Certaldo- Day 3

We took the train to Certaldo, a sleepy little town in the middle of Tuscany. This is the door to our hostel, Fattoria Bassetto, which used to be a monastery.
These were the stairs just inside that door. I love these stairs. They were so worn from so many years of monks. I don't have a picture of it, but my favorite was the stone thresh hold between the kitchen and the hallway. It was smooth, dark gray stone that had a definite dip in the middle. Just to think of that piece of stone being worn smooth by the leather sandals of the monks gives me chills.
This is the outside of the building where we slept.
The villa, where my professors and some other guests stayed. The grounds of Fattoria Bassetto were just beautiful.
My absolute favorite thing about the grounds were the lizards. They were everywhere! Some were skinks, like this one and some were geckos. They were super fast, and difficult to photograph. I kept a tally in my sketchbook of how many I saw here and I was up to 26 by the time we left a few days later.
That evening we went up to Certaldo Alto for drinks and dinner. Certaldo Alto is a little medieval town, on the hill above Certaldo proper.
Duiglad, the Australian that takes care of the running and up keep of Fattoria Bassetto, took us all to the little bar where his friends work. This Irish man, another friend of Duiglad's, serenaded us with his guitar. After we hung out there for a little while, we went to dinner with this spectacular view of Tuscany.