We were supposed to go to the countryside with Mariano last week when Mom and Dad were here, but he had to cancel. He kept saying, "I am so DELIGHTED that it is not possible to go". Then he would say "dispiace" which means sorry, so he was getting his words confused and was really funny about it. Anyway, we did go yesterday, and it was awesome. He has land near Impruneta in Tuscany. It was a beautiful drive in his Fiat. The roads were incredibly narrow. At one point we have to back up and pull over to let a car going the opposite way pass. Mariano would just pull over whenever he felt like to give us a good view. We had fun checking out his land with lots trees...olive, apple, walnut, nectarine, pear, and a Christmas tree. Also animals...cinghiale (wild boar), pheasant (we knew the translation for that... thanks, Mom), and deer. It was so interesting communicating with him...he wanted to work on his English and we wanted to learn Italian. Somehow, it worked.
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| he uses the circular things to crush olives to make oil |
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| tree Mariano is growing to use as his Christmas tree |
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| rosemary |
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| Mariano's "grill" where he cooks bistecca |
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| cherry tree |
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| bread he left for animals |
After walking his land, he took us into Impruneta, home of terra-cotta, where we visited a church, got gelato, and walked around. Then we went to a castle where Mariano got married in 1987. When we walked in, he hooked arms with Wynn to demonstrate to us how he and his wife walked in.
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| Impruneta |
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| Castello Vicchiomaggio |
-bn
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