How I Went to a Wedding in Tuscany.
9 September.
It all began when my wonderfully sweet and beautiful relative peeked in through the door at SALT one day and, with a mysterious look on her face, announced that she wanted to give me something.
I had already had a little advance warning, but when the wedding invitation slipped into my hands, a completely different kind of excitement took over. A wedding. In Tuscany. Four days. It sounds like something out of a good American movie.
This was an experience I hadn't had yet, and lately people don't seem all that eager to organise weddings in general. Quite apart from the cost, it is a huge undertaking. Somehow it has happened that the last wedding I attended was also abroad: an Austrian wedding near Vienna, in a stunning mountain village where a proper castle has been restored especially for weddings.
The owners of the castle are a lovely gay couple in their later middle age who certainly have no shortage of taste or sense of style, and there is just the right amount of glamour and kitsch throughout the castle. In any case, that Austrian-Estonian wedding was a memorable one too.
I'll add a couple of photos from that wedding here, and then return to the matter at hand: Tuscany.
We have travelled a great deal in recent years, but for some reason we haven't been to Tuscany for quite a few years. So we booked a flight to Rome three days before the wedding and decided to take a little tour before the main event began.
Tomorrow morning we'll pick up a rental car at Rome airport, and I'm already looking forward to it with some trepidation, because my dear husband decided to order an electric car. A couple of years ago we explored the southern coast of Spain and made the same mistake. That time it was a tiny Fiat, but a large part of the trip was spent searching for charging points, and after some discussion we concluded that in future we would give up this environmentally friendly option when travelling.
Risto, however, is crazy about all engines that are shiny and roaring - and those that don't roar - and when he was offered an alluring, beautifully gleaming, full-electric Chinese car of mysterious origin, he was sold. Well, nothing to be done about it. Hopefully Italy has more charging points and we'll manage.
Today will be spent rushing from one destination to another, finishing all the necessary projects at work, organising my child's studies and living arrangements while I'm away, and trying to pack everything needed for four days of wedding celebrations, plus the gear for the trip beforehand, into one piece of hand luggage and a backpack.
Tomorrow we're off to the airport at six in the morning, followed by the Tallinn-Helsinki-Rome flight, and then the adventure begins. I'll continue with updates once we've landed at our destination.
10 September.
I wasn't planning to write again before reaching our first overnight stop, but sometimes unexpected things happen that change the plans for the very first day.
The morning Tallinn-Helsinki flight passed quickly and mostly asleep. We got onto the Finnair flight to Rome just as quickly. The scheduled flight time was 3 hours 20 minutes, and the captain mentioned a headwind. The first two hours again passed quickly and I even managed to sleep some more.
Then it started. First a little turbulence, then a break. Then again, getting worse and worse. Eventually the captain announced that we were beginning our descent and had about 35 minutes to go... and plunged into a thundercloud. Forty-five minutes of a non-stop ride worse than the most terrifying attraction at Linnanmäki, with people screaming and vomiting as an added bonus. After my career at sea and in aviation, I thought I had already lived through most frightening situations, but this was genuinely awful. Eventually the captain realised too that landing wasn't going to happen, and the next announcement was that... we were landing in Naples. Another 50 minutes at altitude, and finally we got the wheels down at Naples airport. What was initially supposed to be a quick refuelling stop, hopefully followed by improving weather and another attempt at Rome, turned into a two-hour ordeal sitting on the aircraft at Naples airport, still waiting for a bus so the passengers could get off during refuelling. What we didn't have was a bus - or refuelling. At that point there was no further information... so more about our adventures later.
After four hours of waiting on the plane, we finally made it to Rome after all. By then the Chinese electric car we had originally booked had already found a new owner, and we were given a Citroën DS7 instead.
Anyone who has been to Rome knows what the traffic jams are like even when taking a taxi from the airport into the city. We were heading towards Florence, but even so we had to spend about an hour circling around Rome - and then the rain began. Thirty-five millimetres all at once, with thunder. Pale-white bolts of lightning stabbed into the ground right beside the motorway, and the deafening thunder made the car shake.
We abandoned one of the small towns we had planned to visit and drove to Montefalco, then on to Perugia for the night. We booked a tiny hotel there, Primavera Mini. Thirty-eight minutes to go... :)
But the rain was beginning to ease.
11 September.
Back on the road. But what else happened yesterday?
We reached Montefalco in slightly lighter rain, and the tiny early-medieval fortified town, with its magnificent panoramic views over Umbria, Trevi, Todi and beyond, left us with yet another incredible memory. Wrapped in cloud, with an enchanting setting sun visible far below in the valley.
We escaped the shower into a small wine bar called Farmacia, where an older gentleman warmly welcomed us and showed us inside. We were the only guests, and in towns and villages like these hardly anyone speaks much besides Italian. Our modest Spanish skills saved us. We were very hungry, and when we asked for a small antipasto, within five minutes they prepared an enormous platter of the most wonderful flavours for us :)
We also had the chance to taste Montefalco wines from 2016 and 2020, and truly excellent wines come from that region.
After making our way around Montefalco, we continued to Perugia, where the Primavera Mini hotel turned out to be an exceptionally good choice. A tiny family-run hotel, with our room tucked into the attic like Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and a wonderful terrace overlooking the entire city.
On top of that, we had an incredibly delicious dinner at Osteria A Priori, and their wine selection - only wines from the local region - was enough to make your head spin.
12 September.
A beautiful morning began with a workout on the rooftop terrace, followed by a walk through Perugia's old town. Perugia is definitely a place where one could stay much longer. Historically and architecturally it is a wonderful city, and in addition to visiting castles dating from the 14th century, it is certainly worth seeing Pozzo Etrusco, one of the few ancient wells in Europe that provided clean water for an entire city. As a bonus, life in the area is extremely inexpensive :) Both food and drink.
But then it was time to say goodbye to this lovely city, and the GPS was given a new mission: take us to the city-state of San Marino. We chose the small mountain roads and were rewarded with magnificent views from Tuscany into the Emilia-Romagna region - plus, as a bonus, three hours of nausea. A hundred kilometres takes at least two hours, so you can imagine what the drive was like.
Still, we made one lovely and highly recommended stop in a little town with the charming name Panicale, which you can safely pop into without too much panic :)
Once again, it is a historically very old fortified town that has now become a real tourist gem. A theatre festival happened to be taking place, and the whole town had been stylishly decorated with hats fluttering in the wind. We had a small lunch at a lovely restaurant called Kuke - excellent, by the way - where the owner himself kindly introduced and recommended everything.
And then it appeared...
...San Marino rose from the mountaintop as if from nowhere. After an utterly exhausting series of bends, this beautiful republic, founded around the year 300, shone above our heads in all its stony splendour.
Another 15 minutes of winding our way up the mountain and we had arrived. Parking was conveniently available just outside the city gate, and the parking fee of 8 euros per day, with an additional hotel discount, already made for a very positive first impression.
We hadn't booked a hotel in advance and chose La Rocca on the main street. An extremely pleasant hostess welcomed us warmly and cheerfully and even cracked a couple of good jokes. She said there was one room waiting just for us, and we got a room with a million-dollar view from the top of the mountain, stretching hundreds of kilometres into the distance. Sitting on that balcony, I felt like Rapunzel, ready to throw my braid down to the town below :)
San Marino is a tiny city-state and the people here are extremely friendly. Unlike in many small Italian towns, most people speak English. They mentioned it themselves: we're a small country, so we need to speak languages. Prices are considerably lower here, and since it isn't part of the EU, the perfume, leather and assorted knick-knack trade is booming.
A visit to the three towers and the ancient stone fortress is also a must; incidentally, it reminded me very much of Kuressaare Castle :)
The changing of the guard, where guards in hats with tassels perform their ceremonial change every hour, is another must-see.
All in all, it is an extremely peaceful, safe and happy little country, something you can sense at every turn.
We found a lovely restaurant called Il Bere, and their vongole in a local lemon sauce were absolutely delicious. And since we were, after all, in the Emilia-Romagna region, we naturally had to enjoy a dry Lambrusco as well.
We slept wonderfully, and the next morning the road took us on towards Florence.
12 September.
Of the three different routes Google Maps suggested, after some discussion we once again chose the mountain road. It was only 114 kilometres, but the estimated driving time was 3.5 hours.
I won't dwell too long on that stretch of road. There wasn't much pleasant about it, especially from the passenger seat, where one bend after another, up and down the mountains, put the body through another proper amusement-park ordeal. Temperatures down below had climbed into the low 30s, while high on the mountains they dropped back to 23-24°C. At some point we felt we needed a little refreshment, and about an hour before Florence there is a small mountain resort called Bagno di Romagna, home to a bubbling sulphur-pool paradise of wellbeing called Roseo Euroterme. You pay 20 euros, receive a towel and a swimming cap (!), and happily sit among cheerful, healthy-looking Italian pensioners in a bubbling, bath-warm thermal pool. Everything is exceptionally clean, and with the bright blue sky, golden sun, green mountain forest all around and warm bubbling sulphur water, it was the best thing one could possibly have asked from life at that moment.
An hour at an Italian mountain spa refreshed us so perfectly that the final hour to Florence simply flew by.
The stupidest idea is to drive a car into Florence's old town. Even more stupid is to do it in a large car. We did both, and according to our maps we came very close to wedging ourselves into one of the narrow streets of the old town. Luckily, some helpful Florence boys rushed over to help manoeuvre the car, and after a fair amount of shouting, gesticulating and the enthusiastic participation of the entire street, my dear husband managed to get the car out without a single scratch. His expression, however, reflected the dramatic experience very vividly indeed.
We took an apartment fairly centrally in the old town and eventually also found a parking garage where we managed to squeeze in our silver companion quite nicely (incidentally, paid garages like these are basically the only way to park in Florence's old town).
Together with our AI friends George and Jupiter (:)), we managed to find a wonderful little restaurant, Trattoria Giovanni, in a city overflowing with tourists. We got a table purely by miracle, after my earnest pleading story about how we had travelled all the way from Estonia specifically for their restaurant. We left the disappointed Japanese guests waiting outside and plunged into food heaven. The flavours were incredible, and you can confidently let the waiter recommend both the wines and the dishes - there was absolutely nothing to complain about. Their slightly spicy version of amatriciana pasta was heavenly, and a glass of Montepulciano red went with it perfectly. If there is one thing to keep in mind, it is that if you want antipasti, primi piatti and secondi as well, the portions are large :)
In addition to that wonderful restaurant evening, Florence gave us exactly the feeling that only this European capital of fashion, art, history and food can offer. As mentioned above, world events seem to have had no effect whatsoever on this city, and life continues to bubble exuberantly over the edges.
I should also mention a lovely wine shop where, on the sommelier's recommendation, we bought the world's best Chianti Riserva for the bride and groom, from the very region where the wedding was being held, and Vivino gave it 98%. There was also an opportunity to taste some of the world's finest wines, and 40 ml of 2020 Sassicaia, accompanied by a little blind-tasting game, disappeared as if by magic :)
13 September.
The sounds of Florence's old town woke us in the morning, and by now a little wedding excitement was beginning to set in. We walked to the railway station, where my older child joined us, and then the drive to the main destination of the entire trip began. About 1.5 hours from Florence.
Villa Cozzano lies right in the heart of Tuscany on the Umbria side, and the view surrounding this complex of red-brick villas looks exactly like a Vincent van Gogh painting. When we stepped out of the car, at first all we could do was gasp; then came the feeling that we had somehow wandered into a fairy tale or a film and would never get out again. Vineyards, olive groves, fields of already slightly dried sunflowers, little hills and valleys lined with cypress trees, greenery and the humming of bees.
Time stood still.
And then the wedding celebration. The first evening in magnificent natural surroundings, a pizza oven and fresh pizzas. Naturally, the estate's own wine flowed freely as well, and the prosecco deserves a special mention: I have never had prosecco of that quality in Estonia - in fact, I never drink it there at all.
Thirty-four people from four different parts of the world had come together, first to be guests at this beautiful wedding and then simply to enjoy the beauty and magic of life.
The second day was the big day. Preparations began by the pool with a little warm-up, and once everyone had dressed up beautifully, the main event took place. In an olive grove beneath a great oak tree - what better place could there be to begin a happy life together? :)
Later came dinner, Tuscan-style of course, four courses at a long table among the olive trees... It is a celebration that will stay in the memory for a long time.
The following day was probably the best recovery any living person could wish for after having thrown a big party the night before :)
The whole day by the pool, with regular refreshing dips in the cool water and doing absolutely nothing. The evening ended once again around a long table, with lasagne for dinner and an open-air cinema under the Tuscan starry sky, showing none other than Sex and the City from 2008.
Unfortunately, everything comes to an end eventually, and the best moments in life seem to end especially quickly. Still, I believe that every ending is the beginning of something new, so I'm sure something exciting will be coming along again soon. Whatever life gives you, you have to embrace it with both hands :)
So keep following what I and SALT are up to, because there will definitely be a fantastic Tuscan evening coming to SALT, and on top of everything else I now have a whole list of new flavours I want to bring to you.
Arrivederci - goodbye until we meet again :)
Comments