Pescina (Gelato Tuesday on a Tuesday)

We thought these cloud formations over Val D’Orcia were quite surreal

Tuesday was window-fixing day and we had an appointment at 5.00pm in Grosseto which is just over an hour’s drive away.  As Grosseto is only 15 minutes from the sea we had planned on going to the beach for the afternoon and getting the window fixed on the way back.  Over the last few days, the weather has been warmer on the coast than where we are, so it would be an opportunity to take advantage of it.  In the end, the weather was so nice at home that we changed our plans, stayed in, and set off for Grossetto mid-afternoon.

Grosseto is our nearest large town/city with proper (cheap) supermarkets and we have been there a couple of times for shopping and also driven through the outskirts on our way to the beach.  Our impression had always been that it was a built-up town with lots of modern buildings, so we have never investigated it.

We found the car window repairers and had difficulty communicating with the guys as it was the usual broken Italian from us and broken English from them.  The only word we had in common was ‘Fallonica’ which seemed to suffice for us to trust them to do the job and for them to trust that we would pay the insurance excess.  Fallonica is a town further north where their head office is, and it was they, that I had talked with on Friday and they set up the appointment for us in Grosseto.

With our initial impression of Grosseto, we were sceptical as to how we were going to kill an hour or two but wandered off towards the centre of town.  How pleasantly surprised we were – we were soon in an old part of town with narrow streets opening out onto large piazzas.

Piazza Dante

  

As it was a Tuesday we sought out a gelateria – Tuesdays are our ice cream day and we call them Gelato Tuesday even though we usually end up having them on any day but Tuesday 😉 As with most Italians we meet, the lady serving us loved Buddy and even gave him a cone, so it was Gelato Tuesday for him too!

Grosseto cathedral or duomo

Another view of piazza Dante

We continued walking and saw what looked like a park on a hill at the end of an alley so we walked down it.  At the end of the alley we climbed up a steep grassy slope and found we were on the top of the city walls.  We were amazed as we hadn’t been aware that the walls were there, let alone the fact that they were complete, and you can walk all the way around the old city.   They hadn’t been as well looked after as the walls in Lucca and most of the sentry posts and other fortified buildings of that ilk were in ruins or completely destroyed.  Still, it made for a pleasant walk in the shade for us and Buddy whilst we waited for the car to be ready.

  

One of the impressive things about the walls of Lucca is that there is a protected wide green space (like the theoretical UK Green Fields) all around the outside which gives the walls greater prominence.

Unlike Lucca, buildings seem to encroach on the walls of Grosseto

On the way back to the car we passed the local government offices which have gone the way of so many government buildings in Italy.  In order to raise capital, the building was sold a couple of years ago (for 4M euros) and is now leased back from the owners.

The local government offices now refurbished at some expense

When we got back to the garage, the car was ready, and we were pleased to find that all the broken glass had been vacuumed out.  I know we would expect that in the UK, but we had been a bit sceptical as to what sort of job would be done as were foreigners.  We were already prepared with 50 cent pieces to use vacuum facilities at a petrol station on the way home if necessary. 

On the drive home we passed a few groups of road runners who looked to be in a race and we were reminded that whenever we see road runners over here that they don’t seem to run facing the traffic like we do in the UK.  This has been concerning us for a while as it makes us feel like we are not doing the right thing facing the traffic when we are walking on the roads.  Also, Italians (and other non-UK Europeans) don’t have our courteous customs and therefore don’t automatically raise a hand to say thank you when we pull into the verge to let their car pass.  This lack of ‘thank you’ also (wrongly) reinforces the feeling that we’re not doing the right thing.

Talking about running races reminds me that Catherine made us really proud at the weekend.  She competed in, and completed, a 15-mile run in London in aid of Shelter.  She has never run more than a half-marathon before (and that’s a half marathon too far for me!) so we were extra pleased for her.

Cat and her finishing medal – if anyone still wants to sponsor her then please visit this link

Wednesday saw us tick something off our list of things to do whilst staying in Tuscany.  When we had driven back from the hot springs at Bagni San Filippo three weeks ago we noticed a bell tower at the top of one of the hills we drove past.  Campiglia D’Orcia looked like a small settlement with very few people around and there would be stunning views at the top, so we added it to our do list even though it wouldn’t be a particularly long or strenuous walk.

Nearing the target for our afternoon stroll – the bell tower at the top of Campiglia D’Orcia

Half way up with the fortified hill town of Castiglione D’Orcia in the background

The picture at the top of this blog entry is also from about half way up and is across the valley of the river Orcia which runs across southern Tuscany and gives its name to the region – Val D’Orcia.  The general population in the region has been decreasing over the last century but there are still signs of new housing in most places we visit.  Campiglia D’Orcia was no exception:

The hill was covered in the older houses but looking down all we could see was new housing and apartment blocks

Admittedly an awful lot of the new housing are second homes or places for summer or skiing holiday rentals.

Trying to show the steepness of the roads with me at an angle and the walls at an angle too

Amazingly we turned around one corner and came face to face with a post van.  Amazing because we hadn’t expected to see any traffic let alone a post van. This was the first post van we have seen since we have been over here and rather substantiated the age-old story that the Italian postal service is notoriously slow.  This slowness is also supported by an airmail letter I sent to one of my brothers a week ago that still hasn’t arrived.

Postman Pat’s van…

…actually, it wasn’t Postman Pat but Postlady Patrizia

We made it to the top, but the bell tower was padlocked so we couldn’t get too close.

  Those clouds looked threatening but they came to nothing - rain is forecast on Thursday though

We walked down the other side of the hill and, on the way down, went through the square that has what used to be the town’s water supply but has now been converted to a fountain.  When we got down we decided to go to Seggiano on our way back home as we wanted to see the aeroponic olive tree we missed last week.

Sure sign that autumn’s on its way in the square with the old water supply

Buddy has adopted a new position in the car since we have been in Italy.  Even though he is restrained (a legal and insurance requirement as well as a safety measure) he manages to rest his head on the central armrest which looks really uncomfortable but he seems to be really happy.  To make it worse his back legs are on the back seat, but his neck and front legs are just hanging in the air in the footwell!

Buddy’s new position in the car

When we visited Seggiano a week or so ago we saw the cisterna that is being restored.  The cisterna used to collect rain water for the village’s water supply. 

The restored cisterna

It wasn’t until we got home that day that we read that there is an olive tree growing out of the top of the cisterna.  What makes this tree particularly interesting is that it has grown aeroponically and its roots take in moisture from the water inside the cisterna as it evaporates.  We didn’t see the tree when we visited last time as we didn’t get around all the maze of alleys at the top.  We made sure we did this time and found the (apparently only one in the world) aeroponic olive tree.  Unlike most olive trees in these parts, none of the fruits seemed to be ripening and turning black though.

The aeroponic olive tree at last

With rain forecast all day on Thursday we’ll probably stay indoors and do those things we’ve been putting off like understanding and finding out those things we need to do in preparation for a no deal Brexit for when we move to France next year.