4. Let’s talk about food

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My friend Steven asked for today’s theme, so before we get onto the walk let’s talk about food.

The photo above was taken last night in San Gimignano at a little Osteria on the edge of the main tourist area. It is a typical Tuscan Antipasto: a variety of cured meats, in this case prosciutto, salami and mortadella. The cheese is a sheep cheese with a bowl of ginger marmalade. You get this at every restaurant and it can be the most expensive item on the menu depending on what is on offer. We tend to get one and share. The other one which is common around here is chicken liver crostini. We have noticed there is not a lot of ‘plating’ and garnishing. You get what you are given!

We have tried to be aware of what is particular to a region or city. My favourite dish so far was in San Miniato which is famous for its truffles. It was basically pasta, truffles and pecorino. Grant remembers the spaghetti carbonara in Gambassi. Because we focus on the more low key trattorias and osterias the fare is pretty simple but always made from scratch and delicious. We had fabulous pizzas in Lucca, but the highlight was the company of the family who ran the place.Both the son and father sat down for a chat. Pizzas here are simple with a maximum of three toppings and nothing exotic unless you are in a tourist zone and want to pay silly money.Many if not most of these places are family run and we had a delightful night in Florence in a tiny place well away from the tourist centre where I can’t remember the food (other than it was good and they gave us a free bottle of Chianti) but can remember the family. The father ended up joining us and sharing pictures of his grandchildren. All achieved with our poor Italian and his basic English.

Wild Boar is another favourite in these parts. I’ve had it in pasta and it is very rich and very delicious. Wines are of course another whole conversation. This is mostly Chianti country with a small white wine growing area around San Gimignano which I spoke about a couple of days ago. We are used to the brutal Australian reds, so Chianti is a very gentle but enjoyable change and of course matches the food perfectly.

Back to business. We are in Gracciano dell’Elsa overnight en route to Monterrigioni. Our hotel is about 1km out of town and we felt we had seen enough of Gracciano walking through not to have to see it again. It’s good to be reminded that all of Tuscany is not beautiful. That being said, the hotel Il Pietreto is in stunning countryside and full of character. We are sitting having a recovery beer looking across the fields and listening to the birds and the dogs in chorus.

Today‘s walk was from San Gimignano and 21km. I am happy to report that I am almost virus free and found the walk delightful- far easier than the 14km ‘easy‘ day a few days ago when I was far sicker than I realised. The first 7km was of course very familiar (see yesterday’s post) and that had most of the hills. After that we experienced some rare flat ground (don’t believe anyone who tells you this route is mainly flat-it is up and down over hills most of the time so far). There was a beautiful section of forest and the rest of the time interesting rural areas. It is sad to see a lot of abandoned farm properties, but there may be a happy story behind tha that I am unaware of.

Remember yesterday I was talking about control and learning to let it go? One big step has been that I don’t use my watch or phone to monitor distance travelled. Only one or two way markers on the route mention distance so you can get yourself into a frame of mind which stops you focusing on the getting there but rather on the now. It’s good. The last 500 metres always hurt the most when you can see your destination. There is probably a profound lesson that somewhere but it has been lost in my beer.

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Speak to you tomorrow. Here is a beautiful picture from early this morning just outside San Gimignano.

Marie