Jimmy and I have been relaxing for the last few days - getting back on track after an amazing whirlwind of a visit with my favorite girls. Errands, TONS of laundry, cleaning, and animal tending, with a few visits to nearby towns mixed in. It finally rained for the first time in months over the weekend, cooling down the weather drastically, so it's been a beautiful few days laying low around here :)

Mercantia!

Ciao a tutti! What a crazy couple of weeks we've had here in Italia. Everything from broken noses to cross-Italia roadtrips and ocean views - needless to say I haven't had time to blog! Here are just a couple of things we've experienced in the past couple of weeks:

• visits from 4 of our closest friends
• pigs getting loose (twice)
• many dinners composed of cheese. only cheese.
• visits to Florence, Pisa and Rome
• our first and hopefully last scooter accident (don't worry, everyone is ok!)
• road trips all the way up to Cannes, France and all the way down to Positano, Italy
• a broken nose (sorry, LuLu!)
• a broken bottle of red (sorry, rental car)
• more than 5 but less than 10 burratas
• approximately 1,000 bottles of wine
• renting a boat for the day to cruise along the Amalfi Coast
• more than a couple skinned knees
• countless laughs & immeasurable scenic beauty!

Aaand the rest you will see in good time. Once I'm caught up on my posts here...so in the interest of time, this post will be 99% pictures. All from our night in Certaldo Alto, an adorable Etruscan hill town about 20 minutes from us, where once a year they hold an international festival focused on street theater. We had no idea what was in store for us before we went - we almost didn't even go! But I'm so glad we did, it was absolutely amazing. I would return to Tuscany again and again just for this festival, it was that incredible.

Read more about it here or here if you're interested, but basically the festival focuses on performance art and theater, and people come from all over the world to show off their skills in everything from marionettes to mimes to jewelry making to bubbles. Yes, bubbles. We only knew about it from our Italian coworkers and I don't think it's advertised much outside Tuscany, so there were no tourists in sight. Our eyes were popping out of our head the whole time - make sure to go if you're ever in Tuscany in June!

More soon - a presto!

Mamma Mia Maremma

Ciao ragazzi - happy Monday!

We are having a lovely one over here, tending and fixing and cleaning and organizing, and generally catching up on things. We have been busier than I expected here on the farm! Which (poorly) explains the reason for my lack of posts lately. Better late than never - here are photos from our trip down to Maremma!

On the way down we took a quick stop in Volterra just to check it out (verdict: cute!), then had a quick coffee and a sandwich an hour north of Massa Marittima. It was a LONG RIDE on the scooter so we needed to stop frequently for stretches and sunscreen.

When we arrived in Orbetello we immediately checked in and took a dunk in the pool after a long & hot ride on the ol' scoot, and then hopped right back on to explore the beautiful peninsula of Monte Argentario. What an amazing and underestimated place! We spent too long of a time searching for a supposedly beautiful beach called Cala Piccola thanks to this article, but eventually found out that it's only accessible to the Cala Piccola Hotel guests and neighborhood residents. Womp womp. But even the search for it up and down the steep coastal cliffs was a blast, and instead we cruised along the coastline, slowly but surely soaking in one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen.

After working up an appetite we finished the day by returning to the little town of Orbetello, to walk around and eat a delicious traditional summer-Tuscan meal of white wine, seafood bruschetta, fish, and gelato (though maybe not in that order since Jimmy needs his gelato when he needs it).

The next day we checked out Maremma Natural Park, where we relaxed at a gorgeous beach right along a beautiful pine forest. We'd read that this area of the coast is known for being completely natural and unspoilt, and it didn't disappoint.  After too much sunshine and salt water, we headed home, stopping for a quick dip in the Bagni di Petriolo on the way back.

More to come soon - some of my most favorite people are visiting over the next couple of weeks (eeee!!) so I will have lots of good stuff to share.

A presto ragazzi!