Sunday June 20 2010

We all slept late (except Lenny). Lenny went out by 7 am, and did a recognizance of the area. He found were on the correct road but turned back short of our destination. So in fact, we aren’t an hour from the town, but a mere 12 minute drive!!! Good old Italian signage! While Lenny, Dan and Fr Douglas went to San Gimignano for mass, Chris and I tried our hand at laundry!! To no avail! It turns out, as found out later, the machine is broken, so now we have a pile of very wet clothes!!!



San Gimignano is sometimes referred to as the “medieval Manhattan” for its 13th century stone towers. Fourteen towers remain of the original 70. The towers were built for defensive purposes and partly for boosting the egos of their owners. The warring families competed to build the highest tower in town.
This weekend was the Ferie delle Messi or the Medieval Harvest of the People. This is an annual event to reawaken in the city the antique events of its own medieval history. The town is divided into it's neighborhoods,certaldo, represented by their flags and colors.



There is singing, dancing, games and even combat between champions on horseback armed with bastions. We saw bits and pieces of these competitions throughout the day.


The weather threatened, with rumbling of thunder and large drops of occasional rain. We decided to call it a day, and shop for dinner preparations at home. Danny noticed a sign for self-service laundry. I jumped out of the car to find it and its hours of operation. (Remember now, our own machine is busted). I walked up and down a hill, and even asked some girls, but only got stared at like I had 3 heads. On my next go round Richard came in search of me. We went down the hill again, together, and still could not find it. We asked at a restaurant and were told, si, si, down the hill!!! So again we ventured down, and kept going. By now it was a heavy rain, but we were on a mission. We finally found it – at the far end of the road, accessible by the road we passed 3 times already!!! (Again – great signage – NOT) – And here comes Lenny looking for the 2 of us!! Cold and wet, we did our shopping, got back to the villa in the pouring rain, made a fire, had some vino and knoshes, and settled in. Chris made a delicious pranzo of pici (pasta of the region) pesto, and a nice salad.
I should mention that though it rained in San G, it hailed on the hilltop of the villa. As we drove home, the accumulated hail appeared as snow. Snow in June was quite a surprise!!