[Itinerary Page]The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
December 8 - Montalcino and Beyond
Margene's back! Whatever it was that grabbed her for the last couple of days is gone and while she is still a little shaky, she is walking and talking ... and almost eating ...again.
We walked down the street to the local cafe for breakfast, then took a turn around town. It is not difficult. Montalcino is not a large place. While we were poking around, we were met by a parade of locals in medieval costume celebrating a neighborhood holiday. We don't know the details of the occasion, but it gave thirty or forty people an excuse to take a Thursday morning off!
The drive to Todi only took a couple of hours and took us back through familiar territory around the north side of Lake Trasimeno. On the way, we stopped in the town of Marsciano to see if we could find a well-known pizzeria. We found a street market first and Margene is not one to let a street market pass. I figured I could find lunch in there somewhere ... and most surely did.
The next job was to find the house where we would be staying. We had a set of directions off the Internet, but they were undoubtedly written by someone who knew where they were going. Unfortunately, directions such as these are read by those who are clueless! After more U-turns that I care to admit, we finally found the place and were warmly welcomed by Francesca, the owner.
When she took us into the apartment, there was a fire in the fireplace, the TV was on to BBC World (the English language station) and the table was set for dinner ... ours! This is a three bedroom, three bath apartment on the second floor of Francesca's house.
At one point we had planned to stay here when we visit in late April but some Englishman has rented it for two full months. Her nephew has a house on the property that is also available for rent so we will check that out before we leave. Tonight we will just relax and let Francesca do the cooking!
© 2005 Restaurant Doctor