Day 13: Trainride to Ancona then an Overnight Ferry to Split

Fields and fields of grapes, sunflowers, kiwifruit, hay and tomatoes pass by me at remarkable speeds. Every now and then I see a building or house providing me evidence of civilized life outside of this giant moving steel bullet. I look around me and I see the faces of people who are each so involved in their own lives, journeys and destinations. A group of about seven young boys in their teens sit a few rows ahead of me smugly drinking hinekin and talking unreasonably loud. They smell of too much cologne. Across me is a woman reading the biggest book that I’ve ever seen. The train is such a great place to observe people. I hear at least four different languages and see people of all shapes and sizes. I try to evesdrop on the two Italian women next to me but stop when I realize that I can only understand every third word. Learning Italian is an interesting and fun experience but some days are harder than others. I can certainly understand the language better than speak it but I still have much work to do before I can consider myself apt at either.

The trip ended with a great success, however I now realize that two weeks is too little time to explore the three wine regions we chose. I do think, however, that I learned a considerate amount about Italian wines and about the way that each taste from each region. Wines from Veneto consist mainly of Valpolicella and Amarone which are both red varieties that are produced by drying half of the grapes and performing a refermentation until a dry wine is made. This results in a high acid, tannic wine which has aromas of cherries and prunes. We also tasted Soave from this region, which is a white wine made from Garganaga which has a fruity profile and a distinct saltiness. Tuscan wines consist of the Supertuscans and Chianti. Unlike the popular belief in California, these wines are of supurb quality. They are big, full bodied wines with strong red fruit characteristics made up of the Sangiovese grape. VinSanto is also produced in this area and is a sweet desert wine. I am not one to usually appreciate sweet wines but I found myself purchasing two bottles of this from Campriano while there. I later had a conversation with one of my colleagues about why it was so enjoyable to us and we came to the conclusion that the complexity of this wine mixed with the high acidity created an agreeable flavor profile. The end of the trip took us to the Piedmont region where we got to taste from the world’s best known Italian wineries such as Pio Cesare, Gaja and Ceretto. This is where we got a taste of Barolo and Barbaresco. These wines are made up of Nebbiolo and Barbera grapes. That produce a powerful yet elegant wine. These can be described as having floral notes with a slightly musty nose and powerful tannins.

So I am now here riding a train to a ferry which I will take overnight to Split. I have a stack of postcards from around Italy that have been written but just not sent off yet. I guess those will have to wait to be mailed out from Croatia. After Croatia I think I want to visit my friends in France and I have plans to go to Germany at the end of the month.

Day 7: West Coast of Italy

Last night we left Castiglione del Lago with happy stomachs and drove to Firenze for a quick day in touristville. While we meandered through the streets for only three hours while James and Dan took the time to solve a pressing problem that has not been resolved since we got here. They have been toting their bikes on the top of the car in 2 boxes. However, due to the summer rain storms here, the boxes have been slowly disintegrating. They had planned on purchasing a bike rack on their first day in Milan but failed to do so. So, two days ago when the boxes would surely crumble, they took them out, assembled them and laid them on the top of the car with the box underneath to prevent scratching the car’s hood. This has been how they have remained since. So, off the boys went while we descended upon the city. The afternoon started out well, but Marc had been sick for two days and could not handle the heat. I took him to sit in a hotel while the rest of the group continued to explore the city. I figured that this would be best as I had seen Firenze multiple times while some of the group had never been to Italy. Nonetheless, Marc ‘s fever skyrocketed while we were sitting there. We were two hours by car from the coast, where we were staying for the night and I could not contact other members of the group. So, we ended up checking him into the hotel room for the afternoon until 6, when we had agreed to meet for dinner.

At six, Dan and James came back with no bike rack (it was a Sunday, of course nothing would be open) while the rest of the group had visited some key landmarks of the city. I, too, eventually was able to venture into the city where I meandered up and down the side streets, as far from the tourists as possible. The time alone was truly revitalizing. I met up with the group minus a sleeping Marc at six where we grabbed a quick pizza before waking up our friend and heading toward the coast. So, that was my third experience of Firenze.

After a two hour drive, we arrived in San Vincenzo which is a coastal town where we visited two wineries, Ornellaia and Petra. That night, we stayed in a pretty cool hostel. It was on the top of a hill and used to be the base for a mining company. When we drove up to it, the windows were illuminated and could be seen from the base of the mountain, pretty creepy. We made jokes about 'what if that were where we would stay' and so it turns out, it was. Overall, the place was pretty comfortable, but breakfasts served here are pretty small-- a piece of bread and a coffee. This is good, though because we tend to eat large lunches and then smaller dinners.

Day 2: Twenty Two, Two Wineries, Too Great

Today is my birthday! I have a quick update of my day but will finish it tomorrow during our 4 hour drive to Tuscany. Today we learned about Amarone and Valoplicella wines. These wines are made by drying the grapes in special rooms for up to 3 months before vinification. They are red wines, quite acidic and slightly tannic. They smell strongly of dark fruit and prunes. They have a very high alcohol content, although they hold their alcohol quite well. You wouldn't know that the wines were at 17% just by tasting it. We went to Dal Forno Romano and Allegrini wineries. They were both beautiful. I also spent quite a bit of time trying to buy a phone card to be able to chat here in Italy. I managed that after about 2 hours. I am understanding and communicating more easily than I thought, but that may be because I have the comfort of 7 of my friends to fall back into English with.

We ate at a brilliant restaurant tonight and did not get back until about 12. I have an early start tomorrow, though.

I will write again as soon as I have internet. Ciao for now!