Under the Tuscan Sun

Our tour guide Franco took us to several Tuscan Hill towns, and through the Chianti Region today. We drove past the American Cemetery at Florence, where more than 4300 U.S. Serivce Members who died during World War II are buried. We saw many olive trees, cypress trees and vineyards.

Franco told us quite a bit about everyday life in Italy. For example, we learned that kids go to elementary school from ages 6 to 11, then middle school from ages 11 to 14, and high school from ages 14-19. Students can attend school Monday- Friday until approximately 4pm, or a bit later, or they can have early dismissal each day if they also attend on Saturday.

Following High School you can get a job, go to a trade school, or enroll in University. University is a bit different than it is in the U.S. Most students live at home and attend the University closest to their home, as the univesities don't usually offer housing. Franco also told us that Italians love TV reality shows and that his 20 year old daughter who is studying Hotel Management only comes home to eat and get money. According to our new friend, football (soccer), bicycle racing and basketball are the most popular sports in Italy.

We visited San Gimignano, a medieval city known as the Manhatten of Tuscany because of its large towers. There are currently 14, although at times there were more than 70. San Gimignano was also a main stopping point for pilgrims from France and England on their pilgrimage to see the Pope in Rome. The movie, "Tea with Mussolini" was filmed here, and they also have a shop which won the the 2006/2007 and 2008/2009 Gelato World Championship.

We next stopped at Monterigioni, which is very small, but was called a "Crown on a King" by Dante because of its appearance on top of a large hill. We had lunch at a restaurant that we saw on Rachel Ray, and met a couple from Chicago whose daughter went to Princeton, they asked about Bruce Springsteen, who the mom said she loves. Franco recommended the Pasta with boars meat sauce, but no one was that adventurous today.

After lunch we went to Siena, which has one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Siena was a major enemy of the Florentines in the middle ages, until 1/2 their population was lost to the "Black Death", or Plague. There is a major horse race in the center of town every summer, with each neighborhood of the city cheering for their own horse. The race is very popular with thousands of people attending, Franco tells us that good tickets are usually more than 500 Euros.

Our final stop for the day was at a small winery in the Chianti Region, we tried some wine, Maggie tried Grappa, which was very strong.