Aug 25 SAT – Agriturismo in Pitigliano [… in progress …]

[…in progress…]

Today is Saturday.  After breakfast, we checked out, but spent another 45 minutes in the pool.  Guests from yesterday have already left the night before or earlier this morning.  We had the entire property to ourselves. We departed from Agriturismo “La Quiete”  near Cecina at 12:00 noon.  We drove 99 km on a highway to Grosseto, and then jumped into a winding road toward Pitigliano and some address I entered into GPS. The road was so saturated with turns that we had to stop and catch our spinning heads. Around 2 PM we had lunch in Enoteca Dei Mille Di Detti Michele in Seasano (14:54 – 2 Piazza Garibaldi, Scansano – €12).  Lira had most tasteful Bruschetta.  To the host surprise, we did not order any wine.

Road eventually brought us to a tiny Manciano.  I am looking at a receipt from the supermercato at Via Antonio Gramsci, 12, where we bought oranges, peaches, fruit juice and soy yogurt at 15:51 (€17.13).

We discovered that something is wrong, when we entered province of Vitterbo section of Lazio. I realized that we overshoot Pitigliano and had to return in U-shaped manner.  Here we found another Agriturismo Fratenuti for €65 cash.

We have now in the active vocabulary just enough words, numbers and standard responses to be barely able to understand the speakers.  So now we are just getting into the vacation mode.  All the routines have sharpened themselves to the seconds, all the things found their places in the car and in the pockets. We are completely in the efficient traveling mode.  And we have one more week to enjoy the created rhythm of the journey.

Mineral water is a must to order in the restaurants.  Order just enough food to finish completely.  There is no custom to wrap unfinished meals to go.  It is OK to ask for a cork (tappo) to carry your unfinished bottle of wine to go.  We’ve seen “coperto” (cover charge) ranging from €0 to €3 per person.  Sometimes bread is included, and sometimes appears as a separate line on the bill (especially in Rome).

Armed with instructions from our hosts, we drove to a free parking at Pitigliano hospital high on the hill.  It has plenty of empty spaces around 18 – 19 in the evening.  Closer to 9 pm it is getting filled, and we did now see an empty space, when we left around 22:00. It is about 300 meters from the downtown action.

Pitigliano is a very pleasant city. Old town has grown out of a soft stone hill.  It is elongated in one direction and is very narrow in the other.  Make sure you capture the view of the city from outside.  It is almost unreal.  And even at night the outside walls are lighted for the delight of photographers.

The views from the city walls are great, but you can’t see anything in the dark.  You are blinded by a bright light from bellow.

Camiriera (waitress) in the place we ate was a girl from Moldova, who knows 5 languages and works on her Masters degree in Italian.

Only around 23:13 we returned “home” from Pitigliano. Capital is where the emperor stays.  Home is where you make your home for the night.  Here we have an entire apartment on the first floor for us and one other family.  Once again, I had hot decaffeinated dark tea and pastry from this morning breakfast.  Perfection!

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1. Italy 2012 August - Roma, Firenze, Napoli and between (2023/11/24)
2. Aug 10-11 FRI-SAT - A two-day flight to Rome (2023/11/28)
3. Aug 12 SUN - First steps in Rome - Pantheon (2023/12/04)
4. Aug 13 MON - Vatican (2023/12/08)
5. Aug 14 TUE - Colosseum (2023/12/12)
6. Aug 15 WED - Getting the car - Starting North - Viterbo (2023/12/16)
7. Aug 16 THU - Bagnoregio in Lazio, Orvieto in Umbria (2023/12/20)
8. Aug 17 FRI - Orvieto - Montepulciano - Siena (2023/12/24)
9. Aug 18 SAT - Siena - Villa Galileo - Firenze - Day 1 (2023/12/28)
10. Aug 19 SUN - Firenze - Day 2 - Uffizi Gallery (2024/01/04)
11. Aug 20 MON - Firenze (Day 3) - Collodi (2024/01/08)
12. Aug 21 TUE - From Pescia to Lucca (2024/01/12)
13. Aug 22 WED - Lucca (Toscana) - La Spezia (Liguria) (2024/01/16)
14. Aug 23 THU - Cinque Terra [... in progress ...] (2024/01/20)
15. Aug 24 FRI - Torre del Lago Puccini - Pisa and Agriturismo (2024/01/24)
16. Aug 25 SAT - Agriturismo in Pitigliano [... in progress ...] (2024/01/28)
17. Aug 26 SUN - Road to Napoli [... in progress ...] (2024/02/04)
18. Aug 27 MON - Napoli - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/08)
19. Aug 28 TUE - From focused Napoli to heavenly Sorrento (2024/02/12)
20. Aug 29 WED - Capri - Day 1 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/16)
21. Aug 30 THU - Capri - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/20)
22. Aug 31 FRI - La Dolce Far Niente [... in progress ...] (2024/02/24)
23. Sep 1 SAT - Mount Vesuvius [... in progress ...] (2024/02/28)
24. Sep 2 SUN - Last day in Rome [... in progress ...] (2024/03/04)
25. Sep 3 MON - From Rome back to Boston (2024/03/08)
26. Italy 2012 - Final Summary - Rules to Adopt and Follow <br> (2024/03/12)