Buon Giorno Ragazzi
Yet another beautiful morning in Tuscany and the sun is warm enough to enjoy an aperitivo on our terrace. 
This last week has reminded me of the many reasons for being here. Great food, wine, music and the language.
Let’s talk first about the language. To the English speaking world Italian is a wonderful sing-song and romantic language. We moved to Italy precisely because of that and the desire to be able to speak and understand it. There is also the funny side of trying to hold an intelligent conversation and one instant that caught me out was on the subject of horses. We had two friends visiting for drinks on horseback and as they needed to tie them up in the olive grove below us, I thought it best to let our neighbours know. So I told them that two friends were arriving on horses and that they would be tied to one of their trees for a couple of hours. They roared with laughter and said that was fine. I told our visiting Italian friends about this and they also rolled about laughing! It seemed our neighbours had been told that two friends were arriving on cabbages! It’s all in the pronunciation you see; cabbage (cavolo) and horse (cavallo), I think I will always have a problem with this one!
Then there is the music. These hills are alive with the sound of music, particularly throughout the spring and summer months. Rock, Jazz, classical and opera. During the winter months you can go to local concerts inside and last night we went to Stefano Bartalesi’s concert at Teatro Communale San Miniato. He is a hugely talented musician and has just released a cd with his own amazing tracks and songs. I am very lucky to have him front my band, The Rock Chick Band, once a year as lead guitarist.
Well, great food & wine. What else is there to say but fantastico. The region is flush with ristorante (restuarants) of every type and you will not fail to find one to suit your taste. Today, the weather is promising to be warm enough to have lunch in the garden, so out with the seasonal vegetables, cheeses and pane (bread).
See you next saturday. Salute June x
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