Welcome and Benvenuto to all my Lovely Followers around the World,
Yet another beautiful day in Tuscany!
Well, last Sunday morning was busy at coffee time at La Dispensa, in our local village of Fiano, with lots of locals wearing their team Calambur T-shirts, in readiness for the exciting contest due to start at two-thirty. This was going to be a hard-fought contest for the coveted victor’s banner, which the team can keep displayed in their zone for the next twelve months. Our Fiano team is called La Fonte, and our colours are red and white. The village was festooned with flags as was Certaldo, where the big event was to be held. The event is a bit like the ‘It’s a Knockout’ contest we used to have in the UK and is very entertaining to watch, but taken very seriously indeed by the contestants.
At the end of the day it was La Canonica team from Certaldo who came out victors, despite our team putting in a superb effort. La Fonte did win two years ago and I remember the beautifully embroidered banner being displayed in La Dispensa. Oh well, there’s always next year!
Meanwhile, there has been a lot of busy preparation for the Truffle (tartufo) Hunting Season, which starts on 22nd September. Lots of tourists include this rather exciting event in their holiday itinerary and if you visit EnvyItaly on-line you will find an article all about it. Click on ‘Magazine’ then ‘Best Experiences in Italy’. There are also hunts available locally to us; I can put you in touch with the right people. Foto Envy Italy.
As I have just mentioned the magazine Envy Italy, I should also tell you that it is a new publication co-published by my very clever daughter and her friend from Ireland. As a writer, I have been very impressed with the articles and professional way the magazine has been put together. This is one for you if you like the very best that Italy can offer. I love it! Go to the website
And, so to my other love, Italian Autumn Fashion. The papers and magazines here are filling up with gorgeous Autumn colours, my favourite time of the year. I noticed that Burberry in England has taken on a new look, but believe me, Italian designers do have the edge when it comes to style. I just adore this fringed coat, couldn’t you just snuggle up in it? MaxMara’a models are not the most cheerful lot, but I have let this fact pass for once.
The other advert I found, was for a pair of comfy shoes! Arrrgh, I hear you say, fashion and comfort just don’t go together! I have spent a lot of years trying to combine both, and yes it’s difficult. However, what do you think of these shoes? Are they stylish enough or too clumpy? I’m almost tempted to buy some, but I’m not sure…..
And back in the real world, yesterday, Monday, was back to school day. Lots of nervous children and students were starting the new term and some, like my 13 nearly 14-year-old granddaughter, a new senior school in Siena! The Italian school holidays, particularly the summer one, is very long, almost three months in fact, so parents and grandparents alike are sighing with relief.
Anyway, enough already. Oh, in case you were wondering I am still on the hunt for September’s Italian Hunk of the Month. So if you spot a candidate send me a pic! My email
Have a great week wherever you are in the world.
Salute June x
PS If you did not manage to download my free short story, The Man in Black, you can now purchase it for just 99p or the equivalent $ or Euro. Go to my website at June’s Site
Firstly, we were really delighted to see the arrival of a community Drinking Water Fountain/dispenser in Fiano, our local village. I am so very pleased because if this is happening in all the communities, then Italy is already making a massive leap towards reducing the plastic bottle problem. Tap water in Italy has always been a little suspect, so the demand for bottled water has been enormous. Now we can just refill our existing bottles with fresh still water absolutely free! In the picture is Milko demonstrating how to use a plastic card, which you can purchase from his Cartalibreria next to the Fountain, should you want the chilled or fizzy variety. The cost for these is only a few centesimi per litre. Brilliant! Foto J Finnigan.
Meanwhile, Fiano is gearing up for Il Calambur and the big annual dinner will be held in Piazza Gasparri this evening. This then marks the run-up to the Calambur contest itself, which will be held in Certaldo on Sunday 16th September. The contest involves the five teams of the Commune di Certaldo wearing medieval outfits, who compete to win the coveted banner. Fiano’s team is all in red and is called Le Fonti. The contest involves all kinds of races and intelligence tests. It’s all sooo exciting! Visit the website for lot’s of colourful pictures from last year. 
Meanwhile, I spotted this gorgeous jacket in La Repubblica as I was enjoying my coffee in La Dispensa this morning. I know, I do go on a bit about fashion and particularly those modelled by happy models. And, yes, Luisa Spagnoli has done it again with a jacket you could wear smart or with jeans & T-shirt. OK, she is not cheap but in my view something like this is timeless and therefore a very good investment. 
Oh dear, I nearly forgot! My man’s new Man Bag, which we purchased in Barbarino Val D’Elsa last Thursday, is really beautiful. Hand-made (fatto a mano) and it fits his apple lap-top perfectly. So he’ll be swanning around London posing in his hand-made shoes, bespoke suit and his new bag casually slung over his shoulder! Don’t you just love him? I do.
Firstly, just to remind you that my Short Thriller story can still be downloaded absolutely free of charge from any Amazon site around the world, or directly from my site at 
In the countryside, the Vendemmia (grape harvest) is underway; the white grapes are already in and the red harvest is just starting. And, droves of tourists are arriving to enjoy watching and being part of the harvest. Many are taking organised vineyard treks that take wine lovers through miles of picturesque vineyards, stopping off for the odd tasting here and there. A very productive and satisfying time of year.
Oh yes, I really must tell you about the discovery of a Leather Atelier in Barbarino Val D’Elsa near Tavernelle. I was out and about with my visiting sister-in-law yesterday and went to the town, because I had seen an Artisan market advertised. The town is a tiny hilltop place, beautiful and old, but little to offer in the way of restaurants or caffè bars. But then we discovered the shop Colleregio (Firenze) owned by Francesco Bojola! Well, you know what I am like with handbags, so you can imagine how I felt when we walked through the door. Everything was handmade and beautiful, no rubbish there, oh no, and the prices reflect this of course. To me a handbag bought from a place like this is an investment. It also occurred to me that this was the ideal place to bring my man who has his Italian shoes and suits hand-made, and he really needed a smart shoulder bag to carry his Apple Mac and stuff whilst in London. So we took the man in this morning and he was impressed. The lovely owner, Francesco, will have just what is needed brought over from his other shop on Thursday, so watch this space! Foto from their brochure. Website 
And so to the beautiful month of September in Tuscany. As if by magic, with the arrival of the new month, the weather changed from hot and humid to sunny and fresh with the odd shower, overnight. Although not really autumn yet, I do love this season for the weather, the return to normality and the fashions. It is also the time for new wine and the run up to the Olive Harvest, which will be in full swing come October. Wonderful. Foto – our September garden – J Finnigan.
I know you will forgive me for starting this blog with an emotional outburst about the state of our roads and bridges. Last week was the great holiday exit to the coast and mountains, so the roads were full of happy Italians heading off for their little bit of paradise, meeting up with family and friends, some never made it……. The loss of so many lovely people with the collapse of the Morandi Bridge is unforgivable. There will be thousands of people counting their blessings, including ourselves, who have driven over the same bridge in the past. We have lived here in Tuscany for fourteen years. The first thing that hit us was the terrible state of the roads. Roadworks and bridge repairs are started and left unfinished, the weeds taking over and years passing before the work is completed; some never finished. We see it every day! Thank you for listening.
Meanwhile, families gather round and support each other, many still on holiday and so help them, they will still enjoy the rest of the time they have on the beach. August is not our most favourite month of the year, but nevertheless, when we sit under our big ash tree and gaze across these Chianti Hills towards San Gimingiano and beyond, where our lovely family lives, we are reminded just how lucky we are.
Other things to celebrate include Our local restaurant, C’era una Volta, which continues to serve up the best Tiramusu in Tuscany,
And, Jam Caffe in Certaldo, which continues to make the best early morning pastries and our lovely local Villagers in Fiano who continue to smile and greet us like we are old friends. Life eeez good, Life eeez now. Fotos J Finnigan
I love this outfit in the foto, which I spotted in La Republica. Luisa Spagnoli 
Only in Italy will the front page of a national newspaper show the Prime Minister and other political big wigs splashing around in or by the sea! You see, tomorrow is Ferragosta and If you are Italian you know exactly what that means. You down tools, pack your extended family into a car, get into a crazy queue of traffic stretching for hundreds of miles, eat your way through hampers of food and wine on the journey and if you are lucky arrive at the coast or mountains by night fall! If you are a foreign resident like us, you stock up with food and wine, batten down the hatches against the heat and stay at home. Meanwhile, the unfortunate tourists arriving in Pisa this week, will find themselves in an endless queue trying to pick up a hire car, then another one trying to get on the FiPiLi dual carriageway, the caffes and pit stops are closed, because it’s the annual holiday and the petrol stations are only geared up for self-service cash only pumps! When they finally arrive at their destination after endless stops in the overheated traffic queues, they find that local shops and restaurants are also closed! So they all fall into the swimming pools, cool off and compete over who gets bitten the most by the zanzari (mosquitos) as no-one thought to pack any insect repellent. By day three, the tourists will have discovered how best to deal with things. The towns and villages are like ghost towns, so they eventually find which supermarkets are open, that hot pizzas are only sold in the evenings, the few available restaurants, only open in the evening as it is too hot to eat outside for lunch, and that cities like Florence are cauldrons this time of year and are best avoided. Despite all these things they will leave after their week or two here, totally in love with Tuscany and wax lyrical to all their envious friends! Foto La Nazione.
However, Ferragosta is also a week of fantastic music and theatre, if you know where to go, like Follonica over on the Tuscan coast. For the Follonica Summer Festival go to their 
Meanwhile, down in Roma the traditional pilgrimage to visit Pope Francis is at full throttle, this year seventy thousand fans filled the Vatican City on greet the masses days. The heat has been horrendous, so I hope there was a good supply of chilled water and holy wine. This man has a huge following, whether you are religious or not. It is no doubt his likeable personality and charisma combined.
And finally, to say brava to Manuela who has been drafted in from her house next door to La Dispensa in Fiano, to man the bar for two weeks whilst Rosella goes off for a hard-earned holiday on the south coast with her amore. As you can see in the foto and after several days of practice, she can now make perfect coffee even with her eyes closed! Bless her.
It is Sunday morning in Beautiful Tuscany and we have returned from Fiano having enjoyed morning coffee and a chat with three visiting hunks from Milano. Paolo’s (his English was excellent) father lives locally and his mother in Montespertoli. I thought there had to be a good reason to visit our part of the world during an August heat wave, as every other Italian that can, has gone off to the coast or the mountains. These nice looking young men apparently live near Lake Como, which is one place I would really like to visit. anyway, I picked up another pack of bottled water and headed home with my man who is now stretched out on the sofa with a fan whizzing around full blast, and ready to take off, in the sitting room. Yesterday, we realised that our air-conditioning unit was getting very hot, only to discover that the filter tray was completely blocked. You may all like to check your own units! We have had the out pipe stuffed up our chimney, but now we have realised that the hot air is heating up the metal flue and radiating the heat back into the room! Saints preserve us! Foto – The Relentless sun at Osteria La Case Chianti, from website.
Reading the papers I see that the Chinese and Japanese tourists continue to flood into Florence, that beautiful city that anyone with any common sense, avoids during the heat of summer. The only difference is that it’s not the guide holding up the brolly for the faithful to follow, it is the tourists themselves that have converted their brollies into sunshades! Foto La Repubblica.
So, what are you up, to apart from staggering around with your tongue hanging out and using up whole packets of wet wipes to cool yourselves down? Perhaps Iceland would be a good idea. My man and I did discuss moving out of Tuscany to cooler climes for a month in August last year, but here we are again, still here. Life’s events can tend to get in the way and prevent any well laid plans from happening! Actually, I can recommend a hotel there, Iceland that is, its called Hotel Ranga, my daughter stays there regularly. Foto from website. Go to 
Despite the heat of July, the Italians still manage to remain busy with Festas. In nearby Vinci, north of Florence, today is the last day of La Festa dell’Unicorno. Now I only know that it is in Vinci because I asked Rossella in La Dispensa in Fiano the other day. The Italians, and I can only speak about the Tuscans with any real hands on knowledge, have a way of advertising Festas in both the newspaper and on posters, leaving out either the place, day or time, and sometimes all three. Now the reasoning behind this is that everyone should know these things. If I ask “Where is it being held?” the facial reaction is one of amazement, the shoulders and hands are raised and the answer is “Why Vinci of course!” Well OK, I have lived here long enough to know these things, but I’m afraid I have not managed to grab the art of remembering when, where and what is going on at any one time. Then I look closely at the advertisement in the paper and realise that it is nearly over and the performances are so complex and muddled I have to go and lie down. But, nevertheless, today is the last day and if you are in the Vinci area, you should go and experience this Festa of music, dance, food, wine and just about everything you might find under the Tuscan sun! It starts at 9.30 pm so you still have time to get ready!
Now a bit closer to home I see in the paper that it’s time for the selection of the regional candidate for Miss Italia, nestled up to a picture of the band King Crimson. Italy still considers the Miss Italia contest to be very important, where the mostly olive-skinned contestants parade in bathing costumes reminding us how beautiful the Italian woman really is.
Not to be overlooked, is the fact that we have a world champion on our hands. Yes, the thirty-five year old golfer, Francesco Molinari, has just won the 2018 Open Championship, the first Italian ever to do so! Well bully for him I say. Oh, I think that’s a hocky term, but hey ho! It seems that Francesco has homes in both Turin and London. How fantastic to earn a living playing a sport you love and to have homes in two of the greatest cities in Europe. Visit 
Well, as the dust settled after the five-day Mercantia Festival in Certaldo, our local village of Fiano was gearing up for its own three-day event Festa in Fiano. This is a lively annual event and today, Sunday, is the final day. So if you are nearby, head over to Fiano for the final evening’s blast. Great music, food and wine; what more can I say!
Yesterday, two of Fiano’s handsome locals were crying out for a foto, so they very happily posed for this blog. Fotos J Finnigan
Sidney Sonnino was twice Prime Minister of Italy and later Finance Minister during the First World War. The current Sonnino family have proudly dedicated their time to preserving all the archives for that time and more. They have also built an enviable income producing estate to help preserve the castle, its history and the land. Read lots more on their beautiful website. You can even stay there, so check it out! 
Meanwhile, down in Florence, the new T1 Leonardo Tram-line is up and running. Foto from official website. In issue 247 of the Florentine Weekly is a great article all about it. The Tram stops at lots of interesting places, twenty-six in all, over 11.5 Kilometres and you can jump on every four minutes! Brilliant I say! Can’t wait to get on board! Go to 
And what about eating? I hear you say. Well if you want a real Tuscan experience, you only need to drop down below Fiano, our local village, to find Osteria di Casa Chianti where you will not only find local food, wines and oils, but a bit of theatre too. In the evening the sunset from the big outside terrazzo is fabulous. Foto from website. Now this place gets very busy, is only open in the evenings and for sunday lunch, so booking is essential. My man and I had an excellent supper with our American friends last Friday, to whom we wish a safe journey home and hope to see you next year! Visit 
My man and I live in the Chianti Hills above Certaldo and our beautiful daughter and grandchildren are only thirty-five minutes away. We always jump to attention when we are invited to lunch, what with my own and our daughter’s hectic lifestyles these are very important get togethers. We also get to see Monty our grand dog, a beautiful Maremma we think, but anyway he’s adorable.
Long family lunches are traditional here in italy and we are more than happy to embrace the idea. My man was presented with his all time favourite desert, strawberry Pavlova, a belated father’s day treat!
In Pistoia the three-day blues festival started 13th July and included Graham Nash, James Blunt, Steve Hackett, ZZ Top and Crosby Stills & Nash. Go to 
In Lucca the Summer Festival continues up to 26th July and includes Ringo Starr, Alice Cooper, Jonny Depp, Roger Waters, Lenny Kravitz (look him up he’s brilliant) James Taylor, King Crimson, Nick Cave and loads more. 
Ok, and continuing for the moment on the same subject, I am pleased to tell you that I am learning to play the acoustic guitar. About time, I hear you say, and yes I know but I have been so busy writing books and stuff over the last few years, but I am so in love with my new Fender I can’t keep away from it!
Well, that’s enough of my music indulgences, what is happening in our local town of Certaldo you ask? Oh, it’s the amazing Mercantia of course, which every year attracts musicians, dancers, acrobats, theatricals and produce from Tuscany, you have to see it to believe it. The Historical Centre, Certaldo Alto, is the place to be as it provides the most stunning backdrop for all these fabulous goings on. The festivities finish today, but there’s always next year! Diary date for 2019! Go to 
Well, the dust has finally settled and we have at last returned to our quiet & idyllic lifestyle in our little bit of Chianti. Some of our concert going friends are still here, staying in and around Certaldo, and I was delighted to take two of them to visit Anne Shingleton’s studios at Vico D’Elsa near Poggibonsi. Now I have known Anne for many years but this is the first time I have managed to visit her, see her wonderful paintings & sculptures and to hear her story. Foto J Finnigan.
Anne, on the left above, as an artist is way up there with the world’s greatest painters of wildlife, being a zoologist herself, this is the medium of first choice for her. But Anne can paint anything from portraits to landscapes creating better than photographic images. Then there are the sculptures and her most recent undertaking was a huge Swan, which is currently exhibited in the beautiful Gheradesca gardens of the Four Seasons Hotel in Florence. Ask at reception and you will be shown through to the gardens, Anne’s swan is next to the pond. 
Well, how does one follow that? As I was musing over this, my man called out “June, you’ve got to come and see this!” So I detached myself from my chair and rushed into his study, where he was watching something on TV. “You won’t believe this and it could only happen in Italy, but they are showing a recent ‘tug o’ war’ match on a bridge over the River Arno in Pisa! But they have two teams back to back, trying to push, yes push, each other with their feet in strangely wedged trainers!” It was a contest called Gioco del Ponte and it had as much action as watching paint dry! They had been in a gridlock for ten minutes already and it was another fifteen before the sweating big guys in red, finally overcame the red faced yellow ones. This, and they were all dressed in tudor costume! Crazy Italians! Ha ha! Foto P Finnigan.
Of course, not to forget, I did promise you a Hunk of the Month for July, and guess what, it had to be the latest Armani Man! I have been saving this picture up, but now I think I should share it, I’ve been gazing at him long enough! Phew, now I’ve completely lost my train of thought! Foto Giorgio Armani.
Ah, zucchini or courgettes to you. No, no, no connection you naughty thing. But here is a bag of freshly picked Zucchini, which was placed on our lunch table today at C’era uni Volta by the adorable Paolo, before we had even ordered our meal! These were straight out of his orto, veg patch, which is overproducing the things in this lovely weather, forcing me to once again find our kitchen and cook something! Would love to have some new recipes for Zucchini! Leave your messages below or write to june.finnigan@virgin.net. Grazie mille. Foto J Finnigan.
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