Yo, Hadrian!

Today was a road trip to Tivoli, Italy, home to Villa Adriana (known to us as Hadrian's Villa) and Villa d'Este, one of the country's most notable gardens. I just looked at my iPhone Heart app and see that I took over 16,000 steps that day. I recently discovered that this heart thing on my phone monitors my steps as long as I have the phone with me. I don't have to set it up to do so. Now it's a daily obsession. Every day, I walk more than anyone else in my family even if we're together the whole day. That's because my legs are shorter and I have to take more steps :) Kind of amusing in a sad way!

So, lots of walking around the ruins that are Hadrian's Villa today. The place was built in the second and third decades of the 2nd century AD as a retreat from Rome for then Emperor Hadrian.
































Turtles and huge fish live in these two pools on the grounds.














Next stop, Villa d'Este. Having spent my junior year of college in Copenhagen, I think of Tivoli Gardens as this charming amusement park in the center of Copenhagen:



Alas, this Tivoli was not the first Tivoli; it was named after Jardin de Tivoli in Paris, which was named after the original gardens of Tivoli in Italy.  So, next stop, Villa d'Este, Tivoli, Italy—a 16th century villa near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains. This is the most amazing thing: 51 fountains, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by a half mile of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps. This last part—NO PUMPS. Some of these fountains sprayed as high as a three story building. Crazy!

Speaking of fountains -- it is now 2021 and I'm revisiting this post. For years, I was obsessed with trying to figure out a way to have a fountain (the sound of running water is so soothing!) in my own patio outside of Boston. Sadly, I could never figure out a way to do so tastefully and/or affordably. Recently this site was brought to my attention --- some great ideas for DIY fountains!  https://happydiyhome.com/garden-fountains/

















Dinner this night was back in the 'hood at one of our old favorites—Il Monastero, home of the two-plate pizza. It's not all that filling because the crust is sooooo thin. Mine's half zucchini and half arugula, tomato and mozzarella.



A very cool penthouse apartment seen on our walk home from dinner. Maybe that'll be our apartment next year! ;)

The Honeymoon is Over

It’s mid-July at this point in my blog, and our second honeymoon period is over as the boys joined us on July 23. They’re both in college now and need to work, so this is their last hurrah. One week in Viterbo with us, and a week in Manchester, England, where Fred is doing an Urban Sketchers workshop. 

See UrbanSketchers.org to learn what this is all about.

I left Viterbo early to make sure I got to the airport without any anxiety. You never know what might happen. Credit cards get stuck in toll booths, roads can be blocked, tractors might slow you way down, etc. But I didn't get tripped up on the way to Fiumicino until I was in the airport parking lot. I mistakenly got into a line to park in a lot for people with monthly passes. The gate closed in front of me AND behind me…. locking me in. Me, with no monthly pass or ticket or anything. I’ve been through this before and it always works out. Even with people lined up behind me. They’re used to backing up because often the machine is just broken. I pressed the help button, told her I had no ticket, and she said the gate behind me would open and I should back out… So, back out I did, all the way to the street and out again to find normal parking. 

From here it was very smooth sailing again. I waited for them to come out of the gate, snapped their photo when they did, pissed off Owen when I did that. Nice start. And off we went, back to Viterbo. Take ten.

After they unpacked, lazed around, napped and showered, we went to dinner at a new-for-us family-owned place around the corner.  As we left our apartment, the old lady across the street was looking out her balcony at us (per usual), so we told her our boys are here now. She was pleased for us.

Dinner was a very sweet experience. The son was our waiter, the father our host, and the mother the cook, we think. We never saw her, but the father came around smiling and chatting with people, and brought us biscotti and homemade dessert wine after our meal. The dessert wine was a ciliegia (cherry) liqueur which the host explained to us by bringing a bowl of soaking cherries to our table. They were delicious, too!

I ordered Chicken Viterbo-style, having no idea what that meant. Apparently, it's chicken and olives. They must've been surprised when I left most of the olives, but I'd just eaten a bowlful before dinner!  

The next morning we got up and out to join our Italian family friends the Basiles, next to whom we lived the very first year we came to Viterbo. We’ve gotten together every year since, at different houses among the extended family in and around Viterbo. One granddaughter Alessia spent Easter week with us as she was going to high school in Kentucky for the year! They are a lovely, boisterous, teasing, big family. It’s always a hoot to get together. 

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After this huge coffee gathering, they invited us for pizza on Friday, our last night. Stay tuned for those pics.

V is for Villas, Vignanello & Vallerano

Our next day trip was an atypical Wednesday off. Every year Fred switches with a landscape painting teacher so they can each have a full day of teaching and a day off, instead of two half days. This was our free day.

On our way to the car, I got my best shot SO FAR of a man inside a Cinque Cento. My goal is to get a shot of an older couple, in their Sunday best, together in one. I’ve seen this many times. It is a sight to behold. I did a Google image search to see if anyone else has had any success. Seemingly not.

And this shot from inside the car. 

We headed off to a charming town nearby—Vignanello—that has an amazing castle and garden. We've been to three of the top such gardens in the country: Villa Lante (in our neighboring Bagnaia), Villa Farnese in Caprirola and Villa d’Este in Tivoli near Hadrian’s Villa. The garden today at Vignanello was closed, which we had expected, but next year we have a plan with the person in charge there for Fred to draw inside.  

We got there and did the usual. Roamed together a bit, then separately. I settled in at the bar there that I like. It's got a huge terrace overlooking the countryside with a crazy breeze. I’m surrounded, yet again, but older men in blue shirts. They hang there without ordering anything. 

The place we had hope to eat at was closed… 

More shots from around town.

This is a cool gutter-type thing. It’s a metal chain of links that goes from the edge of an overhang into a container. A pretty way to do a useful task. Very Victorian!

A healthy cat.

As I walked, I passed these women four times…finally we laughed together because clearly I was walking in circles.

Sadly, not all the cats are loved.

Since the place we had planned to eat was closed, and another was just too empty, we drove to the next town, the very small town of Vallerano. Fred found something on Trip Advisor (Osteria degli Orti) which we located almost immediately. It was awesome. The couple who own it left their jobs and home in Rome for a more peaceful life. The woman asked if we had been sent by Natalie. No, but we learned that Natalie owns a nearby B&B and sends her guests (many of them American, apparently) to this place. The atmosphere was lovely and warm. Great music. Find it on what I think was Spotify:

osteriadegliorti    

What we were listening to when I snapped a pic of the guy’s laptop was Renato Carsone, and the song was called Tu Vuo Fa L’Americano. Hopefully he didn’t play this because he had Americans in the house!  See the lyrics at the end of this post. And/or listen to it here:  http://lyricstranslate.com/en/Renato-Carosone-Tu-Vuo-Fa-LAmericano-lyrics.html

Only one other table was occupied, and in another room, to boot, but somehow it didn’t give us that bad feeling you can get when you’re in a restaurant alone. I had my first timpano—the layered dish featured in the movie The Big Night. It was not all the same layers, though. Mine was cauliflower and… can’t remember… but great. Fred had a pasta dish with either wild boar or pig cheek which was also great. So we’ll be back.

You'd like to be an American

You wear trousers showing a famous brand

you wear an hat with the peak raised

you trotting along Tuleto's streets

showing off yourself, to make people look at you

You'd like to be an American,

'merican, 'merican

listen to me, is it worth?

you want to be trendy

but if you drink "whiskey and soda"

and then you have a long hangover

You dance rock 'n' roll

you play baseball

but who gives you the money to buy Camels?

your mother's bag!

You'd like to be an American

'merican, 'merican

but you were born in Italy!

listen to me, there's nothing you can do

ok, neapolitan? (person from Naples)

You'd like to be an American

You'd like to be an American

Who can people that love you

understand you if you speak half-american?

when you are making love under the moon

how come you say "I love you"?

You'd like to be an American

'merican, 'merican,

but listen to me, is it worth?

you want to be trendy

but if you drink "whiskey and soda"

and then you have a long hangover

You dance rock 'n' roll

you play baseball

but who gives you the money to buy Camels?

your mother's bag!

You'd like to be an American

'merican, 'merican

but you were born in Italy!

ok, neapolitan? (person from Naples)

You'd like to be an American

You'd like to be an American

You'd like to be an American

'merican, 'merican

but listen to me, is it worth?

you want to be trendy

but if you drink "whiskey and soda"

and then you have a long hangover

You dance rock 'n' roll

you play baseball

but who gives you the money to buy Camels?

your mother's bag!

Fred!

Today was Vitorchiano, a neighboring town with one of the prettiest medieval sections we’ve come across. 

Cool car. Same color as our rental but hella cooler!

On the way to Vitorchiano, we stopped at a huge peony farm. I think the biggest in the country—maybe even the world. Of course, the blooms are gone, but it was pretty amazing to see the fields of peony bushes. What I would do to have just a small percentage of those plants. Clearly, I had peonies envy. 

What we saw (from high on a wall that Fred hoisted me up on).

What we would have seen in May!

It’s called the Moutan Botanical Center—over 200,000 plants covering 37 acres. http://www.centrobotanicomoutan.it/presentazione.asp?lang=en

Once we got to Vitorchiano, we parked in the center and walked along a road outside of the walls so we could look back at the old part of the city. Fred wanted to find a good vantage point to sketch it. It’s tough because of all the locked properties. We did “break in” to one person’s yard because the gate was closed, but not locked. We discovered he keeps rabbits in cages in a garage. They were hot, in the dark, and had two-foot mounds of poop under their cages. My heart broke.

We moved on because Fred would not be so bold as to pull out his stool and set up camp while trespassing. Our next stop down the road was perfect. Someone’s driveway without a car in it gave us access to a breath-taking view of the city. Leaving Fred there to sketch, I walked back to the old town and walked it for about an hour before settling down in a caffé I knew of. 

This is the view of the old city where Fred stopped to sketch.

And this is the view I had from the old city looking over at where Fred sketched.

Here's a close-up of Fred sketching. I yelled "Fred!" and he looked right up!

A study in gray.

At six, we met at a different place—a bar inside the walls that has seating just outside the walls. Often we see waitstaff walking down the street with a tray of drinks and chips as they make their way to the seating area associated with their restaurant or bar. It’s bizarre—sometimes a block or two down a busy street! As usual, we sat with about 15 older men wearing blue. (All the older men here seem to wear blue—as do lots of their female peers, too, come to think of it.)  

And a study in orange.

My Spritz :)

Dinner at home was at a very local place we’ve been walking by for years—ten to be exact—and never felt any temptation to enter. Until a local woman mentioned that it’s great. And she was right—great pizza, great atmosphere, and you can’t beat the location—a five or ten minute walk.

Pizza with arugula, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella.