Book 3

Book 3

  

                            The Wine Years

(2001-2010)

Ode to Wine

Drink on...
tho' night be spent and sun do shine.
Did not the gods give anxious mortals wine?

To wash all care and sorrow from the heart.
Why then so soon should jovial fellows part?

Come let this bumper for the next day make way.
Who's sure to live and drink another day?

Alcaeus 620 B.C

Chapter 22 

Olmastrino - Nov. 2001

'You can have the Universe, if I can have Italy' 

Giuseppe Verdi

Before arriving in Florence we had a two week holiday in the Lot area of France. One of Joe's customers had a property and offered it to him for a couple of weeks in exchange for a painting and we were invited to stay with them as a kind of half-way stop off. So with our car loaded up with most of our earthly possessions and bed on the roof, we drove together with Joe, Ruth, Bernice, Rory and their friends, Ed and Caroline to France. 

We had a great holiday there, the house, which was huge, also had an adjacent barn, which Annette and I stayed in and an outdoor swimming pool and tennis court. The October weather was fabulous and so we made good use of the pool and all took turns to cook, with some wonderful food bought from the local shops and markets. We went on outings during the day to places like Roccamadour, Saint Cirq le Poppie, Cahors and a local lake. In the evenings we played cards or read by the open fire, listening to the owners opera and Ella Fitzgerald cds. It was a very welcomed holiday in between our mad rush to get ready to move country and the crazy work that would undoubtedly lay before us as Annette and I made a new life in Italy...

And so on November 2nd we drove through the alps and into Italy. The directions we received from Janet were from the A-1 motorway, but we were coming on the A-11 motorway from the coast and so we drove round and round the outskirts of Florence... (oh the days before navigators and google maps!) in fact we kept passing this roundabout with a sculpture of what appeared to be a woman with another woman lying on her head! This, as we would discover later was the roundabout at Porta Romana. Today, every time we pass this roundabout we are reminded of our first day in Florence, driving round and round, lost.

Eventually we found our way to Janet and Aldo's house and were given a warm welcome. After unpacking our things and recovering from our epic journey we got straight down to the business of finding work and somewhere to live. We rang round several schools and secured some interviews. However the house hunting was proving rather fruitless, as we poured over estate agent magazines and Aldo helped us ring several places, we were finding only negative responses, not even getting to the stage of viewing anything. The job searching was going better. We had sent some cvs from England and our first choice was a school called the British Institute of Florence, which seemed to be the most prestigious. Our interviews went well, especially considering the new term had started a month ago! We had come at the wrong time really, in hindsight the end of September would have been better. Annette was offered some work straight away and I was put on hold. My interview, with the then Director of Studies, Sarah Ellis and assistant, David Barnes was quite tough. Sarah was the 'good cop' and David the 'bad cop'. He asked me some tricky questions like how I would teach present perfect to Italians. I had only just completed my certificate and had a summer's teaching behind me. I think they wanted me to get some more experience. Sarah very kindly put me in touch with Fabio, the owner of the 'British Institutes' a chain of schools and he had offices in Poggibonsi and Colle Val D'Elsa, two towns to the south of Florence. My boss there was the very scary, tall Irish man called Con, the sort of guy you wouldn't want to meet down a dark alleyway at night, he was a gentle giant though. I started working for him and taught three or four courses a week. We also went for interviews at the British School, with the then director Tom ... he loved Annette and actually offered her some courses. He wasn't so keen on me, maybe the wine glass I was carrying (I had been at my first wine festival in Piazza Repubblica before) didn't help! We went to Canadian Island school and had an interview with ex British Institute Director and permanent Fiddlers Elbow Irish pub fixture Ed Burns. He liked Annette too, but not me! With Annette now set up and obviously not helping my chances, the last school I went for an interview on my own was 'Wall Street'. They practically begged me to take the job! The director Jocey-Anne gave me several courses with off-site businesses. My first job was at the Gucci store at the Mall in Leccio, Incisa. 

On the house front, after our fruitless search through the papers, our host Aldo went off to buy some new olive oil from his favourite farm in Chianti and suddenly remembered that the owner, Lucia had a flat for rent. He took us along to see the property. It was just outside Greve, one of the historic towns of Chianti and the closest to Florence. We took the 'Chiantigiana' road out of Florence which is spectacular, and the farm, Olmastrino was very pretty, there was a long umbrella pine-lined driveway to the main house. There were three adjacent flats and we met Lucia. She showed us around the vacant flat. It had a large beamed ceiling living room with an open fire. There was a small kitchen and bathroom and good sized bedroom. The views from the lounge and bedroom were stunning. Rolling hills with olive trees and vineyards and two castles, which we discovered later were the historic wine estates of Vicchiomaggio and Verazzano (as in Giovanni di Verazzano, founder of the bay of New York). The only negative was this huge cement factory, which really blighted the view. Aldo then got his new oil, which Lucia kept in these huge terracotta amphorae. She also had bottles of her own wine lined up along the walls. The decision to move in was a no brainer and the rent was affordable too... it was exactly what we were after and so after less than two weeks in our new country we had found work and a place to live.

When we arrived in Italy the Lira was still the currency. This was to change very quickly over the new year as the new 'Euro' currency came in. We had to do some paperwork. The first thing was to register for our 'codice fiscale' a bit like getting a national insurance number. The next step was getting our 'permesso di soggiorno' or permission to stay. This proved a little more tricky and required several more visits to the 'commune' and several hours of famous Italian bureaucracy, but we got there in the end. Eventually I opened a bank account too with Monte dei Paschi di Siena. 

On the political front, the charismatic, but corrupt Silvio Berlusconi had won the May general elections and began his second stint as president with his Forza Italia party.

We joined the English speaking congregation in Florence, in Borgo Degli Albizi, (it has since moved to Scandicci I think...) which was a bit of a bind, as it meant a two-hour round trip three times a week for meetings plus extra trips for the 'field service' preaching, which we usually did on a Saturday. We hadn't planned to 'pioneer' again, although Annette did 'auxiliary' (part-time) pioneer for a month. Also it meant that one condition for our new jobs was that we couldn't work Tuesday or Thursday evenings, which for the EFL English teachers wasn't easy to work round. The congregation was small, about 50/60 people and we quickly made friends with many of them. It was mostly made up of Italians, Maurizio Manco, Claudio, Max Burberri, Samuele and Sara, Andrea, Arianna , Maria Grazia and Ivan Romero. There was only one other British family, Phil Davis and his wife and two kids, the boy was called David. Phil was a little boring. A few Americans, John Luncheon, Belgian Lydia, some Nigerians and Phillipinas. A young Danish guy called Petr Pederson moved in too. I helped with some decorating at the hall with him, we were the only two from the English congregation as we shared the hall with an Italian congregation, they were very unfriendly and seemed to resent us being there. When Petr and I helped with the decorating they gave us menial tasks and didn't speak to us. I was recommended as a 'ministerial servant, which meant I had extra responsibilities in the congregation and in our first year there was assigned no less than nine public talks! More than I'd given in the previous ten years in England... We settled in well and enjoyed our time with them.

The move went well and we were glad to get away from the suffocating claws of Aldo's English wife, Janet, who started to become a bit annoying. We soon familiarised ouselves with our stunning surrounding and started to embrace the cullinary and artistic riches on offer, both in the Chianti countryside, visiting Castellina, Radda, Arezzo and Montalcino, where I had my first taste of the very expensive 'Brunello' wine and in Florence, visiting the inside of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Croce churches and Michelangelo's house 'casa Buonarotti'. We even managed a trip down to Rome with the congregation to visit the bethel headquarters and I got to see Michelangelo's famous 'Pieta' sculpture in the Vatican. I'm not sure whether I had the idea first or I saw the book first, but I decided it would be good to keep a journal of our time here in Tuscany, I didn't include much about work, only our days out and so my musings began...

On New Year's day some of our new witness friends invited us to Tuscany's very own ski resort at Abetone and we had our first experience of skiing. Luckily we didn't break any bones and lived to tell the tale...

Over Christmas we got our first taste of the long academic holidays we were now going to have as Teachers, as Italians don't traditionally go back to work until after the epiphany which is on the 6th of January. So nearly three weeks! Although in our first year here these long holidays were unpaid... As well as our trip to the most northerly part of Tuscany, we also drove south of Siena to the beautiful Val d'Orcia region famous on all those Tuscan postcards. We visited the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni, (although we couldn't afford to go in the pool) and a small town that would become a personal favourite, Pienza.

2002 

We were so busy that adapting to our new country wasn't really a problem. We could buy English books in various book shops in Florence and I bought several 'Italian' themed non-fiction books to delve into, such as; Seasons in Tuscany, Hills of Tuscany - Ferenc maté, Ciao Tuscany - Allan Parker, Italian Education -Tim Parks, New Italians - Charles Richards, Italy and its discontents - Paul Ginsberg, Tuscan childhood - Kinter Beevor. Italian TV was pretty rubbish and eventually we bought DVDs to watch some of our favourite programmes like Friends, The Simpsons, The Sopranos, Sex and the City and My Wife and Kids. I found a radio station I liked called R.D.S. which played a mixture of new and old English and American songs as well as contemporary Italian artists. A couple I really liked in those first few years were Pino Daniele and Le Vibrazione. Some of the cool films we saw that year included: The Pianist, My big fat Greek wedding, The Hours, About a boy and Gangs of New York.

The Euro banknotes and coins were introduced on January 1st. Many Italians found the Monopoly style currency very confusing. Sadly my nan died at the beginning of the year and I flew back to England for the funeral and wake, which was at my uncle John and auntie Janet's house in Alfriston road. It was a very sad occasion especially as I had become very close to her in the ten years before I left for Italy. She had become baptised as a witness, something that upset my father's family. I had never really hit it off with their three children, my cousins, Gary, Sharon and Donna, who were by now all married. Gary to Tracey and Sharon to David. Sharon and David, who was a policeman had two sons, Jamie and Daniel and Gary and Tracey had a daughter called Izzy. It was a sad visit, even sadder for my dad and his brother as they had now lost both their parents. Still I could reflect on some very happy memories with a very special lady. 

On my return to Tuscany I was put to work straight away by the local elders and given 'public talks', which were 45 minutes 'sermons' to give in various locations not only in Tuscany, but other regions of Italy! My first assignment 'away from home' was in Ancona! About 300 miles away over the snow-capped Appenine mountains. We drove through Anghiari and Caprese, birthplace of Michelangelo and onto Ancona. We stayed overnight and it was a good, if tiring experience.

Another cultural visit this time to the Pitti Palace followed, then our first trip up Fiesole and to Volterra, a Sunday drive to Livorno where I gave another 'public talk' and then our first visitor, my mum arrived. This was to be a foretaste of our future 'visitor tours' as we took her to Pisa, San Gimignano, the Uffizi, The Accademia to see David, restaurants etc. She had a great time and we got to have a 'mini holiday', even though we were working!

Over the Easter holiday we received our second visitors, Annette's mum and dad. They came for ten days, the weather was lovely and we took them to see Greve, Montefioralle, the tiny hamlet above Greve, San Gimignano, Panzano, Castellina, Pisa and San Miniato. We enjoyed some lazy lunches outside in our private woods at Olmastrino. I took them round the Uffizi and while Annette took them to see David, I checked out the Benozzo Gozzoli frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardo. They enjoyed strolling around Florence and indulging in huge ice creams. We finished up with trips to Radda and Castello di Verrazano. In the space of a month we had 'done' Florence and Tuscany twice!

A third lot of visitors came a few weeks later and I think our landlady was wondering what she had let herself in for! I managed to see the Brancacci chapel in Florence and admired the wonderful Masaccio frescoes and then they arrived. Our nephew Rory and friends Claire and Chris Vincent and Ed Ackroyd. Somehow they all managed to squeeze into our tiny flat... The San Marino grand Prix was on and Chris had bought me a ticket. They more or less did their own thing as we were working, but the Grand Prix was a great experience, especially as we witnessed a Ferrari 1, 2 with Michael Schumacher winning. In between we made the most of the culture week with a visit to the Medici chapels in San Lorenzo to admire some more Michelangelo sculptures and we also went to the San Marco and the Archaelogical museums.

Spring was by now in full flow and we had a nice trip to the Garfagnana in the north of Tuscany and  Borgo a Mozzano, before the Easter break. We decided that a little trip up to Lake Garda and Venice was in order and so without booking we drove up to Garda and found ourselves in the pretty town of Malcesine where we enjoyed a night, before driving on to Mestre, where we left the car and got the train to Venice. We managed to find a small hotel, which was rather dingy, but it was our first time to Venice together and we were on a tight budget. Still we had a pleasant time in this very romantic city, strolling and getting lost amongst the tiny canals.

For the May first bank holiday we were invited up to spend the day at Cinque Terre in Liguria. We were forming a nice little group of friends, Lydia and Stefano, Andrea, Samuele and Sara, who all enjoyed, at blistering pace, three of the four walks in this beautiful area. 

In May we had our first taste of the Iris garden up Piazzale Michelangelo and the historic, Mille Miglia car race which went past our house at Olmastrino! We visited Rufina, when a car restriction smog Sunday prevented us from going to a meeting and even tried to find the 'Parco dell'Ucellina' in the Maremma! A fruitless drive, too early in the year, but we did stop in Siena on the way back. 

Chapter 23 

Breaking Away

We were enjoying all of these new experiences so much that the meetings, especially on the Sunday were beginning to be a bit of a bind. During a Circuit Overseers visit Maurizio hauled us into a room and said that we were missing too many meetings. We were a bit taken aback as we had only really missed one meeting through personal choice. We had missed one because the anti-smog Sunday meant we couldn't enter the centre of the city and on two other occasions I had been assigned public talks in other towns! We thought it was a bit of an unfair comment and a bit below the belt to involve the Circuit Overseer. The Witnesses were a bit overly-strict to say the least.

It was around this time we really began to question what we were doing with the witnesses, not only the over-repressiveness, but our actual beliefs. I remember writing a list of issues I was beginning to have and fortunately Annette was thinking the same too. For many years we had both toiled away for something we weren't sure we believed in any more. Finally one evening while we were having a drink at Baldovino's near Santa Croce, we decided that we had had enough. We needed to break away from this all consuming religion. We agreed that when we returned to Florence after the summer we would stop going to the meetings. What we really wanted to do was to tell the elders we wanted to leave, but that was impossible as it meant we would have to officially 'dissasociate' ourselves, making it very difficult to keep seeing our families who were witnesses, it was that powerful!

We delved further into the Chianti and discovered Castello di Meleto, Gaiole and the Parco Pratolino to the north of Florence and Lake Trasimeno. We also had our first taste of Italian style summers at the beach, when we were invited again by our new group of friends, to the beach at San Vincenzo. It was the beginning of June and the weather was beginning to really warm up. The beach was full of Italians sunbathing and swimming in the sea! Actually swimming in the sea! Something I had not been used to in England and hadn't really thought about when moving here, it was a very pleasant surprise, as was the town in the evening. San Vincenzo was packed with people all having a good time, it was like being on holiday! 

At the beginning of June, work started drying up as Italy was getting ready for its long Summer holiday. All of our courses were winding down and the only option was to return to England for two months, back to Swandean in Worthing to work at Summer school. A little depressing to say the least, as the Summer fun was just starting here. We discovered an open air swimming pool in nearby Greve to cool ourselves from the almost 40°c heat and found a cool restaurant in San Polo. One last trip to the beach at Marina di Carrara, where I was giving another public talk and the fireworks of San Giovanni before we said goodbye to 'la dolce vita'.

At the end of June I saw the World cup in Japan/South Korea. Italy controversially went out in the second round to South Korea. England made it to the quarter finals where they went out to Ronaldinho's Brazil. Brazil would win the final on the back of Ronaldo's two goals and were crowned champions for the fifth time.

We decided to drive back to England at a very leisurely pace over three days. The idea being we could bring back some of our leftover stuff. On the first day we got as far as lake Luzern. We spent some time looking for an appropriate place to sleep and eventually found somewhere as the owner of one hotel ‘Prinz Josep’ gave us his top suite, the 'Storkenzimmer'! An upgraded room in a chalet style hotel, complete with jacuzzi in the bedroom! The second day we got as far as the south of Paris in a pretty town called Moret-sur-Loing and then it was on to England.

Annette's parents very kindly agreed to put us up for the two months. We worked full-time from 9-4 every day at Swandean. It was quite nice as the director of studies was now Janice Martin, who Annette had worked alongside. For the weekends we were free to see our extensive family. After the heat of Florence it was a bit of a shock to the system to come to two weeks of solid rain. It didn't take us long to realise why we had moved to Italy!

As well as family duties there were some nice outings, such as watching two Shakespeare plays in Highdown gardens and some Salsa dancing. We enjoyed our 3rd anniversary meal at Trencher's in Portland road and a day out with our good friends Matthew and Helen Ivy at Rudyard Kipling's house, Batemans.

For our final weekend we drove up to Cambridge to stay with Annette's brother Phil, his wife Marie Noel and their daughter Leonie, before packing up the Nissan and heading back to Tuscany.

We did have a very short holiday that summer, as our friends Lydia and Stefano invited us to Sicily for a week to stay with Stefano's family. They were going to a wedding and so we flew from Florence to Catania and then came back with them by car, which was an arduous journey to say the least! We did have a great time though, visiting Taormina, where we bumped into Mick Hucknall and bought a cool blue Murano vase and burgundy organza curtain and Mt Etna, despite the bad weather. 2002 went down as one of the worst summers in living memory in Italy, affecting the grape harvest and subsequent wine production.

September was very slow work wise as the new English school term doesn't start in earnest in Italy until October. We made the most of our free time, whilst trying to set up some work. Visits to hill top towns of Certaldo and Montecatini alto, Cortona and Bologna, where I was sent for yet another 'public talk'.

We were introduced to one of September's traditional delights, the wine festival, in our local town, Greve, as well as our first introduction to 'vino sfuso', loose wine you bought by filling up into your demijohn straight from a stainless steel tank. Our first one from a winery called Sant'Andrea, was our favourite wine at the Greve festival. Also we had our first sight of Tuscany's most famous yellow inhabitant, the sunflower. At the end of September with the weather still pleasant we decided on a final visit to the coast. We drove down to Massa Marritima and on to Baratti and Populonia. It was too cold to swim, so we payed our first visit to Campiglia Marritima and Bolgheri, two places we would return to many times in the future.

Work was picking up for me at both Wall Street and the British Institute. Annette had spent the first year working for the British Schools and the British Institute, while I had split my time between Wall Street and the British Institutes in Colle val d'Elsa. Now at the beginning of the new term, Annette was offered a full-time 24 hour contract at the British Institute and I was offered a 16 hour contract. This meant we not only had guaranteed work until the following June, but for the first time in my life I was being paid through the holidays I started three kids classes, an M-4, J-1 and J-3 and  two adult courses, a Pre-Intermediate and an Upper-Intermediate. To make up the rest of my hours I stayed with Wall Street. I had a new boss, the very fiery and neurotic Australian, Beatrice Sheenan. It meant I would split my time between Florence and Prato for two bosses that didn't really want me to work for the other! I taught a group at UCE, a chemical product factory in Scandicci and another group at Gucci in Via Tournabuoni. We had both landed on our feet...

One of my old mates from Worthing, Dean Lobb visited  us at the beginning of October, it turned out to be the last time I ever saw him, or any other of our old witness friends from Worthing. We had somehow managed to break away from the witnesses. We just didn't turn up at the meetings. A few of the elders tried phoning us and coming round, but we just ignored them. They didn't really try that hard, I think if we had been living in England it would have been a lot harder to do. Anyway we took Dean down to Rome for the weekend, we saw my first football match in Italy at the raucous Stadio Olimpico, a 1-1 draw between AC Milan and Lazio. I also got to fulfil another dream by finally seeing the Sistine Chapel!  

In November the British Institute received a visit from one of thier illustrious patrons, Prince Charles and I got to meet him. In the photo I have you can see some of my colleagues at the time. Receptionists Lia, Francesca and Leonardo. Jane Gelder, Peter Dulbrough, James Douglas, Alison Headley, Anthony Leamy and Taran Bhullar , Miriam and Barbara Curtis, Julie Thorpe and Mario Zerella, some who are still here, some who have moved on and some who are no longer with us.

We enjoyed a weekend break in the lovely city of Mantua and went to a Masaccio exhibition in San Giovanni Val d'Arno, before heading back to the UK for Christmas. This was a bit strange, because we were no longer going to meetings in Florence, but we hadn't told our families in England yet. We somehow managed to avoid going to the meetings in England or telling them, but at the same time we were not celebrating Christmas yet (The witnesses don't celebrate Christmas, birthdays or anything!) we were in a kind of limbo, still it was nice to see everybody. Ruth had just given birth to Elise and we even got up to Cambridge to see Phil.

2003

In the new year we drove down to the hot springs again, this time Bagno di Petrioli, made trips to Regello and the Vallambrossa. At the end of January I finally got to see the inside of the Duomo, which was disappointing and the museum of the works of the Duomo, which was much more interesting.

In February Annette started her diploma course in TEFL, which meant she would be busy every other Saturday for the next year and a half. We also decided after a year of living in Tuscany that we wanted to stay and so we started looking to buy a house. We looked at properties in Castelfranco di Sopra and our landlady Lucia even recommended a house in Greve, both were no good. We also checked out Montelupo and visited Leonardo's home town of Vinci, where we had our first taste of Italian style carnival. Courses were going well at the British Institute and we were making good use of the free film evenings on a Wednesday nights at our very special library in the historic Palazzo Lanfredini on the Lungarno Guiccardini. Also the Odeon cinema downstairs from the Institute in Piazza Strozzi was showing original language films and we got a discount on the tickets, which meant we could see some of this year's films, such as Lost in Translation, Something's gotta give and The Dreamers in English. Our work colleague, Jane Gelder invited us to her cool flat in San Frediano for a Valentines party and we looked at another house in nearby Cintoia. We also discovered a new favourite wine, Ugo Bing, from our new  find restaurant, Santo Bevitore and we visited his winery and house in Fiano, near San Casciano, where he sold us a few bottles and some of his 'vino sfuso'.

At the end of February tragedy struck when the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated on re-entry and killed all seven astronauts.  The war in Iraq was escalating and there were peace protests being staged all over the world. Sadam Husein was subsequently captured and put on trial.

March and we were introduced to a new festival, Ladies day, not celebrated in the UK, but well alive in Italy. The bright yellow mimosa plant was sprouting up everywhere. Our nephew Rory paid us his second visit as he was touring Italy with some friends. Annette met him up Piazzale Michelangelo and we went for a pizza with him in our now favourite pizzeria, Pizzaiuolo in Sant Ambrogio. Annette's brother had decided it was time he paid us a visit and asked us to do some reconnaisance work for him for somewhere to stay. This was a good excuse to check out some cool places. The first, Castello Vicchiomaggio, had some huge rooms, but was a bit spartan on the decor. We then decided to check out the nearby Villa Vignamaggio, which is where Leonardo da Vinci is supposed to have painted the Mona Lisa and was also used by Kenneth Brannagh for the filming of Much Ado about Nothing. It took us three attempts to have a look inside. A cleaner finally showed us some fabulous rooms (even though she wasn't supposed to) and we decided this is where Phil had to stay.

We witnessed our first live music concert at the fashionable Saschall (now the Obihall), where we saw English singer songwriter, David Gray. We were also introduced to two things that we would continue to enjoy for many years. One was the restaurant, 'Quattro Leone' where we went with one of Annette's classes and the other was our first 'Sagra'. A Sagra is a themed food festival many small towns have to encourage visitors and raise funds for local needs. Our local wild boar sagra in Strada was an interesting introduction, as we sat at these long tables all the locals sitting with us seemed to be boss-eyed!

It was about this time that we made that very difficult phone call to our parents to tell them that we had decided to stop being witnesses. My mum, who was a witness was understandably upset as were Annette's parents. Initially it was a shock for them and Annette was very upset at the heartbreak they would undoubtedly feel. I have to say though that in time all three of them were very gracious and respectful about our decision and our relationship didn't seem to suffer too much.  This is not always the case with these witness break ups, so they showed a great sense of maturity, dignity and common sense over our decision. Annette told Phil too when he visited, it was good for her to have a shoulder to cry on and I think it drew them closer together. It was a very painful time for us as we knew how much it meant to them and we realised that we would probably never see our friends in England again, practically all of whom were witnesses, such is the nature of the religion. An extremely hard decision, but one we definitely would not for one second regret making in the future.

For the first time we had a paid Easter holiday, we made a trip to Poppi to the north west of Florence, stopping at Frescobaldi's Castello di Nipozzano for some wine purchasing. Phil, who by now had sadly divorced his wife, Marie Noell, visited us with his 5-year-old daughter, Leonie during the Easter break. They loved our choice of accommodation and we got to have dinner in the restaurant and even swim in their pool (on 27th April!) We took them to Pisa, San Gimignano, Siena, Barberino, Fonterutoli and Castellina and experienced our first meal at the fabulous, now Michelin starred, Osteria di Passignano restaurant, in Badia a Passignano. 

For this year's first of May we were invited to the house of one of Annette's students, Saverio and spent a wonderful weekend in Sassetta on the Tuscan coast, also checking out Castagneto Carducci and Baratti. We witnessed our second Iris garden festival and the mythical 'Alle Corte del Vino' wine festival at the impressive Villa Le Corti in San Casciano.

In May I also got my first taste of football Fiorentina style, as the current team were thrown out of Serie A and were currently in Serie B, having worked their way up from C2. My first match at the Artemio Franchi stadium was to see the current Fiorentina team, now called Florentia Viola, against some of the old players, including Toldo and Rui Costa. Gabriel Battistuta was on the pitch for only the kick off. I caught my second edition of the Mille Miglia car race again on the Chiantigiana road. We also witnessed a very special free concert in the Piazza del Campo in Siena, where Andrea Bocelli performed a two-hour set of Arias. May finished with my first ever experience of 'Cantine Aperte' a wine fetival where wineries open their doors and conduct free tours and tastings. We visited the nearby Castello di Verazzano, where we could see our house from their terrace.

We counted down the the arrival of the first of June as the outside pool in Greve opened then and we made good use of it that summer. We had decided not to go back to England (where this summer temperatures would ironically reach a record breaking 38°C) as we had these new contracts and we broke up in the middle of July and had paid holidays, so June this year was a bit special. We started by checking out the new Alinari brothers photography exhibition in Piazza Santa Maria Novella as our English courses started winding down and we were less busy. There was a lot of end-of-year celebrating, first my Wall Sreet boss, Luigi treated us to a pizza and Annette came along and was kept company by her 'Delta' colleague, Mary. Next one of Annette's proficiency students, Russian Julia invited us out for dinner with her eccentric husband and step-daughter. Our third night out was with one of Annette's class at the home of master silversmith, Donato. We were treated to a mammoth meal in Pratolino with poetry, music and magic. Our last end of term meal was with one of my classes, for a pizza back in Florence. All this interspersed with visits to the outdoor pool in Greve... you could say we were getting used to 'la dolce vita' by now.

For this year's San Giovanni we were introduced to the 'ponte', that great Italian institution of an extra day’s holiday as a 'bridge' to a national holiday, making a four-day break. It was so hot, we decided the beach was the only place to go. So we drove down to the Maremma. We heard about a special, secret beach from some of our students, called Calaviolina and went to explore. It was a revelation, but unfortunately we got sunburnt and spent the following three days in agony, avoiding the sun. We stayed in an 'agriturismo', which is a kind of farmhouse and used it as a base to explore. On the second day we drove to Argentario and discovered a restaurant that served linguine pasta with half a lobster. There were fields of sunflowers to admire and we felt very spoilt. On our last day we drove to Pitigliano and then Lake Bolsena before returning to Florence to see the fireworks.

As June turned into July we took a drive up to Chianti's highest spot, the 2,700 feet Monte San Michele was followed by our first Opera experience in Italy and the first of many concerts that memorable summer. We saw La Taviata in the Roman theatre up Fiesole, a stunning location. Annette was getting to know some of the other people on her 'Delta' course and really seemed to hit it off with a Welsh girl called Gemma. We invited Gemma and her Italian partner, Tiziano for lunch at Olmastrino and then for the ubiquitous swim at the Greve pool. As we had a bit more free time we looked at a few more houses, one in the very ugly, Pian di Sco and the other near in Incisa. We also saw another house in Carmignano and had our first look at Artimino.

For our summer holiday we decided to go to Sardinia and see what all the fuss was about. Before that we went to another four concerts, in five nights! First up was Radiohead at Piazzale Michelangelo, next was Craig David at the Lucca Summer festival, then on to Siena for a classical concert conducted by the great Zubin Mehta and finishing up with Alannis Morissette back in Lucca, phew! Where we got the energy or money from I'm not quite sure. On the radio I was listening to new artists Amy Winehouse and her album Frank, Maroon 5 and Songs about Jane, Gavin Degraw's Chariot, Beyoncé and Anthony Hamilton. We finished up at work, packed or suitcases and drove to Civitavecchia near Rome to catch the ferry for our holiday to Sardinia.

Sardinia

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On the way back, as we were so close to Rome we decide to spend a day in the eternal city and see Piazza Navona for the first time, I also found Bramante's 'il Tempietto' and Michelangelo's 'Porta Pia' to pay homage to.

After our two week holiday we entertained two more groups of visitors. The first was niece, Bernice and her friend Laura and the second was my mum and grandma Giulia, making her first trip to Tuscany and special visit on Ferragosto bank holiday from my cousin Antonio and wife Nilla. Sandwiched between those two, another visit to Sassetta to stay with our new friends Saverio and Pina at their lovely farm. We brought summer to an end with a visits to the beautiful hamlet of Volpaia and to the south of Tuscany, to Montepulciano, where we stocked up on some 'vino sfuso' from the Poliziano winery. Our summer concert extravaganza was brought to a happy climax as it started, with another opera, this time Turandot, in the Piazza del Campo in Siena.

Chapter 24 

Montefiridolfi

Our 'dolce vita' came temporarily crashing down in September. First we had a mini argument with our landlady Lucia. She was not impressed with the amount of visitiors we had been having and one of our neighbours complained about my mum and grandma talking too loudly when they arrived. We didn't like the tone of her voice and made the decision to leave. Looking back I don't think her threats were real and we could have probably stayed, but anyway we decided it was probably time to move on and one of our work colleagues, Miriam, offered us to stay in her house in Montefiridolfi while she went to Spain, for half the price we were paying at Olmastrino. Montefiridolfi is a pretty hill-top hamlet near San Casciano and after looking at the place, which was a bit of a mess, to say the least, but after being plied with lots of Prosecco, we packed up our things and bade our farewells to an open mouthed Lucia who didn't think we would move for a second, but we had called her bluff. She would have had the last laugh though as Miriam's place was a nightmare and after only three months we moved again. Her house was full of books and I read some while we were there. She had a great book about the Chianti by Englishman Raymond flower. That year I was also introduced to Dan Brown and the Davinci Code. I also read Michael Moore's Hey Dude where's my country, The Kite Runner, Notes on a scandal and Bill Bryson's A short history of everything. She left us some of her private students to keep going and two students I took on were the children of Dennis Verdini, the secretary to Berlusconi's Forza Italia government. They lived in the very posh 'Pian di Giulari' district in a huge house with servants. The kids, Tommaso and Francesca were very naughty though and the parents not very likeable. Fourteen years later Francesca would go on to date the future vice-President, Matteo Salvini. 

Meantime we decorated the house up a bit and carried on with September's activites... First up was Greve wine festival, but this year they seemed to run out of wine a bit too quickly. We discovered a new festival in Impruneta, put on by an enoteca from Galluzo called 'Vinoteca al Chianti'. This was a bit different as they had wines from all over Italy like Barolo, Barbaresco and Amarone. We also discovered another wine festival up the hill at Panzano, which was much better than the one at Greve as the producers were on hand to discuss and pour their wines. We visited two castles, Brolio and Gabbiano, where we had a nice meal. Unfortunately September was a very dry month and the water ran out at Miriam's house! We ended up washing ourselves with bottles of plastic water from the town well and even went to the local swimming pool in San Casciano for a shower. Apparently this happened often in Montefiridolfi and everyone apart from Miriam had installed a spare water tank. When we looked at the house we had seen all these plastic bottles of water and had enquired what they were for, Miriam told us they were for the iron or something and we had foolishly believed her. I somehow managed to crash our Nissan Sunny car into a tree, while on the way to Gaiole, but luckily I managed to drive it to a mechanic in San Casciano and there was no permanent damage.

We explored our new area. There were some nice walks, one down to an Etruscan tomb and another past the Antinori estate, Fonte dei Medici, where their famous Tignanello and Solaia grapes were grown. We made some new friends, Francesco and Ilaria who were from Puglia and we invited them and our other friends, Gemma and Tiziano round for lunch in our newly decorated kitchen in Montefiridolfi. We went on a nice walk from Macerata to Passignano where Tiziano disappeared to look for mushrooms.

I had yet another set back at the end of September. The then British Institute director, Cristine Wilding had served her term and was replaced by Vanessa Hall Smith. Cristine had made some financial errors and so there was a major shake up at the Institute. Some people fared worse than me, Director of studies Sarah Ellis and her assistant David Barnes, the people who had hired me only two years earlier, both lost their jobs and Ian Chadwick was also let go. Steve Bush, who had been E.S.P. coordinator was made DOS. I had been the last teacher to receive a contract and so my rolling 'English' contract wasn't renewed, but Steve, who I had done some work for kept me on with freelance work, I would still work for the 'British', but on a complicated Italian 'Co-Co-Co' and then 'Co-Pro-Co' temporary contract and without paid holidays. Luckily Wall Street picked up the slack and new DOS Beatrice Sheenan was keen for me to have more work with her, her master plan being that I would eventually defect to Wall Street permanently, fortunately this never happened. Steve fought for me and after several years got me a full time permanent 'Italian' contract at the British, but this meant I had several more years of juggling my time between these two schools. 

We spent a cold afternoon in Lucca with our friends Francesco and Ilaria and a memorable evening at another of Annette's Delta colleagues, Scottish Caroline who invited us to her farmhouse in the Montelupo hills. We got on very well with her and her eccentric Lucchese Marques husband, Nanni.

We decided to go back to England for Christmas again, which was a good excuse to go looking for some nice wine to take back for Phil. We drove to Gaiole and for the first time Castelnuovo Bearadenga, Chianti's most southerly town and eventually bought a bottle of Castello di Ama. We also bought about 40 presents, including 6 other bottles of wine, in the good old days before carrying liquid on a plane was reduced to 100ml and 4 panettone cakes. The weather was awful, but it was good to see everyone seeing as we hadn't gone back that summer. My brother, Carl was down from Devon, but Annette's brother, Phil had gone to California, I think to pursue a new female friend, but we saw Leonie, who that year was doing some acting work and had a walk on part in the Christmas edition of Eastenders.

  

2004 

Films: Sideways, Ray, 

T.V. Catherine Tate show

Music: Keane - Hopes and fears, John Legend - Get Lifted, James Blunt, Kanye West, Ray Lamontaigne - Trouble, Madeleine Peyroux

Books: Portrait in Sepia - Isabel Allende, curious incident, stupid whitey - Michael Moore, 1968 - Mark Kurlansky

On our return to Tuscany we paid the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni a second visit, but this time we actually went in the outdoor 52°C pool and also checked out San Quirico d'Orcia.

We had a nice drive out to somewhere that would feature in our future, Montespertoli and in particular were struck with a walk round the tower at Montegufoni. I caught my first professional match at the Artemo Franchi as Fiorentina, who now had their old name back were playing against one of my old heroes, Gianfranco Zola, who I'd seen 7 years earlier for Chelsea against Leeds. He was now back where he'd started in his home town of Cagliari. It was a nailbiting 2-1 win for Christian Rigano and the boys in purple. We also met up again with our Puglian friends Francesco and Ilaria at the Mexican restaurant Tijuana only for them to tell us they were planning to move to Australia.

Upon returning to work and telling people we weren't that happy at our new house we were suddenly offered the choice of two new flats. Both were in Florence, one was from our British Institute work colleague, Jane Gelder, a two bedroom flat in San Quirico Legnaia and a bit ropey, the other by my private student's mother Simonetta Fossombrone, wife of Dennis Verdini, which was in the very up market Corso Italia next to the Teatro Communale. The decision was a no-brainer and after five months in the house from hell we were on the move again. Our last outing before the move was a celebration meal at 'La Cantinetta', in the beautiful setting of Rignana near Passignano as we said farewell or more like good riddance to another chapter of our lives.

Chapter 25 

Corso Italia 

The weekend we decided to move it snowed and we were stuck in Florence. Work colleague Jane kindly put us up and on the Saturday after I had started a new course and we braved the weather. On the first of February we packed up our trusty Nissan Sunny and made two trips into Florence and our new home. It was on the fourth floor of a very swanky apartment block. It had one bedroom, a bathroom with a bath, a large corridor which doubled as our lounge, a nice kitchen and a tiny terrace overlooking an internal courtyard. We also had our own car parking place and most importantly we were within walking distance from work and living in the city, Florence.

The weather was cold and miserable that February, but we warmed oursevles up with a bottle of Annette's favourite wine a 1997 Poggio Banale Riserva from La Poderina, no ordinary Brunello. We enjoyed some visits to the local Chinese restaurant with work colleauges and pizza at Colle val d'Elsa with Francesco and Ilaria. We also made use of living in the city by going to our local Odeon cinema to watch some of that year's Oscar nominated films.

In March we bid our sad farewells to Francesco and Ilaria as they headed off 'down under' on their new adventure, it was nice getting to know them and a shame they left our lives so soon. 

News wise, terror struck again with the Madrid train bombings which took the lives of 191 people and left 1,800 people injured.

The sun eventually did come out some time in March and now that we were living in the city we decided to check out the Oltrano and Santo Spirito areas. We ate al-fresco in a cool restaurant called Borgo Antico, with 'that' memorable risotto dish of courgette and scamorza cheese. We also stumbled on a cool Spanish restaurant, Habitacion Liquidas near our house. We did venture out of the city, but only as far as Settignano and the delightful Villa Gamberaia. We also discovered a new cool pizzeria, L'Antica Porta near Porta Romana.

Around this time Palazzo Strozzi in the square where we worked acquired a new director, the American, James Bradburne. He began to organise some temporary exhibitions by major artists and the first one we enjoyed that spring was of Boticelli on the 500th anniversary of his death. Our flat in Corso Italia was just behind the Arno river and across the road from the Cascine park, both of where we spent some time when we weren't working. For Annette's birthday we paid the cool looking 'Omero' restaurant in Pian di Giulari a visit for a meal overlooking Florence. We booked a few nights in the Le Marche region of Italy after Easter and on the Easter Saturday ventured out to Borgo San Lorenzo and Contea in the Mugello for some sun. Unfortunately we missed the traditional 'scopo del carro' celebrations on the Easter Sunday.

We made our second visit to Le Marche (the first being to Ancona) and stayed in a lovely monastery in Frontino between San Marino and Urbino. We visited San Marino, but were very disappointed with all the tacky souvenir shops and unfortunately the views were obscured by fog. Urbino was a lot more impressive and we enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Palazzo Ducale.

Back in Florence we paid the Villa Demidoff and the park of Pratolini a long overdue second visit. Annette was still toiling away with her Delta course and while she was studying I spent some time travelling solo. On May first I drove down to check out the Sodoma frescoes at Monte Oliveto Maggiore and then to Montalcino where I happened upon a wild boar festival and replenished my Brunello wine collection. I caught this year's Mille Miglia for the first time in Florence and was invited by some new private students that I had just started teaching English, a couple called Nadia Casini and Alberto Boschi, to spend the day on the beach at Baratti and for dinner at their beach house in Campiglia, the start of a beautiful friendship. 

May also saw a milestone as the last ever episode of Friends aired.

I experienced my first wine festival of the year, 'Centovini', at the Relais Certosa hotel in Galluzo, hosted by Vinoteca al Chianti and headed down to Siena for another new May event, 'Giardini e Cortili aperte' an open villas day at the magnificent Castello di Celsa in Sovicille, which was not normally open to the public. I visited the Iris garden again and Annette joined me for a meal in San Frediano at 'La Vecchia Bettola'.

For one of my last days without Annette, I spotted a charity concert in Rome at the circus Maximus, organised and starring the legendary Quincy Jones. It was too hard to pass up, so I took the train down to the eternal city and spent the day discovering some Caravaggio masterpieces and in the evening listening to the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Alicia Keys, Santana, Herbie Hancock, Take 6 and many other artists, it was  memorable day and evening, even if my better half was at home studying, although my mobile phone was stolen on the bus and I had to spend the night sleeping on Rome station, waiting for the first train in the morning to take me back home to Florence.

Annette wasn't missing from Villa Le Corti for this year's 'Alle Corte del Vino', although she was absent from another festival that I went to in Pontassieve, the 'Toscanello d'Oro' showcasing the wines of Rufina. May finished with 'Cantine Aperte'. That year we visited Castello di Fonterutoli, Badia a Coltibuono and Castello di Brolio, not a bad threesome! And we even managed to discover yet another wine festival called Pentecost in Castellina, slight overkill. At the end of May after one and a half years of study, Annette finally finished her TEFL diploma course, she wouldn't find out the results of her exam for a while, but we celebrated at Perseus restaurant with a big 'Fiorentina' t-bone steak.

The beginning of June saw our by now customary visit back to the open air pool in Greve and the official beginning of summer. A sneaky visit to the lovely San Gimignano for some ice cream and mug purchasing followed, before our again customary end of term celebrations, which this year were a bit more muted as we would have to return to England to work summer school, My Wall Stret big boss, Luigi again treated me to a pizza in Prato. Annette came again, but my boss, Beatrice made sure it was an uncomfortable evening for her. My one Bif teenage class took me and Annette out for a pizza and I was round my good work colleague Peter's for dinner and to watch England lose to Portugal in the Euro Cup. We were invited to Scottish Caroline's for her end of term barbecue in Montelupo and to another work colleague, Alison's for a party. We caught Italy playing Bulgaria in Piazza S.S. Anunziata, on a bittersweet evening as they won the match but went out of the Euros, however Fiorentina were promoted to Serie A, so next season there would be first class football in Florence.

That year for the first time we decided to check out the 'Luminari di San Ranieri', Pisa's special day and we enjoyed a balmy evening along a packed Arno with thousands of people, candles and some cool fireworks. We spent a pleasant afternoon too up Florence's largest mountain, Mt Morello and had a nice aperitivo at 'Fuori Porta' in Costa San Giorgio. We went to a cool free classical concert too in the Buontalenti grotto at the Pitti Palace. That year I was working in Prato on San Giovanni, but I raced back to Florence to see the fireworks along the Arno.

We returned to the wonderful beach of Calaviolina, but this time there were no wasps and no sunburn. We went into San Vincenzo for a scrummy Cacciucco fish supper. Annette spent her first day on the beach at Baratti with my students, Nadia and Alberto and I got to go in his boat, 'Nappy 1', named after their cat. Afterwards they invited us up to their house in Campiglia Marritima for dinner. We enjoyed our second music concert of the summer at the Pecci art museum in Prato, outside in the stone theatre, where we saw Ravi Coltrane, son of famous jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. This was closely followed by concert number three, where we saw American soul singer and pianist, Alicia Keys, at the Lucca Summer Festival. Sandwiched between these two concerts was our first visit to the very picturesque Portovenere in Liguria. We spent the afternoon swimming and finished up with a slap up fish dinner in the evening.

We had booked our flight for England in the middle of July and we would go back to work for four weeks. To make this bearable we decided to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversay a week early at the very posh 'Osteria di Passignano'. We went all out and ordered Krug champagne and Solaia wine and I treated myself to their awesome cheese board. There was just time for one last trip to the beach before heading back to Blighty as we spent the day in the Parco del Rimigliano on the Riva degli Etruschi.

UK

Charlie and Mavis were happy to welcome us back, they seemed to have accepted us breaking away from the witnesses and were very civilised about it and treated us very well. The first two weeks were bathed in glorious sunshine, which was good because I was doing lessons in the morning and working on the social program in the afternoon. This meant I would do various activities with the students, like sports afternoons, taking them to the dog track in Hove, out on pub crawls where I had my drinks paid for by the school and going up to London on two Saturdays and Oxford on one Saturday. Unfortunately for our last two weeks the temperature was back down to under twenty degrees and it rained practically every day. However London and Oxford were cool. We saw the Shakespeare plays up Highdown gardens, went Salsa dancing and up to Cambridge to see Phil and the now six-year old Leonie. I saw most of my family except for Carl who was still in Somerset and we took Annette's mum and dad for a nice meal at the Parsonage in High Street Tarring. Having lived in Italy for two and a half years we were feeling a bit cut off from what was happening entertainment wise. So we went to our favourite nephew, Rory for some advice. He recommended a popular comedy called Little Britain and so we bought the DVD set of the first series which had started the previous year. 

We had wanted to go to the Greek island of Kefalonia after watching Captain Corelli's Mandolin, but we weren't able to. So on returning home to Florence we decided to go to the island of Elba, without booking anything. We packed some things into a suitcase and drove to the port in Piombino. Luckily we managed to get tickets for the ferry crossing to the capital Portoferraio and once there we went to the tourist information office and booked a week in an apartment in the town of Rio nel Elba. We spent a surprisingly wonderful week exploring this beautiful island

........info......

 and on our return to the mainland spent a wonderful evening at the 'Osteria San Guido' (famous for their Sassicaia wine).

September and we spent some days at the Greve pool and evenings in Impruneta, where there was a bar serving Brunello wine by the glass. We also went to a free concert across the road in the Cascine park and heard American singer, Kelis and one of my favourite Italian groups, Le Vibrazione. We returned to Baratti for a day with our new friends, Alberto and Nadia. Annette and I had a free windsurfing lesson from resident instructor, Dario, Annette was far better, but she had done it before, whereas this was my first lesson. Afterwards we were again invited to their house in Campiglia for dinner. We checked out the 'Rificolona' festival in Florence and were back in Greve for the annual wine festival which again was a bit of a disappointment.

The good weather continued through September and we were invited back to Sassetta to spend the weekend with our friends, Saverio and Pina. Pina cooked up two wicked fish dishes and we sandwiched the visit with a trip to the beach at Riva degli Etruschi, the pretty towns of Castagneto Carducci, Suvereto and Bolgheri. We visited Panzano for our second edition of a much better wine festival and also to Impruneta for Vinoteca al Chianti's Vino al Vino.

Late on in September we had a very emotional visit to Naples to see my family in Castellammare. It was the first time that Annette came down with me to see them, although she had met Antonio and Nilla the previous summer in Tuscany, We stayed with Antonio and managed to see Anna, Mimi, Emilia and Franco, Franco Colosanto and Tina and even Raffaele. It was the first time I had seen them in seven years and even though we didn't manage to see any of the famous sights, we enjoyed our visit.

September finished with my first wine festival in the centre of Florence since 2001's 'Toscana Slow', as 'Florence Wine Night' was born, although there was only one winery present, Castello di Grevepesa. We attended another wine evening at the Relais Certosa hotel, with a horizontal tasting of the wines of Villa Sant'Andrea, an old favourite winery. In October we paid the town of Vinci a second visit, as well as the Villa Petraia and Castello and even found time to visit the beautiful city of Orvieto in Umbria. For November's  'I Morti' 3-day break when we stayed in an agriturismo near Todi and visited Spoleto and Perugia.

We had some friends round our new posh flat in Corso Italia for a dinner party and surprisingly they all seemed to get on well. I was back at the stadium to watch Fiorentina host the mighty Inter for a 1-1 draw. A couple of international festivals I attended were the Beaujolais nouveau wine event at the very posh French Institute in piazza Ognisanti and whisky tasting at a Scottish market in Santa Maria Novella. We spent a nice afternoon up Mt Cerceri in Fiesole and were invited to work colleague, Jane Gelder's flat for a party and we had our first taste of Salsa 'Italian style' at a small club called Jaragua on the Costa di San Giorgio.

December was a low point for us. First the clutch on the Nissan Sunny packed up, but the garage near our house managed to find a new one and we were mobile once more. Then the fuel pump broke and it took two weeks to wait for a new one. Finally our greedy landlady, Simonetta decided she wanted to put our rent up from 550 euro to 700 euro a month, so we told her where to go and prepared to move out. Our year in the posh area of Florence was over. Our good friends Gemma and Tiziano consoled us with a meal at their home in Prato and we got ready for the Christmas holidays.

Christmas 2004 was an unforgettable one for the people of Asia as the third largest earthquake ever recorded and subsequent Tsunami hit India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia. Nearly 280,000 people lost their lives and untold damage. It was a time of worldwide relief aid and quiet reflection for everyone.

For our last excursion of the year, Annette took me to the elegant Villa Borromeo in San Casciano for my birthday dinner and we went inside the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.

2005

Films: Madagascar, Brokeback mountain, constant gardener, Capote, Match point

T.V. How I met your mother, Everybody hates chris

music: Green Day boulevard, september

Book: Clarkson, Birds without wings, Pig wants to be eaten, never let me go

Chapter 26

Via Del Pozzino

In the new year we drove out to see the Medici Villa in Cerreto Guidi and went to see our last show next door at the teatro Communale, the ballet, Giselle, before moving out. We went back to our work colleague, Jane Gelder to ask if that other flat in Via del Pozzino was still available and luckily it was, so at the end of January we met our new landlord, Silverio Palladini, agreed a price for the rent and moved into Via Del Pozzino. It was on the outskirts of Florence, in neighbourhood 4, San Quirico a Legnaia, a fifteen minute bus ride to the centre and needed some work doing to it before we could really feel at home. Eventually we would paint the dark yellow and green walls white, the bathroom a light blue and get some new furniture. It had two bedrooms, with a cosy little room in the loft. On moving in we enjoyed a celebration meal at the very swish, 'Napoleone' in Piazza del Carmine. In February it snowed for the first time in years in Florence and we were busy decorating and looking for new furniture.

We discovered a fabulous pasticceria near our new home in Soffiano called 'Giorgio' and become regular visitors. Also we discovered a wonderful ice cream parlour called 'Gelateria dei Medici' on Via Statuto, which again became a regular spot and we had an incredible fish meal at 'La Martinicca' restaurant hosted by the Vinoteca al Chianti accompanied by no less than nine different French wines. 

On February 15th 'Youtube' came on the internet and would provide a vehicle of communication in the video, music and short film world.

 Chas and Mave part II

At Easter we got an invite to Nadia's niece, Sara and her boyfriend, Leonardo's house in Impruneta, before welcoming our first guests of the season, Annette's mum and dad. It was their second visit, their first one had been three and a half years ago. They had been unable to come because of various illnesses and operations, so it was good that they were able to come again, as it was it turned out to be Chas's last visit to Tuscany, he was showing signs of Parkinson's disease and dimentia and his eyesight was beginning to deteriorate, it was very sad.

We took them to Caruso's Villa Bellosguardo in Signa, around Florence, to Siena and we were invited for a free meal at the Agriturismo farmhouse of one of my students, Massimo Griffoni. We took them back to Greve, where we bought a couple of tables at the antique market and then it was off to Rome where we had booked a couple of nights at an Agriturismo near Tivoli.

It was my ninth and tenth time in the eternal city. After the three-hour dive we took the sightseeing bus tour, which was perfect for our elderly in-laws. We were blessed with glorious weather and on our first day visited the Trevi fountain, Spanish steps and saw the Borghese gardens, Colosseum and Vatican from the bus. Our Agriturismo was the best part of an hour's drive, but in a very beautiful setting.

On our second day we started at the Vatican, just missing Pope John-Paul's final wave, he was to die a few weeks later and German Pope Benedict inaugarated. We then visited the Colosseum and Imperial Forum, before finishing off at the Borghese gardens. Chas and Mavis relaxed in the gardens, while Annette and I dashed round the museum and oggled at the Bernini sculptures.

For our final day we spent the morning at the sumptuous ruins of Emperor Hadrian's massive villa and then the afternoon at the Tivoli gardens, where an electrical storm unfortunately cut our visit short. It was however a wonderful and memorable three days taking Chas and Mavis around the eternal city of Rome.

Some late Easter trips to Pratolino and Villa Caffagiolo in the Mugello and the very pretty Scarperia, a dinner for our friends' Alberto and Nadia to thank Alberto for the new table which he made for us and then Annette's 34th birthday which we celebrated in style with our third visit to Antinori's Osteria at Badia a Passignano. 

In April Prince Charles finally wedded his secret sweetheart, Camilla Parker-Bowles and we watched the ceremony on Italian TV, but the wedding wasn't quite the Charles and Di wedding 23 years earlier.

For the 'Festa della Liberazione' holiday weekend we decided to pay a visit to Gubbio in Umbria. We found an Agriturismo in Umbertide and stopped in San Giovanni Val D'Arno to see Piero Della Francesca's 'Madonna del Parto'. The weather was a bit miserable, but we liked Gubbio and we ate well at our Agriturismo and Montecorona, in Citta del Castello. On our way home we stopped in Sansepolcro, to see another Piero della Francesca masterpiece, the Resurrection.

For the first of May holiday we had our friends Gemma and Tiziano for lunch and then visited the Villa Torrigiani and Corsini sul Prato as part of the open courtyards and gardens in Florence. The following week we visited the Villa Bibbiana in Limite-sul-Arno for the same event. Sandwiched in between, I had my first of two articles published for a new Florentine newspaper, the subject of course being wine.

On May 5th the unthinkable happened, Tony Blair was elected to serve an unprecidented third term for Labour in the British general election.

The weather turned bad for my second edition of 'Pentecoste a Castellina' wine festival, this year I was here purely on business. A one-off wine festival and improved weather saw us pay the seaside resort of Viarreggio our first visit, where the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco were showcased and I even got to meet Elio Altare, legendary Barolo producer. This year's Alla Corte del vino was a bit special as I got to partake in my first ever 'vertical wine tasting', Bolgheri's Ornellaia was the estate and I got to try seven different vintages of their 250 euro a bottle 100% merlot, Masetto, it was quite an initiation. We finished May at the Relais Certosa hotel for Vinoteca al Chianti's 'Centovini'.

By now Gemma had become best friends with Annette and on May 29th we celebrated her marriage to Tiziano at the Prato town hall and afterwards at the beautiful Villa Vittoria in Comeana near Artimino. It was a scorching hot day and a lovely ocassion for our first wedding, Italian style.

June the second and we were straight down the open air swimming pool in Greve and spent the first weekend on the Tuscan coast, staying in a wonderful Agriturismo near Suveretto, 'La Fontanella'. We spent the Saturday on the beach at Torre Civette and had dinner in Suvereto. On the Sunday we had lunch with our old friends Saverio and Pina on their farm in Sassetta and in the evening visited an agricultural fair in Venturina.

Our last wine festival was June's Radda in the glass, before I submitted my second wine article for the Florentine newspaper. The following weekend we returned to Sassetta to stay with Saverio and Pina and our, by now favourite beach, Calaviolina. For the San Giovanni celebrations I managed to get out of work and we saw the historic procession and fireworks.

We met up with our favourite nephew Rory at the end of June, as he was doing a course in Verona. We drove up to Romeo and Juliet's city and joined him for lunch with some of his colleagues, before driving up to Lake Garda. We had booked a night in this huge 4-bedroom Agriturismo, called 'Sprigol', in Gargnano, for a night at a ridiculously cheap price. They had donkeys and a terrace overlooking the lake. We had a great time swimming and relaxing and visited Limone sul Garda.

We drove Rory back to Florence and enjoyed a few days with him visiting the Greve pool, Impruneta and a jazz concert in the Castello del Imperatore in Prato. After he returned home we went to another concert in Piazza Signoria and saw some some Italian pop acts, Laura Pausini, Biaggio Antonacci, Giorgia and Nek.

The first weekend in July our friends Alberto and Nadia invited us to stay at their flat in Campiglia and we spent a wonderful time with them on the beach at Baratti. I managed to listen to some of the 'Live 8 ' concert being staged in London and around the world. We had an impromptu windsurf lesson from Dario too.

On the 6th July London celebrated getting the 2012 Olympics, but on 7th July a series of coordinated terrorist suicide bombings by British born Islamist extremists left 52 people dead and 700 injured in the capital and brought England to its knees. The 7/7 bombings were the first ever suicide attack in Britain and the worst terrorist incident since 1988's Lockerbie bombing.

Life and the summer happily carried on for us with no less than four music concerts, before heading back to the UK to work summer school. On the 8th we were in Piazza Signoria for a classical concert conducted by our old Corso Italia neighbour, Zubin Mehta and he dedicated the evening to the memory of the 52 who lost their lives in London.  On the 9th we were in Lucca to see one of my all-time heroes, George Benson, On the 11th we saw the Barber of Seville at the Roman thetre up Fiesole, before finishing back at Lucca to see Lauryn Hill.

This year we went to England for four weeks, from mid July to mid August. The first thing we did was to book our two-week holiday to Kefalonia for the end of August, this year we weren't going to leave it too late. We stayed at Annette's sister Ruth's for a couple of nights before transferrinig to Chas and Mavis's. We saw Shakespeare's As you like it up Highdown.

On 21st of July we were at work at Swandean when news came through of four more bomb attempts in London. Fortunately all four bombs were stopped and there were no casualties, although the police killed a Brazilian man who was wrongly targeted as a suspect. It was a tense summer to say the least. We didn't travel up to London and cancelled our planned trip to Cambridge as we would have had to go through the London train system to get there. Suffice to say the weather that summer was as miserable as the mood. We did venture out to Brighton, Stonehenge to drive my brother Carl back home to Devon and I enjoyed a pleasant day out with Annette at Bodiam castle. Annette's brother Phil came down to Worthing and we had a nice meal at the Padella restaurant in Findon, before we said goodbye to England.

Kefalonia - week one

We had booked our two week holiday to the Greek island of Kefalonia from England and so took the plane from Gatwick to Kefalonia airport. We were then whisked away to our apartment in Skala by coach. It was a lovely apartment with a pretty patio and garden. Skala was a nice resort, although there were a few too many Brits for our liking. Although our complex didn't have a pool we could use other hotel pools, we just had to buy a drink. We ate lunches at the apartment, but most evenings we ate out at local tavernas. The beach at Skala was pleasant enough. We booked some excursions, one of which was cancelled (the trip to see the local saint's festival) and hired a car for six days. So on the third day we started to explore the island a bit more, visiting a pretty little beach at Kaminia and going for dinner in Katelios. On the fourth day we drove to the fabulous Trapezaki beach and then bought some wine at the Robola cooperative. We then visited San Gerasimo's monastery and then headed on to the port town of Sami. We then drove round to the wonderful Antisamos beach, used in the Captain Corelli film. We finished up in the evening in Argostoli for dinner and a stroll. We returned to Trapezaki on the following day and then drove to the quaint harbour town of Poros. On day six we drove further up to the picturesque town of Assos, for lunch and then spent the afternoon on Kefalonia's most famous beach, Myrtos, which was spectacular. In the early evening we took a stroll through some of the villages that were damaged in the 1953 earthquake. We finished back in Sami for dinner and music. The following day we relaxed on a beach in nearby Avithos and then returned to Poros in the evening for dinner. 

Week 2

We started our second week, still with the car and drove out to the Lixouri penninsular. For this we took the car ferry from Argostoli. We drove to the Petani beach and had dinner on the waterfront. Day nine was our last with the car, so we tore round the island trying to see as much as possible. First stop was back to Argostoli to see the Archaeological museum. Then it was on to the Dorogati caves and then finishing at the Melisani underground lake. We handed the car back and spent the next day recovering by the pool. Day eleven and we had booked a half day excursion to see the east coast of the island by boat. We departed from Skala and our first stop was at Fisikardo. Unfortunately the boat left early, without us and only some quick thinking as we went to the port authority who radiod the boat, which duly came back to pick us up. They had miscounted the passengers. We headed down to Agia Efemia for lunch and then the captain decided to miss out stopping at the pier from the film. It was disappointing to say the least. We did have a swim stop at a deserted beach though. The next day we relaxed on the gorgeous little beach of Kaminia and checked out an old Roman villa. On our penultimate day we went on a very nice day trip to the tiny island of Ithaka. Famous as the birthplace of Odysseus and honeymoon destination of Prince Charles and Diana. Our final day meant packing and checking out and our long journey home via Gatwick and finally home to Florence. It was a memorable holiday.

As if we didn't have enough sun and beach, on our return to Florence we spent our first Saturday on the beach at Riva degli Etruschi and evening in San Vincenzo. On the Sunday we drove to Arezzo to experience our first 'Giostro del Saracino', a kind of jousting contest and Arezzo's answer to Siena's 'Palio',

Mum and Grandma 

We started back at work , which as usual was slow, with only dribs and drabs from the British Institute and even less from Wall Street. Two very special visitors came in September, my mum who was paying us her third visit, came with my Grandma on her second visit. The weather was bad to start with and so I took them to see the Medici chapels and Greve, where this year's wine festival was cancelled due to the rain. We took them to Lucca, where the sun was back out and to the Osteria Baralla for dinner.

I drove them down to Montepulciano and of course round Florence and up Monte Morello and for a pizza at a new pizzeria we found in Via Pisana called Vico del Carmine. Our final trip was to the beach at San Vincenzo where they actually went for a mid-September swim!

After they left we went to our third Panzano wine festival and then got a very interesting call from my British Institute boss Steve Bush for an individual lesson at Ugolino, near Impruneta. It turned out to be Stefano Chioccioli, one of Italy's most famous oenologists (winewaker). He worked for about 45 wineries in Italy and was just starting to branch out into France and beyond. I was to teach him and his eldest son, Niccolò. After the first lesson he presented me with a box of six of his finest wines. Our last wine festival in September was 'Vino a Piacere' in Impruneta where this year I had my first taste of Sassicaia and Ornellaia, two of Tuscany's most well-known wines, We got to hear a free concert of Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein music at the Villa Demidoff in Pratolino and went back to the Tijuana Mexican restaurant for dinner. We also paid the Tuscan coast our last visit, back to a half empty Calaviolina and have our first look at a future favourite town, Scarlino.

We started October with a picnic near another future town, Montespertoli at Lucolena and went for only our second time to Certaldo. We visited the Palazzo Corsini on the Lungarno for an antique fair and drove out to Collodi to see the villa and park of Garzoni. We tried to find a truffle festival in Balconvisi but ended up going to San Miniato instead. I somehow managed to get into a trade only book release at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence. It was for the 'Guida de L'Espresso Vini D'Italia' presentation and they had 127 of the top Italian wines on hand to taste... it was like being a kid being let loose in a sweet shop. On that ocassion I got to taste Gulio Ferrari's Riserva del fondatore Spumante, Avignonese's 185 euro Vin Santo, Gaja's Barbaresco and Giacomo Conterno's Monfortino Barolo, I was in wine heaven. We visited the Eurochocolate festival in Perugia with Gemma and Tiziano, but it was a big disappointment and their were too many people. At the end of October one of my students from GKN Driveline in Prato invited us to help with the olive harvest and we spent a glorious day in his field picking olives and back at his house for dinner where we discovered that Panetone from Cerbaia.

We started November with a hot show and dinner at  Brazilian restaurant, 'Maracana' and got to experience a real truffle festival with our first visit to San Miniato. I found an enoteca which was selling some old wine for 5 euro a bottle and picked up some gems. We were back in the field picking olives, this time at Stefano Chioccioli's where Annette got to meet all the family and we had dinner with them in the evening and I was presented with yet another box of fine wines. We visited Florence's premiere Reggae venue for the second time and saw one of Britain's finest jazz funk combos, Bluey Maunik's Incognito. Maysa Leake and Tony Remy were on hand to lend support too. We drove to Pisa to check out their wine festival 'I Pisani Piu Schietti' (the most outspoken Pisan) and were back at La Martinicca' for a themed diner with Saigricola, Fattoria il Cerro and Colpetrone, six wines with a wonderful meal.

At the beginning of December it rained solid for two weeks, which gave us time to do our Christmas shopping. We had the end of year staff party at Bif. Annette popped back to England for three days to see her mum and dad and brought back lots of goodies. For my 37th birthday we had smoked salmon and cream cheese and opened my presents, Little Britain 2, Ali G the movie and wine decanter. That Christmas we received loads of presents, mostly bottles of wine and new olive oil. On boxing day it snowed in Florence for the first time in 21 years and we finally painted our green and yellow walls white and indulged in panettone from Cerbaia, cakes from Giorgio, 3 bottles of Brunello and Veuve Cliquot champagne. To end the year we saw Italy's most famous ballet dancer, Roberto Bollet perform at the Teatro Communale and celebrated New Year's Eve outside in Piazza Signoria and a classical concert.

2006

Films: Borat, davinci code, pursuit of happyness, perfume, scoop, devil wears prada, litle miss sunshine

T.V. ...

Music: James Morrison, Corrine bailey rae, Paolo nutini, snow patrol, Elisa, Mario Biondi

Books: kite runner, eat pray love, Marina Lewycka, David sedaris

For New Year's we decided to spend four nights in an Agriturismo outside of Pienza. it was called Il Cerreto. We drove down to Siena and stopped in Buonconvento for lunch. In the afternoon I took Annette to see the monastery, Monte Oliveto Maggiore. We visited the hot springs of Rapolano Terme and Bagno Vignoni, Catelnuovo D'Abate and the abbey of Sant'Antimo. We ate some fabulous meals in Montichiello, 'La Porta' and Osteria il giardino in Montalcino where we had the most incredible pear and ricotta cake. 

Back in Florence we went to see the English singer, James Blunt, who was visiting the Saschall (now the Obihall) . It was funny listening to the mostly Italian audience singing along with him, you're bootifull! At the end of January and back to work we are invited to new friends, Riccardo and Bea and their one month old son, Dodi to inaugarate their new pizza maker. We spent a pleasant evening at Alberto's looking at his and Nadia's holiday snaps of India and one of my new students, Calabrian dentist, Santo Papaleo treated Annette and me to a nice fish meal ar 'Dante' restaurant with his then wife, Anna Maria.

In February our new landlord, Silverio and ex partner, Jane Gelder were invited for a wonderful meal at the very swish 'Il Guscio'. We went Salsa dancing with Nadia and Alberto in Antella and then had them round our house for a curry (Lee style). Some other new students who took us out for dinner were a couple called Davide and Rossana. We met up for an aperitivo with them and their six-year-old son, Lorenzo, which turned out to be a famous coffee at a bar called Caffe delle Fornaci near their house in Castello to the north west of Florence. We then went to the 'Ulivo Rosso' up Monte Morello where we were introduced to the legendary Maria Rosa. The food was fabulous as was the company. We also had Riccardo, Bea round for dinner too. Finally we enjoyed a meal with our BIF work colleagues at the Greek restaurant, Dioniso, which brought back some memories from last summer's holiday in Kefalonia.

My good friend Stefano Chioccioli got me two tickets for 'Benvenuto al Brunello', a trade only wine fair in Montalcino, which was an unbelievable experience and Annette's friend Gemma got us tickets to see Gianluigi Trovesi, one of Italy's foremost jazz musicians at the Metastasio theatre in Prato. World cup hosts germany played a friendly at Florence's Artemo Franchi and I managed to get myself a ticket. I saw Italy beat Germany 4-1 and got to see another of my heroes, Alessandro Del Piero not ony play, but score.

In March my sister Rita paid us her first visit with new boyfriend Mat. After fifteen years of a somewhat troubled relationship with Michael Turnbull, she finally had the courage to end it, she had met a younger guy, Mat, who worked with her at Dixons. At least he had got her to do something Michael never could, visit us in Tuscany. We bought a new leather sofa, Persian rug and some blue curtains to tart up our rather drab flat in Via Del Pozzino. We took them round Florence, to see Michelangelo's David and for a wicked pizza at Pizzaiuolo. We also took them to San Gimignano, Greve, for a lovely meal in Siena at 'Il caroccio', Pisa and to see the Artemo Franchi stadium. (Mat was into football and a Tottenham Hotspur fan)

My new friend, Davide Longo took me up to Milan to the San Siro to see Milan against Fiorentina, the game was very exciting with Milan taking the honours 3-1. We returned the favour by having Davide, his wife, Rossana and their six-year-old son Lorenzo for dinner and I opened my 1998 Fanti Brunello (one of Stefano Chioccioli's creations that he had given me) I caught an Arnolfo di Cambio exhibition at the museo dell'opera del duomo in Florence to finish the month.

Annette was ill for her birthday on the 9th April, a day this year which took on extra significance in Italy as it was the day of the general election. Current prime minister, silvio Berlusconi was narrowly defeated by ex president of the European comission, Romano Prodi of the centre left. His presidency would last only two years with a vote of no-confidence. We drive up to Bivigliano  for a picnic. For our Easter holiday we took our first trip to Piemonte and lake Como. It was a lovely holiday. We visited Asti on the way to our agriturismo farmhouse in Alba. We ate fabulously and drank like kings. We also visited Barolo, home to the king of Italian wines and of course tasted and bought several bottles. We ate one of our top five meals ever at Locanda il Pilone, although Annette hadn't fully recovered from flu. From Piemonte we drove up to Lake Como. The hotel we stayed in was up an enormous mountain in Brunate. I wasn't sure the Nissan Sunny would make it up the hill, but somehow it did, just. The weather which had been dull in Piemonte improved on the lake. We took the funicular down to the town of Como and visited the stunning Bellaggio, Villa Carlotta and even stopped to see George Clooney's Villa in Laglio near Cernobbio. 

Annette had a few more days holiday than me, so flew back to  the UK to see her mum and dad. I took a drive out for a first visit to Chianti's most southerly town, Castelnuovo Bearadenga and the winery at Felsina.

For the first of May holiday we visited the Villa Torrigiani near Lucca and the hill-top town of Montecarlo. Annette's niece Felicity paid us a visit with her five-year-old son, the very cute Stanley. She had now divorced her husband, Andy and treated herself to a holiday. We drove them up to Piazzale Michelangelo and paid the Iris garden a visit. We took them to San Gimignano, to Lucca for a cycle on the walls, to Pisa and of course Florence.

Dad 

May by now meant wine and we returned to Villa Le Corti with a special bonus this year as I took part in not one but two vertical tastings. Tenuta di Trinoro and Fonterutoli's Siepi. We were invited to Davide and Rossana for a fish dinner, drove out to Montaione, before welcoming a very special visitor, my dad. I had finally managed to twist his arm to come and visit us. He agreed to come for two weeks, one staying with us and for the other week I booked him into a hotel in San Vincenzo. I showed him round Florence, the Uffizi, inside Santa Croce and he requested a visit to the history of Science museum. I drove him out to the Chianti and we stopped in Impruneta, Greve, Panzano and Castellina. We also took him to the 'Centovini' wine festival in Galluzo. For the traditional last Sunday in May we drove dad down to Montalcino and visited Altesino and the Banfi estate at the very pretty Poggio alle Mura. We finished up with a pizza in Siena in the Piazza del Campo.

For his second week we had booked him into a hotel in San Vincenzo on the Tuscan coast and I drove him to Florence station, where there was a direct train to San Vincenzo station. Unfortunately the weather for much of the week is pretty abysmal and on the Friday I drove down to meet up with him and spent three days with him. In the four days he was on his own he failed to find the town, which was only 100 yards down the road! I walked him into town for a browse at the shops. In the afternoon we drove up to Populonia and then had a look round the archaeological site at Baratti. In the evening we went for a pizza at 'the number one pizza place' for a fish supper. The following day it was overcast again so I took dad to Bolgheri for some wine tasting, then to Castagneto Carducci for a yummy cheese and cold cuts lunch and  finishing up in the lovely Massa Marritima. In the evening we had dinner at the very fancy, 'Ombrone' restaurant in Suvereto. On the Sunday the sun finally appeared, so I took dad to the beach at Baratti to meet my friends, Nadia and Alberto and that was that. My dad's lasting impression was that we wore him out! There's thanks for you.

After my dad returned home Annette and I checked out some cool art exhibitions, one  of bronzes by Giambologna in the Bargello and the other at Palazzo Strozzi of Renaissance man Leon Battista Alberti. We were back at the Greve pool and also visited a new outdoor pool at Hidron in Campi Bisenzio. The World cup was in full swing, but that didn't deter me from visiting Radda-In-Chianti for their annual wine festival. My good friend Davide was celebrating his 40th birthday and invited us to celebrate with him at the very swish La Locanda' restaurant at the 'Granducato' hotel. One of his Chinese clients was there too, he had taken the Western name, 'Kelvin', when I asked him why, he said it was after that famous 80's footballer, 'Kelvin Keegan'... We missed this year's San Giovanni fireworks, but for a good reason as my other friend, Alberto was celebrating his retirement with a big party in the archaeological park at Populonia. All the gang were there and after a hot day on the beach at Baratti we moved the party up to Populonia for lots of feasting, dancing and presents. We stayed at a nearby Agriturismo called 'Calzalunga'. On the Sunday we were back on the Beach at Baratti and in the evening Annette and I were in San Vincenzo for a pizza. We had a nice three day weekend at the end of June and were back at the beach, this time on our own. We drove down to Calaviolina on the Friday and managed to book a night in an Agriturismo near Scarlino. 'Il Marrucheto'. After checking in we headed off to the tiny hill top town of Giuncarico. We happened across a small restaurant for an awesome seafood pasta. I left Annette to go and see Italy playing Ukraine in the World cup, an easy 3-0 win for the Azzuri and they were in the Semi finals. On the Saturday we spent the morning by the agriturismo  pool and then check out, before heading into Castiglione della Pescaia for a wicked Cacciucco lunch. We check into a nice hotel strangely enough called 'Bologna' in town and spend the afternoon on the very windy beach of Castiglione della Pescaia admiring the kite surfers. I dash back into town to catch England versus Portugal in the semi-final in a bar, but heartbreakingly England lose on penalties. We enjoyed a fried fish dinner at a restaurant called 'Iris' and stroll the packed late night streets with all the posers. We finished off the evening with a wicked chocolate and cream crepe. On the Sunday we checked out and drove down to Argentario, the temptation to stop for lunch at 'Il Bottegone' for lobster linguine proved too much and was fabulous. We drove down to Cala Grande and then onto Porto Ercole for a drink and a dip at the small beach, before enjoying an aperitivo and finally the long drive home.

We treated ourselves to a mid-week concert in Prato at the beautiful Castello del Imperatore where Italian jazz pianist, Sergio Camareriere gave us a very evocative evening of music, complete with a great trumpeter and orchestra.

I caught the World Cup semi final match between Italy and Germany after work on the large screen in Piazza Santo Spirito. I was sitting behind some German tourists who were screaming for Germany the whole evening. It was 0-0 after full time and then Palermo's Fabio Grosso scored in the 119 minute and my hero Alex Del Piero sealed their place in the final with a wonderful goal. The two German girls finally shut their mouths and hung their heads. The final was on the Sunday evening. During the day we went to the outdoor pool at Hidron. In the evening we drove up to Piazzale Michelangelo and witnessed an evenly matched incident filled final. Zidane scored a penalty in the 7th minute after a pretty tame foul by Materazzi on Florent Malouda. Materazzi atoned for his mistake by heading in an Andrea Pirlo free kick in the 18th minute. It stayed 1-1 until full time. In extra time came the famous Materazzi headbutt on Zidane, who was then sent off. So penalties it was. The whole square was buzzing as david Trezeguet missed France's second penalty and Del Piero scored Italy's fourth and Fabio Grosso scores Italy's fifth and Italy are crowned the new World Cup Champions, cue pandemonium... We somehow managed to drive home with people going absolutely crazy, but it was a great experience.

For our penultimate week in Florence before heading back to England on the Monday there was a triumphant return and party for the Italian football team. On the Tuesday there was our annual staff party at Munaciello pizzeria and on Friday our only trip to the Lucca summer festival to see the legendary Carlos Santana. On the Saturday we relaxed by the outdoor pool in Greve and had a pizza at 'Cavallacci' in Impruneta and on the Sunday we decided to check out a street festival in Certaldo called Mercantia. It was a fabulous evening with some incredible street performers, absolutely packed with people and we bought some artsy presents to take back to England.

For our last week in Italy we planned something a bit special with a dream visit up to Verona for our first Opera at the famous 'Arena' amphitheatre. we booked a night at an agriturismo called 'Corte Pellegrini' just outside the city. We drove up to lake Garda and stopped at Lasize for a pre-lunch dip and found a nice restaurant overlooking the harbour to have some seafood pasta. We made our way to our agriturismo in 40°C heat and had a refreshing swim in their ourdoor pool. A quick shower and change of clothes and we headed into Verona, where we enjoyed a nice prosecco in jazzy bar and then into the ancient Arena where we were mesmerized by the magic of Mascagni's Cavelleria Rusticana and Leoncavalli's Pagliacci. As the sun went down everybody lit these tiny candles, it was amazing and both Operas very enjoyable. They finished well after midnight and we had no trouble finding somewhere to get a pizza. We arrived home sometime after 2 am.

After a hearty breakfast at our agriturismo we headed up to Sirmione on Lake Garda. this was one of our favourite and prettiest towns on the lake and after parking up and finding somewhere for a pre-lunch swim we happened on a funky enoteca for some bruschetta and white wine. In the afternoon we took a drive round the west side of the lake past Desenzano and Salà and stop for a swim near Gargnano. We stopped for a slap up fish dinner there at the very elegant 'Al Miralago' on the harbour. 

England

This year went back to England for three weeks. We flew from Pisa to Gatwick where my dad picked us up. We arrived at the end of the England's biggest heatwave for 350 years. There was no 'Top of the Pops' that year on tv as producers finally decided that hardly anybody was watching it anymore and the MTV generation had all but replaced this classic music show, it was the end of a generation. A relaxing first weekend is only broken my a massive thunderstorm. I was working at Swandean again, but the schedule had changed, with longer days, but Friday afternoons off. My brother Carl had had a major breakdown. We saw Bernice, my Grandma, Lisa and Derek, my sister Cassie and Rory during the first week and on the Friday had our first look at Rita and Mat's new baby, William, born on Tuesday and only three days old... good timing!

For our second weekend we managed to swing a visit to Cambridge to see Annette's brother, Phil. His house is a mess, so he fixed us up with a luxury room at Peterhouse college, complete with four-poster bed. We took the train up on the Saturday morning and go for a coffee with Phil and Leonie in a swish café outside King's College. We got to meet Phil's new 'girlfriend', Jane for the first time. We had a very hot date at one of Phil's favourite restaurants, Midsummer House on the river. And there began our three-hour masterpiece lunch, including two bottles of Gosset pink champagne. Pink grapefruit champagne mousses an avocado and tiger prawn cocktail to start. I opted for the foie gras cannelloni followed by a lamb with couscous. many scallops were consumed and after two more pre-desserts Annette and I split an incredible chocolate cake with warm chocolate sauce. We went back to Jane's house, which was having some work done and relaxed in her pretty garden. we were dropped back at our suite at Peterhoise and after a shower and change of clothing were treated to some Shakespeare in the park, Midsummer night's dream in the grounds of Trinity college. We tried to get something to eat, but around 11 o'clock everywhere was closed or closing and there were only drunk teenagers staggering around this beautiful city. After a well-earned night's rest in our enormous bed and a breakfast courtesy of Café Nero, we met up with Phil and Leonie for a spot of punting on the Camb. We finished our visit with a drink on the lawn before bidding Leonie our fond farewells. We had a nice ploughman's at Auntie's Teahouse in town, a browse round the shops and back to Peterhouse to pack up. Phil and Jane met us and dropped us back to the station.

Week 2

Back in Worthing and back to work. We were round my cousin Joanna and David's new house, which surprise surprise they had bought from our old friends of ten years previous, Gary and Sam woodhams. We also got to meet Bernice's new boyfriend, Graemee. 

London

After last year's 7/7 bombings we were back up to the nation's capital for the day. We hadn't actually planned to see any art exhibitions or any shows, just to wander. A quick train ride and we were strolling around the streets of London. We had a few places we wanted to see and our first stop was Portobello road, where we stopped at an antique dealer's for a flavourless cup of coffee. A quick hop omn the tube and off at Notting Hill Gate. We checked out some very cool shops and and bought some second hand books. The very long street market there was very cool and we stopped for lunch in a very jazzy restaurant, actually sitting outside! Annette bought a cool silver teapot in the market and then we made our way to Hyde park to relax with what seemed like a thousand muslims. Our last stop was Covent Gardens. We listened to a cool Opera singer and an even cooler black tap dancer/trumpeter. There was also some really crazy guy juggling chainsaws. We finished up at an outdoor Morroccan café/restaurant and ate falafels as we people watched. It was a very enjoyable day.

Sunday and we chilled out and dinner at my mum's in the evening.

Week 3

For our last week, I managed to fit in seeing my brother Alan, although I saw his three girls, he was working nights and stayed in bed! We also went for a drink with Bernice and Graemee. On the Thursday I teamed up with Mat for some darts and pool at the Henty pub in Ferring. On Friday, having finished work at Swandean I dropped my bicycle back at grandma's and that was that.

After a marathon journey via Genova because of electrical storms and some extra tight security at Gatwick we eventually arrived home. After sleeping for most of the following day we dragged ourselves up and out to Fiesole for a pizza at the trendy 'Le Lance' and ice cream afterwards at gelateria dei medici' to make ourselves feel back at home in Italy. For this summer's 'real' holiday we had decided to go back to my roots, i.e. Naples. well the island of Ischia to be precise. We booked our Eurostar train tickets, hotel documents and  new case. 

Before our departure we had been invited by our new friends, Nadia and Alberto to attend their regatta at Baratti on the August 15th bank holiday in Italy called 'Ferragosto'  and decided that rather than stay in another agriturismo, which were becoming rather expensive, we would try our hand at camping.  So we got ourselves to the largest camping/sports shop, Decathlon in Prato to buy a tent, blow up mattress and sleeping bags for our new adventure into the world of camping. We drovedown to Baratti and by 10.30 am we were sitting on the beach with all the gang and the participants readying their boats. The planned 11.00am start turns in to 2.30 pm and spo we had time for lunch and a swim before cheering them off. The actual course was a long way out so we didn't have much idea who was winning. Unfortunatelty Alberto misjudged the wind and only finished fourth, still it's the taking part that counts right? We watched the prize giving and then head to our campsite to put up the tent. It only takes a couple of minutes to erect and in no time we are unpacked, showered, dressed and ready to head back to the pine woods at Baratti for the big party. A Chilean teenager was dj-ing and played some cool hip hop tracks. There was loads of food, seafood starters, 'porchetta' roast suckling pig, lasagne and plenty of drink. We danced into the early hours, it was a memorable day. After a few hours sleep in our new tent we staggered out of bed and decided to go it alone and try and find this hidden beach called 'Buca della Fate' or fairy's hole! After a few attempts and much walking through the Mediterranean scrub we came out at this spectacular 'opening' and are on a huge rock. There was no actual beach, but the water was crystal clear. After some swimming and sunbathing we made the difficult walk back up to the car park. we spent some time on the sandy beach of Riva degli Etruschi before heading back to the campsite to shower and change and then we went to 'La Pergola' restaurant for a wicked cacciucco fish dish. We spent a second night in the tent and all went well. In the morning we packed up and drove past Follonica and found a wonderful beach just before Punta Ala. White powdery sand and lovely clear water. We spent a relaxing afternoon and then drove into Castiglione della Pescaia for dinner and a stroll. 

Ischia

We had been wanting to go to Ischia for a while and this year we make it our main holiday. The journey is a bit complicated. Bus to the station, train to naples, taxi to the port, ferry to Ischia and then taxi to our hotel in Forio. We had booked half board at quite a reasonable price. They had a small pool which we made good use of. The hotel was up in the hills and one of the bosse, Angelo ran a shuttle service down to the main town. From there we could take the bus to various places. On our first day we went to a local beach, Citarra. It was packed with local Neapolitan families who seemed to have brought three course meals down to the beach with them including saucepans of steaming pasta which mothers were spoon serving to their teenage children. We enjoyed some lovely fruit and both have back massages. We were picked up by Angelo only to discover that the water is off at the hotel. It eventually comes back on and we enjoy  our dinner and lovely sunset from the terrace.

Procida

One of the reasons for coming to ischia was to visit the tiny island of Procida, made famous by the film 'Il Postino'. We took the bus from Forio to Ischia Porto where we picked up the ferry for the short crossing. We had a nice wander on the main harbour, but this was not the harbour we were after. By chance we bump into a woman who told us we were after the port of Coricella and pointed us in the right direction. After walking over a hill we were greeted with some spectacular views down to the familiar harbour. We made our way down and it was if we had been transported back in time. Unfortunately the heavens opened, so we found a restaurant to have lunch. It was the most wonderful fish meal. We spent some time soaking up the magical atmosphere here, there were hardly any tourists to spoil it, then we made our way back for the return journey. We found a nice sandy beach near Ischia Porto to relax on and have an early evening swim. 

The following day we stayed local and found a great beach in the beautiful bay of San Montano, set amongst the lush greenery of the Negombro park. In the afternoon we wandered into Lacco Ameno, where there was a strange mushroom shaped rock. The following day we visited probably the most picturesque spot on the island, St. Angelo. It didn't disappoint and we enjoyed on this pretty promontory. We indulged in fried panzarotte and crochette for lunch. we found a tiny beach for some afternoon dip in the sea, before .... the crazy crush queue to get back to Forio.

Capri

I had last visited the enchanting island of Capri about fifteen years ago and this was Annette's first time here. We took the ferry from Forio and it was a fifty minute journey away as we arrived into the very impressive Marina Grande. We found a cute café where we stopped for a cappuccino and sfogliatelle pastry before attacking the beast. Then we joined our first queue to buy tickets for the funicular to Capri town (half an hour) then we joined another queue for the actual six minute funicular ride. The tiny town was packed with tourists, so we had a quick look around and then took the bus up to the other main town, Anacapri, which was just as elegant and less packed. We had a browse and had a wicked aubergine pie lunch. Annette spotted a sign for a chair lift up to Mt. Solaro and in no time we were sailing to 1,500 feet and a sensational view over the whole of the island and the bay of Naples. Another browse at the extremely expensive designer shops and then checked out the garden of Augustus, with an incredible view of the 'Faraglione' rocks. We join our last queue of the day, a mad rush to get back down to the port and ferry back to Ischia. Our last full day was spent in total relaxation on Angelo's favourite beach, Cava del Isola. We had a sensational pizza for lunch followed by our last dinner and late evening visit to Forio and limoncello. So a sad farewell as we checked out and three hours to spend before the ferry. Cappuccino and another pizza lunch and we were on the ferry back to Naples and again had three hours to kill at Naples station without getting mugged or killed. We did however watch a group of guys trying to sell people mobile phones and then give them a box with a brick in it!

sept 2006 - jan 2007

Work again started slowly at the beginning of September, but there was plenty to keep us busy at the weekends. The first weekend of September the weather was still good, so we took our tent and went camping in Liguria. We stayed at a small campsite in Lavagna. We made our first visit to the very expensive (the car park was 4.50 euro an hour) Portofino and saw a rat scurrying behind a restaurant. We returned to Cinque Terre for only the second time. We started off at Monterosso al Mare and then took the train to Vernazza where, after my pre-lunch swim, we had a wonderful lunch at 'Il Baretto'. We then took the train to Manarola, where we had another swim and then walked back to the very high, Corniglia, the only walk we hadn't been able to do four years ago.

The Greve wine festival was a bit better that year as I knew one of the Sommeliers who didn't punch the holes in my ticket. The second weekend in September and with the weather still white hot, we returned to the beach, this time at our new find, Punta Ala. We found a campsite called Baia Verde, which was very nice, but rather large. We had dinner in the very pretty Castiglione della Pescaia.

The following weekend we went to no less than three different wine festivals. Vino e Piacere in Impruneta on the Friday, Gaiole in Festa on the Sturday and Vino al Vino in Panzano on the Saturday. Unbelievably the weather was still hot enough to swim on the fourth weekend in September and so we packed up the tent again and tried another new campsite, Cieloverde in Marina di Grosseto. We spent a day on the beach at the wild Marina di Albarese and we spotted some horses, white Chiannina cattle a fox and even some fallow deer leaping through our campsite. I had bought a new restaurant guide called 'The Slow Food guide' and we found an incredible restaurant in Braccagni called 'Oste Scuro'. The meal didn't disappoint. We also spent the day on the beach at Talamone and the town there was pretty too.

My new friend Davide Longo invited us out for a pre-back to work meal at a cool restaurant in Regello where we feasted on Bistecca alla Fiorentina, but there were no porcini mushrooms.

At the start of October work started picking up. We headed out for a trip to the Casentino mountains to the east of Florence, stopping at Frecobaldi's Castello Nipozzano for a picnic. We drove over the 'Passo della Consuma' at 3,00 feet and finished up in Pratovecchio. Thefollowing weekend Annette was ill, so I took a drove to check out the sculpture garden in Chianti, it was a bit weird. The Sunday after we visited Certaldo for their autumn food festival, 'Boccacesca', which was quite cool. I managed to go inside the Santa Trinita church in Via Tournabuoni and see the Sassetti chapel and Ghirlandaio frescoes. We visited Pistoia for the first time, although I had stayed here many years ago on my first ever visit to Florence. It's actually a very pretty town and we had a very pleasant day here. At the end of November we finally got our porcini mushroooms when we went to a special themed meal in Tosi, a small town in the Vallombrossa. We finished the month with a first time visit to the Bardini gardens with spectacular views over Forence.

Halloween and November's 'i morti' passed by without drama and we are invited to 'Lupiciana' where my friend Nadia's nephew Matteo and his girlfriend Barbara lived, for dinner. We also paid another visit to 'Munaciello' for a top notch pizza. I also stumbled on a food and wine festival in Via Condotta, where I had a wicked ribollita. We also saw our first 'Italian language film, 'La Sconosciuta' at the Vis Pathe cinema in Prato. We were back in San Miniato for our second truffle festival and also drove up to the Garfagnana region to visit the beautiful town of Barga. I was back in Pisa for my second 'I Pisani piu Scietti' wine festival to end the month.

At the beginning of December we were invited to my friends Davide and Rossana for dinner and he uncorked a very special 1998 Biondi Santi Brunello Riserva wine and Annette's friend Gemma gave birth to her first daughter, Sophie Ginevra. After breaking up for Christmas, Annette flew back to the UK to see her mum and dad, while I was still working, but she returned with more goodies for my birthday, Little Britain 3, pygamas and a watch. We had the now customary smoked salmon and cream cheese and Veuve Cliquot champagne as I turned 38. The weather was very mild and sunny over Christmas. Our friends Aberto and Nadia invited us for a huge dinner in the evening and we played Cluedo. We went for a stroll up Scandicci Alto and were invited for dinner at Riccardo and Bea's, we met their one-year old son Dodi, who was now walking. We finished the year at the Palazzo Medici Riccardo, checking out the restored bronze, 'Apoxyomenos' which had been found in Croatia in 1999 and was on display before returning home.

For New Year's eve we were invited up Monte Morello by Davide and Rossana for a special meal at the Ulivo Rosso. The food was fantastic and the music pleasant. It was a cool, if expensive way to see in the New Year.

2007

World news. In January Bulgaria and Romania joined the European Union and Steve Jobs released the first iPhone. In April 17 students were killed in the Virginia Tech shooting and in May Madeline Mccanne disappeared from her holiday house in Portugal. In August the world financial crisis starts with the sub-prime mortgage scandal. In December former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. 

Films this year included Atonement, and Woody Allen’s  Cassandras dream. T.V. Shows we saw were Gavin and Stacey and Mad men. Music and Amy Winehouse’s  back to black was a standout release. Books I read were 1,000 splendid suns, notes on a scandal, 100 years of solitude, name of rose

In the New Year we decided to return to il Cerreto in Pienza for five days. By now Bagno Vignoni was our 'Terme' of choice and this year we went there twice. We had lunch in the pretty square on the first day. We had brought some Ferrari Spumante a 1995 Brunello and Sauternes to drink at the appartment. There was the homemade cake breakfast again and on the second day we visited Sorano, where we had a nice lunch at the 'Locanda Dell'Arco. In the afternoon we drove 3,000 feet up to the abbey of San Salvadore in Mont Amiata. In the evening we ate at a restaurat that we had somehow missed last year, called 'Latte Di Luna' (milk of the moon). It was an incredible experience and we would return there many times. On our fourth day we enjoyed a guided tour around the Etruscan tombs and museum of Chiusi and had lunch in 'La solita zuppa' (the same old soup). We drove on to Torrita di Siena and Sinalunga. For our fourth day we were back soaking in the thermal waters of Bagno Vignoni. We had lunch in 'L'Osteria la Parata' and then spent the afternoon in Montalcino, buying some more Brunello and some cool cups and glasses. In the evening we drove up to a nice town called Trequanda, where we had another fabulous meal at 'Il Conte Matto' (the mad count) For our last day we stocked up on some pecorino cheese from Pienza and had a brief wander round San Quirico D'Orcia, before heading home.

On January 9th Apple's Steve Jobs released the first 'i-phone' a product that would go on to revolutionize the world.

Gemma, Tiziano and new addition, Sophie, come to ours for Sunday lunch and we were invited to Alberto's to watch Fiorentina, for dinner and a game of Cluedo.

February started with a bang as Italian President, Romano Prodi after less than ten months in office, handed in his resignation. He later narrowly won a vote of no confidence, but his weak leadership would stumble on for all of 2007, until he finally lost the vote of no confidence and the inevitable happened...

Our Nissan Sunny car was still limping on and received four new tyres. We finally got round to having Barbara and Matteo round for dinner, along with Nadia and Alberto. They returned the favour and before you know it we were back at their house for Bistecca alla Fiorentina. We both had new bicycles and used them to cycle to work and in the Cascine park where we bumped into February's carnival celebrations. One of our work colleagues and new neighbour, Anthony Leahmy, who seperated from his wife, had decided to move to Korea and so I was asked to take over some of his classes. Davide and Rossana went on a trip to India and Annette popped back to the UK to see her mum and dad. I began lessons with Stefano Chioccioli, but not his son, Niccolò, who was still recovering from a horiffic motorbike accident. While Annette was away I went to a jazz concert in Prato to see American Saxophonist, Anthony Braxton.

March was very mild and we drove up to Monte Morello and went for a pizza at Munaciello and there was talk at work from Steve of the possibility of a full-time permanent Italian contract. He really fought on my behalf with the then Director of the British Institute, Vanessa Hall-Smith and now that Anthony had left, I had my chance. A very special event that March was the wedding of Annette's niece, Bernice and Graeme. The actual ceremony was going to be in the Maldives, but they had a registery office service and reception in Croydon. We were invited and decided to go. It was a nice chance too for me to see some of my family on this flying visit and to pick up some books and food from the Fatherland. On returning to Italy, we visited the Villa Caruso in Signa and went back to Montefiridolfi for a walk and to see if Miriam's house was still standing and had been sold. A very special exhibition I attended was the Cezanne in Florence, at the Palazzo Strozzi. I was dying to see some paintings  of the French Post-Impressionist master and I wasn't disappointed. We finished the month at a new find Pizzeria, Firenze Nova and weren't disappointed either.

April started with ten days of our Easter holidays. We spent some time in our local park at Villa Vogel on Via canova and then drove down south of Siena to visit the roofless church of San Galgano, Mt Siepi and Montieri. Not content with that, we drove on to Massa Marritima, where I spotted a wine that had won the Wine Spectator 'Wine of the year', a Brunello di Montalcino from Casa Nova dei Neri, the 2001 Tenuta Nuova. We again missed the 'scopo del carro', but chilled out up Scandicci Alto. We celebrated Annette's birthday at 'Osteria Lo Zero' in Impruneta and the waiter brought out a cake with a candle and gave us a free bottle of wine to take away,

Seville

For our Easter holiday we had booked a five-day trip to Seville. It was our first time on mainland Spain. Ryanair were flying from Pisa and the chance to go to Spain was too good to pass up. We checked into a very plush 4-star hotel just outside the old Arabic walls. The weather wasn't fantastic, but we had a great time wandering the ancient streets and soaking up the southern Spanish atmosphere and hospitality. We ate a fantastic meal on our first night, at 'El Crujiente' where the chef was a former Spanish 'young chef of the year'. Our first tapas experience wasn't brilliant, but we kept trying and found a fabulous place called Enrique Becerra. We visited the Golden Tower, the  Real Alcazar and Giralda tower and the Casa Pilatos with it's incredible 'azulejos' tiles. We took the train for a day trip to Cordoba, where unfortunately it rained all day, but the Cathedral with the Arabic 'Mezquita' inside was a real highlight of the holiday. We spent a day in the 'Parque Maria Luisa' and the Plaza d'Espana. We got a taste of Flamenco with a spectacular show and the sun came out on the last day as we wandered the 'Triana' district over the river, checked out the Hotel Alfonso X111, which provided the inspiration for the tobacco factory in the Opera Carmen. We finished up with a wonderful paella lunch before flying back to Florence.

On our return to the Renaissance capital we took our good friends Davide and Rossana to Firenze Nova for a super pizza. For the 'Festa della Liberazione' we drove out to Bivigliano and then happened upon this huge field at Olmo near Fiesole and enjoyed some early spring sun. We finished up in Settignano for an ice cream and to check out a restaurant called Capponcina and spotted another restaurant where we had a chat to the owner and he offered us a passito di Pantelleria. For the last weekend in April we drove to a lake near Grassina suggested by one of my teenage students. It turned out to be one of the strangest experience of our lives. Upon walking through the woods we come across a naked guy sunbathing and then another and another. Apparently it was a popular hangout for naturist homosexual men. We quickly made our exit. In the evening we cooled down with a pizza called 'Zero Zero'. On the Sunday we went to see a Vermeer exhibition in the very pretty town of Modena.

May started with a customary visit to the iris garden up Piazzale Michelangelo. We also stumbled on the rose garden on the opposite side of Piazzale and finished with an aperitivo at 'Fuori Porta'. My auntie Fiorella paid us her first visit, coming with her friend, Lynn on a short trip. They stayed at the hotel Laurus on via Cerretani and I met up with them and showed them round some of the city and for lunch at one of my favourite spots 'Nuvoli'. I also took them for a drive to San Gimignano, but unfortunately it rained.

On the 7th May I was finally offered a permanent 'tempo indeterminato' Italian contract. After five and a half years of toiling away on part time, temporary and freelance contracts and never knowing if they were going to be renewed and not being able to get permanent residency, I was finally going to have the security of this 'holy grail' of Italian life. Steve Bush had finally been able to convince our then director Vanessa Hall-Smith and she had agreed. It would mean so much to me and all that hard work had finally paid off. We celebrated with meals at 'Vico del Carmine' and 'Quattro Leonie' as I finally became a full-time teacher at the British Institute and could say goodbye to the dreaded Wall Street...

We made our third visit to Cinque Terre in mid-May. This time we drove to La Spezia and took the train to Monterosso where I had my famed pre-lunch swim. We trained to Vernazza, where we had lunch again at 'Il Baretto'. An after lunch swim was followed by a one-hour walk back to Monterosso with those sensational views. We met a Milanese guy who sold us a very refreshing lemon granita and finished with an early evening swim. I saw this year's 'Mille Miglia' car race again in the city as I was working and afterward saw Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0 in the F.A. cup final. On the Sunday we were at Villa Le Corti for this year's edition of 'Alle Corte del vino' and as the weather was so hot the outdoor pool at Greve opened a week early, much to our delight.

In June we visited the medeival festival in Malmantile and enjoyed a wicked dinner at 'La Capponcina' in Settignano. We went to the cinghiale sagra in Montespertoli and then out for some end of term dinners. To the trattoria 'Bordino' with my Pre-Advanced group and for pizza at 'Crespino Ray' near Poggio Imperiale with my pre-intermediate group. We experienced only our second ever 'Luminari di San Ranieri in Pisa and I took Annette back to Crespino Ray for a pizza.

At the end of June we welcomed our next visitors of the year, Annette's niece, Felicity and her son Stanley were making their second visit in as many years. We took them to Greve outdoor pool and to Siena, where we saw an acrobat show and had another pizza. Annette took them to see David in the Accademia and we went up for a walk to Fiesole. At the weekend we drove them to the beach at Punta Ala and in the evening we went to Castiglione della Pescaia. Our final day with them was for the San Giovanni fireworks on the 24th.

On the 27th  with mounting pressure that he had misled the country on the war with Iraq,Tony Blair resigned as prime minister of England and his chancellor Gordon Brown took over.

As June turned to July, two of my favourite tv shows crossed paths. The multi-award winning U.S. tv series 'The Sopranos' ended and another favourite 'Mad Men' began.We were invited to our friend's Davide and Rossana's summer house in the very popular Castiglioncello. We enjoyed a very pleasant weekend as they proved the perfect hosts. We ate well at 'il Cocodrillo' and 'Il Porticciolo' and had a great time using their sunbeds on the rocky beach. We were also invited for a diner at Barbara and Matteo's as they were moving from Lupiciano and we met Sara's new boyfriend, Daniele. We were back at the beach the following weekend, this time with our tent at the huge Cieloverde campsite. We returned too to 'Oste scuro' and had another fabulous meal. We also returned to the beach at Punta Ala and for dinner in Castiglione della Pescaia. Our summer courses were nearly finished and midweek we were back at this year's Lucca Summer festival to see one of our favourite Soul artists, John Legend. He was very cool and gave a memorable performance. We were invited to our work colleague, Lucia's for dinner and had our last meal out with my summer course group that included two of Annette's old students, Donato and Ivan at the wonderful 'Trattoria del Orto'.

 The Villa San Michele

During our last week of work before we broke up for the summer we received some more visitors, although this time they weren't staying with us, Annette's brother Phil and his new partner, Jane Hunter. They were staying at the Villa San Michele in Fiesole, a five star hotel designed by Michelangelo himself. We met them for dinner at the villa and in the most incredible setting in the restaurant under the loggia and enjoyed a very special meal courtesy of Phil. The following day we went with them to San Gimignano, where we had an awesome lunch at the 'Osteria del Carcere' and then joined them up at the villa for a swim. In the evening we treated them to a meal at our new find, 'Sosta Rosellino', but it was slightly disappointing. The following day they visited Florence on their own and we met up in the evening for another wicked meal at Beccofino next to the British Institute library. We finished up with an ice cream at the new 'Grom' gelateria, where a few weeks earlier Annette had met and chatted to Sarah- Sex in the City- Jessica Parker.

Provence

Day 1

We broke up from work on 16th July packed up our suitcases and the next day drove to this year's summer holiday destination, Provence. We stopped at a beach near Antibes for a swim, before continuing on through Vence and finally deciding on St Paul de Vence (made famous by one-time-resident, Marc Chagall) to stop. We went to the tourist information office and found a B&B to stay for the night. We checked in and went back to the very pretty town for dinner at 'Le Vieux Moulin' and a wander.

Day 2

After enjoying  a swim in the outdoor pool and another stroll in St Paul de Vence, we headed off towards Aix-en-Provence, into neighbouring Gard, past fields of sunflowers and lavender and on to our destination, Barjac, where we had booked a 'chambre d'hote' called 'Le Clos du Mas Pellier', for the week. Our host, Dominique welcomed us in before diving off into the pool... Our room was in a kind of cave, hewn out of the stone and was just the  kind of place we loved.

Day 3

In the morning we aclimatised ourselves by having a look around our local town, Barjac and the gorge in the Ardeche in the afternoon, where we had a go kayaking in the river. Dinner was at 'Les Delices de L'Esplanade'.

Day 4

We drove to Chateauneuf-Du-Pape, for obvious reasons, stopping off at a 'cave' where we purchased some red nectar. In the afternoon we visited the Papal city of Avignon, a highlight of the holiday. There was a music and theatre festival on and it was a hub of activity. We did the customary dance on the 'half' bridge of Saint Bénezet and generally wandered enjoying the little street theatre companies performing. On  the way home we stopped for a meal at the very windy, Pont st. Espirit

Day 5

We spent a relaxing day by our outdoor pool and in the evening ate at a local tapas bar called 'Agitatio'.

Day 6

After breakfast outside our cave we visited Vaison La Romaine, a beautiful Roman/Medeival town with lovely cobbled streets and old castle and Roman bridge and some other Roman ruins and theatre. It was an extremely hot day and compared to Avignon the day before, fairly deserted. We then drove on to visit one of Provence's most famous sights, the abbey of Senanque, the one with the lavender field in the front. Even though it was late July and the lavender usually blossoms a little earlier, there was enough for us to enjoy. The plan was to move onto Fontaine de Vaucluse, but we spot this hill-top town and went to investigate... it turned out to be a place called Gordes and very nice it was too. We spent a few hours wandering round this beautiul place and enjoyed a drink in a workers bar with the most incredible views. We did eventually get to Fontaine du Vaucluse, but it was slightly disappointing. Still we had an enjoyable time and a pleasant meal on the river.

Day 7

Our time was up at Le Mas du Pellier and we checked out and bid Dominique farewell and she dived back into the pool as we drove off... We had booked a second week at the very reasonably priced hotel Carlton in Beaulieu-Sur -Mer on the Cote d'Azur. The snag being that it was only a room and all the restaurants were incredibly expensive. Anyway we made good time, checked into the hotel and made use of their outdoor pool straight away, before changing and heading out to eat dinner. Our first meal down at the port was at 'Le Max' and we decided we could only afford one course and one glass of wine, especially if our funds were going to last the week.

Day 8 - 24th July -  Our 8th Wedding Anniversary

I snuck out early to buy some flowers and champagne, we breakfasted at a local bar in the town and then hit our local beach for the day. In the evening on the advice of our 'concierge', Fanny, we booked a table at neighbouring town, 'Villefranche-Sur-Mer, which we walked to and enjoyed our half bottle of Moet champagne. The restaurant, 'L'Oursin Bleu turned out, appropriately, to be the best meal of the holiday, although the most expensive too.

Day 9

We spent the morning on the beach at Beaulieu before making the ten minute train ride into Nice. We spent the afternoon wandering around this very famous city trying desperately to love it, but failing miserably... there was nothing here to excite us, from the tacky shops to a less than tasty dinner, oh well!

Day 10

Much better as we drove up to the unbelievably pretty town of Eze. Tiny cobbled streets, small interesting shops and stunning views of the coastline, we even had a peak inside the 'Chevre d'Or' hotel. In the afternoon we drove down to the St Jean Cap Ferrat peninsular and oggled at the huge villas. We stumbled on a very cool beach with a live band that were playing Kool and the Gang songs in the local bar. In the evening we took a drive to the nearby Montecarlo and I parked the Nissan Sunny in the Casino square! The seafront was absolutely packed and this evening there was a special firework display competition. Montecarlo was a bit over the top, but we had an enjoyable evening.

Day 11

For our penultimate day we went back to the very beautiful Saint Jean Cap Ferrat which was a definite favourite. We visited the Villa Rothschild in the morning and spent the afternoon on anothe secluded beach, 'Le Fosse', on the penninsular.  In the evening we drove to Villefranche and had a very disappointing pan-fried fish meal at 'La Mère Germaine, but we enjoyed Villefranche.

Day 12

Our last day and after packing up (and with no less than 14 bottles of wine in the boot) we visited the Greek Villa Kerylos and went back to 'Le Fosse' beach for our last  few hours of sun and had an early bouillabass dinner at the fabulous 'La Goélette' restaurant we made the long, long drive back along the coast and into Italy and at 3.30am home to Florence.

We had five days before our flight back to the Uk and in between washing and packing, we spent most of the time at the outdoor pool in Greve. We enjoyed another pizza at Crespino Ray and the were at Bobloi gardens to see the Opera Rigoletto.

Uk

This year I was back for a massive four weeks to work and Annette for only the first two weeks, before I started my new contract in September at the British Institute. We flew from Pisa to Bournmouth with Ryanair and trained it to Worthing. It was a fairly uneventful visit. I worked at Swandean for four weeks and Annette spent spme time with her parents. Chas' parkinsons was well along and he wasn't too aware of what was going on. Rory had messed up some decorating up for Mavis, so it was my job to tidy it up a bit, putting my old painting skills to good use. My dad was in hospital for an operation as he was suffering from bowel problems. Annette's brother, Phil and daughter Leonie were down the first weekend. We spent time with my mum, Annette's sister Ruth, who I would stay with for the second two weeks. We had a curry at my sister Rita's, before Annette returned to Florence. I hired a car for the third weekend and take my mum and sister, Rita to visit my brother Carl in Taunton. He was living on a farm at the time with two other guys. At this time he seemed quite well. We stopped off at Port Solent on the way back for a surprisingly good Italian meal. more decorating at Annette's parents, in between teaching at Swandean and then I was back at Rita's for dinner. I bought some books and CDs at the car boot sale with my other sister, Cassie and spend the afternoon on a family picnic at a park in Southwater, near Horsham... for old time's sake. My final port of call was at my brother Alan's in Lancing. His family had now grown to five. With the birth of Scarlett, his third daughter.

My flight home was fine and as usual I wasted no time to get to the outdoor pool in Greve, as I was back to proper summer weather. I joined Annette for a welcome back to Italy meal at Perseus up Fiesole. I checked out the Larry Fink Jazz photograph exhibition at the Alinari museum in Santa Maria Novella. I started back at work, but the second weekend was still hot enough to swim, so we packed up the tent and headed for less crowded Calaviolina. We spotted a campsite at the nearby town of Scarlino Basso called, 'Il Fontino' and it turned out to be a great find. Small, clean and with its own outdoor swimming pool. we found a really nice restaurant in Ravi called 'Passo Carraio' for the evening. So not only did we have the weather, but the food too... Welcome back to 'La Dolce Vita'! The third weekennd in September was still hot enough for the beach, but we had been invited to our work colleague, John's for dinner, so during the day we picnicked in the Chianti, in Castellina and we visited the castle of Meleto, where we purchased some wicked Brandy. On the Sunday we were in Panzano for this year's 'Vino al Vino', before having dinner at one of our old haunts, 'La Paglietta' in San Polo. The following weekend we were at 'Vino è Piacere, this year moved from the cloisters at Impruneta to the hotel terrace at the Relais Certosa hotel. September came to a close with new wine festival, 'Florence Wine Event' around the streets of Florence and on the Sunday we chilled out for our first visit to lake Bilancino in the Mugello.

In October and November I enrolled in a Sommelier course. It was held every Monday evening at 9pm, so I could just get to it after work. I passed with flying colours and 30/30 in my final exam.

We were at the Odeon cinema to see Atonement and paid the very cheap 'Sabatino' restaurant a visit at the beginning of October. I got to see one of my heroes again as Juventus played Fiorentina at the Franchi stadium. My good friend Piero Fenci got me a ticket and we saw an amicable draw in the Curva Ferrovia. We hd our friends, Davide and Rossana round for dinner and I fried them up some Porcini mushrooms and we drove out for the afternoon to Bagno a Ripoli to relax in an olive field. Vinoteca al Chianti hosted a French wine evening that was too good to pass up and so I had my first experience of some quality Boreux and Burgundy wines. We went for a wicked mushroom meal in a tiny town caled Turbone near Montelupo and stumbled on their local sagra, Bosco in Festa. My good friend Davide managed to get me a ticket for the Napoli Fiorentina match and we witnessed a great 1-0 win and a wicked pizza afterwards at Pizzaiuolo.

For the 'i morti' break we went to look at some houses in Pistoia and Lamporecchio and I took Anette to the 'Picadilly' restaurant near the stadium. We drove out to two very pretty towns near Arezzo, Castiglion Fiorentino and Foiano, where there is a cool carnival in February. Unfortunately Annette's father, Chas took a turn for the worse and Annette returned to England to be with him. My good friend Nadia turned 50 and I was invited to her special birthday party in a restaurant in Bagno a Ripoli called 'Sottosopra'. I paid a visit to Siena to see inside the Palazzo Pubblico and the wonderful Ambrogio Lorenzetti fresco cycle of 'the good and bad government.' Annette returned after her two-week trip and joined me for the truffle festival at San Miniato.

At the beginning of December as the term was winding down we went to the 'Antica Porta' near Porta Romana for a pizza and seafood gnocchi an end of term staff meal at Marrione and lunch at our new favourite spot, 'Nuvoli'. Our friends, Davide and Rossana invited us for a fondue dinner to celebrate the refurbishment that had finally been finished on their flat and then we broke up from work.

We had decided to spend Christmas in England, partly because Annette's father was still ill and so she could spend more time with him. This time we took the Meridiana flight from Florence to Gatwick. We spent quite a bit of time at Worthing hospital with Chas, I had a play around with youtube for the first time at mums. We saw Cassie's new baby boy, Milo and I celebrated my birthday at Fiorella's house with some of my family. We spent Christmas day lunch strangely enough at Annette's sister Ruth's house and in the evening were at Rita and Matt's house for some sing star. Annette's brother Phil came down with Leonie and I just managed to see my brother, Alan and his three girls.

We were back in Florence to bring in the new year, this year in the open air in Piazza Santa Croce with maestro Lanzetti and his classical orchestra.

2008

Slumdog, Bejamin button, mamma mia, vicki christina, Revolutionary road

tv. breaking bad

Music. Adele 19, Melody gardot

books: White tiger, Enchantress of florence

Another return trip to the south of Tuscany for more hot springs, cake and cheese, as we spent four nights at our favourite agriturismo farmhouse 'Il Cerreto' near Pienza. We stopped for lunch in Buonconvento and bathed in the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni. We ate out at 'Latte di Luna' on our first evening. After our cake breakfast we visited Cortona, it was much better at this time of year without the hordes of American tourists and we checked out two local museums to see the Luca Signorelli frescoes, a lovely Fra Angelico painting and some cool Etruscan pieces. We had again brought some wine with us and one of the bottles we opened, our famed 1997 Poggio Banale Brunello from La Poderina was corked. I had paid about 50 euro for it and had the brainwave idea to take it back to the winery in nearby Montalcino and exchage it. We drove out to the winery and saw the abbey at Sant Antimo, but they were all closed up for the winter. We stopped at 'Il Giardino' for lunch, but unfortunately the weather was too bad to swim at Bagno Vignoni, Eventually after enquiring at the 'Fattoria del Cerro' office in Montepulciano about our corked wine, we drove out to their winery in the middle of nowhere at a place called Cervignano. We found a guy doing an inventory and after searching around through some boxes, found a pristine bottle of the same year. He opened it there and then and we had ourselves a new 'drinkable' bottle of 50 euro wine. All's well that ends well. We stopped for dinner in Montepulciano at 'La Loggia del Vignola' for a so-so meal and the next day stacked up on cheeses before heading back home to Florence.

On our return to Florence and work, on the 10th we received the bad news that Annette's father, Chas had passed away. Annette took the first flight back to England to comfort her mother and help with the funeral arrangements. My friend and work colleague, Peter Dulborough consoled me with a meal at 'Accademia' and ice cream at Cavini, I checked out the new film season at the British Institute library with Luca Visconti's 'Ossesione', before taking the plane back to England to join Annette for Chas's funeral. I got to see some of my family, but it was a somewhat muted visit, as we said goodbye to a great man.

R.I.P. Charles Walter Woodland 1920-2008

At the end of January we were back at Firenze Nova for pizza and a visit to Pistoia. As February began we managed to go Salsa dancing and found a new pizzeria called 'Spera', near our favourite Gelateria, dei Medici. They apparently won a world champion pizza award in 2002 and we tried the very tasty winning pizza. The weather improved and we saw 'Roma, Citta Aperte' at the library and went for another pizza with Davide and Rossana at the Antica Porta. We went for some nice walks up Sacndicci Alto, San Donato in Poggio and even managed to gatecrash one of Nadia and Alberto's Salsa lessons. Davide and Rossana had us back at their place for a mid-February barbecue of Bistescca alla Fiorentina and he even opened a 1991 Brunello wine from 'Il Grappolo'. Towards the end of the month, Rossana booked a tour of the historic wine estate of Biondi Santi in Montaclino and so one Friday morning after my lesson with Emma Costantino, Davide, while texting on his Blackberry, miraculously drove us down to the Val D'Orcia. We had lunch in the 'Porta al Cassero' and then went on a wonderful, private, guided tour of 'Il Greppo'. Amazingly we were introduced to the famous 87 year old owner, Franco Biondi Santi, he was a real gentleman. At the end of the tour Davide bought two bottles of the 2000 Brunello that we had tasted and two bottles of their olive oil. Our guide must have felt sorry for me and unbelievably presented me with a bottle of their 2001 Brunello! It cost 72 euro... to finish the day off, Davide then gave me a bottle of the 2000 Brunello and a bottle of the olive oil as a present, so without spending a penny (apart from the lunch which had been our treat) I came away with two bottles of Brunello and one of oil, at a grand total price of 182 euro!At the end of February our work colleague and friend, Jane Gelder gave us a month's free pass to Florence's premiere health spa, KLAB. It meant we were able to go for free several times and use all their wonderful facilities. Aerobics class, gym, swimming pool, sauna, Turkish bath etc. we had a whale of a time!

March started with a bang, literally, as we witnessed our first earthquake. I was at school on the fourth floor on a Saturday morning and felt a mild tremor. Luckily the epicentre was 30 miles away in the Mugello, but it did measure 5.5 on the richter scale. We tried another new pizzeria in the nearby Villa Vogel, but it wasn't that nice. The weather had turned bad, but we warmed ouselves up at KLAB and the osteria 'BoNanni' in Turbone, Montelupo. A very special event was 'Taste' at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence where you could literally 'taste' some of the best food products from Italy and afterwards buy some of the things you liked in the shop. We had an interesting oriental meal at 'Buddakan' near Santa Croce and were introduced to Jane Gelder's new boyfriend, Fabio. Our other friends, Piero and Alison were there too. We went back to Piero and Alison's house in Borgo Pinti for coffee afterwards. We spent a very pleasant day in Prato at our friends Gemma and Tiziano's and the now 15 month old, Sophie. Tiziano had had a hip replacement operation and was recovering well. Easter was early this year, but the weather was terrible, so we took Davide and Rossana along to KLAB as our special guests. We were back at the Antica Porta for a seafood dish, before packing for our Easter break. We had booked three nights in the eternal city, Rome. It was to be my 10, 11 and 12th times in the capital.

Rome

Day 10

We took the one and a half hour Eurostar train from Santa Maria Novella and checked into the 'scaffolded' hotel 'Turner', which was a five minute bus ride from the station. Our first port of call was the Roman Forum, unbelievably and without knowing it, that week all the state museums were free so we had a ball. We had a short guided tour inside the Forum, which is below stree level and it was fascinating. We also checked out the newly restored, house of Livia, which was breathtaking. I got to see for the first time Michelangelo's 'Moses' sculpture in the church of 'San Pietro in Vincoli' and we finish with a coffee in an outside cafe. I had earmarked some restaurants to try out and the first one was amazing. In all my visits to Rome before I had never really tried any local food, so I now made ammends. At this first restaurant we tried 'coda vacinara' (oxtail) puntarelle (a kind of vegetable) Afterwards we had coffee outside the mesmerizing Pantheon.

Day 11

For our second day the weather was a bit grey, we visited Santa Maria in Cosmedan, where we nearly got our hands bitten off by 'La Bocca della Verita' (mouth of truth) made famous in the film Roman Holiday, before heading off to the Trastevere district, where we enjoyed a wicked 'bucatini d'amatriciana' in a small osteria called 'Da Zi Umberto'. In the afternoon we wandrered through the less than inspiring, Campo dei Fiori to the very atmospheric, Jewish Quarter. We had a quick browse in the Galleria della Spada at the Borromini corridor and in the evening tried pizza 'Roman style' at the fashionable pizzeria 'Da Baffetto'.

Day 12

And another cloudy day greeted us. We spent the morning in the enormous Caracalla Baths, made famous by the three Tenors concert in 1990. We had a wicked porchetta sandwich in a tiny cafe and then took refuge in the 'Museo Nazionale Romano' as it had started to rain. It turned out to be an incredible museum with many great bronzes, marbles and frescoes from antiquity. In the evening we were back in the Jewish quarter at 'Hosteria Giggetto' for our first taste of 'carciofi alla Giudia' (fried artichokes) as well as an authentic spaghetti alla carbonara and saltimbocca alla Romana.

Day 13

Fortunately the weather improved a little and finally the sun made an appearance. We had a quick peak at the Vatican and St Peter's square and then went inside the Castel Sant'Angelo for a very intetesting tour. Then we walked to the lovely Piazza Navona and enjoyed a very tasty lunch at an enoteca called 'Cul De Sac', although it was not in a dead end road! We popped into the San Luigi Francesco church where I had my second look at Caravaggio's famous 'Matthew' fresco cycle. Our last stop was in the Capitoline museum, where again I had been to before and we witnessed a fine sunset overlooking the Roman forum, before catching the train and heading back home to Florence.

At the end of March the Easter holidays were over and we were back to work. We got back to some pleasant weather and I finally got to see somewhere I hadn't been able to find before, the 'Badia Fiesolana' a small church with a pretty facade up Fiesole and we returned to Olmo. 

April and we checked out a nice flower exhibition at Caruso's Villa in Lastra A Signa where we also caught the end of a classical concert. For Annette's birthday we had a spicy dinner at the Mexican restaurant, Tijuana. We then prepared for what would be the first of many visits by Annette's mum, three months after the passing of her husband, Charlie. Much cleaning, painting and buying of some new furniture occurred, including two bed side tables from an antiques market at the Fortezza del Basso in Florence and a new chest of drawers. We had time to visit 'Centovini' at the Relasi Certosa hotel, before welcoming Mavis.

Mavis '3'

It was good to see her and nice for Annette to spend some time with her mother so soon after Chas's death. We had a nice lunch in Greve at 'Mangiando Mangiando' and saw a great procession in Panzano for the 'Festa della Stagion Buona'. We' took Mavis back to one of our favourite places, Lucca and enjoyed a lovely meal outside at 'Osteria Baralla'. We spent some time in the Piazza Anfiteatro and had our first look inside the wonderful Palazzo Pfanner Contrini, where we relaxed on the lawn. We enjoyed a lovely picnic up Artimino and basked in the warm Spring sun. We drove up to Piazzale Michelangelo and had a peak at the Iris garden. I was at the Fiddlers elbow pub in Santa Maria Novella to watch Chelsea beat Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final. (Chelsea would go on to lose to Manchester United in the final). We took Mavis down to Pienza for the day and had a wicked meal outside at 'Latte di Luna'. We showed Mavis the agriturismo we had been staying in during the Christmas holidays and also for a look at the Abbey at Sant'Anna in Camprena and what do you know it was open and we got to have a look in side at the 'Il Sodoma' frescoes. We finished the day with a stroll round Bagno Vignoni. Of course we took Mavis round Florence and this visit was a bit special as we also took her for the first time in her life to the Opera. It was my tenth time as we went to see Bizet's Carmen at the Teatro Communale. It was a great performance and a bit of an eye opener for me. Literally! The text was in French and they had Italian subtitles up, the problem being I couldn't see them. That was the day I realised I needed glasses, for watching TV and driving. I had my eyes tested some time later and bought a pair of glasses. The weather was so good, for our last outing we decided to take Mavis to the seaside and chose Lerici in Liguria. It was our first time here too and what a wonderful place. We ate at '2 Corone' on the harbour and gorged ourselves on the most delicious fish and had a wonderful day before bidding our farewells to Mavis.

We went back to see the iris garden and had a memorable aperitivo at Giorgio's. I saw my ex student, Massimo Griffoni with a young lady (not his wife) and he looked a bit guilty. We had our first meal at the restaurant next door, 'Alla Corte Del Tre', the outdoor patio was nice and the food was pretty good. For this year's edition of 'Giardini e Cortili aperte' I went a bit crazy. In the morning on my bicycle, I visited seven Palazzi in three hours. The Palazzo Rucellai, Palazzo Salimbeni, Palazzo Corsini, where I listened to a 12-piece woodwind orchestra playing excerpts form Mozart's 'The Magic Flute'. Then Palazzo Antinori where I listened to a trio of musicians, followed by the Palazzo Guicciardini, Palazzo Bartolozi and finally Palazzo Ricasoli. In the afternoon  after a quick lunch, I picked up Annette and the car and we visited a much more civilized two more Villas. The first was Villa Maiano, a huge villa with wonderful gardens. Today was the last day of the Italian season and Fiorentina beat the mighty AC Milan, securing 4th place in the league and therefore guaranteeing Champions League football for next season. Our last villa of the day was 'Villa Nieuwenkamp', home of a Dutch Bali-loving artist with lovely gardens. we went back for a meal at the Trattoria del Orto, but were a bit disappointed. I saw this year's Mille Miglia car race after work in Piazza Signoria and I was at Villa Le Corti on my own, but got to taste some 'Ornellaia'. My auntie Fiorella brought Michael to Florence for the first time and they stayed with us for only one night. We had a nice meal at 13 Gobbi, where we had bistecca alla Fiorentina and Fiorella had cappuccino after the meal and was offered a brioche  by the waiter! I took them for a drive out to Greve and Michael picked up some vegetable seeds. He was also game enough to try a lampredotto roll at Porta Romana. We we're back relaxing at Olmo and had a meal at 'Le 4 Strade' restaurant and the waitress gave us the wrong change meaning we ate for free.

In June we welcomed some more visitors, Annette's niece Bernice and Graeme. Unfortunately the weather was awful. We had imagined lazy days at the beach and outdoor pool, but were constantly rained off nearly every day. A strike at Pisa airport meant it took them five hours to do the one hour journey. We took them to Pisa on the following morning, where it rained solidly. The weather was slightly better in the afternoon for our trip to Lucca and we enjoyed a cycle around the walls where Bernice and Graeme hired a tandem. We finished off with dinner at Baralla. While B and G were in Florence, Annette and me went for an end of term meal with my Elementary class near Impruneta at 'Casale dei Ricci'. I finally made use of my dentist student, Santo Papaleo, as he took out my troublesome wisdom tooth. I drove Band G up Piazzale Michelangelo, where we also caught a music festival being filmed for MTV Italy. Our trip to San Gimignano wasn't too bad, it didn't rain and the sun even came out for a bit. I drove them out to Artimino and we saw a wedding taking place at the villa. Annette took them to the Villa Demidoff at Pratolino. Our trip to Siena was rather depressing as the persistent drizzle made it impossible to really enjoy ourselves and we headed home early. We did have a nice meal round the corner at 'Alla Corte dei Tre'. They had wanted to go to Venice, but decided against it. We went for a walk to the river and were beaten again by the rain. It really was a washout holiday, although nice to see them.

As summer courses started the weather was still disappointing, but we were invited for a meal at one of Annette's students, Architect, Piero and had another dinner with Annette's Pre-Intermediate group at a restaurant in Signa called 'Officina del Gusto'. One of my students, Tommy gave us two tickets for a summer event at the Cascine tennis club and by the San Giovanni ponte the weather was up to scratch for a trip to the beach. We dusted down our tent and got ready for four days on the Tuscan coast. We drove straight to Punta Ala and after a picnic lunch settled on the golden sands for the afternoon. We checked into the campsite in Scarlino late, unpacked showered and headed out to Castiglione della Pescaia. We had a fabulous dinner up near the old castle at a place called 'Posto Pubblico'. For our second day we spent the morning by our private pool. In the afternoon we went to find our friends Nadia and Alberto at Baratti, but there was some event on and we went on a wild goose chase to find them in the 'Parco del Rimigliano'. They invited us up to their house in Campiglia in the evening for dinner and we watched Italy lose a dreaded penalty shootout to the eventual winners, Spain in the quarter finals of the European Championship. England hadn't even qualified for the final stages. On day three we had decided to visit the island of Giglio. The weather was perfect and we left for Porto Santo Stefano at 6am to catch the passenger ferry. The boat left at 8.30am and the crossing was only an hour. The main harbour, 'Giglio Porto' was very picturesque and we made the twenty minute walk to the sublime beach of Canelle. We spent the morning on this incredible beach, before taking the taxi back to the port and the bus up to 'Giglio Castello' at the top of this tiny island. The town was practically deserted, but we had a nice wander and eventually found a small restaurant to have lunch. In the afternoon we found another beach, Aranella and were taken back to the port on a small private motorboat. From 'Giglio Porto' we took the ferry back to the mainland and had a slap up lobster dinner at 'Il Bottegone' our second time there, before heading back to the campsite. It was a memorable day... Our four days at the seaside came to a happy conclusion as we packed up the tent after spending the morning poolside we made the ten minute drive to Calaviolina past fields and fields of sunflowers. After a wonderful afternoon we made the customary drive back to Florence just in time to see the San Giovanni fireworks.

Midweek and we enjoyed a particularly memorable staff party at  a Spanish restaurant near Porta Romana and the following weekend we were back at the beach for more fun. This time our friends, Davide and Rossana had invited us to Castiglioncello. This summer they had rented a different apartment, one with a garden. Davide had injured his knee playing football, so we gave him a ride. Again we had a pleasant weekend. This time they were at a different bathing station, 'I Tre Scogli', where the beach was sandier and the water clearer. In the evening we were back at 'Il Coccodrillo' for a slap up fish meal. On the Sunday Lorenzo's friend, Alessandro joined us and we enjoyed unbroken sun for two days. In the evening we had dinner at their house, before bidding them our farewells for the drive home to Florence. We checked out a new outdoor pool in Tavernuzze, but it wasn't nearly as good as Greve.

As June turned into July the weather continued to be hot. We saw our old neighbour, Zubin Mehta in Piazza Signoria as he conducted the Maggio Musicale Fiorentina orchestra.  We then spent one more weekend at the seaside before breaking up for our summer holidays. This time, Annette's student, Piero, who we'd gone to dinner with earlier invited us to spend the weekend with him and his wife Paola, on their Catamaran boat which was moored at Viareggio. We drove up on the Friday evening and loaded our bags on the boat before going for a pizza back in town. Piero pointed out the lovely 'Bel Epoque' architecture along the promenade in Viareggio as we spent a pleasant evening strolling. Unfortunately the sea was a bit too rough to go out the following morning, so after having a wander back through the town and lunch on the boat, Piro decided to take us on a hair raising drive up to the nearby Carrara mountains, it was pretty scary as the slopes were very steep and we kept skidding on the marble powder covering the ground. I did actually think I was going to die. We stopped at the pretty town of Colonnata, where the famous 'lard' is made. We had a taste and bought a few small packets. We also checked out an enorwous cave with huge blocks of white marble, making us look very small. On the Sunday the seas have calmed enough for us to go out on the open waves, we stopped in open waters for a swim off the boat, but unfortunately Annette was seasick. On the following Tuesday we were in Lucca for this year's Summer festival and saw American soul singer Erykah Badu. We also checked out a reall cool exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi, where work colleague, Cindy got us some opening night tickets for the Impressionist show of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Manet, Cezanne, Gaugin etc. which included a free buffet. We were back at our favourite outdoor pool in Greve for our last weekend before breaking up from school and back at 'Casale dei Ricci', the restaurant I had been to with my Elementary class a month before. On the Sunday we were invited to a barbecue at one of my students, Francesco Scanu's house near the Porta San Niccolò with some other students in my Intermediate class. Our final concert was up at the Roman theatre in Fiesole to see Jazz Saxophonist, Wayne Shorter.

Puglia

Day 1

For our Summer holiday this year we had booked a week in the heel of Italy, Puglia. We took the plane fro m Pisa to Bari, picked up our Lancia Ypsilon hire car and drove to our 'Masseria' called 'Tenuta Deserto'. It was just outside a town called San Vito dei Normanni, near Ostuni. The first apartment we were put in, 'Acacia', wasn't that nice and the bed was falling apart. In the morning we were given a much better first floor apartment, 'Gelsomino' with a lovely terrace. 

Day 2

Our second day was a Sunday, so we headed straight out to our local beach, 'Torre Guaceto'. In the evening we booked at a restaurant called 'Il Castelleto' in a small town called Carovigno. It turned out to be one of those very special unforgettable meals and we discovered a fabuolous wine 'Torrevento's 'Vigna Pedale' Uva di Troia' Riserva.

Day 3

After a nice breakfast in our local town, San Vito dei Normanni, we did some shopping for the week and then enjoyed a pre-lunch swim and then wicked 'burrata' lunch on our terrace. In the afternoon we dove out to the Ionian coast to 'Punto Prosciutto' for an even better beach than the previous day. We were back at our house for dinner on the terrace under the stars. 

Day 4

In the morning it was a bit windy so we visited nearby Ostuni. It was a very chic Greek style town with lots of whitewashed buildings and narrow streets with some interesting crafty looking shops, just our cup of tea. We then visited probably the most well-known town in Puglia, Alberobello, famous for its 'trulli' peasant houses, some dating back to the 15th century. It was a bizarre place, a bit touristy for our liking, but certainly unique. We went on a guided tour of some trulli, which was fascinating. We stayed on to have dinner in the evening in a trulli restaurant, 'L'aratra, but were a bit too exhausted to enjoy it. 

Day 5

It was another slightly overcast day so, after lunch, a morning by our outdoor pool and lunch on the terrace, we decided to visit 'the Florence of the south', Lecce, one of the major cities of Puglia. The day brightened up and we had a lovely time wandering through this great Baroque styled city and there was a cool Roman theatre

We were back home for another diner on our lovely terrace. 

Day 6  - July 24th  9 Year Anniversary

We enjoyed a very lazy day by our outdoor pool in preparation for our evening date at the 'Osteria del tempo perso' back in Ostuni. We arrived early in time for an aperitivo in the very cool 'Riccardo Caffé and then it was on to the meal. It was nice, but on the expensive side and not as good as 'il Castelleto'. Aterwards we chilled out in one of the main squares listening to a Latin American band.

Day 7

Another morning by the pool, in the afternoon we drove back out to the Ionian coast, After a drive south toward Gallipoli we drove north and found a lovely white sandy beach art 'Riva degli angeli'. The journey was cool too, through olive groves of really thick trunks, not like the thinner Tuscan olive trees which are all post 1985 when a frost killed all the very old trees.

Day 8

After packing up and checking out we paid a last visit to San Vito dei Normanni, before heading to the Gargano penninsular. We stopped for lunch in the pretty coastal town of Trani and then embarked on the epic journey to find the beach on our guide book, Baia della Zagara. It was probably a bit too much in one day, but we did eventually find it, but could only look from the top of the cliff as you couldn't reach it by car and needed a special permit to visit. Anyway we drove back to Bari airport, dropped off the car and caught the plane back to Florence.

Before jetting off again to England we had time for two more outings, the first to honour an invitation from one of my Elementary students, Enzo. We spent a very pleasant evening at his house in Rosano near Pontassieve and the second, a couple of days on the Tuscan coast. We stayed at the campsite at Scarlino and went to the beach at Punta Ala. In the evening we ate out in Bagno di Gavorrano at 'La Vecchia Hosteria'. On our second day at we spent the morning by the pool and the afternoon on the beach at Punta Ala. In the evening we returned to that cool bar, 'Il Porticciolo' at the harbour for a wicked aperitivo, before heading home.

UK

We flew to England on thursday 1st August for 16 days and stayed at Ruth's for a few nights. I was working at Swandean again. Annette's brother Phil came down on the first weekend and he took us for lunch at Bryce's fish restaurant (no longer there) near splash point. On the Sunday I was at my grandma's for lunch and we moved to Mavis's in the evening. We saw my sister, Rita and I played (and beat) big Rory at squash down at Worthing Leisure centre. We spent a nice evening round Fiorella's, her son, my cousin, Craig got married earlier in the year, although the marriage would last about six months. Our niece, Felicity had been having an on/off relationship (and two more kids) with a guy called Peter, who we never actually got to meet. He turned out to be worse than her first husband, Andy. My brother, Carl, had moved from Tiverton to Bristol and so on the second weekend my mum drove me, Cassandra's son, Milo and my grandma up to see him. Cassandra went up on the train. We stopped halfway in Salisbury and had a coffee in the Cathedral cloisters. We drove on to Bath, where mum's ex husband Joe was now living with his rich vet wife. We had lunch there and dropped off Milo with them. Carl was ok and we spent a couple of hours with him. We checked in to our hotel near the Severn bridge and hit the town of Bristol for the evening. I had found an interesting Italian restaurant called Aqua near the river and we had a surprisingly good meal. Bristol seemed like a cool city. The following morning we spent with Carl at his new home and then had lunch in Bath near the Royal Crescent. I decided I had to see the Roman baths. So while grandma waited indìside the car, me and mum whizzed round the ancient baths, listening to the dulcit tones of author, Bill Bryson doing the audio guide. On the way home we stopped at Port Solent for another nice dinner at Italian restaurant Prezzo. During the week we had dinner at my auntie Lisa's. Her husband Derek was there. It was a bit strange as they were having marital problems again and were in theory separated. We popped in  to see my dad, who had a new lodger, Bob. He had decorated and tidied the house up a bit, but unfortunately not too complimentary about Florence and the David sculpture. We also just managed to pop in to see my brother, Alan and his girls and also my cousin David and Linda and their now adult children, Adam and Katie. There was also time to see Bernice and Graeme for one last time before we caught the plane back home to Florence.

We still had ten days of our Summer holiday left and another of my Elementary class students, Andrea Orsi offered us to stay in his aunt's empty apartment in Verona for five nights. This was too good to pass up. The drive up was a bit of a nightmare as there had been a crash in the tunnel on the A-1 motorway, so we arrived in Verona very late.

Verona

Day 1

On our first full day we checked out the nearby Piazza and San Zeno church and then it was on to the impressive Castelvecchio for a picnic lunch. A nice stroll over the beautiful Scaglieri bridge and then on to Piazza Bra. Near here we managed to buy tickets for Sunday's Opera at the Arena. We then took a stroll round to Piazza Erbe and the tiny Roman archway and finished up by the cathedral. The weather was scorching and we took refuge in a cool bar garden.

Day 2 - Bardolino

We drove off to Lake Garda for the day. We found a nice picnic spot in the Bardolino wine country and spent the afternoon on the hippy beach of Baia della Sirena. In the evening we drove back to Bardolino and enjoyed a wicked aperitivo oon the harbour front. We wandered to the very buzzy town and settled down for a great fish supper. The drive home to Verona was only half an hour.

Day 3 - Lake Garda

And we were back at Lake Garda. We drove through another wine area, Valpolicella, but failed to find anything interesting. We carried on and found a gorgeous little town called Castelleto di Brenzone. We indulged in a spaghetti with lobster lunch on the pretty harbour. After lunch we found a nice beach just outside Malcesine, but a storm was brewing. We spent the evening in Malcesine, but couldn't find the restaurant we were at six years ago and so headed home to Verona.

Day 4

We took the opportunity to explore Verona a bit more and visited the 'other' Roman theatre across the river. We had lunch in a cool riverside restaurant, walked over the Roman bridge and enjoyed a nice tour round the theatre. Afterwards we checked out the very pretty Giusti gardens and in the evening witnessed our second Opera at the Arena, the 5-hour Aida, which finished sometime after one in the morning.

Day 5 - Lake Maggiore

Our five nights in Verona were sadly over, so we packed up our things and cleaned Andrea's flat and made our way to our next destination Lake Maggiore. We had brought our tent and camping gear and planned to spend a few nights on Lake Maggiore and a few nights somewhere in Liguria before going home. It was ambitious to say the least. We stopped halfway at Bergamo and had lunch in the very elegant Bergamo 'Alto' up the hill. We then drove on to the lake, arriving on the west side. We looked around for somewhere interesting to stay, but everywhere looked a bit dull. Then we asked someone in a shop and luckily they told us that the east side of the lake was better, so we drove on. As we drove up the west side of the lake we realised they were right. We passed thr big touristy towns of Lesa and Stresa with their 5-star over-the-top 'Bel Epoque' hotels and then stumbled on a quaint little place called Baveno. We spotted a campsite right on thr lakefront and Annette managed to get us a great spot. We unpacked our things and had dinner in what looked like the only restaurant in town. After a relaxing sleep we awoke to the most amazing sunrise over the lake, an unforgettable experience.

Day 6

In the middle of lake Maggiore there are several islands, to we decided to visit two of them. They just happened to be right in front of our campsite and the ferry left from Baveno. First stop was the lesser known, but slightly larger, 'Isola Pescatori'. It was very pretty and we enjoyed wandering through the quaint little streets. After my legendary pre-lunch swim we settled down to a very lavish fish lunch at the swish 'Belvedere' restaurant, which had sensational views of the lake. We hopped on the boat and made the short journey to the famous, 'Isola Bella'. It certainly lived up to its name.The whole island belonged to the Borromeo family and was in effect a Villa and gardens. We went on a tour and it was exceptional. The villa was beautifully furnished and the gardens one of the most impressive I had ever visited, complete with white peacocks. We cooked kebabs on our smalll barbecue back at the campsite for our second evening on the lake.

Day 7

With still much of the lake to explore we took a drive round some of the north-west, stopping for breakfast at the pretty Ferido, before continuing on to Verbania and Pallanza. We stopped for lunch in Ghiffa before making it round to Cannero Riviera and finishing in Canobbio, the last town in Italy, near the Swiss border. We made it back to the tent for a take away pizza and our third night on the lake.

Day 8

Time was running out, so we packed up the tent, settled our bill, but had one more appointment before leaving Lake Maggiore, the 4,500 foot beast of a mountain, Mottorone. We thought about walking up, but sensibly took the cable car instead. The 360° views were spectacular, we could see seven different lakes. We then bid our farewells and headed back south. The drive to Liguria was about 150 miles as we had decided to check out the area between Savona and Imperia. We drove past some big, ugly looking towns, rejecting a few dirty looking campsites, before settling on a less than perfect place in Loana. We unpacked and threw up the tent and make use of our barbecue for dinner. Afterwards we went for a stroll in the town along the seafront and it was quite pleasant.

Day 9

In need of some cooling down, after breakfast in Pietre Ligure we found a cool looking beach between Varigotti and Noli and we spent a relaxing afternoon. In the early afternoon we spotted a sign to 'Borgio Verrazze' - I Borghi Piu Belli D'Italia'. Apparently there is a guide book which contains some of the most beautiful hamlets in Italy and this place is one of them. We drove up and enjoyed an indulgent aperitivo in the pretty square. In the evening we had dinner in a restaurant I had found in my 'Slow Food Guide' called, 'Tattoria Piemontese' and it turned out to be a revelation. We ate like kings for 23 euro each.

Day 10

Officially this was the last day of our holiday before heading home and starting work on the Monday. We packed up the tent for the last time, stopped for breakfast at Finalborgo, which just happened to be the winner of 'the most beautiful hamlet in Italy' and drove round to Santa Margherita Ligure for lunch and our last few hours on the beach. It was an incredible jam-packed ten days. Added to our week in Puglia and two weeks (working) in England, we had seen and done some wonderful things and were now ready to go back to work, not!

My new contract meant that as well as ten weeks paid holiday a year, I also had guaranteed work from the beginning of September, although for the first two weeks our schedules were fairly easy. This gave me time to finally sort out my official residency papers and renew my health card. We spent our first weekend back, now we had the 'lake' bug, at lake Bilancino' in the Mugello, where we actually swam. In the evening we went back to 'L'Officina del Gusto' in lastra a Signa and the fish starters were just as good as we remembered. On the Sunday we checked out our first wine festival of September in the Roman ruins in Fiesole. The following weekend the weather turned bad, but we were invited to Nadia's cousin, Matteo and Barbara's new home in 'Chiessina Uzzanese' for a pizza feast. We also drove up to Pelago and Pomino for some spectacular views.

With our Summer courses starting, we were a little busier, but still found time for a Friday invitation to our friends, Alison and Piero as they had some mad friends from Australia visiting. On the Saturday we were at Gaiole for only our second ever 'Gaiole in Festa' wine event. The temperature was down to 9°, but with the wine there were some nice food tastings to warm us up. The following day we went to Panzano for 'Vino al Vino' and more wine tasting. Another midweek outing for a teachers meal at 'La Casalinga' restaurant near Santo Spirito. I spotted an advert for a free Tango lesson and so Annette and I team up with Alison and Piero for an initiation into the sensual world of Argentinian dance. The Argentinian instructor was incredible and we actually had a lot of fun.

For the last weekend in September we took Alison and Piero along to 'Vino e Piacere' at the Relais Certosa hotel. We made the most of some welcomed sun and had a picnic up Artimino and a pizza round Davide and Rossana's in the evening. My last date of the month was on Tuesday as the American actor and film director, Spike Lee was making an appearance at the premiere of his latest film, set in Tuscany called 'Miracle at Sant'Anna', a war film about the massacre of an entire village, Sant'Anna in Stazzema. Spike was here along with some of the cast members, but entrance was by invite only. However with a little persistence eventually the doorman, who just happened to be the doorman of the British Institute, let's me in the back door and so I managed to get in to see the film with Spike Lee introducing it. It was to be the first of many special appearances by world famous directors at the historic Odeon cinema and I would be very jammy in usually getting in to see and sometimes meeting them.

As the October nights drew in and regular term started, for the first time we weren't going to be working every Saturday. Our boss, Steve Bush had come up with a brainwave whereby each class would be shared by two teachers and so we would only be working every other Saturday. It would greatly improve our lives. We celebrated at 'La Bottega di Rosano' that cool restaurant near Pontassieve. Incedibly the temperature went back up to 27°, so we decided to head back up to Liguria for the day, destination, Portovenere. Annette found a cool looking restaurant, 'Trattoria la Marina' on the harbour and in no time we were munching away on all kinds of wonderful seafood. In the afternoon we just wandered, some people were even swimming, but I did manage a paddle. We enjoyed a final aperitivo before the two-hour drive back home. We went on clothes and mirror hunting expeditions to Greve and Impruneta and were invited to work colleague John's brothers new acquisition in Radda-In-Chianti, a house. John even broke out an unmarked bottle of wine he received from a private student. He claimed it was Solaia, the 100 euro Super Tuscan from Antinori. I got to go to this year's 'Incontri D'Autunno' French wine festival at the Certosa and we went back to Buddakan for an oriental meal courtesy of Davide. He was hosting an Indian colleague and wanted us to meet him and for me to do my Indian impression. Obviously I declined. On the Sunday we took a drive up to Fiesole and found a 'Circolo' with a spectacular view and are back down in Florence for an evening date at the Opera, Tosca at the Teatro Communale.

We had a nice three-day weekend for November's 'I Morti' celebrations and started it off in style with a Friday aperitivo at 'Giorgio's'. Saturday and we took a picnic up to Artimino as the sun was out and it was a scorching 24°C, not bad for November. In the evening we went to Casole Val D'Elsa for a themed dinner, Chiannina beef being the star. We finished with a stroll in my old stamping ground at Colle Val D'Elsa. A weekend invitation from Davide and Rossana to their 'country' house in the 3,000 foot hills of northern Tuscany. A lunch stop near the Passo della Futa sustained us for the climb. Their house was in the town of Pietramala and was absolutely freezing. They took us for a look at the pretty town of Firenzuola and up to a horse sanctuary. We enjojed an evening round the open fire with feasting and board games and  their eight-year old son, Lorenzo keeping us amused. The next day we went for a long walk in the woods. Lorenzo brought his bow and arrow and we had some fun. Us men prepared lunch and we had more feasting and board games of Cluedo and Disney trivial pusrsuit. Just some tidying up to do, before driving back to Florence.

We returned to 'Alla Corte Dei Tre' on the Saturday evening and on Sunday went to the Truffle festival at Sa Miniato and enjoyed much tasting and purchasing of truffle products. My old Elementary class had all come back and were now a pre-intermediate level, there were a few new faces. and they orgaìnized a pizza evening at the vey cool, 'I'Giuggiolo'. I went with Annette to the French institute for the Beaujolais nouveau tasting. Another return trip was to the lovely Orvieto. We spent a very pleasant day in this medeival city, our first time here in four years. We had a wonderful lunch in 'Trattoria La Grotta' and went inside the cathedral to check out the Luca Signorelli frescoes. On our way down we also saw St Patrick's well. and an Etruscan tomb. Mid-November and a meal at 'Osteria BoNanni  and the birth of Annette's best friend Gemma's second child, a daughter, Emily Rose. We tried out another 'Slow Food' retaurant, I Tre Soldi', the food was fantastic, but the price was more than 'tre soldi'

December and my mythical English class were trying to arrange the end of year meal on a new social network site called Facebook. I joined initially to find out what they were planning, but soon found that some of my family and the old friends that had been on the ill-fated 'Friends Reunited' site. It would change the way the world interracted with each other. And so and the usual end of year celebrations, feasting and winding down to Christmas begin with staff party this year at 'Ristorante Da Lino'. Annette decided to pop back to England to see her mum and I was hosting the second visit of my sister and her boyfriend, Matt as they came over to witness a bit of football 'Itaian style'. We enjoyed a few days together in the cold, but festive Florence. I took them for a wicked pizza at Munaciello and we saw a very lively 2-0 win for the Viola against Catania with goals from Adrian Mutu and Alberto Gilardino. I took them for a final slap up meal round the corner at 'Alla Corte dei Tre'.  My new Elementary class took me for a very dodgy meal at 'Vico del Carmine'. We broke up from work on 20th and got into the Christmas spirit with some cocktails at the very funky 'Art Bar' with friends Alison and Piero and then we headed to a cool Sardinian restaurant, 'Terra Terra' for a hearty winter supper. My student Enzo Ramalli invited up to his house for Sunday lunch and I got to watch Fiorentina Sampdoria. My good friends Davide and Rossana took us for a slap up lunch at the 'Ulivo Rosso'.

This year I was to hit the BIG 40! And to make it more bearable Annette got me tickets to the Teatro Communale and I got to see my second New York director in two months. This time Woody Allen was on clarinet duties and we saw him perform an evening of  New Orleans jazz. I had many messages, cards and presents too as well as my now traditional smoked salmon, cream cheese and champagne dinner. As if this wasn't enough Annette also treated me to a meal at our favourite and now 1 Michelin star restaurant, Osrteria Passignano. To end the celebrations I broke open a bottle of wine I had bought several years earlier (it had been priced up at 60 euro when it should have been 110!) fortunately it wasn't corked and we enjoyed my 1999 Vigna D'Alceo from Castello dei Rampolla... it was sublime!

This year we decided to go down to Pienza between Christmas and new year and booked 4 nights at our favourite farmhouse, Il Cerreto in Pienza. I noticed our Nissan Sunny car had a leaking radiator, but we saved the day by hiring a car. It cost us an extra 200 euro, but we thought it was worth it to save our holiday break. We picked up our Fiat Panda from the airport and drove down to Pienza after lunch. There was only time to unpack, have a bath and head out to the 'Latte di Luna' for dinner. By now the owner considered us 'regulars' and gave us a hefty discount. We woke up to snow the next morning and it was beautiful. The Val D'Orcia covered in white snow made for some postcard views. We decided it was too dangerous to drive and so stayed in and had a play in the snowy garden. The following day the snow cleared up and we ventured out for a hot soak in Bagno Vignoni. In the late afternoon we drove to Montepulciano and ended up at Poliziano's for hot chocolate. We ate dinner out again, this time trying 'Buca delle Fate' in Pienza. It was good, but not Latte di Luna. For our second full day the sun was back out and we drove out to the legendary 'Le Foce', that snaking cypress tree road and then made our way to Cetona, a small pretty 'I Borghi Piu Belli D'Italia hamlet. We stopped at the 'Trattoria Bottiglieria' for a very tasty lunch and then drove on to another 'I Borghi Piu Belli D'Italia hamlet, San Casciano dei Bagni. It was pretty, but like Cetona, not really much to see, except the public toilets, which I must say had one one of the most incredible views I had ever seen. On the way home we stopped at a butcher's to buy a huge T-Bone Fiorentina steak which we cooked up on our open fire. New Year's Eve and sadly we checked out of Il Cerreto in the morning, but stopped in Pienza to stock up on cheese. We moved on to Montalcino for some obligatory wine tasting and had lunch at 'Osteria di Porta al Cassero', which was just as good as when we came before with Davide and Rossana. Our last stop for the afternoon was at Bagno Vignoni for another soak in the 52° hot springs, the perfect way to finish 2008.

2009

Films: Avatar, whatever works

t.v. ...

music ...

books: Lost symbol, one day

Before returning to work on 7th, we fitted in a little outing to Parma, a city in Emilia Romagna famous for its cured ham and cheese. We had booked some tickets to see an exhibition of Coreggio, a Renaissance painter who was born near Parma in the town that bears his name. It was a good excuse to visit this small city. We took the train up and it was freezing. We had to keep going in this bar to warm up and luckily the city was very small, but pretty too. The exhibition was very good too. We also managed another trip to 'Buddakan' for a nice Asian meal with Alison and Piero. Our work colleagues arranged a 'back to work' meal at the 'Birreria Centrale', where they didn't only serve beer. Davide and Rossana also arranged for a pizza evening at a circolo in Carmignano. It was owned by one of his employees so we ate for a good price.

A historical end to the month as Barack Obama was finally sworn in as the first black leader of the free world (Tupac would have turned in his grave). After our trial lesson, along with Alison and Piero we began Tango lessons.

February was a month filled with rain and friends. Our new friends, Francesco and Michela had us for a Ligurian style dinner with thier friends and neighbours, Francesco (who Annette had taught) and Barbara. We had Alison and Piero over for dinner and caught one of the worst films I've ever seen, 'Revolutionary Road' at the Odeon. More rain was followed by more Tango and a pizza evening at Davide and Rossana's. We were at Gemma and Tiziano's for Sunday lunch and I got to see Gemma's new baby, Emily. We celebrated Saint Valentines with flowers, chocolates and Veuve Cliquot and even managed to have work colleague John and his partner, Patrizio over for dinner. We were back at the Odeon for the much better, 'Benjamin Button' and then I was at the stadium with 'Curva Fiesole' tickets courtesy of Piero for a historic UEFA cup game against the mighty Ajax. Unfortunately I witnessed my first Viola defeat as they lost very unluckily 1-0 with Ajax's only shot on goal. We drowned our sorrows with a pizza at 'Mastrocilegia'. The sun did eventually come out and Annette and I treated ourselves to a Saturday lunch at 'Za Za's after work. We managed to just see the Rafaello painting 'The Madonna with the Chaffinch' restored at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi before it was returned to the Uffizi. 

Our three day half term was very welcomed and we drove out to Gaiole to see several castles and for a lovely lunch at a John Esjmond recommended restaurant 'Il Carlino d'Oro', in the pretty San Regolo, It was very tasty and a good price. We found the large oak tree made famous in the Bernardo Bertolucci film 'Stealing Beauty', before heading on to Castello Cacchiano and then Castello di Brolio for some wine tasting and then Castello di Meleto and the obligatory Brandy purchase. As a treat we got to tag along on a tour of the castle. We carried on to Spaltenna to see the Pieve, which is now a luxury hotel and finally the pretty hamlet of Vertine. 

Our last outing in February was to the Emiliana city of Forli for an exhibition of the Neo-Classical sculptor, Antonio Canova. We took the train up and somehow got an upgrade to first class, which meant free newspapers, snacks and a very comfortable seat. We had a fabulous lunch in a Slow food restaurant called 'Don Abbondio'. The exhibition was fantastic with no less than 26 pieces brought in from all over the world.

In March we enjoyed an evening at Alison and Piero's. My dad turned 65 this week and my great auntie Tina an incredible 90. We also enjoyed some sun up Artimino and paid the Greek restaurant 'Dionisio' a long overdue return. We booked a 5-day Easter break in Paris, I caught 'The Reader' at the Odeon and we finally get to see this year's Oscar winning 'Slumdog Millionaire'. As a real treat, English director, Ken Loach was presenting a series of his films at the Odeon and I got to meet with him and his wife in the foyer and even had a chat with the legend. We spent a pleasant Saturday afternoon up at Olmo near Fiesole and after enjoyed a meal at 'Casa del Prosciutto'. We enjoyed some 'live' music at the Auditorium Flog as the very, very old 'Skatellites' performed their unique brand of reggae. Two of the original members 73 and 75 respectively still managed to belt out a tune or two and the marijuana was flowing... We finished the month with a Sunday lunch invitation from work colleague Julie Thorp to her house at our old stomping ground at Montefiridolfi.

A new month and the temperature was up to 20 degrees saw us heading to the Chianti. We drove out to the castle at Mugnana and went for a walk to the stream at Cintoia followed by a nice meal at 'Ttattoria I Ricchi'.

Unfortunately on 6th April an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the richter scale hit Abruzzo and the city of Aquilla was all but reduced to a pile of rubble. The final death toll would be 300 and thousands left without homes. The mood of the country darkened.

Annette got a real birthday treat on the 9th. She had been teaching a group of Uffizi workers and one of them offered to give us a free guided tour of the hallowed Vasari Corridor. In eight years of living here we hadn't managed to even get close to coming, but today we finally put that to rest. It was a fascinating tour and journey across Florence from the Palazzo Vecchio to the Pitti palace and we even had a quick run around the Uffizi before the doors were opened.

Before our Paris trip we had a few days to get into holiday mode with an afternoon relaxing on the rug up Fiesole, followed by an afternoon in Lucca where I bought Annette a Calvin Klein watch for her birthday and we enjoyed lunch at our 'local' restaurant, 'Baralla'. We finished up on Easter Sunday at Artimino, before packing for Paris.

Paris

Day 1

For our ealy 10-year wedding anniversary we were returning to where it all started, Paris. We flew to Paris Beauvais with Ryanair which meant a coach and metro ride to our hotel, 'Academie', in the very swanky Saint Germain district. We arrived quite late at 9pm, just time to unpack, shower and head out for some nosh. We found a convenient restaurant just round the corner from the hotel called 'La Relais de L'Entrecote', it was packed with locals and we just managed to find an outside table and gorged on steak, salad and chips. Afterwards we took a stroll and discovered our area was very elegant, near the famous Cafe Flore and Les Deux Magots cafes.

Day 2

Our second day started with coffee and an almond pastry in a nearby cafe. We took a stroll through the Latin Quarter and checked out the huge Pantheon and scaffolded St Sulpice. We then headed to the river and decided on a boat trip on the Seine. It was a bright day with some blue sky and sunshine and the cruise was very pleasant, passing Notre Dame, The Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, Les Invalides and we got off at the Eiffel tower. Annette wasn't too bothered about going up the tower and I had already been up, so after wandering around for a while we jumped back on the boat and headed back to the Ile de Cite where we got off. and took a closer look at the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral. Next we decided to check out somewhere recommended by our friends, Alison and Piero, Place de Vosges. We took the metro to the Bastille, where there wassn't really anything much to see anymore and found the beautiful sqaure, Place de Vosges. It turned out to be a real gem. Quite small, with some beautiful buildings round the edge and a pretty lawn to sit on in the middle. There were lovely arcades too with some artsy shops and we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon. We then headed back to the hotel to freshen up and made our way out to a restaurant we had booked called Les Pupilles. It turned out to be the best meal of the four days.

Day 3

After more coffee and pastries we made our way to the Louvre. Finally I was going to see the Mona Lisa! Suprisingly there was no queue! (French efficiency for you) and we headed for the Denon wing where all the Renaissance paintings are kept. Unfortunately the world's most famous painting was tiny and behind a plastic shield and barrier which means you got no closer than about 100 yards, so it looks about the size of a postage stamp! Somewhat disappointing... still there were other pieces here to see and we enjoyed DaVinci's Madonna of the Rocks and Titian's ..... as well as Raphael's ..... The Venus de Milo was breathtaking and the headless Victory of Samothrace mesmerising. We also got to see Michelangelo's Dying Slave. The museum was huge and we only got to see a small percentage, but it was a great experience. After a light lunch we continued on to the Moulin Rouge, which was a bit tacky and then up Monmartre to see the imposing white mass that is Sacre Coeur. There was an Italian guitarist entertaining the crowds and the view over Paris was quite spectacular. We were back on the metro and to our hotel to freshen up and change for our restaurant of choice the wacky 'Le Refuge du Passé'.

Day 4

For our penultimate day we had decided to visit Versaille. It was only a half hour ride on the Metro followed by a ten minute walk. The queue to get in was significantly longer than for the Louvre i.e. 1 hour! But once inside you could see why. It was spectacular with highlights including the hall of mirrors and the chapel. We had a roll for lunch and then wandered round the extensive gardens. Unfortunately the fountains weren't on (they only fire them up at weekends!) and most of the sculpture groups were closed off... the price was still the same though! Still we had a good time. In the evening we found a really cool restaurant, 'Chez Papa Jazz Cafe' and afterwards went to a jazz club opposite.

Day 5

Our flight wasn't until the evening, which meant we had time to visit Paris's second museum, Musée d'Orsay which we actually preferred. We checked out of our lovely hotel and made the 10 minute walk to the Orsay. Set in an old station we saw masterpiece after masterpiece, including some of the greatest Impressionism. Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Renoir, Gaugin, Degas etc. I think we spent about 4 hours walking round open mouthed... it was an incredible experience. We picked up our cases and took the metro back to our coach and the airport. Our 5 days in Paris was over, but we had really enjoyed ourselves and after several day trips over the years, I had finally done Paris some kind of justice.

Mavis

Back to Florence and work, we didn't have much time to recover before the arrival of Annette's mother for her by now, annual spring visit. She arrived with the usual goodies of bacon, crumpets and newspapers. We took her to the 'Orto Botanico' and went for a very nice lunch with a spectacular setting at the 'Fattoria di Maiano' near Fiesole. On the Saturday the April weather was sensational for Mavis' first trip to the Cinque terre. We drove to Portovenere and had an awesome lobster lunch on the harbour, before taking the boat for an incredible tour of these five beautiful towns. For us too it was the first time seeing them from the sea. Mavis made it to shore at Manarola and Vernazza and I got sunburnt! However it was a memorable day.

For the May 1st bank holiday three day weekend first we were invited to Scottish Caroline's for a cous cous lunch with entertainment courtesy of Nanni, then we spent a wonderful day in the beautiful Arezzo, where the Antiques market was on and finally to Volpaia and Panzano where we discovered the wisteria covered restaurant 'Oltre il Giardino'. After we said goodbye to Mavis we were back at the Officina del Gusto for another fish meal and I caught this year's Mille Miglia car procession. We had our new friends Francesco and Michela round for dinner and Annette got a temporary promotion to head of young learners as the lovely, (I'm exagerating here ) Helen Barrot went on maternity leave. I caught my first experience of Italy's answer to the Tour de France, as the Giro d'Italia passed through nearby Lastra a Signa and we were invited to a meal in Marcialla by my student Emma Costantino for a Rotary club function. We went to a Brazillian music concert at the Stazione Leopoldo and took Alison and Piero to this year's Alle Corte del Vino wine festival, as temperatures hit 38°C!

A very welcome start to June as Annette's architect student, Piero had just bought a house on Elba and invited us to stay for five days over the June 2nd bank holiday. We spent a very pleasant time exploring the island, swimming near their house at Marina di Campo and Fetovaia. Piero and Paola were perfect hosts. They took us round Napoleon's villa in Portoferraio and we experienced Paola's exceptional cullinary skills. Piero took us to taste and buy some Aleatico wine and we visited Rio Marina and Capoliveri.

Back on the mainland we worked our last Saurday before the summer and celebrated with an awesome fish supper at our local restaurant, Alla Corte dei Tre and enjoyed end of term meal, a pizza at Cafe Italiano with my E4 class. We checked out the newly restored Pavoniere outdoor swimming pool in the Cascine and we're back at the Officina del Gusto for more fish! With June in full swing we chilled out at the outdoor pool in Greve and happened upon a new wine fesival 'Profume di Lamole'. My E2 class arranged a memorable aperitivo at Valeria's villa complete with servants and Veuve Cliquot Champagne served by a servant by the poolside. We then moved on to 'La Beppa Fioraia' for dinner. We had an enjoyable evening too with Francesco and Michela at the posh, Castello di Accaiolo in Scandicci. W somehow managed to fit in a game of tennis at our nearby clay court at La Bagnese. For our 9th edition of San Giovanni we actually spent the day in Pistoia, but were back in time for the fireworks and a drink afterwards at Rifriullo. Fotr the last weekend of June we were back at the outdoor pool in Greve and were invited to a smoked salmon and roast pork dinner at Alison and Piero's. Unfortunately Piero had a little too much to drink...

As June passed into July the weather improved and for the first weekend we packed up our tent and headed off to the beach. After a two-hour drive to Scarlino, we spent the Saturday afternoon on the beach at Punta Ala and the evening in the trendy Castiglione della Pescaia where we enjoyed a wicked Cacciucco at 'Osteria Pane e Vino'. On the Sunday we spent the morning by the pool and afternoon back at Punta Ala, where Annette even manages to find a Chinese lady to give her a massage! Total relaxation... After packing up we finish with our big Aperitivo at 'Il Porticciolo' in Punta Ala. We were back yet again at 'L'Officina del Gusto' for an awesome mid-week end of term fish dinner with Davide and Rossana, before heading back to the beach for the second weekend in July. This time we spent a wonderful Saturday afternoon on the beautiful beach of Calaviolina and in the evening treat ourselves to a very spedcial meal at 'Oste Scuro' in Braccagni. On the Sunday a familiar pool, Punta Ala and aperitivo at 'Il Porticciolo' finished off the perfect weekend. I'm back at 'La Beppa Fioraia' with my E4 class for more end of term celebrations, before two meals with work colleagues. The first at 'Palle D'Oro' to say farewell to my boss Steve Bush who after about twenty years, had decided to move back to Wales and the second at Lucia's house where we get to see Jane Gelder's new baby, Lavinia.

We made a major decision that the Nissan Sunny had served its purpose and we really needed to get a new car. After toying around with the idea of buying  a second hand car and finding they seemed a bit too expensive, we decided on buying something new. I read lots of reviews and we test drove a Peugeot 207 and Renault Clio and chose the Clio. Annette would pay half in cash as a deposit and I would pay the other half over three years in monthly installments. We'd both never had a brand new car before so it was a real treat. We ordered it and it arrived on 17th July. We had been offred a free ten day holiday in the Dolomites by one of my students, Enzo Ramalli, who had two time share flats in Dobbiacco near Cortina and we thought it sounded a bit different and fun so we agreed. We broke up from work on 19th and before we left for the Alps we had another weekend invitation from Nadia and Alberto. We spent a windy afternoon on the beach at Baratti and in the evening are treated to a French themed dinner cooked by one of their French friends. On the Sunday we spent the day on our own on the beach at Rimigliano and enjoyed a very nice meal in Bolgheri at 'La Taverna dei Pittore'. Monday we packed up the car and Tuesday set off  north to the Dolomites...

The Dolomites

Day 1

We left early and five hours later we were surrounded by the huge Alps. The hotel complex was called 'Ploner' and set in a beautiful valley with these huge mountains all around. Our flat for the week was very comfortable, with a nice covered terrace and a spectacular view. On our first night we had dinner in.

Day 2

And a nice relaxing start to our holiday, after breakfast we decided on a 15 km walk from our hotel in Carbonin, to a small town called 'Ospitale'. We took a packed lunch and headed out. It was a very pleasant walk through the woods alongside the main road. We finished up at a famous restaurant and enjoyed a well-earned drink, before catching the bus back.

Day 3

We drove around the corner to the very pretty Lake Misurina. We took the chair lift up the 9,000 feet Col de Varda mountain and had a walk around the top admiring the spectacular views of the 10,000 foot Monte Cristallo. We had brought a packed lunch with us which we ate at the top before the long walk back down to the lake. We drove into Dobbiacco for some food supplies and were back at our residence for dinner.

Day 4 - 10th Wedding Anniversay

A very special day as we made it to 10 years together! We packed up some sandwiches and headed to Lake Ghedina. We stopped off at Cortina where the Fiorentina football team were doing their summer training and I stopped to get a few autographs (of Cesare Prandelli the manager and Sebastian Frey our French goalkeeper!) We drove on to the lake and had our lunch, before making our way into the very fashionable town of Cortina, where we a cafe shakerato in a cool bar. In the evening we had booked a table at a 'Slow Food Guide' restaurant near Brunico called 'Oberraut'. We got a table outside and the waiters were all dressed up in local Tyrolean dress. The food was ok and we had an enjoyable enough evening. The wind caught up a bit and we finished the meal inside. The drive home was interesting as the wind became stronger and we had to negotiate around some fallen trees! Luckily we arrived home safely...

Day 5

We spent a relaxing day exploring our residence and went for a walk halfway up our nearest mountain. In the evening we made use of our jacuzzi.

Day 6

A nice lazy Sunday lunch outside in nearby Dobbiacco at the very pretty 'Genziana'. With yet more venison, dumplings and mash potatoes. Afterwards we chilled out on a beautiful hillside in San Candido. In the winter this area is obviously covered in snow, but in the summer there is lush grass. I spotted a bobsleigh run called 'funbob', so we had a go and it was great fun. We go for a stroll in the very pretty town, there is a Sunday market, so it's extra buzzy. We finish with an aperitivo in a cool bar.

Day 7

It was our big cycling day. We got up nice and early and it was another beautiful warm sunny day. AIt was a short drive to San Candido where we picked up our bicycles and began our cycle to Austria... The journey was about 50 km, but fairly flat and we followed a cycle path along the river Drava in the beautiful Val Pusteria. It was one of those memorable days. We took a packed lunch and went at a very leisurely pace stopping ocassionally to rest and enjoy the view. After lunch we spotted this huge gorge the 'Gola della Galizia', where some young kids were doing some hair raising mountain climbing, but we just did the easier walkway round the edge. There was a nice outdoor pool, which we thought would be nice to come back to, although we never did. We pressed on over the border into austria and finished at our destination in the town of Lienz at about 3 o'clock. After a quick look at the local castle 'Schloss Bruck' we made our way to the town centre and enjoyed some well earned drinks. Fortunately we didn't have to cycle back as there was a special train service where many other cyclists put their bicycles on a special carriage and we made the 45 minute journey back to San Candido, although finding our bicycles wasn't that easy! 

In the evening our hotel, Ploner were celebrating their 25th Anniversary with a dinner and dance which we shared with them.

Day 8

A chill out day was definitely in order after the previous days mammoth cycle ride, so we headed to a nearby lake at Dobbiacco. It was very pretty and Annette spotted a sign for fresh trout. We went to investigate and decided to partake for one of the best meals of our holiday in a hotel restaurant called 'Hotel Baur'a t Lago -am See, with a lovely outside terrace and spectacular views. Afterwards we crashed out by the lake and then carried on to another picturesque lake 'Bries', towards Brunico.

Day 9

After all these lakes we decided we needed to conquer some more mountains and today was the turn of the 10,000 foot 'Tofano di Mezzo'. This is the highest mountain that overlooks Cortina. We had to take no less than three different cable cars to reach the summit. There was a little cloud and even snow at the top, but the views were incredible.

Day 10 

For our last day in the Dolomites we saved the most famous mountain, the 'Tre Cime di Lavaredo'. We took a bus up to the base of these three monoliths and walked around them. It was another hot, sunny day and we enjoyed the amazing views. We had been very lucky with the weather and had a memorable time on our first visit to this beautiful area of Italy. We're very lucky to have been given this free holiday from my sudent and friend Enzo Ramalli.

At this point we should have just driven back home to Florence to get ready for our trip to England... but, on our drive back we were going to pass through Vicenza... Somewhere I had been nearly twenty years earlier, without seeing one building of the master architect, Palladio, including the famous, Villa Rotunda. Ok Cue our next stop...

Walking with Palladio - Vicenza

We had booked a two-day tour, where we were going to see some of Palladio's finest buildings, I was very excited to say the least. We drove down from Cortina with a brief stop at Cadore the home of another famous artist, Titian. It was prety forgettable though. We pressed on to the lovely Colle Berici hills just to the south of Vicenza. The agriturismo that we had booked was a little tricky to find, but eventually we arrived. The owner wasn't there, but there was a Romanian guy sitting around who seemed to be a worker on the property and he helped us out. Our room was full of dead flies and insects, but after a little clean we were in. In the evening we enjoyed dinner under the stars,

Day 1

We found a bar to have breakfast in and then it was a short drive into Vicenza. Our appointment was at 2 o'clock, which gave us time to have a stroll and a quick bite to eat. We met up outside the Teatro Olimpico and enjoyed a fascinating tour inside and then went on a walk round Vicenza visiting no less than 12 more buildings designed by the master. The beautiful Palazzo Chiericati opposite the theatre and then on to Casa Cogollo where it's thought Palladio lived. We stopped on a very special road called 'Contra Porti' where there were several Gothic and Palladio inspired buildings. Other buildings followed, the interesting Palazzao Barbaran da Porto and now Bank of Vicenza, Palazzo Thiene. We entered the main square, Piazza Dei Signori where we saw Palladio's crowning glory, the huge, all white Basillica Palladiano and Loggia del Capitano. It was a scorching hot day, not really one for walking in the city, but we were nearly at the end of our first day and found ourselves in the Piazza Castello with no less than four Palladio creations, the Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare, Palazzo Capra, which is now a 'Coin' department store, the Palazzo Porto Breganze and our last building for the day, the LoggiaValmarana, phew!!! It certainly was a full on Palladio-fest and for me one I wouldn't forget! However we had day 2 to contend with... this would be a coach tour to some of Palladio's other villas outside the city! To help us recover and prepare for this mammoth day we drove back to our agriturismo, freshened up and headed out to the nearby Arcugnano and the 'Trattoria Zamboni'. It turned out to be one of the best meals I've ever had... The huge terrace was cram packed with locals and we decided to go for the tasting menu, 7 courses for an amazing 45 euro! We ordered a very reasonably priced, local Soave white wine to accompany. The courses were as follows...

Melba toast with a creamy ‘burrata’(a type of mozzarella) filling, Parma ham and a cherry tomato sorbet! Sounds strange, but was inspired.

Foie gras on a bed of red onions in a sweet and sour sauce with a fruit compote.

Spaghetti with ‘canoce’ (a type of shrimp), cherry tomatoes, olives and chilli.

‘Tortelli’ (a type of ravioli) with black truffles and almonds. (my personal favourite)

Sea bass en croute with Taggiasche olives

Roast pigeon en croute with hazelnuts and almonds.

Iced Zabaione with Port in a cantaloupe melon sauce.

Every course surpassed the previous and I gave every course 10 out of 10. 

The only negative thing was the service, which was comical. Too few waiters for too many people. Either they had a bad ordering system, or someone was switching the orders round on the preparation table! Twice we were brought the wrong dish and they had to be changed. On the table next to us it happened 3 or 4 times.! A couple opposite us, told us they had been coming here for years and it had never happened before... it was like something out of a Marx brothers film! 

Day 2

We checked out of our bizarre agriturismo and found the same bar to have breakfast in as yesterday. We drove back to Vicenza, park up and catch our coach for today's tour. Our first stop was the very simple Villa Caldogno to the north of Vicenza. The grounds were pretty and there were some cool frescoes inside. Our second stop was in the beautiful Lonedo hills in Lugo di Vicenza and the huge Villa Godi Malinvernini. Again many rooms are lavishly frescoed. I spotted another villa that looked Palladianesque and went to explore. Coffee time was approaching and we paid the picturesque town of Marostica a visit. This town is famous for its Biennial human chess game! There was a very a very pretty square here. Lunchtime was calling and we headed onto another town, Bassano del Grappa, famous for a certain palladian bridge. The bridge was really cool and there was an old distillery called Nardini and we enjoyed some of there liquore. It wasgetting extremely hot by now and not surprisingly the town was deserted, so we sought refuge in a restaurant for lunch. Back on the coach for our final two destinations. The first was a Palladian inspired villa, but not actually designed by him , the Villa Cordellini Lombardi, but it did have some great frescoes by Tiepoli. And so our final destination, as the coach stopped on the roadside and all the passengers alighted. Up the hill was the famous Villa Rotunda. We took some photos and got back on the coach. We then drove back to Vicenza and that was that. I was a little surprised as I asked the guide, ' so arent we actually going to visit the Villa Rotunda?' The short answer was 'no!' 'It is a private villa and not part of our tou.' I was a bit shocked to say tyhe least and hung my head in disappointment... Annette had a brainwave! 'well why don't we try and find it and see if we can get in on our own?'. So on a Sunday evening at 5 o'clock we tore round Vicenza, retracing our steps and eventually found it. I parked up and Annette went to investigate... she came back with two tickets!!! The only problem was they were just closing and we had fifteen minutes to tear round and take some photos... Annette had saved the day and I got to see the Villa Rotunda...

The UK 

One day turnaround, pack and we were on an Easyjet flight from Pisa to Gatwick. Train down to Worthing and Mavis picked us up for our onwe week in England. She had just had her new kitchen fitted and it looked pretty swish

Salisbury and Bath

My dad hired a Nissan Note and I went with him, Rita, Mat and Will to see Carl, who was still living near Bristol. We stopped off in Salisbury and of course like last year it was raining... I took them for coffee in the beautiful Cathedral cloisters and then we pressed on. We decided to eat our packed lunch on the Royal Crescent in Bath and fortunately the rain had had stopped. We reach Carl's house at two o'clock. He is a lot better than last year, even though he's lost one of his front teeth and we even managed to take him out to the nearest shopping centre where Dad and Rita bought him some clothesI bought him a basketball. We eventually leave at six o'clock and stop for a pub lunch in Salisbury on the way home.

I spent a nice day with mum and Cassie's son, Milo in Arundel. We had lunch at the Black Rabbit and went for a walk in Swanbourne lake. We then drove up to Highdown gardens, where Cassie is working at the Mansion House and meet her new boyfriend, Lewis. In the evening we had a pizza round Fiorella's and she was off to Castellamare the following day. Craig and Rachel popped in to say hi.

On the Friday I had a rather bizarre reunion with some of my old Chatsmore school mates. We had been chatting on Facebook and one of them, Germaine Conroy (was Scheider) arranged this evening. Germaine's brother, Patrick (who I didn't know from school) was there and others included, Joanne Head, Christine Collinson, Matt Linscer and Mark Green. To be honest I wasn't really friends with any of these people at school, but it was interesting to meet up with them after so many years.

On the Saturday Annette's aunty Joyce and cousin, Gaye were down from Portsmouth and joined us on Mavis's patio for a fish and chip lunch. In the evening Rita had arranged for a little 40th belated birthday dinner for me at the George pub. Annette was taking her mum to see Oklahoma in Chichester. Holly had also made a cake with some candles on, which the waitress brought out for me... it was a nice surprise.

On Sunday I made my annual trip to the car boot sales at Highdown with mum and even got hte chance to sample some of Worthing's own wine for the first time at Highdown Vineyard. The reds were a bit unrefined, but the whites not bad. Phil, Jane and Leonie were down and we joined them for a fish lunch at Bryce's (now closed down), but unfortunatelt Leonie managed to lock the keys in Jane's car. I caught the end of the Community shield, luckily as Chelsea beat man United on penalties. My family arranged a farewell meal at 'Pommadoro e Mozerella' and there were no less than 26 of them for an impromptu 10th wedding anniversay surprise.

On our final day we got to meet Felicity's new baby, Peter, rushed round Sainsbury's for some last minute supplies to take back to Italy and in the evening were round Ruth's for dinner. Rory paid us a surprise visit and Bernice and Graeme were there too.

Our flight back was fine  and we had another one day turnaround for the fourth leg of our summer travels...

Corsica

We had heard about the island of Corsica from our Italian friends. Apparently quite an expensive island to visit, so the idea was to take our tent ant stay at various campsites, with a break in the middle at a hotel. We had booked the ferry and four nights at a hotel in Ajaccio.

Day 1

After an hour's drive to Livorno and an only four hour crossing to Bastia we were there. We drove down the east side of the island toward Bonifacio, stopping for lunch on a nice sandy beach. Our first stop was Porto Vecchio. We had a look at a couple of campsites and then chose one with a pool. We set up the tent and had a quick dip in their pool. We strolled into the town for dinner and spotted a buzzy looking restaurant, 'U Molu' and after a half hour wait got a table. We opt for a three-course 20 euro meal and got our first taste of Corsican Rosé wine.

Day 2

A quiet night in the tent and we were ready for our first whole day. We had looked at some postcards and decided to find a beach called Santa Giulia... in vain! We settled for one called Rondinara, which was sandy and actually very nice, ubtil the early evening when the beach was invaded by cows! We popped into the local supermarket and had dinner at the campsite

Day 3

We packed up the tent and checked out of the campsite and settled onto our local beach of Palombaagia. It turned out to be one of the best beaches on the island. Spectacular white sand a nd crysatl clear sea. We enjoyed a very relaxing morning, before our long drive north to Porticcio. We decided to come back to Bonifacio later, as we had booked the hotel here. We stopped at a small town called Propriano for coffee and arrived at the 'hotel de Porticcio' in the early evening. We had dinner on the terrace and spent our first night on a real bed!

Day 4

We asked our concierge for some advice on the best local beaches and he points us to the Plage D'Argent  (silver beach) near Verghia and it turns out to be one of our favourite beaches on the island. It is very upmarket, beautiful white sand, clear blue sea  and beautiful people only! We spend all day there, sunbathing, swimming, drinking cocktails, letting all the stresses of the year melt away... In the evening we had dinner again on our lovely terrace.

Day 5

Today we checked out some of the local area. We drove through the large, impersonal city of Ajaccio. Probably would have been quite interesting to explore, but at this time of year, far too hot. We went for a walk past the headland and fall onto this almost pink beach at 'Ile Sanguinaires'. The sea here was a wonderful emerald green, but surprisingly there are only a few people on the beach... I discover why when I plunged into the water... jelly fish! I was stung on the wrist and had to get some special cream from the first aid point. Still we relax on the beach and enjoyed watching the beach foot volleyball.

Day 6

After a few days of lying around on the beach we were ready for some activity. We drove into the mountainous interior of the island to the 'Gorges du Prunelli'. The drive up was spectacular and we found a cool lake. We enjoyed our picnic on the banks and then decided to try out some canoing on the lake. It turns out not to be as easy as it looks as there were some pretty strong undercurrents and we ended going round in circles! Oh well... some you win, some you lose! We drove back down to Porticcio and on to our beach, Plage d'Argent.

Day 7

Sadly we checked out of our comfortable hotel and hit the road. Wr had some unfinished business of Bonifacio to visit. We found a nice little campsite just outside the town, put up the tent and had a quick dip in their pool. We walked into the town and had a stroll along the seafront harbour. We found a nice restaurant, 'Hotel Standing Augustin Marie' and afterwards checked out some of the boat trips on offer. We booked one to the interesting looking 'Ile des Lavazzi'.

Day 8

An early start for our boat trip and as every day it was  hot and sunny and there were no clouds.

 We packed up our brie baguette and bottle of water and caught the boat from Bonifacio. The boat trip was pleasant and the island very surreal with these huge smooth rocks everywhere. The beaches were slightly disappointing, but we had an enjoyable day eve though it was a little crowded. In the evening we decided to go out for dinner again and ate at a cool restaurant we had spotted the day before.

Day 9

We were on the move again packing up the tent and driving up to Porto. We stopped for a drink in the very pretty hill-top town of Sartenne and bought some lunch in a supermarket. We drove past Sagone and Cargese and the spectacular and surreal drive through the red rocks of the Calanches is breathtaking

.

Day 10

We awoke to another beautiful day and after breakfast in Porto we headed off to 'Plage d'Arone with our picnic. Again we drove through the beautiful 'Calanches' and the drive down to the beach was spectacular. We stopped on a pretty headland for lunch before making our way down to the beach for the afternoon. In the evening we were back at the campsite and bought a take away chicken from the local supermarket for dinner. In the morning we packed up the tent, checked out and spent some time on the beach in Porto. Our next port of call was the fashionable resort of Calvi, but finding a suitable campsite near the town proved fruitless. We drove round and round looking for somewhere and then drove further north along a 'panoramic' road, up to a town called Lumio. We finally found a nice looking place, set up the tent, showered and were back out to Calvi for the evening. The harbour was a bit to bright for us with lots of flourescent lighting. We found a large restaurant, were shown a table, but after waiting for a bit, decided we didn't like it, so got up and quickly escaped! We eventually settled for a restaurant we had spotted earlier called 'EAT (Epicurien Avant Tout) We waited for about half an hour (with the restaurant half full!) and were then shown to a table. The portions were tiny and house wine 15 euro, but it was probably the best meal we had on the island. 

Day 11

In the morning we drove down to a small town called Algajola, which we loved and found a nice cafe to have breakfast. The beach there was wonderful, sandy and quiet and we spent most of the day there. In the early evening we drove up into the mountains to check out a couple of hamlets. The first, Corbara was pretty forgettable, but the second, Pigna was a revelation. Probably our favourite place on and the island... it was a tumbled down place, with tiny, windy streets, with one bar, one restaurant and one hotel, Casa Musicale. We had a drink on the terrace of the cafe a Pigna a Casarella and witnessed one of our most incredible sunsets together.  

Day 12

We packed up the tent, yet again andwent for breakfast at the same cafe in Algajola  and spent the morning on the lovely beach. We then drove over the mountains and found our last campsite just up the coast from 'Tour'. We set up the tent right near a pebbly beach and went for an early evening dip in the sea. Then we headed back to Patrimonio, famous for its wine and indulged in a bit of wine tasting and purchasing. For the evening we drove into the fashionable town of San Florent, it doesn't quite live upto our expectations, but it is pretty and we had a pleasant evening. We had dinner in a swanky restaurant overlooking the harbour. The meal was nice, but the prices were as swanky as the town. 

Day 13

For our penultimate day we checked out the most northerly part of Corsica, an area the Italians call 'la dita', as it looks like a finger. Our fist stop was Nonza, where there is a famous black beach, It's black because of asbestos pollution and it's forbidden to swim there, it is quite surreal though and we took a walk in the town overlooking this strange beach. As we drove through 'la dita' most of the terrain was pretty barren and uninspiring and I wouldn't recommend it. We made our final stop in Centuri, which is a pretty harbour town and seemed like it had been cut off from civilization. We stop for lunch at one of the many restaurants and gorge ourselves on seafood pasta and Rosé wine. We relaxed on the beach for a bit and then the heavens opened. After thirteen days of beautiful sunny weather it had to happen. When we arrived back at the campsite fortunately our tent was still up and only some of out ìr things had blown away. 

Day 14

And so all good things must come to an end. After two incredible weeks on this very beautiful island it was time to pack up the tent for good and head home. Unfortunatel my mobile phone was stolen while I was charging it in the campsite and I lost some photos, but that was the only real negative. We drove over the mountains to the capital Bastia, stopping at a hypermarket to stock up on Rosé wine and then spent a pleasant lunchtime around the harbour at Bastia. We caught the ferry back to Livorno and then a short drive home to Florence, very glad, after eight straight nights, to finally be sleeping in a proper bed!!!

We arrived back home exhausted on 27th August and have only three days to recover before staring back at work. After lots of washing, we emerge on the Sunday and chilled out in Greve at the outdoor swimming pool. Our six weeks of summer holidays had seen us go to the Dolomites, Vicenza, England and Corsica, now it was back to reality!

Our first week back at work is fairly easy, no lessons and a new Director of Studies, Amanda Lowe, who had been a teacher with BIF for many years, but no one had ever seen. By the weekend with the weather still in the 30's, we packed up our tent again and headed to the Tuscan coast. We were back at our favourite campsite, Il Fontino at Scarlino and in no time were unpacking the tent, having our pre-lunch swim, lunched up and installed on the lovely beach of Punta Ala for the afternoon. In the evening we had dinner at a local trattoria called 'Sergio's Trading Post'. It was run by an Argentinian family and so mixed grilled meat was the order of the day as we enjoyed a nice balmy evening. On the Sunday we found lying by the pool so relaxing we didn't even make it to the beach. We finished up with our customary aperitivo at 'Il Porticcio'.

Our second week was a little more hectic as more teachers returned and we started summer courses. On the Wednesday evening we went for dinner with friends, Riccardo and Bea at a restaurant we hadn't been to in about eight years, San martino on the Chiantigiana. They had refurbished it and we shaed a massive seafood pasta.Their son, Dodi was now three years old and Bea informed us that she was three months pregnant! Riccardo had just finished writing his first book about the 400 year English genocide against the Irish... September's first wine festival as usual was at Greve, where we went on the Saturday and there seemed to be more producers present presenting their wines and less interested in punching our ticket, so we had a pleasant time. On the Sunday with the weather still white hot, the lure of the beach was just too much and we decided to return to Liguria and the pretty town of Lerici. After a one and a half hour drive we arrived just in time for lunch at the same restaurant we brought Mavis to, it wasn't quite as good, but we enjoyed sitting on the harbour. We had a coffee in the bar through the tunnel with the great view and then walk back to the beach where we had what turned out to be our last swim of the year.

The third week in September the weather turned nasty, but we cheer ourselves up with an invitation to Francesca and Michela for a wicked fish dinner. The wine party moves on to Panzano for this year's editition of 'Vino al Vino' and with the jazz band the party is as swinging as ever. We even take a picnic which we ate near San Donato. The sun was back out and temperatures back up to 30°C for 'Florence Wine Night' another wine festival outside the Pitti Palace and we even make use of a special price dinner in one of the restaurants there. Andrea's wine festival, ?Vino é Piacere' brings September to a happy conclusion and this year we have not only Alison and Piero along, but also their two crazy Australian friends, Denise, who we met last year and Jenny, who looks like she was an actress from 'Prisoner Cell Block H' (a popular 1980's Australian soap). Suffice to say we had a ball!

Open Gardens and Courtyards - The September edition 

A.M.

On the Sunday we had another real treat as the 'Open Gardens and Courtyards' event that usually took place in May had a special 'Autumn' edition this year. In the morning I jumped on my bike and with my camera rushed round no less than 11 historic Villas in the centre of Florence! I had to fight my way past this year's charity run, 'Corri la Vita' too. My first stop was the cloisters of santo Spirito and then it was on to the gardens of Palazzo Malenchini on Via dei Benci. At my next port of call, Palazzo Corsini I was greeted by a string quartet playing in the courtyard. My next stop was the very pretty 'Giardino degli Antellisi' on Piazza Santa Croce and then the very impressive Palazzo Borghesi on Via Ghibelline, where I got to see the luxurious banqueting rooms. Villa number 6 was  the Palazzo Strozzi Sacrati behind the Duomo. Closing time was approaching and I cycled onto the Convento di Santa Maria di Candeli' which is now a baracks of the Carabinieri. Quickly followed by the Palazzo Ximenes Panciatichi and Palazzo Grifoni Budini in Piazza Santissima Annunziata. I finished just in time with Palazzo Pandolfini and finally villa number 11 at 12.55 with 5 minutes to spare, Palazzo Tolomei Buffi! Phew!!! I cycled back home for a well earned rest and lunch before swapping the bike for the car, picking up Annette and tackling another five Villas outside of Florence...

P.M.

Our first stop was the Castello di Torregallo, a building that we had driven past many times, as with all of these place that are usually closed to the public, it was nice to get a closer look. Our second Villa was just around the corner at the Villa la Nerlaia, in Via la Bgnese. It's the villa up the hill on the left. It was actually an old people's home, but the gardens were verry pretty. Our next villa was near San Casciano, actually in the middle of nowhere and was the property of the Antinori, called Villa del Cigliano', we managed to sneak a taste of their wine. The Villa is somewhat reminiscent of the Santo Spirito church in Florence and the gardens are wonderful. We drove back along the Via Volterrana and find the Villa Sfacciata, with very similar views to Villa Le Corti in San Casciano and our last villa of the day was Villa Giogolirosso, where we enjoyed a wonderful sunset from their beautiful gardens. So, 16 Villas in one day! It can be done...

Fiorentina - Liverpool

A very special visit to the Artemo Franchi stadium came on Tuesday 29th September. Fiorentina had finished in third place in the league at the end of last season, which meant their first ever appearance in the Champions League. They had been drawn in a group with Debrecen, Lyon and four-times winners the mighty Liverpool. Their home match against Liverpool came on a Tuesday evening in late September, while we were doing summer courses, which meant I wasn't working and could go. My friend, Piero managed to get a ticket and I went along for this historic match, We were sat in the Curva Ferrovia right next to the 'Gabbia' or cage which held the away supporters. That night it was full of Liverpool supporters with their large banners, but after Fiorentina's first early goal they remained silent for the rest of the match. 19-year old Montenegran Stevan Jovetic scored the opener. He was only playing because our striker, Alberto Gilardino was out injured. Liverpool under Rafael Benitez had a very strong side, with Pepe Reina in goal, Steven Gerrard and Javier Mascherano in midfield and Fernando Torres up front, but they were subdued with Fiorentina's pressing game. Jovetic scored again to make it 2-0 and the stadium went wild. At the final whistle the Fiorentina crowd saluted the Liverpool fans. It was a memorable evening and we celebrated well into the night.

After consulting the 'Borghi piu belli d'Italia' website at the weekend we went for a drive to Montescudaio near Cecina on the coast. As luck would have it we stumbled on their annual festival showcasing local wines, So we spent a pleasant afternnon strolling through the pretty streets, glass in hand and tasting some very nice wines.

In October we began our new school term. One of my classes was postponed for a week, so I went to see the new Woody Allen film 'Whatever works' and Alison and Piero invited us to the art bar for cocktails to say goodbye to their Australian friends. My friend Davide kept talking about organising a  'calcetto' or five-a-side football team and so after a seven year absence, I played my first football match. It was pretty full on and luckily I didn't totally embarrass myself. Davide was amazing and scored three of our goals. He must have been pretty good when he was younger. Afterwards we all had pizza and beer. It took me a week to recover from the aches and pains! I had a hot date with Annette at the theatre, as there was a short Opera season on at the Teatro Communale and we went along to see a moving performance of Verdi's Rigoletto. We were invited with Alison and Piero to work colleague John's flat for a Morroccan themed lunch which we enjoyed out on his pretty terrace and enjoyed a white  truffle based dinner in San Miniato at 'Pepenero' with friends, Francesco and Michela. We went back to our old stomping ground near Montefiriridolfi for an autumn walk towards Passignano. Vinoteca al Chianti's Andrea organised a special wine event showcasing French wines and Champagnes, so we invited Alison and Piero along to the Relais Certosa hotel for a lovely afternnon. We drank some wonderful champagnes accompanied by my first taste of Oysters and we also try some fabulous burgundys and bordeaux wines too. In the evening they took us to one of their favourite restaurants 'Sasso di Dante' where we gorge on some fine fillet steaks with truffles. We took a drive out to Barberino and again enjoyed a sunny afternoon in the countryside, I had never known such a sunny autumn and we made the most of it.

Over the 'i morti' holiday break we were invited back to Davide and Rossana's mountain house again in Pietramala. We stop at Firenzuola for a pannino lunch and to buy some provisions, unpack at their house, turn on the heating and headed straight back out for a walk. It's cold, but sunny and we had an enjoyable walk up a rather large 3,000 foot mountain, working up an appetite for dinner. Back at the house, Davide made a roaring log fire and we munched away on sausages, chicken and polenta and some nice bottles of red wine. After a well earned sleep we are ready for another walk in the woods. It's an incredibly sunny day, with the bluest sky and the autumn colours were incredible. Davide and Lorenzo head back home after a bit as Davide's cooking lunch, but Rossana, Annette and I carry on enjoying a beautiful morning. We eventually headed back for another slap up meal and some games of Cluedo and Disney trivial pursuit, before tidying up, cleaning and heading back to Florence. The following weekend, Annette and I tried out a restaurant that was recommended to us by work colleague John called 'Su Pe 'i' Canto, in the pretty hill-top town of Carmignano. It turned out to be a revelation and their house wine from local producer, 'Fattoria di Ambra' one of the best we'd ever tasted. I witnessed my first ever live Rugby match as my friend, Davide had bought tickets for a test match between Italy and the legendary All-Blacks of New Zealand, at the San Siro in Milan. Davide drove his son, Lorenzo and me up and we stopped near the stadium for a pizza before entering the mighty stadium in time for the famous 'Hakka'. It was a pretty good match and Italy played very well, although in the end they lost 20-6, but it was a great first game to see. November as ever meant 'truffles' and so we made our annual pilgramage to San Miniato. This year it seemed more packed than usual, however we tried lots of food and wine and stocked up on the usual truffle products. My famous class, now an 'E-3' Intermediate level arranged an early Christmas pizza at this bar which converted itself for the evening into a mini pizzeria and we had a lively evening. Luisa had composed a poem about the class which went down well. I was back at the stadium for Fiorentina's penultimate group match against Lyon. Again luckily for me it was on a Tuesday at 8.45. I finished work at 8.00 and managed to get a taxi to the stadium, arriving just as they were kicking off. Today I was in the mythical 'Curva Fiesole' with all the hard core fans, where the atmosphere was electric. My good friend, Piero had again managed to get me a ticket and I witnessed first hand an historic evening for the mighty Viola. Manuel Vargas scored a first half penalty, which as it turned out simultaneously put Filorentina through to the next round and dumped out Liverpool. We held on for the 1-0 win and everyone went completely crazy! My final date in November was at the sachall (now Obihall) with Annette to see 23-year old Scottish singer, Paolo Nutini. Coming off his very successful first album, he does a very energetic one and a half hour set and we had a very cool evening.

So a mild, sunny November gives way to the holday season month of December. I'm very busy at work doing Cambridge oral exams, but after my football exploits was getting into sports nostagia mode. On a Sunday afternoon we went for a walk in the Cascine park and I decided to hire some roller blades for a trip down memory lane. It was great fun and I didn't fall over and kill myself. The following Thursday I was back for my second 5-a-side football encounter. This time I even managed to score a goal. This Christmas we were offered the apartment in the Dolomites again by my student, Enzo, which meant we wouldn't be going to Pienza, so we went early, with a stop at Montalcino to stock up on some award winning 2004 Brunellos, We eat our sandwiches in the pretty square of Bagno Vignoni and then go for a long soak in the 52° terme. We had another memorable dinner in Pienza at 'Latte di Luna and of course bought some wicked pecorino cheese. We broke up from work and looked forward to our 20 days holiday.

Dolomites - The Winter Edition

Day 1

Well what do you know, the day we were due to leave it snowed in Florence. So before the long drive up to the alps we stopped off up Piazzale Michelangelo to see the city under a light dusting of snow. The drive up to Cortina was problem free as all the major roads had been cleared of snow. I Italy they are well prepared for snow. Our residence, Ploner is under a thick blanket of snow... perfect for some nice snowy winter fun.

Day 2

The sun makes an early appearance and after breakfast we drove into San Candido. We booked a snowboarding lesson for the next day and enjoyed the 'alpine' atmosphere in this pretty town. We picked up some wine at our favourite enoteca and had dinner back at the apartment and chilled out in the company of the Sopranos (a tv show).

Day 3

And our big snowboarding day. Our lesson was booked for 12.30, which gave us time to get fixed up with all our gear. We had bought salapettes, boots, gloves and thick woollen clothes from Decathlon back in Florence, so we just needed to hire the special boots and boards and get our ski pass. The lesson was really good, but the snowboarding very difficult and you had to keep undoing and fixing in your boots all the time. Still it was good fun and quite an experience. After our lesson we practised some of the moves in the afternoon and as a treat had booked into our jacuzzi at Ploner to unwind.

Day 4

And it snowed overnight, meaning there was fresh powder on the ground.  We went for a nice walk in the morning, made a snowman and bump into some alpine skiiers, literally! In the afternoon we drove into Brunico, there was a Christmas market and everybody was out in jovial mood.

Day 5 - December 24th

We were going to have another snowboarding lesson today, but the weather turned a bit nasty, so for my 41st birthday we went ice skating at the Olympic ice rink in Cortina. It had been quite a few years since we'd both been ice skating, but we  had a fabulous time and it wasn't too packed. In the evening, being my birthday we had tyhe custo,ary smoked salmon and veuve Cliquot and opened another bottle of Annette's 1997 Poggio Banale Brunello (and this year it wasn't corked!)

Day 6

A very quiet Christmas day as the weather hadn't improved much so we chilled in our apartment, however the forecast looked good for tomorrow, so for our final day, we booked another snowboarding lesson.

Day 7

Our lesson was at 1.30 so it gave us some time to try and remember the moves we had been taught a few days ago. Today our instructor, Matteo took us up the ski lift, which is easier than it looks. We were boarding down the beginner slope and it felt quite good. Probably if we had had lessons for a week we would have got even more confidence, but for first timers I think 10 out of 10 for effort. After a late warming lunch we practised some more and then went home and hit the Turkish bath.

Of course we weren't going to come all this way and go straight home... we planned a very special epilogue to our Christmas holiday, Venice.

Venice

Day 1

As our apartment in the Dolomites was a gift from Enzo and we didn't have to pay, we decided we could affored to spend some days in the very romantic Venice, which was almost on the way back home. We booked three nights in the 'Antico Doge' in the Canareggio district of Venice. We had spent one night in Venice before, in 2002 in a very cheap, dingy hotel, so this one was a bit special. We drove to Mestre and left the car in the car park and caught the train to Venice. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, the 'acqua ala' high water had gone down and we took the expensive 'vaporetto' water taxi two stops to the ca'd'oro where our hotel was a short walk from. The hotel was clean, comfortable and tastefully decorated, we were very pleased. We left our cases and as the sun was still out we made the most of it and dashed out to Piazza San marco to get some good photos. We made our way back to the Rialto bridge, before the sun sets. I had done my homework and for our first night booked a table at a very swish restaurant valled 'Osteria Anice Stellato'.  It's a little walk near the Fondamenta de la Sensa, but well worth the walk. Walking in Venice in the evening is a real treat as most of the tourists have gone home. The restaurant was nice and cozy and the meal fabulous.

Day 2

After a big buffet breakfast we are ready to explore. Our first stop is the Rialto market which is buzzing with sights, sounds and smells. WE then press on to the Santo Spirito and Santa Croce areas and the beautifully named 'Ponte delle tette' (that's bridge of tits to you!) We warm up with a hot chocolate and I checked out the church, Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei, which had some Titian and Bellini paintings. as well as mausoleums of Canova and Titian. We stopped for lunch at  'Osteria al Ponte la Pattatina', where we have our first taste of spaghetti al nero di sepia, a  very creamy pasta with squid ink. We wander back to the Rialto bridge and a gondolier offers to take us for a cut price ride. It's something we wanted to do and for 60 euro rather than the 80 that we've also been quoted, we decide to take him up on his offer... It felt very luxurious especially since the last time we were in Venice seven years ago we couldn't really afford it, the trip lasts for about half an hour and was a once in a lifetime experience. After freshening up back at our hotel, we went for dinner at a buzzy little restaurant we'd had coffee last night, called 'La Cantina'. The atmosphere, wine and food were top notch, the only problem was that the waiter wanted to choose everything and refused to give any prices... the bill at the end was quite a shock! But hey, when in Venice!

Day 3

Today we had booked a tour of one of the glass factories in Murano, so after a hearty buffet breakfast we were met by our own private water taxi and taken to the small island of Murano. We saw a guy doing some glass blowing, which was cool and then given the obligatory tour through the showroom. Some of the pieces were beautiful, some over the top and all of the prices, ridiculously expensive. Even the one or two pieces we actually liked to buy, were completely out of our price range. Still it was a fascinating experience. We had a pleasant stroll round Murano. It was pretty and obviously a lot smaller than Venice. We decided to take the ferry onto another island, Burano, the one with all the brightly coloured houses. To be honest we found the whole place a bit tacky. Lunchtime was beckoning and the only place that looked vaguely ok, was a rather posh looking place called, 'Riva Rosa'. We enjoy a pricey dish of pasta and glass of white wine. Afterwards we got the ferry back to Venice, near St Marks, checking out the 'bridge with no parapet' and Ca' del Paradiso. Back to the hotel, freshened up and changed and we headed out to our restaurant for the evening, which turned out to be the best experience of the four days, 'Ostairia Da Rioba' in the Fondamenta della Misericordia.

Day 4

On our last day in the romantic Venice we were woken up at 6 am with a high water alarm. Fortunately by the time we'd showered and breakfasted it had gone down somewhat and we were able to negotiate our wasy around without too much trouble. We packed up our cases and left them at the hotel to pick up later. We decided we had to visit at least one art gallery while we were here and so made our way towards the Galleria del Accademia'. On the way we stopped to see that famous staircase we had sen seven years ago and we happen upon the Fenice theatre. We thought about doing a tour, but then we saw that there was a rehearsal for the annual New Year's Day concert that is shown on national television and decided the oppoertunity to hear some Opera Arias was too good to pass up. The theatre had burned down and was restored fairly recently. It was magnificent and we enjoyed an hour or so of beautiful music, although seeing the artists perform in jeans and t-shirts was a bit strange. We headed on to the Accademia only to discover that its most famous piece, Giorgione's Tempest was out on loan! So after a bit of moaning we decided to save it for another time and went for lunch. We were exhausted and so decided to pick up our cases and got the train back to Mestre to pick up the car and headed home to Florence 

Unfortunately it rained on New Year's Eve, so our planned visit to Piazza Signoria for the annual classical concert was shelved and we stayed in and celebrated the beginning of a new decade together. 

2010

2010 was a relatively quiet year as far as news went. The world’s new tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai was finally completed after six years of construction. There was a massive earthquake in Haiti killing 160,000 people and causing devastating damage in an already poor country. 

On a positive note, films released this year included the futuristic, Avatar, Alice has n Wonderland, Inception and the King’s Speech. Some of the new musicians I enjoyed were Gregory Porter, Cee Lo Green and Bruno Mars. The British drama Downtown Abbey first aired and we bought it when it came out on dvd at the end of the year. 

In April a dust cloud from a volcano in Iceland caused chaos for flights. In May David Cameron was elected prime minister in Britain in a Conservative Liberal coalition. Spain beat Holland in the Summer’s World Cup in South Africa. In August a terrible flood killed 2,000 in Pakistan and in Chile the world watched for 69 days as 33 miners were miraculously pulled out alive. In November, future King of England, Prince William finally popped the question to one time student at our school, the British Institute of Florence, Kate Middleton.  

On the 2nd of January we made it out for a stroll up Fiesole and witnessed a great sunset.

Ferrara

Our first outing of what would turn out to be a very special year, was somewhere I had been wanting to come for several years, the city of Ferrara in Emilia Romagna. A nice early start and we arrived after a two-hour drive. It was a bright day, but absolutely freezing. The main attraction here is the imposing Castel Estense, where we had a nice look around and ate our packed lunch. We warmed ourselves up with a frothy cappuccino and headed to the Palazzo Diamante, so called because the unique brickwork pattern makes it appear to be covered with diamonds. We warmed ourselves up again with a steaming hot chocolate and strolled through the old part of the town and checked out the cathedral, cloisters and old market. It was a very nice city and one we would definitely return to, but maybe not in January, still a very pleasant outing.

I spotted an ad for a Marc Chagall exhibition in Pisa and we went along to check it out. It was being held in a very impressive building, the Palazzo Blu, the exhibition was quite large, there were many wonderful paintings by Chagall and other artists and we had a great time. Our customary last day before returning to work as always was the day of the epiphany, or La Befana, as it's called here and this year we spent it in the company of our good friends, Francesco and Michela, as he was cooking the always strange, wild boar in chocolate sauce. My toothache was becoming unbearable so I called my old student Santo Papaleo up and booked a visit. It was good to see him, although sadly he had split up from his wife Anna Maria and had shacked up with a younger woman. I had some root canal work and a wisdom tooth out, which was painful and also expensive, but at least the problem was solved. Between visits Annette and I managed to fit in meals out back at 'Su pe 'I' Canto in Carmignano for their wicked rabbit stuffed with pears and to Antica Porta for pizza and seafood. My student and frien Enzo was celebrating a new work contract and took the whole class to Rifrullo in San Niccolò for an indulgent champagne aperitivo.

We started February with a sunny Sunday trip down to the Val D'Orcia for our customary one two punch. The afternoon soaking in the hot springs of Bagno Vignoni and dinner in the evening at Latte di Luna. I told the owner, Roberto I had written a review on Tripadvisor, so he kept plying us with extra dishes to taste and a free bottle of wine, We ate like kings that night... One of my old school friends, David Leitch was visiting Florence on business and so I met up with him and his girlfriend Lori. He was living in Arizona in America working for a fruit farm and came to Europe often. It was great seeing him. He looked and sounded as I remembered him 23 years ago! A real larger than life character. I met up with him at the Dublin pub for a drink and then the following day took them for a drive out to Chianti. We stopped at Castello Vichiomaggio for some wine tasting and he bought me a bottle. Then we drove onto Greve and finished up at San Gimignano. In the evening I took them to Quattro Leone for bistecca, It was great seeing him again after all these years. I learned later that he had about four kids from a previous relationship and shortly after this visit he split with Lori and got together with another woman! David Leitch, once a stud, always a stud... My friend Enzo put me in touch with some people who worked at Tropos, which was a health centre in Florence and so I started doing some lessons with a small group there.

Umbria

Day 1 - Bagnoreggio and Todi

For our half-term break we booked two nights at a B&B near Todi in Umbria. The weather forecast wasn't brilliant, with the first day looking the best. We drove south and our first port of call was a strange hill-top town called Civitta di Bagnoreggio. To reach it you had to walk across a long bridge, it was a very surreal place. There were only about twenty permanent residents, the remaining houses were either summer houses only or abandoned. To be honest in February it was a bit of a ghost town. We wandered through the quaint tumbled down streets, admiring the spectacular views of the surrounding hills. We ate our sandwiches and had a drink in the town's only bar, before heading on to Todi. We had a quick dash around this larger pretty town while there was still some sunlight and then found our B&B called Torre SanGiovanni just down the road in Collevalenza. It was a very quaint hamlet, our host, Rosaria very friendly and the rooms elaborately decorated. She had obviously put a lot of love and hard work into restauring this ancient building. We unpacked and had a rest and then headed back into Todi for dinner at a restaurant we had already booked. It was called Pane &Vino and although fairly empty was warm and inviting. We had a wonderful meal with some local dishes and crashed out, exhausted from our first day.

Day 2 - Montefalco  Spoleto

We awoke refreshed to a huge breakfast ready for our second day. Our first stop was Montefaclo, home to the famous wine. We made an impromptu stop to the wonderfully named town, 'Bastardo' for a photo. Montefalco is a lovely little town, with the wine the obvious star. I bought some bottles of Sagrantino and we drove onto our next destination, Spoleto, where we had lunch in a small restaurant, but unfortunately it started to rain. It was our second visit here, but we only came for the evening, so it was nice to see the town during the day albeit in the rain. We checked out a Roman house with some cool mosaics and then the Cathedral which had some Filippo Lippi frescoes. There was also a Roman Amphitheatre which we saw, finishing off a pleasant afternoon. In the evening we decided to eat in at Rosaria's restaurant. It turned out to be a great evening, even though we were the only guests, But Rosaria keeps plying us with lots of very tasty dishes with truffles and porcini mushrooms and the local red wine.

Day 3

Our last day started with another monster breakfast, we packed up and Rosaria gave us a tour of her property and showed us all the rooms that she had personally decorated and all the antique pieces of furniture she had bought. She asked us to proof read her brochure in English and presented us with a 30 euro bottle of Sagrantino wine as a gift. We had decided on two more destinations today. In the morning we visited the  'Parco dei Mostri' or Monsters' park, in the town of Bomarzo. Another surreal place and then on to Lake Bolsena, where we found a restaurant and enjoyed a nice seafood pasta dish by the lake, a pleasant way to finish our three-day break in the enchanting Umbria.

At the end of March we drove up to our old picnic spot in Artimino. We noticed that the usually closed gates to the Villa were open and people were making their way in. So we went to investigate. There was a special event on, which included tasting some of the Villa's wines and a buffet. We went inside and got to look at several rooms for the first time.

Easter in the Chianti

Day 1

We broke up for Easter and  decided this year to just go on a few local excursions and booked a couple of nights in an agriturismo in Castellina-in-Chianti. We drove down to Siena for the day and stopped off at Monteriggioni for only our second visit to this tiny ancient walled hamlet. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll before heading off to Siena. It was a beautiful afternoon and I got lots of cool photos with a cobalt blue sky. We had a drink in the Piazza del Campo and spent a very lazy afternoon soaking up the magic of Siena. In the evening we stayed for dinner at the wonderful Taverna di San Giuseppe, where we'd been to before and enjoyed a fabulous meal.

Day 2

We had booked two nights at the hotel Belvedere di San Leonino and made a very leisurely drive down, stopping at Villa Le Corti in San Casciano for some photos of a field of rapeseed and also at the Villa Calcinai, near where we used to live in Greve. We popped into Greve for a mid-morning coffee and drove up to Montefioralle for a stroll. We stopped here to eat our sandwiches and then drove on to Panzano. We checked out some restaurants and stopped at 'Il Vinaio' for a glass of wine on their outdoor terrace. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we made the most of it. We arrived in Castellina in the mid-afternoon and went for a wander through the prety town and vaulted walkway. We finally arrived at our agriturismo and were very impressed. They had a lovely outdoor pool, although it was too early in the season to swim and extensive grounds to enjoy. After checking in we headed out for diner, tonight's choice is 'Le Peghera di Bacco' (now called La Botte di Bacco). We had a mixed evening and afterwards I wrote a review on tripadvisor.

Day 3

After a hearty breakfast we sunned ourselves by the pool bathed in glorious spring sunlight and then went to check out an Etruscan tomb near the hamlet of Fonterutoli. We stopped for lunch in Panzano at 'Il Vescovino', which had incredible views, but the food, like last night, was slightly disappointing too. In the afternoon we paid the abbey at Badia a Coltibuono in Gaiole a visit. We checked out the restaurant and booked a table for the evening. We drove on to Radda and enjoyed a stroll and coffee at bar Dante. Then it was back to our farmhouse for a wash and change and then back to the Osteria at Badia a Coltibuono for an unforgettable meal that made up for the other two disappointments.

Day 4

Again after our big buffet breakfast we relaxed by the pool on our third sunny day in a row. After checking out we popped to nearby Fonterutoli, which is also home to the Mazzei winery. I was treated to some free wine tasing and bought a bottle of their award winning riserva to take home. We had lunch at 'La Panzanelle', near Lucardo. We had been here many years ago and were stuck in a room with loads of screaming kids. Today we were outside in the more 'peaceful' gardens and enjoyed a very tasty plate of pasta. A lovely way to end our four days in the Chianti countryside.

Back to work and at the weekend as the sun was back out, I went exploring by myself. The Villa Medici at Poggio a Caiano was the destination and I also found some spectacular views near the famous winery of Capezzana in Carmignano. Annette joined me and we chilled out on the grass at Olmo and went for a nice pizza at Firenze Nova on the Sunday.

The Woodlanders in Tuscany

Annette's sister Ruth decided to come and visit us, just after Easter and she brought her daughter, the seven year old, Elise and Annette's mum, Mavis. We had been living in Italy for nine years and finally she got herself together to pay us her first visit. They came for a week and in true Mavis fashion, were treated to some glorious weather. I picked them all up from Pisa airport and brought them back to our tiny flat in Via del Pozzino. It was a bit of a squash, but we managed. I took them all up Piazzale Michelangelo and to the Iris garden. We all spent a wonderful morning in the Roman ruins up Fiesole. We had a great day in Lucca, cycling on the walls and lunching at our favourite 'Osteria Baralla'. We drove them out to the Chianti, to see our old house at Olmastrino, to Greve and for lunch in Panzano at 'Oltre Il Giardino' where the wisteria was in full bloom and then on to San Gimignano for ice creams in the afternoon. They finished their visit with the obligatory tour of Florence.

As April turned into May I attended Vinoteca al Chianti's 'Centovini' wine festival at the Relais Certosa hotel and caught the Mille Miglia car race after work in Florence. We paid the tiny hamlet of Castelfranco di Sopra a visit, which was disappointing, but were rewarded with fields of wonderful lilac 'giuggioli' irises. I checked out the latest art exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi, which was a look into the strange world of Surrealism with De Chirico and Magritte. It was a great year for Chelsea under Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti. They won the league on the last day of the season on 9 May and on 15 May beat Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final to win the 'Double.' For the 'Open Villas' day this year I visited four villas only in the afternoon. Villa Ninfeo Bandini in San Casciano, where I got to go on a guided tour. My second villa was Villa Riposo, closely followed by Castello di Montauto and lastly the Villa Ugolino on the Chiantigiana, a villa I used to drive past every day when we lived in Greve. Florence was holding its first ice cream festival over four days at the end of May and there were some very interesting flavours we tried. The month finished with a very bizarre trip down memory lane as the son of our friends Davide and Rossana, Lorenzo was celebrating his first communion. We were invited to the celebration, first at the church near their house and afterwards at a really cool villa in Barberino in the Mugello called Villa Le Maschere. Many of their family were there too including Davide's mother and sister from Milan, who we met for the first time. The meal at the Villa was incredible and we had a great time there exploring the grounds and feasting. It was better than any wedding I'd ever been to in England. One thing was for sure, Italians really know how to celebrate in style.

June started with the weather still scorching hot as I drove to Radda for this year's wine festival, Radda in the Glass and there was a special tasting of some Barolo wines from Piemonte. I celebrated my last working Saturday at the outdoor swimming pool at Greve. We went to the beach on the middle weekend in June, little did we know that it would be our last camping trip for some years! By now our weekend had become like clockwork. We drove to 'Il Fontino' in Scarlino, set the tent up, had a pre-lunch swim. After lunch we spent the afternoon on the lovely beach at Punta Ala and had dinner back at the campsite on our new camping table. On the Sunday we spent the morning by the pool and the afternoon back on the beach at Punta Ala. 

Around this time be began telling other members of our family and very close friends our happy news that Annette was pregnant. Everybody seemed very happy for us and we had lots of congratulations and good wishes. These were exciting times for us. We went for an end of term meal at Officina del Gusto with my favourite class, with the idea of announcing our news. They had second guessed us and Enzo had brought us along a blue and pink dummies. Our old friends Barbara and Matteo were tying the knot and we were invited to their wedding reception at their new house in Chiessina Uzzanese. Barbara was pregnant with their second child and we compared notes with them. The weather turned bad, but luckily they had a huge marquee and we had a good time. More end of term celebrations with the staff party and my First Certificate class at  the old 'Sotto Sopra' restaurant in Bagno a Ripoli now called 'Regina Margherita' for a slap up fish meal. The World Cup was in full swing and I saw England beat Slovenia. We enjoyed this year's San Giovanni fireworks and were back at the outdoor pool in Greve and round the corner for dinner at 'Alle Corte Dei Tre'. We had a very special mid-week appointment in Verona at the famous Amphitheatre, but not to see the Opera. One of my all time musical heroes, Stevie Wonder was performing and despite the three hour drive, I had to be there. It was a memorable evening and not even the rain could spoil the fun. Around this time we decided that as there were going to be three of us that maybe it was time to look for a house to buy. We checked out many different places on the internet and went to look at half a dozen. We went to see one in a tiny hamlet called Montalbino, near Montespertoli and really liked it. We went to a bizarre social networking evening organised by Toscana-In at the American James Madison University. I managed to sneak into the Odeon to watch the Italian premier of the new Alan Rickman film, Bottleshop, about wine. I sat on the front row and got to see Alan Rickman in the flesh as he introduced the film.

July started with a trip to the Pistoia Blues festival where we saw one of my favourite Italian singers, the Barry Whitesque, Mario Biondi. I attended a very nice evening wine tasting event at the beautiful Bardini gardens. We broke up for our summer holiday and again Enzo had offered us his appartment in the Dolomites which we duly accepted.

Padova - Scrovegni Chapel

We drove north and decided to stop halfway in Padova. We had booked tickets to see the Giottto frescoes. It was a scorching hot 35°C day. We parked up and stopped to eat our sandwiches in the park next to the tiny chapel. Before going into the chapel we had to enter a special compression chamber and were allowed only fifteen minutes inside. It was well worth it and Giotto's early Renaissance masterpiece was beautiful to behold. Afterwards outside it was so hot we decided not to attempt to look round Padova and pressed onto the Dolomites.

The Dolomites

We reached Cortina by early evening and stopped off at a supermarket for some provisions. There followed ten days of total relaxation. Some light walks in the mountains, grilled trout by the lake a drive to Auronzo, where the Lazio football team were having their summer break. Picnicking on our trusty rug in various locations breathing in the fresh Alpine air. The weather wasn't as good as the previous summer which was a bit disappointing, but at least we got to stay here, for free again thanks to my friend, Enzo.

Bolzano

We had booked a night on lake Garda at our favourite agriturismo, Sbrigol and decided on the drive down to stop at a couple of places. The first was Bolzano, well-known in Italy as being the second wealthiest city in the land. We arrived around lunchtime and the weather was still white hot. We had a nice stroll, along some cool streets lined with bars and there were lots of people. It was a very pretty town, the Cathedral was impressive, there were lots of flowers everywhere and we found a cool outdoor market where we bought some interesting looking bread. We enjoyed a drink and then headed on to our next destination.

Trento

Trento was a bit more deserted, although it was mid-afternoon, maybe everyone was having a siesta. The streets were pretty empty and we were chasing shadows, trying to find shelter from the unbearable sun. The main square was beautiful and we cooled ourselves down with an ice cream. We found Trento a little harder to like than Bolzano and when we got back to the car we found a parking ticket on our car. We checked the signs and they were a little confusing, but we had to pay and left Trento with a nice little souvenir... now we understood why it was the wealthiest city in Italy.

Lake Garda

On the first of August we drove down to our next destination, Lake Garda and arrived in Gargnano in the early evening. We found the agriturismo, but there was no sight of the landlord. Eventually we found him and he settled us into our huge apartment. The donkeys and goats were still there, but the trees had grown a bit, slightly obscuring the view of the lake from the cool balcony. After a shower and change we headed down to Gargnano, which was a pretty little town on the lake, but this evening had been taken over by a beer festival. So our romantic dinner at 'Al Miralago' would be slightly noisier, still we enjoyed a great meal and spectacular sunset over the lake. Afterwards we had a stroll along the lake, there was music and dancing well into the night and we enjoyed the party atmosphere.

We checked out of our agriturismo and found a nice bar overlooking the lake to have breakfast in and then found a cool beach for the day where we could sunbathe and have a dip in the refreshing lake water. Eventually we tore ourselves away and drove round to Sirmione arriving at around five pm. The beautiful town was packed as usual and we enjoyed a pleasant stroll around the quaint streets and finished with an aperitivo before finding the car and making the three-hour drive back home to Florence.

Elba

Day 1

A few days at home to wash our clothes and pack for the second leg of our summer holidays as our landlord, Silverio had offered us one of his houses (for a price) on the lovely island of Elba. As Annette was six months pregnant it seemed like an easy option, as it only involved a one and a half hour drive to Piombino, an hours crossing on the car ferry and a forty five minute drive to the house. It was in the tiny town of Zanca on the quieter west part of the island. The journey went very smoothly. We stopped in Portoferraio for groceries and drove round to Zanca. The house was right on the headland, very private with the most incredible views of the sea and the islands of Corsica and Capraia. The house wasn't the most beautiful, but the garden was big and the setting wonderful. We unpacked and ate dinner outside on the patio and were treated to the most spectacular sunset, one that we would enjoy almost every evening.

Day 2

A lazy morning, as the sun was already out and shining, we had breakfast outside on the patio and were treated to some wonderful fried fish brought by Silverio's Phillipina partner, Nimpha. Silverio was staying in his larger, posher house next door. After this tasty fish lunch we drove round to the beach at Fetovaia, It was a picturesque sandy bay with the most incredible clear emerald green sea. After a relaxing afternoon we were back at the house, nicknamed 'il nido', or in English, 'the nest' by our work colleague, Jane, Silverio's ex partner. We enjoyed dinner and that spectacular sunset on our patio.

Day 3

After another long lazy breakfast and lunch on our patio we stayed local and found the tiny beach of Capo Sant Andrea to relax on for the afternoon. In the evening we were back again at the house for sunset and dinner under the stars. This was turning out to be exactly the kind of relaxing holiday we were after.

Day 4

And a similar routine, breakfast, lunch, Fetovaia, sunset and dinner on the patio.

Day 5

Today we broke the routine, after breakfast we drove to Elba's coolest beach, Biodola and spent the day on the white sands and cool, clear watered. After a day chilling we headed back home for a shower and change and drove down to Marciana Marina for a very special music concert on a floating platform on the harbour. One of my old favourites, American Jazz singer, the now 70 year old, Al Jarreau was performing as part of the World Music Festival on the island. It was a great evening, the harbour was packed and we enjoyed a few hours of magic.

Day 6

A drive into the interior was today's plan, to visit some of the villages we remembered from 2006. Our first stop was the delightful Poggio and then on to Elba's highest point, Monte Capanne with some spectacular views. We drove down to St. Ilario in Campo, probably the prettiest town on the island and finished up on the beach at Cavoli. We spent a pleasant afternoon on the beach before driving back home in time for our spectacular sunset. We had a hot dinner date at 'Publius' restaurant in Marciana Alta and a very romantic table by the window looking down onto Marciana Marina. The food was good, we ordered fish, but I think we should have gone for the meat. It was also a bit pricey, but we had a nice enough evening.

Day 7

Our longest day as we visited the other side of the island. We booked a table at 'Il Giardino' in Porto Azzurro, a place we had eaten at five years ago. We drove round towards Capoliveri and decided to stop at the beach of Zuccale. This was definitely one of the most stunning beaches on the island and we sun ourselves for the afternoon. We then made our way to Il Giardino, where nothing seemed to have changed and we ordered 'that' incredible 14 dish antipasti. It was as memorable meal. Afterwards we drove into Capoliveri where it seemed the whole island was for a late night stroll, before making the forty five minute drive back home to Zanca.

Day 8

For our last day we were on a mission to find the mythical beach of 'Capo Bianco'. We drove towards Portoferraiao and followed the signs. After a short walk we found the white pebbled beach. It wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped, but we had a pleasant enough afternoon. We dove back and enjoyed our last sunset and evening under the stars.

Day 9

And the sad departure. We had enjoyed a nice relaxing week getting reacquainted with this idyllic island. Silverio's 'nido' in Zanca had been a revelation with its private location and stunning views. We tidied up. packed our things and drove back to Portoferraio to catch the 11.00 am ferry back to Piombino and the mainland. As we were passing Baratti we decided to stop off and see our friends. Alberto and Nadia were here as well as Barbara, Matteo and Marta and Veronica and kids, so we were getting a taste of the future... kids and beach!  They all seemed to be very happy.

England

After last summer's seven day flash to England we decided that ten days might be better. On the Friday we caught the early Meridiana flight from Florence to Gatwick and at 11.00 am we were having coffee with Annette's mum, Mavis. Annette's bump was quite big at this point and everybody was happy to see her. Ruth and Elise came round for lunch and I even managed to pull the sun lounger out in the garden. Phil and Jane were down on the Saturday and we went to Bryce's for a nice fish lunch, (in the rain) I bought a flag on the pier which ironically said 'I love sunny Worthing' and everybody posed with it. (the sun did come out for five minutes though) The weekend's birdman competition was abandoned because of the bad weather... It would subsequently move down the coast to Bognor Regis) welcome to England in August! In the evening we went to the George pub for dinner with some of my family. Mum, Dad, Grandma, Carl, who was down from Devon, Rita, Mat, Will, Natalie, Holly, Cassie, Milo, Thomas and even Alan, minus his girls though. My cousin Joanna turned up to say hello too. It was a big family reunion. On the Sunday we were up for our annual car boot sale trip at the Roundstone park this year in search of baby clothes. We bought 45 pieces of clothing and spent about 26p!!! (actually £11). Mum and Grandma popped round Mavis's before lunch and in the evening we were at Fiorella's for our annual barbecue, before her, Lisa, Grandma and my mum jetted off on a Mediterranean cruise. Most of the family were there including Tina, Frank, David and families. During the week we spent time with Mavis and Bernice and with her new daughter, Mya. Dad, who came round Mavis's. Annette took her mum to the Chichester Festival Theatre to see 42nd Street. We went for a drink at the Swallow's Return near Highdown with Rory. He had another new girlfriend who was staying in the Dominican Republic and he told us he wasn't interested in having children. We spent a nice afternoon at Swanbourne lake in Arundel with Bernice, Mya, Elise and Stanley. We did some shopping at Marks and Spencers in Holmbush and took Mavis for a pretty forgettable lunch at the Swiss Cottage in Shoreham. I met up with my old Chatsmore school pals for the second summer running at the Yeoman pub. We also spent an evening round my sister Rita and Mat's house for dinner.  For the second weekend on the Saturday evening we managed to see the film Inception with Leonardo Di Caprio at the Dome cinema with Bernice and Graeme and on the Sunday went bowling with my Dad, Rita and family and on our final day, the Monday were back at the Swallow's Return for a very nice slap up lunch with Mavis, Ruth and Elise.

Back to Florence and back to the sun, with five days before we were back at work, we hit the outdoor pool in Greve and had a fabulous meal at the 'Osteria del Millione' in Scandicci Alto. We started back at work and we also started looking at houses to buy and found one we quite liked in a small village called Montalbino near Montespertoli. Our friend Enzo was going to help us do a bit of negotiating with the owners. At the weekend we found an outdoor pool nearer than Greve at the pretty Parco della Renai in Signa. It wasn't quite as nice as Greve, but better than others we had been to. In the evening we drove into Signa where they were having their annual wheelbarrow race? As it was September, we attended our first wine event, as this year's festival in Greve had a new name, 'Greve Wine Expo'. The festival had been progressively getting better as more local producers were presenting their own wines and not worrying about punching holes in a ticket. I even did some translating for one winery, Lamole and the owner presented me with a free 30 euro bottle.

We met up with the owners of the house at Montalbino, strangely as normally the potential buyer makes an offer through the estate agent. The owner was a woman, who has  just divorced and her elderly father. The house was up for 240,000 euro and we and the estate agent thought they would accept 200,000. We made an initial offer of 170,000 with the idea of negotiating, but when they heard our offer, the woman burst into tears and the father got rather angry, they were obviously offended and we ended the meeting. We waited three or four days, rang the estate agent and said we would like to offer 200,000 but they were so offended  we never heard back from them and our house hunting was over, for now. Interestingly I heard five years later that they originally had the house up for 280,000 six months previous and had rejected an offer of 250,000. They lowered the price to 240,000 and rejected our offer of 200,000 and then in 2015 we saw it advertised for 198,000!!! They were obviously too proud and missed out. Years later we were glad we hadn't gone through with it as it was a bit isolated...

The following weekend we were at Panzano for the 'Vino al Vino' festival, our favourite wine festival, the weather was a bit dodgy, but the rain held off long enough to enjoy it. We had an invitation from Scottish Caroline to her lovely house in Montelupo for a special curry themed evening. Her and Nani had a couple from L'Aquilla staying with them. Their house had been destroyed by the earthquake and Caroline was doing her bit to help out. Nani kept us entertained with all his trinkets and hats. We ate our last outdoor meal of the year at L'Officina del Gusto, unfortunately they were out of crab pasta and the waiters were terrible. I was at the Relais Certosa hotel for this year's edition of 'Vino é Piacere' wine festival and we went up to Settignano for dinner at 'La Sosta del Rossellino', but were again disappointed as they served us raw fish.

At the beginning of October I attended a new wine festival in Florence called 'Florence wine night' with lots of tastings all over the city and a very special lecture in the 'Sala del 200' in the Palazzo Vecchio. I get to see and hear some of Tuscany's most famous winemakers, Giacomo Tachis, Vittorio Fiore, Franco Bernabei and Marco Pallanti talking about the Sangiovese grape. As well as the usual Tuscan wines such as Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino there was also a section in the Pitti Palace with wines from all over the world. To celebrate the start of the new term our good friends Davide and Rossana invited us to a new restaurant they had found in San Casciano called 'Cinque Divino'. It turned out to be a revelation with the most incredible antipasti, bistecca and I tried five different grappas at the end. We went to Annette's friend Gemma's for a Sunday lunch, her two girls were now three and a half and one and a half. We had a very special date at the Odeon cinema in Piazza Strozzi as they were staging yet another Italian premier of a new film called 'Passion' featuring classic Neapolitan folk songs and directed by Hollywood star John Turturro (Do the right thing and the great Lebowski) It was a cool evening and I even got to shake the man's hand, groupie I know! Davide managed to get me a ticket for a historic rugby test match at the Artemo Franchi stadium between Italy and Australia. It was a great match but Italy weren't able to stop the 'Wallabies' winning 32-14.

And so after nine years living in Italy and after writing 21 journals the 'Wine Years' were coming to a close. No we weren't moving, but becoming three, with less than two months until our little girl would arrive. My last journal entry was a biennial wine event called fittingly 'The Life of Wine'. 25 historic wineries had brought along several of their old vintages to the 'Burde' restaurant in Via Pistoiese and I got to taste wine from as far back as 1930!

On 11th of December Annette gave birth to a beautiful baby girl who we named Isabel, but that's another story...

2008 nov 4 obama elected president

nov 14 italy recession first since 2005 with germany eurozone hong kong japan us since 2007

Part 4

The Parenthood years

Chapter 27 

Arrival 

Chapter 28

Poppiano

  Last centre parcs  ice skating christmas

trip to paris with fraser and dean

weed killer rap

tennis

visits to brighton

burgundy escortM

Verdi You mat have the universe if I may have Italy

Dante beauty awakens the soul to act

Ch 29  Giano