Being Italian (well at least pretending)

This is our fifth day in Cortona, and we finally know how to get around and what we need to do.  We have noticed that many of the tourists, especially on the weekends, are Italians.  Because of the way we dress, Mike and I don't look much different than they do.  And if we watch what they do, we can even act like them.  We just have to keep silent to keep pretending.  Many people had told us that Italians could be pretty rude, but for the most part, they have been extremely nice and helpful.  This may be due to the fact that we are staying in a small town that relies on tourists for the majority of their income.  Or maybe we have just been fortunate so far in the Italians we have come in contact with.  

Door into apartment

 I am writing in the morning again because we didn't get in until after midnight last night, but more about that later.    I am again typing by the light coming in the stained glass doors.  That is a picture of them on the right though it doesn't do them justice.  They are amber colored with dark red outlines on each small pane and the circle contain pictures of fruit in the middle.  In our walks we have seen many decorative doors and windows like these.

Walk up to Santa Margherita

Yesterday, we decided to walk to some buildings around Cortona since we knew we would have a late night.  First we walked to the Sanctuary of Santa Margherita.  This is part church, part convent on the hill above our apartment.  The walk was very steep, but pretty.

Santa Margherita

The church was very ornate inside and out.  There are no pictures of the inside because the sign indicated for no pictures to be taken, although Mike and I noticed that the four nuns that were there were taking some pictures and no one cared.  I guess if you are a nun in the church connected to a convent, you can take pictures if you want.  The walls had 13th century frescoes on them and the ceilings were painted a bright blue with different types of religious paintings on them.  At the front of the church on the alter area was the glass coffin containing the body of Santa Margherita.  The Catholics in the church seemed to be in awe of her.  I will have to research to find out about why she was so special to them.                                                        

Medici Fortress at top of the hill.

Steep steps

Path back to town

After going through the church, we walked around back and found a path through the property that led into the main part of Cortona.  We started to take the stairs down to the path, but I slipped on some loose gravel at the top and had a small fall, so we decided to take the long, less steep way down to the path.  You can see from the picture that the stairs had no hand rails.  I'm just glad that all I did was sit on my bottom with an ankle twisted under me.  It was a long way down these steps.  Along the path were altars with tiled mosaics of the Passion of Christ starting at the bottom with a representation of Christ in front of Pontius Pilate and ending at the top with a representation of Christ after being taken down from the cross, held by, we are guessing, Mary.  They were very intricate and pretty.  

One of the mosaics on the path to town

The trail took us to the lower piazza in town where we caught the bus on Thursday.  We passed by many other churches and even a building that is a part of the University of Georgia in the USA. 

Mosaic tile on the outside of one of the churches 

Pictures of a fountain in a park at the lower level of Cortona.  There were many local children playing in this park.

Fountain in park

Close up shot of the fountain

Typical Street in Cortona

After getting back to the apartment we rested for the evening we had ahead of us.  Patrizia, our hostess, picked us up in her car at 8:00 pm and took us to the small community of Pergo.  Here the locals had some tents set up with tables under them.  We joined Patrizia's daughter and son-in-law, Luccia and de Lucca, and 2 friends of Patrizia's.  deLucca (and I am just guessing about the spelling) had made reservations for our group of 7 people.  The table had a bottle each of white and red wine from a local winery and 2 large bottles of water.  I noticed that all the Italians added water to their wine, some added more than others.  After a while the meal began.  It started with the antipasto (duck liver pate on bread, some type of tomato spread on bread, proschiutto, salami, and duck sausage).  Next was the prima (first) course of soup with tiny balls of pasta and duck broth with parmesian cheese added on top, followed by the secondo (second) course of pasta with tomato sauce with duck meat, liver, and stomach.  Sounds strange, but it was really good.  Of course, the wine kept flowing as we ate.  When a bottle was emptied, another was put in its place.  I thought that I was full, but we hadn't even had the main course which was roasted duck.  When it came everyone ate like they had not eaten in a long time.  It was really delicioso.  I cannot believe how much Italians eat and drink, yet no one was fat or seemed to get drunk.  I guess eating so much and adding water to the wine kept people from getting drunk.  Just when we thought everything was ending, a server brought around bottles of Limoncello (a lemon drink with alcohol) and poured small glasses for everyone.  Then came dolce (dessert) of blackberry or apricot tarts.  Finally, small cups of extremely strong coffee for anyone that wanted it.  After that the party was over.  Of course by then it was 11:30 pm.  We had all been eating and drinking for 3 hours.  While all of this was going on, a young man would occasionally play the accordion and sing while a few people danced.  Since we were the only 2 people there that weren't speaking Italian, this was a truly unique and local experience.  We are so glad that Patrizia and Luccia asked us to join them for this festival of the wheat harvest.  

Time to get started on another day.  Tonight Patrizia is cooking a typical Italian meal for us. Can't wait.  Until next time,  Ciao, Ciao.