I’ve got some catching up to do. It’s not exactly ‘splainin’, just catching up.

It has been more than a week since we last posted, having taken the prior week “off” during our six week series of tours here in Italy. It was hardly a week’s vacation, though, instead a real whirlwind of travel. Planes, trains and automobiles.

Last Saturday saw us depart the villa to make room for our friend Frank and Judith’s annual Umbrian Photography Workshop, a week of photo instruction by two of the Washington, DC-area’s best photographer/teacher duo that takes full advantage of Umbria and the fall harvest season here. For three years now we have been helping Frank and Judith organize their intimate, hands on workshop that is based out of our villa. And before leaving the area we were fortunate enough to meet two of this year’s six students and have lunch with them, sharing some of our thoughts about how to make the most of their time before we headed down the road to our friend and colleague Wendy’s nearbyhome. Next on tap was a leisurely Sunday in the country, topped off by lunch at the nearby Roccafiore estate, an elegant country inn and winery situated on the hills across from Todi. The view of Todi from the restaurant’s terrace reminded us why so many people love Todi. It really is beautiful.

We then fought a massive traffic jam to get to Rome, taking nearly five hours to make the normally two hour drive, but arriving nonetheless in time for a terrific dinner with several friends from Rome as well as one of our previous week’s guests who was enjoying the last few days of her vacation.

The next morning it was off to Fiumicino for a flight back to the U.S., a thirty six hour return engagement to New York for some unavoidable family business that threatened to completely screw up our internal clocks. Fortunately the trip was so short we never re-acclimated to EST.

We were somewhat worried about delays or even a cancellation of our Rome to New York flight, as the Monday weather forecast for Rome was for flooding and heavy thunderstorms. Our fears were confirmed when we spotted a tornado crossing a field a few miles from the airport when we were being bussed to the terminal from security. Fortunately by the time our flight was scheduled to depart the worst of the weather had passed.

So Thursday we returned to Italy, with a day scheduled for visiting Florence and meeting with a couple of suppliers, and a day trip to Bologna the following day to meet our friends Bill and Corinna who were on their own Italian odyssey.

With so much travelling we expected our Italy mojo may not have been up to snuff, but as usual Florence brought out the best (and worst) in us. Arriving in Florence by train in the early afternoon after our flight to Rome from New York, we found an outdoor table at a restaurant just across the street from our hotel. It is porcini season throughout Italy and we gorged ourselves on fresh porcini mushrooms in a variety of forms, sliced raw on salad and cut into large chunks and lightly fried in olive oil. The earthy woodiness of porcinis is delicious and a sign that fall is just around the corner, even though summer seems to be hanging on with a vengance in these parts.

Our meeting with Artex’s Maria Elena, a delightful Italian woman who helps organize trade events and promotes the work of Tuscan artisans was enjoyable both on a personal and professional level. It was the sort of reminder of why we really like doing the work we do at Bella Italia. It is possible to enjoy the work we do and to enjoy the company of the people with whom we do it. During our get together we discussed our plans for a December 8 event in Bethesda where we will be showcasing the work of some Tuscan home furnishing designers that Maria Elena introduced us to during an Italian Trade Commission trip to Tuscany last summer.

We then visited Tharros Bijoux, the little hole in the wall of a jewelry shop near the Piazza Signoria that we discovered several years ago and whose owner, Carlo Amato creates and supplies Bella Italia with beautiful reproduction jewelry pieces that have proved extremely popular over the years. We ordered up a nice selection of new pieces for the holidays and had an opportunity to say hi to Carlo.

Convinced that the crushing travel schedule would get the best of us, we stopped in at a favorite wine bar for a glass of wine, figuring we would call it an early night after a post aperitivo stroll. But along the route we discovered a peaceful looking new restaurant – Francesco Vini – that we had not seen before and after scanning the menu found ourselves camped out at a nice table perched on the upper level of the restaurant, with a view into the main room and the street beyond. Dinner was pure Firenze, simple but hearty appetizers and a hulking big bistecca alla fiorentina cut up tableside and served slathered with oil and salt. A nice local red wine rounded out the meal, an unexpected, late addition to our plan.

But even more unexpected, although we should probably expect this sort of thing by now, was a visit to our table by the owner. His visit was prompted by my comment to the waiter that although the menu announced that the restaurant had been established in the 1970s, this was the first time we had seen the place, even though we knew this street well. The owner told us that he had indeed been in business for decades, but until recently just on the other side of the building, with only one entrance on the opposite street. Recently he expanded his shop into a full fledged restaurant and took over the entire building, adding the door and window to the street. We had to admit that it was a good move, resulting in a very nice space and an excellent restaurant.

He noted that the building was situated on the site of the ancient Roman amphitheater built in Florence two thousand years ago and that as is often the case when doing restoration work in Florence, he had come across some of the ruins. In fact, the entire basement is built on top of the archways of the amphitheater, which are protected by the ministry of something or other, and into which he built an atmospheric tasting room and private dining room. It is the sort of hidden treasure that is locked away behind closed doors and in basements throughout Florence and is there to be seen and understood and enjoyed if you are fortunate to ask the right questions at the right times to the right people.

On this day of our return to Italy after a whirlwind of travel, it was a great reminder of the surprises that await you here. We are looking forward to returning to Francesco Vini someday for a meal amongst the ruins. But in the meantime, we are looking forward to making many other such discoveries as we re-acclimate ourselves to this amazing country.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy