Etruscan Tombs and More

We got up early to run into San Quirico d'Orcia to visit our first street market. We stopped at Cretaiole to pick some more lettuce and veggies from the garden. The market was just what I was looking for getting fresh food for cooking. There was no butcher so we decided to have a meatless meal. Did a quick browse through the non-food section of the market, but had to hurry on since we needed to get the food back to our apartment before driving back in to Pienza for the Etruscan Tomb tour.

The tour was a real treat as Issabella is a fantastic story-teller. She described the culture of the area from the medieval times through the Renaissance to the current time. She included the story of her husband's family and how they started as share-croppers and over the last 25 years became very successful land-owners. Luciano has much to be proud of. They even purchased some land that has some Etruscan Tombs. We had the privilege of touring these private ruins with Issabella. As soon as they found a grave stone and some pottery, the government made them stop cleaning up the area. It is now just sitting and waiting for the government to schedule a time to excavate the area. The government is very slow and nothing has happened since they first made their discoveries.

The Etruscan civilization started in the Tuscany area around the 9th century B.C. and remained in power until around 500 B.C., when they were slowly overtaken by an emerging power in the south...Rome. While they have discovered many artifacts of the Etruscans (including ceramic dishes, fine jewelry and tombs), there is still a lot of mystery surrounding the civilization, because although they have deciphered their alphabet and a few words, no one has been able master the grammar of the Etruscans. I think that is one of the frustrations of Issabella; when they finally get around to excavating their tombs, they might be able to help fill in some of the blank spots of the Etruscan story.

Also, when they began renovating the farmhouse on Cretaiole to add plumbing, they discovered an Etruscan tomb. The government stepped in and had to excavate under the tomb to let it drop down since the foundation of their house was on top of the tomb. They earned €12,500 for the find.

After the tour, we walked back to the working farm to pick up Tony and Tony who stayed behind. On the walk we passed by a shop selling fresh pasta. We bought some fresh ravioli, some filled with spinach and ricotta and some filled with truffles. We took them home to make a fine lunch. I sautéed a bunch of veggies in garlic and olive oil for the spinach ravioli and that dish was delicious. I figured that the truffle ravioli would stand on their own so I just infused some olive oil with garlic. They were FABULOUS! As you can see, it takes a village to make an incredible Tuscan meal.

We decided to hang out with some fine wine and play Wizard. It rained for a bit and we even got some thunder. Tony, Scott and I drove in to Pienza to pick up some wine for tonight and eggs for tomorrow. We stopped at the farm to see if we could get some fresh eggs. We also wanted to return the empty wine bottles so they could reuse them. Unfortunately, Luciano did not understand that we simply wanted to recycle the bottles. Fortunately, he just refilled them for us! We also got 4 farm fresh eggs. Before heading back, we walked into the little town center.

We finished off our evening with another delicious homemade meal. This one involved all of the veggies we got from the market and the garden. I sautéed all of the veggies (same as before plus fennel, yellow pepper, some sweet little green pepper and asparagus) to mix with the pasta. The little jar of peperoncino are so powerful here...I wish they were like that at home. I've been adding them to everything I make. We also had another fresh salad. It was all fabulous and everyone over-ate again!