"Mammia Mia, the Wine!"

The past two days have been quite adventurous. Class has begun, and we are beginning to feel all settled in this Tuscan Country. Plato once said "Wine was given as a balm, and in order to implant modesty in the soul and health and strength in the body." This fellow is considered one of the greatest philosophers of all time. So to pay tribute to the man, we decided to experiment with a little wine tasting this afternoon, along with the rest of our classmates, in a small winery known as La Tancia.

La Tancia is located in the heart of Chianti, about a thirty minute bus ride uphill from Florence. The Villa dates back to the 14th century and produces some of the best wines, in our opinion, available in Tuscany... not to mention their food and olive oil. Italians do it right, serving a solid four courses for a traditional meal. Primo, the first course, was spaghetti.. heavenly! The Secondo, second course, consisted of bread, cheese, salami and eggplant followed by Contorno, our third course, which consisted of mouth watering Bruschetta. Bruschetta, Jennifer's favorite meal ever, is toasted bread with a mixture of tomatoes and olive oil. To top it all off, we had scrumptious biscotti cookies dipped in Vin Santo, an Italian dessert wine. Below is a few pictures of the delicious meal which we thoroughly enjoyed along with our magnificent vino!!! "Buuoooonnnoooo appetito!!!!"





Now about class. We began our first full day yesterday. Jennifer is taking History of Civilization to 1648, which meets at 10:30 every morning in our traditional spot in The Loggio, in the midst of Piazza della Signoria. The first day of class was interrupted, however, by a lovely orchestra which had blocked off the area celebrating the "Festa della Republicca"- the birth of the Republic... What a way to kick off the month. In the afternoons, Jaclyn and Jennifer are taking Watercolor, and Jaclyn is also taking Figure Drawing. So far we have been sketching in the midst of The Loggio from around 4:00 to 6:30. The atmosphere is surreal.... We shall discuss in more detail on another day.

On another note, our parents would be proud. Colleen, one of Jennifer's roommates, happens to be quite the cook, and we are learning quite a bit in the kitchen. Last night was our first meal at Venezia 4. Supper consisted of salad with a mixture of balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing along with "Italian" style potatoes, "Italian" sausage, and scrumptious bread. For dessert, Colleen prepared a deeeee-licious combination of cantaloupe and prosciutto (Italian ham). It seems like this blog has consisted of food, wine, and more food and wine. After all, this is Italy :) Below is a pic of our first attempt at supper.


We'd like to continue sharing a few more of the things Italians do quite differently in this country... here we go!
- Italians drink wine for every meal. Well almost every meal. Because of this, they often mix water with their wine while at the lunch or dinner table...
- As we said earlier, a traditional meal consists of four courses. How do they manage to eat four courses yet still remain smaller than Americans... perhaps no processed foods has a thing to do with it.
- You can get plane tickets EXTREMELY cheap here if flying to the surrounding countries. You can get a ticket from Paris to Pisa for less than 40 Euro, that's cchhhheeeeeapppppp folks.

Excerpts from our journals:
"I swear, if one more Italian hits on me I am leaving the country."

"Ladies, charge your cameras. Tomorrow is going to be a good day." (In reference to the winery)

This weekend we are planning day trips to Fiesole, Cinque Terre, and perhaps Verona or Sienna. We shall see, but this means more posts to come. Please feel free to leave us a friendly post! It makes us happy :)

Molto Amare,

Jack and Jenn

CIAO!!!!

La Tancia Winery