Lago di Bilancino 2011!

This is a picture of Lago di Bilancino taken yesterday, August 16th, the day after Ferragosto. It's our first swim in the lake and we hope to come a couple of more times before we have to go back to L.A. The swim was wonderful!

Romagna and Mussolini

This was the 2nd half of our drive with Roberto and Giovanna. We got to the top of the Braccina pass and then on to Mussolini's home town to see his family crypt. His tomba is very plain without his name or dates of his birth and death because afterall he wasn't an Italian hero, but rather a dictator who led Italy down the wrong road. An Italian man put it this way " If not for the Americans, I would be speaking German right now!"

A drive through the Tuscan forest and then into Romagna

Roberto and Giovanna took us on a drive thru the woods that started in Tuscany and went into parts of Romagna. These photos are of an old wheat mill that still works today. The millers took time out to crave some unique stone pieces along the road. The clock in one of the cravings still works today! From here we drove higher into the Apennine mountains for some lunch and then on to Romagna to see Mussolini's tomb.

Steffie's salon in Borgo San Lorenzo

Today Linda had her annual haircut in Borgo San Lorenzo at Stefania's hair salon. I also had a haircut as Steffie is the magician with a pair of scissors!

A visit to Carmignano wine country

Our friends, Dario & Cristina, took us to Carmignano for a private wine tasting yesterday on Wednesday, August 10th. We met up with Carlo & Antonella Vannini and Carlo and Dario were the contractors who did the construction on our well.

It was beautiful Tuscan afternoon for wine in the countryside! Afer the wine tasting, we drove to a small town called Artimino for some gelato! The clock tower in Artimino was damaged during WWII from the Americans trying to free the Italians from german rule. The damage is still evident today... I guess the Italians are in no hurry to fix it!

Next was the feste to celebrate an evening of wine and the stars! The walk up to the top of the hill town was an exercise all in itself, but we felt this was better than waiting for the bus. The walk down was much better, but I can tell you that the views from up there were incredibile!