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!

Mario is back!

This is our 3rd day in Tuscany on the 2011 vacanza and our amico, Mario, dropped by for some branzino last night. He's back today looking for more treats, so we got him on film to show the world! We basically saved this cat's life 4 years ago when we found him along side the road near our home. We'll be blogging for the next 3 weeks in Italy, so check our site for updates as we travel through Italia!

Gran Fondo in Los Angeles/Beverly Hills!

We attended the Gran Fondo bicycle race in Los Amgeles which started in Beverly Hills. This event was held on Sunday, June 26th and had 2 separate races, a 39 mile race and a 72 mile race.

The Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles was one of the sponsors. Saturday night we went to the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica to see 2 Italian movies. Both events celebrated the 150th years of Italian unity.

It was a beautiful weekend in L.A. for the bike races!