Ancient decorative arts... let's see Two's Company knock these off.
 Obviously, everywhere we went, we saw great works of art, in streets, cathedrals,  outside castles.  I think I want to learn to paint frescoes. I was a mural painter for a year, so I know how to paint vertically. I've just never painted on wet plaster.

Ah... Siena

I've wanted to go to Siena all of my life. The color by that name was my favorite in my crayon box. That's how long I've wanted to see it. Well, I saw it. It was everything I thought it would be. The rooftops, the campanile,  the gelato shops.  The central square  has shops and cafes all around the edge.  food and shopping were fantastic. I bought linen scarves in many colors. the prices were good too.


What do you think of the door?

My new house...

This is the castle. The owner is a governor of the Chianti region. He still lives there.  Isn't it gorgeous?
We were in Italy in the first part of July. The weather was perfect. It never got over 80.

Most old cities are walled. The people from  Siena were always fighting with the people from Florence. This castle is right in between.

We couldn't stop "Wining"!

What do you do when you are visiting  a world famous wine region? It didn't take us long to find out. We travelled from Florence to Siena tasting and buying red wine, and olive oil!  It's so funny, because we drank all day for five days and never got drunk or had a hangover.  Of course, we ate like pigs too. So, the wine was diffused.

Don't you love those green glass jugs. I wish I could find them here.

That's  me chugging a glass. My friend is ordering some fantastic something to eat. This cafe is on the grounds of a castle. We were able to walk on the grounds of the castle after we ate.

Shutters and laundry never looked so good to me!

This is Radda, the first town we visited, and this is the first restaurant in which we ate.

I loved the narrow streets everywhere. I also loved the shutters on most houses. You'll see many shutters in these pictures.

Our farm table  on the balcony, was always loaded with the freshest fruits and food available. We had a woman  make us breakfast  and dinner whenever we were home. She  made squash bloosoms and new potatoes sauteed in sunflower oil. That's the only oil  I  like  to cook with now. It turns everything golden, and is very light. We also had  pasta bolognese, and she even made us coffee gelato.  And, of course we drank bottles of Chianti for every course. Ok, maybe not breakfast.

This is the view from my second floor window. I looked down onto another farmhouse in the valley.
Look at the rows of vines. Glorious!