May 2-8, 2023
When I was in eighth or ninth grade, I had to read Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. That was the first time I encountered names that I couldn’t pronounce, so I just made up names that I could relate.
In the past several years I’ve found myself doing the same with city and village names on signs as we ride into town. I did this a lot in Thailand and Vietnam, mostly just for my own amusement. My eyes sees the name, and my brain immediately mis-translates it into something else. This first happened not long after entering Mexico heading south in 2015, when I passed a sign warning about driving while tired. The sign had the word “desvelado”, which means “without sleep”. For the rest of the day I was singing to the Eagles: “Desvelado, why don’t you come to your senses, you’ve been our riding fences. Open the gate.”
A couple of days ago we were riding towards Siena when we passed an exit for Acqualunga, and it happened again. Immediately I heard Jethro Tull:
“In the thundering madness
Of the Locomotive Breath
Runs the all-time loser
Headlong to his death”
Which of course are the lyrics to Locomotive Breath, and not Aqualung. Same album, different song. But hey, it’s been nearly fifty years. I can’t keep them all straight.
After a little bike maintenance in northern Italy (an oil change and chain replacement), we continued south to Tuscany in the rain. It’s been raining every day lately. Most days we only have to endure an hour or less of riding in it. Some days we make it to our destination before the heavy stuff starts. So far we haven’t had to pack up in the rain, which is never fun.
While we agreed to move quickly across Italy as well, we did have a couple of stops to make. The first was in Tuscany. We’ve been here before, but even though that was more than a dozen years ago, we’re still talking about it. Not for the scenery, which is pretty spectacular, with the centuries-old villages on top of hills surrounded by vineyards. No, we’re here for the food. One particular food actually.
Pasta.
And not any pasta, but a particular pasta that originated in Siena, and is found throughout this part of Italy, but not elsewhere. I’m talking about pici, which is kind of a fat spaghetti. It’s about two to three millimeters in diameter, and incredibly tasty. Years ago, we stopped in Sinalunga and were introduced to pici. Unfortunately, the restaurant we enjoyed so much then, is closed on this day, so our hosts recommend another place. It’s good, but not quite as spectacular as we remembered. Maybe it’s the distant memory of our first time, but I think the sauce was better before.
Regional favorite pici.
It won’t be our last chance to compare pici though. We move an hour or so east the next day, to Cortona, the town made most famous by Frances Mayes and her books “Under The Tuscan Sun”, “Every Day in Tuscany”, and more. She still lives here, and as we pass by her house, there she is, standing in the garden.
We were riding past Bramasole, Frances Mayes’ beautiful estate in Cortona, and over the intercom I told Diana to look up. There was Mayes, standing in her garden.
We spent a couple of days just hanging out in Cortona. It is without doubt a tourist destination, in no small part thanks to Frances Mayes, but it still has a nice old-world feel to it.
Looking up at the village of Cortona on the way up the hill.
The cemetery below the town.
Church of San Francisco.
Inside the church above the altar is the Reliquary of the Holy Cross.
Inside the gold filigree cross is a piece of the cross on which Jesus Christ died.
Looking out the small window at the top of the stairs of our apartment at the Teatro Signorelli .
Our apartment overlooks Piazza Luca Signorelli. This is where the “fountain scene” in the movie Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. You might notice that there is no fountain here. That’s because the fountain in the movie was a prop, made out of styrofoam.
I liked this entrance. In between all of the three story buildings was this single-story entrance. I wish I knew what was on the other side.
Another opportunity, and perhaps our last chance, to enjoy pici.
Hanni (from Finland) and Gabriel (from Romania) served us pici in Cortona. We loved talking with them and hearing their stories of how and why they ended up in Cortona.
This Fantic Caballero 500 was parked next to the Tenere in Cortona.
After a couple of day here, we headed northeast, as we had an appointment to visit The Doctor’s office in Tavullia.
At our last fuel stop before heading into Cattolica, we pulled up to the pumps behind a white Mazda Miata. The top was down, and I could see in the car’s rear view mirror, the reflection of the driver, a woman wearing a baseball cap that said “Texas” on it. I pulled up beside her and pointed at her cap. She smiled. Then I pulled up a little further and pointed to the rear of the bike, and the Texas license plate. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Oh my God!”
She jumped out of the car and we stood there and had a conversation. Diana asked her about the hat, and she said that Texas was a place she dreamed about going one day. I handed her one of our 2RideTheGlobe stickers, and told her that when she got to Texas, she had a place to stay. I’m not sure how many people we’ve made that offer take us seriously, but as we’ve said before, it’s karma: people everywhere have been so friendly to us, and we’re happy to reciprocate.
“It’s my dream to someday go to Texas”.
Before leaving the gas station, she asked, “Why are you here in Cattolica?”
“To visit The Doctor”, I said.
She knew immediately. “Ah, Vale”.
Yep. Everyone here knows the Doctor.