Mi ultime giorni in Toscana

This last week has been surprisingly good. Injuring my finger has allowed to learn some valuable lessons – trust in the kindness of strangers; accept that all will be ok – perhaps not the expected outcome, but it will be the way it is supposed to be and the most important lessons – allow others to help me and I need to slow down and enjoy the journey. Work is important, but the primary reason for my trip was to learn about Italy – its people, its cultures, its food and its way of being. Being busy and working all the time just does not allow for the true experience.

This last week, I have been the girl with one hand, 9 fingers – I had to learn to eat with my left hand for a few days, unable to hold much more than a light basket of bread and certainly little dexterity due to being heavily bandaged. As the week progressed, the swelling, bleeding and pain diminished and on Friday, the major bandages changed over to a large one that simply extends over the wound. I am now able to return to most things –slowly and carefully so as not to bump the large chunk of exposed flesh. So I move slow, take more time to observe and experience and allow others to take some of the burden off of my shoulders.

As I was supposed to have left Casale, new arrivals came. I helped in the way that I could and trained others in the ways of Casale and basic cooking skills. One of the new arrivals came from outside Milano – a spicy, little Italian woman who arrived by car. She was looking to explore the area and every day, we have ventured off for a few hours in exploration – Montechiello, Il Bagno di San Felipo – an amazing hot (warm) springs that stretched on for a long ways in a slow moving river. Adriana, my savior from the ER, took me to the Dr on Friday after lunch – a good check-up and all is healing well. Afterwards, we toured the local area in search of a pharmacy, the ever present gelato and then off to her boyfriend’s family estate – a four generation old olive oil and grape vineyard. From there, we went for happy hour and then to a Festa – a celebration of the community that was founded in the need to bring people together to learn about what is happening within politics. We had dinner, listened to Italian folk music and then back to Adriana’s to sample local aperitifs.


My last day at Casale was on Sunday – an amazingly quiet day. A welcomed change from the craziness of the last few weeks – we had a celebratory lunch in honor of Maria’s 66th birthday – with a beautiful apple tart and spumanti. Today I journeyed about 9 hours to the North – in the Piemonte region, close to Asti. I am at a small farm called Il Cucchio where their main crop is hazelnuts; they have been unable to harvest the last several days due to poor weather and have 7 volunteers standing by to help once the weather clears. The house is small and certainly at capacity, but it appears to be a great group of people with a wide array of Italian, French and English speakers. I have yet to learn if they produce any hazelnut products or if the focus is simply the nut. More soon . . . .