kateandjohnsail.boats

So, what to do when your boat is on the hard in Italy? Visit Tuscany with companions, of course. Due to a moment of madness at a charity auction a year ago, we were booked to stay in a villa in Cortana with four good friends. This week. So, leaving Quintessa in the care of Antonio and Massimo, we boarded a train and headed north.

Cortona did not disappoint. It is a lovely, old, walled city on a hill, and it has seen a lot. Residing there for a week meant slowing down and being rather than just doing. Every meal we ate was amazing, whether in the villa or a restaurant. This was a week for adhering to the Italian diet recommended by one of my blog commenters: if it ends with a vowel, eat it. (GB, you know who you are… or was it Trudy?) But no worries about gaining extra pounds, because the Cortona workout plan is simple: step out the front door. You cannot walk to cappuccino or a gallery or even to the end of the street without encountering grades that make body parts weep: the Achilles tendons on the way up, quads on the way down.  

But the body parts that got the greatest workout were the eyes. You literally can look nowhere in Cortona without encountering staggering beauty. Look down, and the most amazing tiny weed is flourishing between the cobblestones. Look around and see gardens spilling out in the most unlikely places, each with a cat in a corner somewhere. Upward, venerable rocks are perched on the lichen-covered roof tiles to keep them from being blown off by the wind.  Out from the balcony the swallows are swooping for insects as the bells ring in the ancient tower. The sun is golden on the arches of the town square where people are engaging in conversation over their evening aperitif. We wander into a chiesa (church) and learn that it is a thousand years old, and the dilemma is whether to preserve the Renaissance art there or uncover the older frescoes beneath. Then it’s a ramble on ramparts of a timeless castle that in its “recent” history sheltered children during the second World War. Another reminder of unsettled times is the encircling city wall, whose oldest foundations date from Etruscan times.

An extra treat for John and me was connecting with good friends Anne and Mike, Sheila and Dave. As much as we enjoy meeting people of the land and fellow sailors, there is really nothing like connecting with “our people.” It meant everything that we could meet, eat, laugh, wander, wonder and pray with them.

It is difficult to decide whether to try to capture Cortona with photos, or yield to the fact that it’s impossible it is to do so, and simply absorb the place, begging it to reside as a screensaver in my mind. For you, here are some selfies from the castle wall. I will later try to put together a slideshow of the best photos… when I can find the time…