Hey Everyone!
Welcome back to your weekly dose of Katie’s adventures in Italy ;) I apologize for the tardy posting, my internet has seen better days..
To start, this past weekend I went along with my school for one of our monthly excursions. This particular trip was to two Tuscan towns: Pienza & Montepulciano.
One known for their cheeses, and the other for their wine. A perfect pair! This trip also happened to fall on Halloween :) So, I was very excited to celebrate this holiday in new towns with their own little histories and mysteries to be explored.
Tuscany is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride from Rome, so it wasn’t too bad getting there. My friends, Anna, Annemarijn, Jan, and Isabella were all with me too. Our school tour guide spoke only in Italian, obviously, but I could really tell my Italian was improving as I understood the majority of her explanations at the sites.
First stop was Pienza. This was the most amazing, quaint, beautiful, perfect little town I have EVER laid eyes on. You can only read about towns like this in fairy tales. Imagine Belle’s town from Beauty and the Beast -but cuter. and even more quaint. In fact, there was only one main road in the entire town. It was medieval and perfect for Halloween day because the air was crisp and clear with only the scents of smoked ham and burning wood filling every inch of the winding alleys and shops that lined the streets. People were even dressed in medieval wear and riding massive horses; however, they were filming a movie on location here so I doubt this is normal for the town. But, the girls and I just kept saying how the town was nearly magical with its ability to transcend you through time.
Along the edge of the town is a peripheral view of the mountains that line Tuscany. It was truly surreal. As I walked by the real estate agency, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it would be to live there. Believe me, if you’re looking for a place to retire- I’ve found your town!
Before we left, we stopped for lunch in a tiny family-owned ristorante, where we comfortably spoke Italian to the waitress and even spoke to their parrot which said “buongiorno” and “ciao” lol. Very cute place and had the BEST gnocchi con ragu. Yumm.. By the time we left lunch we had to book-it to get to the bus for our next stop.
So, after Pienza, we went about 20 minutes up the winding roads to the mystical town of Montepulciano. The roads were so tight and windy, in fact, that we had to get off the bus and walk about twenty more minutes up to the main entrance of the town. Once we entered the main street to Montepulciano, we noticed that most of the shops were closed for the afternoon. It was Saturday, after all, and Italians know weekends mean relaxation for all, not just the privileged. So, we were kinda bummed, but we were soo excited to get to the main square because this was where the second Twilight Saga movie, “New Moon”, was filmed. So, we raced up the winding streets to get to the square and we all took pictures and purchased authentic posters that the town made specifically for the movie. It was so funny because even the shops had gossip magazine clippings in their windows of Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (“New Moon” stars). Clearly they were very proud of their new-found fame- especially for such a small town. They even had an article on the recent Rome Film Festival where they had a special screening and red carpet for the Volturi characters (Twilight’s quasi vampire government) from the movie. (more details on my experience at the Film Festival below).
So, like I said, we took lots of pictures where the movie was filmed and toured through the surrounding church and castle nearby. Montepulciano also had a great view of the rolling hills in Tuscany. And the fall weather provided such a large pallet of differing vineyard colors. Green, yellow, orange, red, brown… spectacular place.
Anywho, we only had 2 hours to tour Montepulciano so by the time we walked up to the square and back we only had time to grab some yummy crepes at a local shop and then proceeded back onto the bus.
In sum, it really was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I had always heard of Tuscany and how beautiful it was, but these towns had such character that it was so easy to fall in love with the area even more so. However, it wasn’t nearly enough time to get to tour everything, so some of the girls and I have planned to come back in the spring so we can get a glimpse of more churches, etc.
And now, of course I have my own Montepulciano red wine to share with all my friends back in Roma :)
Well, hope everyone enjoyed my Tuscana adventure. Next month we visit Siena! I hear it’s absolutely beautiful so I can’t wait!
Until next time..
Buena Notte
-Kate
and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN! Love you big brother!!! And miss you tons! :) Hope you have a great great great day (which could only mean that your boss doesn’t show up for work ;)
For the Twilight followers who care:
In reference to the Film Festival mentioned earlier, I was one of the lucky few to actually attend the red carpet event for the Rome Film Festival premiere of “New Moon”. Being the experienced celeb-stalker that I am, I quickly weaseled my way to the front line of the red-carpet to make sure I could talk with the stars and get only the BEST pictures :) haha! So, I met the “New Moon” screen-writer, Melissa Rosenberg. She was also the screen-writer for the first Twilight film and will continue to write for the entire Twilight Saga movies. She’s also the writer for the tv series “Chuck”. So, she’s a busy lady.. She told me personally that I’m “going to love “New Moon” and that she had just viewed the film so she was very excited about it. I also met three of the so-called “evil vampires” from the Twilight saga: Caius, Demetri, and Alex (those are their character names). But, they were verrrry nice and probably glad that I could speak English considering no one standing along the red carpet spoke a word of it, or coherent enough to hold a conversation. So, we talked about typical topics: Twitter, Vancouver (where they’re currently filming) and their experiences in Italy. It was the coolest experience; even to just attend a red carpet event was amazing.
But, ahhh! I can’t believe in the span of one month I’ve been to where “New Moon” was filmed AND met the Volturi! I don’t know about you, but November 20th CANNOT come soon enough ;) And you know I’ve already sought out all the English movie theatres here. Because Edward is NOT the same in Italian. Mi dispiace Italiani genti. Solo mio (opinion).
Welcome back to your weekly dose of Katie’s adventures in Italy ;) I apologize for the tardy posting, my internet has seen better days..
To start, this past weekend I went along with my school for one of our monthly excursions. This particular trip was to two Tuscan towns: Pienza & Montepulciano.
One known for their cheeses, and the other for their wine. A perfect pair! This trip also happened to fall on Halloween :) So, I was very excited to celebrate this holiday in new towns with their own little histories and mysteries to be explored.
Tuscany is about a 2 and a half hour bus ride from Rome, so it wasn’t too bad getting there. My friends, Anna, Annemarijn, Jan, and Isabella were all with me too. Our school tour guide spoke only in Italian, obviously, but I could really tell my Italian was improving as I understood the majority of her explanations at the sites.
First stop was Pienza. This was the most amazing, quaint, beautiful, perfect little town I have EVER laid eyes on. You can only read about towns like this in fairy tales. Imagine Belle’s town from Beauty and the Beast -but cuter. and even more quaint. In fact, there was only one main road in the entire town. It was medieval and perfect for Halloween day because the air was crisp and clear with only the scents of smoked ham and burning wood filling every inch of the winding alleys and shops that lined the streets. People were even dressed in medieval wear and riding massive horses; however, they were filming a movie on location here so I doubt this is normal for the town. But, the girls and I just kept saying how the town was nearly magical with its ability to transcend you through time.
Along the edge of the town is a peripheral view of the mountains that line Tuscany. It was truly surreal. As I walked by the real estate agency, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it would be to live there. Believe me, if you’re looking for a place to retire- I’ve found your town!
Before we left, we stopped for lunch in a tiny family-owned ristorante, where we comfortably spoke Italian to the waitress and even spoke to their parrot which said “buongiorno” and “ciao” lol. Very cute place and had the BEST gnocchi con ragu. Yumm.. By the time we left lunch we had to book-it to get to the bus for our next stop.
So, after Pienza, we went about 20 minutes up the winding roads to the mystical town of Montepulciano. The roads were so tight and windy, in fact, that we had to get off the bus and walk about twenty more minutes up to the main entrance of the town. Once we entered the main street to Montepulciano, we noticed that most of the shops were closed for the afternoon. It was Saturday, after all, and Italians know weekends mean relaxation for all, not just the privileged. So, we were kinda bummed, but we were soo excited to get to the main square because this was where the second Twilight Saga movie, “New Moon”, was filmed. So, we raced up the winding streets to get to the square and we all took pictures and purchased authentic posters that the town made specifically for the movie. It was so funny because even the shops had gossip magazine clippings in their windows of Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (“New Moon” stars). Clearly they were very proud of their new-found fame- especially for such a small town. They even had an article on the recent Rome Film Festival where they had a special screening and red carpet for the Volturi characters (Twilight’s quasi vampire government) from the movie. (more details on my experience at the Film Festival below).
So, like I said, we took lots of pictures where the movie was filmed and toured through the surrounding church and castle nearby. Montepulciano also had a great view of the rolling hills in Tuscany. And the fall weather provided such a large pallet of differing vineyard colors. Green, yellow, orange, red, brown… spectacular place.
Anywho, we only had 2 hours to tour Montepulciano so by the time we walked up to the square and back we only had time to grab some yummy crepes at a local shop and then proceeded back onto the bus.
In sum, it really was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I had always heard of Tuscany and how beautiful it was, but these towns had such character that it was so easy to fall in love with the area even more so. However, it wasn’t nearly enough time to get to tour everything, so some of the girls and I have planned to come back in the spring so we can get a glimpse of more churches, etc.
And now, of course I have my own Montepulciano red wine to share with all my friends back in Roma :)
Well, hope everyone enjoyed my Tuscana adventure. Next month we visit Siena! I hear it’s absolutely beautiful so I can’t wait!
Until next time..
Buena Notte
-Kate
and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN! Love you big brother!!! And miss you tons! :) Hope you have a great great great day (which could only mean that your boss doesn’t show up for work ;)
For the Twilight followers who care:
In reference to the Film Festival mentioned earlier, I was one of the lucky few to actually attend the red carpet event for the Rome Film Festival premiere of “New Moon”. Being the experienced celeb-stalker that I am, I quickly weaseled my way to the front line of the red-carpet to make sure I could talk with the stars and get only the BEST pictures :) haha! So, I met the “New Moon” screen-writer, Melissa Rosenberg. She was also the screen-writer for the first Twilight film and will continue to write for the entire Twilight Saga movies. She’s also the writer for the tv series “Chuck”. So, she’s a busy lady.. She told me personally that I’m “going to love “New Moon” and that she had just viewed the film so she was very excited about it. I also met three of the so-called “evil vampires” from the Twilight saga: Caius, Demetri, and Alex (those are their character names). But, they were verrrry nice and probably glad that I could speak English considering no one standing along the red carpet spoke a word of it, or coherent enough to hold a conversation. So, we talked about typical topics: Twitter, Vancouver (where they’re currently filming) and their experiences in Italy. It was the coolest experience; even to just attend a red carpet event was amazing.
But, ahhh! I can’t believe in the span of one month I’ve been to where “New Moon” was filmed AND met the Volturi! I don’t know about you, but November 20th CANNOT come soon enough ;) And you know I’ve already sought out all the English movie theatres here. Because Edward is NOT the same in Italian. Mi dispiace Italiani genti. Solo mio (opinion).
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