Can This Place Get Any Better?

September 30, 2006 Today we had the neatest experience. We decided to go for a walk on the road behind the castle. This is a very steep and winding road. I told Larry that we could walk together for part of the way and then he could go on at his speed and I would go on at mine, which is considerably slower! As we came around a bend in the road we saw a man near his vineyard with several workers in the field picking grapes. We stopped to talk with him and Larry asked him if the grapes were for the market and the man said, "No, they're for wine." Of course, he said this in Italian! He told us that the wine you buy in the stores isn't any good, but his wine was "molto buono!" Then he asked us to taste the grapes. There were both red and white grapes. I tasted the white (green) grapes and they were very good. Interestingly, they had a sweet and a tart taste at the same time. He kept offering and finally I took one bunch of the white grapes. I felt uncomfortable taking them, but he kept insisting! On the way back, we again stopped and talked with him. This time Larry asked if he could buy a bottle of wine from him and he told us that the wine wouldn't be ready for several months so Larry asked about last year's wine and he said that it was all gone! Then he talked Larry into taking a bunch of grapes with him!

Today was market day in Belforte. As I mentioned, ours is not very big. Today, ours turned out to be a little bigger than usual. Just as we were leaving this morning another two stands were being set up. We went back later to see if there was anything interesting, but the stands were like something you would see at a swap meet with just an odd assortment of junk. We usually buy fruits and vegetables and occasionally we buy fish at the market. The fruit and vegetable vendor also goes to the market in Piandimeleto (approx 2 miles away). The market in Piandimeleto is much larger and has several fruit and vegetable vendors. We have to be careful when buying at that market that we don't buy from another vendor first or we get an angry look from the guy who comes to Belforte. We learned this the hard way!!

Finally, we want to show you what it looks like when we come out our driveway. The first picture shows you what we see when we look to the left (toward town). The park is this side of the church and the market is on the other side of the church. The other picture shows you what we see when we look to the right (and away from town--toward Piandimeleto). On the very right side of the second photo you can see a terracotta wall. If you follow this link you can see it from the front. Our driveway is just to the right of the wall. It is a wall honoring the life of Mary, the mother of God.
www.ilbelfortino.it It is in Italian, but if you look on the left side you will see a list and if you click on "La Storia" and then scroll down past the castle you will see it. That's it for today!