7/22 (firday) on the train out of florence/ summary of florence

as i write this, we are on the train from florence to venice on friday, the 22nd of july. the events discussed here took place between wednesday the 20 it is scheduled to be about a three hour ride.

ride from bolgheri in tuscanny to florence (also part of tuscanny, apparently)
on the first day that we arrived in venice (wednesday), paola’s dad and his wife drove us in. we drove first through the chiante region of tuscanny, which is close to florence (they needed to drop off some wine, or perform some other wine business). this region, is apparently the most scenic region in tuscanny. it so happens hat a movie called ‘stealing beauty’ was filmed here (and teh scenery is supposed to be beuatiful (in that movie, starring liv tyler (whom i dont particularly care for), which i did not see nor do i especially care to)). the best film referrence for me of chiante was in ‘silence of the lambs’. hanibal lecter (played by anthony hopkins) says that he wants to (or already did) eat somebody’s liver with fava beans and a nice bottle of chiante. well, the wine that he wants to drink while eating human liver would be produced in this region of tuscanny! now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

khan, paola’s dad’s wife, also told us about another region in tuscanny that is famous for its pop culture referrence. this region (which we did not visit) is called arrezzo. an american writer nameed francis meyer wrote ‘under a tuscan sun’ and was referring to arrezzo. it so happens tht this is one of the few american books that is translated and printed in italy, and is about italy (apparently the italians dont like american preconceptions (and post-conceptions) of italy, however this book seems to have been right on in describing italian mannerisms and ways of life. according to khan, the movie is terrible compared to the book (she admitted that she had never seen the movie, but this is typically the case regarding such book to movie translations), and suggested that we read it (paola might, but i think that it is certain that i will not). in any case, she also told us the aftermath of the success of the book. apparently she wrote in the book where she lived, or someone knew and told everyone else. in any case, it so happened that every american who read and appreciated the book came to her house and visited her, as if she were a friend. this upset her, as i think it would anyone, and she eventually moved out. however, before she did that, she did allow her home to be rented per week for some extraordinary sum (sometimes fans can be very enthusiastic). she finally sold the home, and bought another one somewhere else in tuscanny. this time she kept it a secret. she then followed up her success with that book by writing another one. however, according to khan and paola’s dad, it is mostly favorite italian recipes (i am certain that i wont read that book either).