Proposal

This weekend (weekend for us) Daniele organized a surprise for me. It wasn't a total surprise, I knew what was going on and had a rough idea even where we were going, but he organized everything by himself and actually managed quite a few surprises for the trip.

We left Sunday morning (8/21) when he finished his night shift. As soon as he got home we had a little breakfast together and headed north (about 90 minutes). That was when I found out our first destination because I had to get directions: Bagni San Filipo, Castiglione d'Orcia-- so that's why I needed a swimsuit!

Side Note
Bagno, plural Bagni is an interesting Italian noun that means both bathroom and an outdoor pool. Not a typical swimming pool, or “piscina”, though you can “fare bagno” or bathe (as in swim or wade) in one as well as the ocean. Bagni as I have come across them are typically natural man-enhanced pools or springs. End side note.

The destination was actually the Therme of San Felipo. Daniele had brought me to terme once before near Viterbo not far from us. Those were the typical Roman style with different pools filled with hot, medium, or cool water boiling up from the ground. These here were in a park. The hot water came up in different places and mixed with the fresh streams that flowed through the woods. There was also this giant white bolder-mountain perhaps made of the calcium that flows from the hot spring water, I'm not sure. The hot water poured all over it and you could also lay in the sun. At the top there were pools of the hot water and even a little cave. Some water showered down from an even higher level, but I avoided the boiling-shower and sat in the little pools instead.

Lunch hunger hit me pretty hard since we had left early and the restaurant that Daniele's friends had recommended to him was closed for Sunday. There was one other restaurant near there and I was really hungry so we went there. It was OK, nothing special, but not bad either. Daniele is very picky about restaurants, him agreeing to eat here so easily was definitely for me. (Only a little complaining)

After lunch we continued North to the town of Pienza. This cute but small town had a surprising amount of Americans there. The houses on the edge of the old center were newer but in the typical Italian / Tuscan villa style, so beautiful! The center had a lot of cute stores. The obligatory main church and city hall were pretty impressive. There was a park just outside the center-center. Super cute little town and just the kinda of thing I love to visit in Italy!

(Old Tuscan sunflower farm house on road to Pienza)

(Kait in Pienza)

(Cheese store in Pienza)

After that we went to find and check into the hotel. We were staying in a hotel that used to be a tobacco farm. It was pretty cool. We got there like an hour before the pool closed, so we did that for a little while.

(Daniele and Kait at hotel pool)

Daniele had bought a package that included one night dinner in the hotel restaurant. Like he read about, the restaurant was high quality, but the service was like a trattoria (one guy who kept forgetting he still had not taken our order). It was a package, so we each got two big plates of food. I knew he had the ring with him, and he even did a few fake outs.

After we finished dinner we took a short walk around the grounds of the hotel. That is where he asked me.

The next day we went to the city of Arezzo. Besides being a super cute city they have a ton of history-- that even I know about! Two important people from the renaissance were from here. First we visited the house of Giorgio Vasari. He was an artist and architect, but he really made a name for himself as a writer. Before him no one ever really knew much about the artists behind famous works of art. He wrote about the super stars of the renaissance and is the reason we know about the people they were today. Then we visited the first home of the poet Francesco Patrarca (in English Petrarch). He is one of three poets, along with Giovanni Boccaccio and Dante Alighieri primarily credited with fathering the Italian language. Even in the time of the renaissance, the Italian language did not exist. While the French and Spanish had united under a common dialect, Italy was still a collection of different regional dialects with Latin used in universities. Florence's central part in the renaissance (much thanks to patronage from the Medici family) led to many important works being written in that region's dialect. Then when the nation finally united 150 years ago they chose it as their language. However still today depending where you are you can hear words mixed in (think “hella” or “wicked”) or entire separate languages spoken in the different regions. The city of Arezzo was also dripping in medieval charm. There was big squares, gardens, and colorful flags and family plagues all over the place. Probably one of my favorite places I've been in Italy, though as a disclaimer, it might be less impressive if you didn't geek out as much as I did at those two guy's work.

(Family plaques in Arezzo)

(Pozzo (water well) in Piazza Grande of Arezzo with the Palazzo delle Logge del Vasari / Columns designed by Vasari on the right)

(Piazza Grande of Arezzo)

At night we went to the city of Laterina to get dinner. The city was small and cute. Most places in Italy close either Sunday or Monday. This was Monday and just about everything was closed. We did find a place called "Anema e Core" (Soul and Heart in Napoletano) where we were finally able to eat. And then just like that, our magical weekend was over.

The rest of the photos from this weekend are in my Proposal album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110821Proposal