Arcidosso, Grosseto, Tuscany
Evelyn had warned me earlier that we will be couch-surfing at Lorenzoβs Place and that means that we have to share the place with other couch-surfers. She had told me that the place is like a dorm. When we reached, there was actually no beds for us. Lorenzo had to borrow a bed for Evelyn while converting a sofa to a bed lined with big cushions for me. As I was tired and sleepy, any bed will do for me. We settled the night sleeping with 3 layers of blanket. Lorenzo does not have a heater but I am ok with that.
As agreed earlier, the deal was that Lorenzo provide us place to sleep for free and we just have to help him with his garden and cooking. Both Evelyn and me decided to help him at his garden; you know pick olive fruits and things like that.
The morning came and breakfast was Tuscan bread (rubbed with garlic clove and spread with fresh-pressed olive oil, seasoned to taste with salt) and coffee. I love the real Italian breakfast idea! The breakfast is called Fettunta. I am so ok with this. I will use the idea to make my own breakfast (or snack) at home; but maybe with addition of chopped olive fruit and cherry tomato and come up with Fettunta Al Oliva e Pomodoro! But the real challengeis to look for Tuscan bread in Malaysia but perhaps I can just use French bread that I can easily get at home.
Later after that we went down the hill to get to his new garden. He actually has 4 gardens and the new one is a green project where he designed the whole garden to have the word βArcidossoβ in a form of trees. I imagined picking olive fruits and did not expected to be working on a new garden. The soil was hard and I had to help get good soil further down near a river. Being a sedentary woman who sits behind her sketchpad and watercolors and laptop all the time, I was not prepared for this. I am not ok with this hahaha. I had a backache after few scoops of soil. I later went up back to the garden to help Evelyn separates rocks from hard soil. It was easy as we just had to sit and gather rocks and later spread them on the pavement of the garden. A little bit after afternoon, Lorenzo said that we could leave the work and explore Arcidosso. We were happy to run away from the garden. Haha!
Lorenzo (in green) and his wife (in purple) working with other couch-surfers at his garden.
We took a walk and take photos around the village. Here are some pictures that I like to share:
Arcidosso is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Grosseto in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 100 km south of Florence and about 35 km northeast of Grosseto and near the town of Montalcino.
The first certain documentation of the existence of the settlement of Arcidosso is from the year 860, when it is said to belong to the Abbey of San Salvatore. In 1331, Guidoriccio da Fogliano besieged it for four months with an army of 4,000 soldiers and 400 horsemen, until it surrendered. After the fall of the Republic of Siena in 1556, it passed under the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Cosimo I de’ Medici established many outlying offices here.
Following the Leopoldina Reformation of 1786, there was a remarkable population increase and the number of Arcidosso’s citizens quadrupled in about 100 years. Arcidosso thus became historically the most important political and administrative center in the Monte Amiata area.
We spent the last night at Lorenzoβs Place before heading out the next morning (as early as 7am to catch the 7.20am bus) to head to Florence before heading to Bologna. We missed the 8.20am bus to Firenze and had to wait for the next bus at 9.15am. Taking the Florence route is much nearer as Florence is also in the same Tuscany region and the journey took about 1 and a half hours. We reached Firenze around 11am.
Upon reaching Florence, we went for lunch (Pizza al Pomodoro and coffee) at the Florence Santa Maria Novella train station and later bought our tickets to Bologna (around 1pm). While waiting for our train, we just walked around the station doing a window shopping.
Getting to Florence: KLM operated 2 time(s) daily from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Florence – Peretola (FLR).
78 Comments
FARAHANA
Cantik, mak mesti suka gambar tingkap-tingkap Kak Emi ni.
Ann
Me too π
Ann
Heart this but don’t have enough time to read it all.. Huhu
Ann
Heart this!
Ann
^_________~
FARAHANA
me three Ann.hahah
FARAHANA
Read it Ann, para by para..Very inspiring ecspecially the sleeping part,,heheh kak Emi adventurous sgt…….
FARAHANA
Heart is love, Ann..Go Ann Go
FARAHANA
Smile (^_^)
emila
Mak Farah pun sukatingkap ya? Heheh ada geng!
Ann
Hehe fara π
Ann
Smileeeeee
Ann
Go go go ~
Ann
Yeahhhh
Ann
Noted π tq fara
Ann
Beautiful right?
Ann
=]
Ann
Hohohohohoh
Ann
Absolutely agree!
FARAHANA
Ann: hooohooo hooo hooo hu haah
hehoooo dh mcm bunyi teletubbies dah
FARAHANA
Hahahah Ann, baca jgn tak baca okeh. KIKIIII>>
Ann
Heh!
Ann
Yup…to achieve the aim. π
Ann
Yuppppppp!
jaja
me four-ever.. hehehehe
jaja
huhuhuhuuhuhu
jaja
hoh
jaja
π
jaja
para para sakura…. π
jaja
love this..
jaja
ye ye ye
jaja
smile………
jaja
π
Ann
Wink* wink*
Ann
Insyaallah
Ann
Yeayyyyyyyy yeayyyyyy
Ann
Senyummmmmm
Ann
Hati.
Ann
Sukaaaaa!
Ann
Sukaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ann
My favorite show π
Ann
=|
Ann
(^.~)
Ann
Five~
Ann
Lalala….so on ~
jaja
na na na……..
jaja
me six-y… π
jaja
π π π
jaja
teletubbies… teletubbies
tinky winky, dipsy. laalaa… poo…
jaja
wahhhh… sukanya dia..
jaja
waratte.. π
farahana
Kak Emi, mak pun dh pandai dah jenguk FB blog tu dia tengok tingkap cantik katanya terutamanya yang kak Emi lakar/ lukis semula
farahana
Ann: Sakit mata ye? wink wink..
farahana
Ann: senyum sendiri nampaknya
farahana
Seronoknya korang komen..kita nak dipsy…laaaalaaaaaaaaaaa
jaja
saya po..o ye…
tapi bukan poo yang coklat tu..
po..o yang kuning.. hehehe π
jaja
mula-mula baca kak em tulis “sukatingkap”, ingatkan mat itali mana.. hehehe π
jaja
kelakar mak farah ni… hehehe
boleh buat geng..
jaja
Ann, di mana kamu… π
jaja
π
cikcloudy
haaa dah 1 may… hehe… im backk…
cikcloudy
mana aci ni, tgk kat atas sepatah2 je komen.. hehe..
cikcloudy
kak em… nk claim adiah bulan march buleh? ehehhhe,, sorry, wat muka xmalu..
jaja
hi cikcloudy…. hehehe
selamat kembali..
Lya
Survival π
Lya
Appppppppuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Lya
Rumah tu mcm kat kampung kan?
Lya
Oh…Jaja and ann
Hazural
Subhanallah…. cantiknyaaa…
Yukino Hinata
you are so lucky to visit such places. i am envy.
imaisha
hehe.. tu la kan.. ingat apa yg byk sgt komen sekali rupanya sepatah dua je diorg komen.. lol..
imaisha
wah, kak Em jadi coachsurfer jugak ke.. tapi mcm kesian je tuan rumah tak prepare awal2 for your arrival. anyway, the morning breakfast sounds delicious and Lorenzo has so many gardens! hehe.. mcm jadi buruh paksa pulak kena work on that new garden π
Hafsah ahmad
Wahhh…new exerience. Selalu tgk dkt tv je, ttg couch surfing
Hafsah ahmad
Kesian k em kena buat kerja berat. I hope u r ok now.
Hafsah ahmad
Fettunta Al Oliva e Pomodoro sounds good for breakfast.
Hafsah ahmad
But my husband must have some protein on his. Hahaha
Hafsah ahmad
Why does Lorenzo and his wife wanted to make garden of ‘Arcidosso’ word?
Hafsah ahmad
Owh sorry, baru faham. Heeeeeee….sorry