A Tuscan View - from Umbria

The Clowns of Chiusi

27th August 2007
The school summer holidays in Italy are long. Very long and very hot. After three months of baking, (cooled off by trips to the pool and buckets of gelato) even the most indefatigable child becomes jaded and wilting, stunned into a kind of bored stupor by the heat. So much so that we were startled by the shrieks of excitement that echoed around the hills of Le Coste when the tall one and the small one found out that a canny friend of ours had signed them up for a week at ‘Laboratorio Clown’ (Clown School) sponsored by our local Tuscan town of Chiusi as part of their Summer Festival.

The Laboratorio was run by the mercurial Teresa, who immediately wove some kind of clowny spell around the young wannabies, rendering them all totally in love with her. From then on the small troop met for 2 hours each afternoon in the gardens of the church of St Francesco where they learnt various amusing clowning techniques; how to pretend to trip each other up, how to walk into walls without hurting themselves, mimed sneezing and laughing and lots of silly walks.

With help from their clown ‘guru’ they made themselves red noses and we let them raid our wardrobes for baggy clown clothes, which were a bit too easy to find for my liking.

At 4.30 today we met in the cathedral square of Chiusi for the show.
At first just a few proud parents but, as the music started, the tourists began to gather until the young performers had an audience of about 100 people.
Chuisi glowed golden in the late afternoon light and funky music pulsed through the Etruscan streets, causing a quickening of the heart and a communal smile. The brave little apprentice clowns did their stuff; they twirled, they tripped, they danced and they bumped, they roared with wild, wonderful, infectious laughter and, in the sunshine, the laughter grew and grew filling the square and drifting down the side streets, coasting in the slip-stream of a Summer afternoon.

Afterwards we took our two clowns to Citta Della Pieve to see what was going on there as it gets ready for its week of festivities. The streets were hung with flags and lit with torches, and wooden stalls were heaped with medieval costumes for hire. We paused but, after a bit of a debate, Marito decided against the pair of yellow tights and had a beer instead.

Best thing I ate today:
Lasagne a casa

In our family lasagne is an exalted food, both celebratory and comforting. It is equally well received to reward someone who has been given a good school report as to console someone who has been absent mindedly forgotten by the feckless tooth-fairy.

However, I suspect that in general its reputation has suffered a lot from too much loitering in the chiller cabinet and dancing to the ominous ‘ping’ of the microwave.

A homemade lasagne should be an expression of love. A rich and sustaining ragu, made with a base of odori (finely chopped celery, onion and carrot.) The meat ( I prefer the savoury sweetness of pork) should be properly seared and, at its best, flavoured with tomatoes, red wine and lots of noce moscato (nutmeg) the fragrant musky nut that is used so inspiringly by Italian cooks.
The béchamel should be oozing, creaming and plentiful. The whole glorious thing layered with pasta, thickly dusted with parmesan and baked until crusty and golden. It should hold its own when sliced, silence the table and leave them begging for more.

I give you lasagne. Food of the gods (and Garfield.)

Where to get it:
Make it yourself, you won’t regret it.

Jenga

26th August 2007
Most of my knowledge of, and confidence in building comes from being undefeated in all forms of Jenga (including ‘human size’). So it came as no surprise when the builder encouraged me to take out all sorts of huge bricks in important and strategic locations of my wall. I knew it would still stand.

My newest job is to make the holes for the air pipes which go under the floor which, according to him is apparently quite simple, but the walls are about three feet thick and made of solid stone. This is obviously another challenge set to make me realise that he’s the top dog around here, and that his team is making fast progress and I’m not allowed to hold them up. So soon we will have a concrete floor which will look almost exactly like it did before we started, but this one will be flat, damp-free, reinforced and expensive.

Trouble is that when you then have a big empty space there are just too many options and I’ve been spending the sleepless hours between 4 and 7am fretting over how we can divide the space so it works best; where doors should go, where windows should go etc. But most of the fretting is, as usual, about budgets and the bottom line…

The stupid dog is settling into a nice routine of an early morning walk followed by breakfast, a quick play and training session, and then I just sit back, relax and wait for the inevitable, “Daddy! The dog’s done a poo in the house again!”

Anyway, however hard his latest challenge, and despite the fact that he probably thinks I’m an idiot, I know that I could still beat the builder at Jenga.

The stupidest thing I did today;
Rather pleased with myself today - stupid-free.

Il Palio

14th August 2007

I love Siena.
It's so gracious and accessible, so beautifully planned, its wonderful 'campo' like a great shallow bowl, the herringbone bricks worn smooth with centuries of evening passeggiata. It is a perfect medieval whole with majestic towers looking out over the fields and vines of rural Tuscany in its undulating spleandour all around. There's something laid back about Siena, maybe it's because it is mainly pedestrianised, and you can browse and window-shop in the chic boutiques, gaze at the gothic palace facades, eat a take-away pizza in the campo or sip an aperitivo in one of the posh cafes.
The point is that you can understand Siena without having to set foot in a single museum, with its stripey Duomo and a glut of good restaurants there's enough to keep you at it day. If you want to go to a museum, which I usually do, there are loads; including the Palazzo Pubblico and the Campo which houses the marvellous equestrian portrait of Guidoricci da Fogliano, until recently attributed to Simone Martini. Martini Shmartini - I'm not really bothered who it's by, I just like to sit and look at it.
Next door the fabulous fresco, 'Good and bad in government' is also well worth a look.
But the thing that thrills me most about Siena is the mad hectic mayhem of Il Palio.

A bareback horserace around the campo, so full of energy and sheer excitement, and performed with such passion and intensity, it is one of the most spectacular events in Italy. Everything about it is riveting and frightening; from the intrigue of the loyal contrade and their brave, 'mercenary' riders to the violent frenzy of the race itself with the drums, the taunting songs and the swaggering winners. We took the girls and some friends to one of the trial races - the real thing having been deemed 'too scary for the young'uns' - which was packed with supporters and their children, the bleachers filled with young contrade dressed in their colours singing raucous songs and waving gaudy flags. We got a place on the inner rail opposite the Palazzo Pubblico and (this will give you an idea of how gripping it is) our girls - 6 and 8 years old - stood squashed and hot against that rail without moaning for over three hours.
Trial races are 30th June/1st July and 14th/15th August and the Palio (for real) is on the 2nd of July and 16th of August - if you dare!

Best thing I ate today;
A fig eaten straight from the tree
Early in the morning as the sun licks the mountains and rises in the sky, this must be one of the most voluptuous ways to start the day.
I have discovered two large wild fig trees weeping with ripening fruit. They are a vivid green with fine skins, some of them covered with pale delicate stretch-marks. Swollen and heavy and about to burst with ripeness. I could go on and on about how sexy they are, but it's all been said before. However, I must say that to tear one of these beautiful fruit apart and discover the warm, rosey sweetness inside is rather nice.
After an initial gorging I have been rifling through my cookery books for all things 'figgy' and am planning lots of good things including Jamie Oliver's 'Crostata di Fichi' ( Jamie's Italy).
So many figs, so little time...

Where to get them;
First crop figs arrive in June and July and are called 'Fiorone', the sweeter second crop is available from August until October on fig trees all over italy.