A Lovely Sunday Afternoon Visit to Bagno Vignoni with the Foldesi Group

 "Italian food is seasonal.  It is simple.  It is nutritionally sound.

It is flavorful.  It is colorful.  

It is all the things that make for a good eating experience,
and it's good for you."

Lidia Bastianich

I'll have to say right up front here that during Week 3, I shared some amazing Italian lunches in some beautiful Tuscan and Umbrian towns with Brenda & Jerry, Palmer & Jim.  As it turned out, I never did sit much by the pool!

Actually, I HAD spent several relaxing hours at the swimming pool Sunday morning ... when Brenda appeared and asked,"Laurette, if we wanted to go visit one little town close-by today & have lunch ...  where would you suggest we go?"  I suggested Bagno Vignoni and Brenda asked if I'd like to come along?   Since we'd not yet gotten to the grocery store and the fridge was empty, I said, "Sure, I'd love to join you!"  Jerry asked me to sit up front to program the GPS and navigate. Since I managed to get them successfully to Bagno Vignoni and back (passing some amazing poppy fields along the way), I was permanently rewarded with front seat navigator status for the week ... while Brenda, Palmer and Jim took turns negotiating who would sit on the back seat "hump!"

As I've posted before, Bagno Vignoni is a beautiful little town.  The Foldesi Group hadn't visited there on their 2015 visit to La Foce and enjoyed it thoroughly. We had a fabulous outdoor lunch at Osteria del Leone (with a very friendly waitress who took a shine to Jim and called him "Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim").  Brenda & I soaked our feet in the warm thermal waters and took pics of the amazing views of rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves that stretched as far as the eye could see. Palmer and Jim are both very accomplished photographers and were in heaven with all the beautiful vistas spread out before them. 

We'd planned to stop and photograph those poppy fields on our way back to Sassaia, but the GPS gal took us back a totally different route as she sometimes is wont to do. (Who knows why?)

No poppies on the way back to Chiarentana,
but we did spot this amazing line of cypress ....

...  and as we got close to "home," we stopped to
capture La Foce's beautiful Serpentine Road in its springtime glory!

When we got back, Jerry, Palmer & Jim headed to the PAM for grocery shopping and Brenda & I traded towns and experiences with the other two Week 3 groups out by the pool.  I'll not attempt to specifically describe here all those two other groups did during their week in Tuscany!  Suffice it to say that they were up and out early every day, going to wine tastings and abbeys, visiting countless medieval hill towns, making day trips by car or train to Assisi, Siena, Florence!  The Foldesi Group and I took it MUCH slower and easier ... but we did manage to visit some wonderful places (and enjoy some delicious lunches) ... please stay tuned!