Happy Birthday Stefano!

 Today is Stefano's birthday. He was able to take the day off work, and we were lucky enough to spend the day with the family. We started our mystery tour this morning, ready to explore new places. We arrived in a beautiful town we hadn't been to before, in Umbria - 'Todi'. The buildings in Umbria are quite different compared to Tuscany. The stone is a lighter, white colour. We walked up the winding streets to the main piazza, stopping for a coffee and slice of pizza along the way. 

     

Even though it is three days after Christmas, the Christmas spirit in these little towns is still very much alive and well. The streets are still adorned with glistening fairy lights, giant decorated trees stand in the main squares and in some towns, Christmas music is pumped out through speakers throughout the streets. The Christmas festival lasts until around January 8th. There are many saint days in this period.

We visited a church with beautiful stained glass windows and an underground crypt.

All this walking made us hungry, so it was time for lunch. Rosalinda asked a local shopkeeper for a recommendation. We enjoyed more beautiful food, some Tuscan specialities like wild boar, and I had a succulent pork shin. We left Todi with full bellies and headed to another town on the way home to La Maesta. Deruta was a tiny little town that is clearly known for its ceramics. The main street was lined with Ceramic shops - each one showcasing different designs depending on the artist. It would be quite easy to spend thousands in these shops. I wanted everything! In the end, we settled on one special piece that is being shipped home to Australia. We generally buy one nice thing when we go away on a trip to bring home to remind us of the wonderful places we visited. This piece is quite unique and won't be to everyone's taste, but we will admire it, and it will remind us of Tuscany every time we look at it.

We arrived back at La Maesta around 6pm and enjoyed a birthday dinner with Stefano, Rosalinda and Virginia. Another magical Tuscan day.

Happy Birthday, Stefano.