Talamone, once the butt of Medieval jokes, now a jewel

According to one of our guides, Talamone, a fishing village on the southern end of Monti dell'Uccellina and one of Italy's most prestine natural seaside parks, was a "continuing embarrassment for the Sienese Republic" who tried to fashion it into an important port for landlocked Sienna. Unfortunately, it kept filling in making it impossible for use by big ships. Dante used their failure to poke a bit of fun at the Sienese. Today, Talamone is still a walled village sitting on a rock overlooking a nice marina and sporting a 16th-century Spanish castle. We decided to make the most of a sunny afternoon with a late picnic at the top of the village and overlooking the Mediterranean and Monte Argentario an archipelago that juts out from the coastline.

Coals to Newcastle

I know it is ironic that Tom is making bread in Italy, the land of bread, but Tom recieved sourdough starter from our new friends Rachel and Kate and now he is a bread-making machine. As it turns out the wood-burning stove in our kitchen (stufa) keeps the kitchen warm but also is the perfect place to make soup, pasta sauce, boil water and especially raise bread dough.

Sourdough Bread Starter

To make the wild yeast sourdough starter:
Put the flours, yogurt and apple juice in the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with the whisk. On the slowest speed, beat for 10 minutes, when a slightly lumpy batter will have formed. Increase the speed and beat for a further 5 minutes, or until the mixture is thick, elastic and bubbly. Add the grapes or raisins, which will encourage the airborne yeasts to start working more quickly. Pour and scrape the batter into a very clean mixing bowl. Dust the top with white flour and cover the top with cling film. Place the bowl in a very warm place and leave it for 24 hours. The next day the batter should have doubled. Beat for a minute by hand and whisk in 150g plain, natural low-fat yogurt and 150ml ful-fat milk. Once completely incorporateed, pour the mixture through a colander into a clean bowl and discard the fruit. Add 300g white flour. Stir mixture with a wooden spoon for a minute or tow. Now dust the top with flour and leave in a warm place for 24 hours. You now have an active starter.

Use in your favorite bread recipe according to instructions.

Olives

Tom and I decided to preserve the last bit of olives on the trees in the grove. Unfortunately, we didn't act soon enough as we had a large windstorm that knocked all the ripe olives onto the ground. Despite the fact that the olives remaining were green and not in perfect condition, we picked. Then we followed an easy recipe where we poured boiling water on the olives each day and after four days, put them in a salt and vinegar brine, popped in some cloves of garlic, lemon rind, red pepper and topped the jar off with a dose of olive oil. All things we had in the house. We have no idea how these will turn out but it gives us satisfaction to know that the two olives we picked off the 3,000 year old tree are somewhere in the mix.

In and around Poggio La Mozza

On our way home one afternoon we headed up a road called Poggio Lungo (long road) and at the end found a winery. The winery was beautiful as it sat on top of a steep hill from which you could see the surrounding area. But what we especially liked were the tree-lined roads. The building in the photos is a picturesque outdoor oven which, Guiliano says, would be fired up with wood and when hot people would bake their bread then as it cooled other items such as pizza, roasted meats, vegetables, etc. each item requiring progressively less heat then the item before. They would essentially bake food to use for the entire week.

Wineries on every hilltop

We literally have wineries everywhere here. We stopped at this winery, Terenzi, on our way from Montemerano. It is also a Locando with three completely renovated homes to rent and a swimming pool, all with an unbeatable view. This place is worth taking a diversion from the usual Italian holiday route. I'm becoming a big fan of the area.

Saturnia

As usual, the photos are shown in reverse order with scenes of Montemerano first and Saturnia last.









Above the baths is the town of Saturnia, a pretty town perched high above the springs. I particularly liked the sundial with carpe diem over it.
Saturnia is the site of the ancient Roman and Etruscan baths. These hot springs have been very popular ever since. We headed over on a sunny day (January 2) only to encounter many other people who had the same idea as they are still on holiday until the Befana on January 6. Christmas decorations are still up in every town and village as children anticipate the Befana (witch) and the presents she will bring.



On our way back we visited Montemerano, stopped for a two and one-half hour lunch (pranzo) at Il Nibbio, visited a specialty knife maker who showed us his crafted hunting knives, Lucio Stefani, and may have him make a fish scaling knife from Tom's own design, then walked around the town. Here are some photos of Montemerano.

Capodanno

Our neighbors down the road on our small Poggia invited us to New Year's Eve dinner. There were ten of us and it was festive and fun and we got to know our neighbors quite well. They are all really kind and lovely people. The men are all on pensione (retired) which is why they are all working -- making wine, olive oil, raising sheep, chickens and cows, and in general working hard. That is reason enough to enjoy the fruits of their labor on New Year's Eve and so abbiamo mangati molto bene (we all ate well). Here's a meal to fortify you: 1st course - an assortment of appetizers, 2nd - pasta, 3rd - roasted chicken, beef, and green salad, 4th - ribolita, a traditional Tuscan soup, 5th - lentils and a type of sausage, both traditional foods to eat on New Year's Eve and symbolic in bringing the eater tanti soldi, lots of money, in the new year, 6th - a huge plate of fruit and small, very sweet pineapples, 7th - a beautiful nocciola and chocolate torte, 8th - tart cheeries in a sweet syrup, 9th and finally green table grapes, for good measure and also symbolic for good fortune in the new year. All of it capped off with champagne, then finally espresso. And if you were a really hardy soul, grappa or limoncello. I wasn't that hardy and neither way Tom.

Capodanno to all of you.