First Evening in Cortona

My apartment won’t be ready till tomorrow (Sunday), so Andrea (a man not a woman) has put me in the fanciest hotel in Cortona – S. Michele (ironic I know). Schlepping my bags through the door, it is apparent to everyone in suits, that I don’t belong. What a riot. There are a lot of suits, something is going on, TV cameras in the square and a stage. Apparently the Democratic Party is in town for the weekend doing a number of seminars on global and local politics and Italy’s role in it all. I couldn’t join in, I was beat and had to rest my weary muscles, so I missed the hoopla.

Time to venture out into my new city. It is flooded with tourist –Italian and everyone else. I strolled the streets in a simple brown dress and scarf around my shoulders; the Suits in the lobby, gave me the nod; I bet they wonder if I’m the same smelly, backpacker who entered. It appeared that all the big wigs from the D. Party were staying at my hotel, or I was staying at theirs, love it! Back to strolling down the main street, via Nazionale (the only flat street in Cortona), ending just outside the city’s Etruscan wall; Piazzale Garibaldi over looks the entire Tuscan countryside. Stunning and dramatic, as the thunderstorms are off in the distance and the glow of the sun setting highlights the orange tiled roofs. The blues, greens, yellows and oranges all pop.

Cortona is set on a hill, more like a mountain, looking down on olive groves on tiers of land, villas with swimming pools, down to the very bottom in the valley littered with farms, and in the background, the ghostlike mountains which are populated with vineyards. Lake Trasimeno is also off in the near distance peaking around a mountain. It’s breathtaking and a little chilly. I wasn’t the only one enjoying the view and soon I was engaged in a political conversation with an Italian from the Democratic Party, who learned English in Dublin. Just imagine, an Italian accent with an Irish lilt, priceless. I was relieved and overjoyed at the offer to have dinner with an English speaking Italian (politics, stereotypes, and world travel were all on the menu.); it reminded me that I hadn’t had a real conversation since I left Chicago (thank you Nora, your 15 min. phone call was a great belly laugh and it lasted me 3 days!)

I think after this trip I may be ready for my 10 day, silent, Buddhist, retreat. I am butchering the language, but I am trying. I do have Italian lessons on CD that I plan to practice every afternoon from 2-4, since I recognize I can’t get by with “I’ll take one of those, and one of that, and a few of these” for three months! I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m in a cave. I’m not. I have a beautiful balcony on my apartment that looks down on Teatro Signorelli (the theater) and Piazza Signorelli (a great hang-out for the Townies); from here I spy on the locals. I sit in the sun on the steps of the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo watching Cortona go by in the Piazza della Repubblica. But enough, more about a “typical day in the life”, that is of course, when I finally have one. Ciao. xoxo

P.S. Talking about Obama with foreigners still amazes me; quick quiz: what’s the name of the Italian President and what party does he belong to? Feel free to comment.