Grocery Shopping in Cortona

Beautiful sunrise this morning, now at noon, completely overcast and chilly, Seattle weather. (Pictures are from outside my bedroom balcony.) Don’t worry, I brought the lightweight, North Face pullover so they can spot the foreigner immediately.

Grocery day. I was really disappointed that I got in so late to Cortona so I missed the market in the square. So I’m left to go to several stores to find my wares. Those of you who have traveled to Europe will recognize my first stop, the two others were local.

First, Spars- milk, yogurt, water, juice, fig jam, sugar, coffee, and a moderately priced bottle of olive oil from the Chianti region (7 Euro, roughly $10); the oil was the most expensive item on my list – priorities.

Deli down the block, Parmesan cheese, of course it had a more specific name, but I have no idea what it is, I was just shooting in the dark. Tomatoes on the vine, more peaches

Hardware Shop next door– vino key, of course it’s not called this, but this is the phrase I used, along with gesture of opening wine, to make the purveyor laugh, correct me, and point me to several different wine openers to choose from. Laugh all you want, it got the job done!

Back to Spars for two bottles of wine: Sant Antimo, a Pinot Grigio from Montalcino (an area next door to Cortona I plan to explore with dad), and Lume, a Sangiovese also from Montalcino. I’m saving the white for sunset but drinking a glass of the red with lunch.

I’m having an early lunch today because I was up at 5am SKYP-ing and I hope to find some sun and people watch in the square while Italians go on their real lunch break from 2-4. It’s Monday and a lot of the tourists have cleared out so it feels like the authentic Cortona. For instance, kids were standing outside the bus stop waiting to go to school.

Lunch today is a poor man’s (woman’s) version of the bruchetta I had last night for dinner at Pane e Vino. I’m treating myself on Sundays. (I can hear my mother saying – “aren’t you treating yourself just by being there?” Yes – but I spent money on dinner last night and I won’t do that every night.) The bruchetta was very different: first it was warm and swimming in olive oil. One slice was Parmesan cheese with a roasted tomato, and the other was a fontina with shredded radicchio, seasoned with just a little salt and pepper. It doesn’t take much seasoning as a lot of the cheeses are salty and the olive oil has so much flavor. All of this was priced at 3.50 Euros ($5) and I could have done just this with my glass of wine but I felt embarrassed and ordered pasta (more about that later.) So that’s what I’m doing today for lunch- my tomato, olive oil, and formaggio with a glass of red wine, and a peach for dessert. Heaven continues.