Cividale

Cividale was a wonderfully lazy antidote to the hustle and bustle of Firenze.  We went to a local inn on the first night with a friend of my cousins, Emanuele, or Minu, who is from the area and is helping build the stable.  There was a large group there for supper and we sat in the corner eating delicious food and sampling the Prosecco – we just happen to be in the region that makes Prosecco, so we had to be polite. The conversation was a crazy mix of German and Italian, with Minu correcting us as we went along. The food was delicious of course


and it’s possible we went through a few bottles of Prosecco.

There was also a musician who was playing very loudly and singing badly, on one of those keyboards that have whatever musical style you want as a backbeat.

The next day started with a quick trip into town to show me around, and following custom, we had a glass of Prosecco in the town square.

 The nice thing about these aperitivos is that they also come with a small snack – this time it was a slice of delicious ham on bread with grated horseradish on it. We went back home and walked the horses out to the new pasture and then came back and made homemade pumpkin gnocchi for lunch, with fresh pumpkin from the garden, of course.

A lazy lunch overlooking the river, playing with the dogs and not much else for the afternoon. Kaffeeklatsch was at the stables, so that Minu and my cousin could take a break, too.

 Then back out to bring the horses back to the stables, feed them and give them water. I’m not much of a horse person and didn’t think that I had anything to worry about, but as I was walking two of them back and they kept trying to squeeze me between them, I realized just how big and powerful they are. So I figured I should just keep talking to them and shoving them to their respective sides so as not to flatten me, making like I was the alpha horse. Hoping that horses worked the same way as dogs, in terms of hierarchy.

It was much the same thing on Monday – lazy morning and then off for Prosecco aperitivo in the hills surrounding the valley overlooking the vineyards. Am I ever going to crash hard when I get back home. I will definitely need a re-entry program.

That evening we went for supper in town with some more friends from Austria and Minu as well. Minu and I had a ball – he made me translate everything for him. With the help of il dizionario rosso –the pitcher of red wine – it went well. By the end of the evening we were like an old married couple, with him putting in the right endings to my nouns. I even think that he understood what I was translating, even though I’m not sure why we were even talking about Frank Stronach’s new political party in Austria. La nuov…a partit…a politic…a Austriac…o. The best pizza ever was followed by a lemon gelato with a shot of vodka in it.

Il dizzionario rosso

I love this country!

The next morning when we left before dawn, all the horses were out of their stables watching us drive off.

We drove through the Alps, literally –I think we were in tunnels for more than half the trip. We stopped at the Auto Grill for breakfast – pasta con cioccolata, spremuta and cappuccino. (Chocolate croissant, fresh pressed orange juice and cappuccino)  I would like to see the rest stops on the 401 beat that. Then after 3 hours we arrived in Salzburg,

I regret not having bought those gloves in Firenze, it’s only about 10 degrees here.