We're Kate and Rob, two Americans (and soon-to-be Italian citizens) living la dolce vita in Florence, Italy. We blog about Italian dual citizenship, life in Italy, cooking, travel and more! First time here?Read more about us and check out our 2011 Year in Review.
We're Kate and Rob, two Americans (and soon-to-be Italians) living la dolce vita in Florence, Italy. We blog about Italian dual citizenship, life in Italy, cooking, travel and more!
This past weekend we were invited out to our friend's family vineyard to help with the grape harvest. It was pretty awesome. We spent a few hours picking grapes and then we were completely spoiled with bread, salame and wine. I'm pretty sure Rob and I would work for food and wine every day if we could swing it.
It felt really good to get our hands dirty. When you sit in front of your computer all day working, sometimes you can forget what good old-fashioned hard work feels like. Instead of tiring us out, it actually kind of invigorated us!
Our friend Mollie was there snapping photos along the way. If you're Facebook friends with Rob or me you've probably seen her fantastic photography before, but if not you definitely need to check it out. She does really cool personal travel photography sessions -- so if you're taking a once in a lifetime trip to Tuscany you can get it documented in a really great way. You can check out here site here: www.molliepritchett.com.
Yesterday afternoon we decided to walk down to Palazzo Pitti for yet another amazing festival: The Florence Wine Event. Much like the gelato festival the philosophy behind this festival was simple: buy a card and go from tent to tent sampling the different varieties of amazingness.
When we walked out of our apartment we noted that the sky looked a little gray, but summer storms are the norm here and we packed umbrellas. Certainly a little rain wouldn't deter us on our mission at the wine festival.
Well, my friends, things got a little crazy only minutes after our first glass was poured. And by crazy I mean: absolutely freakin' ridiculous.
First the rain started, lightly in the beginning and then a little harder. We decided to move under the overhang at the Cormon's Vineyard tent (whose Pinot grigio spumante I was tasting and would continue to taste for the next two hours). Then, things got a little crazy.
And by crazy, I mean: gumball size hail pounding down from the sky.
Listen. Rob is from the Midwest, the epicenter of crazy ass weather -- blizzards, droughts, tornados, etc. I'm from Pennsylvania, so I've seen my share of snow/hail. Honestly, neither of us have ever seen something like this. The hail didn't let up for an hour.
It got so bad the festival-goers huddled into the booths, closed the plastic "curtains" behind us and didn't move for upwards of two hours (even once the hail was done, the rain was in downpour mode). Here's a quick video to let you know just how loud the hail was (btw, I have no idea why Rob looks like he is going to pee his pants in every video):
Suffice to say, we drank A LOT of wine. We mostly drank the delicious whites from Corman's Vineyard, but through from stall to stall bartering by vineyard owners, were able to procure tastes of a delicious Chianti Classico from San Pancrazio. We met a nice couple visiting from Estonia along with a variety of vineyard owners from around Italy.
Eventually the rain let up and we walked home. Winston was happy to see us...I'm sure all of the noise, sirens, etc. scared him a bit. A little water had trickled in our back door, but nothing too serious. All in all, a day I will never, ever forget.
Us, soaked, but jovial...all in all, a wine festival ain't a bad place to be stranded for two hours.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 11:35AM 
