Today Filippo and I reunited over lunch at Cibreo. We became friends last September through school. We used to meet every week to help each other with my Italian and his English, and we kept in touch while I was back in San Clemente. We had a great time catching up with each other over lunch today. We both struggled a little for words, since my Italian had become rusty in the last 3 months as did his English, but we ended up only talking Italian.Later in the day, Filippo invited me to his uncle Tom's house in Mantignano next week to feast on a dinner based only on baccelli (beans that grow inside of pods) and pecorino. It's the season for baccelli. They are almost at full sprout. His best friend Andrea and his wife Sandrine, their newborn infant Anais, Michele, Tania and her children, his sister, brother-in-law and nephew will all be there. I met them the last time that I had dinner at his uncle Tom's in November, when we ate an extraordinary dinner of fresh killed cinghale roasted on the fireplace, made into sausages and used as a soup base for the most glorious minestra I've ever had.
The rest of the afternoon was spent reading a history book on Tuscany, and then in the evening I met Lorenzo at Piazza Beccaria with my bike, so that he could pack it up and have it ready for our trip tomorrow to Chianciano Terme for the Gran Fondo which goes through the heart of Tuscany, through Pienza, Montepulciano, Chiusi, Sarteano and Cetona.
