It’s the end of our first two WoWSunTours weeks here, and Friday was cookery day, in the form of another spanking cooking class chez WoWSunTours Tuscan home. Our main cooking class day is all about acquiring and stocking up on gastrogoodies and the required comestibles in preparation for the evening's feast.
Inviting our guests to our home is always a bit of added pressure too, and there’s lots of running about getting the place spick and span, as well as making sure the kitchen is prepped and ready, with separate cooking stations and so forth, and making sure our Cookery Goddess, the delectable Cecilia, is ready for her demos. Wine glasses are at the ready!
By and large, our guests like being part of our family vibe. They always say how curious they are to have a window onto expat life; see where and how we live, view our home, and it’s delightful to have a sympathetic audience for all those gruesome restoration building stories. We like the Before And After photos, and watch our guests gape open mouthed at the pile of stones we bought and, we hope, marvel at how our home has turned out.
These two weeks have been slightly difficult ones, I’ll be honest. Blighty has been basking in full sun and highs of 29 degrees, whilst here we’ve managed a measly 22 and it’s been largely muggy and overcast. Rain and storms have been a feature. Comparisons have been made.
So what happens on a WoWSunTours week when there Ain’t No Sunshine? Being British, of course, we try, as far as possible, to Keep Calm and Carry On. Most of our daily itineraries have indoor options. A picnics turn into long indoor lunches. Forest hot springs days turn into natural hot springs days in the covered, yet open air pools at Rapolano, walks round the ancient Cortona walls require umbrellas, but lunches, coffee stops, and general good humour and boisterous banter don’t change!! Cooking classes and cocktail making take place indoors, wine tastings are set in dark cavernous cantine, accompanied by all those dank smells of wine must and aging oak casks. Divine!
But ..there have been moments when we’ve wondered what we could do to cover any extra rainy moments, and a throwaway comment by our ever Wonderful Leia gave us food for thought. ‘Maybe we should start a book club’ she said carelessly.
‘A WOMEN ONLY BOOK CLUB?’, say I, in the withering manner of Lady Bracknell. And then it dawns, yes, a book club. A Solo Women Italian holiday proper British book club. What a SUPER idea! Discussion and presentation in the morning, possibly with a guest writer, perhaps even with a chance to try your own Italian creative writing !!
The novels of study came thick and fast after that. The original and only Room With a View, Under the Tuscan Sun, Still Life, anything by Lisa St Aubin de Teran or Tim Parks, Extra Virgin by Annie Hawes. There are so many titles based around the Dolce Vita that it seems obvious that an Italian Novel Ladies Only Book Club would not only titillate the reader, but would add a dimension to what we do now, that is to say, live like a local, that would truly unify and bring a USP to our already multifaceted tours Of course, it would still include the wine and cooking and olive oil moments, but even these would be dishes and drinks mentioned in the novels, and our tours would become literary experiences based on the stories of those heady pages, as well as an unforgettable Italian Holiday.
So how about it girls? That’s our WoWSunTours plan for next year. Watch this space.
IF YOU HAVE ANY DOLCE VITA TITLES YOU’D LIKE TO SUGGEST, DROP US A MAIL AT info@wowsuntours.com
In the meantime I’m told the weather is looking up. It’s the start of the Sagra della Pastasciutta ( the dried pasta festival) tonight, so we’ll be heading down there for a spot of local living. I’ll also be taking a book, Still Life ( which I haven’t quite finished), just in case it rains!
Salute!
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