Cortona

Last Sunday David and I took a day trip. One of those day trips where we fit in as much as we could, which was three different towns. Cortona was our first stop, where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed. It's about an hour drive north of Orvieto in Tuscany (of course). The day was beautiful, sunny and extremely hot day. This was the last day of a two week Tuscan Sun festival in Cortona, so there were tons of tourists around. We didn't stay for any part of the festival, but the program was packed with celebrities and musicians.

Cortona is a small town with one main square, perched on a hill near the Trasimeno lake. It is a very quaint town with many small alleys and the remains of the old surrounding wall. We walked around for a couple of hours, stopping in just a few of the many art galleries and gift shops. The only way to withstand the heat was a very large cone of gelato!

View of surrounding area from Cortona

The easy way up to the town

A very cute sleeping dog

The cemetery outside the city

The wall around the city

Me on the city wall

David with gelato

Bartender gig, July 15 2011

I am a little out of order with this, but I wanted to share the Bartender gig from July 15 at Ristorante Sala della Comitissa. It is a wonderful restaurant about 15 minutes from Orvieto in a small town called Baschi. The restaurant is next to a piazza where they put tables out for the night. The weather was perfect for dining outside. We had a fixed menu which featured fresh truffles and wine pairings for each course. The food was spectacular as was the entertainment! I included a video with the cutest little girl who was having a ball dancing all night.

Baschi

Svedonio debuting a slide guitar he made

Antipasto

Roasted rabbit

Milk panna cotta

Bartender gig, July 30 2011

Last Saturday night Bartender played a gig at a big music festival in Villalba park, not far from Orvieto. It is a three day festival where most people stay and camp out in the park. The feature of the night was Rancore and DJ Myke. About a year ago they made a street album for Universal records featuring Bartender called "Acustico." You can download it for free here:  http://www.djmyke.dj/ (in the download section). Rancore and DJ Myke have an album of their own, and another one called "Electrico", featuring Svedonio (from Bartender), Lillo (bass) and Roberto Forlini (drumms). For this concert they played songs off of all three albums, switching between just DJ and voice, electric instruments and acoustic instruments. It was really amazing to see and there was a lot of energy!!! Even though instruments changed throughout the show, it was cohesive and very entertaining!

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The stage

The stage from above

The opening band Vecchia Funkeria del Corso

Special guest Roberto Ciotti

DJ Myke & Rancore

Electric band

Lillo

Bartender setting up

Bartender helping sing the last song

Compleanno

For my birthday (compleanno) last week David took me out for a romantic dinner to a very nice restaurant named Le Grotte del Funaro. In medieval times it was the rope makers workshop. Sadly the camera battery died soon after we arrived, so I only snapped a few pictures.


We had dinner outside and watched a beautiful sunset. Everything was delicious of course!!! We shared an antipasto of assorted meats and bruschetta, and a primi piatto of  Umbrichelli con pancetta, finocchio e pomodori pachino. David had a Bistecchine di cinghiale (wild boar) and I had Tagliata di manzo (steak). We shared a chocolate dessert that I was able to take one picture of. After dinner we took a long walk around Orvieto to help digest the wonderful meal. This was the first time in the 4 years we have been together that we were in the same country for my birthday, and it was perfect!

Chiostro di San Giovanni across from the restaurant

Sunset

Le Grotte del Funaro

Main restaurant underground

A lost dog looking for scraps

Dessert